This is an all–Your Move Games match for a slot in Day 2.

Anthony had the initiative, but no recruits on turn 1, while Jacob had Rem-Ram on turn 1 to net himself Chrome. He followed up with a turn 2 Amelia Voght and Chrome, for the veritable “god draw” of Brotherhood reservist.

Anthony had Shape and a Thunder Jet, but was already way behind on the board. Chrome exhausted and then attacked Shape, followed by a team attack to the face, putting the endurance totals at 44 to 48 in Jacob’s favor.

On turn 3, Anthony used Enemy of My Enemy to fetch Silver Sabre. This is not a regular Squadron Supreme deck, folks. Both characters sat in the front row, ready to punish Rabinowitz for his great start. Jacob retorted with a 7 ATK / 6 DEF Black Panther, T’Challa, and set all of his visible characters up in the back row, wary of Silver Sabre’s ability.

Shape attacked Rem-Ram, and Heroes in Reserve ensured the mutual stun. A Flying Kick helped Silver Sabre get active, and hit both of Rabinowitz’s remaining visible characters. Boot to the Head kept Sabre stunned, and then Black Panther got to crack back.

As Anthony recovered Shape, he disconsolately declared that he needed his draw to be insane from now on to stay in the game. On 29 to his opponent’s 37, he was probably right.

Unuscione was the recruit for Jacob for turn 4, while it was old faithful Golden Archer from Shaheen—who got to use the Archer to go to the mug for 4 before he was stunned in a big attack from Unuscione, where with the help of Heroes in Reserve, the stun was assured. Black Panther went over Shape, and finally Chrome got in for 2.

Shaheen ended his turn with Answer the Call to find Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, and recovered his 4-drop.

“Is Nuke going to be too little too late?” asked Shaheen, clearly concerned about his position in the game.

There was one way to find out, and he took it, making the big man and setting up, ready for battle.

From Jacob, it was Amenhotep from the row straight up front. Leading on endurance 26 to 18, Rabinowitz was feeling pretty good about his position. Shaheen tried to make a game of it, using Flying Kick to attack a protected Unuscione, then going in with Nuke on the now-unreinforceable Chrome. Might Makes Right left things a lot tighter, taking Jacob down to just 4.

“Do I die if I attack back?” Rabinowitz inquired.

“Yes…”

“Okay, I pass.”

“I am going to stop complaining about my draw now,” stated Shaheen with a smile. Suddenly he was back in the game.

Sovereign Superior found She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell for Jacob, then a Rem-Ram found him Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow. Amelia Voght came out for free, and finally She-Hulk joined the board.

“I have no idea who is winning this game,” declared Anthony, as he played Firestar from his resource row. On the off initiative, he could do a lot of endurance loss, but he was probably facing down a fair bit, too.

The pressure was on. This turn would determine who would be drafting on Saturday, and who would not.

First things first, Amenhotep attacked Firestar. With some help from Call Down the Lightning, Jacob only took the 5 from Firestar exploding. Unuscione, Rem-Ram, and Amelia then went for Nuke, with some help from The Acolytes. It all came down to whether or not She-Hulk could hit on her replace ability to do enough damage on the final attack on Golden Archer.

There was a collective intake of breath as each player waited to see how kind She-Hulk would be. It turned out that for this game, she preferred Anthony, and his opponent couldn’t do enough breakthrough to secure the win.

Jacob ended at -11 to Anthony’s -8.

Anthony Shaheen wins!