Jeroen Remie is one of the best card players in The Netherlands and surely one of its biggest hopes of keeping the first European Pro Circuit trophy at home. He’s hoping to ride his aggressive Marvel Knights characters into Day 2.

Across the table sits one of the nicest, yet scariest, players you can face in Europe. John Ormerod is known for both his impeccable sportsmanship and being one of the mad card geniuses that keeps England’s reputation for deckbuilding so high. Today he’s trying to prove to us that it’s really not a question of having a table full of characters—he’s playing X-Statix.

The first play of the game came from Remie, a turn 2 Blade, Eric Brooks, quickly equipped with Jetpack. Smiling, John quipped, “Sadly, I have no play.”

Blade came in for a huge chunk of Ormerod’s endurance total. Remie missed his crucial 3-drop, and John found Orphan, Guy Smith. The Dutchie tried to get right back into stride with the huge Moon Knight, but John played U-Go-Girl, Tragic Teleporter to bounce Orphan . . . and Blade.

By then, Ormerod had unleashed one of his key locations: X-Statix Café. As long as he kept Remie’s army under control, he could hide behind his pumped character and ride out the early game.

On turn 5, Ormerod dropped Orphan, Mr. Sensitive. Remie came back with with Daredevil, Matt Murdock, but when he tried to attack, John had X-Statix HQ to send U-Go-Girl away, leaving only his huge Orphan in play.

Again, on turn 6, Remie had a monster—this time, Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man—and again, Ormerod answered deftly, with Zeitgeist.

Remie rocked back on his chair, working out his attack step. He had Moon Knight; Daredevil, Matt Murdock; and Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man facing Zeitgeist. Finally he made up his mind . . . and announced, “No attacks.”

Ormerod took a deep breath and whispered, “To be honest, I didn’t expect that.”

Next, Plazm came in with boost, stunning Daredevil and immediately hitting the KO’d pile with a little help from X-Statix HQ. Zeitgeist once again found himself all alone, proudly defending Ormerod’s domain.

Remie answered with everyone’s favorite hero for hire, Luke Cage, Power Man. He still couldn’t find a way through Ormerod’s defenses, though, and he lost Moon Knight in the process. Unfazed, he used the next turn to play Blade, Eric Brooks and another Moon Knight, this time with boost.

He had no second thoughts about pushing his whole crew into the front row. Ormerod answered with the unlikely green shape of Doop, Ultimate Weapon. Moon Knight swung into Zeitgeist, and Ormerod sacrificed Doop to his X-Statix Café. That pushed him up to 56 endurance and allowed him to use his remaining character. Zeitgeist stunned Spider-Man before trading in combat with Moon Knight.

Jeroen shook his head, rechecking his resources (all still unused). “This looks almost impossible. Even if you don’t have Spin Doctoring. And I’m sure you do.”

He tried to send his whole crew into Ormerod. Sure enough, Ormerod had Spin Doctoring. Zeitgeist came back and slowed down another attack. That dropped Remie to 3, with Ormerod still in the fifties. There wasn’t much the Dutchman could do . . . except extend his hand.

John Ormerod 1-0 Jeroen Remie.