These are very exciting times. Heralds of Galactus is being hailed as perhaps the most powerful set of Vs. System cards yet, and we are on the verge of seeing what kind of tricks it has given our sleeves. Some strategists have their sights set firmly on infinity.

This is not a new phenomenon. We began our quest for infinite superhero cardboard action nearly three years ago. Stu’s Barn Door Challenge provided the playground. The community came together and conquered the highest limits of measurement nearly immediately. With only Marvel Origins and DC Origins as a base, our collective jankspeeder burst through the barrier and went beyond the stars with Sub-Mariner, Ally of Doom.

The first identified Vs. System infinite loop was utterly non-competitive. When the original Subby swings on a defender in the support row, he readies. If he chooses a victim with a high enough DEF to survive the stun or some added protective ability, and can also stay face-up himself, infinity happens.

Of course, infinity is not actually reachable on the kitchen table. It is also not legal in the tournament hall. Here are the official rules for infinite loops in Vs. System:

703. Loops and the Infinity Rule

703.1 Sometimes players can achieve a game state in which a certain set of actions could be repeated indefinitely. This section deals with getting past such “loops.”

703.1a If a game state occurs such that there exists a loop of repeated actions with one or more optional actions involved, the loop first must be demonstrated. Then, the player that performed the first action in the demonstrated loop must choose a number of times he or she desires to repeat that loop. Then, starting with the next player clockwise from him or her, any player that performed an action in the demonstrated loop may choose a smaller number. The smallest number chosen is the number of times the loop repeats. The player who chose the smallest number gets priority after the loop is done repeating. The next action taken can’t be the action that would continue the loop.

703.1b A player may interrupt the loop after some iteration, or partway through one, with an action that would stop the loop from being able to continue in the demonstrated form. If this occurs, the loop stops at that point (without continuing for the full chosen number of iterations), and play proceeds from there.

703.2 Players may not choose “infinite” for any numeric values in the game.

703.3 If a succession of game states occurs in which mandatory actions form a loop that no player is willing and able to break, the game is a draw.

Just because we cannot choose infinity for the number of times our Subby swings, that does not mean we will ever stop searching for infinite combos. They are a glittering carrot at the end of the Vs. System stick and we are starting to catch a whiff of a few more on the horizon.

When the various incarnations of The Flash get real fast and save the day, they actually enter a different state of existence called the Speed Force. Achieving this state causes The Flash, and other super speedsters throughout history, to phase out of our reality completely. Then, with their high-velocity control of everything around them, they can do almost anything they need to.

About ten years ago, DC Comics began explaining and expanding our knowledge of the Speed Force as the driving mechanism behind the speedster effect in their myths. Whether through magic, science, or accident, every time a being takes on super speed, they are connecting with and becoming the Speed Force. If we want to discover the origin of this metaphysical velocity station, then we need to go back further. With the help of Izaya ◊ Highfather as our historian, we will start at the very beginning.

The Source came into existence twenty-one billion years ago. It exists on a separate metaphysical plane from our universe and precedes the Big Bang. A billion years later, GodWorld formed and life happened upon it. The Old Gods appeared. Forward the tape another billion years, and the Big Bang blew bits all over; the universe was here at last.

A little less than ten billion years later, the Old Gods saw the writing on the wall. The other beings in the heavens were becoming exceedingly combative and things were just not working out. The Milky Way galaxy was about to produce a peach of a little solar system; those humans on the horizon offered some hope. The Old Gods sacrificed themselves for the betterment of all beings. They self-exploded GodWorld in a blinding death-flash that created the GodWave, a rushing flood of divine power that would be soaked up like sponge water by any suitable vessel it washed over. On its first swipe across the universe, the GodWave created some extremely powerful cosmic entities. Gods were springing up everywhere. When it finally reached Earth around 38,000 BC, it inspired the Cro-Magnon to become the first creature to make art. It also became the Speed Force.

I see the Speed Force more as an intersecting higher-dimensional plane than as an actual force.

You could think of our three-dimensional space as a string and the Speed Force as a perpendicular spatial dimension. If we’re on the string facing one end, assuming it’s extended between two points like a bridge or a telephone wire, then we can move back and forth quite easily. Given how thin the string is, if we move left or right, we essentially don’t seem to be moving at all. Only our perspective of what’s up and what’s down is changed because we’re just spinning around the string. But if we weren’t “tethered” to the string, if we moved in the same direction, we’d suddenly be moving much farther in comparison to our starting point. It’s my personal belief/interpretation that our dimensional space, in relationship to the Speed Force dimensional space, is just like that string in the air. We define our laws of physics by being bound to our limited path. Those who are not bound to it, but instead are traveling “through the air,” seem to be violating the laws of physics.

This would also explain how sometimes the Speed Force is treated as a physical location. That would just be, essentially, entirely off the string.

 

Access, it makes sense to me. But then again, so does Izaya. Either way, we still have not explained why Bart Allen ◊ The Flash is the only character with the printed Speed Force affiliation, and we haven’t even mentioned his infinite combo. Let’s get back on track.

In the Infinite Crisis mythos, Superboy was the main bad guy. Bart Allen enlisted the aid of a bunch of fellow speedsters, and eventually, they were able to rush the villain into the Speed Force. This averted the crisis, but it had some serious continuity-shattering consequences. The Speed Force disappeared. It was later found to be contained within Bart himself. With such an overwhelming power inside, The Flash has been very reticent to unleash his speed ever since. Things could fall apart completely and infinitely.

Thousands of Vs. System players around the world have been coaxing this awesome ability out of Bart Allen ◊ The Flash since Infinite Crisis was first released at the Sneak Preview tournaments over five months ago. A character that doesn’t exhaust to attack simply screams, “Break me!” So far, no one has been able to do it.

I’d like to leave you with one of the letters that I received in response to our article that discussed favorite cards from each set. See if you can catch a sense of infinite bliss in this:

Good Morning Sir,

I’m a long time reader of your articles on Metagame.com and have been a player of our awesome game since Web of Spider-Man. The categories you gave for each card were awesome and I couldn’t resist making a list today.

Marvel Origins: I thought about it, but my favorite card must be a split between Pyro, St. John Allerdyce and Mutant Supremacy. Pyro is one of my favorite characters ever created. Mutant Supremacy won me my first games in a tournament; I beat two of the current “vets” on turn 5 with an unheard-of kill turn. At the time, it was such a forgotten card that the judge had to re-read it twice.

DC Origins: Raven, all the way—her ability is so killer. Everyone yelled at me for playing her, saying that she wasn’t meant to be played in Titans, yet my version never abused Roy and still beat the pants off of people. Finding your own spin on awesome decks is what I love about this game.

Web of Spider-Man: Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, hands down. It’s one of my favorite comics to read and I love his team. Piloting a Spider-Friends deck to beat many of the greats only two sets later made me feel proud.

Superman, Man of Steel: Himon. As many times as we joked about his name, that character locks down more decks that I ever thought possible.

Marvel Knights: Scarlet Spider ◊ Spider-Man. I never really read any of the titles in the series, but when I saw another version of Scarlet Spider that I could Costume Change to the 6-drop, I think I had to change myself.

Green Lantern Corps: Alan Scott, Keeper of the Starheart is also my favorite Green Lantern. Only a short cut above Guy Gardner for snazzy suits, he rules the roost of aggressive behavior in card form thanks to all the willpower pumps. He made my day pulling him in the Sneak Preview and smashing face with him.

The Avengers: Thor, God of Thunder. My favorite Avenger hit the scene hard, and to this day, he makes my Avengers deck a frightening thing on turn 8.

Justice League of America: Shake It Off! My favorite “blow-em out” card. No one sees it coming, ever.

The X-Men: Psychic Struggle. A card, it seems, that no one played in Mental besides me. It’s a cheap negation effect and I love the fact that it stops pretty much everything your opponent can throw at you.

Infinite Crisis: Fate Has Spoken. Awesome in a can.

Heralds of Galactus: Stardust. As weird as it sounds, it’s amazing to see a character that showed up only in a miniseries make the 4-drop slot in Heralds. I loved Stardust in the comics as he went blow for blow with Beta Ray Bill. Sometimes, it’s just cool to see characters you like to see in the comics get their due on our cards.

Well, I hope you liked my list. I thoroughly enjoyed looking back at the cards. At the very least, it gave me something to do at work, but then again, isn’t that what articles are for?

Take Care,

-Dave Maruscsak

Dave, I say that was awesome. Some players gaze toward infinite enjoyment with their cardboard creations, and some stay on terra firma for the win. Wherever your tolerance for eternity ends, I’ll see you back here next week, where the fun goes on forever.

Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes and he could go on until the end of time talking about infinity. If you have any endless combos, lists of favorites, or timeless tirades, fill him in at rianfike@hattch.com.