This round 13 match featured Masami Ibamoto and Milton Figueroa. This was the final round for the first draft, and the winner of this round would end up 3–0 for his pod. As the players approached the table and saw me sitting there, Milton looked a little depressed. “Oh no. I hate feature matches. Now I can’t win.” Masami won the die roll and decided to go first. Both players had to mulligan, and we were set to start.

Turn 1 saw Masami recruit Rick Jones, every superhero’s best friend, while Milton recruited a Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara in the visible area. Yellowjacket got the beats started, and the players went to turn 2. Milton led off on turn 2 with a Thermite equipped with an Airskimmer. Masami matched this with an Erik Josten ◊ Atlas, Kosmos Convict. Thermite swung into the mythical strong man and Yellowjacket swung to Masami’s face.

Turn 3 began with a little deliberation on the part of the Japanese player before he decided to recruit Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger. Milton played the big guy himself, Phat, Liv’n Large. That’s p-h-a-t . . . pretty hot and tempting. Quicksilver and Rick Jones team attacked into Phat, who got a little bigger with Thermite’s help. A Quinjet made sure Quicksilver wouldn’t stun, and he and Rick made short work of the big guy. Quicksilver readied and went in after Thermite. Atlas got in for some beats to Milton’s face, and the players went to turn 4, with Masami up 45–41.

Milton started turn 4 with a Golden Archer, which Masami matched with a Carol Danvers ◊ Warbird. Milton thought for a while about his attacks before he decided that Phat needed some revenge on Quicksilver. In order to get to the back row to get at him, Milton had to flip up a Behavior Modification Device to team up X-Statix and Squadron Supreme. Golden Archer then continued the fight by battling with Warbird. Both combatants fell, and Thermite was left to hit Atlas. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and thanks to a Squadron City, Atlas fell pretty hard. A Panacea Potion from Milton brought Golden Archer back a little bigger. Things were looking good for Milton as he ended the turn up 36–34 with decent board advantage. His attacks had not cost him a character, while Masami had been forced to end his turn with only Atlas in play.

Turn 5 was Masami’s to start, and he brought out the big guns with Hawkeye, Leader by Example. Milton had to do some thinking of his own as he got ready for his recruit. He eventually picked the combo of Scorpion, Fatal Sting and Haywire as his team. Atlas began the beats by going in after Scorpion, who teamed up with Thermite to make Phat a little phatter. Hawkeye went after his Squadron counterpart, and both he and Golden Archer fell after the ensuing battle. This also caused Haywire to stun, and that left Phat as the only character left on the board that could attack. He took his newfound phatness across the table for a little face time with Masami. Masami ended the turn down 22–14.

Turn 6 saw Milton a little behind on resources, because he had to recruit a reservist last turn without replacing it. He managed to use his resources well, though, and recruited Piledriver and Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight to his squad. Masami had to think seriously on his turn. Milton had under-dropped on each of his last two turns, but he had a definite board advantage with five characters in play now to Masami’s lone Atlas. Atlas had been getting bigger over the last few turns, but he really needed a little high-class help to get Masami out of the hole he was in. Unfortunately, all Masami’s deck could muster was a Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster and a Rick Jones. Piledriver got to beat Atlas, and a Golden Archer activation later, Masami was forced to concede. Milton finished this pod 3–0, bringing his total record to 9–4.

Milton Figueroa wins!