This round features two players “on the bubble,” a mere one match away from the final verdict. Who will make the Top 8? Who will be around to play tomorrow? Why am I here instead of eating? Only time will tell.
Anthony Justice is a well-known player from the powerhouse West Virginia team that's commonly thought to be the best deckbuilding team in the world. He’s a rather soft-spoken guy, but when he warms up to you, he’s an absolute blast. Brandon Bahler is a very boisterous, very charismatic player from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bahler was appearing in his first event larger than a PCQ, and was astounded by his performance here.
Before the match, Bahler offers Justice a piece of gum. “It’s cinnamon. Do you have a problem with cinnamon?” “No, It’ll do,” Justice replies. Justice almost immediately begins coughing, and the only words he can muster are an incredibly weak, “It’s strong.” Have no fear, gentle readers, Anthony Justice is no weakling. He soon regained his breath and was ready to begin the fight.
Justice threw his initial four back into the murky depths and would have to settle for the next six. Turn 2, Bahler began the fight with Mountain Stronghold for Bronze Tiger, revealing his Assassin roots. Justice made no effort to play anything on the first three turns, while Bahler upped the ante with an Ubu, Ra’s al Ghul’s Bodyguard.
Turn 4 saw Justice finally get on the board with an under-dropped Sentinel Mark II. Something, though, is better than nothing. Bahler countered with a Ra’s al Ghul, Eternal Nemesis. Ol’ Ra’s got a hit in the face from Mark II with an extreme desire to put a Savage Beatdown on him. After the attacks, there was a little discrepancy about the endurance totals. “36? Oh, it’s 39. My handwriting is impeccable,” Bahler remarks.
Turn 5 brought good news for both players with Bane, Ubu showing up for Bahler’s team, and the man himself, Nimrod showing up for Justice. Ra’s decided that he wants no more of Mark II, so he got in his big Flying Fortress and flew over to hit him in the face. Bane then tries to smack Nimrod around, and after a bit of powering up, both characters are set to be stunned. Bane flipped over and, dropping a bit of knowledge on the less experienced Bahler, Justice stacked Nimrod’s exhaustion effect and attempted to use Finishing Move on Bahler’s stunned Ra’s. However, he isn’t called the Ever Living for no reason. A quick dip in the Lazarus Pit ensured that Ra’s would live yet another day.
Turn 6 revealed Bastion for Justice, which had to match up with the Sensei for Bahler. Bastion headed in to teach Sensei a lesson. After a few Bastion activations, we all know who survived that encounter. Nimrod didn’t want to be left out of the fun, though, and he headed right on into Ra’s. A timely Pit of Madness from Bahler meant that they would stun one another. Bahler passed the turn, content to let Bane munch on the stunned Nimrod.
Turn 7, now that Ra’s had bit the dust, the original leader of the League, Dr. Ebenezer Darrk, came to reclaim his rightful place. Magneto, Master of Magnetism would not be shown up though, as the best 7-drop in the format made his entrance on Justice’s side of the field. I must admit, Bahler’s board looked quite impressive. He had seven face-up locations in his resource row including an absurd four Mountain Strongholds.
It was Bahler’s attack. “I’m going to move these cards over if no one objects,” Bahler offered. “I definitely object to these sideways motions,” Justice fired back. Sensei, remembering the beatings so recently placed on his head by Bastion decided a little help was caled for. He brought Bane to the party, and together they took down Bastion. After realizing that Bahler simply needed to team attack with the rest of his team into Magneto, Justice conceded.
Bahler wins the match.