Vicarious Competition: Recent Episodes
Line of Sight
Join Michael as he delves into the competitive side of the best Kaiju-battling miniatures game in the world: Monsterpocalypse!
Talking about a potential new pair! Blastikutter Yasheth strikes a good balance between new hotness and dark horse picks that should catch my opponents by surprise!
I added two exclamation points here since we’re combining Blastikutter and Hammerklak into a single episode.
Let’s look at the new powerhouse for Protectors: Hurricanius! The new starter set for Protectors is coming in with some much needed love for the good guys.
Xixorax was the original Savage Swarm Monster. Although powerful in it’s own right, Xixorax’s standalone release makes it difficult to pin down what exactly the faction identity of the Savage Swarm is supposed to look like.
Exciting news from Privateer Press with fully spoiled rules from the new Destroyers starter set. Let’s look at Dynastavus and the supporting Units for the Savage Swarm.
Let’s finish up the Zerkalo Bloc series! Voyaka 099 was met with lukewarm response when it first released, but after some time on the table turned out to be the real powerhouse of the faction!
Zavod 075 is an incredibly well-designed Monster, but gets held back by his Speed 5 Pedestrian status. Let’s see if this Monster can still make the cut in a competitive setting.
Welcome back to Vicarious Competition: The Intimate Breathy Edition! Let’s talk about Komkor 001 in a quiet “I can’t disturb the other folks in my house” kinda way and see why this might be the worst Monster in the game.
This week we’re going to go through all of the Zerkalo Bloc Monsters, starting with our faction overview.
Something different for you all today! I wanted to share some of the development history behind Monsterpocalypse 2.0. I hope you enjoy!
Today’s episode is a combination gameplay and counter-gameplay review of everyone’s favorite dinosaur: Armodax! This Monster catches a lot of flak for being a nightmare for newer and mid-range players, but is typically manageable at higher levels of play. Let’s talk about what makes it such a strong choice and what you can do about it once you see it across the table.
Here we discuss the Destroyers changes spoiled from Privateer Press. Be sure to check out Field of Fire for the rest!
Let’s look at what Krakenoctus looks like following his adjustments in the upcoming Dynamic Update.
Let’s look at a meta snapshot and discuss common trends I’ve been seeing in tournament play.
I’m looking for a new competitive pair and having trouble deciding where to begin! Let’s talk about it.
Here' we have our post-game interview with my friend Brett, known on Discord as Relocked after his devastating win in TTS 7. I went for an early aggressive play that ended in a missed attack and Brett’s counter-attack won the game for him.
Final Episode of the Ubercorp International series ends with a bang! Mecha-Maxim is the best they have to offer, so let’s check out what makes it such a great Monster.
Affectionately known as G-Tron, Gorghadratron is the herald of a unique design space that gives Monsters a super-charged Hyper form, but with a reduced health pool in that form.
Let’s talk about the upcoming changes to Sergeant Titanica, Zor-Raiden, and White Dajan!
Happy Monday everyone! This week we’ll be playing catchup from last week’s backlog. Let’s get started with a faction overview of Ubercorp!
A very common question in every miniature game I’ve played is “What should I buy first?” This episode goes through all of the current factions for both Agendas and recommends a starting Monster for a new player as well as what makes this Monster a good choice.
Today’s episode is more of a PSA in community building. The new player experience is a critical component of healthy meta growth and it’s important to make sure we don’t scare them away!
Some general tips and tricks to help you improve your games after you’ve reached a plateau.
Welcome back! Some minor delays due to weather and life stuff. We’re finishing off the Lords of Cthul series with Ulgoth.
The first previews of the upcoming Dynamic Update were released yesterday. Privateer Press revealed upcoming nerfs for Krakenoctus, Globbicus, and the Sun Industries Building. From what we are told, these will be the only nerfed models in this update. All other changes included will be buffs, or maybe lateral shifts. We’ll have to wait and see!
The Lords of Cthul series marches on! Yasheth is a weaker Monster that can be challenging to play on a competitive level. Today’s episode talks about why exactly that is and what redeeming qualities his kit does have for die hard fans.
The Construction Yard introduces an entirely new type of model to the Monsterpocalypse: Assets. This is a huge jump in complexity and offers a greater variety of competitive options for your lists. Let’s see which ones are worth taking and which ones don’t see as much table time.
All hail Lord Cthugrosh! Let’s talk about the King of Cthul and what makes him such a powerhouse!
Time for some non-Euclidean overviews! I love the look of the Lords of Cthul faction and they have some really unique rules that define them as a defensive and tricksy faction to play.
Clock management is an important skill in competitive play and sometimes can be an intimidating barrier for casual players. Today’s episode outlines the advantages of using a chess clock in your games and how to do so in a sportsman-like manner.
An now back to your regularly scheduled programming! Today we show Protectors some love as promised with an overview of the beaver-shark: Leviathron!
Closing out the week with the final entry of the Planet Eaters series: Rogzor! This is a ranged-focused and highly disruptive Monster that supports his ranged units and can make Blast attacks deep in the enemy lines to disrupt their power generation.
Let’s talk about how to build a list together! Here’s the fundamental components, but keep in mind this is only meant to be a guideline and decisions are extremely flexible!
Xaxor is a Monster that I initially wrote off when it was released. With anemic Boost dice pools and an extremely Action Dice intensive Hyper form, ol’ Flipper Hands sat on my bench for a while. Once I actually got him on the table and played a few games, this little guy sure surprised me!
Welcome to February everyone! We are long overdue to talk about our boy Gorghadra, the poster child of the Monsterpocalypse (if you’re a Destroyer that is…) Star player of the Planet Eaters and featured in the Starter Box, Gorghadra is a simple but affective monster that definitely has a place at the competitive round table.
Our first month in the books! A big thanks to everyone for supporting the worst MonPoc Podcast on the web. We’re going to celebrate with a special guest and fellow content creator on LoS: Maren! Their innovative list building and search for “jank lists that work” caught my attention early on.
Today’s episode formally dubs Monsters that buff units as Commander Monsters. I think it describes them very well and let’s talk about what they bring to the table in general when considering your Monster pair.
I noticed some recent discussions surrounding purchasing advice for newer players. Here we talk about picking up duplicate Unit Blisters and when it is or isn’t a recommended buy.
Happy Friday! I’m really excited about today’s episode because it’s a crunchy one! Let’s start exploring a really complex topic I’m calling “Resource Attrition” for the time being.
Hey guys! I’ve got some Protectors action for you today. Terra Khan is a Monster that doesn’t make it onto the table very often, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to love! Terra Khan has some really unique and powerful quirks so let’s talk about them!
Let’s talk some lists! Gallamaxus is a Monster I’ve had my eye on for a while and Ares Mothership will always be my one true love!
Today’s episode will go over a bit of list construction. Let’s talk about what buildings you should be bringing to your tournament and what makes some choices more attractive than others.
There was a really good discussion on social media today about what MonPoc would look like with scenarios, or alternate win conditions. To me it feels like MonPoc is extremely far off from needing scenarios to keep the game interesting. Scenarios are a way to enhance stale gameplay, and MonPoc is as fresh as they come ;)
Komkor 001 on release was rightfully dubbed and “Apartment Building with Legs”. This Monster falls well short of what you want to see in a competitive environment. I really like the look of Zerkalo Bloc models so I wanted to challenge myself to see if I can build a list for Komkor 001 I’m happy with. Zerkalo fans shouldn’t worry too much either way since Zavod 075 and Voyaka 099 are both really strong choices!
Treating each other with respect is extremely important during your games and in general. I wanted to finish my thoughts from the previous episode to make sure I got through what I needed to say. If both you and your opponent aren’t having fun, you’re not winning. (OK you can still win but you get the point..)
Sportsmanship is extremely important no matter what game you’re playing, and MonPoc isn’t any different. Playing to win, or “try harding” is not a free license to be a jerk in the competitive setting. I would even argue the opposite in that you should be extra courteous to your opponent when bringing a brutal top-tier list. We’re all here to have fun, so here’s some of my experience from playing at a competitive level over the years
Whether you paint your own models or support local artists, it’s always great to see painted models across the table. I always try to keep myself motivated by only including models in my lists once I’ve finished painting them to try and cash in on my excitement for new releases. Here’s a little rambling and inspiration for the hobbyists out there.
Ares Mothership has been my favorite Monster from the beginning. Here’s a deep dive analysis on what makes her so great.
Today I wanted to talk about the Martian Menace faction and what makes them stand out from the rest of the Destroyers!
Welcome back! Episode 3 talks about both the Protectors and Destroyers starter boxes. We break down the product and talk a little bit about how to start your collection with models that will see the most play.
Welcome back! Episode 2 talks about the gameplay mechanics in MonPoc that give it the foundation to be more than a casual “beer and pretzels game”. I briefly explore the areas of tactical depth that make this game so engaging to play even at the highest level.
Hello everyone and welcome to Vicarious Competition! This is a brand new Monsterpocalypse podcast brought to you by “The” Michael Ireland to explore Privateer Press’ monster fighting game from a competitive perspective. Early episodes will be extremely new player friendly to help encourage new players to try the game before we ramp up in complexity. Episode 01 introduces myself and what direction I plan on taking the cast. My goal is to show all of you that Monsterpocalypse has what it takes to sustain a high competitive meta and to share with my listeners the tips and tricks I learn along the way. Content will be broken down into easily digestible 10-15 minute episodes coming at you 5 days a week! This is made possible by keeping editing times to absolute minimums. Very likely to be the ugliest podcast you’ve heard in your life and I hope you enjoy!