As the crowd assembled to watch the quarterfinals, the hands of the clock inched together to close out the day. It has been a long hard day for all the competitors and they were keenly aware of the huge financial incentives to winning this round. The loser would receive $400 while the winner would be guaranteed at least twice that and still have a fighter’s chance for the $2,500 top prize.

Anthony Justice was playing a Common Enemy deck. The forces of Doom and the Fantastic Four had put aside their differences all day long for eight rounds of resounding victories under Anthony’s command. He was the only undefeated player, and he had no plans on ending that streak.

Russ Pippin had other thoughts on the matter. His pure Fantastic Four deck had ample equipment and all creatures being equal, he planned on having at least his FF members be bigger than Anthony’s. It was not clear who had the edge on paper and it was hard to gauge the crowd with partisan boosters on each side of the table.

Game one

Anthony won the die roll and chose to go on the evens. Neither player had a first turn play. Anthony had Boris for the second turn and it beat in for 1. Russell sighed miserably as all he could say about his third turn was, “Pass” without a character in sight. Anthony mustered a She-Hulk and flipped up Common Enemy to draw a card.

He sent up a Signal Flare for Dr. Doom and flipped the Flare back down when he played the masked ruler of Latveria. Russ’s first play of the game was Invisible Woman. Doom and Boris teamed attacked Sue and when she went down the She-Hulk got in for four more points of endurance loss.

Russ’s deck started to strut its stuff on turn five when he was able to play the five-drop Mr. Fantastic and equip both his characters with Fantasticars--he put Invisible Woman up front.. Anthony had to think for awhile during his recruit step. He flipped up his Signal Flare and browsed through his deck. He considered nabbing a Thing but settled on a Robot Destroyer and played it. He put Boris and She-Hulk up in front of the Destroyer and Dr. Doom respectively.

Russ proposed that his Invisible Woman attack the She-Hulk and Anthony stunned her with Robot Destroyer. Mr. Fantastic came over the table for Dr. Doom—Anthony flipped up a Doomstadt. Russ went for the jugular with Savage Beatdown but Anthony Overloaded and the game tipped in his favor when he was able to come back across the table for an additional twelve. Russ was at 15 and Anthony was at a hardy 44. Russ chose to recover his Mr. Fantastic.

Anthony dropped his sixth resource on the board and parlayed Boris into Signal Flare into Hulk, New Fantastic Four. He put his two Hulks up front and put Doom and Robot Destroyer in the back. Russ played his own six-drop Hulk and promptly slapped a Personal Forcefield on him and set him out front.

Anthony sent his Hulk into battle against his doppelganger and pumped it to an 18/15 with It's Clobberin' Time. They both shrugged and took 6. Anthony followed with a She-Hulk/Dr. Doom team attack on Mr. Fantastic. One Dodge, Clobbering Time, and Signal Flare for a power-up later they all bounced off of each other with no stun on either side. Mr. Fantastic did get to stretch back across the table and smack the She-Hulk around putting the endurance totals at 9-31 in favor of Justice who let his She-Hulk go in recovery.

Russ came back with the Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing on turn seven. He snuggled him in between his five and six drops in the front. Anthony’s turn seven saw him play an under whelming She-Hulk. He put the two cousins up front and left the Doom fellows to guard the rear. Russ sent his Hulk to battle with Dr. Doom and Anthony tried to stop the attack with Mystical Paralysis but Russ paid 2 endurance to move his Personal Forcefield over to negate the effect. Anthony reinforced his Doom with the Robot. The Thing and the Hulk settled an age-old debate among twelve-year old boys everywhere when Anthony’s Hulk was stunned and he took 11. Mr. Fantastic set off a flurry of activity when he went after the Robot Destroyer--two Clobbering Times and only one Acrobatic Dodge later Anthony took another 9 and the endurance totals were 7-11 in favor of Anthony who recovered She-Hulk and let the Doom guys go away.

Submariner came into play for Anthony and he lined it and the Hulk up on either side of the She-Hulk on the front. Russ’s freshly made four-drop Invisible Woman exhausted for a Tech Upgrade and she was rewarded with a Fantasticar. Russ put all four of his characters—Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Hulk, and Invisible Woman—up front from left to right.

Anthony’s Submariner attacked Mr. Fantastic in what can only be called a jealous rage but with some Acrobatic Dodging and a willingness to pay endurance to move around his Forcefield, Russ got the imitative back on the wrong side of a -1-8 endurance score. His Thing was big enough to bash through the Hulk again and Anthony ended the turn at -3.

Russ - 1 Anthony - 0

Game two

Russ had the initiative to start the second game and he was able to get in for three on the second turn with She-Thing. He had no third turn play save equipping her with a Fantasticar. Anthony had a She-Hulk and both players passed on attacks--Russ used the Recovery Phase to Tech Upgrade for a Force Field.

Anthony drew two cards with a four-drop Dr. Doom and a doubly flipped Common Enemy--he put She-Hulk up front. Russ played his four-drop Invisible Woman on the frontline with She-Thing. Dr. Doom went after the She-Thing and after some Dodging and Tech Upgrading Russ took two. When the She-Hulk came after the Invisible Woman with a Savage Beatdown she was Overloaded and the Invisible Woman was able to attack back but they ended up bouncing.

Russ had Mr. Fantastic and a Forcefield for the fifth turn while Anthony was with Robot Destroyer. When the Invisible Woman came after Doom she was stunned with the Destroyer. Mr. Fantastic came at him next but Justice had the Dodge.  A power-up drew out another Dodge and forced Russ to Clobbering Time Reed but Justice pointed out the Forcefield which prevented that form being possible. With the cat out of the bag on the Plot Twist, Russ sent She-Think in and used the Savage Beatdown but Anthony was ready with Overload. Anthony team attacked Mr. Fantastic on his crack back and Russ would only have one guy left for the next turn--he kept Mr. Fantastic. Anthony kept the Destroyer and Doom.

Anthony Signal Flared for Thing, Heavy Hitter and put him in front of the Robot Destroyer. Russ had nothing. Thing bashed Reed and Anthony piled on another 16 to put some distance between them at 16-36.

Turn seven was Russ’ for Signal Flare and a Thing--The ever lovin’ blue eyed variety. He put him in front of Reed and put him in a Fantasticar. Anthony had the Submariner and he stayed up front with the Thing. Russ’s Thing bashed the Submariner and Anthony went to 28. Mr. Fantastic took out Dr. Doom and he fell to 22. He team attacked back to stun the Thing, and the game was close at 9-17 in favor of Anthony--who recovered his Submariner.

When he showed Russ another seven drop they scooped and moved on to game three.

Russ - 1 Anthony - 1

Game three

Anthony asked the judge how much time was left and misheard him, “Twenty-seven minutes?”

The judge corrected him, “Seven minutes.”

Anthony was dubious about his chances, “And I have to start on evens?”

Russ kicked things off with a She-Thing and Anthony had a Boris. Anthony played Darkoth while Russ had Ben Grimm. The players moved through their turns very quickly and it built toward turn five when time was called. He had fallen behind in the race early but looked like he could steal the game with Darkoth and a Savage Beatdown, but Russ had a Savage Beatdown for the attack back and it sealed the game for Russ Pippen, who was ahead on endurance.

Final result: Russ Pipen - 2 Anthony Justice - 1