“To be honest, I barely even care at this point how the rest of my day goes,” said a glowing Caton.

“Yeah, me either!” said Dembinski. It appeared that both players were locked in a pre-game smile competition. I couldn’t tell who was winning, but it was definitely close.

Caton won the roll and took evens. Both players mulliganed, then Dembinski recruited Hope and Caton recruited Ape X with a searched Image Inducer to start off the game. Hope leapt on the monkey, both characters stunned and recovered, and play proceeded to turn 2.

Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace dropped from Caton’s hand with another Image Inducer and hid behind Ape X. Dembinski recruited Yellowjacket, Rita Demara with boost, took Beetle, Armorsmith from his deck, and then recruited Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. Ape X attacked Speedy, Speedy shot at the monkey, and Die for Darkseid! KO’d Ape X on the chain. Melissa Gold then attacked Yellowjacket, and the competitors were off to turn 3.

Dembinski flipped Straight to the Grave, sent Beetle to the KO’d pile, recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, and then used Light’s effect to bring Beetle into play. He then discarded Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to pay for Beetle’s effect, fetching Deadshot, Floyd Lawton from his deck. He formed up with Hope protecting Yellowjacket and Light protecting Beetle.

Caton played her resource and then flipped Enemy of My Enemy to dig for Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon. She recruited Sage, gave her an Image Inducer, and then debated over her formation options. She chose to have Sage protect Melissa and passed.

Beetle attacked into Melissa Gold, and both characters were stunned. Sage attacked Hope, and Dembinski couldn’t reinforce; he took 7 endurance loss total.

It was 46 to 30, and Dembinski controlled Yellowjacket, Hope, and Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, while Caton had Sage and Melissa Gold on the field.

Caton recruited Shape and Iron Fist, Danny Rand on the following turn, transferring  Melissa Gold’s Image Inducer to Shape. Dembinski chose not to retrieve Mr. Mxyzptlk, recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, and brought up Beetle, Armorsmith with Dr. Light. He discarded another copy of Beetle for the on-field Beetle’s effect, searched for Archangel, Angel, and then started evaluating his possible formation options and upcoming moves. He quickly settled on Light protecting Deadshot, Hope protecting Beetle, and Poison Ivy protecting Yellowjacket.

Melissa Gold attacked Poison Ivy, and Dembinski gave her a power-up. He KO’d Hope to trade his resource row Breaking Ground for Slaughter Swamp, and both characters were stunned. Iron Fist then attacked Dr. Light, and a Trial by Fire gave him 7 ATK total. Dembinski took 7 damage to Caton’s 2, leaving her at 42 endurance, while he dropped to 20. Caton had only one card in hand, and Shape attacked Deadshot with a massive natural ATK, made even bigger by Image Inducer. Dembinski could hardly believe it, throwing up his hands a little. He activated Straight to the Grave, saying, “Lemme see if there’s anything in here that can help . . .”

There wasn’t. He wound up dropping another copy of Deadshot to the KO’d pile. Slaughter Swamp brought it back to his hand for a small pump, but it was practically irrelevant. He dropped to 12 endurance. Sage attacked into Yellowjacket, Beetle reinforced, and Dembinski shook his head as he swept character after character into the KO’d pile. By the end of the turn, all he had left was Dr. Light and Beetle to Caton’s Shape and Sage—and 42 endurance.

Ouch.

Dembinski recruited Deadshot next turn, followed by Archangel, Angel. Enemy of My Enemy got him Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, which he recruited next. He formed up with Dr. Light behind Angel, Beetle behind Ivy, and Deadshot in the support row next to Beetle. Caton flipped Wild Ride to search for Moon Knight, recruited him, and used her last resource point to give him a Flamethrower. She pushed everything to the front row and passed play to Dembinski.

Deadshot took out Sage immediately, and a flipped Justice League of Arkham made Caton discard her last card: Melissa Gold. Ivy attacked into Shape, both characters stunned, and Moon Knight attacked Beetle. Beetle went down, and when Caton attacked with Iron Fist, Dembinski conceded. The beating mercifully ended.

Kim Caton is the only remaining undefeated competitor of the day!