Josh hails from St. Louis and is playing a Secret Society deck that he and about eleven other people from Ohio and the St. Louis area brought to the event today. Summer is from Oklahoma, and she plays and travels with the Oklahoman contingent of TAWC. Both players were new to the feature match area and didn’t like the sound of having to use the electronic score pad during the match. Unfortunately for Summer, she lost out to Josh’s claim of, “Shotgun not doing endurance totals!” She found her revenge, however, when she won the choice of initiative (choosing odds).
While neither player had a play on turn 1, Josh led off turn 2 by playing Straight to the Grave during his build phase, putting a Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster into the KO’d pile and returning it at the beginning of his recruit step. He then played Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, who attacked directly after Summer had no play for the turn.
The game looked to be turning around on turn 3 when Summer recruited Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman with an Nth Metal. Josh had his own plan though; he played Mr. Mxyzptlk and teamed-up Injustice Gang and Secret Society with Funky’s Big Rat Code, placing three cards from the top of his deck into his KO’d pile. Ivy then KO’d Mr. M to find a Slaughter Swamp, which was followed by Straight to the Grave to place a Psycho-Pirate with the other cards. He played an Amulet of Nabu on Poison Ivy, then proceeded to recruit two copies of Helm of Nabu to draw and discard four cards, losing the first helm to the uniqueness rule. With his remaining two resource points, he recruited Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, and with eleven cards in his KO’d pile, he used Floyd to shoot down Summer’s Shayera at the beginning of the combat phase. Ivy then attacked Summer to bring her down to 41.
Josh started out turn 4 by playing his third copy of Straight to the Grave for the game, placing a Gorilla Grodd in his KO’d pile. After recruiting Mr. Mxyzptlk again, he promptly used him to find another Slaughter Swamp with Ivy. He played his second Deadshot of the game and passed the turn. Summer recruited Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer, who was immediately team-attacked by Ivy and Deadshot—with a pump from Gorilla City to earn the stun.
Going into turn 5 down 48-37, Summer searched out John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man with Hero’s Welcome. John Henry came down and returned a KO’d Nth Metal to play on Katar Hol. Josh answered with a Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost, and he then proceeded to flip up his second copy of Slaughter Swamp, accidentally KO’ing his first copy and sending him down a resource. Ivy KO’d Deadshot to find Dr. Fate’s Tower, allowing him to move his newly searched-out Cloak of Nabu and the other Fate artifacts to Crystal. Summer sent Katar into Crystal—bringing her down with three power-ups—but Katar was locked down by Crystal’s ally ability and a power-up in the process. John Henry ran through Poison Ivy, evening the score at 33.
Next turn, Josh brought out Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter and Manhunter Clone, feeling the pain from the lost resource. Summer played out Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero and braced herself for Josh’s attacks. Crystal Frost took care of Steel, and Hector Hammond went into Green Arrow. A power-up on Hector Hammond triggered Crystal’s power, targeting Steel. With Steel locked down by Killer Frost, Summer chose to recover Oliver Queen at the end of the turn, facing a 29-22 deficit in Josh’s favor.
Fire came out to play with an Nth Metal, accompanied by Booster Gold. These were answered by the delayed Gorilla Grodd from Josh. Dr. Fate’s Tower moved the Fate artifacts to Grodd, and he set up in a reverse-T formation, placing Grodd in the back with a character on either side and Hector Hammond protecting the crazy ape. Crystal was KO’d to Grodd for Josh to steal the Nth-Metal-equipped Katar Hol, putting Summer against the wall. Fire attacked and stunned Hector Hammond, bringing Josh to 22. Oliver Queen and Booster Gold team attacked into Grodd with the help of two Trial by Fires, bringing down the beast but leaving her open to an attack by her own traitorous Katar and Manhunter Clone; this brought her to 8.
On turn 8, Josh brought out Mark Desmond ◊ Blockbuster, to which Summer could only reply with another Shayera Thal. Once inside the combat phase, she decided to pack it in and extend her hand, and Josh Hensley walked out of his first feature match with a win.