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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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| Quarterfinals: Josh Wiitanen vs. Joseph Yoo |
| Omeed Dariani |
| July 25, 2004 |
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 Waiting on deck checks, the two players told stories of near misses at local PCQs, plans for the Pro Circuit, and DC Origins draft strategies. Josh Wiitanen noted, “Drafting this game is so much fun. I probably draft fifteen times a week.”
The matchup is classic: beatdown versus control. Joseph Yoo, from Santa Fe, played a fairly traditional New Brotherhood deck, running Ka-Boom! and Scarlet Witch as cards of note. He singled out Scarlet Witch as a key card to his deck, as her special ability is especially solid against Doom. Josh chose to run a hybrid Doom/Fantastic Four variant, which plugs the weaknesses in Doom’s curve with powerhouse characters like Thing, Heavy Hitter and She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. Doom’s powerful plot twists combine with the FF’s excellent character search, creating an extremely flexible deck with lots of options. Josh cited Spider-Man, New Fantastic Four as his deck’s MVP. “It auto-wins me the mirror match,” he said. When your Thing is 11 ATK/11 DEF and your opponent's is 10 ATK/11 DEF, your opponent has to pump every time.
Game 1
Joseph needed to draw into his curve, but got first-turn The New Brotherhood with Destiny to begin. Josh’s opening hand was a perfect curve, with Boris, She-Thing, and She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. Pyro dropped on turn 2, but Josh had the initiative. She-Thing and Pyro traded, and Destiny got Overloaded, leaving the mighty Boris poised to swing for 1.
Next turn, Joseph forced Josh to lose She-Thing in a strong attack with Rogue, Anna Raven and Pyro. With the scores standing at Joseph 45, Josh 37, the tempo swung back on turn 4, as Josh got “the best draw of his life,” Dr. Doom, Diabolical Genius and Common Enemy, allowing him to draw a card and reset his Overload against the active The New Brotherhood. Joseph countered by bringing out the always-titanic Sabretooth, Feral Rage. There was a lull in the game as Josh considered the plethora of options that opened to him, between Dr. Doom coming into play, Boris coming online, and the options in hand.
The trend of 2-1 attacks continued, as Josh broke both Sabretooth and Rogue with Doom and She-Hulk (and a well-timed It's Clobberin' Time!). Boris searched out a Signal Flare, giving Josh access to his choice of characters for turn 5 and beyond.
Turn five brought out Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr for Joseph and a Flared up Thing, Heavy Hitter for Josh. Joseph debated for a moment between bringing out the bulkier Scarlet Witch, but Magneto allowed his Genosha to double up. His four cards included another Magneto, another Genosha, a Surprise Attack, and a possibly dubiously relevant power-up for Pyro.
Doom got wrecked by an 11 ATK/9 DEF Magneto, but not before Mystical Paralysis iced Sabretooth. Josh flipped up a Doomstadt, which was promptly Ka-Boom!ed, without a second thought from the aggressive Brotherhood deck. Both players chose to play conservatively rather than forcing losses, and the turn ended with Pyro blasting Josh for 3, leaving the scores at Joseph 35, Josh 20.
Turn 6 (with five resources for Josh and four for Joseph) brought another Signal Flare, searching for Robot Destroyer, the perfect foil for Sabretooth. Joseph brought out Blob, who was outclassed by two characters on Josh’s side.
Thing smashed the poor Blob, setting up what would prove to be a very bad turn for Joseph, as he lost the rest of his force to She-Thing, Robot Destroyer, and a Savage Beatdown–empowered Dr. Doom.
With the endurance totals precariously low (Joseph 9 – Josh 5), turn 7 began with a Scarlet Witch. Josh failed to drop a character but wisely tucked Doom behind Thing, protecting him from a full-forced Surprise Attack. Mystical Paralysis shut down Magneto, leaving the Witch to battle Thing. Genosha popped, drawing a fistful of cards, but Joseph already had plenty of gas, firing up the Savage Beatdown. Josh searched his hand and resource row for an out, but could find none.
Joseph Yoo 1 – Josh Wiitanen 0
 Game 2
The match that started chatty and friendly had turned dour, with the players enquiring about the time remaining. Joseph’s hand opened powerfully, with two The New Brotherhoods, but it lacked a turn 1 drop. Josh kept a nice midgame curve and then drew into She-Thing. She smashed into Pyro, and Joseph flipped The New Brotherhood to make the trade. Joseph missed his turn 3 drop, punishing him savagely despite his power-packed resource row. In frustration, he Surprise Attacked for 5. Josh dropped She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters, giving him a decisive board position. The turn played out without tricks, Joseph at 40, Josh at 35.
Turn 4 began with another Surprise Attack for 5, then Dr. Doom, Diabolical Genius showed up, allowing Josh to draw two cards from Common Enemy. His hand was powerful, including Ka-Boom!, Faces of Doom, and Signal Flare. Sabretooth, Feral Rage joined the fray, and Josh flipped two more Common Enemies. The two She-ladies ganged up on Sabretooth, stunning him (and She-Hulk). Doom crashed into Pyro, and Joseph revealed his own treble—three The New Brotherhoods! Josh was forced to play It's Clobberin' Time to save Doom, leaving Joseph with only Sabretooth to face down Josh’s three guys.
Turn 5 brought only a Toad from Joseph, while Josh Flared for Robot Destroyer, thoroughly wrecking Joseph’s board. Despite three The New Brotherhoods, Joseph would only have a single attacker with which to push damage through. Josh set the big She-Hulk in front of the Destroyer, making the most likely target for attack a huge obstacle. The endurance totals were tight, at 26–24 Josh, but every moment that went by without a huge swing from Joseph brought the game closer to Josh. Josh Paralyzed Toad and stunned Sabretooth, effectively ending Joseph’s attack. Josh turned the She-ladies loose on Joseph, leaving the turn tied at 17–17.
Joseph began turn 5 with a Genosha and brought out Magneto, but there wasn’t anything he could do in the wake of a rampaging Hulk.
Joseph Yoo 1 – Josh Wiitanen 1
Game 3
Joseph, with the initiative, kept a The New Brotherhood/Destiny hand, while Josh mulliganed away a draw full of late-game cards in favor of a potentially strong Boris/Common Enemy draw.
Both players missed their turn 2 drops but pulled strong third turns, with She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters meeting Rogue, Anna Raven. Double Common Enemy gave Josh some extra options as Joseph plotted to gain a 2-1 on the attack.
Turn 4 brought Joseph another The New Brotherhood, as well as a Genosha. Josh made the standard Dr. Doom, Diabolical Genius/reflip Common Enemy play. Doom crashed into Rogue with an It's Clobberin' Time!, negating the unflipped The New Brotherhood. Josh couldn’t capitalize on the initiative and the turn passed, with the scores at 44–36, Joseph.
Joseph desperately fired off Genosha, looking for a 5-drop, but failed to find one. In lieu, he recruited both Pyro and Toad, a formidable army with the two New Brotherhoods. Josh Signaled for Thing, Heavy Hitter, ditching a She-Thing.
Waiting for Joseph’s attack, Josh showed me the two Ka-Boom!s sitting in his hand, complaining about their weakness in this match against the nearly locationless Joseph. Rogue crashed into Dr. Doom with a Savage Beatdown. Josh flipped Doomstadt to soften the blow. Josh Borised for Flame Trap, wrecking Joseph’s side of the board and leaving Mystique, Raven Darkholme alone to face down the gigantic Thing. She answered the call, a Savage Beatdown pumping her to 13 ATK/3 DEF. Josh scooped in the face of it, seeing no way out.
Joseph Yoo 2 – Josh Wiitanen 1
This match played very tightly, with the results of each game hinging on players maximizing their attacks. Even with Josh’s extremely flexible tools, finding the perfect card for several situations, New Brotherhood was overwhelming, even in the face of Josh’s solid draws.
Final Result: Joseph Yoo defeats Josh Wiitanen, 2–1
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