These players sit at the third table as we enter the second-to-last round of Saturday competition. Ian is 7-1, while Brian is 6-2. A win in this round would go a long way towards assuring a Top 8 berth for either of these California natives. Brian won the die roll and chose evens. Brian kept his opening hand, while Ian mulliganed.
Neither player had a first turn play, and Brian made the first drop of the game with a turn 2 Robot Sentry. Ian responded with both Chomin and Anti-Green Lantern. Before recovery, Ian used Chomin to stun his Anti-Lantern. He also used A Death in the Family to KO Robot Sentry. Still before recovery, Brian discarded Mikado and Mosha to stun Chomin. At the end of the turn, Brian was ahead 43-39.
On turn 3, Ian had no play, while Brian had Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue.He attacked Chomin into Floronic Man with help from Trial By Fire, and that was the turn. The endurance scores were tied at 38 apiece.
Brian hit his turn 4 Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, flipping two copies of Faces of Doom and turning one of them down. Ian recruited Xallarap and another Anti-Green Lantern. Brian attacked Ian directly for 12, and passed to Ian’s attacks. Ian declared an attack of his Anti-Lantern on Floronic Man. Brian KO’d it to bring back Mikado, and Ian played Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe on Doom before attacking directly with Xallarap. He played Cosmic Conflict to pump him up, but Brian had the Reign of Terror. In response, Ian played The Ring Has Chosen, retrieving Fiero. He discarded Die for Darkseid! to the Ring, and Xallarap went back to Ian’s hand. Ian attacked directly with his characters, and Brian used Mikado to stun Chomin. Ian allowed it, and he took 4 from the Anti-Lantern. At the end of the turn, Chomin faced off against Dr. Doom. At the end of the turn, Brian led 34-25.
Turn 5 was Ian’s initiative, and he simply recruited Felix Faust and passed. Brian had Sinestro, Corrupted by the Ring. Ian played Mega-Blast on Felix before attacking, but Brian had the Mystical Paralysis. Ian stunned Felix with his Chomin, and used his ability to bring two Anti-Green Lanterns from his KO’d pile to play. He team attacked Sinestro with all three of his characters, and Brian allowed it. At the end of the turn, Doom and Sinestro faced down a lone Chomin. The endurance score was still in Brian’s favor, 25-20.
On turn 6, Brian had the initiative. He played Straight to the Grave from his resource row, putting Gorilla Grodd and Flame Trap into his KO’d pile. He flipped Slaughter Swamp to bring back and recruit Grodd. Ian knew he was done for, and conceded.
Brian Eugenio wins!