It's the final round of the day, and we have a match that will decide who makes Top 8 and who does not. Jason Hager is the designer of both builds of Evil Medical School, who came second in $10K Columbus and is looking to secure some publicity for his latest modifications to the deck by making the Top 8 (and presumably making a little money, as he is engaged to be married). De Rosa came third in PC: So Cal and is sure to be looking for the brass ring this time.
Antonino won the coin flip and elected to take the odd initiative.
Neither player mulliganed, and De Rosa bust out of the gates with a turn one
Dagger, Child of Light. When Hager had no recruits, Antonino nipped in for first blood in this final game of the day.
On turn 3, Antonino recruited
Stick, while his opponent had a
Skinner. With no visible characters, Hager took a bit of a beating with a blunt stick, but then had ample opportunity to attack back with his men, with Skinner stunning Stick and the Werewolf chomping in for a little more.
Following his draw on turn 4, Hager had a little bit of thinking to do. Antonio speculated vocally about the various characters he could expect to see, but was well off base with his guesses when
Bullseye, Deadly Marksman came out to play, and Hager had to discard
Blown to Pieces, a first-pick plot twist.
De Rosa's
Saracen was less cause for thought, and he hid in the back row behind Stick. When Bullseye attacked the Marvel Knight, De Rosa flipped
Midnight Sons, declaring that “they're buddies,” and that buddies reinforce each other. When
Skinner and Werewolf by Night attacked the Freddy Mercury lookalike, he had nobody to look after him, and he got stunned.
De Rosa recruited
The Russian on turn 5, while Hager continued his plan of recruiting massive guys by bringing out
Zarathos and returning Werewolf by Night to his hand. Both of De Rosa's team went in to try to deal with Hager's latest threat. The 5-drop got stunned and stunned
The Russian back in return. Bullseye then attacked Saracen. De Rosa had a power-up, which forced the mutual stun and saved him 1 point of breakthrough. Skinner attacked directly to Antonino's face, and it was on to turn 6.
Hager's concealed plan returned on turn 6 with Dracula, while Antonino went for a tactical
Nuke. The 6-drop did not seem to be a massive deterrent to Hager's attacks, though, as he swung directly into him with Dracula. Nuke “blew himself up” a little by exhausting, and then Hager flipped
Hypnotic Charms and played
Day of the Dead to make his vampire a little bigger. De Rosa exhausted
The Russian to force another trick from Hager, and another trick it was, as he played
Evil Awakens to give Dracula another +2 ATK pump. Both characters stunned, and De Rosa went to 14 to his opponent's 23. Hager attacked
The Russian with
Zarathos, and that was enough for the game.
Jason Hager wins and secures his spot in the Top 8.