Jason is playing Lost City of Kang, while David is playing MK-KO.

Jason won the die roll and chose evens. David mulliganed and Jason kept his opening hand.

Game 1

David had no play on turn 1, while Jason played a Dagger, Child of Light and got in for 1. On turn 2, Jason simply discarded another Dagger to fetch a copy of Midnight Sons. He laid a resource and Kang, Rama Tut, and then passed the build over to David. An Iron Fist, Danny Rand came out on David’s side of the board. Danny’s men attacked right through him, and then Iron Fist attacked Dagger with the help of a Punisher’s Armory. 47–46 David.

It was David’s lead on turn 3, and he took full advantage of it by recruiting Elektra, Elektra Natchios (revealing Luke Cage, Street Enforcer). Both of his characters were placed up front in the hidden area. Jason recruited Kang, Kang Kong and revealed a Kang, Kang Ransom to search for a card. He had no use for his remaining resource point and passed to David’s combat. David went after Dagger with Elektra, but Jason had some tricks up his sleeve. He flipped two copies of Midnight Sons to team up both Kang Council and Brotherhood, and then used Dagger to power a Psyche-Globe fetching Kang, Master of Time. After this, he let the stun occur. A few more direct attacks and play moved on. 46–36 David.

Jason kicked off turn 4 with the previously revealed Kang, Master of Time. He recruited him in the hidden area protecting Kang, Rama Tut. David played the Luke Cage that he had shown off earlier, as well. At the beginning of combat, Jason discarded a superfluous Dagger to the Master of Time’s ability and then team attacked David directly for 8. David went into the tank to consider his attacks; Luke Cage gave him a few different ways to proceed. Eventually he opted to attack Elektra into Dagger. Jason used a Wild Ride to fetch another copy and revealed a Lost City to triple the effectiveness of his power-up. David, after thinking for quite a while, flipped a Sucker Punch to halt the double stun. For his second attack, paid 3 endurance to Luke Cage to attack hidden characters. Luke went after the Master of Time, but Jason would have none of that. He powered up. David used the Armory to even combat out a little bit. Jason returned Rama Tut to power up again, and then discarded Rama Tut for another big Lost City power-up. David flipped a Crime and Punishment, and Jason discarded the last card in his hand for a final power-up. David paid 9 to his Armory to ensure the stun and attacked directly with Iron fist. 26–25 David.

It was David’s initiative on turn 5, and he had the optimal Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Jason, having discarded his hand last turn, had to use a Psyche-Globe (exhausting Master of Time) to fetch a Kang, Ultimate Kang. He was forced to discard his last card (another Rama Tut) at the beginning of combat, and David contemplated his attacks. Since Jason had no unrevealed cards, though, it became painfully evident that he had no way to win. He conceded and they moved on to game 2.

Game 2

The players chatted about their matchups while shuffling up for the second game. Both of them expressed a lack of confidence in the Sentinels matchup, despite both of their decks having been metagamed to compete against it. “Sometimes they just get the nuts draw and there’s nothing you can do,” said David. Jason again had choice of initiatives and again chose evens. “This time, for variety, he’s going to Hounds-lock me,” quipped Jason.

David tossed away his opening hand, while Jason was content with his initial four. David used Wild Ride on the first turn to fetch a copy of Micro-Chip, which he recruited. Jason matched him with a Marvel Knight of his own—Dagger, Child of Light. Both characters were stunned in combat and play quickly moved to the second turn. Jason started off by discarding Dagger to fetch a Midnight Sons, which he immediately flipped naming Kang Council. He flipped his other face-down resource, a Wild Ride, and used it to grab a Kang, Kang Kong. The first of many Kangs made a brief appearance on the board before leaving town to fetch a card of Jason’s choice. David recruited a Hounds of Ahab, and Jason bounced his Dagger back to his hand to protect it. 48–44 David

David had the lead on turn 3 and once again had the optimal Elektra, Elektra Natchios. This time he revealed Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Jason introduced a brand new Kang to the board in the form of Kang, Kang Cobra. As Jason had no visible characters, David simply made a direct attack for 9. Jason attacked back into David’s Micro-Chip, bringing the endurance scores to 44–35.

Turn 4 began with a quick recruit from Jason. He dropped Kang, Master of Time, keeping up the game’s trend of hidden characters. David thought for a while, and then used his second Wild Ride of the game to get Luke Cage, Street Enforcer. Jason sent Kang Cobra into Micro-Chip, and David used his ability to flip a Wild Ride. Jason had no other play but to team attack directly, and he passed combat to David. Once again, David had the option of swinging directly or utilizing Luke Cage to attempt to take down Jason’s hidden characters. This time, he decided just to go for the face. Jason took 16 and drew his cards from the Master of Time, and that was the turn. At this point, David maintained a sizeable endurance lead of 30–19.

David led off turn 5 with the all-too-expected Daredevil, while Jason had his Kang, Ultimate Kang. Jason discarded a Wild Ride at the beginning of combat, and David contemplated his attacks. “All you,” said Jason. He had seven cards in hand, and while he had yet to reveal a Lost City, it was a fair bet that he had one. This complicated David’s decisions significantly. Ultimately, he opted to pay Luke to take down Kang Cobra. Jason flipped a Midnight Sons, this time calling Brotherhood, and did indeed have the Lost City. He discarded Kang, Rama Tut to give his Cobra +3 ATK/+3 DEF. David was fine with the mutual stun. It appeared that he had made an error, though, in not using Luke Cage’s payment power on any of his other characters. He went into the tank again to consider his options. He eventually decided to send Daredevil alone into Ultimate Kang. Jason had the power up to stop the stun, and David used Daredevil’s payment power and a Punisher’s Armory to fight back. Jason had another Lost City–fueled power-up, and David flipped a Savage Beatdown. This garnered two more power-ups from Jason, which in turn prompted David to pay to use his Armory once again. This left Daredevil with exactly enough ATK to stun the Kang. Jason still had some gas in the tank, though, and flipped a Space Station. He got back two Kangs and powered up again. David had nothing more to do and conceded the game to save time.

Game 3

David had his choice of initiatives this game and took the evens. Jason mulliganed, while David was satisfied with his opener. Jason kicked off turn 1 with Dagger, Child of Light. “She’s always there for me.” David once again had the Wild Ride for Micro-Chip. Each player lost an additional point of endurance in combat and that was the turn. David had his Hounds of Ahab on turn 2, while Jason once again used Wild Ride fetch another copy of Dagger. As in the second game, he discarded Dagger to get Midnight Sons, which he played immediately naming Kang Council. A second Wild Ride brought out a Kang, Kang Kong, which was only in play for a moment before fetching Jason a card. Dagger was bounced back to Jason’s hand to get out of the way of the Hounds, and David attacked Jason directly. The endurance totals were 48–43 in David’s favor.

Jason began the third turn by discarding another Dagger to get another Midnight Sons, and then he recruited Kang, Kang Cobra in the hidden area. David removed Micro-Chip from the game to re-use his Wild Ride, fetching Elektra, Elektra Natchios. Both of his characters were placed in the front row of the hidden area. Jason could only attack David directly, while David had No Man Escapes the Manhunters to bring Kang Cobra out of the hidden area. Jason finished teaming up his deck with a second Midnight Sons and allowed the double stun. The Hounds KO’d Jason’s lone character, and things were looking grim for him. The endurance totals were 38–34 in David’s favor.

David began turn 4 with yet another Wild Ride, this time getting Luke Cage, Street Enforcer. Jason had his optimal drop, the hidden Kang, Master of Time, but it hardly seemed like it would be sufficient. David had another No Man Escapes the Manhunters to bring the Master of Time to the visible area, where it would be at the mercy of his sizeable team. David sent Elektra into Kang, and Jason flipped Lost City to try to fight. He powered up once, flipped and used an Avalon Space Station, and then powered up again. A Flying Kick from David was met with another power-up, but Jason had no answer to David’s Savage Beatdown. The Master of Time went down, and with it most of Jason’s hope for winning the game. It was Quick Killed to draw David a card, and Jason took another beating. The endurance totals going into the fifth turn were a grim 31–16 in favor of David.

Jason had his Kang, Ultimate Kang on turn 5, while David had Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Before combat, Jason flipped a Psychoville to move Luke Cage out of the hidden area. After a bit of thought, David decided to leave him in the front row. Jason declared an attack of Ultimate Kang into Luke, and David did nothing. In his attack step, he decided to team attack Daredevil and Elektra into Kang. Jason just couldn’t muster enough power-ups to let his Kang survive, and the Hounds took it down. The endurance totals were now 25–11, still in favor of David.

Turn 6 was David’s initiative, and he dropped both a Death-Stalker and another Hounds of Ahab. Jason played a Wild Ride for 1 to fetch Kang, Rama Tut, and then used a Reconstruction Program and Avalon Space Station to give him a total of three power-ups in hand after he recruited Kang, Lord Kang. David made the correct team-attack of all of his Marvel Knights onto Kang, which was more than enough to assure the stun and the win.

David De Michele wins and advances to the semifinals!