Doug Tice, of Team Chairs fame, came into this round as the odds-on favorite. This in no way should diminish the celebrity of local hero Eric “Golden Archer” Fletcher. Both players were sitting pretty with 4-0 records. The road to clinching a Top 8 berth starts here!

The Fletch won the die roll and decided on the extremely tech move of going evens.

Turn 1:

Tice trashed his first four and mulled into a decent early swarmy curve. The Fletch looked over his opening four and held with a sinister twinkle in his eye. Tice recruited Electric Eve and smashed into Fletch’s Jubilee.

Turn 2:

The Golden One dropped Chrome in front of Jubes. Tice responded with a Tar Baby, protecting Eve. Chrome did his tappy thing on Tar Baby and then added insult to exhaustion by attacking for the mutual stun. Jubes takes a shot at Eve, who wisely evaded. Jubes weny in direct.

45-43 in Fletch’s favor.

Turn 3:

Tice recruited Sage, Tessa and flipped Brave New World, calling “mental” and teaming Morlocks and Hellfire Club. Sage did her draw thing and netted Tice some card flow. Toad, Hopalong hit the board on the Tice side.

“Hey Doug, how many $10K top 8’s you have?” – Random guy

“2” – Ticeman

“Are you worried buddy?” – That lovable rascal, Antonino De Rosa

“No, I’m winning this game.” – The Fletch

Hilarity ensued.

Tice pushed everyone in front and left Eve cowering behind the Tar Baby. Fletch dropped the bomb against Morlocks, the nutty Toxin, and formed up defensively.

The Evasion War began.

·         Tar into Jubes, Turnabout flipped for the stun back but Tar evaded.

·         Then it was Toad into Jubes with Phase Shift; Jubes activated The Evil Eye for some burn before she went to face-down heaven.

·         Eve to Chrome, the easy double-stun.

·         Tice passed, but the mustachioed one was not through.

·         Fletchy McFletchers tossed on the Toxin evasion love for some extra burnination.

38-31, Fletch in the lead.

Turn 4:

The Fletch played Feral, everyone in front. Tice pitched for Sage, Tessa, looking for answers. Tice played Healer and paid 1 for his ability. He set up Tar Baby and Toad, protecting Healer and Eve.

Fletcher exhausted the Baby with Chrome. He then sent Chrome into Toad, who evaded re-readying Chrome. Here we go again folks. Here come those funky evaders. Chrome headed into Eve, but Eve evaded! Surprise! Chrome readied again. Fletch gave the shiny one a rest and focused on taking The Baby down with the crazy Symbiote. This time, Tice let it through. He flipped Super Hero Showdown for the impressive enough +2! Whiff! Chrome tried one more time and charged at The Baby. Finally, Chrome got some and also got himself stunned.

With the way clear, Feral could now swing into Healer for 8.

Both players passed into recovery where the Healer and Toxin shenanigans began. At the end of the turn, Fletch still held the lead with a dominating 33-11 spread.

Turn 5:

After some deep thought, Tice let Polaris on the team. He formed up and passed to the Fletchman. Fletch played Storm, Leader of the Morlocks and then paid 1 for Feral, shipping her to the hidden zone. He hid Toxin behind Stormy and passed.

Tice forced the Toxin evasion and then declared Healer into Chrome: Stunnage. Polaris put the beats on Storm! “Take 6!”

Eyeing the scorecard, Tice made this observation: “I wish I played this as a resource (holding Wundagore Citadel); I would have barely gotten there I think.”

Tice sent in Toad, Tar Baby and Eve directly. Trying to close the whopping endurance gap, Tice evaded his 4-evaders, teamed up the lonely Sage (I bet you forgot about her, I did!), and smashed face with a Bum’s Rush to bring his opponent to 7! Would it be enough?

The Fletch was a little unnerved; it was getting close. Fletch sent Feral into Polaris, and Tice responded with a Shrapnel Blast. But Fletch had a Shrapnel Blast of his own! Polaris fell before the massively massive wolf-woman.

The recovery phase treated us to another round of Toxin, Healer and Eve chicanery.

6-5, Fletch barely holding on.

Turn 6:

Fletch dropped Scaleface and passed. Doug played Callisto and once again went for the defensive formation. Little Sage in the hidden zone was all alone.

The Golden Fletcher wasted no time and flung his Storm into Toad. Polaris reinforced. Fletch flipped Morlock Justice, successfully baiting out the Polaris exhaust. Tice silently cursed himself. Toxin into Tar Baby? Nope, the Baby evaded. Feral got an additional “some’ and double-stunned with Polaris. Toxin evaded for more dastardly burn. This brought Tice down to -12.

Scaleface was now online and crushed the lowly Healer.

“Take 13!”

-25 to 2.

Fletcher passed. Tice, not one to go down without a fight, sent his Callisto into Storm for 11. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.

Fletch wins!