Both players started with a mulligan, and Ken made the first move with his new hand. Ken had a turn 1 Courtney Ross who came into play in the hidden area. Mike had a Lockheed as his recruit, and it appeared that both players had mulliganed into rather respective hands. Mike kept the curve going with a Friedrich Von Roehm. When Ken had no drop for turn 2, Mike had free rein to bash his face. Ken made up for his missed turn 2 by playing a turn 3 Mastermind, Dark Dreamer. It was Mike's turn to stumble as he only managed to recruit a Hellfire Club Mercenary and a Catseye. He made up for his little hiccup, though, by equipping his Lockheed with a Blackbird Blue. After all, who knows more about flying than a dragon?

Mastermind got the first attack, and sent in after Von Roehm, who got some reinforcement from the Mercenaries. Courtney Ross got some Psychic Armor, and when Mike tried to pump out of the stun with his X-Corp: Amsterdam, Ken was ready with The Hellfire Club. Ken managed to get rid of Mike's 2-drop, but he still had a little army that was very close to being teamed-up.

Turn 4 saw Mike replace the Friedrich Von Roehm that he lost on the previous turn, as well as recruit of Sage, Tessa in the hidden area. Ken had a concealed character of his own in a Hellfire Club Initiate, but was unable to use his remaining resource points. It appeared that his second draw wasn't as forgiving as I'd first thought. Mike KO'd his X-Corp to get Evil Alliance from his deck and teamed his men up. Freidrich went in, courtesy of Blackbird Blue, and crushed Mastermind under his heel. Ken used his Hellfire Club to pull a Hellfire Club Initiate out to reinforce his soon-to-be-stunned Mastermind. Sage then stunned the Initiate that had materialized, and then Mike got to send his remaining team at Ken's head. The Courtney Ross slowed the bleeding, but he still felt some pain and ended the turn down 27-44.

On turn 5, Ken lead off by recruiting a Shinobi Shaw in the visible area. Mike chose not to play a resource, and ended up recruiting a Nightcrawler, Swashbuckler. Thanks to a Pack Tactics, Ken was able to send his Mastermind into Lockheed. Mike reinforced him, and the dragon pilot went down hard. Shinobi had the next attack and Nightcrawler felt the full force. Ken's last attack was his Courtney Ross at Mike's Hellfire Club Mercenary. Thanks to an Angel of Mercy recovering his Lockheed, the turn didn't go too poorly for Mike, and he ended with only a slightly depleted board and a small lead going into the sixth turn.

The initiative belonged to Mike on turn 6, but he didn't have any recruits. He had six characters in play that were all pretty large thanks to his Blackbird Blue, so it wasn't all that bad for him. Ken had a 6-drop in the form of Donald Pierce, who took up residence in the hidden area. Mike's first attempt to take down Ken's larger men was to send Nightcrawler into Shinobi Shaw with the help of a Turnabout. Ken had an Army of One, though, and Mike was forced to use a second Turnabout. Ken decided that rather than take breakthrough, he would ship Donald Pierce into the visible area to reinforce. His next attack sent Catseye and Sage into Mr. Pierce. Sage insisted that she was Homo Superior, and the attack succeeded. Ken chose to stun Mike's Catseye, whom he promptly KO'd in favor of giving Freidrich a +2 ATK bonus. When Mike did the math for the next turn, he realized that Freidrich was a 14 ATK character, and Ken was at 15. Rough beat. Mike was happy with the result, although a little disappointed that he couldn't win the game right there, and passed the turn to Ken.

"That Courtney Ross has emasculated my entire team. She reminds me of some of my ex-girlfriends," Mike joked as Ken pondered his attack. After a little laugh at Mike's expense, Courtney stunned the Lockheed that was driving the Blackbird. Ken would have the initiative next turn, so it was his chance to win the game. However, he was at 1 while Mike was at 20, so the game was still in reach for Mike.

While Ken decided on his play for the turn, Mike asked to see his KO'd pile. After he realized there were only two cards, he laughed a little, "All right!" Ken ultimately decided to under-drop a Cyclops, Blue Leader and a Friedrich Von Roehm instead of a 7-drop. Mike decided to try and get there by using Sage with the only character in his hand. He drew into Genis-Vell ◊ Photon, and it was clear that he had indeed gotten there. Ken had some attacks to decide on and went into the tank for a couple of minutes. When he resurfaced, he issued the order for Donald Pierce to get Photon. Mike didn't have anything for that attack and let the two characters trade. -5 to 12. Next, Courtney took down Lockheed. -6 to 10. After Freidrich Von Roehm attacked his evil twin, Mike decided to reinforce and drop to 8. -6 to 8. When Mastermind attacked the Mercenaries, Mike moved his Sage to the visible zone by replacing his Evil Empire, which resulted in a reinforcement that swung the game.

Ken 0 - Mike 1

When the judge dropped by to give them their cash cards, both players cheered. "Actually, my grandmother is having an operation, so anything else you could do would be great," Mike solemnly said to the delivery judge. "I'll send her a card," the judge shot back. Mike immediately shot him a stoic look. "Please stop sending cards to my female family members."

Turn 1 brought the familiar, friendly face of Ms. Courtney Ross for Ken again. Mike had a Jubilee as his 1-drop, which was shut down by the lovely Ms. Ross. On turn 2, Mike played the fangy Friedrich Von Roehm, while Ken played a Hellfire Club Initiate and a Tommy. Freidrich ate Tommy, and both players passed. Jubilee activated again during the recovery, and the score dropped to 41-50.

"I can't believe this guy's out-weenie-ing me," Mike said. "Um . . . never mind." Ken made a Mastermind, Dark Dreamer on his turn which was met with a "Spicy mulligan!" from Mike. Mike followed with a perfect Nightcrawler, Swashbuckler. Ken's first attack of the turn was to send Mastermind into Freidrich, and then flip up The Hellfire Club to force a reinforcement. He also used Evil Alliance to team-up Hellfire Club and Morlocks. His final attack of the turn was his Initiate and Courtney at the Nightcrawler, who stunned.

Turn 4 brought a Longshot, Hero of Mojoworld, Lockheed, and a Blackbird Blue for Mike. Not that bad a turn for the X-Men off-curve deck. All Ken could manage was a Viper. This could be rough for Ken, since Mike's draw had been more or less perfect. Mike's first attack was to send Lockheed into Viper. Ken used his Hellfire Club to move Mastermind into the visible area to reinforce. Mike's next smash was his Longshot into Mastermind. Both characters stunned, and the path was clear for Nightcrawler. Unable to lose Courtney Ross, Ken had to pass his attack. He ended the turn with a very depleted board and a 27-38 point endurance deficit.

Ken recruited a reservist Firestorm from his row on turn 5, and then passed the build to Mike. While Mike was deciding on his play, Josh Wiitanen stopped by to give one of his world famous back rubs. Refreshed and incredibly relaxed, Mike plopped a Gambit, Ragin' Cajun onto his side of the board. Ken's first move was to send his Mastermind back into the dark room with The Hellfire Club. He then took Mastermind and the Hellfire Initiate to take down Gambit. Mike had an X-Corp: Amsterdam to pump out of stun range, but Ken had the Army of One to get back on top. Gambit stunned the Mastermind, and Ken went back to the war room. Next Firestar went into Nightcrawler, who exhausted to play Mutant Massacre on Mastermind. Nightcrawler then got reinforced by Longshot, and Ken used The Hill to draw a card during recovery. Before recovering his characters, Mike also played Angel of Mercy to recover his Nightcrawler, so he ended up not losing any characters.

Mike was up first on turn 6 and before he drew, he KO'd his X-Corp: Amsterdam to get the Evil Alliance from his deck. Without playing a resource for turn 6, Mike recruited a Shadowcat, Katya and an Archangel, Angel. He chose to discard an Angel of Mercy to get a Worthington Industries with Angel's ability. Ken once again had Donald Pierce as his 6-drop, and he came right into the hidden area. First things first, Angel and Longshot pulled an X-treme Maneuver on Donald Pierce. After that was done, Gambit got in on Firestar. The Hellfire Club spit an Initiate out of the hidden area to reinforce. Nightcrawler then got to attack the hapless Hellfire Club Initiate. When Mike declared his Katya at Ken, Ken decided to replace his Evil Empire to put a Donald Pierce right in the way. Mike couldn't get through the fat and passed to Ken. During recovery, Mike used Longshot to set his next draw up. Mike was up 25-5 going into turn 7, which would be Ken's initiative.

For his turn 7 play, Ken chose to under-drop a Selene and equip his Courtney Ross with a Mindtap Mechanism. Mike used his recently obtained Worthington Industries to search for a play. He didn't come up with anything too useful, but he did already have a Genis-Vell ◊ Photon, which was good enough on turn 7. Ken had a tough decision to make. He decided that his first attack was to send Firestar into Gambit. He used a Psychic Armor and a power-up to get over the stun. Mike chose not to reinforce, and dropped to 17. 17-5. The much larger Courtney Ross was next up to bat and took a swing at Shadowkitten. Mike allowed it, and dropped to 13. 13-4. Ken then announced Selene into Photon. Ken got the stun and dropped Mike to 6. 6-4. That was Ken's last attack and it was up to Mike to end the game. Mike moved his Nightcrawler to his front row, so he could join Mike's other X-Men in a team attack at Donald Pierce. Ken used The Hellfire Club to push him back to the dark room. That left Mike to send his Nightcrawler and Angel into Firestar. When faced with his options, Ken decided to stun the Nightcrawler and KO his Firestar to drop Mike to negative numbers. Ken didn't have any way to get Donald out of his hidden area, which prevented him from winning the game. Mike sent his Angel in to finish the game.

Mike Augustine defeats Ken Brune 2-0 and advances to the semifinals!