Shane Wiggans told me before the round began that he thought he had received a really solid deck, so, before the menacing lawyer could sit down, I pulled him and his opponent, Terry Dixon, over for a feature match. Terry is carrying the hopes and dreams of the local players from Orange County, CA.

Shane seemed really confident with his opening hand. He won the roll and used his first turn initiative to drop out Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend to find Quicksilver, Inhuman by Marriage. Without a play from Terry, Lockjaw got in for some quick action before moving on to the next turn. Turn 2 saw Terry play Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth, who would get his cosmic—surge counter later in the turn, but not before Terry received a brutal stab from Shane’s side of the table. Quicksilver came out to play, and when Shane played Blue Area of the Moon and Interstellar Offensive, there was little Terry could do to stop the bleeding. He was left at 35 endurance after only two turns of play.

Shane continued the pressure on the very next turn, playing out Captain Att-Lass, Luna Maximoff, and Nega-Bands on Att-Lass. Terry played Black Bolt, Illuminati, who was promptly run over by Quicksilver as Shane flipped The Herald Ordeal to get two uses out of the speedy mutant once again. This left Terry at 24 after the attacks. It looked like Terry had fallen asleep in an alley full of black cats at some point earlier in the week, because all he could do on turn 4 was say pass. Wolverine, Skrunucklehead came down for Shane, who was hoping for an early win. The Royal Guard helped Black Bolt take down Quicksilver. After Franklin Richards stunned a 5 ATK / 2 DEF Captain Att-Lass, Shane sent Wolverine into Black Bolt. The Devil We Know and Alien Insurrection allowed Black Bolt to get a second crucial stun on the turn, but Luna simply hopped back into Shane’s hand to recover Skrunucklehead and get him a cosmic counter with his surge ability. Even after having a good turn, Terry was still sitting at 12 going into turn 5, while Shane was at 41.

Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans spelled the end for Terry, even with him finally hitting a drop (Kang, Destiny Warrior) after an entire game of no action. Shane pointed out to an onlooking Tim Batow that he had gotten a draw reminiscent of the Constructed Quicksilver deck that was popular in the Pro Circuit this weekend, and everyone pretty much agreed that the combination of Shane’s amazing draw and Terry’s horrible one made for a quick match.

Shane Wiggans wins!