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This final match of the tournament brings Tillman’s Faces deck against Stephen’s Wrecking Crew deck. Stephen defeated a similar deck piloted by Shaun Karnik to get here. Tillman was on the verge of defeat in a marathon match against teammate Jason Hager, when Hager suddenly conceded (Tillman has a better matchup in the finals). This match could easily go either way, but mercifully, the construction of Stephen’s deck means that the games should take much less time than a traditional Faces match.

Tillman won the die roll and selected the odd initiatives. Both players kept their opening hands, and Tillman made the first play of the game — Archangel, Angel, discarding Act of Defiance to get an X-Corp: Amsterdam. Stephen played Sue Dibny to pick up a Booster Gold. The characters traded stuns, and it was on to turn 2. Stephen led out with Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi, Mimi Schwartz behind Sue. Tillman played Yellowjacket, Rita Demara with boost in the hidden area, searching out Beetle, Armorsmith. Tillman’s remaining resource point was used to recruit El Guapo in front of Archangel. In combat, Melissa stunned El Guapo, who reinforced himself, and Sue traded stuns with Archangel. The endurance score was tied at 47 apiece.

On turn 3, Tillman played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Beetle to search up the predictable Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He played the doctor, and immediately activated him to return Beetle to play. When Beetle entered play, Tillman discarded Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee to search for Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain. He set up with Light protecting Beetle, and passed. Stephen’s first action mirrored Tillman’s — he played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Maxwell Lord, Financier to search up Dr. Light. The doctor was recruited and activated to return Maxwell to play. Stephen chose not to discard for Maxwell. He set up with Sue protecting Melissa and Maxwell protecting Light, and passed. In combat, Yellowjacket stunned Sue. Archangel traded stuns with Melissa, and Beetle traded stuns with Maxwell. In recovery, Stephen teamed up Masters of Evil and JLI. He lost Maxwell and Sue, while Tillman lost only Beetle. Tillman led, 44-42.

Turn 4 was Stephen’s initiative, and probably his best opportunity to attempt to win the game. He recruited Booster Gold with boost, and followed him up with Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and Klaw, Sonic Construct. Stephen used Dr. Light to return Maxwell to play, and then set up with Maxwell protecting Dr. Light, Melissa protecting Booster in the next column, and Poison Ivy protecting Klaw in the column adjacent to that. Tillman played his fourth resource and recruited Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide in the visible area. He activated the 1-drop to draw a card. Next, Tillman used Dr. Light to return Beetle to play. Tillman discarded Surveillance Pawn to search his deck for Mikado and Mosha. He recruited Shocker from his resource row, and used his remaining resource point on Joystick. Tillman set up with Archangel protecting Joystick, Dr. Light protecting Beetle in the next column, and Dallas protecting Shocker in the column adjacent to that. Stephen played Hard Sound Construct to bring Sue Dibny back into play, getting a Beetle out of his deck. In combat, Stephen sent Sue into Archangel. Tillman flipped and used Amsterdam for +1 DEF. In response, Stephen KO’d Sue to Ivy to get Birthing Chamber. He activated the Chamber to draw two and discard a Pawn. Next, Stephen attempted to attack with Klaw, but it was quickly shot down by Mikado. With fancy tricks out of the way, Maxwell went after Dallas. The 1-drop stunned. Next, Ivy stunned Archangel, Booster Gold traded with Shocker, and Melissa Gold and No Man Escapes the Manhunters combined to take down Dr. Light. Stephen passed to Tillman, who still had Joystick, Yellowjacket, and Beetle ready to attack. Joystick ran over Ivy, and Beetle traded stuns with Maxwell Lord. In recovery, Tillman used Soul World to get back his Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee. After that, the board was wiped. Stephen had Light and Ivy to Tillman’s Light, Joystick, and Yellowjacket. Stephen led, 32-26.

On turn 5, Tillman had the initiative and was certainly looking to win the game immediately. He went into the tank, contemplating his hand and the board for several minutes before deciding to use Soul World to return Archangel to his hand. He recruited Beetle, discarding Ivy to search for Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Tillman used Light to return Ivy to play, and then recruited Kyle. He searched out the only Construct in his deck, Hard Sound Construct. Next, Tillman recruited Archangel, without discarding. He ditched Detective Chimp to an Enemy, which yielded him Viper. Tillman recruited Viper in his visible area, then played Hard Sound Construct to return Shocker to play. He formed his nine characters quickly, and accidentally left Viper in his support row. Stephen pumped the fist as Jason Hager, looking on, sadly shook his head. Play moved to Stephen’s recruit, where he brought out Sue Dibny. The 1-drop yielded a Shocker, which Stephen recruited. He used Birthing Chamber to draw a card, and then used Poison Ivy’s ability to KO Sue to trade a Beetle in his resource row for Slaughter Swamp. Dr. Light put Beetle into play, and Stephen discarded a Dr. Light to search for Mikado and Mosha. Stephen paid two resource points and exhausted Shocker to stun Poison Ivy, and Tillman considered his options. After pondering for a few minutes, Tillman KO’d his Dr. Light to search out another X-Corp: Amsterdam. Shocker’s ability resolved, and Poison Ivy was stunned. Stephen set up with Light protecting Beetle and Shocker protecting Ivy, then passed. In combat, Tillman used three copies of X-Corp: Amsterdam to fetch three copies of Faces of Evil. His first attack brought Yellowjacket into Poison Ivy. Stephen allowed it, and flipped another Task Force to team up Masters of Evil and Arkham Inmates. Stephen reinforced with Beetle. Tillman’s following attacks with his remaining two 1-drops were met with two Mikado discards, one of them fueled by Slaughter Swamp. Next, Tillman traded Beetle for Beetle, Shocker for Light, and Kyle for Shocker. Viper sat useless in the support row, unable to attack for the lethal endurance loss Tillman needed to win this turn. In recovery, pretty much everything went away again. Stephen was left with only Dr. Light, while Tillman had Ivy and Viper. The endurance totals were a precarious 11-7 in Tillman’s favor.

Turn 6 was Stephen’s initiative, and he was looking to win. He used Dr. Light to return Beetle to play, discarding Trial by Fire to search out a Yellowjacket. Stephen played the 1-drop with boost to get Poison Ivy, which Stephen recruited. He also brought out Fatality, Emerald Assassin, to which Tillman chained an activation of Soul World, targeting El Guapo. He also flipped and used Slaughter Swamp, discarding Nenora to return a Mikado to his hand. Fatality entered play. Stephen played Hard Sound Construct on Mimi, and used his remaining resource point to burn Tillman for 6. Stephen activated his Chamber to draw two cards, and Tillman conceded.

Tillman again chose to take the odd initiatives for the second game. Tillman mulliganed and Stephen followed suit. Tillman began the game with the same first-turn play he had in the first game — Archangel, Angel, discarding Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer for X-Corp: Amsterdam. Stephen recruited Yellowjacket, Rita Demara in the visible area. On turn 2, Stephen recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose in front of Yellowjacket. Tillman had an Ivy of his own behind Archangel. In combat, Stephen sent Yellowjacket into Archangel. Both stunned. Ivy went after Ivy, and both players KO’d their 1-drops. Stephen picked up Slaughter Swamp, while Tillman got Birthing Chamber. Both 2-drops stunned in combat, and play moved on to the next turn.

Tillman had the initiative for turn 3. He played another Archangel, discarding Nenora to get another X-Corp: Amsterdam. A second Nenora and Nightshade, Eve Eden came out in the hidden area, and Tillman used his Birthing Chamber to draw a card before passing. Stephen had the all-too-predictable Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He activated the 3-drop to attempt to return Beetle, Armorsmith to play (the 2-drop was KO’d as a resource to Ivy last turn), but Tillman had the Slaughter Swamp to bounce Beetle to Stephen’s hand instead. Stephen played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Melissa Gold to get Mikado and Mosha. He set Ivy in front of Dr. Light, and passed. In combat, Tillman simply passed. Stephen declared an attack of Ivy into Ivy, and both stunned. He then used Mikado and a Swamp activation to stun both Nenora and Archangel. In recovery, both of these 1-drops were KO’d. Stephen had the lead, 44-42.

Turn 4 was Stephen’s initiative. He recruited Beetle, discarding Justice League Task Force to get Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain. Next, he used Slaughter Swamp to return Mikado and Mosha to his hand. An activation of Dr. Light targeted Shocker, and Tillman allowed it. With his remaining two resource points, Stephen used Shocker to stun Poison Ivy. He set up with Ivy protecting Beetle and Shocker protecting Dr. Light, then passed. Tillman played his fourth resource and recruited Yellowjacket with boost into the hidden area. It searched out a Beetle, which Tillman recruited. With Beetle’s ability on the chain, Tillman used Birthing Chamber to draw a card. He discarded Yellowjacket to Beetle’s ability to search for Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide, which he spent his last resource point to recruit in the visible area. Tillman set up with Dallas protecting Beetle, and passed. In combat, Stephen sent Beetle after Beetle. Both characters stunned. Ivy attacked Dallas, and Tillman exhausted to draw a card. The 1-drop was stunned. Stephen passed on further attacks, and Tillman opted not to attack. Before recovery, Stephen discarded Mikado and Mosha and Mosha to stun Nightshade. Tillman flipped Soul World to get Archangel, and Stephen KO’d his Beetle to Poison Ivy to get Birthing Chamber. In recovery, Stephen led 42-29.

On turn 5, Tillman played a resource and played Hard Sound Construct on Beetle. He discarded Archangel to search his deck for Shocker, which he recruited. He also recruited another Archangel, electing not to discard. Tillman’s final resource points were spent on Surveillance Pawn and Dallas, the latter of which he used Soul World to get back. Tillman set up and passed. Stephen wasted no time in starting his turn with an activation of Shocker on Tillman’s Poison Ivy. In response, Tillman activated his Surveillance Pawn, and activated his Birthing Chamber to draw two. He KO’d the Pawn and the Chamber to Ivy to get a second Chamber. Shocker’s ability resolved, and Ivy stunned. Stephen’s next move was to play Hard Sound Construct on Beetle. With Beetle’s effect on the chain, Stephen drew a card with Birthing Chamber. He discarded Fatality, Emerald Assassin to search his deck for Nightshade. Stephen KO’d his Shocker to his Poison Ivy, picking up Kooey Kooey Kooey. Next, Stephen used Dr. Light to attempt to return his Shocker to play. Tillman flipped and used his new Birthing Chamber to draw two, then activated his Slaughter Swamp to return the Shocker in Stephen’s KO’d pile to his hand. Stephen used Slaughter Swamp to trade the Shocker in his hand for Mikado and Mosha in his KO’d pile, and then used Hard Sound Construct to finally get Shocker back into play. Stephen used his Shocker to stun Tillman’s Shocker, and used his last resource point to recruit Nightshade. Stephen set up with Ivy protecting Beetle and Shocker protecting Dr. Light, then passed. In combat, Tillman used two copies of X-Corp: Amsterdam to get two copies of Faces of Evil, which he immediately flipped. He declared an attack of Archangel into Beetle, which Stephen allowed. Both characters stunned. Next, Beetle traded stuns with Poison Ivy. Yellowjacket went after Shocker, and again, both characters stunned. Finally, Tillman passed. Stephen used Mikado and Mosha to stun Dallas, and Stephen attacked for a point. Tillman had a Mikado and Mosha of his own. In recovery, Stephen’s Light and Ivy faced off against Tillman’s lone Shocker. Stephen led, 30-16.

Stephen had the initiative on turn 6. He played Sue Dibny, searching out Booster Gold, which he immediately played with boost. He played Beetle, discarding another Sue to search out Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Kyle got a Hard Sound Construct, and Stephen activated his Birthing Chamber to draw two cards. Stephen attempted to use Dr. Light to return his Fatality to play, but Tillman would have none of it—he used Slaughter Swamp to return the character to Stephen’s hand. Stephen used Slaughter Swamp to return Mikado to his hand, discarding Fatality. Next, he KO’d Sue to Ivy to get UN Building. He teamed up Emerald Enemies, Masters of Evil, and JLI, allowing him to use his Hard Sound Construct to return Fatality to play. Tillman allowed it, and the 2-drop entered play. Stephen set up with Ivy protecting Booster, Fatality protecting Beetle, and Light protecting Rayner before passing. Tillman went into the tank — the game didn’t look particularly winnable for him. He began by playing Hard Sound Construct on Beetle. Tillman discarded another Beetle to search his deck for El Guapo. He used Soul World to get back Yellowjacket, and recruited the 1-drop in his visible area with boost. Yellowjacket yielded Joystick, which Tillman also recruited. He used Birthing Chamber to draw a card, then attempted to Hard Sound back his Dallas Riordan. Stephen used two Kooeys to get two copies of Trial by Fire, then negated the Construct with Fatality. Tillman played Mxyzptlk and boosted El Guapo before passing. In combat, Stephen used Mikado to stun Joystick. Tillman conceded.