In an all FTN showdown, Vidi and Kim square off with 2-0 draft decks born at the top Draft table. The dice were tossed, and Kim spilled a two to Vidi’s four. Vidi chose evens as he shuffled his lime-green sleeves.
Kim gave Vidi a wish of luck, and they both drew four cards. Kim sent her initial hand back, and Vidi kept. Kim set a resource and passed, while Vidi dropped Electric Eve. After attacking, evading, and evading again inside the recovery, Vidi had dropped Kim’s endurance by 4 and his own by 2.
Turn 2 brought Shadowcat, Katya to the field in front of Electric Eve, while Friedrich Von Roehm came down on Kim’s side. Vidi swung Shadowcat into Von Roehm, flipped X-Corp: Hong Kong for the stun, and swung directly with Electric Eve for 2 endurance loss. Another double evasion rounded out the early beatings by Vidi.
Kim 39 to Vidi 46
Kim dropped her third resource and pitched Emma Frost, White Queen to pay the cost for Join the Club. She searched out Mastermind, Dark Dreamer and played him in the hidden area. Vidi brought in a concealed character of his own in the form of Annalee. On Kim’s attacks, she hurled Mastermind into Shadowcat. Vidi responded with a nasty Turnabout for the +3ATK / +3DEF, but Kim flipped The Hellfire Club to ensure the stun. Fredrich Von Roehm attacked into Eve, and Vidi teamed-up the X-Men and Morlocks with X-Men United, giving Eve the benefits of X-Corp: Hong Kong, resulting in mutual stuns. Kim had no visible characters, and Annalee swung to the face for 5 endurance loss.
Kim 29 to Vidi 39
The fourth turn brought Vidi’s X-Men/Morlocks deck an unlikely ally in the form of the massive Sentinel Mark VI. Kim recruited Empath. Vidi had the initiative and flipped Brave New World, teaming-up Sentinels and Morlocks and calling the Mental trait. He declared a team attack into Empath with Shadowcat and the Sentinel, and Kim chose to stun the Sentinel in return. Annalee swung directly for 5 more endurance loss. Kim chose to pass on her attack with her hidden Mastermind in order to keep board parity.
Kim 20 to Vidi 35
On turn 5, Kim dropped Jetstream. She passed and drew a slight wince from Vidi. As the defending Pro Circuit champion eyed his hand, he claimed, “Missing a 5-drop is never good.” He settled on the support row recruit of Psylocke, Armored Empath. Kim joked that she was “looking for something a little bit smaller.” Kim had formed up with Empath protecting Jetstream, and a hidden front row Mastermind. Vidi had a hidden front row Annalee, and he used the classic “L” defensive formation in his visible area, with Psylocke and the Sentinel Mark VI forming the base and Shadowcat protecting Psylocke.
Kim swung her Mastermind into Shadowcat, stunning Vidi’s 2-drop. She then declared Empath on the Mark VI for mutual stuns. The tough decisions were mounting, as Kim decided to send her 5-drop into Psylocke. Jetstream attacked, but Vidi moved Annalee out of the hidden area to give him -3DEF. In response, Kim flipped the Massachusetts Academy location, activated it, and KO’d her stunned Empath to decorate Jetstream with a shiny +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter. She drew her card and played Feel the Burn. Vidi lost 3 endurance, because Jetstream is an Energy character, and Kim added on Army of One before passing for final resolution. Vidi ditched a Mental character to negate the effect of the Army of One, but Kim dropped a second copy. After the flurry of attack modifiers, negations, and KO’ing, the dust settled with stuns all around. Vidi swung his Annalee into an empty visible area for 5 more endurance loss. Before recovery, Vidi played Harry’s Hideaway, recovering his Psylocke. He then recovered the Sentinel Mark VI, while Kim recovered her Jetstream.
Kim 6 to Vidi 15.
Vidi boosted Destiny, Freedom Force on turn 6, looking for his Blackbird Blue. He drew two cards, played Mutopia, and drew another card. He finally dropped Plague and paid 1 to hide her, questioning, “Where was my Blackbird?” Kim underdropped as well, hiding both Erg and Sage, Tessa. She pitched a Mental character and drew into two cards she would have rather had before her recruit. She threw away Shaw Industries and Donald Pierce, and recruited a free, hidden copy of Hellfire Club Initiate by pitching a Hellfire Club character card.
Vidi declared a team attack with Plague and Annalee into Jetstream. Kim KO’d the Initiate to add a counter with an activation of the Massachusetts Academy, taking Jetstream’s DEF to 1 above Vidi’s combined attack value. Vidi pitched a Mental character to Destiny’s effect to take 3 DEF from Jetstream’s enhanced stats. Kim took the stun and returned the favor by stunning Vidi’s Annalee. She curiously didn’t use Jetstream’s ability to KO him and exhaust one of Vidi’s characters with cost 6 or less.
Vidi declared an attack into Kim’s open board, but she revealed her master plan, using Absolute Power to recover Jetstream after exhausting Sage and Mastermind. The spectators shake their heads in approval, but Vidi clinches the game by flipping a solo copy of Sewer System. With his newly-gained ability, the Sentinel smashed into the hidden Erg. Kim realized that she would fall to -6 endurance, while Vidi would still be at 8, and she extended the hand.
After his victory, Vidi had grabbed his third win with his current draft deck. Odds indicate that two more wins would secure his place in Day 3 competition for consecutive Top 8 finishes.