This match pitted Sydney local Egidio de Gois against Lee Copus, a veteran storeowner from Adelaide. Egidio and Lee both are grizzled TCG veterans, having played for a combined total of 15 years. Egidio de Gois is running a version of Brian Kibler’s PC winning Common Enemy deck, while the less prepared Lee has decided to be more straightforward with a burn-based New Brotherhood deck, similar to the one that Matt Boccio used to win the inaugural $10K event.
Lee had the first initiative, and Egidio chose to mulligan his first four cards. Toad came out quickly for Lee on the second turn, without any resistance from Egidio. Turn 3 was more eventful, with Mystique, Raven Darkholme coming for Lee, as well as a well-timed Surprise Attack, to attempt to get well ahead in the endurance race. Darkoth attempted to hold the fort for Egidio, but fell to a team attack from the Brotherhood team. Lee complained at this point that he’d only played about four games with his current deck, and the formations were too hard!
Turn 4 escalated the conflict, with Egidio recruiting She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters and Boris. Lee came back with a much more impressive Sabretooth, Feral Rage. Lee seemed to make a crucial error by putting both characters in the front row, not allowing for a defensive posture. She-Hulk attacked Toad, and Lee chose to return him to his hand. Darkoth called upon his inner Thing and decided it was Clobberin’ Time (after Common Enemy was revealed) and attacked Sabretooth, bringing the endurance totals to 41 for Lee and 36 for Egidio. Mystique attempted to attack Boris, but Doomstadt was revealed and Boris returned to the deck to fetch an Acrobatic Dodge. Mystique readied and decided that the exhausted She-Hulk was a more interesting target, causing them both to get stunned. Before the end of the combat, Lee played his secret tech, Foiled!, on de Gois’ Common Enemy, causing the game to be set back 1 resource. At the end of turn, Lee chose to recover his Sabretooth, Feral Rage, while de Gois chose his Darkoth.
On turn 5, Lee replaced his Mystique, Raven Darkholme and placed her and her feral friend in the front row. Egidio had a much more productive build step, playing Signal Flare for Hulk and playing Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, turning the Signal Flare face down. He put the scarred monarch in the support row being defended by Darkoth. Lee played a Flying Kick on Sabretooth, in an attempt to get at Dr. Doom, but a well-timed Mystical Paralysis put an end to that attack. Mystique fared no better, with her attack nullified with an Acrobatic Dodge on Darkoth. With his initiative fully spent, Lee contemplated his next move, and finally decided on Kaboom!, targeting a recently revealed Doomstadt. Egidio then complained that he would never be able to play his Hulk at this rate. After a short skirmish involving Darkoth on Mystique, the next turn was underway.
Turn 6 was very successful for the Sydney player, with a newly recruited Invisible Woman, Sue Storm adding to the mix. Lee could only muster a Toad in defense, and with some simple attacks ended up with everything stunned (with some help of an It’s Clobberin’ Time!). With his board decimated, Lee really needed a good turn 7 to have any sort of chance, but all he could recruit was a Blob to go with his Sabretooth. Egidio played is third (!) Signal Flare for a Thing, Heavy Hitter, putting him very much in the driver’s seat for the endgame. Lee was able to take down the man of rock by playing a Savage Beatdown on Blob, but his attempt to Flying Kick Sabretooth and attack Dr. Doom was met with yet another Mystical Paralysis.
Out of gas, the Hulk that Egidio searched for during turn 3 was overkill when Lee only added Pyro and Rogue, Anna Raven to the board. After a few basic attacks, Lee conceded.
Egidio de Gois wins!