Alex didn’t sound excited to get the feature match this round, saying that his lifetime record under the spotlight is 0-5. Playing against him was teammate, Gabriel, who was seeing his first feature match. The Denver natives got off to a pleasant start as they shuffled up and rolled a die.
Alex’s luck seemed to be turning around for him; he won the die roll and chose evens. But as he mulliganed his opening hand away, it looked like it might not be going so well after all. Both players passed on turn 1, and Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant came down for both players the following turn, signaling a CVU mirror match.
On turn 3, Gabe led off with a Brother I Satellite for Maxwell Lord, Black King to meet the loyalty—reveal requirement of the Ahmed Samsarra he already had in his hand. Alex then discarded a Maxwell Lord of his own to find an Ahmed with Brother I Satellite. The Psychos traded, and opposite the norm, Alex’s Ahmed attacked directly with a boost from Brother Eye, while Gabe’s found a The Science Spire. Both players also flipped up Checkmate Safe House to team-up. The aggressive stance that Alex was taking seemed to be paying off, as the totals were 34-44 in his favor going into the next turn.
The mirror match was appearing more literal than figurative as both players brought out Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1, keeping pace with each other card for card. The Bizarros traded, and then the doctors did the same as well. Ahmed went into Gabriel directly with a Brother Eye pump for the second turn in a row to bring him to 21. Sitting at 42, it looked like Alex might finally be in a position to win his first feature match.
Gabriel used Ahmed on his initiative to find a Dr. Fate’s Tower, which found a Helm of Nabu. Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard came out to play with the Helm of Nabu, Cloak of Nabu, and Amulet of Nabu. Alex matched the Mr. Freeze but was only able to play an Amulet of Nabu on his copy. The Bizarros traded again, with Alex reinforcing and both players taking 0. Gabe’s fully suited Mr. Freeze attacked Alex’s. Both stunned, and they targeted each other with the vengeance abilities. While Gabriel was now down to 10, it looked like the board had shifted in his favor now that he had the full Fate set and Dr. Fate’s Tower.
Alex was forced to use his Ahmed to search out Brother I Satellite for Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double on the next turn—a play mirrored again by Gabriel. Dr. Fate’s Tower moved the artifacts to Alexander, forcing Alex to team attack the Alexander Luthor with his Luthor and Bizarro. This put the totals to 28-8 in his favor, but it was looking less and less likely that he was going to be able to end his losing streak in the feature match area.
Gabriel recruited Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin on turn 7, hoping to gain some ground back from Alex, who played Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype. Alex gave up his access to plot twists for the turn in order to receive Sasha’s boost for his team, but she was immediately stunned by Deathstroke. The assassin stunned in return, and Gabe gave up his right to plot twists for the turn in order to KO Alex’s Alexander Luthor with the vengeance ability. Gabe then sent his Luthor into Bizarro, putting Alex to -1 with himself at 5. Alex Bought another turn, though, when he was able to do enough between a Brother Eye activation and a power-up on his Ahmed, attacking Mr. Freeze.
This left both players at -4 going into the deciding turn, with the initiative in Alex’s hands. His recruit of Black Adam, Lord of Kahndaq looked like it might save him, but when Gabriel played one of his own, he simply extended his hand. This meant that Gabe would be seeing play tomorrow, while Alex would have to win his next match for a chance to compete in the Top 8.