Ben Stoll is an eighteen-year-old from Louisville, KY, who finished in second place at last weekend’s 10K in Chicago. He scrubbed out of day 1 of the Pro Circuit and is now trying to navigate his way through the remaining rounds of Swiss in order to play in the 10K Top 8 tomorrow. Jim Adamski is a twenty-year old from Woodstock, IL, who also played in yesterday’s main event, but didn’t make it to the money rounds. Jim is playing a Big Brotherhood deck, the most popular deck here at the 10K, while Ben is running his own version of Mutant Nation, which has been widely derided by his opponents today, to their own detriment.
Game 1
Ben started out with Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner to match Jim’s Toad. Unfortunately for Ben, Jim flipped over Total Anarchy, resulting in a KO’d Nightcrawler, while Toad returned to Jim’s hand. Jim’s Mystique, Raven Darkholme traded with Ben’s Rogue, Anna Raven, sending both characters to the KO’d pile, a strange deviation from the normal pattern of stun and recovery of most Vs. System games.
Ben worked his Cerebro into a Wolverine, James Howlett, and then recruited Nightcrawler, Fuzzy Elf, as Jim recruited Scarlet Witch.
“Nice card,” quipped Jim, referring to Ben’s new Scarlet Witch. “She is. She’s bigger than Magneto,” responded Ben. “Yep, but she’s not bigger than Scarlet Witch, whom I will now be playing.”
Ben flipped over World’s Finest and then team-attacked Jim’s Scarlet Witch with her doppleganger and the Fuzzy Elf. He then flipped over Negative Zone to KO Jim’s Scarlet Witch. Jim attempted to do the same to Nightcrawler, but Ben used Global Domination to negate the effect. Jim recovered and played Sabretooth, Victor Creed, putting Tooth and Blob in his front row. Ben recruited Wolverine, James Howlett, leaving Wolvie and Scarlet Witch in front, and Nightcrawler supporting Wolverine. Jim attacked Scarlet Witch with Sabretooth, stunning her and then used Savage Beatdown and attacked Blob with Wolverine, stunning him as well and sending him to the KO pile. Endurance totals were Jim at 41 and Ben at 27.
“You like that front row Scarlet Witch tech there?” wondered Ben.
“Was that a mistake?” asked Jim.
“You guessed it,” sighed Ben, frustrated with the quality of his play.
Wolverine, Berserker Rage from Ben looked to even the board, but Magneto, Master of Magnetism gave Jim a superior seven-drop as well, repeating the pattern of the rest of the game. Jim kept hitting drops like it ain’t no thang, constantly keeping pressure on Ben with superior firepower. Wolverine attacked Blob, stunning the fat boy and readying the berserker. Then Wolverine attacked Sabretooth, stunning Wolverine and moving Sabretooth to his back row in exchange for ten endurance. Jim was at 10 and Ben was down to 15.
Jim had initiative for turn 8 and recruited Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin. Ben recruited Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath, giving both players some big hunks of meat on the board. Sabretooth slammed into Wolverine, stunning them both, then Magneto attacked Professor X, also stunning them both. Mystique attacked Nightcrawler to drop Ben to a lower life total than himself and winning game 1.
Jim 1 – Ben 0
Game 2
Jim began the action in game 2 with a turn 2 Toad, while Ben had no drops until Wolverine, Logan on turn 3, which Jim matched with Mystique, Raven Darkholme. Blob from Jim was the turn 4 play, and this time Ben actually had a bigger character in the form of Sabretooth, Feral Rage. Mystique and Toad team-attacked Sabretooth, but Ben had the power ups to let Sabretooth live, though he had lost Wolverine to the KO’d pile when Blob attacked him and Jim flipped up Total Anarchy. At the end of turn, Jim used Relocation to take control of Ben’s Avalon Space Station, giving him control of two of the card advantage engines.
Ben had a second Space Station to replace the lost one, and recruited Nightcrawler to his cause, but complained about the lack of 5-drops his deck was giving him. Jim recruited a Sabretooth, Feral Rage of his own, and attacks were made, resulting in the loss of Mystique and Blob for Jim and no characters KO’d for Ben. To add insult to injury, Ben used Global Domination on both activations of Jim’s Space Stations, causing Jim to KO two Magnetos for no reward. Ben was at 36, Jim at a scant 19.
Jim played Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin on turn 6, which Ben matched her with Colossus. Mystique stunned Colossus and both Sabretooths stunned each other, but Negative Zone made certain that Jim’s Sabretooth would not be coming back. Ben showed Jim Professor X, and Jim scooped up his cards with twelve minutes left to go in the round.
Jim Adamski 1, Ben Stoll 1
Game 3
Jim chose to take initiative on the even turns in the third game. A turn 2 Toad gave Jim a lead in the endurance race, but just like in game 2, Wolverine, Logan came down to gum up the board. Jim had Sabretooth, Feral Rage on turn 4, turning the tempo tide again, especially when Jim’s play was an inferior Rogue, Anna Raven. Sabretooth smashed Wolverine, and Toad thumped Rogue with the aid of Lost City and a power-up. Turn 5 was Jim’s turn to stall, as he had no character to match Ben’s Scarlet Witch. A Lost City activation for Ben and a power-up resulted in a mutual stun, but Wolverine smacking down Toad evened the life totals at 34 apiece.
Jim recruited Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin for turn 6, as Ben finally matched the drop with Colossus. Jim attacked Colossus with Mystique, stunning the steel giant, but was stymied by a double powered-up Wolverine when he attacked Logan with Sabretooth. Jim pumped Sabretooth once to a 14 ATK/10 DEF, earning a mutual stun on both sides, taking himself to 30 and Ben to 25 with one turn to play as time was called.
“All right, I’ll play. . . Captain Wheelchair,” was Ben’s rallying cry, but his smile turned to a frown when Jim played Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Professor X attacked Mystique, and earned a power-up from Ben. Jim added two power-ups to his Mystique, bringing her to an 18 ATK/18 DEF. Ben used his Space Station to get back Professor X and powered him up again. Scarlet Witch and Colossus team-attacked Magneto, resulting in a stunned Magneto and Scarlet Witch, with Ben at 20 endurance and Jim at 15. A power-up from Colossus, plus Avalon Space Station returning another Colossus, and another power-up, made Colossus big enough to survive Sabretooth’s attack and give Ben a hard-fought win.
Ben Stoll 2, Jim Adamski 1