Sam Kwang hails from New Zealand. Before the match started, all the Australians were cheering him on. He claimed that the only reason he was getting cheered on is because he was winning and there was no way Australians would cheer for a losing New Zealander. Ko is one of the three Japanese at this event. Both players were sitting with a 10-4 record going into the match, needing a 4-1 record to make the Top 8.

Ko won the flip and took the odds.

Turn 1: Ko played Beetle ◊ Mach 1 and equipped it with Thunder Jet. Kwang recruited Radioactive Man, and after Ko attacked, the endurance totals stood at Kwang 46, Ko 49.

Turn 2: Kwang recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi, while Ko played Melter. Radioactive Man attacked Melter, and Melissa Gold attacked Beetle. Ko KO’d Beetle and removed him from the game to search out Faces of Evil. After the end of the attacks, both players were at 43 endurance.

Turn 3: Ko played Helmut Zemo ◊ Citizen V and put him in front of Melter. Kwang recruited Inertia in front of Screaming Mimi. Ko flipped Faces of Evil, and Zemo attacked Melissa Gold. Kwang teamed up with Behavior Modification Device, which let him reinforce. Ko then sent Melter into Inertia. The endurance totals at the end of the turn were Kwang 36, Ko 41.

Turn 4: This turn was where Kwang needed to make a stand if he wanted to win this game. He recruited Melter and Foxfire. Ko recruited Grey Gargoyle from the resource row and paid a resource point to target Inertia with his Gargoyle. Melter attacked the Gargoyle with some help from an Airskimmer, and Inertia attacked Helmut Zemo, which KO responded to with a power-up. Kwang played Windstorm to force the stun, and Ko forgot to reinforce with his Melter to save himself 1 point of endurance. Foxfire then attacked Melter, and Ko saved himself a point of breakthrough with Sonic Disruption. 

Turn 5: Ko recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird and Beetle, Armorsmith. He played Crime Spree and used his last resource point to give Beetle +3 ATK. Ko's field had Helmut Zemo in the front with Beetle on his left and Melissa Gold on his right. Kwang had an exhausted Inertia in play, and after a lot of thought, he recruited Whizzer and then hid it behind Inertia. Beetle and Melissa Gold team attacked Whizzer, and Kwang took 5 to Ko's 2. Citizen V attacked Inertia and got powered up by Ko, but Kwang played Eldritch Power to stun the attacker. The turn finished, and Kwang sat at 18 while Ko was on 26.

Turn 6: Kwang recruited Ultron and used his last resource point to recruit Framistat on Whizzer. He also flipped down his Windstorm because of Ko's Melissa Gold. Ko recruited Thunderball and used his Crime Spree to give +3 ATK to Melissa Gold. Whizzer got +3 ATK from Framistat and attacked Zemo for 14 damage. I was wondering why Ko was not reinforcing his characters, but then I remembered that Ultron’s leader ability stops reinforcement. Kwang then paid 2 endurance to ready Whizzer. Melissa Gold was attacked next by Whizzer, bringing Ko to 5 endurance and taking Kwang to 13. Ultron bashed Thunderball, reducing Ko’s endurance to 0. Luckly for Ko, the 2 points of endurance he could of prevented by reinforcing earlier did not cost him the game since Windstorm was never flipped a second time.

Will Ko and Kwang be able to continue on their winning ways and leave a mark on the game? We just have to wait and see if Kwang or Ko can be the first to represent their respective countries in a Top 8 of a PC.