Ding, round 3! Two heavyweights step into the ring this round. In the blue corner, Michael "Iron Mike" Jacob, one of the premier players in the game, and many players' vote for the best player in the game. In the red corner, Matt "Chicken Dance" Boccio, a veteran of numerous $10K Top 8s.  

Michael won the die roll and chose to go first. He showed his X-Faces roots with a turn-1 Archangel, Angel fetching an X-Corp: Amsterdam. Matt came out swinging, as well. His turn-1 Ape X for an Image Inducer showed that he was playing Squadron Supreme. This should be a lightning-quick bout, cluttered with haymakers and knockout blows. Both of these decks have enough juice in them to keep a Major League Baseball team going for decades. Matt kept the thunder rolling with a turn 2 Joystick, fully equipped with her own Thunder Jet.  

"Oh dear," Michael said to himself, as he thought about what to do on his turn. He ultimately settled on the utility searching engine of Beetle, Armorsmith. Matt got the first punch in on turn 2's attacks by sending his Ape into Michael's Angel. Michael flipped X-Men United to team-up Masters of Evil and X-Men, and then reinforced. Matt then sent in his Joystick to lay the beats on Michael's Beetle. After Matt decided to try and force through a bit of extra endurance loss with a No Fear and a Flying Kick, Jacob decided to stem the bleeding and replace his team-up. This left him without a team-up and down a character, which isn't a situation you want to be in when facing down the explosive Squadron deck. 

Turn 3 saw Michael start to build his team back up by recruiting the Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace he had searched out with his Beetle. He used his last resource point to play a replacement Angel for the one he'd lost last turn. Matt kept the pressure on by using Enemy of My Enemy to search for a Beetle, Armorsmith, which searched out an Angel Dust, which promptly came into play. Michael started the attacks by using Stormfront-1 and Faces of Evil to team-up all of his characters. He then sent his Angel into his opponent's Beetle and used Mob Mentality to pump his man up a little more. He continued with some Animal Kingdom-style violence by sending his Beetle into Matt's Ape. His Songbird then dove into Joystick. This left neither player able to attack any further, and they went to the recovery phase. During recovery, Michael KO'd his X-Corp: Amsterdam to fetch a copy of Brave New World. Both players were forced to keep only a single character, with Jacob keeping Beetle to Boccio's Joystick. 

Turn 4 was a very good turn for both players, with Boccio starting by recruiting his ideal character, Golden Archer. Jacob followed this up by recruiting a boosted Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara, which fetched him a Beetle, Armorsmith. Rather than playing his Beetle, however, Michael used his remaining resource points to get a Marcus Daniels ◊ Blackout into his hidden area. Matt was on the attack first, and sent his Joystick into Jacob's Beetle. The little insect got crushed, but not without stunning Joystick in return. Since the remainder of Jacob's characters were in the hidden area, Matt had the freedom to go straight to Michael's face. Before he attacked back, Michael KO'd another X-Corp: Amsterdam to fetch another copy of Faces of Evil. He then sent his newly invigorated Blackout into the far smaller Angel Dust. After the dust cleared, pun definitely intended, Yellowjacket took down the Golden Archer with a bit of help from the Mob Mentality Jacob had searched out earlier.  

The next turn saw things take a turn for the worse for Jacob. Before he recruited, he played a Null Time Zone, which shut down Enemy of My Enemy for a turn. He was trying to prevent Boccio from hitting his Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, if he hadn't already drawn it. He began his recruits by playing a Beetle, Armorsmith to get himself an Ape X. He then played Ape X, which fetched a copy of Blackbird Blue. Blackbird is incredibly powerful in this deck, as it makes your smaller characters capable of attacking up the curve almost with impunity. The final recruit in the weenie brigade was a Gargantua flying the Blackbird Blue Ape had gotten him. This was a pretty impressive set-up for Jacob. Unfortunately, Boccio had drawn his Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke earlier in the game, and recruited him from the resource row. Now Matt had a huge wall that Michael would eventually have to beat through in order to get at his endurance total.  

Michael's Beetle was the first soldier heading into battle. He went into Joystick, and thanks to a third Faces of Evil and the Blackbird Blue, caused a ton of breakthrough. Blackout was next to attack, and he was gunning for the Archer. Archer took a quick shot at Michael's face first, and then both characters stunned. Michael thought for a second, and decided to send his Ape in on a suicide mission against Nuke. He had a risky next attack planned and didn't want to be burned if it failed. His final attack of the turn was Gargantua and Yellowjacket into Nuke. It was exactly enough to stun him, and he went down due to Boccio's lack of a Supply Line. The turn ended with Michael down 7-12.  

The next turn was a short one, and when Jacob's draw revealed no help, he conceded.  

Matt Boccio scores the knockout and advances to 3-0.