Karl Horn, winner of PC LA, was already featured in round 4. Keebler Powell (his real name) is from Dayton, Ohio, and is playing a unique X-Statix deck. Believe it or not, both of these players are 4-1 going into the sixth round. Karl won the die roll and selected the odd initiatives. Both players kept their opening hands.
Before even playing a resource on the first turn, Karl discarded Dagger, Child of Light to fetch Midnight Sons. He recruited Micro-Chip and passed to Keebler, who had no play. Keebler missed on the second turn as well, while Karl flipped his Midnight Sons. He named Gotham Knights, and then played a resource-row Wild Ride to fetch Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend. Dagger and Alfred came down, and the turn ended after Keebler took a few points of beats.
Karl had the initiative on turn 3 and led off with Lacuna. He used Alfred, fetching Have a Blast!, and re-recruited the 1-drop. Keebler could only muster Phat, William Reilly, discarding Anarchist, Man of the People. He recruited Phat with a Force Field Belt and attacked in for a point (Karl reinforced). Karl led 48-47.
Keebler under-dropped on turn 4 yet again, recruiting Vivisector, Myles Alfred with boost. He paid a point to Force Field Belt to add a counter, and then passed. Karl teamed-up Doom, and Karl played Wild Ride for Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom. Next, he activated Alfred to search out a Fizzle. Finally getting to his recruits, Karl dropped Alfred, Boris, and a Robot Sentry. The Sentry locked down Phat, and that was the turn; Keebler led 47-42.
Turn 5 was Karl’s initiative again, and he used his Alfred to fetch Bat-Signal. He immediately played the Signal, exhausting Dagger to search for Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. He recruited the Doctor, flipping down Bat-Signal, and closed out his turn by re-recruiting Alfred. Again, Keebler had no play except a boosted Vivisector and two points for the Belt. Karl simply exhausted Phat, and that was the turn. Keebler crept ahead by another 5, now leading 47-37.
Keebler’s turn 6 play was again Vivisector—this time he played him twice. Karl had Dr. Light, Arthur Light. When he attempted to use it to stun Phat, Keebler had Star of the Show. Karl had Have a Blast!, but Keebler had another Star of the Show to foil him. Keebler attacked Alfred for a point, Karl Bat-Signaled for another Doom, and that was the turn. Keebler led 47-26.
On turn 7, Karl re-recruited his Doom, flipping Have a Blast! Next, Alfred fetched Press the Attack, and it was re-played. Keebler burned Karl twice and put a counter on the Belt. Play moved to the combat step. Karl got rid of Star of the Show—for good this time, it seemed—and stunned Phat. Keebler used Spin Doctoring, but Karl simply exhausted his 1-drop with Robot Sentry. Keebler still led, 46-16.
Keebler had the initiative on turn 8, and he played his second character of the game . . . Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch! There was a gale of shocked laughter from the crowd. “Wow,” said Karl. He went into the tank, and finally chose to play Mystical Paralysis on Ghost Rider. In response, Keebler activated it. In response to that, Karl used the Sentry to exhaust Phat, and then returned both Dagger and Alfred to his hand. Alfred got him Power Compressor, and Ghost Rider’s ability resolved. Karl was left with nothing but Dr. Light. It was his recruit step, though, and he had 8 resource points available. Karl played Wild Ride to get Micro-Chip, which he played and used to flip down Bat-Signal. Karl exhausted Dr. Light to Signal for Doom, which was recruited with Power Compressor. Have a Blast! was again flipped for Doom’s ability. Karl re-re-re-recruited Alfred Pennyworth, and then went into the tank again. He came out with Reign of Terror on Phat, but Keebler countered it with an X-Statix HQ activation. Karl played another Wild Ride, fetching another Dr. Light. He recruited yet another Alfred to get the one in play into the KO’d pile, and that was the last action of the turn. Keebler led 47-9.
Turn 9 was Karl’s initiative, and he certainly needed to find a way to win this turn. He played Wild Ride for Psimon. Karl played Entangle on his own Alfred, just to get Psimon out of his hand, and then played Dr. Light with boost. A truly excessive number of characters came into play. Karl stunned Ghost Rider with one of his Dr. Lights and went about resolving two come-into-play effects from Dr. Doom. He Pressed the exhausted Dr. Light, and Doom flipped it face down. The other Doom flipped down Have a Blast! Karl pushed his giant army to the front and passed. Keebler, unable to play cards with cost 6 or less or activated abilities of any kind, didn’t have any options. He conceded.
Karl Horn wins!