Meet the 2020 Summoner Showdown Americas Region Semi Finalists - Extended Edition!

Greetings Summoners!

After hundreds of thousands of attempts in the Qualifiers, 3 Summoners in the Americas regions came out on top! It's time to meet your Americas Region Semi-Finalists!

Husky Nash
AceFusion 96
HappyMcMuffins

Read all about them below in this interview with UMCOC's Dragon!

Comments

Kabam Miike

Husky Nash

Are you a fan of the Marvel movies? Comics? Cartoons? What made you pick up Marvel Contest of Champions?
Of course I am a fan of marvel movies. I'm allergic to reading so I don't read the comics. I used to love the X-Men animated series back in the day, so I guess I picked up the game due to the love of the movies.

What is one of your favorite in-game moments? (Specific fight, war matchup, one shot, etc)
My favorite moments are always the close wars where we edge out the win with some amazing one shot boss kills. Hard to choose one in specific.

What alliance are you in (if any!) and why do you love it?
I'm taking a season or so off right now (first time in a long while). But prior to that, I was a member of Illusions [1LSS]. I love that group because they are a bunch of try-hards that still manage to keep things fun and lighthearted.

What’s the history behind your in-game name?
I absolutely love my 9 year old Siberian Husky... his name is Nash. So tribute to my furry Partner In Crime.

What character would you love to see join Marvel Contest of Champions?
There's so many I'd like to see but I'm gonna say Morph.... Evil Morph. And please make him insta-die to Sentinel's Special 1.

It sounds like there's a story behind Evil Morph and Sentinel? Why should he instantly die to his L1?
By asking me that question I can see that you've not had the immense pleasure of viewing quite possibly the greatest cartoon series of my childhood. Spoiler alert... Morph is not immune to Sentinel's beams.

What keeps you hooked on the game and coming back for more?
Easy... the people you meet in your alliance. It’s hard to quit people.

What is your favorite game mode (AQ, AW, Arena, Incursions, etc), and why?
Hands down, my favorite game mode is Alliance War. The ability to compete against another team to see who's best... it's a blast.

What moment are you most proud of in the game, outside of qualifying for the semi-finals?
Probably completing the Abyss.

Have you done the Abyss? If so, favorite and least favorite fights? Any tips for those yet to complete it?
Yes. Favorite fight maybe Bishop. Least favorite is probably Collector, Red Skull, Symbiote Supreme, Green Goblin, etc.

As someone who hasn't done Abyss (despite having the tools), any advice for me on paths, or other tips you think might be useful?
It's good to plan/scout whatever path you are going to attempt and ensure you have an appropriate option for every fight. Build up a large inventory of health pots and revives. Save up as many units as possible. Also... I hear Ægon is good.

What motivates you to do challenges like this one? Any highlights from this one that you want to call out?
I like to compete. And I really just wanted to see if I could put up a good time. Biggest highlight from this challenge was seeing my name on the leaderboard.

Everyone loves advice from an expert - what advice would you give new players, and on the same hand, what advice would you give to a new Cavalier player looking to advance their account?
First and foremost, I am no expert. But I can offer some advice. For beginners, never sell Champs and always read the nodes. For Cavalier players wanting to advance, rank with intent. Consider what your next hurdle is and rank the Champs to help you overcome that hurdle.

Most unusual place for a crystal pull? Was it lucky?
You are definitely fishing for a specific kind of response with this one. I'll play ball. Most unusual place to pop a crystal is probably in a hotel whilst traveling. Was it lucky? I don't remember, but it was likely...not.

The usual place for a crystal pull IS a bit of a reference, I admit. (I've pulled more crystals at NYCC than I want to think about, but all in good fun!) But thank you for being a good sport and answering! As a follow up to that - any crystal pulls that stand out to you over the years?
Absolutely. When Doctor Doom was first released, I opened… maybe two crystals and got nothing to write home about. I caved and decided to get one more and had my nephew Dean spin and tap the crystal.... ding ding 5 DOOM. I'll always remember that.

Last but not least - if you could ask for one thing in The Contest, what would it be?
I'd very much like to see a Training Room or Training Server where I can practice fights against any Champ as many times as I'd like with whatever specific nodes I choose.

Kabam Miike

AceFusion96

Are you a fan of the Marvel movies? Comics? Cartoons? What made you pick up Marvel Contest of Champions?
I absolutely love the movies, big fan of the superhero/sci-fi genre. Cartoons are great, though I'm not sure I've watched much in the realm of Marvel when it comes to those. They fall into the same category for me so I'll enjoy them. It was my friend that originally got me into the game actually, kept seeing him playing it and decided to give it a try for myself and I’ve been hooked ever since.

What is one of your favorite in-game moments? (Specific fight, war matchup, one shot, etc)
I think this is a pretty good one, I'd have to go with getting Labyrinth of Legends Maestro down the first time, as that was actually my first experience fighting the Champion, and having the largest opponent at the time in the game was pretty awesome.

What alliance are you in (if any!) and why do you love it?
Currently in ( RC) Army of Radient Champions, and so far it's gone fairly well I'd say. I joined them pretty recently to try and get more rewards than I was getting in a little lower lever ally so that's what I'm enjoying anyway.

What’s the history behind your in-game name?
This is a good one. I first came up with the name several years ago originally as my Xbox Gamertag and I've really liked it, and it kinda relates to my name in a way so it's something I like to use for all sorts of game IDs now.

What character would you love to see join Marvel Contest of Champions?
As I don't know a whole lot of the many that there actually are, apart from the ones from the movies, which most of them are already in the game at this point. I think it would be cool and interesting to have someone like Quicksilver added, cause I've always liked the idea of superspeed as a power and it could lead to some interesting things in game, though challenging as it may to to have someone like him added.

What keeps you hooked on the game and coming back for more?
The fun and challenge of progressing further and higher as the "next level" of stuff gets added to the game. That and with all the time I've put into it, it's really hard to just "let it go" when I still really enjoy it so much.

What is your favorite game mode (AQ, AW, Arena, Incursions, etc), and why?
I really enjoy the monthly content in the game and all the limited time stuff because it really gives you a sense of needing to get it down before it's gone forever.

What moment are you most proud of in the game, outside of qualifying for the semi-finals?
Hard to say really, but I guess I'll go with getting an initial clear done in the Abyss as that is quite an accomplishment even with some of the best champs available for doing it.

Have you done the Abyss? If so, favorite and least favorite fights? Any tips for those yet to complete it?
I've done one path so far, so I've not been able to experience every fight, but for the ones I have done, Mephisto is a fun fight, just melts with Human Torch, and I personally really enjoyed the final Collector boss fight, though I've watched some pretty painful experiences of others doing it without Ægon, since I had him it went really smoothly.

My least favorite fight so far definitely goes to Iron Man (Infinity War) and Venom the Duck, those two fights went particularly poorly on my initial clear. That said, I’ve been doing a little practice for another path and I'd say that the Luke Cage fight tops both of those as being a terrible fight. My advice though, is to plan out your path and fights and really be as prepared as possible before you finally do a path, as that will help save you in the long run.

What motivates you to do challenges like this one? Any highlights from this one that you want to call out?
Testing my own skills and seeing how I can compare to someone else who might be doing the same. With this challenge in particular, being able to use Ghost and getting 100k+ damage specials off with just a 4* is pretty satisfying.

Everyone loves advice from an expert - what advice would you give new players, and on the same hand, what advice would you give to a new Cavalier player looking to advance their account?
Be prepared to learn something, this game has a lot of information and interaction that you just won't get right away, and things take time. This game is a grind and as long as it's been out now you can't just expect to get to the highest levels of the game in a short amount of time, it takes some work.

As for Cavalier players, similar story, keep grinding, keep pushing the limits of what you think you might be able to do. Don’t just brute force it, in most cases, sometimes that is all you can do, for example, Abyss is going to take revives no matter what, but don't go beyond what you’re capable of. Build up your roster, your skills, and everything will just get easier and easier until you'll want to have some more challenging stuff with even more rewards in the game.

Most unusual place for a crystal pull? Was it lucky?
Can't say I've been anywhere really "unusual" for doing openings, I'm in my room playing like 90% of the time so as most openings go, not really lucky, but sometimes things go well and now you can finally do a Champion you weren't able to before and that's always awesome.

Last but not least - if you could ask for one thing in The Contest, what would it be?
I'd really like to see a way to have a kind of auto quest feature, not just auto fight, cause still having to tap between fights and move to the next fight manually, is really inefficient for trying to save time and multitask stuff. Having a way to have it on auto for the easiest quests to just move automatically through a path that hasn't been completed yet would be a nice feature.

Kabam Miike

HappyMcMuffins

Are you a fan of the Marvel movies? Comics? Cartoons? What made you pick up Marvel Contest of Champions?
I'm a huge fan of all the movies. As for comics, I've read a few. I've always been a fan of Spider-Man so I've read the Ultimate Spider-Man series. I remember scrolling through the app store and seeing an ad for the game when it first came out. I downloaded it and have been playing ever since.

What is one of your favorite in-game moments? (Specific fight, war matchup, one shot, etc)
Saving for Blade. I remember opening 5 Blade featured crystals and striking out. I saved all my shards for the rerun of his crystal, opened 10 crystals and got him on the last one.

What alliance are you in (if any!) and why do you love it?
I'm in NxTP1. I enjoy being in this alliance because they're a skilled group that gets great rewards while having a laid back approach.

What’s the history behind your in-game name?
I came up with the name years ago trying to create a new gaming username and every name I tried was taken. So I tried to think of the most random name I could think of. I ended up using the same name on MCoC.

What character would you love to see join Marvel Contest of Champions?
I'd like to see Multiple Man. It’d be cool if one of his abilities was to be able to use him in multiple different modes at once like Alliance War and Alliance Quest.

What keeps you hooked on the game and coming back for more?
The new Champions every month. I enjoy collecting new characters and building my roster.

What is your favorite game mode (AQ, AW, Arena, Incursions, etc), and why?
My favorite game mode is Incursions. It's super fun buffing up your Champions and doing crazy damage. I wish it was a bigger part of the game.

What moment are you most proud of in the game, outside of qualifying for the semi-finals?
I'd have to say when I did my first run of Labyrinth with a 4* Star-Lord. At the time I didn't have any better options so I went in with what I had.

Have you done the Abyss? If so, favorite and least favorite fights? Any tips for those yet to complete it?
Yes. My favorite fight is probably Mephisto. Least favorite is the Collector. My advice is to take your time and stock up as many resources as you can before each path.

What motivates you to do challenges like this one? Any highlights from this one that you want to call out?
I enjoyed trying to put up the fastest time that I could for the challenge. Tweaking masteries and figuring out strategies to save time.

Everyone loves advice from an expert - what advice would you give new players, and on the same hand, what advice would you give to a new Cavalier player looking to advance their account?
For new players I would say work on mastering the basics. Parrying, Dexterity, Intercepting, etc. As for Cavalier players, be patient and rank up Champions that will help you accomplish your next goal in the Contest.

Most unusual place for a crystal pull? Was it lucky?
I'm not sure I've had many crystal pulls in unusual places. Most of my crystals are usually opened in the usual places that I open them.

Last but not least - if you could ask for one thing in The Contest, what would it be?
Preset Mastery Slots. It would be much more convenient to be able to swap masteries between suicides and no suicides without having to redo all of the masteries.

TheBair123

@SpideyFunko seems like Mike is taking your summoner sit-downs

Grootman1294

Husky Nash has just joined the small list of people who I know enjoy AW

ThatGuyYouSaw235

@SpideyFunko ~~my man they plagiarised your thing~~

SpideyFunko

copying is the sincerest form of flattery

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Artoria77

We all know that I would smoke the competition if I was in a country that I could participate in.
🍹🍇

SatsuiNoHadou

Ok then, censoring people who say that they don’t enjoy the thing is not a heathy way of taking criticism Kabam! My first post was deleted without me receiving a warning or anything, so I’ll say it again.

I’ve lost interest in this due to the fact that firstly it won’t be live and so there cannot be any real interaction, and also it allowed cheaters to get on the leaderboard in the first place! I’m glad that you sorted this out but really it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.

But my main complaint is that it wasn’t a level playing field as not everyone has the ☠️ masteries or the ideal champ ranked up high as a 4* champ and so the qualifiers were a shambles.

I loved the idea but in execution it wasn’t so good at all!!!

Don’t need to get so worked up, dude. Kabam has mentioned that this is the first time that they are holding a worldwide competition of this nature and they admit there are certain aspects that could be improved upon in future iterations of the competition.

As things stand, it’s about as fair as it gets for the first global version of the showdown. Furthermore, for it be live would require overcoming major technical and logistical hurdles caused by the pandemic. All participants have their own day jobs and important personal/family matters to handle and kabam has done its best to accommodate filming schedules for all involved, not to mention the editing and amount of work that goes into filming the ideal set up. You’ll also have to factor in the color commentators and hosts as well. So yeah, a lot of logistical planning has gone into this. If not for covid, the idea might have been to hold it live with all participants on stage at New York Comicon, but that’s just my pure speculation. Given the circumstances and the pandemic hitting suddenly in March, kabam has adapted the showdown formula as best as they could. So, let’s just enjoy the show for some good year-end entertainment to bring some cheer as we see off this dreadful 2020 and welcome in a better 2021!

Barani7da

Nice speech. one day I will also come this place

DNA3000

But my main complaint is that it wasn’t a level playing field as not everyone has the ☠️ masteries or the ideal champ ranked up high as a 4* champ and so the qualifiers were a shambles.

You're right, it isn't a level playing field. No competition is a perfectly level playing field, because part of competition is the strength of the competitor. We don't say it is unfair for one team to have taller players than the other team in basketball, because height is a legal advantage in the game of basketball. And in MCOC, the whole point of the game is to build up and rank up a strong diverse roster in your game account and masteries are a part of that account growth. So players with stronger accounts, including roster and masteries, will have advantages over others.

The competition chose to reduce but not eliminate the advantage of roster growth (by limiting to 4* champs) and chose to not restrict or alter mastery set ups. That's an entirely legitimate competition decision. If you're not as strong as another competitor due to a lack of champions, a lack of rank up of those champions, or a lack of mastery unlocks, then you will be at a disadvantage to them. But it is a fair disadvantage, because those are all things the game intrinsically values at its core.

There's this bizarre fantasy that people often promote, that competition is supposed to be "about skill." No competition is about only skill. Competition is about competitors, and more specifically competitor performance. The most skilled person doesn't win in baseball, the most skilled person doesn't win in auto racing, the most skilled person doesn't even win in chess. The best competitor on the day of the competition wins, and skill is just one factor that determines which competitor performs the best on that day. If competition was supposed to be only about "pure skill" then golfers wouldn't be allowed to use their own clubs, NASCAR drivers would all get identical cars and wouldn't have their own personal pit crews, and marathon runners would all have to wear identical shoes.

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SatsuiNoHadou

But my main complaint is that it wasn’t a level playing field as not everyone has the ☠️ masteries or the ideal champ ranked up high as a 4* champ and so the qualifiers were a shambles.
You're right, it isn't a level playing field. No competition is a perfectly level playing field, because part of competition is the strength of the competitor. We don't say it is unfair for one team to have taller players than the other team in basketball, because height is a legal advantage in the game of basketball. And in MCOC, the whole point of the game is to build up and rank up a strong diverse roster in your game account and masteries are a part of that account growth. So players with stronger accounts, including roster and masteries, will have advantages over others.

The competition chose to reduce but not eliminate the advantage of roster growth (by limiting to 4* champs) and chose to not restrict or alter mastery set ups. That's an entirely legitimate competition decision. If you're not as strong as another competitor due to a lack of champions, a lack of rank up of those champions, or a lack of mastery unlocks, then you will be at a disadvantage to them. But it is a fair disadvantage, because those are all things the game intrinsically values at its core.

There's this bizarre fantasy that people often promote, that competition is supposed to be "about skill." No competition is about only skill. Competition is about competitors, and more specifically competitor performance. The most skilled person doesn't win in baseball, the most skilled person doesn't win in auto racing, the most skilled person doesn't even win in chess. The best competitor on the day of the competition wins, and skill is just one factor that determines which competitor performs the best on that day. If competition was supposed to be only about "pure skill" then golfers wouldn't be allowed to use their own clubs, NASCAR drivers would all get identical cars and wouldn't have their own personal pit crews, and marathon runners would all have to wear identical shoes.

I totally agree, and this is precisely the reason why form on the day or moment itself is a determining factor on who emerges victorious. For instance, a team like Liverpool, crowned champions of England and Europe can have all the skill and ability, but if their form fails them at just the wrong moment, it can result in an upset where they get beaten by lesser teams. As the old adage goes, “ form is temporary, class is permanent”; from here we can see that top teams/players will always maintain a certain high standard, but loss of form can allow mistakes and losses to happen. And the cause for losses of form can be attributed to multiple factors out of one’s control. So yea, whether it’s a team sport, or individual competition, the random variable of what some may call luck comes into play such that skill isn’t the one and only determining factor for victory. That’s reality for you, many times it’s not the most capable that emerges the winner.

Preparation is a totally legitimate aspect of how one prepares to compete. And that, in and of itself can be tailor made to suit one’s specific needs.

Gardener

@SpideyFunko Great Job even @Kabam Miike wants to copy your summoner sitdowns