Some people have all the luck. Not these two, though. In a sea of unknown and inexperienced players, these professional players have been paired against each other in the very first round. Both Niles and Vidi have a $10K Top 8 to their credit, and they’ve both traveled a fair distance to be here. Niles is from Las Vegas, while Vidi hails from Los Angeles.
Vidi won the die roll and thought extensively about his choice of initiative. “He’s trying to stall me out,” quipped Niles. Vidi eventually decided to take the odd initiative. Both players mulliganed their opening hands. Niles made a point of showing off two copies of Betrayal, largely useless due to his suspicion that his opponent was playing Teen Titans. On the first turn, Vidi had no play, while Niles discarded Dagger, Child of Light to fetch Midnight Sons. He flipped a Wild Ride from his resource row to get Micro-Chip, and attacked for a point. That was the turn.
Niles continued his shenanigans on turn 2 by playing the Midnight Sons and teaming up Marvel Knights with Gotham Knights. Bat-Signal fetched Alfred, who came into play. Vidi simply recruited Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and attacked for 3 with the help of a Tamaran.
On turn 3, Vidi led off with Beast Boy, setting both of his characters in the front row. Niles used his Micro-Chip to flip down Wild Ride, and then used it to fetch another Dagger. This Dagger got another Midnight Sons, which Niles immediately played and flipped, naming Doom. A second Wild Ride got Niles a Robot Sentry, which he recruited and used to exhaust Tim Drake. Niles then used Alfred to fetch Reign of Terror, and replayed Alfred. Vidi made the only attack that he could, and at the end of the turn, he led 49-38.
Turn 4 was once again Niles’s initiative. He played a predictable Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, flipping down his Wild Ride. Before passing, he used Alfred to fetch yet another Reign of Terror. He wasted no time in playing both of his Reigns, bouncing Vidi’s board to his hand. Looking at a comfortable board position, Niles passed. Vidi went into the tank during his recruit step, and eventually chose to Optitron for Red Star. Beast Boy was replayed, and Dr. Doom and Robot Sentry went to town. Vidi still maintained a lead of 42-38, but his character position seemed less than impressive.
The fifth turn began with another trip to the tank for Vidi. This time he used Optitron, discarding Garth ◊ Tempest, to fetch a copy of Terra. He recruited Terra behind Beast Boy, and passed. Niles recruited Robot Destroyer, and set up with Robot Sentry in front of Dr. Doom, and the Destroyer next to Doom in the support row. “Your turn to bash,” said Niles. “How many cards are in your hand?” asked Vidi. He thought for a moment more, and then declared a team attack into Robot Sentry. Niles did not allow it, stunning his Robot Destroyer in an attempt to stun Beast Boy. In response, Vidi exhausted Beast Boy to Finishing Move the Robot. Vidi declared an attack of Terra into the Sentry, and this time, it was legal. Vidi opted not to use Tamaran, saving it for Niles’s inevitable attack back with Dr. Doom. Niles had a very surprising Savage Beatdown, though, and Terra still went down. At the end of the turn, the players were left with a 4-drop apiece, and Vidi maintained a lead of 31-23.
On turn 6, Niles started doing some math. He counted the cards in his hand and his resources, and double-checked his endurance score. Niles eventually decided to reuse the Wild Ride he had flipped down with Dr. Doom. This time, he searched out Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man. The web slinger was brought out in front of Dr. Doom, and Niles passed. Vidi dropped his Red Star in front of Terra, and immediately used his payment power to hit Niles for 5 endurance. Vidi’s last resource point was used to Optitron up a copy of Koriand’r ◊ Starfire. “Who still runs Koriand’r?” asked Niles.
“Adam Prosak told me to,” replied Vidi.
The recruit step ended, and combat passed with a single activation of that spectacular Spider-Man. At the end of the turn, Vidi led 31-12.
Vidi had the initiative on the seventh, and perhaps final, turn. He recruited Koriand’r in front of Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, and left Red Star protecting Terra in the next column. “Must be nice,” said Niles. After Vidi passed, Niles went into the tank. “Must be nice,” he said again. It seemed that he was in quite the precarious position. Before recruiting a character, Niles played Mystical Paralysis from his resource row, exhausting Dr. Doom to shut down Red Star for the turn. Next, Niles recruited Micro-Chip in his front row. He immediately exhausted the 1-drop to Bat-Signal for another copy of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. With the recruit effect on the chain, Vidi paused. He chose to use his Koriand’r, stunning Niles’s original Dr. Doom and dropping him to 8 endurance. Still with the recruit on the chain, Vidi exhausted Terra to stun Micro-Chip. He exhausted Roy Harper to pump himself, and then used two copies of Press the Attack to ready both Koriand’r and Red Star. Finally, Vidi passed, and the new Dr. Doom finally entered play. Before entering combat, Niles attempted to use Mikado and Mosha to stun Roy Harper. “It’s only usable in combat,” Vidi pointed out. Niles simply exhausted Koriand’r with his new Dr. Doom, set Spider-Man behind Dr. Doom, and passed. In combat, Mikado attempted to take Roy down. Roy KO’d Micro-Chip in response, and Vidi attacked Doom with Red Star. Niles reinforced, and dropped to 3 endurance.
On turn 8, Vidi immediately used Koriand’r to stun Spider-Man. Realizing he had no outs, Niles conceded. As the players put their decks away, they noted that had Niles not set Doom in the back row on turn 6, there was an excellent chance that he would have won the game. “Who runs Koriand’r?!” lamented Niles.
Vidianto Wijaya wins!