Game 1
Eric won the die roll and chose to take the even initiatives. Doug mulliganed, while Eric opted to keep his opener. Doug kicked off the game with a first-turn Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide. Eric matched him with Electric Eve. Doug attacked in, and then took an additional point when Electric eve recovered at the end of the turn.
Before the draw on turn 2, Doug used Dallas to check out the top card of his deck. He sent it to the bottom. It was Eric’s recruit, and he under-dropped with Joystick in front of Electric Eve. Doug recruited Viper in the hidden area and passed back. Eric attacked Dallas with Joystick, and a power-up assured that there wouldn’t be a stunback. Electric Eve attacked directly, and Doug opted not to attack back with Viper. The score was 49-43 in Eric’s favor at the turn’s conclusion.
Doug had the lead for the third turn, and he recruited both Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain and Radioactive Man, Chen Lu. He set up with Dallas protecting Shocker, and passed to Eric’s recruit. Eric had his Lady Lark, Linda Lewis, and set up with Joystick protecting Eve and Lark next to Eve in the support row. Doug, after verifying that Eric had three cards in hand, declared an attack of Shocker into Lady Lark. Both players passed, and the characters traded stuns. Next, Radioactive Man went after Joystick. Again, both characters stunned. When Dallas went after Electric Eve, she evaded, and Doug attacked directly for 4. In recovery, Eric lost Joystick and Doug lost Radioactive Man. The score stood at 39-36 in Doug’s favor.
Turn 4 was Eric’s initiative, and he started with an Ape X. The 1-drop searched up Thunder Jet which was immediately attached to it. Eric used his remaining 3 resource points to play Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster. He passed to Doug, who drew a card with Dallas before recruiting. He decided to use Shocker to stun Lady Lark and recruited Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. Doug set up with Dallas protecting Shocker and passed back to Eric, who went into the tank. He finally opted to send Ape X into Shocker; Doug didn’t reinforce and both characters stunned. Next, Electric Eve traded with Paul without a problem. Finally, Speed Demon ran over Dallas, dealing a little more breakthrough with Mob Mentality. Eric passed to Doug, who thought for a bit about whether he was going to attack back with his Viper. He chose not to. At the end of the turn, Doug’s Viper and Shocker stared down Speed Demon and Lady Lark. Eric had re-established a lead of 29-26.
The fifth turn was Dough’s initiative and a fine chance for him to clinch the game. He used all 5 of his resource points to recruit Cannonball with Blackbird Blue and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. After recruiting, Doug quickly passed. Eric recruited Hawkeye, Clinton Barton, and equipped Airskimmer to Lady Lark. He set up with Speed Demon protecting Lady Lark and Hawkeye next to Lark in the support row. It was on Doug to declare some attacks, and he immediately attacked Lady Lark with Cannonball. Before the attack became legal, Eric stunned Cannonball with Hawkeye. In response to the stun, Doug used an X-Corp: Amsterdam to retrieve the game’s first copy of Faces of Evil. He thought for a moment, then used a second Amsterdam to grab a second copy of Faces. Doug’s next attack sent Melissa into Lady Lark. This time, the attack was legal. Eric powered-up to mitigate 2 points of endurance loss, and both characters stunned. Doug immediately attacked Hawkeye with Shocker, prompting another trade. Finally, Viper went after Speed Demon for the turn’s third mutual stun. In recovery, Doug played Mystic Summons to grab a Speed Demon of his own. After the players recovered their characters, the Shocker on Doug’s side of the board stared down the Speed Demon on Eric’s. Doug was ahead 18 to 15.
Eric had the lead on the sixth, and perhaps final, turn. He chose not to set a resource, instead recruiting Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke with replacement. Eric set up with Nuke behind Speed Demon and passed to Doug, who had some thinking to do. His first action of the turn was not a recruit; rather, he paid 3 resource points to Shocker to stun Speed Demon. He recruited Ogre and Beetle, Armorsmith, fetching another copy of Melissa Gold, and set up with Beetle and Ogre in the support row. Shocker protected Ogre. Eric attacked Albert into Beetle, and Doug simply reinforced. The turn ended with Doug still ahead, 16-12.
The game had somehow moved to turn 7, and it was Doug’s initiative. He recruited Speed Demon; Melissa Gold; and Archangel, Angel, emptying his hand. He played a resource and recruited Firestar, Hellion from his resource row. Eric didn’t replace the resource. He then dropped an Image Inducer on Speed Demon. Eric set up with Albert protecting Speed Demon and Firestar adjacent to Speed Demon in the support row. Eric responded to a Null Time Zone from Doug with a Flying Kick on Albert from his hand, leaving him with a single card. Doug named Panacea Potion, and play moved to combat. Doug immediately declared a team attack of Melissa Gold and Shocker into Albert. Eric allowed it and powered-up to get the last card out of his hand. Albert traded stuns with Melissa, and Doug pondered his next attack. He finally chose to team attack Firestar with Speed Demon and Ogre, paying a point to Speed Demon to ready it. Ogre and Firestar traded stuns, and Eric KO’d Firestar. Still, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to win, so Eric scooped it up.
Game 2
Eric again chose to take the even initiatives. This time around, both players kept their opening hands. Doug led off with a first time Archangel, Angel, discarding Null Time Zone to get X-Corp: Amsterdam. Eric recruited Ape X, searching for and equipping it with Thunder Jet, and took 2 points when Doug attacked in with Archangel. Eric had the lead on turn 2 and recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace behind Ape. Doug matched it with a boosted, hidden Yellowjacket. Doug searched up Beetle, Armorsmith and used his final resource point to equip Blackbird Blue to Archangel. Eric attacked in with his team for 9, and Doug declined to attack back. At the close of the turn, Eric led 48-40.
Turn 3 was Doug’s initiative, and he recruited both Ogre and Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain. Eric had Shape and Joystick. He set up with Shape protecting Joystick and Melissa protecting Ape. Eric passed to Doug, who flipped Faces of Evil and used his X-Corp to get Brave New World, choosing X-Men, Masters of Evil, and Physical. Doug’s first attack brought Yellowjacket into Melissa. Eric powered-up to get a card out of his hand, and both characters stunned. Doug continued to trade characters. Shocker took down Joystick, and Eric played two copies of Answer the Call to search for Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke and prevent some endurance loss. Ogre then took down Shape with help from a resource-row Mob Mentality. Doug declined to attack with Archangel. At the end of the turn, Doug’s Archangel and Shocker stared down Eric’s Shape and Ape. The endurance totals were now 38-36 in Doug’s favor.
Eric had the initiative on turn 4. He went off-curve again with Lady Lark, Linda Lewis and Electric Eve. Doug immediately used Shocker to stun Shape, then played Beetle, Armorsmith discarding Melissa to search up another copy of Yellowjacket. Doug set up with Archangel flanked by Beetle and Shocker in the support row. Eric’s first attack traded Electric Eve for Archangel. Beetle reinforced. Next, Lady Lark attacked Shocker. Doug couldn’t stun back, and the 2-drop went down. Finally, Eric traded Ape for Beetle. Doug flipped another X-Corp for +1 DEF, but both characters still stunned. In recovery, Eric played Panacea Potion on Shape and chose to recover Ape X over Electric Eve. Doug was left with only an Archangel.
On turn 5, Doug led off with the Yellowjacket that he had searched for with Beetle on the previous turn. He recruited it in the visible area with boost, searching a Joystick out of his deck. Next, he played Mystic Summons from his resource row, fetching Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster. He KO’d his Amsterdam, searching out a second copy of Faces of Evil, and recruited Joystick before passing to Eric’s recruit. Eric went into the tank before dropping his Nuke. He set up with Ape protecting Albert and Shape protecting Lady Lark, and then passed. In an unfortunate surprise for Eric, Doug had two copies of Hard Sound Construct, bringing back Melissa Gold and Beetle. The Armorsmith’s power fetched a copy of himself to be used as a power-up. In combat, Doug had six characters, 56 ATK, and a lot of options. He led off with a team attack on Nuke with Yellowjacket and Beetle. Doug powered-up Beetle, and Nuke traded stuns with the 2-drop. Next, Doug sent Melissa Gold after Lady Lark. The 2-drop ran over the 3-drop, and both characters stunned. Speed Demon went after Shape, readying, and Shape went down. Joystick attacked Ape, and Doug’s Speed Demon and Archangel were more than enough to seal the game.
Doug Tice wins and moves on to the semifinals!