Brian, on the odd initiative, led with Rem-Ram, who hit Empath, and Dean had Changeling for his opening 1-drop, leaving neither player with a reasonable attack.

For turn 2, Dean was still all about the 1-drops, with Electric Eve to his opponent’s Viper and free Amelia Voght. With two 1-drops against a rather larger board, Dean looked to be in trouble until he flipped X-Corps: Hong Kong to allow Changeling to do a little stunning. Eve evaded attack, meaning that Dean got hit down to 43, and it was on to turn 3.

The reservist draw for Gates remained gassy with a Joanna Cargill at 6 ATK / 6 DEF to face off against Xorn from Sohnle. Eve again evaded attack before Amelia beat up a reinforced Changeling and Joanna sorted out Xorn. With direct attacks to the face taking Dean to 32 on turn 3, things looked like they might be a blow-out, and Dean had to do something to halt the aggressive force that was Gates’s deck. He played Hump, discarding a second Changeling, and passed, hoping that his colossal 4-drop would be able to redress the imbalance caused at the start from Brian.

Gates appeared to have no intention of slowing down, though, playing an Empath on turn 4 that was plenty big enough to give the Canadian cause for concern. Dean’s Xorn took down Rem-Ram, getting a spare point off X-Corp: Hong Kong. Gates was still up 43-32, though, and it seemed tough for Dean to close down the differential. Hump beat up Joanna Cargill with a Bum’s Rush to save the stunback, and ignored Empath, who in the back row wasn’t much of a threat anyway. The endurance was 37 to 29 after an Electric Eve evade, and it was onto turn 5 with Brian holding the initiative.

Brian’s turn 5 recruit was Jetstream, while Dean had Wolverine, The Best at What He Does. Thanks to his 5-drop, Brian was able to send Amelia straight at Electric Eve, even though she was protected by Hump. Eve ended up having to protect herself by evading attack. Xorn had no such defense from Jetstream, though, getting stunned without consequence. Empath attacked into Hump for the mutual stun, and finally Wolverine was run into by Amelia Voght and Joanna Cargill. Down to just 6 to his opponent’s 29 (after an Eve shot), Dean very much needed tricks, and he had Bloodhound on turn 6 to find the first of them in Callisto.

Going into turn 6, Gates had yet to play a plot twist, and he surveyed his row briefly before recruiting a Callisto of his own.

Dean declared an attack with Callisto on Jetstream and passed. To this, Brian teamed-up and reinforced before using Jetstream to exhaust Dean’s Wolverine. Hump then ran in with a Retribution in an attempt to take down Gates’s Callisto. This took Gates down to 17, while Dean was at just 2. Sohnle played Neutralized on his opponent’s 6-drop and passed. It was looking a little unclear how he was going to pull this one out. Brian teamed-up and team attacked Callisto with everyone he had. This was enough to get the final points through, and Dean simply extended his hand.

Brian Gates wins!