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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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| Quarterfinals: Adam Prosak vs. Jerry Balentuangin |
| Geordie Tait |
| July 25, 2004 |
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When last we saw hometown favorite Jerry Balentuangin, he was firing off a frenetic final turn in round 7, bringing his record to 6–1 and putting himself in great position for the Top 8. Well, he made it, he’s here, and his opponent is Adam Prosak from Phoenix, who was a stellar 7–0 yesterday before taking his only loss by scooping his friend Alex Etzel into the Top 8. He has yet to lose a true match in this tournament, and the look in his eye tells me that he isn’t about to start now. Both players are running Brotherhood decks, so expect a slugfest!
While Adam was called away by the judges to replace his worn sleeves, Jerry told me he was enthusiastic about the matchup.
Jerry: “Prosak is Brotherhood pump. He doesn’t have Overloads, so I can just run wild on him.”
Me: “Darkoth will be getting in there?”
Jerry: “Oh yeah.”
 Game 1
Adam won the roll and chose to go first. Both players took a mulligan, and the only turn 1 play was Jerry’s Destiny, which immediately targeted Adam’s turn 2 Toad. Jerry had no character to recruit, and Toad attacked Destiny. Jerry pulled a nice trick by powering up Destiny, then playing Reconstruction Program and powering up again, dealing a total of 6 to Adam and keeping Destiny unstunned.
On turn 3, Adam recruited Quicksilver and put both in front, while Jerry again had nothing—very bad news in this curve-dependant matchup. Adam bashed Destiny and then attacked directly with Toad, ending the turn. On turn 4, Jerry continued his mediocre curve by playing out a 3-drop (though a potentially powerful one) in Darkoth, which he placed in front of the fragile Destiny. Adam one-upped him by recruiting Sabretooth, Feral Rage and putting all his characters in the front row. Jerry launched a preemptive strike on Sabretooth with his Darkoth, declining to KO a resource and instead using Savage Beatdown to make sure the job was done. Both characters were stunned. Adam fired back by pounding Destiny with Quicksilver and flipping The New Brotherhood, then swinging for 5 to the face with Toad. Life totals were 38–33 in favor of Prozak.
Turn 5 is always a decisive time in Brotherhood mirrors, and this was no exception. With the initiative, Adam replaced his Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff with Quicksilver, Speed Demon and shipped his team to the front lines. Jerry played Magneto and set him up in front of Darkoth to prepare for the incoming assault. Adam started by attacking Magneto with his 11 ATK Sabretooth (five resources meant The New Brotherhood was shut off). Jerry tried to get back into the game by powering up Magneto and flipping Avalon Space Station, which he used to recover two more Magnetos and execute two more power-ups, leaving his Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr at 12 DEF. Adam busted out Flying Kick, but Jerry had Not So Fast to keep things on the level. It looked like Jerry would pull off the successful defense, but Adam had an absolutely backbreaking second copy of Flying Kick in his resource row, and it was a double stun, leaving Darkoth exposed to attack from Quicksilver.
Wham! Stun on Darkoth. Then Quicksilver was readied, and, alongside Toad, he attacked Jerry directly for 11. The life totals were 34–9 for Adam, and he was firmly in control, up three characters to one. Because Jerry’s last character was Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr (with the initiative for turn 6), he was able to prevent a counterattack and recruit Darkoth and Toad, but with the life totals at still at 21–6 going into Adam’s initiative on turn 7, the San Diego native had no way to prevent his death, and scooped.
Jerry: “Man, that extra Flying Kick did it.”
Adam Prosak 1 – Jerry Balentuangin 0
 Game 2
Game 2 was quick and brutal. Jerry had the initiative to start, but the first play of the game was Adam Prosak’s second turn Pyro, which Jerry matched with Toad. Neither player attacked, and Adam activated Pyro for 3 to draw first blood. Turn 3 was anemic in the recruiting department, with Jerry having no play on the initiative and Adam only able to muster a 1-drop, Destiny, to put behind Pyro. She was immediately activated on Toad, who must have been upset about that treatment, because he received a Flying Kick and went right after Destiny. Adam achieved a double stun by flipping up The New Brotherhood, and Jerry decided to return Toad to his hand rather than suffer big damage from the stun and Destiny’s ability.
Then it happened. Adam flipped up a second copy of The New Brotherhood. Just to further illustrate the significance of this, let me draw up some quick calculations:
Adam Prosak + 2x New Brotherhood = winning
Jerry + opponent with 2x New Brotherhood = not winning
Get the idea? That’s pretty much how it played out in practice, too. Pyro attacked for 6 by himself to end the turn, and then Adam, on the initiative, recruited an insanely large Sabretooth, Feral Rage (a mere 15 ATK, not bad for turn four). Jerry had a Sabretooth of his own, but the combat phase was setting up to be a complete massacre regardless. Adam attacked with Sabretooth and stunned Jerry’s version of the same card, which was also his only character, dealing a total of 12. Then, Destiny and Pyro attacked directly for 10 more, leaving the life totals at 41–19 in Adam’s favor. And almost more importantly, he was still up two The New Brotherhoods to zilch.
Jerry went through the motions of his next turn, but he wasn’t kidding himself or anyone else—he was on his way out. He played out a Quicksilver, Speed Demon, but Adam matched it with one of his own. With Adam’s two New Brotherhoods turned off, Jerry went into combat to try and even things up, but it was not to be—Adam flipped up Lost City and powered up when Jerry’s Sabretooth attacked Quicksilver. The attacking player was put in a terrible position:
Option A: Ka-Boom! Lost City, reduce Adam to four resources, turn on his two The New Brotherhoods, and get wrecked.
Option B: Let Sabretooth get +3ATK/+3DEF from the Lost City, and get wrecked.
He chose option A, but nothing could help him recover from the loss of his Sabretooth and the resulting 4 endurance loss, dropping him to a meager 15. With Adam’s creatures all jacked up on offense and more than a match for his forces, Jerry had no way to avoid taking big endurance loss in every scenario, and no choice but to extend the hand and send Adam Prosak to the semifinals.
Final Result: Adam Prosak defeats Jerry Balentuangin, 2-0
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