I just had to follow Aramburu’s deck in the quarterfinals. Omar Rohner is packing The Brave and the Bold, while Jose Maria Aramburu . . . well, you could say he’s a huge fan of the Marvel Knights set. His Marvel Knights/Underworld concoction actually made my “Interesting Deck Ideas” article earlier today, because it was so different from all of the other decks.

Omar: “I’m glad it’s best of three. I need the first game to understand how your deck works.”

The first game started with a mulligan for Rohner. He still came out with turn 1 Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Jose Maria answered with a Wild Ride to fetch Dagger. Omar had to read both cards, and did so with a smile.

On turn 2 came Steel Wind, and everyone leaned in to read once again. That allowed Aramburu to send Dagger into Dove and use Steel Wind to start filling up his graveyard.

On the following turn, Dagger hit the KO’d pile to bring up Midnight Sons, and then Jose played Brother Voodoo, Jericho Drumm. Rohner answered with a boosted Hank Hall ◊ Hawk.

Brother Voodoo allowed Aramburu to cycle through his deck like a madman, finding Lost City and Centurious for the next turn.

Omar: “I’m sorry I have to read all the cards.”
Jose Maria: “No problem.”

Rohner thought about it and answered with his standard turn 4 play, Terra. Centurious went right after the newcomer, who stunned Brother Voodoo before bowing out.

Aramburu mumbled something about his bad draw, and Omar Rohner commented that only he could know that since no one seemed to know exactly what his deck could do. He settled on using Wake the Dead to fetch another character before using a second Midnight Sons to connect his two teams to . . . Brotherhood.

That enabled him to use Lost City and send in Steel Wind to drive over Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Omar was still baffled and a bit lost about what Jose Maria Aramburu was trying to do.

Still, he had a plan and he stuck to it. Out came a turn 5 Garth ◊ Tempest. Aramburu cycled through his deck and found Wild Ride to dig up Mephisto, Soulstealer and open up the hidden area.

Garth ◊ Tempest returned GCPD Headquarters from Omar’s KO’d pile. Then he took a full minute muttering before deciding what to do. He was clearly no longer amused about playing against the “strange deck.” He declared a team-attack and used Teen Titans Go! to prepare all his attackers. Terra shot down Steel Wind, the Hawk and Garth brought down Centurious, and Terra drove into Brother Voodoo.

Aramburu returned the favor with his hidden character: Mephisto, Soulstealer swooped down to bury Terra. Jose Maria needed to rebuild his side of the table, so he used Wake the Dead to find Luke Cage, Power Man.

The best Rohner could do was Mirage, Alfred Pennyworth, and Hank Hall ◊ Hawk with boost.

Omar: “That guy is fat.”

He went over his formation a few times, trying to make sure that Jose Maria Aramburu’s big bruisers wouldn’t burn him with breakthrough. The big stompers stepped right up to the plate, bringing down Dawn Granger ◊ Dove and hunting Garth ◊ Tempest.

They didn’t quite get Garth, because Mirage made a Heroic Sacrifice for the good of the team. Mephisto, Soulstealer took out one more character, and the turn ended with Rohner losing two characters.

Omar rebuilt his army with another Mirage, Miriam Delgado and Connor Kent ◊ Superboy, Tactile Telekinetic before pushing everyone into the front row. Wake the Dead brought forth another scary shape from the darkness—Varnae, First Vampire.

Again, Omar Rohner knew he had to overwork his Teen Titans Go!. First, he read Varnae a couple of times. Then his cell phone rang, just to ruin his concentration. He powered it off and went right back to puzzling out Aramburu’s defense.

He revealed Dynamic Duo before sending four of his crew into Luke Cage, Power Man, bringing the bad man down. Then he played Teen Titans Go! and drove the same four into Varnae’s rather large body. Aramburu exhausted his character to save it.

With a small smile, Omar used another Teen Titans Go! to once again chase Varnae. Using Centurious and Lost City to pump Varnae, Aramburu tried to save it, but Rohner had one Mirage, Miriam Delgado in his hand to pump for just enough to send Varnae away.

Superboy flew in to get Centurious and drop Jose Maria to 12. That gave his opponent a single chance to strike back. He sent Mephisto, Soulstealer into Mirage, Miriam Delgado and tried to pump it for some huge breakthrough.

Sadly for him, Omar Rohner remembered he had GCPD Headquarters and stopped that plan. Unable to turn the game around and unhappy with his hand, Jose Maria Aramburu conceded the first game.

Omar: “I couldn’t forget about the location. I lost the only game in the Swiss because I forgot about it.”

Again, Aramburu was unhappy with his hand, sending back two copies of Lost City and a 4-cost character. The second hand was much better and allowed him to use Dagger to fetch Midnight Sons and play a turn 2 Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell.

Jose Maria: “This time I drew Avalon Space Station.”

He used it to recycle his Dagger and fetch another Midnight Sons, while Omar played Alfred Pennyworth and started digging in with USS Argus. He had no character to play on turn 3, but Aramburu pumped out the overworked Dagger and a Steel Wind.

Omar: “My draw wasn’t very good.”
Jose Maria: “Mine wasn’t brilliant either. I missed my turn 3 drop. It’s crucial.”

On turn 4, Centurious showed up. Again Rohner was off his charted course, having to dig with Optitron and discard Garth to find Beast Boy. He played and revealed The Brave and the Bold.

Aramburu had no mercy. He sent his crew in, leaving Rohner with only a stunned character in play. With the Avalon Space Station working at full speed, Jose Maria had all the perfect drops from turn 5 onward in his grasp.

Omar dropped Garth, while Jose Maria played Mephisto, Soulstealer. Rohner revealed Dynamic Duo and tried to tag team Centurious. Aramburu then answered with Have a Blast! on The Brave and the Bold, but Omar had the Fizzle for it. Eventually, the tag team brought Centurious down. Teen Titans Go! gave them another attack, and they brought down Steel Wind after Dagger ran away.

It was Aramburu’s turn to strike back. He revealed Lost City and sent Mephisto, Soulstealer in, forcing Omar Rohner to spend a Heroic Sacrifice to keep Garth in defensive mode.

Jose Maria brought back Luke Cage, Power Man and dropped him on his sixth turn, and Omar Rohner answered with Superboy. Luke Cage, Power Man went right after Kent.

Omar exhausted his character to pump it, but when Jose Maria Aramburu showed that he had the whole Lost City/Avalon Space Station/Centurious combo going, Omar figured he might as well move on the final game.

Omar: “I just didn’t hit my curve the whole game.”

Again, Dagger came out on turn 1, and Omar answered with Dove and her partner, Hawk. Dagger did its thing, and Steel Wind came in to absorb some of the blow.

Jose Maria revealed Avalon Space Station and started working on his curve and KO’d pile. On turn 3, he dropped Brother Voodoo. With a sigh, Omar was forced to reveal Optitron. He used it to fetch Terra.

Across the table, poor Dagger kept going back and forth to fetch Midnight Sons. Desperate for some extra fuel, Aramburu dumped his whole hand with Brother Voodoo.

Rohner also played the hand fixing game, but with USS Argus, before playing Terra. His opponent tried playing Wild Ride, but Omar promptly used Fizzle. Still, the mighty Centurious entered the game on turn 4.

The two teams clashed, and when the dust settled, Aramburu had lost Steel Wind. On turn 5, he played Mephisto, Soulstealer. Omar settled for the smaller yet extremely tricky Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter.

Brother Voodoo went right after it, and Roy shot down Centurious with a little help from his friends while Mephisto, Soulstealer chased around the clearly outmatched Alfred Pennyworth. Roy hit the KO’d pile.

On the sixth turn, Omar Rohner played Garth ◊ Tempest. He only had five resources to play with because of Terra’s mischief, but Jose Maria Aramburu had six, which he used to play Blackheart, Son of Mephisto.

Jose Maria: “This guy is so good, especially against Teen Titans and Sentinels.”

His opponent seemed to agree, because he sent his whole crew in after it with the help of Dynamic Duo. Teen Titans Go! gave him another shot at Aramburu’s remaining visible character. Then, Mephisto, Soulstealer struck back with a vengeance.

As the recruiting costs rose, so did the tension in this last game of the remaining quarterfinals. Jose Maria returned Varnae, First Vampire from the KO’d pile and dropped it. Visibly shaken, Omar Rohner fought to bend Aramburu’s cards into his battle plan. The long day, the noise level, and the unexpected matchup were clearly getting to him.

To make matters worse, he had no characters with a recruiting cost over 5. He stared at Jose Maria Aramburu’s army and extended his hand.

Aramburu now advances to the semifinals to play against David Carvajal’s Common Enemy deck.