Dean won the toss and took the early moral high ground by choosing the odds. Both players passed their first turn, a rarity for Sohnle’s deck. “In your eye, Dean, in your eye,” taunted Matt. Turn 2 gave Dean a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, which in turn found him a Catcher’s Mitt. He flipped up an Antarctic Research Base and played an Unstable Molecules to draw a card. Matt matched it with a She-Thing. She’s really good against the equipment-based deck, but Dean was able to deal with her in his last match, so this one shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for him. Dean passed his attack and Matt sent his She-Thing in to hit rubber-guy. Dean KO’d his Molecules, and the attack bounced.

On turn 3, Dean played an Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl and equipped her with The Pogo Plane. He hid her behind Mr. Fantastic and let Matt do his worst. Matt didn’t have any recruits and passed his build. Dean passed the turn, and Matt sent his She-Thing in against Mr. Fantastic.

On the next turn, the players realized that they switched up their initiative last turn, which is a big no-no. The judges conferred and decided that since nothing really happened last turn that would change anything, they would just issue a couple of warnings and move on to the next turn. Dean started his next turn (correctly) by using The Pogo Plane to get himself a Baxter Building before playing his resource. He then played it as his resource and used it to grab himself another copy of The Pogo Plane. He activated Mr. Fantastic and got himself an Advanced Hardware, following that up by using his resource points to recruit Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and The Pogo Plane for Mr. Fantastic. He immediately used Dr. Light to return a She-Thing from his KO’d pile. After he formed, he shipped the turn to Matt.

Matt recruited a Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius to his team. With his ability on the chain, Matt flipped up Common Enemy to draw himself a card. He flipped it back down and up again to net another card and team his characters up. He then passed to Dean for combat.

Dean began the smashes by sending She-Thing at She-Thing. Matt had a power-up, and Dean’s rock lady stunned. Dean made no more attacks and sent it to Matt. Matt used his newfound initiative to send his She-Thing into Dean’s Invisible Girl, which promptly had her counter removed. Matt was not prepared to let things end, though, and sent his Doom over to finish the Girl off. Dean recovered his She-Thing, and the turn ended with him behind 39-50.

Matt started turn 5 by using Mystical Paralysis to exhaust Dr. Light. He then used a Signal Flare to search his deck for a copy of Boris, Personal Servant of Doom, and then used another to get another copy of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, this one with a slight Portuguese accent. He brought the good Doctor into play and used his ability to turn a Signal Flare back down. Dean got his opportunity to build, and used it to recruit another Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. Matt thought for a second about this before letting her come into play. Dean then used his Mr. Fantastic to get himself a Flamethrower. He spent his remaining points to recruit a Human Torch, Hotshot.

Matt used his first attack to, surprisingly, send Boris into She-Thing. He then used an It’s Clobberin’ Time! to pump him up. His next attack was She-Thing on Mr. Fantastic, who was currently equipped with The Pogo Plane. Dean responded by using his Plane to fetch an Advanced Hardware. Once the Plane was out of the way, Matt used a Savage Beatdown to either force a bit more endurance through, or at least force Dean to reinforce with his Hotshot. Dean had A Child Named Valeria in response, though, to make sure that his little men would survive the turn. Matt was prepared to play Reign of Terror, but wanted the exact wording on Child. He wanted to find out whether or not the Child could even be played if Dean was missing either of the first family. When the ruling came back that he could play it, but it wouldn’t do anything, Matt let the Child resolve. Dean chose to take the breakthrough and let Matt continue with his attacks. Matt finished his attacks off by sending his Doom into Mr. Fantastic to squeeze out a bit more damage with another Savage Beatdown. Dean ended the turn by sending his Invisible Woman into Boris and sending Hotshot into Doom. Matt had the Doomstadt, and Torch stunned. Dean was down 19-47.

Matt insisted that the next turn go step by step to get all of his windows of reaction. After Dean placed his resource, but before recruit, Matt used Mystical Paralysis on Dr. Light. Dean used his Mr. Fantastic to find himself another Advanced Hardware, bringing his total up to three. He then used Signal Flare to grab a Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, who was promptly brought into play. Dean now began the arduous process of killing Matt.

He played a Catcher’s Mitt on Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and followed up by playing A Child Named Valeria. After his Child resolved, he dropped a Flamethrower onto Invisible Girl. In response, though, Matt used Boris to get a copy of Null Time Zone, which he used to shut Cosmic Radiation down this turn. Dean let it resolve and began to play his equipment. He flipped up Pier 4, dropped yet another Flamethrower onto Invisible Girl, The Pogo Plane and an Advanced Hardware onto Stretch, and a Catcher’s Mitt and Unstable Molecules onto Hotshot. He used a Signal Flare to get Ant Man so he could use his last resource point and then loaded him up with two Advanced Hardwares. Thanks to the NTZ, Dean was relegated to attacking for a ton of damage under the shield of A Child Named Valeria.

Matt played a Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom, replacing his old Doom, and the players went into combat. Dean, however, surprised everyone by passing his attack. “You’re not attacking?” Matt asked, as surprised as I was. “This is the only way I can win,” Dean defended. Matt really had to think now. He was facing a legion of Fantastic Four characters with only a single big Doom. He decided to play Reign of Terror to put Ant Man and Invisible Girl back into Dean’s hand. Dean shot Matt for 8 in response, and put the characters back in his hand. Matt rounded out the turn by sending his Doom into Stretch. At the end of the turn, Dean used his Hotshot to burn Matt for 5. Matt was up 31-14.

Matt had the initiative on turn 7 and used it to Signal Flare for a Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. He played him immediately and bounced Dean’s Dr. Light to his hand. Dean got to recruit, remaking Dr. Light and adding a She-Thing and Thing, Ben Grimm. “Just for the kids at home, this thing is better played after your opponent has built,” Matt said indicating his Thing. Dean played Salvage and returned one of the Advanced Hardwares that found their way to the KO’d pile to his hand. He then put a Personal Force Field and an Advanced Hardware on his She-Thing, as well as a Flamethrower on both Thing and Hotshot. “So if I don’t have a Flying Kick, I can’t deal any damage, right?” Matt asked. Unable to do anything, he passed his attack. “Go on, kill me,” Matt said. Dean was happy to oblige and proceeded to burn him out with help from a Cosmic Radiation.

Dean Sohnle 1 – Matt Tatar 0

“I really don’t think I could have played that any differently,” Matt said in disbelief.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Dean assured him.

“I really don’t want to believe him, but he was right about everything in that last game, so I’m inclined to believe him,” Matt conceded.

Matt decided to take evens, and after both players were forced to mulligan, game 2 was underway. Dean got off on the right foot this game with an Invisible Woman, Invisible Girl. Matt also started out well with a Boris, Personal Servant of Doom. They played patty cake and then went on to the next turn. Matt started turn 2 by making a She-Thing. Dean was, unfortunately, unable to play anything on his second turn, and he was forced to simply pass to Matt. Matt sent in the big guns and knocked Dean down to 45.

Dean once again had no play on the next turn, and Matt was able to further his advantage with a Medusa, Inhuman. He left Boris up front, and Invisible Girl immediately attacked him. In recovery, Matt used Doom’s Throne Room to get himself a Clobberin’ Time and also to flip up a Common Enemy. Matt was way ahead on endurance, with a 47-38 lead going into his initiative.

Matt used Signal Flare on turn 4 to grab himself a Robot Destroyer for the next turn. He then continued his near perfect draw by recruiting Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Dean was a little behind, but he was capable of making huge recoveries, as last game proved. He played a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, who he immediately activated. He chose an Advanced Hardware over a Flamethrower and passed his build with unspent points once again. Matt added insult to injury by playing Reign of Terror to clear Dean’s board. Matt took advantage of the clear path and used his fancy footwork to get in for 14. At the end of the turn, Matt was now in a commanding lead, with the totals at 47-24.

Dean started the plodding task of rebuilding by replaying his Mr. Fantastic. He whiffed on his activation and followed up by recruiting Invisible Girl again. He also once again prepared to pass his build, which would make it every turn since the second that he ended his turn with unspent resources. He played A Child Named Valeria and then passed to Matt.

Matt did some quick math before he built, and when he finished, he set his resource. He flipped it up to reveal another Common Enemy, and went back into the tank once he drew his new card. He used Boris to grab a Savage Beatdown, and then followed that up with a fresh Boris and a replacement Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. He used his new Doom to play Reign of Terror, once again clearing Dean’s board. He sent his new Boris off to grab another copy of Savage Beatdown. Two Savage Beatdowns, a Clobberin’ Time, and an alpha strike later, Matt had won the game.

Dean Sohnle 1 – Matt Tatar 1

“Man, that was the only way you were winning that game,” Dean said to Matt after the game.

“That means I only win ten percent of the games against you, since you only get bad draws ten percent of the time,” Matt shot back.

Dean once again chose evens, and the players prepared to start the rubber game. Dean kept his hand, while Matt threw back what he referred to as a “close decision.” Matt had no turn 1 play, while Dean came out of the gates with his trademark Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. On the next turn, Dean flipped up an Antarctic Research Base and played an Advanced Hardware on his Invisible Girl. He used his last resource point to play an Ant Man, Scott Lang. Matt played She-Thing, who he was beginning to refer to as “Miss Useless.” Dean used his Invisible Girl to smash She-Thing and then sent Ant Man to the face.

Matt started his next turn off by flipping over his Doom’s Throne Room and using it immediately. He accidentally flipped over too many cards and was immediately stopped by the judge. When the ruling came back, Matt got a warning for looking at too many cards and the second card revealed, a Signal Flare, went back on top of his deck. Despite this being a huge advantage for Matt, Dean decided not to appeal it. Matt’s only build on turn 3 was a Boris, Personal Servant of Doom before he passed to Dean.

Dean started his recruit by flipping a Signal Flare and using it to grab a Thing, Ben Grimm, who was immediately dropped into play. Matt agonized over his attack before deciding to send Miss Thang into her hubby Ben Grimm. Matt used two power-ups to force the stun. Boris then went in to take Ant Man down. With the defense out of the way, Invisible Girl was free to play guns with Matt.

Before his draw, Matt activated his Doom’s Throne Room to reveal a Signal Flare that he already knew was there, as well as a Betrayal. The Betrayal ended up in the KO’d pile, along with a Savage Beatdown. They drew their cards, and it was up to Dean to recruit. He started by playing Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. Ol’ rubber-arms activated to snag Dean an Unstable Molecules on the last card. He dropped it into play on Thing, and then recruited Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Matt used his initiative to recruit a Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. After he hid Boris behind the good Doctor, he passed to Dean.

Dean started combat by sending the Torch into Boris, who jumped out of the way to get a Reign of Terror. Dean was fine with passing his attacks and sent the initiative to Matt. Mr. Tatar sent his Doom into the Human Torch and then used Reign of Terror to return all of Dean’s un-stunned characters to Dean’s hand. Dean still clung on to a small lead, with the totals at 38-34.

Matt whiffed next turn on his Throne Room and thought for a while before deciding to drop a Human Torch, Hothead. Dean brought out the big guns on his turn, recruiting Mr. Fantastic, Stretch. He used Mr. Fantastic’s fantastic ability to equip himself with a Fantasticar and put an Unstable Molecules on Dean’s Human Torch.

Matt began combat by using Doom to Mystical Paralysis Stretch. He then sent his Hothead after his little cousin across the table. Dean KO’d the Molecules he had on him and softened the blow to a mere 6. At the end of the turn, Dean was behind 31-34.

On turn 6, Dean recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, Thing, Ben Grimm, and Frankie Raye. He then played Advanced Hardwares on both Thing and Torch. After those hit play, he played A Child Named Valeria. Once it had resolved, he deemed it safe to play a Flamethrower on Frankie and a Catcher’s Mitt on Invisible Girl. He then passed his build. Matt teamed his men up with a Common Enemy before playing Signal Flare to fetch a Boris, Personal Servant of Doom, who he immediately put into play. He then played Faces of Doom to search his deck for another copy of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. He played the good Doctor and used him to flip down Mystical Paralysis. He then formed his men and passed the combat to Dean.

Dean began his attacks by sending Thing with guns into Hothead. After some deliberation, Matt decided to go on a Reign of Terror against Thing. Dean then announced Stretch against Hothead, but Matt wasn’t about to let that happen, using Mystical Paralysis to keep Mr. Fantastic at bay. Dean sent Invisible Girl in at Boris, who once again jumped out of the way to get a Null Time Zone. After that, we got some hot (literally) Torch on Torch action, which resulted in Hothead going down. Then, Dean sent his remaining men at Dr. Doom. Dean finally used Cosmic Radiation to ready his guys and burned Matt for 8 with his guns and flamethrower. Dean ended the turn up 23-16.

Matt agonized over which character to keep during recovery and eventually decided on Hothead before he moved to the next turn. Matt used Null Time Zone on his next turn to shut down Cosmic Radiation. He then pooled his resources and flipped up a second Doom’s Throne Room in an attempt to find a Signal Flare. After he looked at his hand, he found he was unable to recruit anything on his turn, so he conceded to Dean.

Matt may have lost a match, but have no fear—the wheels will continue to spin.

Dean Sohnle wins 2-1!