Game One

Jason had initiative on the odd turns in the first game.  The first play of the game was Toad: Mortimer Toynbee, who attacked Michael for a loss of two endurance.  Jason played Mystique: Raven Darkholme on his third turn, and Michael answered with She-Hulk: Jennifer Walters.  Jason team-attacked She-Hulk with Toad and Mystique, forcing Michael to flip an Acrobatic Dodge.  He stunned Mystique, then attacked back with She-Hulk, bringing Jason to 45.

J: 45

M: 47

Turn 4

Michael said, “You’ve got Sabretooth” as he shuffled his cards around.  He finally decided to play Darkoth: Major Desmund Pitt behind She-Hulk in his support row, and passed to Jason.  Jason played a Sabretooth: Feral Rage, discarding Toad.  Michael commented, “I guess I have to go for it,” and attacked Mystique with Darkoth.  Jason turned over a Lost City, discarded Mystique from his hand, let both effects resolve, and finally turned over an Avalon Space Station, discarding Sabretooth to return Mystique and Toad from the KO’d pile.  Michael definitely ended up on the losing end of that attack, but eventually sent She-Hulk in after Mystique, powering her up for an additional bonus.  After a series of masterful plays, Jason attacked Michael back, sending Sabretooth in after She-Hulk.

J: 40

M: 34

Turn 5

Jason had the initiative on this critical fifth turn, and chose to go with the Blob.  Michael played Thing: Heavy Hitter, prompting Jason to comment, “He’s a big boy.”  Jason attacked Thing with Sabretooth, powering him up twice to make him a 17/13.  Michael powered up Thing with another Heavy Hitter, then played a Signal Flare to find another Heavy Hitter, bringing Thing to a 13/13 and attempting to make the attack less catastrophic for him.  Jason then activated his Space Station, returning Sabretooth and Mystique to his hand.   He powered up Sabretooth one more time, aptly demonstrating the power of Lost City.  Michael reinforced Thing to avoid enormous breakthrough endurance loss.  Jason attacked Darkoth with Mystique, powering her up to make her a 7/6, then sent the Blob in to force Michael to lose 6 more endurance.

J: 40

M: 25

Turn 6

Michael played a Hulk: New Fantastic Four on this turn and passed to Jason, who answered by activating his Space Station to get Sabretooth and Mystique back.  Jason played the returned Mystique, hiding her behind the Blob.  Michael attacked the Blob with Hulk, and Jason reinforced the Blob, losing only 4 endurance.  Thing then set his sights on Sabretooth, prompting Jason to turn over an Entangle and discard another Blob.

J: 36

M: 25

Turn 7

Jason upgraded Sabretooth to Victor Creed over Feral Rage, and placed all his characters in the front row.  Michael played a Signal Flare, digging Dr. Doom, Victor von Doom out of his deck and placing him in front of the Thing.  “The Thing will hide for the first time, ever,” Michael quipped as he passed to Jason. 

“Your guys are big,” Jason noted as he checked his resources.  He activated his Space Station, returning 2 Sabretooths from his KO’d pile, and went after Dr. Doom.  Michael flipped a Mystical Paralysis, though, negating the attack.  Jason then team-attacked the Hulk with Blob and Mystique.

J: 30

M: 19

Turn 8

Jason played Common Enemy to draw a card before playing his resource for the turn, then played a Boris: Personal Servant of Dr. Doom, which he immediately removed from play to find a Signal Flare.  He then played the Signal Flare and searched for Sub-Mariner: Ally of Doom.  “Where’s my 7-drops?” Jason asked as Michael shuffled his deck.  Michael them played Sub-Mariner and put all of his characters in the front row.  Jason rearranged his characters, putting Sabretooth in the front and Blob with Mystique in the back.  Thing and Sub-Mariner both attacked Mystique, causing Jason to activate the Space Station to return another Mystique to his hand in an attempt to find a way for her to survive.  Jason surveyed his options, and, seeing no way for him to win, conceded the game.

Jason Dawson 1 – Michael Higgins 0

Game Two

Jason opted to retain the initiative for this game, and Michael played the first character: Boris.  He was quickly joined by She-Thing: Sharon Ventura, and Jason played a Toad of his own.  She-Thing went after Toad, who ended up stunned.

J: 45

M: 48

Turn 3

Jason played Quicksilver: Pietro Maximoff in the front row.  Michael played She-Hulk: Jennifer Walters in his front row, and stuck She-Thing and Boris in the back row behind her.  Toad attacked Boris, who came up with an Acrobatic Dodge from Michael’s resource row.  Jason was unfazed and showed a Lost City, resulting in Toad’s stats increasing by three instead of one.  She-Hulk: Jennifer Walters then attacked Quicksilver: Pietro Maximoff, causing Jason to power him up like Toad and stun She-Hulk in the process. 

J: 45

M: 42

Turn 4

Michael played Common Enemy, followed by another Common Enemy, drawing two extra cards this turn.  He also flipped a Signal Flare, searching for a Robot Destroyer: Army and discarding Boris.  He then played Dr. Doom: Diabolic Genius in the front row, turning the Acrobatic Dodge back over.  Jason played Sabretooth: Feral Rage in his front row, discarding Quicksilver: Speed Demon.  “I keep looking at them, but they don’t get any better,” Michael remarked as he sent Dr. Doom after Toad, causing Jason to lose 7 endurance.  Jason then turned over the Space Station, returning two Quicksilvers to his hand.  He attacked Dr. Doom with Quicksilver, powering him up with another Quicksilver.  When Michael flipped the Acrobatic Dodge, Jason powered Quicksilver up again, forcing Michael to reveal an Overload.  Jason then sent Sabretooth to beat up on Boris.

J: 35

M: 41

Turn 5

Jason activated the Space Station, discarding Magneto to return both Quicksilvers to his hand, then upgrading the one in play to a Speed Demon.  Michael played his Robot Destroyer in the front row, right in front of Boris, and passed back to Jason.  Sabretooth attacked the Destroyer, stunning them both.  Jason next sent Quicksilver after Dr. Doom, but Michael turned over a Mystical Paralysis.  Jason discarded Quicksilver to power up Quicksilver, forcing through more endurance loss.

 J: 31

M: 29

Turn 6

Michael began the turn with a Signal Flare, searching for Dr. Doom: Victor von Doom and discarding Wolverine: New Fantastic Four.  He played the Dr. Doom and passed to Jason.  Jason shuffled his cards in hand deliberately, then discarded Toad to the Space Station to return Mystique and Quicksilver.  He played Mystique: Shape-Changing Assassin in the front row and checked his resources once again.  Dr. Doom attacked Mystique, and Michael revealed a Doomstadt, forcing Jason to lose 7 endurance.  Michael attacked Sabretooth with Robot Destroyer, passing priority to Jason.  Neither player had any effects, and Michael passed the attack to Jason. He recovered his characters without attacking back.

 J: 18

M: 24

Turn 7

“Not Magneto?” Michael asked.

“I apparently don’t play him,” said Jason, eliciting a chuckle from the crowd. 

Jason instead chose to discard Blob to get Magneto: Eric Lehnsherr and Quicksilver back from his KO’d pile.  He played Magneto in his support row and passed.  Michael played Thing: The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing in the front row, placing him in front of She-Thing, to the right of Dr. Doom, and diagonally from the Robot Destroyer.  Jason decided to exhaust She-Thing: Sharon Ventura at the beginning of combat, then considered his options carefully.  He finally team-attacked Dr. Doom with Magneto and Quicksilver, stunning him and taking Michael to 18 endurance. 

Jason sent Mystique to take out the Robot Destroyer, turning over a Savage Beatdown that he was permitted to play now that Dr. Doom was stunned.  He also powered up Mystique with another Mystique, bringing her to a total of 20 power.  Michael was forced to go down to 1 endurance, but Jason realized too late that he had no other way to win. He conceded before forcing Michael to discard a card with Mystique’s ability.

Jason Dawson 0 – Michael Higgins 2