Sydney teammates Alex Brown and Luke Bartter, both undefeated so far, squared off in round 5. The other match of undefeated players was Shaun Heyward against Andrew Corney.

Alex and Luke were both highly accomplished players, with Alex winning the last $10K in the region (Auckland, New Zealand) and Luke finishing 29th and 23rd respectively at the last two PCs. Alex was piloting his trademark Teen Titans deck, while Luke had resurrected his Big Brotherhood deck, which had won him into the top eight of Australia’s first $10K in Sydney last year.

Alex got his early curve up to turn 5, with Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Terra and Garth ◊ Tempest in play. Luke missed his 5-drop, leaving him with Rogue, Anna Raven and Sabretooth, Feral Rage.

Luke was slightly ahead on endurance and had the initiative. Alex lost Terra at the end of the turn and went further behind in endurance. Turn 6 was a huge one for Brown, however, recruiting Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and Red Star, while Bartter flipped Rise to Power to get Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin. This set up a series of team attacks for Alex with a powered-up Red Star and Teen Titans Go! to clear Luke’s board and put a big dent in his endurance.

Turn 7 saw Luke recruit Magneto, Master of Magnetism, while Alex did nothing by burn Luke to below zero with Red Star. Luke had drawn the Flame Trap—he then played it a turn too late and couldn’t cause enough endurance loss, especially with Heroic Sacrifice saving Alex some big breakthrough. This prompted Luke to extend his hand and declare Alex a “Man Titan”.

Meanwhile, Heyward and Corney were playing out the dreaded Curve Sentinels mirror match. The turning point in this match was Andrew using Underground Sentinel Base to bring out Hounds of Ahab on turn 6, trying to go for the win. A Bastion pump-a-thon followed, which didn’t bring a result, but did reduce Shaun to one card in hand before turn 7. However, that card was Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

In other news, Paul Chalupa’s Unaffiliated Burn deck and Randall Hughe’s Rigged Elections (with Marvel Knights) were 4-1.