In round 6, we have two of the most innovative deckbuilders in the game, Anthony Calabrese and $10K champ Patrick Yapjoco, facing off. Anthony hails from Cincinnati, while Patrick made the trek to Indy from Tustin, CA.
Anthony won the die roll and took the odd initiatives. After a quick deck check, the two deckbuilding gurus went into battle. Anthony mulliganed his opening four, while Patrick kept. Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle was Anthony’s opening play, and Patrick passed without a character. After an activation of Blue Beetle (discarding Hector Hammond, Mind Over Matter), both players moved to the second turn.
Patrick passed again on turn 2. Anthony, however, had a lot of work to do. After placing a resource, he flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower, discarding Cloak of Nabu. He then recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and equipped all three of the Fate Artifacts onto the lovely Miss Isely. The end result was that Patrick took 9 endurance loss directly to the face—ouch! The turn ended with Anthony in great shape, leading 50-41.
Anthony played Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and Manhunter Clone to start out turn 3. Patrick replied with Ahmed Samsarra and equipped the White King with Amulet of Nabu and Cloak of Nabu, putting him at 8 ATK/9 DEF. In combat, Anthony reluctantly passed his attack. Patrick also passed, opting to use Ahmed’s effect to fetch Brother Eye instead. Anthony KO’d Blue Beetle to Poison Ivy’s power to search out Gorilla City
, then double-evaded with Manhunter Clone to put a few more cards in the KO’d pile.
For turn 4, Patrick dropped a copy of Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot and equipped it with a Knight Armor. After evading Manhunter Clone again, Anthony countered by recruiting Hector Hammond, Mind Over Matter and transferring the Fate Artifacts from Poison Ivy to Hector. Patrick kicked off combat by sending Ahmed into the now equipment-free Poison Ivy. Anthony KO’d Deadshot with Ivy’s power to fetch another Gorilla City. After passing, Anthony took 7. Patrick had no choice but to pass after that. Anthony sent Hector into Patrick’s Elimination Protocol. Without any responses, Patrick was forced to take 8. The turn ended with Anthony up 40-33.
On turn 5, Anthony said a little prayer, then evaded Manhunter Clone in hopes of finding a copy of Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster. Unfortunately, he had no such luck, and moreover, he was forced to underdrop with Deadshot. Patrick recruited a much more impressive Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard. In the combat phase, Anthony sent his 10 ATK/13 DEF Hector Hammond into Patrick’s 8 ATK/9 DEF Ahmed Samsarra. Patrick started the fireworks first, with a copy of Knightmare Scenario. Anthony countered with an activation of Gorilla City to put Hector at 13 ATK. Patrick responded with an Ahmed activation to fetch Checkmate Safe House. Patrick teamed up and then activated the Safe House to give his support row characters an additional point of DEF. Finally, he used an additional copy of Ahmed from his hand to power-up and put his character at 14 DEF. Anthony was forced to KO Manhunter Clone and Gorilla City with Poison Ivy to search out Slaughter Swamp so that he could flip his second copy of Gorilla City. Hector jumped to 16 ATK, and Patrick took 5 endurance loss as Ahmed stunned. To round out his attacks, Anthony sent his Poison Ivy after Elimination Protocol, stunning her to avoid excessive breakthrough on the way back.
On the return attacks, Patrick sent his Elimination Protocol after Deadshot. Anthony removed Deadshot from the game in an effort to KO the stunned Ahmed Samsarra, but Patrick returned Ahmed to his hand with The Science Spire, woefully losing his Fate Artifacts in the process. The next attack saw Mr. Freeze go after the rather large Hector Hammond. Of course, Patrick had Brother Eye to help his chilly compadre out, so he was able to force a mutual stun, with Mr. Freeze preventing Hector from readying. Patrick rounded out the attacks with a direct swing for 7 with his OMAC Robot. Anthony lost Poison Ivy in recovery and ended the turn ahead 26-23. However, Patrick had taken substantial control of the board.
Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double was Patrick’s recruit for turn 6, netting him two cards. Anthony had the simian mastermind, Gorilla Grodd, who received the Fate Artifacts from Hector Hammond. Anthony set up with Hector protecting Grodd. Patrick first sent his sizable Mr. Freeze into Hector Hammond. After the one-sided stun to Hector, Patrick set Alexander Luthor’s sights on Gorilla Grodd. Despite Grodd having 15 DEF, Brother Eye was able to pump Luthor up for the mutual stun. A swing in directly left the score at 9-17 in favor of Patrick, with Anthony losing Hector in recovery.
Anthony once again prayed, this time for something big to turn the game around. He got his wish in the form of Mark Desmond ◊ Blockbuster, who was an 18 ATK/16 DEF brute, thanks to Anthony’s sizable KO’d pile. Patrick underdropped with Huntress, Reluctant Queen and formed up with all of his characters in the support row. Anthony sent Grodd after Mr. Freeze. Elimination Protocol reinforced, and Patrick dropped to 12. Anthony then sent his gi-normous Blockbluster—powered by a Gorilla City activation—after Patrick’s Elimination Protocol. Patrick activated Checkmate Safe House and deliberated for a while; if he let the attack conclude, the resulting stun and breakthrough endurance loss would put him below 0. Grudgingly, he activated The Science Spire to send his Elimination Protocol back to his hand. With the defender removed, Blockbuster readied and immediately went after Huntress. Patrick reinforced with Alexander Luthor and lost Mr. Freeze in recovery. Anthony regained the lead at 9-6 going into turn 8.
Patrick declined to play a resource and recruited Fatality, Flawless Victory and Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker. He set up with Alexander Luthor in the front row and everyone else in back. Anthony then recruited his 5-drop (three turns too late): Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost. He transferred the remaining two Fate Artifacts to the already impressive Blockbuster, making him a 20 ATK/19 DEF brute. He formed with Killer Frost protecting Grodd and Blockbuster standing alone in the front row, then passed. To begin combat, Patrick attacked into Killer Frost with Alexander Luthor. Anthony powered-up Killer Frost, using her effect to prevent Luthor from readying. To get enough ATK to stun the rather large 5-drop, Patrick played a copy of Threat Neutralized from his resource row. Anthony then KO’d Killer Frost with Grodd’s effect to try to steal Patrick’s Fatality, but Patrick responded by sending her back to his hand with The Science Spire. With no defender, the attack reset, but unfortunately for Patrick, Killer Frost’s effect prevented Luthor from readying.
With no way to stun Blockbuster, Huntress took aim at Gorilla Grodd. Patrick went all-out, playing two copies of Threat Neutralized, a Knightmare Scenario, and activating Brother Eye for 5 ATK. Anthony took 18 endurance loss and dropped to -9. In attempt to make up the lost ground, Anthony sent Blockbuster into Alexander Luthor, activating Gorilla City for an additional 3 ATK. Anthony declared that Blockbuster was at 24 ATK, dealing 15 endurance loss and locking the game at -9 endurance each.
Faced with the tie, the two competitors went into a staggering turn 9. Anthony had a trump card in the form of Psycho-Pirate, and with no suitable response, Patrick picked up his cards.
Anthony Calabrese wins!