There was a bit of confusion before the round as one player was left off of the pairings, and there was a re-pair. I was set to cover Hans’s original match, but the new match would see Hans featured as well—this time against Matt Boccio. “I won the die roll before the re-pair and kept my opening hand. Can I just use those for this?” Hans jokingly asked Matt. “Uh, no,” came the reply. Matt kept his opening hand, while Hans found his first hand “unsatisfactory.” After a trip to Mulligansville, Hans was ready to begin.

Hans won the die roll and chose to go first. However, before he could play his first resource, Matt played a Surprise Attack to hit Hans for five. Hans recruited an Ape X, which got dolled up in a Jetpack. Matt matched Hans’s Ape X with one of his own sporting a less impressive set of Dual Sidearms. Ape on ape crime ensued, and the players went to turn 2.

Turn 2 began with Matt recruiting a Shape. I’m sure you’ve read enough Shape jokes, so I’ll lay off them for now. For now. Hans carefully considered his options and ultimately decided on a Shape of his own. The German’s Shape got outfitted with a Jetpack, and then he passed the turn to Matt. Shape to Shape was announced, and more same-man battles ensued. Matt’s final attack of the turn was to send his Ape X across into Hans’s Ape X with the help of a Mega-Blast. Matt ended the turn up 44-35.

Both players began turn 3 with Shape, but Hans’s was slightly more impressive thanks to his James-Bond-esque Jetpack. Hans continued his build with the standard Squadron 3-drop, Lady Lark. Matt under-dropped a Human Torch, Johnny Storm, which elicited an amazed whistle from Hans. “Yeah, I know. It’s good,” Matt sighed. Hans considered his attacks very deliberately and eventually settled on sending his Shape into Human Torch, who flamed-on to force the mutual stun. Lady Lark then smashed into Matt’s Shape, and both characters ended up stunning. Once again, both Shapes were left friendless. Matt was now behind 27-28.

Turn 4 found Matt once again using Surprise Attack on Hans, this time before his draw. It also saw him recruit a Golden Archer, and he was left with one card in hand. Hans was forced to under-drop on turn 4. He played Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace and then used a Flying Kick on it so that he could use his last card—an Answer the Call—to search out an Ape X, which got itself a Dual Sidearms. Matt sent his Shape in against Hans’s Songbird to stun them both. Golden Archer then went in against Hans’s Ape X via a Flying Kick. Hans decided that it was worth attacking back and sent his Shape in to finish off the Archer. Before recovery, Hans used Panacea Potion to recover his Shape. Matt ended the turn with a 19-7 lead.

Hans had the initiative on turn 5 as well as a slight board advantage. He furthered his board position by recruiting Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke with an empty hand. Matt was going to be in a bit of trouble if he didn’t come up with something good. His deck gave him a Weapon of Choice, which he used to get a Golden Archer and a Fiero. Hans gave him the Golden Archer, and Matt went into the tank. He then recruited a Nuke of his own and passed to Hans. While Hans was pondering his attacks for this turn, time was called in the round. Luckily for both players, with endurance totals this low, the game was due to be over soon. Hans decided that Shape with a Mega-Blast was all he needed to get past Matt’s Nuke. He then flipped up Rocket City to make sure that it was enough. Nuke and Shape stunned, and Hans was now in Golden Archer range. Hans then sent his Nuke after Matt’s Golden Archer. He activated it to burn Hans to -1. However, Matt didn’t have the Panacea Potion he needed to survive the turn, and Hans was able to take him to -3.

Hans Joachim Hoh wins!