Justice got served.
Going into the last round on the bubble is always stressful, but both Anthony Justice and his opponent Tommy Ashton face the prospect with aplomb. They start with a gracious handshake and well-wishing.
Luck was on Ashton’s side from the beginning. He won the all-important coin toss and chose odds. Ashton, a Maryland native, who was in the top 20 at Pro Circuit New York, missed his turn 1 play, while Justice recruited
Gypsy and swung across for the opening point.
“I was so intimidated when I played you in
New York,” Ashton said to Justice. “You were playing five teams and I’d never even seen a deck with more than two.”
Turn 2 Justice wasted his priority, failing to recruit any characters. Ashton capitalized on the opening, recruiting Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow and swinging in for 3 endurance.
Turn 3 Ashton recruited Sam Scudder ◊ Mirror Master and formed up with Scudder in front of the archer.
Justice’s reply was
Captain Cold with a counter.
“He’s a cool cat,” Ashton quipped and passed his attack.
On his attack, Justice teamed up with
Funky’s Big Rat Code and team attacked Gypsy and Captain Cold into Mirror Master, putting the life totals at 46 each.
Turn 4, Justice had the initiative and played
Roll Call! from the resource row, gaining two endurance and drawing and discarding two cards. He recruited
John Stewart, Emerald Architect and formed up with the Green Lantern in front of Captain Cold. Ashton noted he’d forgotten to use Roll Call! to trigger his Mirror Master’s ability, but despite the mistake still was able to recruit Circe, who went in the support row protected by Mirror Master. The Cold front swept into Ashton’s Green Arrow for the stun and three breakthrough before John Stewart swung into Mirror Master for stun and breakthrough.
Ashton was taking a lot of beats and not reinforcing — it was obvious he had tricks up his sleeve. On his attack he sent Circe into Captain Cold, stunning the captain and causing breakthrough. He followed up by revealing Injustice Gang Satellite, exhausting it to discard The Joker, Headline Stealer and put the Captain on ice. Before the effect resolved, Justice revealed Sinister Citadel and exhausted it to move the counter from Captain Cold over to John Stewart.
Turn 5 opened with Ashton recruiting Zatanna. Justice responded with a Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost who hid behind the Green Lantern. Ashton sent Zatanna into John Stewart, her cosmic ability powering her up to a 10 ATK / 10 DEF, but Justice was able to play With Prejudice from his resource row, revealing two characters to get the stunback. The Maryland native then sent his Circe and Mirror Master into Killer Frost, making Circe even bigger with an All Too Easy from the resource row. Faced with 15 ATK, Justice allowed Frost to stun. Ashton then KO’d Frost with the satellite.
Justice had the initiative on turn 6, and recruited Charaxes, Killer Moth who went in front of John Stewart. Ashton fired off Secret Files and fetched his Prometheus, while Justice took a power-up for John Stewart. Faced with a choice between Hal Jordan, Hard-Traveling Hero or Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist, he chose to boost out Scarecrow.
As combat started, Ashton paid the 3 endurance for Scarecrow’s ability. Unable to play a single card, Justice lost 9 endurance. Justice sent his Green Lantern into Mirror Master with a power-up. Ashton used the discard as a trigger for Mirror Master’s ability and discarded and drew a card. Stewart with 9 ATK and 9 DEF broke through for a total of 6 endurance.
The attack was followed up with one from Charaxes into Scarecrow, moving a counter from John Stewart to the evil moth and powering him up with Gypsy. But Ashton had the tech play: Power Siphon, exhausting Scarecrow for a massive defensive pump.
With his opponent’s offense nicely quashed, Ashton passed the attack.
Prometheus was Ashton’s play for Turn 7, forming up with Scarecrow and Mirror Master in front of the Darker Knight and Zatanna. Justice recruited Wonder Woman, Princess Diana and used her to protect John Stewart with Charaxes in the front to capitalize on her leader ability. Ashton started off with a team-up of Injustice Gang and JLA with Gang-Up, causing both players to draw a card. Scarecrow’s ability went on the chain, and Justice played Membership Drive just to take one less damage.
This brought the endurance totals to 16 - 14 in Ashton’s favor.
Scarecrow attacked Charaxes, using Prometheus’ ability to lower the moth’s defense. Justice took 7 endurance, while Ashton took stunback. Ashton sent Prometheus and Mirror Master into Wonder Woman, to which Justice responded by moving the counter from Charaxes over to the Lantern, and then sacked Charaxes for a second counter so he could get the stunback. The score 4 to 0 in Ashton’s favor, he finished it off with an attack of Zatanna into John Stewart. Despite a stunback from a second Sinister Citadel, Justice had truly been served.