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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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| Round 1: John Fiorillo vs. Carl Perlas |
| Jason Grabher-Meyer |
| December 03, 2004 |
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John Fiorillo, from NYC, is a longtime Magic player who finished 56th at the Gen Con Indy PC. He’s looking to repeat that money finish here.
Carl Perlas is a native of LA. He too played in Gen Con Indy but narrowly missed a money finish. An old school Magic player, he took a break from collectible gaming for several years but got into Vs. after a casual stint in Heroclix.
Fiorillo was playing a pure X-Men deck thats been getting a lot of hype, while Perlas was playing Teen Titans. Perlas won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiative.
Fiorillo quickly decided to keep his hand, but Perlas opted to mulligan before opening with Dove on turn 1. She swung for 2 as Fiorillo missed both his 1 and 2-drop, but Perlas also missed his turn 2 recruit.
Turn 3 would seem like déjà vu as Perlas recruited a new Dawn Granger ◊ Dove but this time paid her boost cost, bringing her and Hank Hall ◊ Hawk to the front. Fiorillo finally recruited as well, bringing down Puppet Master, who quickly got walloped by Hawk.
Turn 4 went far better for Fiorillo, as he recruited Rogue, Power Absorption—the stall setup was in place. Perlas also hit his turn 4 drop, recruiting Terra. Perlas flipped Optitron and used it to fuel a stun from Terra against Puppet Master. Fiorillo chained his effect in response, and Perlas exhausted Dove. Hawk then hid behind Dove, but Rogue flew over to stun him anyways.
Turn 5 began with a great deal of staring at hands and anxious shuffling. Both men had less than optimal setups, so domination on this turn seemed to easily spell a game-winning advantage. Perlas settled on recruiting Red Star and using his extra resource point to burn Fiorillo for 5. He formed up with his ranged attackers in the back shielded by Dove and Hawk. He then inquired with a judge as to the legality of using USS Argus while his opponent held initiative during the build phase. Confirming his intended play’s legality, he activated USS Argus and dug for a Press the Attack. Fiorillo hit his drop again, recruiting Sunfire—Rogue now had a new power to play with, and it was one that definitely threatened Perlas. Terra took a shot at Puppet Master thanks to USS Argus, whose activation was again nerfed considerably by Dove’s presence. Entering combat, Fiorillo chose to have Rogue mimic Sunfire’s effect. Perlas attempted to team attack with Red Star and Hawk against Rogue, but Sunfire’s effect was activated, and Hawk plummeted from the sky. Seemingly foiled, Perlas powered up Red Star with another copy from his hand. Rogue ducked with an Acrobatic Dodge, but a Savage Beatdown laid her low. Teen Titans Go! readied Red Star and allowed him to attack Sunfire, but a power up from Fiorillo’s hand saved him. Fiorillo bid farewell to Puppet Master, and his nemesis in this game, Dove, hit the KO’d pile as well.
Turn 6 opened with Fiorillo activating Cerebro to get Jean Grey, Marvel Girl into his KO’d pile. He then recruited another Puppet Master and hid him behind Sunfire. Perlas, who seemed a bit involved in his own hand, confirmed initiative with Fiorillo before recruiting Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. In response, Sunfire blasted Robin and Puppet Master exhausted Hawk. Perlas then used his last resource point to again burn with Red Star for 5 endurance.
The match was, and remained, very technical and play-oriented. The day was young and it seemed like neither competitor was in the full swing of play yet—no amusing one-liners or quips, just a lot of staring at Roy Harper.
Roy was quickly pumped, and he took a shot at Rogue to rob Fiorillo of his initiative. Everything recovered, and the game went to turn 7.
Dropping a replacement for his lost sixth resource, Perlas seemed to gain some speed, but then hesitated before flipping over another USS Argus and activating it. Garth came down, and Fiorillo immediately sent Sunfire after Roy Harper. Perlas initially went to activate Roy in response, but then opted to first use Red Star’s effect. He then sniped Puppet Master, who activated and exhausted Hawk. Opting to keep Press the Attack for later in the turn, Perlas then let Roy stun and passed his build. Fiorillo yet again used Cerebro, grabbing and recruiting Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath. Moving into combat, he copied the Prof’s effect with Rogue, and Perlas knew he was in a tenuous situation,
“I’ll announce an attack,” stated Perlas.
“What attack will you announce?” was the response. It took Perlas a bit of time to decide.
Garth looked to swing at Rogue, who activated to send Garth straight at Perlas. Red Star and Terra then attempted to team attack Professor X, but he, too, used some telepathic powers to make Red Star turn around and take a chunk out of Perlas’s endurance total. Time was called at this point. Robin attacked Professor X, and because Perlas had four exhausted characters, he used Press the Attack to ready Garth as Tim got swatted by another telepathic blast. Garth attacked Rogue, who again Acrobatic Dodged, but in a repeat of the early game, she was stopped by a Savage Beatdown. Burn Rubber served to minimize breakthrough, and that was the combat for the turn.
At 16 to 14, it was an incredibly close game. Fiorillo had initiative and Cerebro’d. Not finding the turn 8 play he wanted, he Cerebro’d again—might as well when time has been called. He still could not find Jean Grey, Phoenix Force, but instead recruited Emma Frost. Perlas entered his build and Argus’d again, taking some time to deliberate about his recruit. Hovering a card over the table for the better part of thirty seconds, he then dropped it: Starfire. Perlas then took a couple minutes deliberating over his formation; since Fiorillo had initiative and was playing a relatively unfamiliar deck, Perlas’ decision was a very difficult one. Before forming up, he opted to pump Roy Harper with Terra. Fiorillo responded by grilling Roy Harper, and Perlas took some time to confirm the order of resolution: Sunfire’s stun was going to resolve before Roy received Terra’s pump. It was either all-in on Roy, or Perlas would have to concede the strategy for the turn. Resolving himself, Perlas pumped Roy again with Red Star. Hawk then exhausted to pump Roy as well, and after a long pause, Roy took his shot at Rogue, and Perlas stunned him.
“Why is he being stunned?” Both men kind of blinked, not remembering for a moment. They then both remembered Sunfire’s activation. “It’s just been so long!” laughed Fiorillo.
Combat began, and Fiorillo sent Emma Frost after Terra, slamming into her for the stun. Professor X exhausted Garth, and a Pleasant Distraction rounded out combat for the turn. Fiorillo wins.
Game Win: John Fiorillo |
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