Sam dispatched Nik Smith to get here, and Alex beat Scott Hunstad.

Game 1

Sam won the flip, chose odds, and started off with Roscoe Sweeny. “What a surprise!” Alex commented.

Turn 2 saw Sam bring in Cobra while Alex yet again had nothing to play. Kingpin, Wilson Fisk saw play for Sam and Orphan, Guy Smith (revealing Sluk) saw play for Alex. A team attack brought Orphan to his knees, and Roscoe thinned Sam’s deck of another Kingpin.

Blackout for Alex was meet by Saracen on Sam’s side of the board. Sam’s formation was Kingpin and Cobra in the front row, with Saracen behind Kingpin and Roscoe behind Cobra. Blackout attacked Cobra, Sam flipped up Hand Dojo and reinforced. Alex didn’t pay for the Dojo and used Psychoville to pump his Blackout. Orphan attacked Roscoe for 1 after Saracen reinforced him. The endurance totals were 42 to 45, now in favor of Alex.

Sam had The Russian and Alex played Anarchist, Tike Alicar hiding behind Orphan. Sam had everyone but Saracen in the front row, and Saracen behind Cobra. The Russian attacked Orphan, who got reinforced by Tike to stem the bleeding. Sam was thinking long and hard at this point, as Tike was bigger than all of Sam’s characters. He finally used Cobra and Kingpin to attack Tike, and with the help of Crime and Punishment, stunned him. Alex choose to stun Kingpin. Alex got to attack and used Blackout to attack Cobra, which was reinforced by Saracen. During the recovery step, Gravesite was flipped, and made typing much more difficult for me.

Gravesite went onto the chain, and Alex pitched Nekra to gain 1 endurance. Alex played Mysterious Fan Boy, which protected Tike, while Sam pushed through with Natasha Romanoff. Marked for Death was played on Fan Boy before Sam formed his guys up. Kingpin was with Saracen in the support row, and The Russian protected Kingpin. Fan Boy finally made a move on The Russian. Alex chose not to pay for the Hand Dojo and they traded stuns. Psychoville moved Natasha into the fray, and Alex teamed up with Hypnotic Charms in order to team attack Natasha with Blackout and Anarchist. Anarchist and Natasha both went straight to the KO’d pile. Alex passed, moving Blackout to the visible area, and Sam choose not to attack. 26–27 to Alex.

Gravesite netted Alex another endurance before Sam played out Bullseye, Master of Murder. Alex trumped him with Varnae, whose ability could be potentially fatal for Sam. Bullseye attempted to attack Blackout, but Alex moved him back into the hidden area before the attack was declared legal. Now, with Varnae out, what would Sam do? He had to think for a long time before deciding. Sam decided that it was best to just pass priority to minimize endurance loss to himself. Fan Boy attacked The Russian and Alex paid 3 endurance to prevent the stun back. Varnae then flew over and smacked Saracen upside the head. Blackout attacked Kingpin, another 3 endurance was paid, and Sam scooped for game 2.

Game 2

Odds was again the call for Sam to start. Sam mulliganed away his hand, while Alex kept.

Gravesite was flipped up on turn 1 with no other plays. Nekra gained 1 endurance for Alex before the second turn’s draw. Alex played Lacuna and attacked Sam’s freshly played Caretaker, drawing first blood.

Gravesite again proved useful, and netted Alex another endurance point. Sam had Brother Voodoo while Alex had Plazm. Voodoo attacked Lacuna, and with the help of Caretaker, was huge . . . but Alex just reinforced to take 2.

Alex decided he didn’t want an extra endurance this turn and discarded an X-Statix character. Blackout was Alex’s play, and Sam played out Saint Anna. Plazm smacked Caretaker and voodoo reinforced. Blackout and Lacuna team-attacked Saint Anna, and with the help of Psychoville, Sam could only stun Lacuna. 41–48, and Alex was looking like he was in a commanding position.

The Russian came down for Sam and Voodoo hopped on the War Wagon. Zarathos, the huge body, came into play for Alex, returning Lacuna. Midnight Sons was flipped for Sam so that Crime and Punishment wouldn’t have a side effect when he used it on Zarathos. Alex discarded three times to move blackout in and out of the hidden area, and then used Strength of the Grave to pump up another 5 DEF, making Zarathos an unstoppable 10 ATK/16 DEF. Saint Anna attacked Blackout, trading stuns, and then War Wagon executed Blackout. Alex got to attack, and massacred Sam’s Team with Zarathos and Plazm—removing another 5 endurance from Sam’s total in the process. 18 to 40 was the endurance count, and Alex held a commanding lead.

Mysterious Fan Boy came out for Alex, and he looked very composed as he had both board control and endurance control. Zarathos and Plazm team-attacked Spider-Man immediately after Sam played it. Then, Mysterious Fan Boy attacked The Russian for another stun trade.

At least Sam had the comfort of knowing that Alex couldn’t attack back this turn because Sam had out Spider-Man and had the initiative. Elektra, Agent of the Hand with boost made sure no stunning was going to happen on Sam’s side of the table. Alex recruited Orphan, Good Guy and passed. Spider-Man exhausted Alex’s army; then he used Elektra to take down Mysterious Fan Boy and that was that turn. The endurance totals were 7 to 17 with Alex in the lead.

Mind Over Matter returned Plazm to boost Orphan, and then Alex replayed Plazm with boost to stun Elektra before she could even say “Look, I’m Jennifer Garner.” Bullseye was Sam’s only play, and both of his characters moved to the support row. Fan Boy attacked Spider-Man with the help of Black Magic. Moving Target gave hope to Sam, but it was futile, and he just shook hands.

Alex Brown wins 2-0!