Welcome, one and all, to the Tournament of Champions! For those of you who might not have paid attention to the tournament-related threads on the Versus Forum for the past few months, this is a collaboration of members of MTGS who have nominated teams, submitted write ups, and have otherwise invested time and energy to create a single-elimination tournament consisting of 32 different "tag teams", pitted against each other in a supreme fighting championship. Who will decide the ultimate winner? Why YOU of course!
There will now be two matches every week, each one also lasting a week (except semi-finals and finals, those last for two weeks each) until the conclusion of the tournament, and you're just in time for Round 1.
One of this week’s matches:
Team "Dark Lords" - Emperor Palpatine and Lord Voldemort
vs.
Team "Human Mental Prowess" - Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor
The members of both teams are transported to a different dimension with all information about their opponents “uploaded” into their minds. They have 30 minutes to prepare and talk to each other (they don’t know anything about each other as teammates, save for any experience from previous matches of this same tournament), and will also have full access to any technology, magic, weaponry, resources, etc. which they would routinely be able to use from their respective universes. Teammates may share resources with each other. Afterwards, both teams are teleported to the randomly chosen plane, which has mystically sealed off so that none of them can escape the battlefield in any way. The team that manages to knock out and/or kill both members of the opposing team will be declared the winner. There is no time limit.
Write ups for both teams:
Team "Dark Lords" - Emperor Palpatine and Lord Voldemort
The most powerful dark lords of their respective universes, they are feared, revered, and privvy to the darkest powers of their worlds. Palpatine (also known as Darth Sidious) is a master of the Dark Side of the Force who almost obliterated the Jedi Order, while Voldemort has gone so far into the Dark Arts that he has become the most feared evil wizard of all time. On a quest for immortality, power, and absolute supremacy, these two will work together to advance their ultimate goal of complete and total domination, if no one is brave enough to try and stop them.
Team "Human Mental Prowess" - Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor
Both men who believe in the superiority and potential of humanity to transcend superpowered opponents through knowledge and tactics, both these men have access to resources that would allow them to take down most superheroes from their universes. With their combined knowledge and drive, they would be a challenge for any team, utilizing their ruthless and underhanded tactics, combined with their resources, to take down any foe in the way of their ultimate goal.
How do I vote for the team I like? Well, I'm glad you asked...
This tournament uses a “Dual-Voting System” in which every user on MTGS may vote twice, once on the poll of the thread, and once by posting on the thread itself (by explicitly stating “I vote for team *insert name* because *insert reason*” in a post on the thread). You may spread these votes as you wish (you can vote anonymously on the poll for one team, but express your vote publicly through a post for another), or use them both to vote for the same team, or only vote once (using either method). In the end, the total of both "poll" and "post" votes will be used to determine a winner. In the event of a tie between total votes, the team with the most votes posted publicly on the thread itself shall be declared the winner, and move on to the next round. You only have one week to vote (two weeks for the semi-finals and finals), and the poll automatically closes on Sunday, 12MN (GMT +1). Only posts that occur before that time will be counted as valid votes.
Now, who wins this match? Root for your favorites now!
Round 1
Match 1: "Godslayer" vs. "Wizard Guide" - Team "Wizard Guide" (25 - 39)
Match 2: "Cybernetic Cannon" vs. "By Your Powers Combined" - "By Your Powers Combined" (21 - 24)
Match 3: "Smash" vs. "Metal Men" - (22 - 27)
Match 4: "Justice For All" vs. "Speed" - "Justice For All" (25 - 20)
Match 5: "Fun Size" vs. "Pest Control Problem" - "Fun Size" (22 - 14)
Match 6: "Rescue the Princess" vs. "Disney Villains" - "Rescue the Princess" (24 - 18)
Match 7: "Basketballers" vs. "Electromagnetic Pulse" - ???
Match 8: "Dark Lords" vs. "Human Mental Prowess" - ???
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
His will is indomitable. He is an absurdly powerful sorceror. He routinely faces enemies which would make these guys look like chumps.
Doom has an absurd power-level if you push things to maximum bonkers levels, but even without going into all of that, he's going to wipe the floor with them.
Only chance of winning for the other side would be to nail Doom with an Avada Kedabra (sp).
I agree with Catmurderer, Doom is almost too much for the others by himself, with Lex working with him it's an no brainer in my mind. Doom is like Iron Man and Dr. Strange rolled into one. Plus if anyone rolls it turns into two guys in power suits against two regular dudes.
All that aside, I like this match up, all kinds of evil here.
Oh Jesus this is juicy! I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one.
Two Uber Mages in Voldemort & Palpatine with mana/energy production doubled is a force to be reckoned with, I would fear for anyone facing this team on this battlefield.
But on the other hand, you have Dr. Doom, who is no slouch in the magic department himself, also having amplified powers due to the terrain.
The wild card in all this is definitely Lex Luthor. While many will be quick to dismiss him as the weak link in the chain up against Palpatine & Voldemort, this is a guy who's levels of preparation rivals that of Batman when it comes to his attempts at taking down Super Man. I'm sure he'd have more than two or even three tricks up his dirty, dirty sleeve.
I'm gonna love doing this right up. But I'll hold off my vote for now.
Lex has access to a HUGE amount of resources, So does doom, (both having been rulers of nations) doom has magic and has faced many magic foes before. I can see their combine knowelge coming up with something that makes them immune to the magic/force if given enough time (and with doom bots that might be possable.... Doom bots are NOT summons they are robots/resources right?
Lex has access to a HUGE amount of resources, So does doom, (both having been rulers of nations) doom has magic and has faced many magic foes before. I can see their combine knowelge coming up with something that makes them immune to the magic/force if given enough time (and with doom bots that might be possable.... Doom bots are NOT summons they are robots/resources right?
Considering Maleficent wasn't allowed to use her massive armies that are regularly at her disposal, I don't think Doom Bots are an option here.
My vote is definitely leaning towards Doom and Luthor, but I don't want to deny any credit to Voldemort & Palpatine. Palpatine has shown to be a master strategist, playing entire galaxies against one another as mere pawns to a greater scheme for his ability to gain ultimate power.
If you count his (albeit incredibly stupid) literary secondary source materials, the guy also has an insane amount of resourcefulness capable of planning for every little set back that could possibly happen to his plans. So he's gonna be cooking up some wicked ideas himself.
Not to mention Voldemort, who's as cold, patient and calculating as they come. Hell, he waited 12 years before finally making his move, still albeit ever so slowly just to ensure that his second rise to power could not be stopped or foreseen. Even as a young dark mage he was working on collecting all the necessary materials to essentially turn himself into a lich with his horcruxes.
These are all 4 really bad dudes, whoever winning probably having a good chance to go all the way here. I can't wait to do the write up.
Concerning weapons and allies: as usual, the "no summons and no minions" rule applies, so no, Doom can't bring Doombots, the Emperor cannot bring Stormtroopers, Voldemort can't bring Death Eaters, and Luthor can't bring Mercy. Again, these characters have to do the fighting primarily on their own. The only exception to this rule is using the terrain to one's advantage (enchanting or manipulating the terrain or using the inhabitants to further goals, as seen in the first match and the matches involving the Ghost Quarter and the Cliffside Market; that's allowed since it's a resource both teams would have access to, and would have no knowledge of beforehand).
Yes, Lex seems to routinely have access to the battlesuit (it's probably hidden in some Lexcorp facility somewhere, and the prep time allows almost instant access to these resources), so I'd qualify that as a weapon Lex could bring into the match.
Also, don't sell the Emperor short; the man has got a lot of resources. He probably has a lot more access to resources than most people in this tournament by virtue of him being in command of an intergalactic entity. Sure, Lex and Doom are wealthy political figures that make our Forbes 500 look homeless, but we're talking about a man who pretty much owns planets in comparison. Something to consider there, methinks.
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
Oh, and dr. doom is NEVER EVER without Doombots.
He always has at least one Doombot somewhere.
He rarely fights himself but sends them instead.
And based on the rules of the tournament it does not matter. Not a single one of the participants gets to bring in extra minions no matter how often they use them. Otherwise I would argue that the emperor is virtually always on a ship or base with legions of storm troopers... but that would be silly.
I guess we have to decide if it is a minion or a tool, We wouldn't say Iron man can't have his Iron man suit because it has AI and COULD work without tony.
I guess we have to decide if it is a minion or a tool, We wouldn't say Iron man can't have his Iron man suit because it has AI and COULD work without tony.
It would be a minion. Similarly I would find it acceptable if someone said Tony cannot have a dozen of his suits fly out on their own and that he has to be in control of them, not Jarvis.
Having Jarvis control his suit is a lot different than him controlling his suit directly. Having Jarvis be a helper AI (I assume Jarvis controls some of the fine tuned movements and such) is a lot different than having Jarvis actually do the fighting with the suit.
Palpatine eats a foot dive as soon as the fight starts and Voldemort gets into a 1v1 magic duel with Doom, which basically means Voldemort is totally screwed.
Palpatine eats a foot dive as soon as the fight starts and Voldemort gets into a 1v1 magic duel with Doom, which basically means Voldemort is totally screwed.
I wouldnt be so sure... This is the issue with Comic characters. Everything about them has to be "super omega awesome powerful!" (It's almost as bad as DBZ.... ), but still have to fight against guys like Spiderman... who I would say is comparable to a Jedi (mild future sight, extra strength and speed). So if Doom is basically invincible and can magic kill everything and anything why is he constantly being beaten by/fighting guys like the FF and Spiderman?
I am voting for the Dark Lords for a very simple reason. They are ruthless and actually deal with people trying to kill them. Non-of this foiling your plan and then leaving you alone to keep ruling comic book junk... they actually have powerful people trying to kill them all the time.
Dr. Doom murdered Valeira(Doom is her godfather) in cold blood.
He slaughtered thousands in his conquest for power and world domination.
Betrayed almost all of his allies or sacrificed them for his own gain.
Dr. Doom is the single mose evil entity in Marvel universe.
Everything I have read about him states that he adheres to a strict honor code that often results in him assisting his enemies.
Voldemort will kill his own allies for funnies.
I also believe people are not giving Palpatine any credit here. He is a Sith Master. He could force choke the other team from across the arena. He fought Mace Windu + 3 randoms, and Yoda in the same day and lived through it.
Yes, but he is not a mindless fool who will go and asist his enemies knowing that if he does, his team will lose.
I never said he was a fool. I just said he doesnt meet the same level of badass ruthlessness that the other team has. The emperor built a laser to blow up planets to keep his power and used it just to say "look what i got!". Voldemort isnt even really human anymore his soul has been fractured so many times. He will do anything and kill anyone to get ahead...
If this was in the market arena this team would nuke the place killing everyone in it for even the slightest advantage.
This is a team where I could actually see Voldemort walking out and just curse killing Luthor while Palpatine force chokes Doom to death.
On minions: Remember, the point of the Tournament is so that each character fights on their own. I think that we need to draw some fine lines here. The point of the ruling is to prevent uncontrolled masses of teams and minions doing the dirty work for them (Captain America can't bring the Avengers into the arena, The Heartless can't assist Maleficent, etc.).
I'll define a minion as being anything that can act semi-independently (due to sentience or being an AI) from it's commander. In this case, you can't bring minions into the arena from the prep time. You can't summon minions to fight in the arena either once the match begins. The last case, a borderline case, is making minions out of the arena itself, or it's inhabitants (enchanting trees to fight, zombifying or mind-controlling animals or humans in the arena), since that's no longer a limitless resource that can't be defined, and both teams couldn't have forseen it, I'll allow that. Fair enough?
Funnily enough, KyleR's post prompts me to ask: How many of Doom's accomplishments were actually his own? I mean, if a Doombot was responsible for the Silver Surfer fiasco, then what has the actual Doom done? It kind of puts the rest of his works into question...
Tally:
Poll Votes:
Dark Lords - 7
Human Mental Prowess - 10
Post Votes:
Dark Lords - 1
Human Mental Prowess - 3
Total Votes:
Dark Lords - 8
Human Mental Prowess - 13
Remember, I can't count your vote unless you explicitly say "I vote for team _____" in your post. Just so we're perfectly clear on that.
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
It still baffles me how people can still with 100% certainty say that guys like Doom, Magneto and Doomsday are so insanely powerful that they can never be defeated by any combination of teams never ever...when it's proven on a yearly basis in actual canon how these guys are defeated time and again by beings "much less powerful" than themselves.
I wonder where this line of thinking comes from? That somehow a super powered villain if placed in a vacuum is utterly unbeatable? I wonder what would happen if we got Dr. Doom Vs. Doomsday in a versus battle, since apparently both of those guys are apparently stronger than the most omnipotent God you can imagine?
Despite that, my vote does go to Team Human Mental Prowess, as I do believe they would win. But it's going to be a lot closer a fight than anyone could imagine.
I mean if we really want to go into embarrassing comic book events to prove how Doom can be defeated rather easily sometimes, he was defeated by a swarm of squirrels inflicted by Squirrel Girl. Just being surrounded by a mound of furry creatures was enough to take him down. That is IN CANON.
So let's not take too much stock in Dr. Doom being this Earth destroying super power capable of crushing every being in the Universe with a mere thought when he has been defeated, by one hero, using the power of Squirrels.
I wonder what would happen if we got Dr. Doom Vs. Doomsday in a versus battle, since apparently both of those guys are apparently stronger than the most omnipotent God you can imagine?
Draw.
Here's how:
Doomsday attacks Doom, who eventually figures out a way to kill him that he hasn't been exposed to previously. Doomsday regenerates from death and goes after Doom again. Doom tries the method he used before, and it doesn't affect Doomsday, leading him to devise a new plan that kills Doomsday again.
This process repeats around three more times.
As soon as Doom realizes he can't actually kill Doomsday permanently, he comes up with an alternative. He creates a machine fusing science and magic and uses it on Doomsday to merge his consciousness with it.
The end result is the creation of Doctor Doomsday (who really is a comic book character, by the way, in the Amalgam universe), allowing both of them to win the fight while destroying the other.
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
I mean if we really want to go into embarrassing comic book events to prove how Doom can be defeated rather easily sometimes, he was defeated by a swarm of squirrels inflicted by Squirrel Girl. Just being surrounded by a mound of furry creatures was enough to take him down. That is IN CANON.
So let's not take too much stock in Dr. Doom being this Earth destroying super power capable of crushing every being in the Universe with a mere thought when he has been defeated, by one hero, using the power of Squirrels.
Yeah.... I vote for team Dark Lords. Pretty sure Voldemort can conjure up something more deadly than a pack of Squirrels. Like a Giant flaming magic snake.
Yeah.... I vote for team Dark Lords. Pretty sure Voldemort can conjure up something more deadly than a pack of Squirrels. Like a Giant flaming magic snake.
Unfortunately someone like Squirrel Girl would be disqualified from the tournament as we are not allowed to bring any minions or summons to battle. So she would be virtually useless against Doom here.
I was merely making the point that if anybody wants to believe that Doom is going to solo everything in this tournament with his bare hands, they are sorely mistaken, as he can be defeated by the right strategy.
Unfortunately someone like Squirrel Girl would be disqualified from the tournament as we are not allowed to bring any minions or summons to battle. So she would be virtually useless against Doom here.
Well, that's true for the most part, but many of our terrains from Magic lore just happen to have Squirrels in them (Krosan, Llanowar, even the current terrain on Shandalar might have some), so it really depends on the terrain pull. On a plane like Ravnica, she'd be powerless, but in other places...
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
There will now be two matches every week, each one also lasting a week (except semi-finals and finals, those last for two weeks each) until the conclusion of the tournament, and you're just in time for Round 1.
One of this week’s matches:
Team "Dark Lords" - Emperor Palpatine and Lord Voldemort
vs.
Team "Human Mental Prowess" - Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor
Fighting in: The Eloren Wilds (Shandalar)
The members of both teams are transported to a different dimension with all information about their opponents “uploaded” into their minds. They have 30 minutes to prepare and talk to each other (they don’t know anything about each other as teammates, save for any experience from previous matches of this same tournament), and will also have full access to any technology, magic, weaponry, resources, etc. which they would routinely be able to use from their respective universes. Teammates may share resources with each other. Afterwards, both teams are teleported to the randomly chosen plane, which has mystically sealed off so that none of them can escape the battlefield in any way. The team that manages to knock out and/or kill both members of the opposing team will be declared the winner. There is no time limit.
Write ups for both teams:
Team "Dark Lords" - Emperor Palpatine and Lord Voldemort
The most powerful dark lords of their respective universes, they are feared, revered, and privvy to the darkest powers of their worlds. Palpatine (also known as Darth Sidious) is a master of the Dark Side of the Force who almost obliterated the Jedi Order, while Voldemort has gone so far into the Dark Arts that he has become the most feared evil wizard of all time. On a quest for immortality, power, and absolute supremacy, these two will work together to advance their ultimate goal of complete and total domination, if no one is brave enough to try and stop them.
Team "Human Mental Prowess" - Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor
Both men who believe in the superiority and potential of humanity to transcend superpowered opponents through knowledge and tactics, both these men have access to resources that would allow them to take down most superheroes from their universes. With their combined knowledge and drive, they would be a challenge for any team, utilizing their ruthless and underhanded tactics, combined with their resources, to take down any foe in the way of their ultimate goal.
How do I vote for the team I like? Well, I'm glad you asked...
Now, who wins this match? Root for your favorites now!
Round 1
Match 1: "Godslayer" vs. "Wizard Guide" - Team "Wizard Guide" (25 - 39)
Match 2: "Cybernetic Cannon" vs. "By Your Powers Combined" - "By Your Powers Combined" (21 - 24)
Match 3: "Smash" vs. "Metal Men" - (22 - 27)
Match 4: "Justice For All" vs. "Speed" - "Justice For All" (25 - 20)
Match 5: "Fun Size" vs. "Pest Control Problem" - "Fun Size" (22 - 14)
Match 6: "Rescue the Princess" vs. "Disney Villains" - "Rescue the Princess" (24 - 18)
Match 7: "Basketballers" vs. "Electromagnetic Pulse" - ???
Match 8: "Dark Lords" vs. "Human Mental Prowess" - ???
How well do you do against one?
His will is indomitable. He is an absurdly powerful sorceror. He routinely faces enemies which would make these guys look like chumps.
Doom has an absurd power-level if you push things to maximum bonkers levels, but even without going into all of that, he's going to wipe the floor with them.
Only chance of winning for the other side would be to nail Doom with an Avada Kedabra (sp).
All that aside, I like this match up, all kinds of evil here.
Two Uber Mages in Voldemort & Palpatine with mana/energy production doubled is a force to be reckoned with, I would fear for anyone facing this team on this battlefield.
But on the other hand, you have Dr. Doom, who is no slouch in the magic department himself, also having amplified powers due to the terrain.
The wild card in all this is definitely Lex Luthor. While many will be quick to dismiss him as the weak link in the chain up against Palpatine & Voldemort, this is a guy who's levels of preparation rivals that of Batman when it comes to his attempts at taking down Super Man. I'm sure he'd have more than two or even three tricks up his dirty, dirty sleeve.
I'm gonna love doing this right up. But I'll hold off my vote for now.
Considering Maleficent wasn't allowed to use her massive armies that are regularly at her disposal, I don't think Doom Bots are an option here.
My vote is definitely leaning towards Doom and Luthor, but I don't want to deny any credit to Voldemort & Palpatine. Palpatine has shown to be a master strategist, playing entire galaxies against one another as mere pawns to a greater scheme for his ability to gain ultimate power.
If you count his (albeit incredibly stupid) literary secondary source materials, the guy also has an insane amount of resourcefulness capable of planning for every little set back that could possibly happen to his plans. So he's gonna be cooking up some wicked ideas himself.
Not to mention Voldemort, who's as cold, patient and calculating as they come. Hell, he waited 12 years before finally making his move, still albeit ever so slowly just to ensure that his second rise to power could not be stopped or foreseen. Even as a young dark mage he was working on collecting all the necessary materials to essentially turn himself into a lich with his horcruxes.
These are all 4 really bad dudes, whoever winning probably having a good chance to go all the way here. I can't wait to do the write up.
Yes, Lex seems to routinely have access to the battlesuit (it's probably hidden in some Lexcorp facility somewhere, and the prep time allows almost instant access to these resources), so I'd qualify that as a weapon Lex could bring into the match.
Also, don't sell the Emperor short; the man has got a lot of resources. He probably has a lot more access to resources than most people in this tournament by virtue of him being in command of an intergalactic entity. Sure, Lex and Doom are wealthy political figures that make our Forbes 500 look homeless, but we're talking about a man who pretty much owns planets in comparison. Something to consider there, methinks.
How well do you do against one?
And based on the rules of the tournament it does not matter. Not a single one of the participants gets to bring in extra minions no matter how often they use them. Otherwise I would argue that the emperor is virtually always on a ship or base with legions of storm troopers... but that would be silly.
It would be a minion. Similarly I would find it acceptable if someone said Tony cannot have a dozen of his suits fly out on their own and that he has to be in control of them, not Jarvis.
Having Jarvis control his suit is a lot different than him controlling his suit directly. Having Jarvis be a helper AI (I assume Jarvis controls some of the fine tuned movements and such) is a lot different than having Jarvis actually do the fighting with the suit.
He is just so powerful nothing else even matters.
Palpatine eats a foot dive as soon as the fight starts and Voldemort gets into a 1v1 magic duel with Doom, which basically means Voldemort is totally screwed.
I wouldnt be so sure... This is the issue with Comic characters. Everything about them has to be "super omega awesome powerful!" (It's almost as bad as DBZ.... ), but still have to fight against guys like Spiderman... who I would say is comparable to a Jedi (mild future sight, extra strength and speed). So if Doom is basically invincible and can magic kill everything and anything why is he constantly being beaten by/fighting guys like the FF and Spiderman?
I am voting for the Dark Lords for a very simple reason. They are ruthless and actually deal with people trying to kill them. Non-of this foiling your plan and then leaving you alone to keep ruling comic book junk... they actually have powerful people trying to kill them all the time.
Everything I have read about him states that he adheres to a strict honor code that often results in him assisting his enemies.
Voldemort will kill his own allies for funnies.
I also believe people are not giving Palpatine any credit here. He is a Sith Master. He could force choke the other team from across the arena. He fought Mace Windu + 3 randoms, and Yoda in the same day and lived through it.
I never said he was a fool. I just said he doesnt meet the same level of badass ruthlessness that the other team has. The emperor built a laser to blow up planets to keep his power and used it just to say "look what i got!". Voldemort isnt even really human anymore his soul has been fractured so many times. He will do anything and kill anyone to get ahead...
If this was in the market arena this team would nuke the place killing everyone in it for even the slightest advantage.
This is a team where I could actually see Voldemort walking out and just curse killing Luthor while Palpatine force chokes Doom to death.
I'll define a minion as being anything that can act semi-independently (due to sentience or being an AI) from it's commander. In this case, you can't bring minions into the arena from the prep time. You can't summon minions to fight in the arena either once the match begins. The last case, a borderline case, is making minions out of the arena itself, or it's inhabitants (enchanting trees to fight, zombifying or mind-controlling animals or humans in the arena), since that's no longer a limitless resource that can't be defined, and both teams couldn't have forseen it, I'll allow that. Fair enough?
Funnily enough, KyleR's post prompts me to ask: How many of Doom's accomplishments were actually his own? I mean, if a Doombot was responsible for the Silver Surfer fiasco, then what has the actual Doom done? It kind of puts the rest of his works into question...
Tally:
Poll Votes:
Dark Lords - 7
Human Mental Prowess - 10
Post Votes:
Dark Lords - 1
Human Mental Prowess - 3
Total Votes:
Dark Lords - 8
Human Mental Prowess - 13
Remember, I can't count your vote unless you explicitly say "I vote for team _____" in your post. Just so we're perfectly clear on that.
How well do you do against one?
I wonder where this line of thinking comes from? That somehow a super powered villain if placed in a vacuum is utterly unbeatable? I wonder what would happen if we got Dr. Doom Vs. Doomsday in a versus battle, since apparently both of those guys are apparently stronger than the most omnipotent God you can imagine?
Despite that, my vote does go to Team Human Mental Prowess, as I do believe they would win. But it's going to be a lot closer a fight than anyone could imagine.
So let's not take too much stock in Dr. Doom being this Earth destroying super power capable of crushing every being in the Universe with a mere thought when he has been defeated, by one hero, using the power of Squirrels.
Draw.
Here's how:
Doomsday attacks Doom, who eventually figures out a way to kill him that he hasn't been exposed to previously. Doomsday regenerates from death and goes after Doom again. Doom tries the method he used before, and it doesn't affect Doomsday, leading him to devise a new plan that kills Doomsday again.
This process repeats around three more times.
As soon as Doom realizes he can't actually kill Doomsday permanently, he comes up with an alternative. He creates a machine fusing science and magic and uses it on Doomsday to merge his consciousness with it.
The end result is the creation of Doctor Doomsday (who really is a comic book character, by the way, in the Amalgam universe), allowing both of them to win the fight while destroying the other.
How well do you do against one?
Yeah.... I vote for team Dark Lords. Pretty sure Voldemort can conjure up something more deadly than a pack of Squirrels. Like a Giant flaming magic snake.
Unfortunately someone like Squirrel Girl would be disqualified from the tournament as we are not allowed to bring any minions or summons to battle. So she would be virtually useless against Doom here.
I was merely making the point that if anybody wants to believe that Doom is going to solo everything in this tournament with his bare hands, they are sorely mistaken, as he can be defeated by the right strategy.
Well, that's true for the most part, but many of our terrains from Magic lore just happen to have Squirrels in them (Krosan, Llanowar, even the current terrain on Shandalar might have some), so it really depends on the terrain pull. On a plane like Ravnica, she'd be powerless, but in other places...
How well do you do against one?