Gerardo won the flip for initiative, and decided to the give odd initiative to Ahuitzol. The mind games were flying before the round even began. Cesar was eager for the match to begin, repeatedly asking staff if they could start. Once he was ready, Ahuitzol took his time shuffling his deck. Intentional? Maybe not. But it did seem to affect Gerardo.

Neither player opted to mulligan. Ahuitzol opened with Alicia Masters, but a smack from Boris’ lantern sent her running back to the bottom of the deck. As a result, Ahuitzol missed his 2-drop (he had a Thing, Ben Grimm in hand) and got pummeled by Boris and She-Thing. A good turn for Gerardo was made even better with a flip of Common Enemy.

Ahuitzol’s Thing hit play on turn 3, but Gerardo kept hitting his drops—this turn it was She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. Ahuitzol made the obvious choice to have Thing take on She-Thing, who Boris then reinforced. Gerardo eyed his She-Hulk and asked Ahuitzol how many cards he had in hand. Deciding it was worth the risk, he attacked Thing with She-Hulk and flipped It’s Clobberin’ Time!, successfully netting the stun.

Gerardo protected his early expenditure of the It’s Clobberin’ Time! by recruiting Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius on turn 4. He tried to Reign of Terror Ahuitzol’s Thing and it worked, but not before Ahuitzol chained to exhaust Thing for Tech Upgrade, taking a Fantasticar. Ahuitzol recruited Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, who was quickly stunned. A Savage Beatdown and another flip of the It’s Clobberin’ Time! left Ahuitzol’s endurance far lower than it normally would be. Gerardo played with remarkable aggression, considering the deck he was playing.

But, turn 5 saw some hope for Ahuitzol. He recruited Mr. Fantastic, Stretch and then recruited two Fantasticar. That made Gerardo’s aggression a bit more difficult to maintain, as he was now forced to consider his positioning more due to the addition of flying to Ahuitzol’s offensive repertoire. He recruited Thing, Heavy Hitter and then spent a long time considering his formation, settling on one that would hopefully lend itself to a counterattack. Invisible Woman went after Boris, and Gerardo thought hard for more than a minute about what to do. In the end he did nothing, taking the damage and using Dr. Doom to exhaust Mr. Fantastic with Mystical Paralysis. She-Thing and She-Hulk then attacked Invisible Woman. Ahuitzol Signal Flared for another copy of Sue Storm and powered up twice, banking on Gerardo’s low hand count to provide him with no recourse. Recourse he had though, as She-Thing laid a Savage Beatdown on Sue for the stun. A power up on Mr. Fantastic kept him safe from Thing, and both players recovered. Gerardo opted to keep She-Thing around for her equipment destruction effect, so She-Hulk was KO’d.

Both players recruited a Hulk to their front rows. Ahuitzol used Salvage to return Fantasticar to his hand and gave it to Hulk, but Gerardo had character advantage and initiative. Thing and She-Thing announced a team attack on Hulk, and Ahuitzol used Mr. Fantastic’s effect to move Hulk’s Fantasticar to Sue in response. The two Hulks stunned each other, Thing stunned Invisible Woman, and She-Thing attacked Mr. Fantastic with the aid of an It’s Clobberin’ Time! Gerardo maintained priority and activated Boris to get a second copy of It’s Clobberin’ Time! A power-up later, everything on Ahuitzol’s side was stunned. Before Gerardo could attack with Dr. Doom directly, Ahuitzol conceded game one.

Game Two

Both players refused to mulligan and Ahuitzol took initiative. Turn 1 again saw Gerardo recruit Boris. Gerardo hit his drops like magic all weekend, and turn 2 was no exception, with She-Thing and Boris beating away on Ahuitzol’s open field. Ahuitzol had nothing but a hand full of 4-and-higher drops and It’s Clobberin’ Time!s, so turn 3 was a repeat of turn 2—Purple Man, She-Thing, and Boris all attacked directly.

Ahuitzol’s situation was not good. He finally recruited a character on turn 4 (Invisible Woman, Sue Storm), but Gerardo had initiative and a freshly-recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Dr. Doom and She-Thing attacked Sue while Purple Man pilfered a resource—yet another fast turn.

Thing, Heavy Hitter joined Ahuitzol’s ranks on turn 5, while Gerardo recruited a Robot Destroyer in an effort to steal the initiative. Dr. Doom reinforced Purple Man and Boris reinforced She-Thing, so Ahuitzol had his pick of low-cost characters to stun with Thing. He first attacked the Destroyer to force Gerardo to commit to stunning Sue, which it did. Ahuitzol then announced his intent to attack She-Thing, but Gerardo activated Boris, got a Mystical Paralysis, and used it to prevent the attack entirely. Ahuitzol was down 16 endurance, as the score sat at 29 to 45.

As in game one, both players recruited Hulk on turn 6. Ahuitzol’s field was then wiped clean as the result of a flurry of team attacks and It’s Clobberin’ Time! powered stuns. By the end of the recovery phase, it was his Hulk against Gerardo’s, as well as Purple Man, She-Thing, and Dr. Doom, which were not good odds.

Those odds were balanced a bit though, as turn 7 brought Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing into play for Ahuitzol, sending She-Thing and Purple Man running for the hills. Gerardo recruited Sub-Mariner, but didn’t like his lack of his low-cost characters and lack of initiative. Thing attacked Hulk, and a power-up let him barely survive the experience. Ahuitzol’s Hulk then attacked Dr. Doom. Gerardo couldn’t save him, but an Acrobatic Dodge did save some endurance loss. It’s Clobberin’ Time! gave Sub-Mariner a chance to fight back though, and the stun and breakthrough damage dealt through Hulk was enough for the win.

Match Win: Godinez Estrada Gerardo