As I sat down with teammates Niles Rowland and Adam Prosak, they were discussing how “awesome” Mobilize is.

Adam: “I literally do not have a good quote for you, TBZ. Sorry.”

Niles: “Yeah, c’mon, what more can be said about how great that card is?”

Both players shuffled up, moving the conversation to team leaks, lunch, and finally to Humpherys’s hair (or lack thereof). Adam won the roll and chose evens.

Turn 1 passed with no recruits. Turn 2 saw a Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Spaceways for Adam and a Black Bolt, Illuminati in the hidden area from Niles. Adam passed and got bashed by Black Bolt. Adam activated to search his deck and then realized that there was nothing worth fetching.

Niles: “Oops.”

Adam: “Meh, it was a good shuffle.”

Turn 3 began with a Plasma for Niles and a concealed Jolen from Adam. Plasma came in for 5, and Adam passed.

Turn 4 was a back-breaker.

Adam: “So unreal.”

Adam recruited Dewoz in the visible area and a Mind Gem on his Surfer. Niles dropped a concealed Nahrees. Adam sent Dewoz into Plasma and then the rest of his team in for direct damage. During his attack step, Niles smashed Black Bolt with Nahrees and flipped The Herald Ordeal to team-up. He pitched a card to gain 2 before the end of the turn.

At this point, Adam paid 2 to move Dewoz and Silver Surfer.

Adam: “Do they go to the same area, or can I put one visible and one concealed?”

Niles: “Always to trying to get an edge, Adam.”

Humphreys came over to say “no,” so Adam moved them both to the hidden. He then flipped up his own copy of The Herald Ordeal to team up.

Turn 5 started with a The Substructure activation form Niles to replace a face down Kindred Spirits.  

Adam: “Kindred Spirits not doing it for you, huh?”

Niles: “Not good enough.”

Niles recruited Alaris, and Adam followed with Mr. Fantastic, Illuminati. Niles declared Alaris into Mr. Fantastic. Adam played Elemental Battle for the brickwall, but Niles had the Relentless Onslaught to ensure the one-sided stun. Niles declared his team to Adam’s face for 15! In response, Adam decided to stem the endurance loss by paying 2 to move Dewoz and Surfer back to the visible area. Niles then sent Plasma and Black Bolt into Dewoz and Nahrees into Surfer; before the end of the turn, Niles paid 2 to keep Mr. Fantastic exhausted. Adam chose not to save his 5-drop.

Adam: “What a disaster.”

Turn 6 saw a Destroyer, Harbinger of Devastation recruit from both players.

Adam sent his Destroyer into Alaris. After it was legal, Niles paid 2 to have Alaris switch places with his concealed Black Bolt. PC regular Milton Figueroa (who was watching from the rail) chose to speak up about the “illegality” of such a move.  

Milton: “Wait, you can’t do that. I tried to do that in a $10K, and the judge said ‘no.’”

Alex Gellerman (from the rail): “This from the guy who recruited Power Gem onto Clumsy Foulup in that same $10K?”

The feature match area erupted with laughter, as Milton was, of course, wrong.

The attack resolved, and Alaris was stunned. Adam tried to declare into Niles’s Destroyer but Niles had other plans. Niles flipped Blue Area of the Moon, giving him five face-up resources, and played The Outside World to recover his Alaris. He then paid 2 again to switch places with Black Bolt, thereby protecting his Destroyer. With no other reasonable attacks, Adam sent Dewoz into Plasma, then passed.

Niles took the initiative and sent his Destroyer into Adam’s with an Extended Family counter for the one-sided stun, and Nahrees took out Dewoz with a Blue Area activation for another one-sided stun. At the end of turn, Niles paid 2 again to keep the opposing Destroyer exhausted. Niles was dominating the match, but little did he know, his luck was about to change.

On turn 7, Niles recruited Gorgon in the hidden area. Adam played a Silver Surfer, Harbinger of Oblivion, flipped an Extended Family team-up of his own, and proceeded to skip the combat phase.

Niles: “What a beating.”

At the start of turn 8, Niles realized that he had forgotten to use Alaris to get Gorgon out of the hidden, thereby keeping Adam’s now cosmic—surged 6-drop from readying.

Niles: “Yeah, you saw that right? I’m such an idiot.” I nodded.

Adam dashed what little hope Niles had left of winning this match by dropping the bomb—Black Bolt, Devastating Decree. Niles recruited Terrax, Harbinger of Ruin and used him to stun Adam’s 3-drop, bringing Adam down to 1.

Time was called. Adam needed to survive this turn to win.

Adam sent his Destroyer into Alaris and flipped four resources, giving him a total of seven face up. His next attack was Black Bolt into Terrax with the final resource flipped: It’s Slobberin’ Time. In the words of Niles Rowland, “What a blowout!”

Niles did the only thing he could—he paid 2 to keep Black Bolt exhausted, flipped a couple of Elemental Battles, and reinforced.

Adam: “Yeah sure, kill ’em all.”

Adam pitched to gain 2, but Niles still lead 14-3.

For a turn 9 win, Adam would need to deal at least 12 points of breakthrough. Niles had no cards left in his deck and no characters left to play. Passing his recruits, Adam dropped the “Bane of Press,” Adam Warlock, to win.

Adam Prosak Wins!