“Why do you have to feature the match I’m going to lose?” asked Vidi, grinning.
“Oh come on, it’s Vidi! I always lose against Vidi!” Yapjoco replied with a grin of his own.
Most of the pre-match banter was unfortunately unsuitable for print, but the gist of it was that Vidi likes to spout expletives a lot and both competitors respect each other as players and friends.
Vidi opened up with Baxter Building and Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. She swung directly, as Yapjoco had no recruit. He wouldn’t have one for turn 2 either—ouch.
Vidi recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. “Of course you get that against me,” said Yapjoco. Baxter Building hit an Advanced Hardware, and the Girl swung for 1 again.
Next turn, Vidi brought up Thing, Ben Grimm, who quickly laid hands on Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Yapjoco was not happy. Invisible Girl swung again, and both Baxter Building and Reed Richards grabbed some equipment.
Yapjoco got a game going on turn 4, though, recruiting Terra and using her to shield Arsenal. Vidi again used Richards and Baxter Building, this time getting two Unstable Molecules—one from each. He recruited She-Thing and gave Thing a Molecules—he seemed to have everything except for an Antarctic Research Base (ARB). He popped the Molecules and gave Thing a Personal Force Field. Thing protected Richards and Invisible Girl protected She-Thing.
“You’re what . . . an 11?” asked Yapjoco. “Yeah,” confirmed Vidi. “That’s so stupid.”
Yapjoco spent a great deal of time considering his next move. In the meantime, Vidi revealed one of his set resources to bystanders: Franklin Richards. “You see,” he said, turning to me. “I told you, he is awesome. He is multi-function.” He smirked.
Roy Harper and Terra swung in on Thing. A Savage Beatdown pumped Terra, and a Teen Titans Go! readied them both. Terra stunned Invisible Girl and Finishing Move KO’d her. Arsenal stunned back.
Vidi chained Baxter Building to his draw for turn 5 and hit Stretch. He set it on the bottom of his deck but had no ARB or Thinking Outside the Box to get at it with. He had a hand chock full of equips, but no ARB to abuse them with. He recruited Flamethrower to a fresh Ant Man and gave Advanced Hardwares to both She-Thing and Reed Richards.
Yapjoco recruited Garth ◊ Tempest, who became the corner of an L reinforcing Terra. Thing attacked Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, and both Terra and Garth pumped him up. Ditching a resource row Betrayal, Harper snapped off a shot at Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, who activated in response for Advanced Hardware. She-Thing and Ant Man also activated for their burn effects, and finally Thing, Mr. Fantastic, and Roy Harper went down.
It was 17 to 38 in favor of Vidi. Even without Antarctic Research Base, he was doing incredibly well. His movements were fast and confident. Fantastic Fun fit him like a glove.
Next turn, Yapjoco had to do some hustling. He recruited Dawn Granger ◊ Dove with boost, bringing out Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. That was it, though. He had nothing else to fill out his other resource points besides an Optitron, which he activated. Vidi finally drew into Mr. Fantastic, Stretch and recruited him.
Overload stunned and then KO’d Ant Man. Vidi had chosen a reverse L formation, and now none of his characters were reinforced or protected. Terra stunned She-Thing, but she activated in response to burn. Mr. Fantastic went down to a shot from Roy Harper (thanks to some pumps from Hall and Granger), and Garth cracked Vidi directly with a Savage Beatdown. The score was 9 to 3 in Vidi’s favor, and as everything readied on Yapjoco’s side, Vidi opted to keep Stretch around.
Vidi didn’t have a lot—his hand after his next draw was Human Torch, Hotshot, a Pier 4, and two Unstable Molecules. He recruited Torch, and after some consideration, Yapjoco opted not to respond. Vidi gave Torch an Unstable Molecules and finally flipped ARB. “ARB on seven is hot . . . ” He blew the first Molecules and then recruited another . . . and then another . . . giving each of his characters +3 to DEF and leaving a Molecules on Torch. He then attached The Pogo Plane to Stretch, drawing yet again. He popped it to grab an extraneous Pier 4 to clear Stretch for another equipment, and then cleared the Molecules off of Torch, as well. He then gave Torch a Flamethrower. This was a pretty nonsensical move unless he intended to attack with Torch later in the turn, so he seemed to be telegraphing his intent.
Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, aided by Dove and Hawk, shot Torch before the Flamethrower’s recruitment resolved. Torch activated in response for his own effect, but that was all Vidi could do. He gave Stretch a Flamethrower of his own and passed.
Yapjoco recruited Red Star, set him in the back row, and passed. Vidi passed combat, so the pressure was on Yapjoco to end it this turn. Garth and Terra swung in on Stretch together, and Teen Titan’s Go! readied them. They exhausted to pump Arsenal. Knowing that Yapjoco had a Press the Attack, Wijaya conceded. Yapjoco had intended to shoot with Arsenal, bring back Press with Garth, and then swing with him directly. It would’ve been an utter stomping.
Patrick Yapjoco 1, Vidi Wijaya 0
Yapjoco controlled the initiative on turn 1, and he set and flipped Optitron. He immediately tossed Red Star to fetch Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. Vidi had nothing.
He also had nothing on turn 2—he had a hand full of plot twists and equipment. He passed, and Yapjoco recruited Speedy before seeking out Dawn Granger Dove with Optitron. Speedy popped a shot at Vidi, and play moved to turn 3.
Yapjoco recruited Dove with boost to bring out Hawk and formed his characters into a reverse L with Hawk protecting Speedy. Vidi finally got a character—Mr. Fantastic, Stretch—and used him to pay for Signal Flare. He nabbed a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and recruited him, immediately activating his effect. He got The Pogo Plane, attached it to Richards, and passed.
Yapjoco sent Hawk after Mr. Fantastic, and The Pogo Plane promptly fetched Vidi an Antarctic Research Base (ARB). Speedy and Dove then team attacked with a Tamaran pump. That was the turn.
Chaining his draw, Vidi used Mr. Fantastic to get himself a copy of Unstable Molecules, which he picked over a Fantasticar. He flipped Thinking Outside the Box to get himself the Car and a Cosmic Radiation, and then flipped his newly set ARB to draw a card from an Unstable Molecules recruitment. He was still deprived of characters. His ARB got him another Reed Richards, and he used a second Signal Flare to turn it into a Thing, Ben Grimm. Thing quickly got a Flamethrower, and after sticking Mr. Fantastic behind him, Vidi passed.
Yapjoco began his build with USS Argus. He then recruited Terra, stuck her behind Hawk, and used her effect to stun Thing. Thing threw his Flamethrower at Dove, and Dove pumped up Speedy for a quick +1 ATK. Hawk swung in on Mr. Fantastic, and Vidi popped his Unstable Molecules in an attempt to keep him around. Unfortunately for Vidi, though, a Savage Beatdown from Yapjoco’s hand was enough to take him down, and Speedy fired off a Finishing Move to knock him out.
Vidi’s body language didn’t seem to express confidence. His terrible draws hadn’t really let up from the beginning of the game, and his situation worsened when Yapjoco recruited Roy Harper Arsenal on turn 5. Optitron got him another copy of Dove, the in-play one pumped up Roy, and he recruited the second Dove before passing.
Vidi equipped a Flamethrower to Thing to draw a card, and Thing threw his equipment at Dove to stun her. Dove number two pumped to buff up Arsenal yet again, and when Vidi attempted to recruit a Fantasticar to Thing, Terra stunned him. Vidi then recruited Wyatt Wingfoot, gave him a Molecules, drew for it, KO’d them, and gave him The Pogo Plane. He used the Plane’s effect to dig for Pier 4 and to clear Wyatt of equips, but Vidi just wasn’t playing like himself. He gave Wyatt a Personal Force Field, drew, and then passed. It was 30 to 38 for Yapjoco.
Roy took out Wyatt, and Hawk attacked directly. Yapjoco wasn’t taking big chunks out of Vidi, but he was keeping him very controlled.
Vidi had control of the initiative next turn, and he recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards before immediately using his effect. He gave him a Molecules, drew for ARB, and attempted to recruit Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. The recruit was immediately chained to with a stun of Mr. Fantastic by Roy Harper (Terra had already been activated earlier in the turn to stun Thing). A Cosmic Radiation readied Mr. Fantastic with Roy’s effect on the chain, and his effect dug out a copy of The Pogo Plane. Vidi was just looking to draw cards and stay alive at this point.
Vidi played A Child Named Valeria from his hand, but Yapjoco instantly chained Finishing Move, exhausting Dove. He started shuffling and riffling his hand—he seemed to know he had Vidi at that point.
Invisible Girl got The Pogo Plane. Vidi fired it off to grab a Baxter Building and an ARB draw. Finally, she was given an Advanced Hardware, and Vidi passed after one last draw.
Yapjoco was curving perfectly and recruited Garth ◊ Tempest. Yapjoco then wiped Vidi’s board, playing Garth’s ability to re-use Finishing Move and take out Thing.
“I should be conceding,” confessed Vidi. “But since it’s a feature match, I’ll keep playing.”
On the next turn, Yapjoco recruited Red Star, while Vidi flipped Pier 4. He gave Invisible Girl The Pogo Plane, but she was Overloaded with the equipment recruit on the chain. In response, she activated to burn Yapjoco for 3—it was 13 to 29 in Yapjoco’s favor. He recruited Ant Man, gave him a Flamethrower, and drew an Unstable Molecules. He gave it to Ant Man, but again Yapjoco had an Overload. He opted not to chain it this time in order to KO Ant Man. This cost him 5 endurance, but it also turned the stun from Overload into a KO—he could definitely afford it. Next, Vidi recruited Thing, Ben Grimm and flopped Foiled onto the table. He offered Yapjoco The Hand shake.
Match Win: Patrick Yapjoco