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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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| Semifinals: Sammy Gilly vs. Loren Nolen |
| Jason Grabher-Meyer |
| May 15, 2005 |
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Nolen opened up with Boliver Trask, using him to grab a Mark II. Boliver poked directly for 1, and play moved to turn 2. “Get in there, Beast!” said Gilly loudly, sending a freshly recruited Beast into Boliver Trask after Nolen recruited a Hounds of Ahab. Nasty Surprise flipped, but Swift Escape bumped Beast out of combat, saving him from a Hounding.
 Mark II came down on turn 3 against Gilly’s open field, and Beast was re-recruited. It was a nice move, allowing Gilly to activate Flame Trap—a desperate but good play. Nolen held onto his Hounds, lost Boliver, and Gilly kept his Beast.
Gilly missed his Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and instead recruited Puppet Master to exhaust Hounds of Ahab. He filled his turn with Boris. Nolen continued to hit his curve perfectly and recruited Sentinel Mark V. He sent the Mark II behind it, sent Mark II into Beast, and took down Beast with a Nasty Surprise/Overload combo—he was really keeping the pressure on him. Another Nasty Surprise/Overload took down Puppet Master, and the Mark II walloped Boris. There was no Doomstadt to save him. Pleasant Distraction kept the Mark V from attacking, but it was a successful turn, good enough to deter Gilly from continuing. “I’ll just scoop it up.”
Loren Nolen wins game one!
Game two began with yet another Boliver. He took his 3-drop again, prompting Gilly to mention, “Wow, you drew your Hounds, too. How lucky.” Nolen nodded, confirming Gilly’s suspicion.
Boliver swung directly, and next turn, so did the Hounds. There was no 2-drop for Gilly. He didn’t have a 3-drop either, and next turn, a Mark II, Hounds, and Boliver dropped him to 39 endurance.
Gilly missed Diabolic Genius on turn 4, instead recruiting Boris and Robot Sentry—not good, but far from awful. Another Mark II filled in for Nolen’s missing Mark V, and the Sentry exhausted the Hounds. One of the Mark IIs flew into the Sentry, and Nolen took it down with a Nasty/Overload . . . or at least he tried. Swift Escape stymied the combo. The other Mark II ran into Boris, dropping Gilly down to 35. It seemed impossible for him to come back from such a brutal beating.
With the initiative backing him, Nolen recruited Nimrod on turn 5. Gilly perused the field, repeatedly shuffling and looking at his hand. He appeared to be taking the long, hard glances of a man considering concession. “Just doing some math” he explained. After a long wait he settled on recruiting Robot Sentry and Puppet Master.
“Mark II, Boris?” Puppet Master activated in response after Nolen’s attack was made legal. The Robot Sentry reinforced, and the other Mark II took out Puppet Master. The score was 30 to 50. Nimrod powered up and slammed the Robot Sentry, and the hounds attacked directly for endurance. Nolen then added more insult to injury, flipping Micro-Sentinels and giving each of Gilly’s characters a counter.
This, ladies and gentlemen, was a beating.
Gilly opted to KO Boris and Puppet Master. Play moved to turn 6.
“I’ll play this guy two turns too late,” announced Gilly as he recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Mystical Paralysis exhausted Nimrod, and a fresh Robot Sentry filled Gilly’s curve. Nolen took some time considering his next move, appearing not to have a Bastion. The reality? He had it; he was just considering using Boliver for a different drop that might be even more aggressive. He recruited Bastion, and as play moved to Gilly’s combat, he was quickly hit with a Distraction.
Nolen aimed to take out one of the Sentries with a Mark II, but a Reign of Terror bounced it off the field and into his hand. The Hounds then tried for the same target, but the other sentry exhausted it before the attack was legal. A Beatdown and three Bastion pumps made the last Mark II big, and it too attempted to slam into a Sentry. Swift Escape saved it, but it took down the other Sentry, and Micro-Sentinels KO’d it. The endurance totals were now 50 to 11.
Nolen didn’t have a 7-drop. He activated a Genosha to try to draw into one, but to no avail. His Bastioning last turn had left him without a drop to play, and so he recruited nothing for the turn. “I need some thinking, so give me a second,” asked Gilly, starting to look at his hand and field.
He slipped into action a moment later, Paralyzing Bastion. He used Faces of Doom to get another Diabolic Genius, recruited it, and used its effect to turn down the Paralysis. This time he went after Nimrod. He gave his Doom a Power Compressor, r ecruited Boris, and passed. Hounds of Ahab charged at Boris and prompted him to run and find a Reign of Terror. Nimrod went down to a second Paralysis, and a buffed up Mark II took down Doom. It was 47 to 7, and another Reign of Terror shut down Nolen’s offensive options.
Next turn, Gilly recruited Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria, KO’ing his previous Doom but Paralyzing Bastion first. “Can you still not play Gamma Bomb?”
“I took ’em out,” joked Gilly.
“Ah, yeah, they’re crappy in that deck.” Nolen grinned.
Nolen recruited Magneto, Master of Magnetism, and Doom attacked into Nimrod. He took back a Nasty Surprise with its effect, and Nimrod quickly gave him two Nasty Surprises. Doom powered up to get out of Nolen’s range, but Bastion brought Nimrod back up to par.
“That’ll do it!” Gilly scooped with a smile.
Loren Nolen wins and moves on to the finals! |
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