Julius is playing the same deck that Antonino DeRosa was playing before he got eliminated in the first round of the Top 8. It’s the same deck, card for card, that Team TOGIT was playing in PC: LA. David Bauer is playing a fairly typical Curve Sentinel deck, with the only major differences being the inclusion of Total Anarchy, Not So Fast, and the Sentinel Mark I. If Julius can hit his ideal drop on each step of the curve his chances are pretty good; however, that’s no easy feat for a deck that has no search capability other than Cerebro. As for David, he has to get out enough Sentinel Mark II’s to cancel Julius’s activated abilities, most importantly that of Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. Furthermore, as in any game against a stall deck, the slower David’s deck starts out, the easier he makes the match on Julius.

After three die rolls, Julius chose to take the odd initiative. Julius drew an X-Corporation; Overload; Onslaught; and Puppet Master, and mulliganed it away, redrawing into Wolverine, Logan; Rogue, Power Absorption; Cerebro; and Jean Grey, Phoenix Force.

On turn 1, both David and Julius played a resource and passed their recruit steps and combat phases. On the second turn, David played a resource and passed his recruit step.
Julius played a resource and recruited Puppet Master. Both players passed their way through the combat and recovery phases.

Julius drew Sunfire and Cerebro on turn 3, and put Burn Rubber into his resource row before playing Wolverine, Logan in his front row in front of Puppet Master, revealing Rogue, Power Absorption. David played a Sentinel Mark II. Julius’s Wolverine attacked into David’s Sentinel Mark II for a loss of 6 endurance. Julius used Cerebro for Jean Grey, Marvel Girl and Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath discarding a Cerebro to keep Professor X.

Julius drew Cerebro and Overload on the fourth turn. David played a resource and Sentinel Mark V. Before the recruitment resolved, Julius activated his Puppet Master to exhaust David’s Sentinel Mark II. David placed the Sentinel Mark V in front of the Sentinel Mark II. Julius placed Overload into his resource row and played Rogue, Power Absorption to the front row next to Wolverine, Logan. Rogue, Power Absorption copied Puppet Master’s ability, activated, and the players proceeded to the next turn.

On turn 5, Julius drew Mimic and Rogue, Power Absorption. He now had his full curve except for Onslaught. Julius placed Cerebro in his resource row and Sunfire into play behind Rogue, Power Absorption. David played a resource and put Nimrod into play in front of his Sentinel Mark II with his Sentinel Mark V unprotected in the back row. Julius’s Rogue, Power Absorption copied Puppet Master at the start of combat, and Sunfire activated, targeting David’s Sentinel Mark II. David lost 3 endurance, putting the endurance totals at 50 to 41 in Julius’s favor. Rogue, Power Absorption and Puppet Master activated to exhaust the rest of David’s characters.

On turn 6, Julius drew Burn Rubber and Professor X, Charles Xavier. David played a resource and placed Bastion into his back row. Julius chained to the declaration of Bastion’s recruitment by activating Sunfire, stunning David’s Sentinel Mark II and bringing David down to 38 endurance. David was saving his hand to cancel Julius’s more important activated abilities later in the game.

David’s formation put Bastion in front of his Sentinel Mark V and Nimrod in front of the stunned Sentinel Mark II. Julius played a resource and Mimic came into play. He had Mimic and Rogue, Power Absorption copy Puppet Master, then activated them to exhaust David’s characters, and the players went on to the next turn. David made a big mistake here by not using Bastion to power up Puppet Master once to play Overload on him before Mimic and Rogue, Power Absorption can copy Puppet Master’s ability.
 
On the seventh turn, Julius drew Sunfire and Acrobatic Dodge. He placed the Acrobatic Dodge in his resource row and recruited Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath into play in front of Sunfire. Rogue, Power Absorption was next to Professor X, in front of Mimic, and next to Wolverine, Logan, who was in front of Puppet Master. David played a resource and recruited Magneto, Master of Magnetism behind Nimrod. Nimrod was next to Bastion, who was protecting a Sentinel Mark II, that was itself next to an unprotected Sentinel Mark V.

David asked, “Is zero greater than two times zero?” revealing to Julius that he had an Overload. The judge informed him that it is not. However, all David had to do was use Bastion’s ability on Puppet Master once to play Overload. David allowed combat to begin and Julius’s Rogue, Power Absorption copied Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath and his Mimic copied Puppet Master.

Julius activated Sunfire, targeting a Sentinel Mark II, but David canceled it with the Sentinel Mark II. Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath activated, exhausting Nimrod, and Rogue, Power Absorption was activated, exhausting a Sentinel Mark V. The endurance totals were recorded at 50 to 22 in Julius’s favor, but David had effects to chain to Rogue’s activation. David finally used Bastion to increase Puppet Master’s attack by one and played Overload on him. In response Julius activated Puppet Master and David exhausted the Sentinel Mark V that Rogue had targeted. Overload then resolved, dealing the first damage to Julius this game and putting the endurance totals at 48 to 22.

David attacked Professor X with Magneto, Master of Magnetism and Julius chained an exhaustion of Mimic to exhaust David’s Bastion. David used Bastion’s ability on Magneto, Master of Magnetism once to make him a 17 ATK/17 DEF to avoid the stun-back and cause Julius to lose 10 endurance. Julius temporarily forgot Magneto, Master of Magnetism’s ability and lost both Puppet Master and Professor X, much to his dismay.

On turn 8, Julius drew Burn Rubber and Professor X. David played and used a Genosha to draw four cards after declaring his 8 resource points. He thought about his options for a while, frowning before he used Bastion’s ability on Magneto, Master of Magnetism once, then played Reconstruction Program to retrieve two Sentinel Mark Vs and a Sentinel Mark II. David played two Sentinel Mark IIs and Julius activated Sunfire, targeting a Sentinel Mark II, but David activates him, cancelling it with that same Sentinel Mark II. David put Magneto, Master of Magnetism, Nimrod, and Bastion in the front row in front of three Sentinel Mark IIs, with the exhausted one behind Bastion next to an unprotected Sentinel Mark V.

Julius placed Jean Grey, Phoenix Force in front of Sunfire, next to Rogue, Power Absorption in front of Mimic, who was next to Wolverine, Logan protecting no one. David asked for a pause and a chance to respond to Jean Grey, Phoenix Force coming into play but he had nothing to chain and Julius kept his formation. Julius could now copy Jean Grey, Phoenix Force with Rogue, Power Absorption and Mimic and David only had two ready Sentinel Mark IIs to cancel with. Julius did so as the combat phase begins.

David attacked Mimic with Magneto and Julius activated to KO him, but the effect was cancelled by one of David’s ready Sentinel Mark IIs. David then declared the same attacker on Rogue, and Julius activated to KO her too, but again the effect was cancelled by David’s last ready Sentinel Mark II. Finally, Julius activated and KO’d Jean Grey, Phoenix Force to return all remaining characters in play to their owner’s hands when David declared another attack, this time on Sunfire.

As they picked up their cards, they both discussed their mistakes, but neither player mentioned the most notable ones—when David failed to play Overload on Puppet Master before the combat phase on turns 6 and 7. David lamented that he didn’t use Bastion’s ability on Rogue and then played Overload on her before the combat phase. Shortly thereafter, Julius made a questionable and ultimately devastating play himself when he activated Cerebro, revealing Onslaught who was promptly put under the deck.

On the ninth turn, Julius drew Wolverine, Logan and Rogue, Power Absorption and activated Cerebro, putting the Professor X, Charles Xavier that was revealed into the discard pile and keeping the Emma Frost at the cost of discarding a Sunfire. He placed Wolverine, Logan in his resource row and then recruited another copy of Wolverine, Logan in front of Emma Frost. Julius couldn’t believe his bad luck at losing Onslaught to Cerebro, and it had likely cost him the game. David played a resource and thought about his play, finally putting Bastion into his back row. Julius checked David’s KO’d pile and asked for a card count, to which David replied that he has 11 cards in the KO’d pile.

David attacked Wolverine, Logan with Bastion and Julius activated Emma Frost, drawing a Pleasant Distraction and causing David to discard a card, which he chooses to be Nimrod. David checked the life totals and passed, Julius thought about it and took all 9 of the endurance loss. Julius was at 29 endurance and David was at 22.

On turn 10, Julius drew Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath and Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. David played a resource, counted them, and thought about his play. He then counted Julius’s resources. At this point, David’s phone rang, and he answered with, “I’m in the Top 4. I’ll call you back.” Head judge John Rich and I laughed quietly about a similar situation in Rush Hour 2, and then Julius counted his deck, wondering where his other Onslaught was hiding. David boosted a Sentinel Mark V and played a Sentinel Mark II behind him next to Bastion.

Julius considered his play for a while and put Pleasant Distraction in the resource row. Julius played Mimic and Rogue, Power Absorption, placing Mimic in front of her and Wolverine, Logan in front of Emma Frost. David attacked Emma Frost with Bastion, Julius activated her ability, and the Sentinel Mark II canceled it. Julius then activated Mimic who copied Emma Frost and drew a Sunfire as David discarded a Sentinel Mark V. Still during the declaration of attacks, Julius activated Cerebro taking a Jean Grey, Phoenix Force into his hand. He discarded a Sunfire and placed the Wolverine, Logan that was revealed directly into the KO’d pile.

Finally, Julius activated Rogue, Power Absorption drawing a Pleasant Distraction and removing a Sentinel Mark V from David’s hand before David’s attack was finally legal. David used Bastion’s ability on Bastion once to avoid the stun-back and Julius lost 9 endurance, putting him at 20 endurance to David’s 22. Julius counted his deck again and David declared an attack on Rogue with his Sentinel Mark V. David attacked during the attack substep and Julius thought about it while checking his resources. David commented that he should have stunned Mimic instead of Emma Frost so that he could remove one of the two “copiers.” Julius checked the number of cards in David’s hand—five—and then played an Acrobatic Dodge. David used Bastion’s ability on the Sentinel Mark V once to stun Rogue and Julius lost another 4 endurance. During the recovery phase, Julius lost Emma Frost, keeping Rogue in play.

On turn 11, Julius drew a Children of the Atom and Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. As he had frequently been doing, Julius counted his deck again before putting Pleasant Distraction in his resource row and adding Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath to his board, behind Wolverine, Logan and next to Rogue, who was behind Mimic. David, probably glad not to see an Onslaught asked if that was it. Julius wondered aloud why everyone asks that and they both discussed how Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath is a lot scarier on turn 7 than he is on turn 11, and that there are greater things to worry about that late in the game. Both players were also a little tired and asked jokingly if they could “tap out” and have someone else finish the match for them.

David played a resource, a Sentinel Mark II, and Magneto, Master of Magnetism before activating Genosha. Before it could resolve, Julius used Professor X to exhaust David’s Sentinel Mark II and David lost 4 endurance. David drew his four cards and moved to his formation step, putting his two Sentinel Mark IIs in the back row protected by a boosted Sentinel Mark V and Magneto, Master of Magnetism with Bastion unprotected in the back row.

Julius checked David’s KO’d pile and nervous banter ensued about David’s board. The consensus is that Magneto is good. Mimic and Rogue copy Professor X’s ability and Julius activated Mimic, targeting the ready Sentinel Mark II. David considered whether to cancel it or not and negated it, discarding a Mark II. Julius activated Rogue, targeting the Mark V and David was now behind, having only 9 endurance to Julius’s 16 endurance.

Julius played Pleasant Distraction on Bastion and Magneto and ended the turn using Cerebro to put a Jean Grey, Marvel Girl into the discard pile and another Cerebro under the deck. He breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t repeat his earlier mistake and lose an Onslaught.

On turn 12, Julius drew an Emma Frost and an Acrobatic Dodge. David played and used a Genosha to draw four cards. Julius asked him how many he was playing and David held up three fingers. David played Reconstruction Program and Julius asked what his targets were. David tells him three Mark IIs and returns them to his hand. It didn’tt look good for Julius, as all David had to do is play those Mark IIs and he’d be able to cancel five activated abilities.

Julius could exhaust one with Professor X and would have two characters left to copy either his ability or Jean Grey’s ability, but that would leave David with an extra Mark II so Julius wouldn’t be able to get Jean Grey’s effect through. David played just two Mark IIs, which was enough to stop Julius from “bouncing” with Jean Grey. He placed all four copies of Mark II in the support row and his other three characters in the front row.

Julius considered his resource play and once again checked David’s KO pile. He placed a Children of the Atom into his resource row and played Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. Julius asked if David had four Sentinels in hand, offering a concession if he did, but David didn’t. Instead, Julius activated Mimic, copying Jean Grey. David, since he couldn’t stop all activations of Jean’s ability, allowed it to go through so he could keep the extra cards in his hand.

On turn 13, Julius drew two characters that weren’t Onslaught and placed an Acrobatic Dodge into the resource row before recruiting Rogue and Emma Frost with Rogue in front. David played a resource, Bastion, and a Mark V with Bastion in front.
Rogue copied Emma’s ability. Rogue activated, David tossed a Cover Fire, and Julius drew a Children of the Atom.

David attacked Rogue with Bastion, and Julius activated Emma Frost to draw Puppet Master and removed a Total Anarchy from David’s hand. David then played two Nasty Surprises on Rogue and Overloaded her. Julius could have used Acrobatic Dodge to put Rogue outside of Overload range, but then, just one use of Bastion’s ability would put her back in Overload range. Julius did play the Acrobatic Dodge, and David used Bastion to put her ATK up to 15. Overload resolved and Julius lost 4 endurance. David then attacked Emma Frost with Bastion and used Bastion’s ability once to avoid being stunned back. Julius played Burn Rubber, and lost 6 endurance, dropping to 6 endurance. David declared an attack with the Mark V directly at Julius, but Julius played Children of the Atom to recover Emma Frost before the attack could resolve. However, David declared a new attack of the Mark V on Emma Frost, played a Savage Beatdown and the game was over.

David could have used his Children of the Atom on Rogue and played another Burn Rubber on her. However, as it turned out David had two copies of Not So Fast to cancel it.

Game Two

Julius again took the odd initiative. He drew Wolverine, Pleasant Distraction, Overload, and Sunfire. He mulliganed that hand and drew into an Acrobatic Dodge, Pleasant Distraction, Puppet Master, and Cerebro.

On turn 1, Julius drew two Wolverines and put Cerebro in his resource row. David played a resource and the players moved on to turn 2. David played a resource and a Sentinel Mark I, which Julius had to read. Julius put an Overload in his resource row and played Puppet Master. He then activated Cerebro, revealing Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath and Mimic, discarding Puppet Master to keep the Professor.

On turn 3, Julius drew an Emma Frost and Children of the Atom, then used Cerebro to put Burn Rubber on the bottom of the deck and put a Jean Grey, Marvel Girl into his hand discarding a Wolverine. He plays Wolverine in the front row in front of Puppet Master. David played Sentinel Mark II in front of Sentinel Mark I, then David attacked Wolverine with the Mark II.

On turn 4, Julius drew Rogue and Emma Frost. He then used Cerebro, putting Wolverine and Jean Grey, Marvel Girl in the KO’d pile. David played a Sentinel Mark V in front of the Mark II. Sentinel Mark I was in the support row, unprotected.

Julius put Acrobatic Dodge in his resource row, and played Rogue, next to Wolverine, who was in front of Puppet Master. Julius used Puppet Master and Rogue to exhaust Mark II and Mark I, then David attacked Puppet Master with Mark V. Julius sent Wolverine to attack Mark I, and David lost 6 endurance.

On turn 5, Julius drew Rogue and Puppet Master. He activated Cerebro to find Burn Rubber and Acrobatic Dodge. He played Children of the Atom in his resource row, then played Jean Grey, Marvel Girl in the front row, next to Rogue and next to Wolverine, who was in front of Puppet Master. David played another Sentinel Mark II, then put both Mark IIs in the support row and Mark I and Mark V in the front row.

Julius attacked Mark I with Wolverine and David lost 2 endurance. Julius sent Jean Grey to attack one Mark II and David played Cover Fire, putting him at 7 DEF. Neither character was stunned. Julius attacked a Mark II with Rogue, and David lost 3 endurance. Julius then used Puppet Master to exhaust a Mark II. David then attacked Puppet Master with Mark V, bringing both players’ endurance totals to 36.

On turn 6, Julius drew Mimic and Sunfire. He used Cerebro and found Cerebro and Onslaught. David played Bastion next to Sentinel Mark V in the front row, in front of the two copies of Sentinel Mark II. Julius dropped Mimic in the support row, behind Rogue, and didn’t change his formation after putting a character into the row.

David attacked Puppet Master with Bastion. Julius used Jean Grey’s ability on the Emma Frost he put in the resource row, getting X-Corporation instead. The attack was legal, and Julius used Puppet Master to exhaust a Mark II, losing 12 endurance.

On turn 7, Julius drew Jean Grey, Phoenix Force and X-Corporation. He played the X-Corporation in his resource row. He placed Professor X behind Jean Grey, Marvel Girl, and had no change in formation.

David played Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

“Do you ever miss him?” Julius asked.

“I try not to,” David answered as he used Genosha to draw four cards. Julius wished out loud that Magneto didn’t have the word “opponents” on it. David put Bastion and Magneto in the front row, in front of two Mark IIs, with a Mark V unprotected in the back row.

Julius announced that Rogue and Mimic would copy Professor X’s ability. Julius put Puppet Master’s ability on the chain, then activated Rogue, targeting the Mark II behind Bastion. David lost 4 endurance. Julius then activated Professor X’s ability, targeting David’s other Mark II, causing him to lose 4 more endurance and going to 28. Julius activated Mimic, targeting David’s Mark V. David lost 9 more endurance. Puppet Master’s ability then resolved, exhausting Bastion]. Julius then played Pleasant Distraction on Magneto. After two activations of Cerebro, Julius put Professor X, Charles Xavier into his KO’d pile.

On turn 8, Julius drew Burn Rubber and Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. David played two Mark IIs, then placed all four Mark 2’s in the support row. He put Bastion next to Magneto, next to Mark V in the front row.

Julius activated Professor X’s ability on Mark V, which was probably a bad move as David didn’t need to cancel this one. However, David fell for it and canceled it with a Mark II, tossing Boliver Trask. However, since David had three more Mark IIs, it likely wouldn’t matter. Julius activated Puppet Master. If David exhausted a Mark II, he would be in trouble, but he exhausted the Mark V instead. Julius asked for a card count. David says 6 as Julius checks his resource row—he’s once again short of being able to pull off Jean Grey. He has two characters to copy her ability, but David has three ready Mark IIs. David commented that he only kept his hand because he had two Mark IIs, even though he had nothing else

Julius dropped Sunfire and another Puppet Master. He moved Sunfire in front of Puppet Master, next to Professor X, who was in front of Mimic and was next to Rogue, who was in front of Wolverine, who was next to Jean Grey, Marvel Girl in the support row.

Julius activated Sunfire on a ready Mark II, tossing Emma Frost. David thought about it and lost 3 endurance. Julius had Rogue and Mimic copy Sunfire’s ability. David checked his resources and attacked Professor X with Magneto. Julius activated Rogue, targeting a ready Mark II and tossing Jean Grey, Phoenix Force, and David discards Nimrod. Julius activates Mimic, targeting the last ready Mark II, and David cancelled it again. Julius offers his hand in concession.

David Bauer 2, Julius Heywood 0