This round featured an international clash of giants, Andre Müller and Jason Hager. Jason “The Best Man West Virginia Has to Offer” Hager had a sob story all ready for the European player. “I missed my connecting flight yesterday, lost my wallet, and had to be more-or-less strip-searched in the airport. I only got to the tournament site five minutes before the players’ meeting. I have to carry all of my luggage with me.” Jason really looked like he’d had a rough time. Andre chuckled a bit at Jason’s story, and the players got the game underway. Andre won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiatives.
Andre started off the game with an Ape X with a Dual Sidearms attached to it. Jason matched Andre’s monkey with an Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. As though they were previewing King Kong, the Ape got to attack the blonde. Jason played a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards on turn 2, which prompted a “How lucky” comment from Andre. “Yeah, I’m pretty lucky,” Jason conceded. Andre continued his stellar Squadron start with a Shape equipped with a Jetpack. Jason chose to pass his attack and let the German send his men into battle.
Andre chose to begin turn 3 by recruiting Foxfire. Jason played a Beetle, Armorsmith and began to search through his deck. While he was deciding what to pick, Andre gave a quick lesson on how to sound like Shape to one of the members of the peanut gallery. I wish I could add sound effects to my articles—it was that good. Jason ultimately decided to search out Kang, Kang Kong and then played an Alfred Pennyworth. Andre began combat by sending everyone’s favorite friendly shape-shifter in to hit Invisible Woman. That isn’t a good way to make friends. Foxfire continued the beats by hitting Alfred, and Ape X hit Mr. Fantastic. Beetle got a little revenge for Jason by attacking Foxfire. At the end of turn 3, Andre was ahead 45–35.
Jason had the initiative on turn 4 and started the long process of rebuilding. All he had left after the last turn was a lonely Alfred. Dr. Light, Master of Holograms fit the bill nicely, as he’s known round the world for his ability to bring people together. He then used the good doctor to bring Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl back from the KO’d pile. Andre kept the high ATK coming by recruiting Joystick and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. A few beats later, and Jason had to KO his Alfred and remove his Invisible Girl’s counter. Andre was ahead at the end of the turn, 45–22.
It was the German’s turn to start things off, a precarious situation for Jason to be in since he was on a near-empty board with only a fragile 22 endurance left. Andre recruited an Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke without replacing a resource. This left him with only one card in hand and he passed the build to Jason. Jason started to piece his combo together by recruiting Kang, Kang Kong and revealing one in his resource row to go get A Child Named Valeria from his deck. He then recruited Beetle, Armorsmith and fetched an Alfred. His plan became quite apparent when he activated Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and snagged a Catcher’s Mitt.
Jason had a difficult decision at this point. If he played the Alfred, it would leave him with no answer to an Other-Earth from Andre, but he’d have the game locked up. However, he needed the chain of Childs to make sure he got the lock. He could keep the Alfred in his hand and be able to Fizzle an Other-Earth to prevent losing on the next turn, or he could live dangerously and recruit the Alfred. He ultimately decided that his chances to win weren’t great enough if he didn’t play the Alfred, so he gritted his teeth and played him. He also equipped his Catcher’s Mitt on his Dr. Light, and passed his turn. Now, barring an Other-Earth from Andre, the game was locked up for Hager. Sadly for him, though, Andre had the Other-Earth, and Jason’s tough choice turned out to be an unfortunate one.
Andre Muller wins!