Eric Fletcher, also known as “Golden Archer” or “Mustachio”, took this tournament by storm as the #1 seed. Tillman, however, barely sneaked in the Top 8. Both players liked their draft deck. Tillman believed his to be very solid, and Eric was sure that if he hit all of his drops, he would win. Tillman won the die roll and chose evens.
Turn 1: Tillman played Hellfire Club Initiate while Eric passed. Eric had 49 endurance.
Turn 2: Tillman thought for a while. His choices were to either play Join the Club and discarding his 3-drop, or passing on turn 2 so he could hit his 3-drop. Well, Tillman was very greedy this game. I would have passed on 1 so I would make sure to hit 2 and 3. Needless to say, Tillman played the search card for Sage, Tessa. He paid for this by discarding Tarot. Sage and the Hellfire Club Initiate were both in the front row. Eric recruited [Archangel, Angel] and discarded Army of One for Worthington Industries. He put Image Inducer on Archangel. Tillman attacked Angel with Sage and then attacked him directly with the Initiative. Tillman had 48 endurance to Mustachio's 45.
Turn 3: Eric used the Industries for Xorn and transferred the equipment to it. Tillman played Mastermind, Dark Dreamer, put it in the front and passed. Mustachio traded Xorn for Mastermind. Tillman moved Mastermind to the hidden area with his trigger. Eric attacked with Archangel directly, but Tillman played The Hellfire Club to move the Initiative to the visible area. Archangel and the Initiative traded. Tillman's Sage attacked directly. Tildo 42 Eric 37.
Turn 4: Tillman played Chrome and Viper. I am sure that at this point Tillman really wished he had never played that Club Initiative. Eric was also drop-screwed, though, and went looking for it with the Industry. "He whiffs!" His play for the turn was his own copy of the Hellfire Club Initiate. Tillman's Mastermind into Xorn, trading 4 endurance for 3. Chrome attacked straight to the face for 4. Sage and Viper team-attacked Eric’s defenseless board, bringing his endurance to 22. Tildo sat at 39.
Turn 5: Eric's Industries got him a Wolverine, The best at what he does. Eric had Wolverine in the front row and Xorn in the support row. Tillman played Empath and passed. So, neither player were good at hitting their curve. Tillman couldn’t even draw a Mental character to activate his Sage. Wolverine got down and dirty with Empath. Tillman lost 8 endurance while Eric lost 5. Eric stood at 17 and Tildo at 31. Eric's Initiative attacked Chrome with the help of Kidney Punch. Xorn tried attacking Tildo directly but Tillman used his The Hellfire Club to bring Mastermind to the visible area. Eric played Evil Alliance, teaming up his X-Men and his Hellfire. He then re-attacked with Xorn into Mastermind. Tildo attacked with Sage and Viper directly for 5. Tildo 23, Eric 6.
Turn 6: Tildo finally drew some Mental characters to draw two cards. He recruited Donald Pierce. Tildo’s board had Empath, Donald Pierce, Sage, and Viper all in the front row. Eric played Storm, Gold Leader and transferred The Image Inducer that had been dancing around the entire game. Empath attacked Wolverine. Tildo played Psionic Storm before passing. Eric reinforced his Wolverine with Xorn. Tillman KO'd Empath to turn the Psionic Storm down and attacked Storm with his Donald Pierce, then flipped Army of One and Psionic Storm. Before they even counted the endurance differences, Eric decided to just scoop.
Game 1 Mustachio Loses
Game 2 Eric decided to take evens.
Turn 1: Eric played Courtney Ross while Tillman passed. Tillman stood at 49 endurance.
Turn 2: Tillman played Sage in the visible area. It was Eric's turn to pass this time, and Tillman attacked for 2, bringing Eric’s endurance totals to 48 against Tillman’s total of 49.
Turn 3: Tillman played Joanna Cargill while Eric recruited Toxin with Image Inducer. Joanna Cargill took down Toxins, and Sage attacked directly at Eric. Courtney Ross hung back with Tildo at 44 and Eric 42.
Turn 4: Eric played Bishop, XSE Commando. Tildo recruited Empath and hid Sage behind him. Toxin and Courtney Ross team-attacked Empath. Endurance stood at Tildo 38 and Eric 39. Sage got bashed by Bishop, but Tildo moved her to the hidden area before the attack was legal with The Hellfire Club. Bishop attacked Joanna Cargill and Tillman took a 5 endurance loss. Tildo sat at 33. Tillman teamed up with Evil Alliance before he had to KO Joanna Cargill.
Turn 5: Tillman finally used Sage, discarding Rem-Ram. Tillman played Join the Club for Scanner. Empath sat in the visible area while Scanner and Sage hid in the shadows. He then discarded Trevor Fitzroy to pay the cost on a Hellfire Club Initiate. Eric played Wolverine and moved Image Inducer to Bishop. Scanner then attacked Bishop with Army of One to force the stun without stunning back. Empath attacked Wolverine, trading 6 endurance for 4. Tillman passed and Eric played Brave New World, teaming up X-Men and Hellfire and the Energy trait. Courtney Ross got exhausted for Drain Essence to get rid of Empath and gain 1 endurance.
Turn 6: Shinobi Shaw was recruited by Eric, and the Inducer went to Wolverine himself. So Eric had Wolverine and Toxin in the front row and Bishop in the support row. He also had Courtney Ross and Shinobi Shaw in the hidden area. Tillman had Donald Pierce on turn 6 in the visible area and Scanner, Sage, and Hellfire Club Initiative in the hidden. Eric pondered his choices. He finally attacked with Bishop and Shinobi into Donald Pierce. After stunning and before Eric could attack again, Tillman used Absolute Power to recover Donald Pierce. Toxin and Wovlverine then team-attacked Donald Piper for a second time this turn. Tildo stood at 12 while Eric had 22 endurance at the end of turn 6.
Turn 7: Hail to the King. Hail to the King! Tillman recruited the boss of all bosses, Sebastian Shaw, Black King. Eric didn't even flinch. How could he show no facial expressions? The king is alive! After Tillman passed, Eric recruited, and WOWOOWOOOOWOWOOWOOWOWOOWOOWOWOOWO!!!! Eric played his own King! Ladies and Gentleman, we had a game. Tillman had Donald Pierce, Scanner, Hellfire Club Initiative, Sebastian Shaw, and Sage against Eric's board of Wolverine and Bishop wearing the Inducer. Eric's concealed area consisted of Courtney Ross, his own King, Shinobi Shaw, and a freshly recruited Hellfire Club Initiate. Tillman's Sage and Hellfire initiative team-attacked against Wolverine. Sage got Psionic Storm. The endurance stood at 12 to 17 in Eric’s favor. Donald Pierce attacked Bishop and Eric brought Courtney into the visible area with his own The Hellfire Club to reinforce Bishop. Tillman went to 9 endurance from Bishop while Eric sat at 13. Before Scanner attacked Courtney Ross, Eric used Evil Alliance to move Courtney out of the way. Before any other attack became legal Eric played Raising Hell on Tillman's Sage so he couldn't ready his Sebastian Shaw. After team-attacking straight to Eric’s face, Eric's endurance stood at -13 while Tillman had 9 endurance. Eric's king attacked Donald Pierce and Tillman had another Army of One to force Sebastian Shaw to stun, since Tillman’s Donald Pierce was his only visible character. Eric could not attack with Sebastian Shaw twice and make up the endurance difference.
"Tildo!" "Tildo!" "Tildo!" "Tildo!" "Tildo!" "Tildo!" the crowd cheered as Tillman Bragg moved on the semifinal in hopes for his first $10k win.