Game 1

Shaun won the right to choose the initiative and selected odds. He had no recruit on turn 1, but Adrian had Boris, who got his beats on. Turn 2 had a She-Thing hit play for Adrian, while Shaun played Sentinel Mark III. She-Thing attacked the robot and then Boris snuck in for another hit.

Hayward recruited Sentinel Mark II on turn 3, while Capilitan brought out She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters and flipped Common Enemy. Mark III attacked Boris, then Mark II attacked She-Thing. She-Hulk then replied by smashing the Mark III. Shaun flipped Micro-Sentinels, putting counters on Boris and She-Thing. Boris was sent to the KO’d pile in recovery, while Shaun lost Mark III.

Adrian played Spider-Man, New Fantastic Four and Boris on turn 4, missing the all-important Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. But, Hayward missed his 4-drop as well, playing Boliver Trask and then the searched out Mark II. She-Thing attacked an unprotected Mark II and then Boris bashed Boliver. She-Hulk attacked the other Mark II for a mutual stun and then Spidey attacked directly. Adrian lost She-Thing and Boris, while Shaun lost a Mark II and Boliver.

Shaun then missed his 5-drop, playing Reconstruction Program from his hand to recur Boliver, played him, and then the searched out Sentinel Mark V. Even when Adrian was unlucky it seemed he was lucky, continuing the trend of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Adrian recruited Thing, Heavy Hitter. Boliver and the Mark II attacked Spidey, who activated to give a -1 ATK counter to the Mark V. The Mark II and Spider-Man were stunned.

Mark V then attacked She-Hulk for Shaun, and finally, Thing bullied Boliver at Adrian’s request.

Adrian drew two It’s Clobberin’ Times at the start of turn 6 and then recruited Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom. Shaun recruited his own “Holy Man” in the form of Bastion. Hayward played Reconstruction Program to get back a Mark II and a Mark III from his pile.

Dr. Doom attacked Bastion, and Adrian played an It’s Clobberin’ Time! from his hand. Shaun pumped Bastion five times with his effect. Capilitan responded with his second top-decked It’s Clobberin’ Time. Hayward went for three more Sentinel guys from his pile with a Reconstruction Program and played three more pumps. Adrian had a Savage Beatdown. Even by blowing two Genoshas, Shaun couldn’t get enough gas to stop the crucial stun. Shaun accepted defeat at that point.


Game 2

So far at the Brisbane $10K, the only two games Shaun had dropped had been against Capilitan’s Common Enemy deck. He chose the odd initiative again and both players kept their opening hands.

For a change, Adrian didn’t play Boris on turn 1, but Shaun didn’t make a play either. Adrian played She-Thing on turn 2, while Hayward recruited Hounds of Ahab. She-Thing attacked directly and left Shaun no real counter-attack.

Turn 3 saw a Mark II arrive for Shaun, while Adrian recuited Spidey again. The new robot attacked She-Thing for a mutual stun, and then Spidey attacked directly.

Capilitan recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius on turn 4, chaining a Common Enemy so that he could flip it twice and draw two cards in addition to getting his team-up. Shaun constructed a Mark V. She-Thing attacked the Mark II for stuns both way.

Doom then attacked the Mark V and Adrian flipped up a Doomstadt to make it a safe option. Shaun had other plans, though, and powered-up his robot twice. Adrian then powered-up Doom once so that at least he wouldn’t get stunned, making the attack a total disaster.

Shaun they programmed his Mark V to smash Spider-Man. Spidey predictably activated to give his attacker -1 ATK and then Adrian played an Acrobatic Dodge, which drew a Savage Beatdown. “Worth it!” Adrian yelled.

Shaun then flipped Micro-Sentinels. Capilitan responded with a Reign of Terror targeting Shaun’s Hounds and hoping it might minimize the number of counters Hayward would get, but was informed otherwise. Adrian lost She-Thing during recovery.

When Shaun recovered his Mark II, Adrian said “Oops, I bounced the wrong dude.” He had Robot Destroyer in hand, but the smaller Sentinel made his ability useless.

Shaun recruited Nimrod on turn 5, while Adrian had to use Signal Flare to get Thing, Heavy Hitter, which he played, discarding the redundant 5-drop.

Nimrod attacked Dr. Doom. Adrian activated Spider-Man to web up the attacker a little, but Shaun had a Savage Beatdown to score the stun. The Mark II attacked Spidey, with Shaun pulling the old “Nasty Surprise plus Overload equals bad times for a defender” trick. Thing then attacked Nimrod, who was reinforced and lost his repair counter to avoid a stun and any breakthrough endurance loss. Adrian lost the troublesome Spider-Man in recovery.

Turn 6 saw only Boris for Adrian, proving that the Reign of Terror mistake was very costly, as he could have played Signal Flare for the drop. He equipped his Dr. Doom with Power Compressor. Shaun had Bastion. Thing attacked the Mark II and Boris fetched a Mystical Paralysis for his master to exhaust down Bastion. Nimrod then attacked Dr Doom

Turn 7 gave Hayward Magneto, Master of Magnetism, while Adrian had Sub-Mariner. Adrian played a last-ditch Betrayal, but it wasn’t enough and he conceded.


Game 3

Adrian elected to take the even initiative in this game. Shaun recruited Boliver, fetching Hounds of Ahab on turn 1, but Adrian missed Boris again. Boliver got his beats on. Capilitan played She-Thing on turn 2, followed predictably by Hayward’s Hounds. She-Thing bashed Trask, but that was the end of combat for the turn.

On turn 3, Shaun constructed a Mark II and Adrian recruited She-Hulk. Shaun’s whole team went after the wall-like She-Hulk, who Adrian exhausted to get Power Compressor for the simple reason to thin his deck. Mark II took the return stun.

She-Thing attacked Boliver, but Shaun had a Nasty Surprise for Adrian. Adrian lost She-Thing, while Shaun KO’ed Boliver during recovery.

Capilitan played another She-Thing on turn 4, missing Dr Doom yet again. Shaun hit his curve with a Mark V. She-Hulk attacked the Mark V with a Savage Beatdown. An Acrobatic Dodge from Shaun followed, which drew an It’s Clobberin’ Time! for a one-way stun. She-Thing then attacked Mark II, bringing the endurance totals to34 to 42 in Shaun’s favor. Shaun lost the Mark II at the end of the turn.

Hayward assembled Nimrod on turn 5 and Adrian had a robot of his own in the form of Robot Destroyer. But with no Dr. Doom or Doomstadt, Robot Destroyer was far from good for Adrian. Mark V attacked She-Thing, who was reinforced. Nimrod then attacked She-Hulk.

On turn 6, Adrian still had no Dr. Doom and had to play Signal Flare to get Hulk, discarding Silver Surfer, as time was running out. Shaun played the ideal drop in Bastion. She-Hulk and Hulk unleashed a teamed-up gamma attack on Bastion, in which Hulk was stunned in return. Robot Destroyer then attacked Mark V, with Hayward having a Nasty Surprise.

Nimrod replied with a hit to She-Hulk. Adrian had an Acrobatic Dodge to try to save some breakthrough endurance loss, though. Hounds killed off the green giant and Adrian lost She-Hulk in recovery.

Shaun played Magneto on turn 7, while Adrian finally got Dr Doom. Sadly, it was the 4-drop Doom. With Doom on the chain, he played Reign of Terror on the Hounds and flipped Betrayal, which only managed to remove Nimrod’s repair counter. He then flipped down Betrayal. Another Betrayal from hand stunned Nimrod. Flipping the first one again led Shaun to pop Genosha for four cards and then pump Magneto with Bastion once.  Bastion stunned. Mystical Paralysis locked down Magneto, but too much damage had been done.

“My lucky streak ends here,” Adrian said.

Turn 8 gave him a Sub-Mariner and a Power Compressor, but a boosted Mark V on top of Shaun’s already powerful board was too much, and Adrian knew it.

Winner: Shaun Hayward with Curve Sentinels.