These two were both on my Top 8 Seedings list—how could I not cover this match in the first round? Who will win this battle of the titans? As the seedings have it, Scott Smith just squeaks by. David won the die roll and elected to take the odd initiatives, which is crucial in Sealed events.

Turn 1 saw David recruit Rick Jones, and Scott matched it with Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. 49–49.

On turn 2, Scott Smith recruited Beetle, Armorsmith, pitching Melter to go get Erik Josten. He wasn’t done yet, and put a Thunder Jet on Fixer. David had no recruit, and Scott mashed him with his team. 49–42 in Scott’s favor.

Turn 3 there was still no luck for David, as all he had was Beast, Furry Blue Scientist. Scott recruited the Atlas, which he searched for on the last turn, as well as Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide. Beetle and Fixer were in the support row, with Dallas in front of Fixer. David attacked with Beast into Atlas and passed. Scott had an amazing turn, smashing in with Beetle and Fixer. He closed out combat by using Dallas to look at the top card of his deck. New Identity named Atlas, which could potentially make him a huge threat very quickly.

47–34 to Scott.

On turn 4, Scott played Heinrich Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo, and drew a card with Dallas. David recruited Amphibian, and then Scott let loose with his Atlas into Amphibian. Before he passed, though, Scott used Combat Maneuvers to make it a mutual stun. Baron Zemo attacked into Beast, forcing a Prismatic Shield from David. All other attacks went straight into David, and he decided that Rick Jones should not attack anyone. With the endurance totals now 45–20 in Scott’s favor, things were starting to look all gloom and doom for David—much like the weather outside.

Turn 5 was again a bad turn for David, as all he has was Moonglow. Scott laid a resource, used Dallas to draw a card, flipped up Deadly Conspiracy, and drew another card because Macrobots and Moonglow joined the party. Scott had a huge army. From left to right his characters were Baron Zemo, Fixer, Beetle, and Dallas. In front of those characters were Moonglow, Macrobots, and Atlas. Dallas was left on the side by her lonesome.

David attacked Moonglow into her counterpart on Scott’s side of the board, but before the stun happened, Scott used her ability and searched out Faces of Evil. He then reinforced with Baron Zemo. Amphibian attacked into Atlas before the God of Thunder helped him out with a Call down the Lightning. Amphibian’s replacement effect made it possible for David to return the Call down the Lightning to his hand. That was all from David. Scott exhausted his whole team to Macrobots and the bots, went into Moonglow. An Eldritch Power from Scott was used to cause the mutual stun. Scott maintained his endurance lead, which now stood at 38–17. It looked like it could be over next turn for David, unless he could pull a miracle.

On turn 6, Scott played Beetle ◊ Mach 2 to replace Armorsmith. He also played Tiger Shark and flipped up Faces of Evil. He formed with Baron Zemo in the front middle, with Atlas and Tiger Shark to his left and right. Fixer was set behind Zemo so that he too could take advantage of his Leader effect. David had Wonder Man to stun Scott’s Fixer. Beetle plus Call to Arms meant that Wonder Man had no chance. Before Scott could attack again, David conceded to the onslaught of characters awaiting him.

Scott Smith wins.