Michael Dalton is from Milliburn, New Jersey, while Adam Prosak is from the Phoenix area. “I am the best collectible card player in Avondale; I guarantee it—I’m the only one!” Prosak laughed.
Prosak offered the coin flip. “Okay, umm . . . do you want the number side or the, uhh . . . the weird side?”
“I’ll take the number side,” replied Dalton with a grin. The coin spun in the air, came down, and landed “weird side.” Prosak took control of the initiative on odd turns.
Prosak was definitely mulliganing, as his opening hand had nothing but Asmodeus. His second hand was far better, netting him Asmodeus, Steel Wind, and Bullseye, Master of Murder. Both players recruited 1-drops—Roscoe for Prosak and Mendel Stromm for Dalton. Stromm took a swing at Roscoe, and Prosak activated him to fetch a character before he went down.
Dalton brought out Hammerhead on turn 2 and pressed both of his characters to his front row. Prosak eyed the table. He had another copy of Roscoe, Steel Wind, and some choices to make about his resource for the turn. After some thought, he set a second resource, used Roscoe to search out Lacuna, and hid her behind him. “Okay, go ahead,” he said, sounding confident. Hammer Head swung into Roscoe, but he was Blown to Pieces. Dalton seemed a little surprised as both characters went down. It was a nice move, actively discouraging Dalton from swinging with Mendel. If he did, he’d lose the board presence that Syndicate loves and needs so badly in this matchup while only costing Prosak Roscoe, and if he didn’t, Roscoe would keep being abused. Not an easy decision, and he mulled it over quite a while before reluctantly passing combat. Prosak activated Lacuna and replaced a face-down Bullseye in his resource row with Marvel Team-Up, and both players recovered their lone stunned character.
Next turn, Prosak looked to hit his team-up, foregoing hitting his drop for Steel Wind. He flipped the Marvel Team-Up, since its existence was public knowledge. Dalton missed his drop, as well, and had no way to fill his last resource point. He recruited Silvermane and put everything up front. Steel Wind attacked Mendel Stromm but was smacked by No Fear. Lacuna attacked Silvermane. Again, Prosak was just looking to retard Dalton’s board presence. He knew that if he could take Dalton to the late game, he’d be incredibly strong. There was no Blown to Pieces for Roscoe this turn, though, as Hammerhead knocked his lights out. Lacuna recovered on Prosak’s side, and Dalton was left with Hammer Head and Silvermane. Next turn looked like it might be big for Dalton.
He recruited Dr. Octopus, Otto Octavius and maintained his everyone-in-the-front formation. Now it was Dalton’s turn to sit and ponder his next move. After some thought, he opted to recruit Kingpin, Wilson Fisk with boost and gave Fisk his own pair of tokens before stuffing Lacuna behind him. Dr. Octopus quickly attacked into Kingpin with a power-up. Lacuna reinforced him, and Kingpin invited Otto to Face the Master. Responding on the chain, Dalton flipped Spider Slayers calling Kingpin, but he was quickly met by a power-up that took Prosak out of stun range. Dalton shuffled his hand a bit—he was losing cards fast, and if he didn’t win out on this exchange, he’d be placing himself at a disadvantage for basically nothing. With only a pair of cards remaining in hand, however, he needed to be careful . . .
. . . or he needed to have a Doc Ock’s Lab. He flipped and activated it, and things looked good. But Prosak was willing to commit and flipped a second copy of Face the Master. At this point, even if Kingpin went down, it was a good investment—Prosak forced a ton of cards out of Dalton that he really needed. Kingpin did go down after a second Spider Slayers. The fact that the Spider Slayers was renewable would likely be a big factor in the game. Hammer Head attacked Lacuna for the double stun, and Silvermane attacked directly. It was Michael Dalton’s 36 to Prosak’s 26—a pretty commanding lead.
It was Prosak’s initiative on the next turn, though, and down came his lynchpin card, Deathwatch. Dalton recruited Elektra, Elektra Natchios and revealed a copy of the same before forming up with Dr. Octopus shielded behind Silvermane. “That’s your formation?” verified Prosak. “Yup.”
“Deathwatch on Silvermane, then?” Deathwatch pounded him, and Dalton was forced to reinforce with Otto. Kingpin then swung at him for the double-stun, and after verifying that Dalton had no attacks, Prosak flipped Dracula’s Castle and used it to return Bullseye to the deck and gain some endurance. It was now his 26 to Dalton’s 30, and if Dalton couldn’t do something big on turn 6, he’d have some serious issues entering a late game he likely wouldn’t be able to handle.
Dalton knew this and paid 4 endurance to flip down one of his two Spider Slayers. He recruited Mikado and Mosha with a nervous laugh—he only had two cards left in hand. “Are you set?” asked Prosak. “Yeah . . . I’m set.” Dalton either had no illusions about how poor his board presence was, or he was the best bluffer in the world and was packing a fistful of No Fears.
Prosak recruited Saracen and another copy of Roscoe Sweeney. He stuck Roscoe behind Deathwatch and Saracen behind Kingpin. He only had one resource face down and two cards in hand, so Deathwatch likely wasn’t going to be feeding any major surprise plays that required reinforcement. But at the same time, he was very, very large compared to the rest of the board, and Dalton was outmatched in terms of general board presence. Elektra attacked out of the shadows, Midnight Sons flipped to team up Marvel Knights and Syndicate, and Punisher’s Armory gave Elektra a bit more ATK. She set her sights on Kingpin. The attack worked and the two quiet men traded stuns. Dr. Octopus attacked Deathwatch, exhausting Saracen with his mechanical arms and boggling Elton John hairstyle before getting a pump from Crime and Punishment. Dalton leaned back to take in the board before electing a plan of action. He rubbed his eyes a bit—if he could save Deathwatch, it would be a pretty big play and would build his already substantial advantage. If he couldn’t, Prosak might actually have something. He couldn’t, and suddenly he was at 18 to Dalton’s 19. Mikado and Mosha attacked Roscoe Sweeney, who was activated in response to fetch a copy of Typhoid Mary. “Do you have anything?” asked Prosak. Dalton fingered his last set card and eyed his Doc Ock’s Lab before passing priority. The attack resolved, and Roscoe hit the dirt. Prosak again activated Dracula’s Castle to gain 3 endurance, and by the end of the turn, it was Deathwatch and Saracen versus Dr. Octopus and Mikado and Mosha.
Prosak regained the initiative for turn 7 and recruited Typhoid Mary. He formed up with her in the corner of an L, Deathwatch up front, and Saracen to her side. Dalton also chose an L formation and also opted to protect his turn-drop, a Moon Knight with boost. Mikado and Mosha sat in front of him, ready to take a hit. Deathwatch went after Dr. Octopus, pounding Dalton down to 15 endurance. Saracen smacked Mikado and Mosha, and Moon Knight reinforced—this was not going well for Dalton. Typhoid Mary then slammed into Moon Knight, and Mist Form kept her alive and well. The score was 19 for Prosak and 4 for Dalton. Prosak gained another 3 with Dracula’s Castle and blew up Doc Ock’s Lab with Typhoid Mary.
Dalton took a look at his two cards for his draw and conceded—there was no coming back from an 18 point deficit. “Shuffle like a champ this time!” shouted one of Dalton’s friends from the sidelines. “That turn 6 Mikado and Mosha was killer!” Dalton did indeed shuffle very thoroughly, hoping not to repeat his hideously poor draw.
Adam Prosak 1, Michael Dalton 0
Game Two
After a good six minutes of shuffling, game two began. “Whoa, I’m not keeping this one!” Prosak tossed back his opening hand. Dalton kept his and gave Prosak the initiative on turn 1. He recruited Mendel Stromm, flipped Doc Ock’s Lab, and pegged his opponent directly for a quick 5 endurance.
He followed up his early game jab with a turn 2 Dagger to fetch Midnight Sons. He quickly set it, making no effort to hide what he was doing—Prosak carefully tracked it as it went into his hand, moved clearly from one side to another, and then hit the table. Dalton recruited Silvermane, pushed everything to the front, and passed. “Come and get it,” invited Prosak, still having no recruit. Two swings later, it was Dalton with a big lead: 44 to 38.
“Winner!” cried Prosak, smiling but knowing he was at a big disadvantage as he recruited Steel Wind. Dalton recruited Elektra, Elektra Natchios and passed to his opponent, who promptly announced no attack. Elektra took out Steel Wind, who activated to discard Face the Master off the top. Prosak almost visibly winced. Silverman attacked directly, but Mendel couldn’t—he was in the back row. After another use of the Lab, it was 41 to 28.
Moon Knight hit the field on turn 4, and finally Prosak scooped. “That made up for last game!” laughed a sideliner, amusing both competitors.
“Ehh, it wasn’t that bad for him,” said Prosak. “I played Mikado and Mosha as my 6-drop!”
“Yeah, but you don’t have 6-drops.” Both Prosak and Dalton were laughing heartily. “I have 2- and 3-drops!” Chuckling ensued, and both men prepared for game three.
Adam Prosak 1, Michael Dalton 1
Game Three
Prosak pitched his opening hand again. “Three hands, three mulligans! I hope it works as well as last time!” Prosak has this totally cynicism-free brand of sarcasm that is quite remarkable. “You’re up,” said Prosak, taking the even initiative.
Dalton recruited Vulture. “No lab!” shouted Prosak Hopefully. Nope—Vulture only swung for 2 up, 2 down. He was joined by Mikado and Mosha on turn 2, and Prosak matched it with a Lacuna. Mikado and Mosha attacked into Lacuna, Dalton gave them a pump with Punisher’s Armory, and Lacuna activated to fetch a Marvel Team-Up. Both characters stunned, and Vulture again nibbled directly, gnawing a few endurance points off Prosak’s total.
Prosak recruited Morbius on turn 3 and used its effect. Dalton mulled over his hand. He didn’t seem to have a play. “You can always scoop next turn! That’s what I did!” Dalton refused Prosak’s “considerate” offer. He did have a play, and it was a good one! Rhino hit the field, Mikado and Mosha hid behind him, and Vulture sat in the front for a moment as Dalton considered a reverse L. He changed his mind at the last second and pressed everything to the front.
Morbius slammed into Rhino for the double-stun, and Lacuna rushed Mikado and Mosha. No Fear let them take out their assailant, and Vulture then swung directly. Dalton was slOwly grinding himself to a win. The score was 50 to 36 in his favor.
Dalton paid to keep Rhino around and recruited Dr. Octopus, Otto Octavius. With nothing but Morbius on the table, Prosak looked to be in a bind. He plunked down Roscoe Sweeney and Kingpin, Wilson Fisk to at least make his team-up—he had Deathwatch in hand for the next turn. “Alright, come get ’em,” said Prosak as he formed up with Sweeney protecting Kingpin in an L formation.
After a long period of contemplation, Vulture flew into Kingpin, backed by a +1 from Punisher’s Armory. Morbius reinforced Kingpin for a pump, Spider Slayers countered from Dalton’s row, and Face the Master chained to it, but Dalton won out with Doc Ock’s Lab. Kingpin went down! Roscoe Sweeney was isolated and staring at Dr. Octopus and Rhino. Otto attacked Morbius, exhausted Roscoe, and took down the vamp, and Rhino slammed into Sweeney. It was Dalton’s 42 to Prosak’s 19.
Prosak had the initiative for turn 5, though, and thanks to his desperation play last turn finally getting him teamed up, he dropped Deathwatch. Dalton recruited Silvermane and Elektra, forming up with Rhino protecting him and Vulture protecting Doc Ock. Kinpin took out Vulture, Deathwatch took out Rhino, and Dalton lost the old guy with the wings.
Next turn, Dalton opted to pay to turn Spider Slayers face down and to keep Rhino alive. It dropped him to 26, while Prosak sat at 19.
Dalton had control of the initiative next, and he recruited Carnage and Dagger. He pushed everything except Dagger to the front, and Prosak heaved a sigh. It was not looking good for him as Dalton’s small army of characters filled the table. Prosak set his hand down and leaned his head back for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. “Well, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?” He plunked down Owl with boost and took Dagger. He then recruited Werewolf by Night and formed up with Dagger protecting Deathwatch and Owl protecting Kingpin—he was bracing for a beating. At the start of combat, the Werewolf ate Dracula’s Castle and Dalton sat for minutes on end, contemplating his next move.
Elektra attacked into Dagger. “Well . . . I’m certainly not going to activate it to send it back to your hand, so I’ll take 1.” Elektra stunned back. “Tie ball game! Pretty close!” exclaimed the animated Prosak as the score went to 18 all. Rhino then stomped on Deathwatch, backed by a series of pumps that included Doc Ock’s Lab. After an endurance check and recap, Dalton was actually down by one (12 to 13), but with Deathwatch gone, Prosak’s life was going to be very hard. Doctor Octopus slammed through Kingpin. “Okay, that’s it. Good game, man! I can’t believe you let me steal Dagger!” Prosak grinned—he’s easily one of the most gracious players around.
Michael Dalton has moved on in the tournament! Four competitors remain, so stay with us as we bring you more live coverage.