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Andrew Morris is a South Australian player who is playing a teched-out version of Glock which includes Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, and the all-important Reign of Terror. The deck has carved its way though three Glock mirrors, two TDC Stall decks, and Ten Teams. This innovative Glock deck has undoubtedly proven itself as the top Stall deck of the tournament.

Alex Antonios is a 17-year-old player from Sydney who is playing in his third ever $10K. The Yu-Gi-Oh! star has taken the Arkham/Brotherhood "Migga City" deck to incredible victories, and believes that the deck could go all the way today. With head judge Paul Ross at the ready, the match was underway.

Alex won the die roll, and took evens.

Turn 1
Andrew laid a resource and played a copy of the always-amazing Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom in his front row. Alex laid a resource, and Boris swung in for 1.

Endurance
Alex: 49
Andrew: 50

Turn 2
Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose came down on Alex's side of the board. When Andrew had no recruit, he was forced to lose 3 endurance when the Inmate swung into Doom's servant.

Endurance
Alex: 49
Andrew: 47

Turn 3
Andrew under-dropped by recruiting Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern next to Boris in the front row. The Green Lantern used his ability to search out a copy of Rain of Acorns for Andrew, who then passed. Alex had a perfect turn 3 play when he recruited Mad Hatter and paid one resource point to steal the freshly recruited Kyle. With only Boris available, Andrew decided to pass his attack.

Ivy attacked Boris for 3, and then Kyle and the Mad Hatter attacked directly for 3, bringing Andrew down to 41. Alex used Ivy's ability on Kyle to net himself a copy of Lost City. Avalon Space Station was activated to return a copy of Adam Strange to hand, revealing to Andrew that Alex's Lost City combo was now online.

Endurance
Alex: 49
Andrew: 41

Turn 4
Alex recruited a copy of Anne-Marie Cortez into his front row and passed. Andrew recruited the always incredible Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius in his front row. He chained Mystical Paralysis, targeting Anne-Marie Cortez, and it was flipped back down when the Doctor's ability resolved.

Hatter and Ivy team attacked into Doom, and with a power-up on Poision Ivy, Doom came crashing down. With no Reign of Terror available to him, Mad Hatter and the Doctor traded and both players moved on to the recovery phase.

Endurance
Alex: 47
Andrew: 37

Turn 5:
Dr. Light, Master of Holograms was recruited into the front row of Andrew's board. The good doctor then activated to bring Kyle Rayner back into play, searching out a Catcher’s Mitt. Andrew used The Ring Has Chosen to find a copy of Black Hand, who was recruited with the remaining two resource points. Alex played a copy of Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Mikado and Mosha, to recruit Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff in the back row.

At the start of combat, Adam Strange was revealed from the resource row to Anne-Marie, and practically all of the Glock plot twists went offline. Black Hand and Kyle used Rain of Acorns to exhaust the unprotected Anne-Marie and Ivy respectively, and then Andrew passed the rest of his attack step. Scarlet Witch declared an attack into Dr. Light but was met by Mystical Paralysis from Dr. Doom. With no way to stun Black Hand, Andrew gained 5 endurance and both players moved to turn 6.

Endurance
Alex: 47
Andrew: 44

Turn 6
Alex started off his turn by stealing Andrew's Black Hand with Mad Hatter.
The Black Hand was KO'd to Poison Ivy and fetched Alex a copy of Genosha. Desperately looking for something playable, Alex then KO'd the Genosha (netting him only two cards) and eventually settled on Blob, Fred Dukes and Mastermind, Jason Wyngarde. They were both pushed into in the front row, indicating that this was the turn Alex planned to make his move. Andrew recruited Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar into the back row, and Dr. Light was equipped with Catcher’s Mitt. Before the combat phase begun, Andrew made sure to Paralyze Scarlet Witch with his Doom.

The combat phase started, and Andrew responded to Anne-Marie's ability by flipping Crisis on Infinite Earths before Adam Strange was once again revealed. Clearly affected by having his biggest character exhausted, Alex had to rethink his plan of attack. He eventually settled on Ivy attacking Dr. Doom. With a Lost City pump, he was able to ensure that the Doctor was stunned. Blob attacked Sinestro, and with two pumps from Harley Quinn, he became 12 ATK/15 DEF. With Cover Fire unable to be played, Andrew had to pass and Sinestro was stunned. Mad Hatter attacked Dr. Light, and was brought to 4 ATK/5 DEF via a Harley Quinn power-up. Anne-Marie Cortez then attacked into Andrew directly. At the end of his attack step, Alex used Avalon to get two Harley Quinns back before moving onto recovery. Andrew elected to keep Sinesto and Alex recovered Ivy.

Endurance
Alex: 44
Andrew: 27

Turn 7
Andrew started off his turn by discarding Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Emerald Archer to Enemy of My Enemy, finding himself a copy of Psimon. The Fearsome Five character's loyalty requirementwas fulfilled by Crisis On Infinite Earths, and he was successfully recruited in front of Sinestro. With one less resource due to Genosha ,and Psimon's restrictions online, Alex simply could not play a character and was forced to pass his recruit step.

Anne-Marie Cortez revealed Adam Strange. Sinestro used Rain of Acorns to exhaust the unprotected Anne-Marie, and Andrew considered how many pumps it would take for Poison Ivy to stun Psimon. When he decided that he had to take the risk, Psimon attacked the Deadly Rose and passed. Ivy powered up twice from hand to become 9 ATK/9 DEF. Avalon was exhausted, and the other two necessary pumps were retrieved to make Ivy an incredible 15 ATK/15 DEF 2-drop! Andrew reluctantly stunned Psimon, and passed his attack step. Scarlet Witch attacked Sinestro with a Harley power-up to become a 12 ATK/13 DEF. With only 14 more endurance needed to win game one, Alex decided to make his move. He attacked with Mad Hatter for a point of direct endurance loss and then, when the attack had resolved, KO'd the Hatter to get a Slaughter Swamp. Even with another Lost City pump in hand, Alex realised that he had no way to deal the final endurance point. He decided that the best course of action was to just team attack with Ivy and Blob to deal 9 and go to the next turn. Psimon was recovered by Andrew.

Endurance
Alex: 4
Andrew: 44

Turn 8
With Psimon still online, Alex was unable to recruit a character. Andrew played Mogo and sighed. "He’s just not big enough . . ."

"Well, you don’t hear many people say that about Mogo!" chimed in head judge Paul Ross. When Alex declared a team attack onto Mogo, Andrew simply scooped and the players moved on to Game 2.

GAME 2

For game 2, Andrew took odds.

Turn 1
Andrew laid a resource and passed. Meanwhile, Alex was able to muster up Mastermind, Jason Wyngarde, who attacked directly for 1.

Endurance
Alex: 50
Andrew: 49

Turn 2
Alex played, Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose in the front row and passed. Andrew recruited Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who once again fetched Rain of Acorns. Ivy attacked the Green Lantern and Andrew was forced to take 3. Mastermind snuck in for another point, and both players moved on to turn 3.

Endurance
Alex: 50
Andrew: 45

Turn 3

Andrew started off his recruit step with Enemy of My Enemy, seaching out Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and discarding Black Hand. He recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. The Doctor activated to return Black Hand to play, and both players moved to Alex's build. He simply dropped Mad Hatter and paid one resource to steal Black Hand. Black Hand was immediately KO’d to Ivy's ability, and Alex found himself a copy of Avalon Space Station.

During combat, Kyle used Rain of Acorns to exhaust the unprotected Ivy. All Alex could do was play Straight to the Grave to get Anne-Marie Cortez, and then flip the Space Station to return it to hand.

Endurance
Alex: 49
Andrew: 45

Turn 4
Anne-Marie Cortez came out for Alex once again, and it was moved in front of Mad Hatter. Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius came out for Andrew, who flipped Enemy of My Enemy back down. Andrew wasted no time in playing Reign of Terror, targeting both Ivy and Mastermind. Alex responded by using Ivy's ability to KO Mastermind, fetching a Metropolis. The Reign of Terror resolved, and Andrew used Dr. Light to bring Black Hand back into play.

At the start of combat, Anne-Marie Cortez’s ability went on the chain. This forced Andrew to use a second Reign of Terror targeting The Mad Hatter. Anne-Marie's ability resolved, and Adam Strange was revealed. Cortez simply attacked into Dr. Light, who was reinforced by Black Hand. With Black Hand unstunned, Andrew gained 3 endurance.

Endurance
Alex: 45
Andrew: 49

Turn 5
Andrew played Enemy of My Enemy to search for Katma Tui, discarding Dr. Light. She protected Kyle Rayner, and the recruit was passed over to Alex. Alex recruited Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr behind Anne-Marie, so as to play around Rain of Acorns. Both players moved to the combat phase.

Kyle and Katma were exhausted to Katma’s ability, and Dr. Doom Paralyzed Magneto. A Rain of Acorns exhaust from Black Hand made sure that Cortez wouldn’t be attacking this turn, and Andrew passed his attack step. With no viable attacks, Alex simply took advantage of the lack of another Doom character on the board by playing Straight to the Grave from his hand. He searched out a Harley Quinn and retrieved it with Avalon. Black Hand gained Andrew 9 endurance, and both players went on to turn 6.

Endurance
Alex:
Andrew: 59

Turn 6
Alex started off his recruit with a back-row Mad Hatter. He paid one resource to steal Black Hand and then re-recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and Mastermind. Gorilla Grodd came out for Andrew, causing Alex to groan and suggest: "I know what you are going to do . . . steal Black Hand by KO-ing Dr Light, right?" This resulted in laughs all around the table. Andrew played The Ring Has Chosen to search out Guy Gardner, Egomaniac, discarding Leech. The Doctor received a Catcher's Mitt and was activated to bring Leech into play.

Typically, Anne-Marie revealed Adam Strange, and Magneto's ability targeted Dr Doom. When the ability resolved, an obviously relieved Alex commented how thrilled he was that Andrew didn’t play Mystical Paralysis. Andrew's very own stolen Black Hand attacked into his former teammate, Kyle Rayner. When Alex passed, Grodd and the Last Green Lantern worked together in an unusual partnership to gain Andrew 5 endurance. Both characters then stunned, and Andrew was left with a whopping 64 endurance! Black Hand was KO'd to Poison Ivy, fetching Alex a copy of the all-important Lost City. Poison Ivy attacked Leech, and both players passed, causing Andrew to lose 2 endurance. Alex thought for some time before deciding that this was the right time for Genosha to hit the KO’d pile. He drew four cards and then declared Mastermind into Dr. Doom. The 1-drop pumped his ATK with two copies of Harley Quinn, and the Doctor went down without a fight. The Mad Hatter attacked Dr. Light and became 4 ATK/5 DEF, rendering him able to stun the Doctor without becoming stunned himself. With Catcher’s Mitt out of the way, Magneto attacked Gorilla Grodd. The simian KO'd Katma Tui to steal Alex's Anne-Marie Cortez, and Alex had no choice but to let it resolve. When the attack became legal, Alex activated Avalon, powered-up Mageto three times (to make him 18ATK/18 DEF), and forced through 12 endurance loss. With no attackers left, play moved over to Andrew's side of the board. Anne-Marie attacked into The Mad Hatter, and Alex reluctantly took 7. Grodd was recovered, and Alex kept The Mad Hatter over Mastermind.

Endurance
Alex: 39
Andrew: 41

Turn 7
Andrew simply played Guy Gardner, Egomaniac next to Gorilla Grodd and passed. With no Psimon this time, Alex was able to play new copies of both Anne-Marie and Mastermind. At the start of combat, Anne-Marie's ability triggered on both sides of the board. Alex revealed Adam Strange. Andrew revealed that his resource for the turn was Kyle Rayner, turning off Alex's 2-cost plot twists as well! Grodd exhausted Cortez with Rain Acorns. Not wanting to miss the chance for Grodd to steal a character, Andrew left his Guy Gardner readied in the back row next to the Gorilla and passed his attack step. Magneto's ability targeted Andrew's Anne-Marie, and after some deliberation, Andrew let her exhaust.

Magneto attacked Anne-Marie, and both players passed. Andrew took 6. With a potential bevy of pumps at hand, Alex tried to second-guess as to whether Andrew would be willing to KO his 7-drop to negate one of Alex's attackers, should he have the necessary power-ups. All he could do was shake his head and send Ivy into Grodd. He powered up three times, and Andrew let the attack go through.

It seemed that Alex's gambit had paid off . . . until he realized that he'd forgotten to use Ivy's ability before she became stunned. As he shook his head, he realized that he simply wouldn’t be able to get enough ATK to get past Guy's 16 DEF. When the combat phase had finished, and Cortez's ability was no longer applicable, Andrew played Sweeping Up to return Alex's Poison Ivy to hand as well as look at the top four cards of this deck. Grodd was recovered, and play moved to turn 8.

Endurance
Alex: 37
Andrew: 29

Turn 8
Blob, Fred Dukes came out for Alex, alongside a fresh copy of Poison Ivy. Andrew played a somewhat belated Book of Oa, and recruited Mogo He admitted that he simply hadn't been able to find a copy of Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic this match. Realizing that Guy Gardner's ability boosts Mogo's DEF, Alex could only exclaim, "Can I even attack this guy? I have to take down a 30 DEF guy? Write that down in the coverage somewhere!"

Alex revealed Adam Strange for Cortez and then decided to send Mastermind, Blob, Mad Hatter, Anne-Marie, and Poison Ivy into Mogo. After a bevy of Lost City/Avalon pumps, Alex was able to take his Brotherhood army to an amazing 31 ATK.

Ivy and Mogo traded.

"Heh, I didn’t expect that," said a somewhat disheartened Alex, who had clearly forgotten to use her ability once again. When Magneto attacked Gorilla Grodd and was pumped to become 12 ATK/12 DEF, Guy Gardner was KO'd to Grodd and Magneto joined Andrew's ranks. Moving over to Andrew's attack step, Alex's own Magneto attacked into Mastermind. Without a character for reinforcement, Alex was forced to take 9. The Gorilla then successfully attacked into Blob, causing a further 9 endurance loss. Alex recovered Blob, and Mogo was recovered on Andrew's side of the board.

Endurance
Alex: 18
Andrew: 21

Turn 9
Andrew elected not to play a resource and started off his turn by playing a fresh copy of Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. Realizing that he needed to cause some endurance loss, Andrew also played Oliver Queen in the back row. Alex used Avalon to retrieve Mastermind and Ivy, who were re-recruited into Alex's back row.

When Andrew declared his first attack, Alex took the opportunity to enter the scoop phase and both players moved on to game 3.

GAME 3

Alex decided to take odds, and the third and final game for this marathon match was underway!

Turn 1
Andrew opted to mulligan his opening hand, while Alex elected to keep his starting four. An early copy of Harley Quinn put Alex slightly ahead when Andrew couldn’t find a character to recruit.

Endurance
Alex: 50
Andrew: 49

Turn 2
Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern came out on Andrew's side, fetching Rain of Acorns. Alex recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose on his side of the board.

Kyle attacked Harley (who reinforced herself), and then it was Alex's turn to swing Ivy into Kyle. With no response, Andrew lost 3, and both players moved on to turn 3.

Endurance
Alex: 49
Andrew: 46

Turn 3
Remarkably, with no Arkham character in hand, Alex was forced to KO his HQ to Poison Ivy's ability to find an Avalon and return her to hand. Mad Hatter was successfully recruited, Kyle was stolen, and Alex passed. Enemy of My Enemy, ensured that Dr. Light saw play, but Andrew had no character to activate the Doctor for.

Ivy and the Hatter teamed into Dr. Light before Kyle swung directly for 2. Kyle was KO'd to Ivy to find a copy of Lost City (editor’s note: this illegal play was not discovered until after the game’s conclusion).

Endurance
Alex: 47
Andrew: 41

Turn 4
Andrew started off by using Dr. Light to bring Kyle Rayner back into play. Andrew was able to play a copy of The Ring has Chosen to find a copy of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Doom came into the front row, flipped down Enemy, and a double Reign of Terror ensured that all of Alex's characters were returned to hand. Alex could only muster as sigh as he recruited Anne-Marie Cortez. Before combat, Rain of Acorns was flipped to play around Anne-Marie Cortez's ability.

Dr. Doom, in an unusual move, attacked into Cortez. However, all was revealed when both players passed, the characters traded, and a Sweeping Up was played by Andrew targeting Anne-Marie. Kyle snuck in for 2, and both players moved onto the next turn

Endurance
Alex: 41
Andrew: 37

Turn 5
Realizing the importance of getting some kind of board presence, Alex elected to use his five resource points to replay the Brotherhood 4-drop and a copy of Harley Quinn. Andrew, too, had to under-drop with a copy of a copy Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Emerald Archer behind Dr. Light. Alex elected to skip Cortez's ability and moved on to the attack step.

Cortez attacked Dr. Light. Andrew passed, and the Master of Holograms was reinforced by Oliver Queen via Crisis on Infinite Earths. Alex passed his attack, opting not to swing with Harley. Seeing the opportunity to make Alex waste some power-ups, Andrew sent Dr. Doom into Harley Quinn. Sure enough, Lost City and Metropolis were flipped, Enemy was played by Alex to search for another copy of Harley, and then Avalon was used to make Harley 7 ATK/7 DEF. Andrew simply paid 2 endurance and KO'd the troublesome the 1-drop. Doom readied, but Andrew simply elected to pass his remaining attack. Anne-Marie and Dr. Light were recovered, and both players moved onto turn 6.

Endurance
Alex: 41
Andrew: 32

Turn 6
Andrew was suddenly faced with a difficult decision. He had a copy of Enemy of My Enemy that Dr. Doom had flipped back down, but the only character in his hand was his win-condition—Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic, the 8-drop. Deciding that he was still in a strong position, (and realizing that he didn’t have a turn 7 character either), Andrew elected not to recruit at all. Alex used Avalon and returned Harley and Mad Hatter to hand. The Hatter was played alongside Poison Ivy, and Alex paid one resource to steal Andrew's Kyle Rayner. Alex had to pass on Anne-Marie again.

Cortez and Ivy were exhausted by Dr. Light and Oliver via Rain of Acorns. Mad Hatter attacked into Dr. Light with a Lost City pump, and Alex passed. An inevitable Cover Fire from Andrew meant that the attack bounced. Alex elected to use Poison Ivy to KO Kyle Rayner, and Alex searched out a fresh copy of Avalon Space Station. Both players moved on to the next turn.

Endurance
Alex: 41
Andrew: 32

Turn 7
Alex started his turn off with a Genosha. He played Enemy of My Enemy to retrieve a copy of Poison Ivy pre-resource step, discarding Mr Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster. At the start of his recruit, he returned the hot new 1-drop to his hand. Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff was recruited by Alex in the back row, and a copy of Mr. Mxyzptlk joined the ranks. Andrew played Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row and found himself Black Hand, indicating that he was going to try to gain enough endurance to use Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic the following turn. The Black Hand was recruited for two resource points, and Andrew's endurance-gaining strategy was cemented when Katma Tui joined Andrew's team in the front row.

At the start of combat, Alex's previously-acquired 2-cost Poison Ivy was revealed to finally turn off the Glock plot twists for the phase. Alex finally seemed ready to do some real damage to Andrew’s endurance total. Realizing that there was no Catcher's Mitt in play, and that Dr. Doom had been the only character formed next to Oliver Queen, Alex saw a rare opportunity to cause breakthrough. He sent Anne-Marie Cortez into Oliver with two pumps to make her 14 ATK/13 DEF. Now, Andrew was faced with a tough choice. If he had Mystical Paralysis, he would have to exhaust Doom to use it. This would leave Oliver unable to be reinforced. Alex had put himself in a win/win position for the attack. Andrew eventually used Dr. Doom to reinforce Oliver, via the Crisis team-up, and the attack resolved. Scarlet Witch attacked Katma Tui and immediately powered up to become 12 ATK/13 DEF. Andrew elected to gain 5 endurance by exhausting Katma and Dr. Light. Black Hand reinforced the 5 drop, and she successfully stunned. In what was becoming quite a standard play for Alex, Mad Hatter attacked Dr. Light with a power-up. Andrew could only take the 3 endurance as the Doctor was taken down by the 4 ATK/5 DEF attacker. Slaughter Swamp returned Harley Quinn to Alex’s hand, and he started to do some quick math. Avalon retrieved another two power-ups, and then Poison Ivy attacked Doom. With Lost City, she became 9 ATK / 9 DEF.

Doom was taken out, forcing through 7 endurance loss, while Ivy remained unstunned. Mr Mxyzptlk was KO'd to Poison Ivy to get a new Avalon, and Alex retrieved 2 copies of Harley Quinn from his KO’d pile.

The unstunned Black Hand then gained 1 endurance for Andrew. Andrew recovered Katma Tui, but he realised that he had no way to take his endurance to the necessary 25.

Endurance
Alex: 41
Andrew: 19

Turn 8
Realizing that he had no win condition, Andrew was forced to use Enemy of My Enemy to play Mogo. "Only 21 DEF this time!" chimed Alex, as the enormous 8-drop came into play. Alex used a resource point to steal Black Hand from Andrew, which prompted the Glock player to exhaust both Katma Tui and Black Hand to gain 5 endurance. He recruited Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr in the back row, and passed. Ivy was revealed for Anne-Marie Cortez's ability, and both players moved on to Andrew's attack step.

Andrew used Rain of Acorns to exhaust the front row Anne-Marie Cortez, and then passed his attack step. Alex started off by KO’ing Black Hand to retrieve a copy of Genosha, clearly remembering his play errors with Ivy that had cost him Game 2. The Genosha was promptly KO'd, and four cards were drawn. Magneto, Ivy, and Scarlet Witch attacked Mogo for precisely the 21 ATK required. The enormous 8-drop was successfully stunned, and Alex was left with only with a readied Mad Hatter.

In a potentially game-winning play, Mad Hatter declared an attack into Katma Tui. Alex played two Harley Quinn pumps from hand, used Avalon to recourse the two Harleys, and played a Mad Hatter from hand for a total of five power-ups. He activated a second face down Avalon to replay the two Harley Quinns, and then, with one card left in hand, Alex discarded Ka-Boom! to Slaughter Swamp to returned an eighth power-up to his hand.

With one power-up still in hand, Alex's Mad Hatter had become an insane 22 ATK/23 DEF! When considering whether or not to play the final Harley power-up, a high-spirited Alex joked, "I don’t want to get greedy, in case something happens . . ."

As the crowd roared with laughter, he brought his opponent to exactly zero endurance. With that, 17-year-old Alex Antionios became one of the youngest $10K winners the game has ever seen!