These players met in round 4, where Quang took the victory 2-0.

Yoo: “It felt like 3-0.”

This time, there is more on the line—the winner of this match will walk away with $2,500, while the loser gets a “paltry” $1,500. It’s a $1,000 ante match, with some measure of fame and notoriety in the Vs. community up for grabs as well.

Joseph is playing Brotherhood while Quang is with X-Men/Brotherhood beatdown, also known as Mutant Nation, a deck using efficient drops, recursion, and its namesake card to wreak havoc on the enemy.


Game 1

Yoo mulliganned, and his opening turns weren’t exactly terrific. In fact, he played turn 1 Destiny, turn 2 nothing, turn 3 nothing. Meanwhile, Quang came out with Pyro and used Cerebro to find Nightcrawler and play him on turn 3. Yoo then recruited an embarrassing turn 4 Blob on the initiative (offense, baby!) while already down 50–43 in endurance.

Yoo: “This is the worst game ever.”

Quang was busier. The San Diego native flipped up an Avalon Space Station and activated, then flipped up Mutant Nation, and then used Cerebro, growing his hand to a formidable size and finding the optimal turn 4 drop in Sabretooth, Feral Rage. Yoo was able to get in the game, though. He activated Destiny and sent Blob after the target, Nightcrawler. When Quang tried to flip Lost City and power-up twice, Yoo had the Overload to deal 6 and reset Blob for another run, this time at Pyro, to deal another 6. Quang responded by attacking Blob and stunning him, leaving the life totals at 38–34 for Quang.

With the initiative on turn 5, Quang recruited Quicksilver, Speed Demon, and Yoo matched him with a support row Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr, followed by four cards from Genosha. Quang’s Sabretooth, Feral Rage attacked Blob, and Yoo reinforced with Destiny. With the fat man out of the way, Quicksilver was free to go after Magneto, and was powered up to 11 ATK. Yoo played two Flying Kicks on Quicksilver and used another Overload to stun him, dealing 5. Quang was undaunted, and sent Nightcrawler to attack Magneto, using a combination of Avalon Space Station and Reconstruction Program to reach the necessary 9 ATK. Though Yoo dug desperately with another Genosha, he couldn’t find anything and had to flip his Magneto. Life totals were 33–25 for Quang going into turn 6 with Yoo on the initiative.

Yoo made the best use of his four resources by recruiting Sabretooth, Feral Rage and arranging his men in a defensive “L” formation,with Destiny in the reinforcement seat behind Sabretooth and beside Magneto. Quang had a better play in Colossus, who was a 16 ATK monster with so many character cards in the discard pile. Magneto exhausted Quang’s Sabretooth, and Yoo sent his army in.

Magneto attacked Nightcrawler, and Quang activated Cerebro for more gas and discarded to Avalon to bring back Nightcrawler and power up twice to 9 ATK. Yoo had another Overload for the big stun, and then Sabretooth attacked Colossus and was powered up to deal 12 for a double stun. Magneto, given a new lease on life, attacked Quicksilver, which Quang powered up. Yoo played Savage Beatdown and they both stunned. When the dust cleared, life totals were 17–16 in favor of the Mutant Nation player

On the seventh turn, there was less action and more scooping, as Quang showed his opponent the massive Wolverine, Berserker Rage, to which Yoo had no answers.

Quang Nguyen 1 – Joseph Yoo 0


Game 2

Yoo had his usual nothing for the first two turns of the game (bad draws can be rough with $1,000 on the line, folks) and Quang led off with Pyro. When Yoo played Rogue, Anna Raven on the third turn, he was immediately outclassed by a gassy turn from Quang, who played Wolverine, Logan and followed up by flipping both Mutant Nation and Cerebro, then using the location to draw two characters, including a Sabretooth, Feral Rage that was sure to come in handy next turn.

Rogue attacked Pyro, and Yoo flipped up The New Brotherhood. Quang activated Pyro before he was tapped by Rogue’s ability. Wolverine attacked back on Rogue and Quang flipped and activated Savage Land and to deal 8. When Quang chose to recover Wolverine, Yoo jumped at the chance to send a 5-point Surprise Attack to the head, evening both life totals at 36 heading into the fourth stanza.

Quang opened up with the expected Sabretooth, Feral Rage, and Yoo answered with one of his own. Quang activated Cerebro, grabbing one character and discarding one. Wolverine was pumped up to 10 ATK via Savage Land and sent after Yoo’s Sabretooth (just like in the comics!), but Yoo had his now familiar Flying Kick + Overload combo to cool things down. Quang wouldn’t be denied, and his Sabretooth was next to try the same attack, this time achieving a stun. He then flipped up Avalon Space Station and used it, eliciting a groan of disgust from Yoo.
           
Yoo: “Could you, for once, not draw every card you need?”

Quang recovered Sabretooth, and it was time for turn 5 with the life totals at 32–29 in Yoo’s favor. The board was rough, though. Quang had every location besides Lost City and was drawing cards like mad. Yoo had no 5-drop (uh-oh) and had to content himself with the not-so-super duo of Mystique and Destiny, declining to lay a resource in order to keep his The New Brotherhood active.

Yoo: “Are you scared?”

If Quang was, he didn’t show it, hitting his 5-drop with Quicksilver, Speed Demon. Now for the crucial turn. Yoo activated Destiny and had his Sabretooth attack its counterpart on the other team. Both were stunned, leaving the life totals at 28–15 Yoo. Next, he tried a team attack on Quicksilver with Mystique and Rogue that would deal 12 total. Quang activated his Avalon and powered up a total of five times to 13 DEF, quite a trick considering he had no Lost City in play. Yoo Genosha’d for two cards in desperation and came up with an additional Rogue, but then Yoo made the play that would give him the championship—he blew Yoo right out by turning over a second Avalon Space Station and activating it to give Quicksilver 14 DEF. Quicksilver lived to fight another day, and Rogue was flipped.

Quang put the game in the game in the bag by readying Quicksilver (who had been tapped by Rogue, Anna Raven’s ability) and bashing Destiny for 12 damage, putting him up on endurance by a score of 15–14 going into turn 6 with him on the initiative.

Turn 6 saw Quang activate Avalon to grab and play Nightcrawler, Fuzzy Elf to go with his Quicksilver and Sabretooth. Yoo played only Toad and Pyro, and when Nightcrawler started to sneak large men into his support row to massacre the little guys, Yoo conceded and Quang Nguyen took the $10,000 and the title of San Diego Comic-Con $10K Champion.


Final Result: Quang Nguyen defeats Joseph Yoo, 2–0