Week 11: Marvel vs Capcom Rivalry Week

What happens when worlds collide?

What happens when rivals clash?

What happens when fantasy…becomes reality?

Don’t touch that dial … and definitely don’t touch that joystick!

Because you’ve now stepped through the screen of your arcade machine into another reality.

If you’re reading this, your ghoul face has begun to melt, and you’ve been stripped of your Brotherhood of Steel power armor.

Is that the Aaron Rodgers ayahuasca? Are you seeing what I’m seeing? You’ve been sucked into a new world and adventure, fantasy manager.

It’s time to t-t-take your for a ride!

Oh and by the way, every rivalry game match up resulted in the same outcome as last year. Yup. All seven. As one of the losing managers, we need to do better!

Dropped from rankings: Sack in the City

*(Points Scored x2) + (Points Scored Winning %) + (Points Scored * Winning % if played vs the median score of the week)

MEME OF THE WEEK:

Ohhhh yeah, we are back with our meme of the week section. Will it be a meme? Will it be a gooner? Will we mostly feature how ass JJ McCarthy is? You bet.

And we’re picking right where we left off in week 1 with this meme. We’re at the point of the season where you have no choice but to start Darnell Mooney and pray for the death rule to kick in - so having your top guys being able to play is key.

Just don’t tell that to #1 overall Fellowship pick Ja’Marr Chase, who decided to pull a Jalen Carter and spit on Jalen Ramsey to get himself a one game suspension.

And this couldn’t come at a worse time for the Rawblins. They just fell to 5-6 and need a win this week to stay in the playoff hunt. So not only did Chase spit in the face of a defender, he also did so to our beloved RawbPeople.

The Algorithm vs. Average Boes

Algorithm Heroes Selected: CMC, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers

Average Boes Heroes Selected: Rico Dowdle, K Walker III, Alvin Kamara

NEW H2H Record: Algorithm is 2-0 against Average Boes

It makes sense that the Algorithm would be pretty damn good at video games in our first tournament matchup. While Bucky and Joe Burrow turned out to be low-tier characters from the character select screen, the machines picked a tried-and-true cheat code for his main this past draft: CMC. The fourth drafted RB is averaging a whopping 26 pts per MU, and he’s the big reason Trevor stands atop the Eastern Conference while holding an undefeated record in this relatively new rivalry. CMC is the ultimate PPR stud when healthy, reminding us of the X-Men franchise killing machine: Sentinel. Sentinel-CMC makes for the perfect solo main as no one else eclipsed 15 points on the machine man’s roster this week. Boes’ RB-heavy approach turned into a mixed bag when his blue-chip WR Nabers suffered a season-ending injury earlier this season, and Jacobs was just traded for Kenneth Walker III, Quentin Johnston, and Harold Fannin Jr., all of whom resulted in a combined 24 points. The Boes stand in the middle of the Fellowship standings with an anti-air heavy RB team (and even a running WR option in Deebo). Rico Dowdle stands in for Venom, as he torments RawbPeople’s soul with each passing week, while Kamara runs like famed bruiser M. Bison (well past his fighting prime). Walker runs like Hayato, a bounty hunter with his own motivations, as he rarely reaches a ceiling his owners so desperately crave.

Note: Algorithm also won his rivalry match in his first year back in 2023 — his championship season.

LuLu Lemons vs. RawbPeople

LuLu Heroes Selected: Bijan, Ladd, McBride

Rawb Heroes Selected: Chase, Chuba, Josh Allen

NEW H2H Record: LuLu is 4-4 against Rawb

It’s the famed grudge match we’ve all been waiting for! LuLu, our reigning champ and once source of RawbPeople’s grief from their 2019 championship matchup, has drawn even in their regular-season H2H record dating back to the 2020 season. He’s won four straight rivalry games now, and like Michigan against Ryan Day, he did it in commanding fashion. It was the battle of the first and second overall draft picks, and one unleashed an infinite hyper combo that melted Rawb’s life bar, while the other got suspended for spitting on a defender. Bijan came for Rawb’s soul like Marvel’s Blackheart, as he set up multiple void traps and used his spacing in the PPR game to reach his ever-rising ceiling as the league’s fourth-ranked back. McBride was close behind, filling in as support and assisting like Doctor Doom, while close in power to his tag team fighting partners. Ladd did his best Thanos impression, recalling LuLu’s iconic alias from his first chip, but it looked like Tetairoa McMillan was the Silver Samurai hero Lemons needed to complete an all-out, slashing assault. Josh Allen went up against this punishing ONSLAUGHT nearly all by himself. Chuba, a Tron Bonne level of uselessness in the MU, stayed on the bench. Where she belongs. Unfortunately for Rawb, Chase couldn’t replicate his Cyclops-esque heroic performance from the Unc Bowl earlier this year as Tet diced him up like Skyline Chili. Josh Allen, the hard-to-master Iron Man, dropped another masterpiece, rushing down his opponent with fast and furious strikes on the ground and energy beam blasts through the air… Alas, it was all for naught, and his near-infinite combo at quarterback resulted in RawbPeople’s second straight loss. There's no hero ball in this matchup. If Rawb can’t stand the sweat and pressure of the tournament, then he’s not only out of quarters to spend, he’s out of the playoffs this year and for the fourth year in a row running. LuLu’s playoff hopes remain alive, and so too does his hope for another championship…spelling DOOM for the rest of the league.

Jimmy Da Kid vs. Spaghetti Mafia

Jimmy Heroes Selected: Nico Collins, Javonte Williams, Breece Hall

Spaghetti Heroes Selected: Brock Bowers, Lamar Jackson, Sean Tucker

NEW H2H Record: Jimmy is 0-2 against Spaghetti

Jimmy, the hope of redemption still burning in his heart, stepped up to the cabinet to prove himself against a rival that got the best of him last year. The underachieving, yet still capable, Nico was first up in his rotation of fighters. Nico danced balletically across the field, acrobatically hanging in the air for so long that you’d think he was Storm controlling the weather. Brian Thomas Jr. and Tyreek Hill were out of commission as mains for the kid, so it was up to Breece Hall, a former Juggernaut, and Rachaad White, a street-fighting Ken, to lend their support to complement the storm of Nico lighting up the stadium. But what’s this? Spagheitti Mafia gabagools his way to the control sticks, and former low-tier brawler Ryu -- Sean Tucker -- just MOPPED the floor with Ken and even Storm with well-timed kicks and a precise Hadouken that sends Jimmy back down to his bean bag chair. The trio of Omarion Hampton (unselected and useless), a resurrected but slow-moving Anakaris-Lamar Jackson, and the hit-or-miss card-throwing Gambit-Bowers couldn’t hold back the mafia from their third straight rivalry matchup. They’re back in the playoff hunt as Jimmy Da Kid looks for a hyperbolic time chamber to train up the rest of his fighters.

Beerserkers vs. Bodega Cat

Beerserkers Heroes Selected: Jahmyr Gibbs, Kyren Williams, Stefon Diggs

Bodega Heroes Selected: CeeDee Lamb, JT, Kittle

NEW H2H Record: Beers 4-4 against Bodega

Round Eight. FIGHT! In this corner, we have the Beerserkers. Tied for the record of most consecutive regular-season victories in Fellowship league history. Opposite him, Bodega Cat. Two-time champion and commissioner, the only manager to ever win it back-to-back. As both players button-mashed their light and heavy kicks and punches, it was clear that this was going to be a low scoring but tight battle. Terry McLaurin was benched, his hyper combo gauge in desperate need of recharging, while Stefon Diggs drew first blood. Diggs’ Omega Red metal coils were outstretched, hauling in nine catches off 11 targets. Gibbs and Kyren Williams, top 10-ranked RB bruisers, teamed up like Strider Hiryu and Colossus, dishing speed and power out in equal measure. The Cat was on the ropes. His health bar was fast depleting under the pressure of Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A! Dom, missing S-Tier rushdown back JT-Magneto due to his Brotherhood of Mutants scheduled bye week, needed some production fast. After Kittle’s Hulk-smashing fists sonic-clapped TWO touchdowns in the endzone, the Bodega Cats were down over 40 points with two players left heading into MNF (and the Beerserkers still had his own hulking Guile left on his roster: Jake Ferguson). A returning CeeDee was able to Spider-Man web at least one ball away from George Pickens to score just enough with a return to form Dak “Cable” Prescott shooting lasers from his viper beam rifle. The Cat landed on his feet and won by 0.98 points. That’s his third straight regular-season win against the Beerserkers. Ironically, that’s the year Tom changed his team name and never looked back. They’re now dead tied in regular-season wins and losses in their rivalry H2H matchups. The Beerserkers are also still tied at first in the western standings since Sacks and Kong also lost their matchups this week.

Detroit Lines vs. McConkey Kong

Detroit Heroes Selected: Sun God, David Montgomery, Gainwell

Kong Heroes Selected: Ashton Jeanty, Chase Brown, George Pickens

NEW H2H Record: Detroit 2-0 against Kong

Last year’s Aragorn Crown holder goes toe-to-toe with a Kong hellbent on vengeance. While Katie won her first rivalry matchup in the league, she’s coming into this one after a loss. It was tight as Chase Brown and Ashton Jeanty had to cover for KIA hero James Conner. Jeanty played like a hard-to-control D-tier character, Wolverine, his claws made of bone and barely scratching the Lines on MNF. Chase Brown fared better as the Iceman in this matchup, especially after this year's lukewarm Bengals scheme helped dish out another booming, freeze-blasting RB PPR performance. George Pickens, unsung Jin Saotome hero of the mid-tier, just couldn’t bash enough of Detroit’s health bar down enough to come back in the end. It wasn’t Sun God, David Montgomery, or even one-armed Jayden Daniels that helped save Detroit’s day (and season)… no, it was Captain America Kenneth Gainwell, shield-bashing his way through 11 Cincinnati defenders to the tune of two touchdowns through the air. Throwing and catching his shield like the sleeper PPR stud he is, Kenneth hopes that Detroit will keep him locked into the lineup as fantasy managers everywhere look to build off Kenneth's hot low-tier performance. America always gains well.

Sacks in the City vs. Haribo Lecter

Sacks Heroes Selected: Barkley, Achane, Tee Higgins

Haribo Heroes Selected: Puka, JSN, N’joku

NEW H2H Record: Sacks 2-6 against Haribo

Haribo Lecter. League eater. Namer of names. Video game breaker. No line of code is safe from her gummy bear-squishing fingers. No arcade sticks and rival players even stand a chance as her deadly trio continues to rain hellfire from the air, juggling and hyper comboing her targets with ease. JSN, like the many-armed Spiral, continues to catch balls from everywhere. Puka positions and spaces himself well on the battlefield, charting his way to more W’s than Psylocke. And then we have N’joku. Capcom’s Servbot. Haribo didn’t need to embarrass Sacks with chip damage from the Browns veteran TE, and yet she did. Rookie Trevyeon Henderson made sure that she’d have plenty of margin for error as the Patriot put on his best Captain Commando outfit and led the team to victory. On the left side of the screen, meanwhile, Sacks tried to hold strong with 21.8 per game, third-place RB, Achane. He held the line and Ruby Heart-finessed his way to a cool RB6 week performance. Alyssa’s lead back has been carrying her trio all year long, especially since a middling, mediocre Saquon played like a de-clawed Sabretooth in the lineup when she needed him most. Tee Higgins, always B-tier and never S, put up a respectable floor performance, but he wasn’t able to Rogue power absorb any of Ja’Marr’s booming abilities this week. Sacks has now lost four in a row to Haribo, as she joins Rawb in the longest rivalry drought without a victory. Maybe Alyssa’s always been right… Maybe Abigail is good at this game.

The Movie Chef vs. The Philadelphia Smeagles

Chef Selected: Derrick Henry, Drake London, Hurts

Smeagles Heroes Selected: Justin Jefferson, AJ Brown, James Cook

NEW H2H Record: Chef 3-0 against Smeagles

It’s time to sit up and correct that posture, gamers! Tony’s about to COOK (hold the James). It’s been a rough season. It’s true. The Movie Chef has lost a lot of battles in the ring. However, just like that Favreau movie, Tony has won our hearts time and time again. In the last MU of the night, the glow of the CRT arcade cabinet screen shone a light on Chef putting on an absolute clinic on favored Smeagles. After that classic 160.1 versus 157.36 MU three years ago, Tony continues to own this rivalry. Henry scored his second-highest point total of the year, finally playing more like Zangief as opposed to sluggish green, alien monster Shuma-Gorath. Get a job Shuma! You look ridiculous with your one eyeball, gross tentacles, and women’s studies degree. Drake London continues to aura farm like some kind of Akuma, mastering his skills so he can take on Ryu, division rival and nemesis Sean Tucker (and the Bucs) later this season. Finally, even Jalen Hurts added a head bonk, Mega Man tush-push rushing TD for added insult. Fellow Bills and Iron Man running mate, “War Machine” James Cook, tried to put up some points in the TB and Buffalo shootout. It wasn’t enough. Smeagles couldn’t get the rest of his controller inputs right, as Justin Jefferson still has Amingo throwing him the ball. JJ McCarthy is Amingo. Amingo is a cactus man-plant guy. Amingo sucks. So Jefferson couldn’t live up to his ADP; his fiery Dhalsim combos a thing of Minnesota legend long since passed. What about AJ Brown? Did he make a good one, Adrian? No, he did not. Go type “Dan in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 lowlights” into your search bar to understand how AJ Brown has been doing on and off the field this season. Welp, that’s it for Philly this year. Maybe try best out of seven?

And for Our Chef, he’s on the John Cena level retirement tour, but after one more loss (and next week’s MacSucken Match Up), U C Him… in the playoffs.

The tournament concludes. The music starts to fade. The ride is over.

Rivals that once won last year have won this year, all the same. Will history repeat itself next year?

The colors bleed. The sweat on your palms finally dries. Another week comes to an end. You look out in the distance and see the door to a vault. A wasteland.

The arcade screen cuts to black.

Insert Coin(s) to Continue to Week 12