I usually don’t cover the same player in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, but the other semifinal match started early, so I’m afraid I don’t have a choice. Billy is playing Deep Green, while David is playing the X-Statix / Villains creation that the rest of team FTN is running today.

Game 1

Billy won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiatives for the first game. Billy kept, while David mulliganed. Leader had the only first-turn play in the form of The Calculator, Noah Kuttler. On turn 2, Leader discarded another Calculator to get Coercion. He had no recruit, but Billy dropped Talia, Beloved Betrayer. Billy’s 2-drop stunned the 1-drop to conclude the turn.

Billy had the initiative on turn 3, and he recruited Ahmed Samsarra in the hidden area. David flipped Coercion, revealing Zeitgeist, and flipped and used The Science Spire to draw and discard one. He replayed The Calculator and passed. Billy flipped UN Building, teaming-up Villains United, League of Assassins, and Checkmate. He used Ahmed to KO an OMAC Robot in his resource row to get Brother Eye. He flipped Brother I Satellite, discarding Sarge Steel to get Merlyn, Deadly Archer. Talia attacked The Calculator for 6, and that was the turn. Billy led 49-41.

Turn 4 was David’s initiative, and he played U-Go-Girl, Tragic Teleporter, returning The Calculator to return Talia. Billy recruited Merlyn and equipped him with Knight Armor. David announced an attack of U-Go-Girl into Merlyn, and Billy allowed it. David had the X-Statix Cafè, and Billy used Ahmed to replace his Brother I Satellite with a Checkmate Safe House. He teamed-up Checkmate and League, then exhausted the Safe House to give Merlyn +1 DEF. David played Meltdown on Merlyn’s Knight Armor, though, and the 4-drop was stunned. There were no ready characters left to attack with, so the turn ended with Billy ahead 44-41.

Billy began turn 5 with Enemy of My Enemy for Maxwell Lord, Black King. He recruited the King in front of Merlyn, and then passed. Before David laid a resource, he used The Science Spire to return U-Go-Girl to his hand. He recruited Fatality, Flawless Victory, and passed. In combat, Billy attempted to use Maxwell’s ability on Fatality. David flipped Star of the Show to negate this effect. Billy attacked Fatality with Maxwell, and David played Dead Weight. Billy used Ahmed to KO Enemy of My Enemy for another Brother I Satellite. He flipped Coast City, then flipped the Satellite to search out Huntress, Reluctant Queen. Brother Eye was activated to give Maxwell +5 ATK. David had another Dead Weight, though, and the turn concluded without any change in endurance totals.

On turn 6, David recruited Zeitgeist behind Fatality. Billy had Huntress, and he set up with Maxwell protecting Merlyn. In combat, David used The Science Spire to return Fatality to his hand. He declared no attacks. Billy went into the tank and eventually decided to send Huntress into Zeitgeist. Billy used Brother Eye to give the 6-drop +5 ATK. David used Zeitgeist to stun Maxwell, then allowed the mutual stun. Billy declared a direct attack with Merlyn, but David had Spin Doctoring. In recovery, Billy KO’d his Brother I Satellite to get a Science Spire of his own, immediately using it to return Maxwell. At the end of the turn, Billy led, 33-31.

For turn 7, Billy had Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype. David played Enemy of My Enemy for Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, which he recruited after flipping Coercion. David set up with Spider-Man protecting Zeitgeist, and passed. At the beginning of Combat, Billy used Sasha. He sent Sasha into Spider-Man, and David reinforced before returning Zeitgeist with The Science Spire. Billy activated Brother Eye for another +5 ATK, and David discarded a copy of Zeitgeist to exhaust Huntress. Another copy of Zeitgeist exhausted Merlyn, leaving David with two cards in hand. The attack resolved, stunning both characters. Ahmed attacked directly to conclude the turn. Billy led, 26-16.

David had the initiative on turn 8, and he recruited Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch behind Spider-Man. Billy played his own copy of The Amazing Spider-Man, and set up with Spider-Man protecting Sasha and Merlyn protecting Huntress. At the beginning of combat, Billy chose to use Sasha. David sent Ghost Rider into Spider-Man, and Billy allowed it. Spider-Man was stunned. David sent his own Spider-Man into Merlyn, and Billy powered-up before allowing the stun. In combat, Billy flipped a Satellite to get a copy of Huntress. Huntress and Ahmed team attacked Spider-Man, and the 6- and 7-drops traded stuns. Sasha attacked Ghost Rider with Brother Eye, and David used The Science Spire to return Spider-Man to his hand. With the Spire’s ability on the chain, David used two copies of Enemy of My Enemy to thin his deck of characters. He drew and discarded seven cards, and then flipped up Kang Kross-roads. Billy flipped another Brother Eye for another +6 ATK, bringing the endurance totals to -5 to -9 in Billy’s favor. David had no way to gain endurance, so Billy took down game 1.

Game 2

David chose to take the odd initiatives for the second game of the match. He immediately mulliganed, and Billy followed suit. Both players passed on the first turn, and Billy had the first play of the game in a second-turn Sarge Steel fetched by a Brother I Satellite. David missed his recruit, and Sarge attacked into David’s empty board.

Turn 3 was David’s initiative, and he recruited Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature. Billy had Ahmed Samsarra in the concealed area. David sent Polaris into Sarge Steel, and the 2-drop was stunned. Billy passed on attacks and instead used Ahmed to replace his Brother I Satellite with a Brother Eye. The endurance score was tied at 47 apiece.

Billy had the initiative on turn 4, and he recruited Merlyn, Deadly Archer behind Sarge Steel. David flipped and used The Science Spire to draw and discard three. He discarded The Calculator, Noah Kuttler to get Coercion, then played Enemy of My Enemy for Fatality. He recruited the 4-drop and passed. In combat, Billy flipped Checkmate Safe House to team-up Checkmate and League of Assassins. David flipped his Coercion, revealing Zeitgeist to team-up Villains United and X-Statix. Billy declared a team attack on Fatality with Sarge and Merlyn. He passed, and Sarge was stunned and KO’d. Ahmed attacked directly, and Billy flipped Pit of Madness and Rook Control. Brother Eye was activated for an additional 4 ATK, and the turn concluded with Billy ahead 45-33.

Before recruiting on turn 5, David used The Science Spire to return Fatality to his hand. He replayed the 4-drop and passed. Billy played Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row for Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid. He played the Injustice Gang character, and David responded by flipping up X-Statix Cafè. Billy returned The Science Spire to David’s hand and equipped Floronic Man with Knight Armor. In combat, David attempted to attack Merlyn, but Billy responded by using his Ahmed to replace his Enemy of My Enemy with a Coast City. David was forced to pass on his attack step, and Billy went into the tank. He chose to send Floronic Man into Fatality, and the attack was legal. David played Dead Weight for 4 DEF, and Billy activated Merlyn to attempt to KO Fatality. David had Star of the Show, and the attack bounced. The endurance totals were unchanged.

On turn 6, Billy played a Meltdown from his resource row to gain 2 endurance, then used Ahmed to replace it with Brother I Satellite. He flipped it to search for Sensei, Martial Arts Master. Sensei was recruited, and Billy set up with Sensei protecting Merlyn. Sensei was equipped with Knight Armor, and Billy passed. David recruited Zeitgeist in front of Fatality. At the beginning of combat, Billy got a fresh resource from Sensei. He declared Sensei into Zeitgeist, and David allowed the attack. He played Dead Weight, and Billy used Brother Eye. David exhausted Zeitgeist to stun Huntress and halt the attack. Billy passed on further attacks. In recovery, he led 41-33.

Turn 7 was David’s initiative. He discarded The Calculator to search for another Coercion, then played Enemy of My Enemy for Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man. He teamed-up with Spider-Friends before recruiting the 7-drop in front of Zeitgeist. Billy played a boosted Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. He set up with Annihilation Protocol in front of Floronic Man and Sensei in front of Merlyn. At the beginning of combat, Billy got a new resource with Sensei. David declared an attack of Spider-Man into Annihilation Protocol, and Billy allowed it. He used Ahmed to replace his new resource with a Brother I Satellite, and then flipped the Satellite to get another copy of the Robot. He discarded the Robot to power-up, then returned the power-up to his hand with Brother Eye. He powered-up again. David played Mutant of the Year to KO his Zeitgeist and give Spider-Man +2 ATK / +2 DEF from his Cafe. The OMAC Robot was stunned. Billy flipped Sewer System but declared no attacks. He lost Brother I Satellite in recovery. The endurance totals were now tied at 35 apiece.

Billy had the initiative on turn 8, and he simply recruited Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype. David passed on his recruit. At the start of combat, Billy used both Sensei and Sasha. Billy attempted to send Annihilation Protocol into Spider-Man, and David responded by discarding a copy of Dr. Polaris to exhaust Ahmed. Billy responded by using Ahmed to get a second copy of Brother Eye, which he left face down in his resource row. The attack was legal, and Billy flipped Slaughter Swamp. Brother Eye was exhausted for +8 ATK, and David conceded.

Billy wins and moves on to the finals!