This one was going to be interesting. Just a single round into the tournament, we already had something of a mirror match, with Shane Wiggans’s Revenge Squad–heavy build of Checkmate facing off against Dean Sohnle’s build, which splashes League of Assassins for extra location interaction and KO potential.
In fact, the mirror began even before the players removed their decks from their boxes—when they rolled off for initiative, both rolled six, six, six, and one, tying a spectacular four times! Sohnle eventually won the decision and opted for the even initiatives.
He shipped his opening hand, and Wiggans kept his. Wiggans opened with Connie Webb and swung for 1 endurance. On turn 2, Sohnle, who was looking at a mitt full of drops from 3 on up, flipped Brother I Satellite and pitched Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot to pull Sarge Steel, immediately dropping him into the support row. Wiggans flopped a resource and activated Connie to pull a Sarge Steel of his own. Connie popped back into his deck, and he activated Brother I Satellite, discarding Kang, to search for Ahmed Samsarra. Sarge Steel hit Wiggans’s back row, and Sohnle was up. Both Sarges clashed, both stunned, and both recovered, as play moved to turn 3.
“Ahmed Samsarra,” announced Wiggans, recruiting him into the visible area and protecting him with Sarge Steel. Sohnle brought out an Ahmed too, but elected to send his to the hidden area. Wiggans sent his Sarge into Sohnle’s, and Sohnle answered back with Checkmate Safe House. Wiggans responded with Brother Eye, and both Sarges were stunned. Wiggans’s Ahmed attacked Sohnle directly, dropping him to 38 endurance, and Sohnle activated his Ahmed. He KO’d his Brother I Satellite, searched for The Science Spire, and added it to his resource row.
“Well, I’m glad someone else thought this deck was a good idea,” said Wiggans with a grin. The Sarges recovered, and it was on to turn 4!
Sohnle set Wild Ride after debating the move for half a minute. He recruited Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon, who quickly grabbed Sarge Steel as a human shield, and Wiggans followed it up by recruiting Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 with Knight Armor. Bizarro also took advantage of Sarge Steel’s potential as a meat shield, and Ahmed sat beside him in the back row to complete the standard “L” formation.
“I’ll send Deathstroke into Ahmed,” announced Sohnle.
“It’s legal.”
Sohnle examined his row and passed priority. Wiggans responded with Knightmare Scenario, exhausting Brother I Satellite. Sohnle activated Wild Ride to search for Mikado and Mosha, activated Ahmed to search out Checkmate Safe House to team up with Revenge Squad, and then flipped and activated Brother Eye to beef up Deathstroke. Wiggans activated his Ahmed to seek out a Science Spire as well, losing his Brother I Satellite to do so, and Ahmed was stunned. Sarge Steel took the hit for Deathstroke, and combat passed to Wiggans.
Bizarro lashed out at the Terminator. Wiggans flipped Science Spire and Checkmate Safe House, and then used Brother I Satellite to search out Maxwell Lord, Black King. “Two Kings? That’s crazy!” Wiggans grinned again.
Checkmate Safe House added a bit of defense to Deathstroke, but Brother Eye pushed through more damage for Wiggans. It was 23 to 34, and Sarge Steel hit Sohnle directly to bring him down to 20. Science Spire returned Sarge Steel to Sohnle’s hand, everything recovered, and both players entered turn 5.
“My initiative, right?” asked Wiggans, double checking. He brought down Maxwell Lord in front of Ahmed and passed to Sohnle. Sohnle flipped Brother I Satellite, pitched another Mikado and Mosha, and searched his deck.
“How many Mikados is that?” Wiggans looked through Sohnle’s graveyard to count.
Sohnle bemoaned having missed his preferred 4-drop, Merlyn, Deadly Archer, and Wiggans questioned the card’s usefulness, considering his own aggro twist on the deck. “In this matchup, he’s godly,” remarked Sohnle. His tone was casual, but he was clearly hurting without access to the archer on turn 4.
Sohnle recruited Talia, Daughter of Madness. Bizarro fired off a blast at Talia from the support row: “Isn’t it funny that neither of us has hit an Enemy of My Enemy all game?” asked Wiggans. Sohnle smiled and agreed, activating Ahmed Samsarra to pitch his Brother I Satellite and search for Slaughter Swamp. He activated it to dump Sarge Steel and return Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot to his hand, and then brought Sarge Steel to the field with Talia’s effect. Knightmare Scenario added to Bizarro’s offense, two Checkmate Safe Houses cushioned the blow, and Sarge went down! “Not good,” remarked Sohnle, seeming a bit dissatisfied with how the match was headed, “but not bad.” He was down to 18 endurance, while Wiggans sat at a comfortable 30.
Maxwell Lord attacked Talia, backed by Target Acquired. Talia went down hard, dropping Sohnle to 13, and Ahmed cracked off a shot at Deathstroke, aided by Brother Eye. Science Spire bounced Sarge Steel back to Sohnle’s hand in response, and Sohnle dug for answers, tossing Annihilation Protocol again, as well as Maxwell Lord. He found nothing helpful and lost 6 endurance to the attack. Sarge attacked directly, lowering Dean to 4, and play passed to the next turn. Sohnle was left with Talia and Ahmed against Wiggans’s Ahmed, Sarge Steel, Maxwell Lord, and Bizarro. Things looked bad for Sohnle.
He finally drew into his missing Merlyn on the following turn, but shook his head—the archer had showed up two turns too late. He was holding a 6-drop, Huntress, Reluctant Queen, but the numbers were rough to say the least. He took his time, trying to figure out his best course of action. “Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any way I can survive this turn.” He considered recruiting Sarge Steel and Merlyn, but then decided on Huntress, leaving Talia in the front row and Huntress unprotected.
Wiggans played a resource and eyed the field, ensuring that when he closed the trap there would be no surprised that he hadn’t accounted for. He brought out Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard and Connie Webb, saying, “I missed my 6.”
“I don’t think it matters much” said Sohnle. Webb protected Freeze, Maxwell Lord protected Ahmed, and Bizarro continued shielding himself with Sarge Steel.
Sohnle did some mental math, trying to find a way out of the situation. He finally decided to activate Slaughter Swamp, targeting Talia, Beloved Daughter and swapping her for Sarge Steel, who was quickly brought to the field to protect Huntress. Sarge Steel attacked Connie Webb, and after some brief consideration, Wiggans let her hit the dirt. Time was called for the round, and Sohnle sent Ahmed into Wiggans’s Sarge. Three power-ups dropped from Sohnle’s hand! The Science Spire bounced Sarge Steel, though, and the attack was reset.
Ahmed readied, and Sohnle sent Huntress into Bizarro. It was legal, but Wiggans flipped and used Checkmate Safe House. Ahmed activated to KO Wiggans’s Brother I Satellite, pulling Bizarro World, and the attack resolved with Bizarro stunning. Sohnle flipped Sewer System and sent Ahmed into Maxwell Lord! He activated Brother Eye, but Wiggans dropped one of his own to activate Lord’s effect, and that was enough for Sohnle to scoop. “Almost, almost . . .” he said, shaking Wiggans’s hand.
Shane Wiggans starts his day off with a round 1 win, and Dean Sohnle’s job gets a little bit harder!