Wess Victory and Paul Sottosanti both stood at 3-0 going into this round. Wess hails from Franklin, Tennessee, and already has the Dragon*Con $10K championship under his belt. Paul Sottosanti, affectionately called “Future” by his fans, is a Wizards of the Coast employee and can claim credit a second place finish at the Gen Con Indy $10K. Wess has gotten this far with his Curve Sentinels deck, while Paul is sporting the team TOGIT X-Men deck.

Wess won the choice for initiative and took the evens, and both kept their opening four. Neither player had anything on the first turn, but the second turn featured a Sentinel Mark III from Wess. Paul spent his second turn flipping Cerebro and activating it, nabbing and discarding an Emma Frost. Paul finally impacted the board on his third turn, recruiting Wolverine, Logan. Wess responded with a Sentinel Mark II, one of the problem cards for the X-Men deck. Paul simply sent his Wolverine into the Mark III, which Wess reinforced with the Mark II. Paul then used Cerebro, hitting another Wolverine, Logan and Rogue, Power Absorption, chucking Jean Grey, Marvel Girl and Emma Frost.

Wess continued to hit his optimal drops with a Sentinel Mark V on the fourth turn, while Paul played his Rogue. Wess sent his Mark V into Wolverine, and Paul attempted to trade with a power-up. When Wess had a power-up of his own, Paul was forced to flip an Acrobatic Dodge from the resource row. Wess had nothing further, and neither character was stunned. Wess then sent his remaining robots at Rogue, and Paul responded with a Cerebro activation, hitting two copies of Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath. Paul kept one of them and discarded another Jean Grey, Marvel Girl. Paul had another Dodge, and a noticeably frustrated Wess had his Mark II stunned without stunning Rogue in return. Paul then fired back with Wolverine on the Mark III, stunning the Sentinel. Rogue then went after the Mark V, and when Wess went for a power-up, Paul had one of his own. Wess, visibly unhappy with how his turn went, picked up his Mark II and III and put them in the KO’d pile.

Paul’s fifth turn started out with Cerebro, hitting Sunfire and Jean Grey, Phoenix Force and discarding Onslaught and Professor X, Charles Xavier. Paul then recruited Sunfire. Wess returned fire with a boosted Sentinel Mark V. Paul considered his turn for a while before sending Wolverine and Rogue on a team attack against the boosted Mark V. Nothing from either player, and the Mark V and Rogue both were stunned. Paul considered sending his Sunfire into the non-boosted Mark V, but the risk of a power-up, and the resulting stunning of Paul’s entire team, caused him to hold back. Wess contented himself with sending the Sentinel Mark V into Wolverine, Logan, stunning him. Paul lost Logan during recovery.

Wess’s sixth turn consisted of a potentially devastating Bastion, while Paul missed with a Cerebro activation before recruiting Mimic. Wess started combat off by sending his boosted Mark V into Sunfire, stunning Sunfire. Sensing Paul was out of tricks, Wess then sent Bastion into Mimic and pumped Bastion once using his ability. Paul again did nothing. Wess concluded combat by trading his unboosted Sentinel Mark V with Rogue, Power Absorption. Paul tried to keep his head above the water by flipping X-Corporation, discarding a Puppet Master, and recovered Mimic. This would prove to be a costly error, as Paul went to recruit Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath but couldn’t, as he was unable to fulfill the loyalty requirement. Flustered by his mistake, Paul then dug for answers with Cerebro, finding a Sunfire that looked too insignificant to impact the board dramatically. Wess’s play of Master Mold and Sentinel Mark II off the Master Mold was enough to yield a concession from Paul.  

Result: Victory defeats Sottosanti