David Bradle is a player who has traveled from the Czech Republic and is currently 3-0. His opponent is Dean Sohnle, the Canadian currently living in London, who is hot off a victory in $10K London. His signature “Fantastic Fun” deck, replete with equips, is in action again today.
Dean won the die roll and chose to let his opponent play first.
After a mulligan from both players, Dean busted out an Ant Man and equipped it with Unstable Molecules, which drew him a card with Antarctic Research Base, and swung in for 2.
Going into turn 2, he recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, activated him, missed, played another Molecules and passed. His opponent had a slightly easier set of decisions, with just a Bronze Tiger. Dean chose not to attack, and instead had his Ant Man stunned (in spite of KO’ing Unstable Molecules) when Flying Fortress made the Tiger big.
On turn 3, David made a Kyle Abbot, continuing the theme of making animal men, while Dean Signal Flared for Thing, Ben Grimm, discarding She-Thing. He recruited him with another Unstable Molecules, continuing his trend of drawing the massive number of cards necessary to support the inherent card disadvantage of lots of equips. The Tiger attacked Ant Man, who was reinforced, and then Kyle went straight for Mr. Fantastic, who was also stunned. Dean attacked back through Kyle, and it was on to turn 4, just as soon as Ant Man and Kyle hit the KO’d pile.
Mr. Fantastic on turn 4 grabbed The Pogo Plane, then Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl came out to play. Unstable Molecules got popped, such that Thing could instead wield a Flamethrower. Ant Man then came into play, and he got some Advanced Hardware. Some might call this a toys deck, but in this deck, equipment appears to be a powerful weapon. For David, it was just Ra’s Al Ghul, Immortal Villain, front and center.
When Ant Man attacked Bronze Tiger, he was exhausted to pay for The Demon’s Head, which fetched a Mountain Stronghold. This was flipped when the now very large Thing, Ben Grimm attacked Ra’s. Pit of Madness was fairly effectively negated by Dean’s A Child Named Valeria, making Thing a quite deadly threat. After he was stunned, the Antarctic Research Base flipped right back up. When the Invisible Woman nipped in, endurance moved to 44–29 in the Canadian’s favor.
On turn 5, David recruited Bane, Ubu and passed with both his men up front and ready to fight. Mr. Fantastic activated and missed, then Dean played a copy of The Pogo Plane on Invisible Woman, drawing yet another card. He then recruited Human Torch, Hotshot, for the full Fantastic Four, plus their friend Ant Man. Thing and Invisible Woman stood out front with Human Torch and Ant Man behind them. Mr. Fantastic was fine on his own.
Bane flew in with the help of Flying Fortress and attacked Human Torch, who exhausted to burn for another 5. When Ra’s attacked Mr. Fantastic, there were no effects from Dean but to pop his Unstable Molecules to save some damage. Ant Man and Thing burned things up a bit more, and then in the recovery phase, Torch got Baned out.
At the start of turn 6, Dean once again activated Mr. Fantastic, this time hitting a Personal Force Field. Wyatt Wingfoot came out with a Flamethrower, and suddenly it looked like the Czech’s 16 life was looking very vulnerable. The Forcefield went on Mr. Fantastic, and then Dean Signal Flared for Frankie Ray. Without a 9-drop in play, she was still pretty small, but it turns out that size doesn’t matter when you are holding a big gun. She had an Advanced Hardware, and was going to be taken seriously.
Thing activated targeting Ra’s to lose his Flamethrower, such that he could get a nice little gun like Frankie’s. All of a sudden, he was big but safe from being blown up when stunned. Wyatt stood in front of Frankie, with Ant Man in front of Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic in front of Thing.
David recruited Merlyn and Bronze Tiger and put everyone but the archer out front, with him hidden behind the newly recruited Tiger.
Dean had no attacks, preferring to see what his opponent planned to do, with the option of just burning him for concerning amounts. Bane chose to attack Wyatt Wingfoot, which was responded to by a bit of flame throwing. When David played Overload, Bane got the chance to attack again. With the life totals being 30-6 in Sohnle’s favour, he took his time to think out his attacks.
Bronze Tiger attacked Frankie Raye, who exhausted to burn David some more. When both passed, the resultant stuns left the endurance at 28-1. Merlyn shot down Invisible Woman, allowing Bane to attack for 9. It just wasn’t enough, though, and when Dean activated yet another character with Advanced Hardware, it was enough for the Czech to extend his hand.
Dean Sohnle wins.