Joseph Yoo, from San Jose, and Jerry Balentuangin, from San Diego, are both 5–1 and looking for a victory from which to vault into the Top 8 and surefire riches. They have something else in common, too—they’re both playing New Brotherhood decks that try to defeat opponents with high-powered assaults in the early turns.


Game 1

Jerry opened the game with Destiny and dropped a Toad on the second turn with the initiative. Yoo also played Toad, and Destiny was activated targeting the fresh recruit. Jerry then flipped up The New Brotherhood and swung in, getting the double stun, the breakthrough endurance loss, and the Destiny damage to hit Yoo for 9.

Turn 3 saw Yoo bust out Mystique and put her next to Toad up front, and Jerry responded in the best possible way- with Quicksilver in the back row, all but guaranteeing five damage. Yoo attacked with Mystique and flipped up new Brotherhood before powering up to 7 ATK. Jerry activated Quicksilver for 5 and then attempted to reinforce with Destiny, but he was foiled by Yoo, who had Blind Sided at the ready. Both players took a total of 8 as a result of the exchange. Yoo followed up with a Toad on Toad attack, and both players chose to return the 2-drop instead of stunning it.

With the initiative, Balen came back strong with Sabretooth, Feral Rage and placed him in front of Destiny, putting Quicksilver in the back row.

Yoo, with access to four resources, played . . . Pyro.

Jerry B: “Oh man.”

Joseph Y: “I know.”

Frown. That Pyro guy. Always late to the party.

It was all downhill from there for Yoo, who arranged his men in a defensive “L” formation with Pyro in the “reinforcement seat” beside Mystique. Not that it would do much. Jerry activated Destiny on Mystique and then went to work, bashing into her with Sabretooth and showing a Blind Sided when Yoo tried to reinforce. Sabretooth and Destiny combined to deal 14, and then Quicksilver fired away for 5 more while both Mystique and Pyro were stunned. Life totals were 37–11 for Jerry. Yoo drew his two cards for the next turn, and then conceded.

Yo “You messed me up that time. That was all kinds of bad.”


Game 2

Yoo started out game 2 on a hot note—a Surprise Attack straight to the dome. Jerry had no play on turn 1, but when he came back with Pyro (on time for once) on turn 2, Yoo again had no play and took 3. On turn 3, he finally got into the game with Mystique, while Jerry responded with Darkoth, placing him in front of Pyro. Mystique was sent into battle with Darkoth, and Yoo flipped up The New Brotherhood. Jerry activated Pyro and accepted the double stun, taking 8 while his assailant took a total of 6.

Jerry had initiative on turn 4 and busted out a big, bad, voodoo daddy in Sabretooth, Feral Rage. Yoo played his own copy, but it was his opponent who had the first move, and Jerry sent Sabretooth into a clash of identical cards. When Yoo tried to reinforce, the San Diego native even had the Blind Sided to force through the damage, and tossed a Savage Beatdown on the chain for good measure, cracking Yoo about the neck and shoulders for 13 big ones.

Worse yet for Yoo, Mystique seemed defenseless against Darkoth, who was about to crash in as an 11 ATK monster. Jerry attacked and KO’d his own resource as required, but Yoo took that opportunity to absolutely blow him out with Overload on Darkoth, turning a possible massacre into a defensive victory. Yoo lost no characters and went into turn 5 in a good position, while Jerry could recover only Sabretooth.

Then, the telling turn. The turn in the New Brotherhood mirror where you know one guy is out of gas, and that’s all she wrote. Yoo played out Blob on the initiative to add to his already superior board.

Jerry played . . . Toad. Just Toad. He didn’t last through the turn. Yoo bashed Pyro with Sabretooth and flipped up another The New Brotherhood. Jerry tried to reinforce, but Yoo said “No sir!” with Blind Sided. Next, Yoo clubbed the enemy Sabretooth with his 8 ATK Mystique, sendinbg Savage Beatdown for good measure. The only guys left were Yoo’s Blob against Jerry’s . . . Pyro.

Guess who won that power struggle?

Joseph Yoo 1 – Jerry Balentuangin 1

Balen: “I got greedy with the Darkoth.”


Game 3

This is it—the match for Top 8 glory.

Yoo opened up with yet another Surprise Attack to the face, while Jerry got sneaky with Destiny by activating it on Yoo’s Toad during turn 2 despite having no other play. When the attack came, he flipped up The New Brotherhood and stunned Toad to deal a total of 6 points with his gambit. Not flustered at all, Yoo recovered with Rogue, Anna Raven while Jerry busted out Quicksilver in the back row and activated Destiny on Rogue, putting the man with initiative in a tough position. Eventually, Yoo decided to attack Quicksilver regardless, and Jerry activated to deal 5 before the double stun, which resulted in Yoo taking another 7.

The assault continued. Toad attacked Destiny and popped back into hand, leaving Jerry to recover Quicksilver and start his next turn. It saw Blob taking the field on his behalf, with Quicksilver in back, while Yoo responded with the big Sabretooth, Feral Rage, discarding his own copy of Destiny. Jerry went for the Flying Kick on Blob and sent him blimping his way over to squash Rogue, but Yoo played a Flying Kick from his resource row, also on Blob, and turned him into the Hindenburg with Overload. The wind out of his sails, Jerry had nothing further. Yoo’s Sabretooth attacked back into the smaller Quicksilver, but a second copy of The New Brotherhood was flipped up just in time to turn a rout into a double stun. Jerry decided to recover Blob, and settled in to weather the onslaught of Yoo’s turn 5 with the initiative.

Yoo played Magneto, leaving him with a board of Rogue, Blob, and Magneto in an offensive “L.” Jerry had a Magneto of his own, but before it could come into play, Yoo unloaded another Surprise Attack that left the endurance tallies at 28–19 in his favor. With a life advantage and an extra character, plus initiative, things were looking up for the San Jose native. Yoo sent Sabretooth at Blob and had the Blind Sided when Jerry attempted to reinforce. He then team attacked Jerry’s Magneto with his Magneto, dealing 5 damage in stun and leaving the life totals at 23–8, up two characters, going into turn 6.

So Jerry lost, right?

Nope! Check this out. He had no counter attack on turn 5. On turn 6, Jerry played Darkoth and Pyro, placing Pyro behind Magneto and Darkoth in the front beside him. Yoo recruited Scarlet Witch and placed her in the back row behind Rogue, Anna Raven in an attempt to keep the smaller character safe from big breakthroughs. After thinking for several minutes, Jerry put his plan in motion.

Step 1: Exhaust Sabretooth with Magento, Eric Lehnsherr.
Step 2: Play Savage Beatdown on Darkoth and attack Sabretooth for big damage.

The only problem with this big attack is that Overload wrecks you. Well, Yoo did have the Overload, but Jerry absolutely dismantled him with Not So Fast out of his resource row. And that wasn’t all! Yoo tried to reinforce, and Jerry had the Blind Sided to force through 13 damage, bringing the life totals to 10–8, still in Yoo’s favor.

Down to one card in hand, Jerry attacked Rogue with Magneto. Yoo again tried to reinforce to save his skin, and Jerry turned over the last card in his hand—another Blind Sided.

Match to Jerry Balentuangin. What an exciting finish!

Final Result: Jerry Balentuangin defeats Joseph Yoo, 2–1