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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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| Quarterfinals: Olav Rokne vs. Erik Cabanero |
| Jason Grabher-Meyer |
| April 17, 2005 |
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Olav Rokne, from Calgary, Alberta, is running Evil Medical School. A relatively new player who came up amongst greats like Tim Willoughby and Ian Vincent, Rokne has been tearing up the competition all weekend.
Cabanero, from Bakersfield, California, is one of two players who made the Top 8 today with Fantastic Fun. Though some would say the matchup is in his favor, it’s a very difficult call—Cabanero seems to have the general advantage of tempo and a goal of winning in the mid-game, but Rokne is packing a huge amount of tech for the matchup.
Cabanero won the toss, choosing the “funny little bird,” as Rokne called the loon on his Canadian dollar coin. Cabanero opted for odds and kept his opening hand, while Rokne decided to mulligan.
Cabanero had nothing on turn 1 and promptly got lamp-slapped by Boris. “First blood!” exclaimed a bystander. Boris was paired up with a GCPD Officer on the second turn, and Cabanero recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl—Rokne didn’t like it and immediately clenched his fist.
Cabanero gave Invisible Girl a Personal Force Field, and in response to him flipping Antarctic Research Base (ARB), Rokne activated Bat-Signal to get an Alfred. “I probably should’ve gotten that in my build. Ah well, it’s little things like that that cost you games.”
”You do have the lead!” grinned Cabanero.
”True dat, dawg, true dat.” Rokne’s penchant for busting into Ebonics at random times was, uhm . . . interesting. I mean, even this guy’s hair is white.
Invisible Girl pinged Boris, and that was the turn.
Next turn, Cabanero recruited Frankie Raye and gave her a Flamethrower. He hid her behind Invisible Girl and passed—he was definitely off to a slow start, but missing Alfred last turn was a big problem for Rokne. Alfred came down this time, along with Shimmer, and the old man ducked behind her for protection. GCPD Officer protected Boris, and Invisible Girl went after him for the stun. It seemed as if Cabanero understood that he needed to disrupt Rokne but couldn’t fully commit to doing so. Instead, he was just scoring damage where he could. It was obvious that if Rokne got to the late game, it was over.
On turn 3, Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius hit the field and Reign of Terror bumped Frankie Raye back to Cabanero’s hand—it might’ve been a mistake to use it so early. Invisible Girl was protected by the Forcefield, so she couldn’t be bumped. Frankie burned in response, and Rokne passed. He flipped up a World’s Finest, but forgot to flip down Bat-Signal.
 Thing, Ben Grimm hit the field on Cabanero’s side and he quickly got an Unstable Molecules. Cabanero drew for ARB. Molecules was KO’d to give Grimm a DEF bonus, and Cabanero gave it a Flamethrower. In response to recruiting the Flamethrower, Rokne sent Boris off to get another Reign of Terror. Thing was returned to hand and the Flamethrower went to the KO’d pile, although Cabanero still got his draw. With nothing but Invisible Girl on the field, he was in a bad position despite Rokne’s mistakes. Cabanero was eying Rokne’s two remaining face-down cards—if they weren’t Reigns, what could they be?
Rokne wreaked a little combat havoc. By the end of the turn, it was his Alfred, two Shimmers, and GCPD Officer to Cabanero’s lone Invisible Girl without her token.
Cabanero had control of the initiative for turn 5, though, and he opened up with Signal Flare. He took a copy of Mr. Fantastic, Stretch and didn’t seem deterred by his lack of board presence. Stretch was recruited and given an Unstable Molecules, and ARB netted Cabanero a card. Mr. Fantastic blew his Molecules to clear himself for another equip, and Cabanero gave him a Fantasticar, drawing again. He formed up with Mr. Fantastic in the back row behind Invisible Girl. He was leading 38 to 49, but turn 5 is the deck’s “go off” turn and Cabanero was just struggling to survive—not good.
Rokne sent Alfred off to fetch a Bat-Signal, which in turn got him a Commissioner Gordon. “Now James is going to pay 3 to get rid of that Personal Force Field.” Invisible Girl lost her shiny pink bubble. Rokne then continued his moderately paced, methodical play. He recruited Boris and immediately sent him off to get a Mystical Paralysis. Paralysis exhausted Stretch, and Rokne then recruited another Boris and Alfred. “I encourage you to shuffle my deck in any way you see fit.” He handed it over. “May I move into the formation step?” Cabanero gave him the nod. Doom protected GCPD Officer, Shimmer protected Boris, and the Commish protected Alfred.
Invisible Girl flew over Shimmer and slapped Boris. That was it for combat.
Next turn, Royal Decree allowed Rokne to Bat-Signal for Dr. Light (the Signal was courtesy of Alfred). He recruited him immediately, sticking him behind Commissioner Gordon in Alfred’s place. He then passed the phase to Cabanero, whose pace was picking up a bit. Cabanero recruited Thing, Ben Grimm and Frankie Raye, and then gave Invisible Girl an Advanced Hardware. Thing also received one moments later—Rokne was not using Commissioner Gordon’s effect. Unstable Molecules hit Frankie Raye, blew off, and was then replaced with a Flamethrower. Rokne again didn’t respond with Gordon. Meanwhile, Cabanero was drawing cards like crazy.
Cabanero activated Thing to burn, and then had Thing throw his Hardware at the GCPD Officer. Thing then got a Personal Force Field and threw it at Boris. Boris ran to the deck to get a Fizzle in response—now Rokne was playing smart, acutely aware of the threat that Cosmic Radiation posed. Forming up with Invisible Girl shielding Stretch and Frankie protecting the exhausted Thing, Cabanero passed.
 “Shimmer exhausts everyone down,” announced Rokne, activating her with a bit of force. Frankie Raye activated, and Stretch tried to move the Fantasticar to Thing, but Gordon blew it out of the air in mid-pass. He tried the same thing again, this time with an Advanced Hardware to Stretch. Gordon paid again to blow it up, but Stretch again chained to try to grab it. Cabanero added Cosmic Radiation to the chain, but it was quickly Fizzled, and that was it for the chain.
Doom swung on Frankie Raye, and Cabanero flipped A Child Named Valeria in response. Responding to that, Dr. Light aimed to stun Frankie, but yet another Valeria saved her—the result was 3 breakthrough. Commissioner Gordon then pursued some pugilistic interests with Invisible Girl for a little breakthrough, and that was it for the turn.
It was 39 to 9 in Cabanero’s favor—he was at a distinct disadvantage, but it looked like he might pull it out!
Next turn, Cabanero attempted to equip The Pogo Plane to Thing—Dr. Light activated to stun him. Cabanero flipped A Child Named Valeria, but Rokne again had a Fizzle. Thing went down, and though it netted him a card from ARB, the Plane disappeared into the depths of the KO’d pile. Cabanero was running out of options—he had three Valerias flipped in his row and even had his fourth in hand, but he didn’t have a single equipment left. Commissioner Gordon had been costly for Rokne, but seemed to have paid off.
Cabanero needed equipment and fast. He KO’d Stretch by recruiting Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and got nothing. “I am averting my gaze!” announced Rokne as Cabanero adjusted the order of the cards to be placed at the bottom of his deck. “Wait a minute, I had another guy in play!” he joked, turning back. “Shenanigans!” cried Cabanero. Both competitors laughed.
Rokne started talking Cabanero up about everything from his team to living in California versus living in Canada—either he was feeling better about the match, or he was trying to throw Cabanero off. Amongst the chit-chat, Cabanero recruited Ant Man—he had nothing. He formed up with Invisible Girl supporting the exhausted Reed Richards and Frankie Raye behind Ant Man. He passed.
Rokne quickly flipped his fourth Bat-Signal, exhausting GCPD Officer to do so. He searched out Psimon and immediately recruited him. “I can, of course, spot five characters for his loyalty.” That was it—either Cabanero would burn Rokne to death next turn off a lucky topdeck, or it was over. Ant Man attacked Commissioner Gordon, and both went down. Frankie Raye went after the GCPD Officer, again double-stunning. He then passed combat. Psimon smacked around Mr. Fantastic, and Invisible Girl reinforced. Dr. Doom smashed Invisible Girl, and Shimmer then attacked directly— “With my pumped-up Shimmer!” Rokne grinned, flipping Devil’s Due and sacrificing GCPD Officer to give her +1 ATK/+1 DEF.
Cabanero recovered Thing, and that was all he had left. He drew for turn 8, and Rokne immediately announced his intent to Dr. Light Thing to death off the draw. “Ugh . . . that’s it for me.” Cabaner scooped. “No, wait,” said Rokne. “I was going to play Lord of Latveria and then Bat-Signal four more times.” He grinned, and they moved to game 2.
Olav Rokne 1, Erik Cabanero 0
A lot of between-game banter went on, mostly focusing on some non-collectible games. “Seriously, if you play Apples to Apples, play against Olav,” mentioned friend Kenneth Stasiuk. “All this stuff? It’s just the lead-in to his mad Apples to Apples skills.”
“We’re both part of Team Five Iron,” explained Rokne.
“There’s story behind that name, isn’t there?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. It involves Kenneth, an illegal breaking-and-entering into a home, and him rocking back and forth in a corner, clutching a gold club, saying ‘I call her Mrs. Belville.’” The best part about playing on a pro team is definitely the wacky stories.
Cabanero took the initiative on turn 1 and recruited Frankie Raye. She took a shot on Alfred, and Cabanero flipped Baxter Building to round out his turn.
Turn 2 was Rokne’s, and he recruited a GCPD Officer, bumped Alfred to dig for a Bat-Signal, and then re-recruited Alfred. Cabanero activated Baxter Building, hit nothing but characters, and then flipped ARB. He gave Frankie Raye The Pogo Plane and drew a card.
“Oh dude, now she’s reinforced, isn’t she!” Rokne smiled. “Yup . . . you can’t power up and deal breakthrough now.” Cabanero smirked. He activated the Plane to grab a Pier 4, and then gave Frankie a Personal Force Field. He looked to draw a card, but Rokne Bat-Signaled in response to get Commissioner Gordon. Frankie then pinged Alfred, and the turn ended.
Cabanero chained Baxter Building to his draw and finally hit an Advanced Hardware. He recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, but before the recruit resolved, Rokne chained with Alfred. He sent the old man off to fetch a Reign of Terror, and Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl arrived on Cabanero’s side of the table. He formed up in an L with Frankie hiding behind Invisible Girl.
Rokne played a resource and immediately recruited Commissioner Gordon. After bit of thought, he finished his turn by recruiting Alfred, as well. He formed up with the GCPD Officer protecting the Commish in an L formation of his own, and then passed. “Bring on the attacks,” invited Rokne.
Reed Richards attacked the GCPD Officer—it was legal. Rokne then pumped the GCPD twice, powering up both times from his hand. Cabanero had no answer, and Reed went down. Gordon attacked into Invisible Girl, who shielded herself with her token. Gordon cracked the Personal Force Field into pieces with his effect, and the GCPD Officer then took down the tokenless Invisible Girl. She was KO’d at the end of the turn.
Baxter Building again chained to the draw, nabbing another Advanced Hardware. Rokne recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, flipped World’s Finest to team up nothing—he had all Gotham characters on the table—and flipped it back down with Doom’s effect. Again, one had to wonder why he didn’t send Alfred off to get a Reign of Terror and start bumping. It was a regrettable move in the long run, as Cabanero would go on to play Signal Flare from his hand, getting around Doom’s  effect. Correcting his mistake, Rokne chained the World’s Finest, not preventing the activation but making sure it wouldn’t happen again. He then chained Fizzle. Mr. Fantastic got a Flamethrower, Frankie Raye was recruited, and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire was recruited, as well. Reign of Terror tore into Cabanero’s ranks and sent Frankie and Reed back to his hand. Cabanero chained the Flamethrower, but he was still in trouble. He re-recruited Frankie Raye, stuck her behind Luke Cage, and passed.
Alfred bounced to Rokne’s hand to fetch another Reign of Terror. He wiped Cabanero’s board and then attacked for 11. “Unless you have some way of defending from that.” Wordlessly, Cabanero set a small PVC figure of Jedi Master Yoda on the field. He grinned and Rokne recovered, laughing.
It was turn 5, and Cabanero had control of the initiative. He recruited Mr. Fantastic, Stretch and gave him the keys to The Pogo Plane. He left it there and passed the build phase to Rokne. He quickly Bat-Signaled with the GCPD Officer to fetch Boris, and then used Mystical Paralysis to exhaust Stretch. “I have to be careful with these things when the life totals are so low.” He grinned—the score was 45 to 35 in his favor. Rokne recruited Shimmer and Alfred. “Ok, so Yoda is going to attack Commissioner Gordon,” stated Cabanero flatly. He turned him sideways to show he was exhausted, which wasn’t funny until he readied him in the recovery phase.
Next turn was Rokne’s, and he topdecked World’s Finest, allowing him to recruit Dr. Light. “I Hope you understand my constant nattering is only for comedic effect.” Reverting to his gentlemanly self, Rokne wanted to clarify that he wasn’t making banter to place Cabanero at a disadvantage. Cabanero used The Pogo Plane, just to clear it off Stretch, but Dr. Light stunned him. Cabanero then recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, Frankie Raye, and Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. He gave Invisible Girl an Advanced Hardware, took the ever-present draw for ARB, and did the same thing again with Frankie Raye. He drew into an Unstable Molecules and cheerily exclaimed “Aha! Free!” before attaching it to Mr. Fantastic. He formed up in an L with Invisible Girl protecting Frankie and passed.
Shimmer exhausted Cabanero’s board, and Cabanero chained both Advanced Hardwares in response. Rokne then activated Gordon’s effect three times to destroy all three of Cabanero’s equipment. Cabanero responded first by KO’ing the Unstable Molecules and then by chaining Cosmic Radiation. Rokne responded by returning Alfred to his hand, searching out a Bat-Signal, and then Fizzling the Radiation. He discarded Alfred to do so. Pretty cool.
Cabanero had another Cosmic Radiation, though, and Rokne had no answer. He was burned again for another 6, putting the endurance totals at 24 to 30 in Cabanero’s favor. Rokne looked to make some attacks.
GCPD Officer attacked Invisible Girl, bouncing off her token. Commissioner Gordon then did the same, but A Child Named Valeria again saved her from stunning. Doom stomped some damage through Reed Richards, and Reed then activated to grab an Unstable Molecules.
Cabanero opened turn 7 by flipping Thinking Outside the Box. He recruited Unstable Molecules to Mr. Fantastic and drew a card from the bottom of his deck—another Unstable. He attached it to Invisible Girl and once again drew, netting Advanced Hardware. He activated Baxter Building, getting a Fantasticar, and then recruited Thing, Ben Grimm and Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Thing got a Fantasticar, Frankie Raye got an Advanced Hardware, and Rokne again had Gordon take a shot at it. He activated it in response, and it was KO’d. He formed up and passed.
With a diminished hand, Rokne managed to have just what he needed—a Bat-Signal with which to hunt down a copy of Psimon. He recruited him and then formed with Shimmer protecting Psimon, the GCPD Officer protecting Dr. Doom, and Gordon protecting Dr. Light.
Johnny Storm went Nova for 4 endurance and took down Dr. Doom. Thing attacked Commissioner Gordon, and Dr. Light stunned him in response. Before going down, Thing chucked his Fantasticar at the GCPD Officer. Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards then attacked into Commissioner Gordon, and Cabanero aimed to Signal Flare for a power-up, but Psimon prevented it. He had another power-up in his hand. The score stood at 14 to 9.
Psimon smashed into Frankie Raye, and that was all Rokne had—he recovered Dr. Doom and lost Commissioner Gordon and his GCPD Officer, while Cabanero recovered Thing.
 On turn 8, Cabanero made his usual move of chaining Baxter Building to his draw—it got him a War Wagon. Bat-Signal fetched Rokne a Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria, artfully exhausting the Diabolic Genius on the table to do so—Rokne was going for his favorite number—infinite! He turned all three of his Bat-Signals face down, as well as one of his World’s Finests, which he promptly turned face up again. He formed up with Psimon and Shimmer in the front row but separated, and in mid-formation, time was called. Cabanero conceded—there was no way he could win. A little piece of Rokne appeared to die inside, though, when the match clock prevented him from going infinite.
Match Win: Olav Rokne! |
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