Peter's skill was pretty outrageous as well; it allowed him to use Spider Silk to stick to a character and drag them to the center of the arena. As long as that character existed, any attack targeting the faction directly opposite had to hit that character first, essentially taunting them.
For instance, if Shiller and Stark were positioned opposite each other, Shiller would have to attack Venom before he could target Stark's character. However, if Shiller wanted to attack Nick, seated to his left, it would be fine.
This skill wasn't that outrageous, though; once the character dragged to the center had their health depleted, they would enter a card deduction state and be resurrected after two rounds, with full health and status restored.
But this was still causing Shiller a great deal of trouble because he just wanted to attack Stark first!
The Iron Man faction and the Mutant faction were both clearly late-game factions. Not to mention the two old Mutant heads who reinforced each other, the properties of the Iron Man's Mecha synthesized in the late game were also outrageous. Shiller couldn't summon The Ancient One, so what was he supposed to do, headbutt them?
Now Peter had brought in a roadblock with a shot of Spider Silk, making it impossible to attack Stark at all.
Stark was also complaining, "Peter, Greed's health is so low now; without Venom, he'd be out of the game already. Why are you blocking me?"
Peter smiled and then said to Shiller, "Doctor, look at the situation on the field. How about forming an alliance between us two?"
Nick glared at him from the side. Smart kid, you've really grown!
The current situation had Peter effectively shooting Shiller down to half health with a single shot.
Stark knew Shiller would definitely try to prevent him from developing his forces. It was a do-or-die situation between the two of them, and since Stark was Shiller's senior, his move would undoubtedly take Greed out of the game.
Although Greed would be taken out, Shiller had other cards, and everyone knew Shiller very well—he always turned the tables from the front to the back. Once it was Shiller's turn, he would surely take revenge on Peter first.
Peter was obviously a Fast Attack type with high Attack Power, but low health. Without Greed, and with Arrogant's thesis enhanced Defense-breaking Umbrella, one hit could take out a Spider Man. The two were bound to be archenemies, sworn to fight to the death.
But Peter had used Spider Silk to pull in a Shield, so Stark was no longer a threat to Shiller, and Greed had a good chance of surviving.
Shiller was desperate to save Greed because Greed was the one controlling his body now, and he was oh so greedy.
If Greed couldn't be saved, then it was time for revenge. But if there was a chance to save him, he would do whatever it took, sticking to the original plan to collect Points, which meant money!
Now that Peter proposed an alliance, on one hand, he had pulled in a Shield, eliminating Stark, the biggest threat. On the other hand, he had the Skill "Good Neighbor's Call" from his Lucky Boy card, which could protect someone from a fatal injury once, letting them deduct cards instead of exiting the game.
For the currently below-par Greed, this was a life-saving God technique because as long as he wasn't out of the game, whether or not cards were deducted, the Points from the grand plan would be normally tallied.
Shiller was speechless; he knew Peter was great at tabletop games, but he didn't realize he was this good.
You're using this to test Greed?
Which Greed could withstand such a test?
Shiller sighed deeply, then nodded and said, "Alright, our two factions will form an alliance, but you must save that protective Skill for me."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure your Points are tallied normally. I have a secret weapon too."
Peter said this, and Shiller couldn't help but glance at the cards in his hand, recalling the various Spider Man abilities. Scarlet Spider Man's Skill was strong, similar to Gwen Spiderman's, but that shouldn't be considered a secret trump card. Could it be the equipment-making 2099?
While he was guessing, it was Wanda's turn. Wanda only had one card on the field, "Scarlet Witch Wanda," with Jarvis standing behind her giving advice, both exchanging glances.
The Scarlet Witch card was strong, but it wasn't an early-game card; she needed to undergo "ability liberation."
Only after three ability liberations would Scarlet Witch reach her full potential, possessing the ability to directly alter reality and change any value in the game once at will.
However, the current Scarlet Witch had high Attack Power and could summon The Power of Scarlet cards, which is why she didn't play any other cards because she could summon cards herself.
Wanda pondered and then directly summoned two Power of Scarlet cards, with one being sacrificed to accumulate liberation ability points, and the other striking Venom instantly.
Venom howled in response, and Wanda spread her hands, saying, "Sorry, but you're in my way."
"Are you mistaken? The one sitting directly opposite you is me!" Venom exclaimed with a gaping mouth.
"Exactly, I want to hit you." Wanda nodded and said, "Both of us are late-game types, who else would I hit?"
Venom cursed and howled, but he was helpless to retaliate since his turn was too late in the order, being third last. Now, whoever hit him left him with no countermeasures.
Finally, it was Stark's turn.
He already had 25 Points in his hand, that's right, the Points provided by Stark Group were tallied first, not after the round, an incredibly powerful advantage.
Pepper was a support card; once her Skill was activated, it would double the Points provided by Stark Group for the next two rounds. Stark activated this Skill first.
But he didn't buy a Mecha or move his own character; instead, he played another card: Obadiah.
Obadiah's skill was to summon Iron Monger, and he could also double the points provided by Stark Group for the next two turns. With Pepper's doubling, that was a quadrupling!
A whole 100 points in one turn!
Shiller gasped, Can I rob him?!
The more outrageous comes from War Machine. Its skill was to attack a person on the field and convert the damage dealt into Stark's attack power.
It was clear Stark had intended to attack Shiller because War Machine's attack might have just been enough to take out Greed, but now with Venom standing in the way, there was no way to remove Greed this turn.
Since that was the case, it wasn't really necessary to attack Venom. Stark also wanted to do a Fast Attack, and after thinking about it, he felt it was more important to force Nick's hidden card out.
"War Machine, attack that face-down card!" he said, bracing his hands on the table.
According to the game rules, face-down cards could be attacked, but if they were not killed in one hit, they wouldn't be flipped over, meaning their blood was reduced but their identity remained unrevealed.
Stark was gambling that Nick had played Hill instead of Natasha, since Hill had much less health and would likely be taken out with one hit.
However, Nick revealed a confident smile.
Stark thought to himself that it wasn't good; the damned One-eyed dragon might have guessed his plan and purposely played Natasha—who wouldn't be killed in one go, that would be a bit of a loss.
To his surprise, Nick turned over the card. It was neither Hill nor Natasha, but "Moon Knight."
Stark widened his eyes in surprise. He had gotten up later that morning and hadn't seen the full set of decks, so he was unclear about what everyone had in hand.
When did Moon Knight join S.H.I.E.L.D.?
But Shiller just nodded; Moon Knight was indeed working for S.H.I.E.L.D. now, nothing strange about that.
But Stark had just stirred up a hornet's nest.
As everyone knows, Moon Knight has several personalities, and his skill is to switch between them each time he's attacked. Coincidentally, the personality Nick played was Moon Knight's true self, Marc, and after being attacked, it switched to the Killer Devil, Jack.
After the card was flipped, Jack entered the field with the "Moon Wheel," a weapon he could use indefinitely, and blessed by Moon God Khonsu, his attack power and health greatly increased. With his attack power, anyone he hit on the field would die.
"Look at the mess you've made, Stark!" Venom roared at Stark, now stuck in the middle of the field, unable to withstand Jack's attack.
Stark narrowed his eyes; the situation was indeed tricky. Early-game, Jack was ridiculously overpowered, and he wasn't the one Jack was directly facing. Venom couldn't use him as a shield.
Moreover, since Eddie was Nick's previous player, he would know to keep his legacy and run if he didn't know how to fight.
It was Steve's turn to make a move.
He wasn't fond of such violent games, but he could clearly see the situation on the field. His deck mainly focused on balance, with good attack and defense—defense with Captain America, attack with The Hulk and Night Devil.
Now Steve considered who to take down first.
Night Devil's skill was Heart Eye Sniping, ignoring all obstacles and firing a bullet that was sure to hit, dealing a range of damage.
Theoretically, this attack could kill the central Venom, the half-health Greed, or one of Stark's supports.
After thinking it over, Steve decided to snipe Obadiah first.
No other reason, the doubling these two supports offered was just too terrifying.
War Machine had just hit Moon Knight, boosting Stark's attack power, and his own points were doubled based on that attack power. If it was quadrupled, Stark would be able to play Execution of Justice next turn—who could beat him then?
So, one of the supports must be removed first; luckily, the buffs provided by these two characters required that the Character Cards be on the field, turning ineffective if controlled otherwise.
Stark saw this and immediately panicked, saying to Steve, "No, you can't do this! That's my uncle and fiancée, Steve, do you have the heart?!"
"It's just a game," Steve replied. Then he fired a bullet directly at Obadiah. With low health to begin with, Obadiah was immediately taken out.
This was also the first Character Card death of the game.
In this game, attacking others didn't deplete one's own health, just that some skills had cooldowns, like Matt's skill could only be used every other turn. Although it was scary in the first turn, it was hard to use later as others' health increased.
However, taking out one of Stark's support cards was also not a bad deal, preventing him from snowballing further, a target for almost everyone now.
On the next turn, Eddie directly had Venom leave an offspring "Carnage" in place, and Venom possessed Stark, drawing a card, choosing one of five states.
Eddie was really lucky, hitting one of the worst negative states – "Firing lethal mucus, rendering the character unable to act next turn."