Sometimes you come to a tournament with clear expectations of what your role will be, and sometimes you come to Vegas and every random job under the sun falls on your plate. Today, I may or may not have done the following jobs: Manage judges, win $500 on penny slots, set up wireless networks, administer judge tests, rescue people from a burning building, oversee a tournament, locate packages from FedEx, discover the proof for String Theory, and do event coverage. Why is this important to feature match coverage, you ask? It means . . . I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to event coverage. If it sucks, I apologize. If it rocks, well, you need to seriously re-evaluate your definition of “rocks.”
Alex won the roll and chose odds.
Both players are currently sitting at seven wins, and whoever wins this match is a shoe-in for the Top 8 tomorrow. The loser will have to anxiously wait and see if his tiebreakers are strong enough to carry him on to Sunday.
Both players kept their opening hands.
Alex recruited Alfred Pennyworth on turn 1, which was immediately mirrored by Tim.
Turn 2 saw Tim recruit Spoiler ◊ Robin and put her up front along with Alfred.
Alex flipped Optitron and searched out Mirage, Miriam Delgado, activated Alfred’s effect, and searched out The Brave and the Bold. Spoiler attacked Mirage and Alex took 2, and then the butler came across with the fine silver for 1 to the dome.
Before Alex built a resource on turn 3, Tim shuttled the butler back to his hand and searched out a Fizzle. Alex flipped up The Brave and the Bold, drew a card, and recruited Huntress. He then equipped Utility Belt to Mirage and put her behind Huntress.
Tim recruited Alfred and put Spoiler behind the kindly old gentleman. Huntress attacked Alfred, who was reinforced by Spoiler. Alfred stunned, and no more attacks were made.
Tim recruited Merlyn on turn 4 and put him up front with Spoiler. Alfred got behind the archer. Alex activated USS Argus and recruited Terra, Terra Markov. Mirage hid behind Terra, and Huntress flanked her. Merlyn attacked Huntress, and neither player added any effects. Alex took 6, and Tim had no more attacks. Terra attempted to bring the beats on Spoiler, who was having no part of that and evaded. Alex activated Terra’s ability targeting a ready Alfred Pennyworth. With no response from Tim, the butler took a dive and Alex sent his Argus to the KO pile.
Alex shook his head after his turn 5 draw, then promptly activated the USS Argus that he palmed off the top of his deck after KO’ing the last one.
Tim: “That’s pretty lucky.”
Alex: “Yes, yes it was.”
Alex recruited Batman, Caped Crusader and put him up front with Terra. Tim flipped up My Beloved and drew a card. He then activated Alfred’s effect, which was promptly negated by Mirage’s fancy Utility Belt. Tim recruited Cassandra Cain ◊ Batgirl and threw the butler back into the fray. Cassandra and Merlyn went up front with Spoiler and Alf behind them. Batman came across to pound some sense into Merlyn, and Spoiler used her ability to give Merlyn 4 more ATK to trade with Bats.
Huntress wanted to avenge Batman and tried to pummel Spoiler, but she evaded into the shadows. Alex then proposed a team attack with Huntress and Terra, but Tim flipped up Tower of Babel to stop the beating before it started. Alex responded with a Fizzle, and Tim had his own Fizzle for that one. Alex activated Terra’s ability targeting Alfred Pennyworth, and Tim could do nothing but watch the venerable butler take another one for the team. Alex activated Bat-Signal targeting Huntress and milled through his deck for Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Cassandra came after Terra and took the butler-bashing babe down. The scores were now 33 to 31 in Tim’s favor as Alex let Terra go to the KO pile and Tim let Alfred go bye-bye
Tim began turn 6 by recruiting Ra’s al Ghul, Master Swordsman, and then used his ability to KO Tower of Babel, Fizzle, and My Beloved. Alex dropped a small army of Pantha, Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, Alfred Pennyworth, and everyone’s favorite . . . Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Tim responded with an appropriate “Wow!” and his eyes rolled back into head as he pondered how much destruction Roy was about to wreak.
Alex exhausted everyone for Roy to make him 14 ATK, and then shot down Ra’s with his ability. Spoiler attacked Roy, and Tim powered up Spoiler with another copy of the Girl Wonder. Both players traded blows there. Tim then threw down a Flame Trap from his hand, which elicited a groan from Alex and the subsequent stunning of everyone but Huntress and Batman. Merlyn pounded Huntress in the face, and then Cassandra came after Batman. Tim added a Savage Beatdown to ensure that Batman would be taking a dirt nap. The score was now 21 to 9 in Tim’s favor.
Alex flipped up another The Brave and the Bold on turn 7, and then recruited Red Star and Mirage. He used Red Star’s effect to burn Tim for 5 and passed. Tim recruited Bane, Ubu and put him next to Ra’s, with Merlyn behind him.
Alex: “That is pretty much game.”
Red Star and Bats team attacked Ra’s, and Alex added Dynamic Duo to ensure that he didn’t lose anyone. Tim had no response and Ra’s went down. Alex had no more attacks and Tim chose to pass on his chance to come swinging. Now the score was in Alex’s favor, at 9 endurance to 4.
Turn 8 saw Tim recruit Ra’s al Ghul, The Demon’s Head, and Alex scooped up his cards.
Alex: “I was really hoping you were going to attack last turn.”
Tim Baton will head to the Top 8 tomorrow, whereas Alex has to wait and see if he’ll slide in on tiebreakers or if he’ll be watching from the sidelines.