Dean Sohnle has been burning through the tournament with his amazing Fantastic Four Equipment deck. He went through his quarterfinal match in a blaze. Across the table was a somewhat tired Jonathan Challis, whose Big Brotherhood deck just survived a gruelling quarterfinal round against the lone Teen Titans deck in the Top 8, which was piloted by Iain Reid.
The winner here gets a shot at the winner of the Curve Sentinels’s side of the bracket. Sohnle and Challis are fighting for the chance to stop the purple wave from taking another European $10K.
On turn 1, Sohnle came out with Ant Man, and on turn 2, he recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. He used Richards to find Flamethrower, and then revealed Thinking Outside the Box.
Jonathan: “So, I have to take notes now.”
Challis finally blinked with a turn 3 Mystique, Raven Darkholme. Sohnle played Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, revealed Antarctic Research Base, and started recruiting equipment cards. Mystique brought down Sohnle’s Mr. Fantastic, and Ant Man answered with his Flamethrower.
They moved on to turn 4, with Sohnle playing Thing, Ben Grimm and giving it The Pogo Plane to showboat in. Jonathan settled for the more standard yet still spicy Sabretooth, Feral Rage.
Then, Challis shook things up with Flame Trap, stunning everyone but Thing on Sohnle’s side. Challis’s Sabretooth finished the job. Suddenly, Sohnle’s circus came to a screeching halt. He had lost everyone but Thing after the recovery phase.
On turn 5, Challis recruited a rather underpowered Blob, Fred Dukes. The Pogo Plane fetched Pier 4 for Dean, and he revealed it to avoid any further mishaps. He then tried to rebuild his army by recruiting Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl.
Challis came at Sohnle with the whole gang, and Sohnle played A Child Named Valeria to save his crew. With all the combo pieces working, Sohnle dug in and tried to take the game away before Challis could clean up the table again.
Jonathan tried to meddle with Sohnle by using Flame Trap in response to Cosmic Radiation, but Dean played A Child Named Valeria again.
Jonathan: “I figured you still had one.”
By the time that Sohnle was done, Jonathan was at 14 endurance and facing a world of damage. Challis let his head sink into his hands as he stared at the table. He couldn’t figure out a way to attack and was forced to concede in the face of lethal damage on the next turn.
Someone in the crowd was heard saying, “That deck is so unfair!”
Sohnle and Challis shuffled up for the second game while discussing the finer points of the first one. A German spectator loudly recounted details of the game over the phone to someone who probably would have rather been sleeping at 11 PM.
This time, Dean came out with Franklin Richards, Child Prodigy and used it to play Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl for free on turn 2. He then revealed Antarctic Research Base and started dumping equipment cards.
By the time that Challis played his first character—a turn 3 Mystique, Raven Darkholme—Sohnle was already at full throttle. Dean answered with Thing, Ben Grimm and equipped him with Unstable Molecules.
On the next turn, Dean Signal Flareed for Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, and used Franklin Richards and Cosmic Radiation to recruit the 5-drop character. Challis again missed his drop and could only stare at his hand.
Jonathan remarked, “Right now, it sucks to be me.”
Challis tried Flame Trap, but little did he know that all three of Sohnle’s cards in hand were A Child Named Valeria. Dean sent his whole crew in to drop Challis to a mere 15 endurance.
Dean: “I’m done.”
Jonathan: “I hope so. Did you notice how lopsided this is? I don’t really have chance, do I?”
Dean: “Sorry, I don’t think so. I get to see too many cards. As long as I find A Child Named Valeria, I don’t think you can take the game.”
Still, Challis soldiered on, perhaps hoping for another mistake by Sohnle like the one that cost him a game in the quarterfinals. Jonathan played Quicksilver, Speed Demon and watched Dean go through a bunch of new cards.
Quicksilver tried to attack, and Dean showed Challis another copy of A Child Named Valeria. Jonathan Challis extended his hand.
Dean Sohnle and his amazing deck will face the winner of the Hans Joachim Hoeh vs. Richard Edbury semifinal match. No matter who wins, the winner will be piloting a Curve Sentinels deck.