Ben Stoll came in second at $10K Chicago last year, and third at $10K Indy. He pointed out that it’s much harder to do well in these tournaments now, noting, “The competition gets better every week.” David Frayer came in the Top 4 of $10K LA, on the Marvel side. Today, he’s running a Fantastic Four combo deck named Fantastic Force, which he ran at PC New York along with a few teammates. It’s a bit more aggro than standard combo, with no copies of A Child Named Valeria or Pier 4. Frayer noted that he is playing In Evil Star’s Evil Clutches and Yancy Street to combat Finishing Move, which is an incredibly popular card today.

Frayer had Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards on turn 2, as Stoll lamented, “Oh no, not this deck.” It hit nothing, and Frayer flipped over Antarctic Research Base. Unstable Molecules went on Mr. Fantastic, he KO’d it to cycle through some more, and activated Reed. Once again, no equipment could be found. Marvel’s First Family brought the Molecules back to Frayer’s hand, which allowed him to draw another card, leading to Thing, Ben Grimm. Stoll had no turn 3 play, and shouted “This is the worst draw I’ve had all day! Take a note of that, feature match writer!”

He had Sentinel Mark V on turn 4, but without enough early pressure it would prove difficult to catch up with Frayer before things got ugly. Marvel’s First Family let Frayer go through another Molecules, drawing more cards this time giving his chracters +1 ATK. Signal Flare searched out Human Torch, Hotshot. He came into play, and Mark V swung over to stun the Hothead. Reed Richards finally hit Advanced Hardware and Flamethrower, and Frayer took Flamethrower. The Pogo Plane went on Thing, and it was used to get Four Freedoms Plaza. Flamethrower now went on Thing, and Frayer continued to get ahead on cards with each equipment played. Signal Flare searched out Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. She came into play, and Frayer gave her Advanced Hardware. In response, Stoll added Flame Trap to the chain. This stunned Reed and Sue, and Advanced Hardware did not resolve. Frayer KO’d the Flamethrower via Thing’s ability to free up more equipment space, as Salvage brought back Molecules to draw another card. It was KO’d, and another Salvage let Frayer draw more cards. Stoll played Nimrod, which attacked and stunned Torch. Frayer went to flip up and activate Four Freedoms Plaza, but did so during recovery, when it was too late. He lost Sue and Reed during recovery, leaving him with Torch and Thing.

Stoll played Bastion, and Frayer answered back with Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, Catcher’s Mitt, and Unstable Molecules. Mark V attacked Torch, which was equipped with Catcher’s Mitt. Frayer responded by KO’ing the Molecules on Thing, and giving him the Mitt. Thing had high enough defense to deal with the Mark V attack, but Stoll had a power-up. Needless to say, with Bastion out as well, it was going to be a war between the ubiquitous 6-drop and Frayer’s equipment bonuses. Yancy Street made the attack a little easier, but Stoll was still able to stun everyone. After recovery, only Human Torch, Hotshot remained.

 Turn 7 saw Frayer play Stretch and Pogo Plane, and after some thought, he passed with a tone of disappointment as the game was slipping away. Stoll had the inevitable Magneto, Master of Magnetism, which was enough to make sure the game didn’t go past turn 7.

Ben Stoll wins!