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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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| Finals: Gerardo Godinez-Estrada vs. Kyoshi Padilla |
| Jason Grabher-Meyer |
| May 09, 2005 |
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 Padilla let Estrada begin with the initiative, and the first two turns of the game saw Boris and Puppet Master on Padilla’s side and two GCPD Officers and Alfred on Estrada’s, pretty ideal for both players.
Alfred ran to Estrada’s hand to grab a World’s Finest to begin turn 3, and Estrada recruited Shimmer and Alfred. Puppet Master exhausted a GCPD, and Padilla had no recruit. An Officer swung at Boris and that was it.
Padilla recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius on turn four, and Reign of Terror’d on Alfred and Shimmer. Estrada chained World’s Finest to team GK/F5, and Padilla responded by using Boris for a Have-A-Blast to replace it. Still on the chain, Alfred ran back to Estrada’s hand to fetch a Marvel Team-Up. Shimmer finally bounced, but Estrada recruited Doom, Diabolic Genius and flipped Doomstadt after flipping Bat-Signal face down with Doom’s effect. Padilla’s Doom took a shot at one of the GCPD Officers and was promptly reinforced, and when Estrada’s Doom swung back, he ate nothing but Doomstadt.
Estrada recruited Alfred and Shimmer again on turn 5, filling his turn with a Robot Sentry. Padilla opted to recruit a Robot Destroyer, and when he had recruited it he flipped Flame Trap. “Jeez,” bemoaned Estrada—his exhausted Alfred was not going to be saving him. A few effects later, he had four exhausted characters on the board, enough to Press the Attack on Alfred and save the loss of five of his six characters . . .
. . . Nothing doing. Not a single Press in sight. Low-drops burned and the endurance totals were 47 to 41 in Padilla’s favor. Mystical Paralysis slowed down Padilla’s Doom, and when Robot Destroyer attacked into Estrada’s Doom a power-up saved the day, but still, Estrada had taken a big hit. Padilla had a Doom and a Robot Destroyer to match Estrada’s Doom and Alfred by the time the turn ended.
Estrada recruited Dr. Light, Arthur Light to form an L with Doom protecting Alfred. Alfred again promptly charged to The Hand though, fetching a Bat-Signal. Padilla had no drop, and after both players traded Dooms through their higher drops, everything readied.
Controlling the initiative on turn 7, Estrada recruited Psimon and formed up with both Psimon and Dr. Light in the back row, Doom in front of Dr. Light. Padilla recruited Sub-Mariner, leaving Estrada little choice but to team attack with Dr. Light and Psimon to take him down. Robot Destoyer attacked Estrada’s Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, and stunned him. The end result was that Padilla lost nothing, while Estrada lost Doom.
Estrada missed his next turn drop, and recruited a large quantity of off-turn drops instead, going with GCPD Officer, Alfred, and Robot Destroyer immediately, then adding two more Officers to the mix. However, after looking at his board, and after a conversation with the judging staff, Estrada decided to call it quits for game 1.
 Game Two
Both players again started off blazingly strong on the opening turns. Padilla recruited Boris and then Kristoff Von Doom, while Estrada got his fill of Alfred and Boris. Kristoff attacked on turn 2, but a revealed Doomstadt, a World’s Finest, and a Boris led to an in-hand Faces of Doom for Estrada, and endurance loss was minimized.
Estrada had control of the initiative for turn 3, and he used his Faces of Doom to ensure his turn-four play. He recruited Shimmer and then bumped Alfred back to his hand to get a second team-up. He then recruited Boris, and this prompted Padilla to send his copy of Boris into his deck to dig for a Faces of Doom of his own. He placed it in his row, flipped it, and was quickly stymied by a Fizzle from Estrada. Next, Padilla recruited Puppet Master and Boris, activated Puppet Master, and passed. On the chain, Boris ran off to fetch another Fizzle and Shimmer was then exhausted.
Again Padilla reacted, and sent off his own Boris yet again. He bagged himself a Political Pressure, and the turn ended.
Next turn, he went on to recruit Jinx, placing her on the outside of an L formation with Kristoff protecting Puppet Master. He then used Have a Blast! on Estrada’s F5/Doom team-up and the rest of the turn basically came down to some stalling.
Estrada hit his curve, recruiting Robot Destroyer while Padilla recruited Boris and Shimmer. Doom slammed into Shimmer while Jinx reinforced, and the Robot Destroyer attacked Jinx. Boris took off to grab another team-up, leaving Jinx high and dry.
Turn 6 saw Dr. Light arrive to aid Estrada’s cause, and again it was a fast, cautious turn with few trades. Nothing ended up being KO’d as both players had Shimmer on the table. The next turn would be different though: Estrada missed his drop and thus instead decided to recruit one Alfred, one Boris, one GCPD Officer, and Dr. Hauptmann. After a few tricks, Estrada had three characters exhausted, and Dr. Light’s effect was used to bump the count to four. Press the Attack readied Dr. Light for another stun, and a series of direct attacks pressed the match to game 3.
 Game Three
Both players were playing quickly, and Estrada began again with Alfred to Padilla’s Boris. Shimmer joined up on Padilla’s side on turn 2, while Estrada picked a Robot Sentry. Estrada was the first to break the pace when he sent Alfred to fetch a Reign of Terror, re-played Alfred and recruited a Boris. Padilla recruited Kristoff Von Doom, sent Boris off for a plot twist, and then recruited another.
Padilla had control of the initiative on turn 4, and while he considered his 4-drop and the tactics surrounding it, Estrada got a Have a Blast! with Alfred and let it sit in his hand. Padilla settled on Jinx, while Estrada decided on recruiting Alfred and another GCPD Officer. He got slightly picked apart, losing his Robot Sentry.
Next turn, Alfred ran off to get Estrada a Bat-Signal, for which last turn’s GCPD Officer was exhausted. Estrada recruited Alfred again and then dropped Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Padilla’s drop was Robot Destroyer. Estrada Foiled his opponent with a total of three copies of Reign of Terror.
Padilla used Jinx’s effect to open turn 6, fetching a copy of Latveria, though he had no recruit. However, Estrada most certainly did, and he brought Dr. Light, Arthur Light into the fold before deciding on his formation. Doom and Jinx took each other down, but Puppet Master cut Estrada’s offensive ambitions short. Padilla lost Robot Destroyer.
It was turn 7, Estrada’s turn to control the initiative, and he recruited Boris. It was a play salvaged entirely by Shimmer, as Padilla’s chosen drop was Sub-Mariner. Pounding damage through a few small characters, Estrada started developing a commanding lead.
Padilla was not going to go down without a fight, and on turn 8 he recruited Psimon. A copy of The Underworld Star that was used to search for Dr. Light betrayed Padilla’s intents quite clearly, and if Estrada couldn’t put up a similarly lethal turn 9, he’d be road kill.
Estrada recruited Robot Destroyer and activated Dr. Light to pick off Jinx. He then pushed everything to his back row, essentially handing the game to Padilla. It was fun while it lasted, but some things just aren’t meant to be.
Kyoshi Padilla wins $10K Mexico City, narrowly ousting reigning champion Gerardo Godinez-Estrada! While Estrada has undoubtedly demonstrated that he is one of the best players in today’s global environment, today belonged to Padilla. Congratulations to him for his stunning win! |
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