Now, Vidi Wijaya and Cesar de Leon follow in those footsteps with a Curve Sentinels mirror. Cesar has a slightly better Sentinels contingent, while Vidi has Overload. Consequently, this will be a test of play skill with a little luck thrown in.

Game 1

Cesar had the initiative in game 1, but it didn’t matter much in the early going, with Boliver Trask followed by Sentinel Mark III. Wijaya managed the early advantage when Cesar played Cover Fire from his hand and Vidi’s third turn Sentinel Mark II went unopposed, with Cesar doing nothing in the build phase.

Turn 4 saw opposing Sentinel Mark V’s join the fray. Vidi’s Sentinel Mark II traded with Cesar’s Mark V, thanks to two power ups. Cesar then played a Mark V with boost, and Vidi played Nimrod, which he powered up by flipping Finishing Move to make his man 10 ATK/14 DEF when the 11 ATK/10 DEF Mark V attacked it. By the end of the turn, Wijaya’s counterattack had the endurance totals at 36 to 20 in Vidi’s favor, and with Wijaya holding the initiative, he had a reason to be confident. He played two more Sentinel Mark II’s, but shuddered involuntarily when Cesar played a Master Mold that instantly brought forth another Mark V.

The drastic change brought the game to a standstill as Vidi considered his new options. Finally, two Mark II’s, one Mark III, one Mark V, and a Boliver Trask team attacked Master Mold—Cesar’s only front row creature. Vidi’s confidence shined through, however, as he smiled and casually joked, “this game sucks” to a number of spectators who were commenting about the annoyance of the mirror match. After Vidi’s Mark V and the Mold both were stunned, Nimrod tried to take out a Mark V, but even a power up wasn’t enough. The tide began to turn. Then, on turn 7, Master Mold brought forth another Mark V, and then Cesar played Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

“Put in there that I should have negated this,” Wijaya said, pointing at Master Mold, “with this,” he said, fingering his Mark II. Then Vidi played Bastion a turn too late. Cesar’s three Cover Fires had kept him alive long enough to grab the advantage. Vidi’s smile was gone, and he started flipping his cards back and forth to spend some nervous energy. His tells betrayed the truth—a team attack on Bastion and a minute to think were enough to convince Wijaya to scoop up his cards. “You’ve got this one.”

Cesar 1, Vidianto 0

Game 2

As the players shuffled up, they discussed the game and the mistakes they’d each made in a frank and friendly manner. Vidi, earning initiative choice by losing game 1, decided to play first.

Again, paired Boliver Trasks started things off, Vidi’s fetching a Mark II, Cesar’s a Mark III. Both played second turn Mark III’s, but the true mirror ended when Vidi’s third turn Mark II was only met by a second Mark III from Cesar. The ensuing attack sent one of Cesar’s 2-drops to the KO pile. The two players laughed and high-fived because—amazingly enough—neither had a fourth turn play, aside from another Trask fetching Vidi a Mark V to ensure that he’d have a use for his resource row on turn 5.

Vidi used Overload during the turn 4 attacks, but came to regret it when Boliver got double Savage Beatdowned. Wijaya’s expected Mark V with boost was met by de Leon’s Nimrod. Of course, this was all just a lead up to the all-important turn 6, where both players hoped Bastion or Master Mold would come to play.

Both players played out Bastion, but the big fight was between Cesar’s attacking Mark III and Vidi’s Boliver Trask. Boliver was pumped three times, but it wasn’t enough—Cesar went one better. Cesar’s Bastion attacked, but Vidi had his own, and the ensuing beats took de Leon to 7. Then Magneto came to play on both sides of the table.

Vidi team attacked Magneto with a Mark V, a Mark III, and a Bastion, then attacked Bastion with Magneto, pumping the 7-drop to 22 ATK/22 DEF. It wasn’t enough. Cesar pumped Bastion an amazing eleven times so that it would survive the attack, and the counterattack was enough to take Wijaya into the negatives, ending the game and the match.

Cesar wins 2-0