Game 1
This is another Squadron on Faces matchup. Don’t blame me—the other semifinal is also Squadron on Faces. Anyway, Neil won the die roll and selected the odd initiatives. Both players kept their opening hands, and Neil kicked off the game with Beetle ◊ Mach 1. Kyle also hit his 1-drop in the form of an Ape X, Xina. The Ape got an Image Inducer that was immediately equipped to it. The characters traded stuns and the players moved on to the next turn.
Kyle’s turn 2 recruit was Tom Thumb with Thunder Jet on it. “Random one-of that’s the stone nuts?” asked Neil. Kyle nodded in agreement as he set both of his characters in the front row. Neil recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi and left both of his characters in the support row. Kyle attacked in with both of his characters, using a Flying Kick to push through some extra damage. Neil removed Beetle from the game to get Faces of Evil. At the end of the turn, Kyle had taken an early lead of 47-38.
Neil had the initiative on turn 3, and he recruited Yellowjacket with boost in the visible area. Yellowjacket searched out Beetle, Armorsmith, but Neil didn’t recruit him. Instead, he had both Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide and Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. Neil set all of his characters in the front and passed. “My draw is pretty nuts,” said Kyle as he recruited Joystick and Quagmire with another Thunder Jet. Kyle, who had no cards in his hand, set up with Quagmire protecting Ape and Joystick Protecting Tom. “Must be nice to have the best draw in history,” said Neil. He attacked Tom Thumb with Yellowjacket and a little help from a Mob Mentality. Both characters stunned. Neil’s next attack brought Paul into Ape; Neil flipped Faces for breakthrough but Kyle reinforced. Finally, Neil sent his remaining characters in a team attack into Joystick. Kyle chose to stun Dallas. In recovery, Neil played Mystic Summons to search for Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster. At the end of the turn, Neil was left with Melissa and Dallas, while Kyle had only Tom and Ape. The endurance score was now 43-35 in Kyle’s favor.
Turn 4 was Kyle’s initiative, and he under-dropped with Lady Lark, Linda Lewis. When passed to, Neil drew a card with Dallas. Neil played another Yellowjacket with boost, fetching a Shocker that he immediately recruited and used to stun Ape X. He set up with Shocker protecting Melissa and Dallas protecting Yellowjacket. Kyle attacked Dallas with Tom Thumb, and Neil flipped up Stormfront-1 to draw a card before reinforcing. Kyle had Other-Earth to halt the reinforcement and Rocket Central to force through some additional endurance loss. Lady Lark went into Shocker, and Neil had no effects. Neither player had any more attacks, and Neil lost Dallas in recovery. The score was 42-16 in Kyle’s favor.
Before the draw on turn 5, Kyle played Answer the Call for Whizzer. Neil recruited Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster; Joystick; and Radioactive Man, Chen Lu. Kyle dropped his Whizzer and set up with Whizzer in front of Ape and Tom in front of Lady Lark. Neil went into the tank to figure out his attacks. He finally flipped another Faces before team attacking Shocker and Radioactive Man into Whizzer. Shocker traded stuns with the 5-drop. Next, Yellowjacket took down Tom Thumb with help from a power-up. After both of those characters stunned, Neil attacked Lady Lark with Speed Demon, readying it. Kyle reinforced. Joystick traded with Kyle’s remaining Ape X, and Neil attacked directly for 12. In recovery, Kyle played another Answer the Call for Nuke. Neil lost Joystick and Yellowjacket, while Kyle was left with only Whizzer. Kyle maintained a precarious lead of 15-11.
On turn 6, Kyle played a resource, but not his Nuke. Instead, he recruited another Ape X. With Ape’s ability on the chain, Kyle played Flying Kick on Whizzer and another Answer the Call to get Golden Archer. Ape got Airskimmer, which Kyle recruited to Whizzer. Kyle played his Golden Archer . . . and Neil, seeing that there was no way he could stay above 0, conceded.
Game 2
Neil chose to take the odd initiatives and mulliganed his opener. Kyle kept his hand. Neil’s first turn concealed Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide was met with a Quagmire from Kyle. Quagmire attacked, and Dallas gave Neil a look at his top card. On turn 2, Kyle played Shape, while Neil had Cannonball. Kyle took down Cannonball with a power-up and then attacked directly with Quagmire. At the end of the turn, Kyle led 50-33.
Neil had the initiatives on the third turn, and he started by playing Brave New World to team-up X-Men and Thunderbolts. He used an X-Corp: Amsterdam to get Faces of Evil, and then played Yellowjacket with boost to get Archangel, Angel. Archangel came out, fetching a second X-Corp, and Neil played Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer to close out his recruit step. Kyle simply under-dropped with Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace and attached a Thunder Jet to Quagmire. He set up with Melissa protecting Shape and Quagmire in the support row. Neil went into the tank to consider his attacks, and he came out with a plan of sending Yellowjacket into Quagmire. The characters traded stuns. Cannonball took down Melissa Gold without issue, and then Paul and Dallas team attacked Shape. Kyle chose to stun Dallas. Archangel attacked Kyle directly . . . or tried to. Kyle chained Answer the Call and played Panacea Potion on Shape. He fetched Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke with Answer and passed back to Neil, who could no longer attack. Neil lost Yellowjacket in recovery. Kyle still led, 44-42.
Turn 4 was Kyle’s, and he simply recruited a Golden Archer. Neil played another Yellowjacket with boost, searching out a Shocker. He immediately used the Shocker to stun Quagmire, and then set up with Archangel protecting Paul and Yellowjacket protecting Cannonball. Shocker was left next to Cannonball in the support row. Kyle led off combat by playing Flying Kick on Shape, which was sent into take down Cannonball. Paul reinforced. Kyle flipped Rocket Central and attacked Paul for 9. Neil flipped and used an X-Corp to get X-Men United, which he immediately replaced to prevent the breakthrough. Neil chose not to attack back, and he lost only Paul at the end of the turn. Kyle still led, 43-39.
On turn 5, Neil led off with a Mystic Summons for Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster. He equipped Blackbird Blue to Cannonball, pushed his team to the front, and passed. Kyle recruited his Albert and protected it with Shape. Quagmire was protected by Golden Archer, and Kyle passed to Neil’s attacks. Neil, facing the difficult task of ending the game on this turn, took several minutes to contemplate the board. He came out of the tank with an X-Corp activation to search out another copy of Faces. Nuke was team attacked with Shocker and Yellowjacket; Shocker traded stuns with the 5-drop. Next, Archangel attacked Quagmire. Both were stunned. Cannonball went after Golden Archer, and Kyle burned Neil for 6 before allowing the stun. Finally, Neil took down Shape with Speed Demon, paying a point to ready it. Neil’s remaining Dallas and re-readied Speed Demon team attacked directly, and Kyle allowed it. In recovery, Kyle played another Panacea Potion to recover his Golden Archer. Neil lost Archangel, while Kyle lost both Shape and Quagmire. Neil had jumped ahead to a commanding 29-10 lead.
The sixth turn was Kyle’s last reasonable chance to win. He could only muster Lady Lark, Skylark before passing. Neil’s turn was a bit more impressive, as he played Beetle, Armorsmith to get Joystick. The Joystick was immediately recruited, and Neil played Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi as well. He paid a point to Melissa, knocking Kyle down to a scant 2 endurance. Neil set up with Cannonball protecting Shocker, Joystick protecting Melissa in the next column, Speed Demon protecting Yellowjacket in the column adjacent to that, and Beetle next to Yellowjacket in the support row. It was on Kyle to attack, and he had the Other-Earth. Golden Archer went after Speed Demon, and the 3-drop went down. Lady Lark crushed Cannonball, and Nuke steamrolled Melissa to conclude Kyle’s flurry of attacks. Neil showed that he had a Mob Mentality. With no tricks left on Kyle’s side of the board, Neil had exactly enough ATK to clinch the game.
Game 3
Kyle had his choice of initiatives for this third and final game. He chose the odd initiatives and mulliganed his hand. Neil followed suit. Kyle’s first turn Joystick went unanswered, and Neil took a point. For turn 2, Neil played Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. Kyle had Shape in front of Joystick, and stole the initiative with his superior characters.
On turn 3, Neil revealed that he had nothing but an Archangel, Angel. He put his hand on the board and flipped up his resources—he had only drawn two characters. Kyle revealed his hand and row as well, showing a perfect curve, Rocket Central, and Other-Earth. Neil laughed and packed it in.
Kyle Dembinski wins and advances to the finals!