Stephen won the die roll and chose the even initiative. Both players kept their hands. Craig led off with first turn Sonar. “I guess I'm the first because I'm the worst,” he quipped. Stephen matched Craig with a Boris, and both players decided to pass the attack.

 

Stephen had Kristoff Von Doom on turn 2, and Craig played a Boris of his own and immediately teamed up Emerald Enemies and Doom with Millennium. He played yet another Millennium from his hand to draw a card. “Done yet?” asked Stephen impatiently. “Just hold on,” said Craig. He finally played Valeria Richards and teamed up again. Stephen attacked for the double-stun, and Craig KO'd Sonar.

 

Craig began turn 3 with the initiative. He played a face-down resource and used Signal Flare to fetch Dr. Light. “I'm actually killing you this turn,” said Craig. “Really?” asked Stephen. “Yeah,” replied Craig. “Good game, though.” The assembled crowd laughed at the joke, and Craig went through the motions of setting up his combo with lightning precision. Within moments, he had Kristoff Von Doom in play, Rama-Tut in the discard pile, and Devil's Due face up.

 

Craig drew his entire deck and put a few million +1 ATK/+1 DEF counters on each of his characters. Stephen could only look at the Have a Blast! in his hand—a card he couldn't play because he hadn't yet set a third resource. The first game clocked in at seven minutes. “Good game,” said Stephen.

 

Craig Edwards 1, Stephen Silverman 0

 

 

Once again, Stephen had the choice of initiative. He selected the evens. In a repeat of the previous game, Craig started out with a Sonar, and Stephen had his Boris. Stephen began turn 2 with Valeria Richards and proceeded to flip Metropolis and Doomstadt to immediately start drawing cards. He used Boris to fetch his Have a Blast!, and both players passed to the end of the turn.

 

Craig had initiative on turn 3. With only a Sonar in play, his board wasn't impressive, but he still expressed confidence that he could win this turn. He began by recruiting Dr. Light. “I'm kind of tired, so I'm not sure if I win,” he said, as he pondered his hand. “For that card . . . discard that . . . discard that . . . play that . . .” After a few minutes had passed, Craig made his decision. “You're in luck,” he said. “I'm kind of short.”

 

He played The Ring Has Chosen, fetching a Lacuna and discarding Invisible Woman. He recovered Invisible Woman with Dr. Light and exhausted her to team up Fantastic Four and Emerald Enemies with Millennium. He played another Millennium from his hand to draw another card. He then played a Signal Flare from his hand to search out Valeria Richards and discard Lacuna. Cosmic Radiation from the resource row readied his characters, and Lacuna was brought into play with Dr. Light. He used Lacuna to replace the Cosmic Radiation in his resource row with a Marvel Team-Up. Another Radiation from his hand put Kristoff Von Doom into play, and Craig finally passed.

 

“That's it?” remarked a competitor in disbelief. Stephen played Have a Blast! on Craig's Millennium and used Rama-Tut to retrieve it. He Signal Flared for Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, a critical card in this matchup. Both players passed combat and play moved to the next turn.

 

Stephen had initiative on turn 4 and played the all-important Dr. Doom, turning down Signal Flare. He drew a card with Valeria Richards and used a Cosmic Radiation to draw again. Craig played a Valeria of his own and drew a card after teaming up Fantastic Four and Doom. Craig thought for a moment and conceded—with no way to take down Dr. Doom, he couldn't play plot twists from his hand. This left him with no real way to win. Game two took a total of thirteen minutes.

 

Craig Edwards 1, Stephen Silverman 1

 

Game 3

 

Craig had choice of initiatives for the final game and predictably chose evens. Even initiative is very important—being able to act on turn 4 before your opponent in this match makes it very likely that you will simply win before he or she has a chance to act. Also, Dr. Doom can shut Craig down if Stephen acts first on turn 4.

 

Both players mulliganed. Stephen led off with Invisible Woman, and Craig had his Sonar—three for three. Craig led off turn 2 with Kristoff Von Doom. Stephen had nothing.

 

On turn 3, Stephen was very unhappy with his draw. “If I had Doomstadt here, the game is over,” he said. “But I don't.” Instead of winning, he recruited Boris and Valeria and passed the recruit. Craig started his recruit by exhausting Kristoff Von Doom to fuel a Millennium. As Craig pondered his action, Stephen lamented his lack of a turn 3 kill. “He has a 90 percent chance to win this. For real.”  Craig recruited Black Cat, Master Thief, and Stephen responded by flipping a Marvel Team-Up and Devil's Due in the resource row. Neither player had an attack.

 

“Can you go off this turn?” inquired Stephen at the start of turn 4. “Unlikely,” replied Craig. He flipped another team-up and played Signal Flare, fetching Dr. Light. He discarded Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave to the Flare. He played out Dr. Light and simply passed. Stephen had the Dr. Doom, and Craig immediately conceded.

 

Stephen Silverman is the $10K Philadelphia Champion!