Nick Little is definitely no stranger to Vs. System. You should at least have an idea of who he is by now, with all the big accomplishments he’s racked up. Martin Weis has had feature matches before, but none of them were actually covered by Metagame.com. It looks like today may be his lucky day—not only is he 4-1 after the first sealed deck, but it looks like he might have the stuff to make it far in this weekend’s event.
Both players shuffled up and flipped a coin to see who would have which initiatives. Nick won the coin flip and opted to take evens. “I’m really liking this hand, but I just don’t know,” Nick said as he shuffled through his hand. Martin chose to mulligan, and Nick decided to keep.
Martin played a resource and had no recruit for the turn. Nick followed up with a resource and recruited Atom Smasher, activating him for a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter. After that, it was on to turn 2.
Nick recruited Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy this turn and passed to Martin, who had no drop once again. Nick attacked with Blue Devil for 4 ATK, and then activated Atom Smasher again for another counter.
On turn 3, Martin set a resource and made his first play of the game: Ibis in his front row. Nick followed up with a resource and recruited Rex Tyler ◊ Hourman in his front row. Martin attacked Atom Smasher with Ibis, and Nick activated in response to get another counter before allowing the stun. Martin passed, and Nick attacked Ibis with Hourman, using his effect to make him 7 ATK / 7 DEF. Then he attacked directly with Blue Devil to deal 4 more endurance loss. They recovered their characters and moved onto turn 4.
Nick opted to take the low road, recruiting Surveillance Pawn in the hidden area, followed by Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac in the front row. Nick passed, and Martin followed up with Ragdoll, Resilient Rogue in the front row. Before passing out of the build, Nick activated Surveillance Pawn to give all his characters +1 ATK for the turn, and then the two entered the combat phase.
Nick attacked with Rex Tyler ◊ Hourman on Ragdoll, using Hourman’s power to make him an 8 ATK / 7 DEF. Martin looked over his resources while he thought about what he might be able to counter with, but he eventually chose to take the stun. Nick followed up his last attack with the 5 ATK Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy into Ibis. Martin powered-up in an attempt to avoid the stun, but Nick responded with Burning Gaze to add another +2 ATK, and the attack resolved. Nick then attacked directly with Atom Smasher for 5 and then exhausted Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac for Systematic Torture. Play moved onto the recovery phase, where Martin chose to keep Ibis over Ragdoll, and on to the next turn they went.
Martin set a resource and recruited Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard, forming with Ibis protecting Mr. Freeze. Nick discarded The Calculator, Noah Kuttler to search for a copy of Coercion; he then recruited Hourman III ◊ Hourman to his support row, giving Rex Tyler ◊ Hourman a little company. Nick chose to form with Atom Smasher and Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac in the front row and both Hourmen in the support row. Before passing out of formation, Nick activated Surveillance Pawn. “How many cards are in your hand?” Martin asked as he looked at his resources, figuring out his attacks for the turn. “Three,” Nick replied. “OK, I know I don’t have much of a chance, but . . . ” Martin responded, moving into combat.
Martin attacked with Ibis into Hourman III ◊ Hourman and flipped Death from Above from his resource row to get +1 ATK. He then flipped I Still Hate Magic! to give Hourman -3 DEF, and used Magical Lobotomy for another -1 DEF. Nick resolved the attack, and both characters stunned. Martin then sent Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard into Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac. Nick flipped Coercion, revealing a JSA character from his hand, to team-up Villains United and JSA. Martin passed to Nick’s attack step, and Nick flipped Revitalize to recover Sabbag, exhausting Rex Tyler ◊ Hourman as payment. Play moved to the recovery phase and then to the next turn, when Nick would have theinitiative. Endurance totals were Martin 23, Nick 32.
Nick set a resource and then thumbed through his hand, trying to decide what the best move for the turn would be. Nick decided to recruit Jay Garrick ◊ The Flash and formed with most everyone in the front row and Hourman III in the support row, protected by Jay Garrick. Martin set a resource and recruited Zatanna, Showstopper in his support row, protected by Ibis and adjacent to Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard. Before passing to the combat phase, Nick activated Surveillance Pawn again to give all his characters +1 ATK for the turn again.
Nick announced Atom Smasher into Ibis with a total of 6 ATK and then passed. Martin passed as well, and the attack resolved with Nick taking 1 endurance loss to Martin’s 4. Nick did some math to see if he could finish off the game this turn and realized that he’d only bring Martin down to 1. He wouldn’t win, but he’d come close. “But that’d leave you at 1 and me at like 29, so I think we’ll go through with it,” Nick said as he team attacked with Sabbag and Jay Garrick ◊ The Flash into Zatanna, Showstopper with no effects and passed. Martin responded with a power-up and Abjuration to give Zatanna +3 DEF and passed. Martin chose to stun Ishmael Gregor for the team attack when it came to resolution and took 3 endurance loss from his decision, putting him at only 11 to Nick’s 29. Nick announced Hourman III ◊ Hourman into Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard, and used Hourman’s effect to make him 12 ATK / 11 DEF. Martin resolved the attack and took 7 endurance loss. He used Mr. Freeze’s vengeance effect on Jay Garrick so Jay couldn’t ready that turn. Nick announced Rex Tyler ◊ Hourman into Zatanna and passed, stunning his Rex Tyler, and then passed to Martin’s attack step. Martin used Revitalize to recover Mr. Freeze and then play moved to the recovery phase. Nick chose to keep Atom Smasher over both Ishmael Gregor and Rex Tyler, and then they moved to turn 7.
Martin led off things with a resource and recruited Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype to his front row. Martin then equipped Amulet of Nabu to Zatanna and passed. Nick set a resource and recruited Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double with boost. Nick put his boost on the chain and then his draw on the chain, so he could resolve the chain backwards and draw the two cards before the boost effect would resolve. Nick looked giddy as he dropped two copies of Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific into play with Alexander Luthor’s effect. Nick formed with both in the support row and then passed to Martin’s attack step. Martin announced Zatanna attacking Nick’s Atom Smasher. Nick activated Atom Smasher to add another counter to him, making him a total of 11 ATK / 6 DEF, and then reinforced with Hourman III ◊ Hourman to take only 1 endurance loss. Martin looked over his board with a look of bewilderment, “I’m thinking about going kamikaze with one of my guys, but that I don’t think that’ll help. I just don’t think there is anything I can do, so I’ll pass.”
“You’re just passing? Wow. I think I’ll pass as well, actually,” Nick said as he also passed his attack step. Next turn could very well decide it all on Nick Little’s initiative.
Martin paid 3 endurance during the draw phase with Zatanna, Showstopper to draw a third card, and Nick led off with a set resource. “I only took 1 point of damage on turn 7? Wow . . .” Nick said as he debated his drop for turn 8. He recruited Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl in the front row and then flipped Justice United, calling JLA and JSA; Nick chose to return Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac to his hand. He recruited Cheetah, Chay-Ara ◊ Hawkgirl, The Calculator, Noah Kuttler, and Kate Spencer ◊ Manhunter in the front row, and then passed. Martin recruited Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin. “Oh, a 7-drop!” Nick said, with his giddy childlike laughter. As soon as Martin went to pass, Nick activated Surveillance Pawn again to give all his characters +1 ATK for the turn. Nick announced Cheetah into Ibis, and both characters stunned. Cheetah triggered, giving all of Nick’s characters another +1 ATK. Jay Garrick ◊ The Flash attacked into Deathstroke, both characters stunned, and Martin chose to use Deathstroke’s power, targeting Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double. “OK, you know what, I’ll go ahead and scoop now,” Martin said as he offered his hand to Nick. Nick looks like he’s going to be making Day 2 for sure with this deck and a record of 5-1.
Winner: Nick Little