Featured in round 2 is yet another well-known Vs. System pro, Nick Little, who is piloting the “discard deck” that is all the buzz here in San Francisco. His opponent, Masami Ibamoto—one of our Japanese players from across the “other” pond—is looking to take it to the discard deck with his Avengers reservist build.

Masami started off turn 1 with a resource and passed with no recruit. Nick played a resource and recruited Archangel, Angel into his front row, then discarded a copy of The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero to Archangel’s effect to search out an X-Corp: Amsterdam. Masami passed his attack step, and Nick attacked into Masami with Archangel for 2 endurance loss and first blood.

Nick started off turn 2 by playing a copy of Beetle, Armorsmith and discarded a copy of Evil Star to Beetle’s ability. Masami recruited Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, Super Spy into his front row and passed to Nick’s attack step. Nick attacked with Archangel into Natasha, both players passed with no effects, and both characters stunned. Nick followed up with a direct attack with Beetle for 3 endurance loss.

Turn 3 saw Masami looking over his hand long and hard before deciding what to lay as his resource for the turn. He played a copy of Enemy of My Enemy, discarding She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell to search for a copy of Adam Strange. Masami then recruited Black Panther, T’challa into the hidden area and revealed three face-down reservist resources. He then passed to Nick’s recruit step, and Nick decided to play Straight to the Grave to send Dr. Light, Master of Holograms from his deck straight to his KO’d pile. Nick then flipped and activated Slaughter Swamp, discarding a Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to bring Dr. Light, Master of Holograms back to his hand. Nick then recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and used Dr. Light’s effect to bring back Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to his front row. He formed with Beetle and Archangel in the front row and Poison Ivy and Dr. Light in the support row. Masami looked over his attacks carefully as he prepared to make his strike.

Masami announced Natasha into Beetle with no effects, and the attack resolved with both characters stunning. Black Panther then attacked into Dr. Light, and Dr. Light stunned. As Masami passed, Nick responded with, “Yeah, hold on,” and flipped his X-Corp: Amsterdam face up. He searched for a copy of Justice League of Arkham and played it face down in his resource row. Nick then KO’d Beetle to Poison Ivy’s effect and searched for another X-Corp: Amsterdam. Nick then used X-Corp: Amsterdam’s effect to search for a second Justice League of Arkham. Play moved to the recovery phase, and Masami used Adam Strange’s effect from the resource row to target Archangel. Archangel was KO’d by the effect, and the players moved on to the next turn.

Nick played a resource and returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster from his KO’d pile to his hand. Nick then recruited Hope into his front row and flipped Justice League of Arkham, announcing “Inmates/Revenge Squad” to his opponent. He then used Dr. Light to bring Beetle back to his front row from his KO’d pile and discarded a Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to Beetle’s effect. He then teamed-up two more times with two more copies of Justice League of Arkham, having forced his opponent to discard three cards from his hand so far and teaming-up everyone on the board. Nick then used Hope to turn a Justice League of Arkham face down and used it again, making his opponent discard another. Nick then used his last resource point to recruit another Hope and used Hope’s effect again to target Justice League of Arkham so it could be flipped face up again and send another card away. The seemingly endless stream of tricks temporarily stopped as Nick finally passed. Masami attacked with Natasha into Beetle, with both characters stunning. Black Panther then attacked into Dr. Light, and the attack resolved with Dr. Light’s stun. Play moved to the recovery phase, where Nick used Poison Ivy again, sending his stunned Beetle to the KO’d pile to search for a copy of Birthing Chamber for his resource row. Both players recovered their characters, and play moved onto the next turn.

Nick announced, “Okay, before you lay a resource,” and then played a copy of Justice League of Arkham from his hand followed by a copy of Hard Sound Construct to bring Hope back into play. He then sent Hope to the KO’d pile again to turn a copy of Justice League of Arkham face down, then flipped it back face up to force Masami to discard the two cards that he drew this turn. Nick used Dr. Light to bring Beetle back into play from his KO’d pile and used his effect to search out a Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, discarding Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster again for Beetle’s trigger. Nick recruited Deadshot, Floyd Lawton into his front row and then recruited another Hope as well. Nick then activated Birthing Chamber to draw two cards and discard a card. After that, Nick took time to think over his possibilities, and he decided to recruit Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara with boost. While the recruit was on the chain, Nick decided flip a copy of Straight to the Grave from his resource row. With Straight to the Grave, Nick sent Cardiac from his deck to his KO’d pile. He then KO’d Yellowjacket to Poison Ivy and searched for a copy of UN Building to team-up again. Nick then recruited yet another copy of Hope and used her effect again to turn a copy of Justice League of Arkham face down. Just as Nick was about to flip the Team-Up face up, Masami said, “Yeah,” and promptly conceded the game, as there was nothing he could do without a hand.

Winner: Nick Little