Both players in this feature match are veterans of the Pro Circuit, though neither has a big money finish to his name yet . Kenneth is from Virginia, while Graham is a North Carolina native and a writer for Metagame. Graham won the die roll and selected the even initiatives.
Both players kept their opening hands, and Kenneth kicked off the game with Ape X, Xina, who searched for a Cloak of Nabu. Graham played a resource and passed, taking a point from the Ape. Graham could only pass again on the second turn, while Kenneth played and activated Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, fetching him an Amulet of Nabu. Kenneth’s remaining resource point was used to play Joystick, and she was equipped with all three Fate artifacts. Kenneth attacked unimpeded, and the score was now 50-40 in his favor.
Turn 3 was Kenneth’s initiative (again!), and he recruited Lady Lark, Linda Lewis. Graham played Ahmed Samsarra in his visible area, equipping him with Knight Armor. Before declaring attacks, Kenneth used Ted Kord to pick up a Light Armor. He sent Joystick into Ahmed, discarding Light Armor to make the 1-drop 12 ATK / 9 DEF. Graham activated Ahmed in response, yielding him a Checkmate Safe House. He allowed the stun, and Lady Lark and Ape X both attacked unimpeded. Kenneth’s lead widened to 50-25.
Graham had Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 in front of Ahmed, and he equipped Bizarro with Knight Armor. Kenneth recruited Golden Archer, emptying his hand. He set up with Ape protecting Lady Lark, Golden Archer protecting Joystick, and Ted next to Joystick in the support row. Kenneth passed to Graham, who attacked Joystick with Bizarro. The 1-drop was stunned. Next, Ahmed went after Ted Kord. Graham passed to Kenneth, who simply burned Graham for 6. In recovery, Ted was lost, and Kenneth led 41-19.
On turn 5, Kenneth again hit his optimal drop, recruiting Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke. Graham teamed-up Checkmate and Villains United, then used Brother I Satellite to search out Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard. The 5-drop was recruited, and Graham set up with all three of his characters in the support row, Bizarro in the middle. Kenneth attacked Ahmed with Nuke, and Graham wasn’t having any of it. He used his Safe House, then played Knightmare Scenario from his resource row. He activated Ahmed to replace the Knightmare Scenario with a Slaughter Swamp, then activated the Swamp to put Ted Kord back in Kenneth’s hand. Albert, now 10 ATK / 8 DEF to Ahmed’s 8 ATK / 11 DEF, was brick-walled and stunned. With this sudden turn of events, Kenneth went into the tank to consider how he was going to recover. He finally declared Lady Lark and Golden Archer in a team attack into Bizarro. Graham allowed it, and Bizarro traded stuns with Golden Archer. Kenneth passed, and Graham sent Mr. Freeze into Joystick. He flipped and activated Brother Eye for an additional 4 ATK, and Joystick went down. In recovery, Joystick and Albert were lost. Kenneth maintained a 30-15 lead.
Turn 6 was Graham’s initiative, and he recruited Huntress, Reluctant Queen. Kenneth replayed Ted Kord and discarded his final card to search out a Flamethrower. He recruited the Flamethrower to Lady Lark, then attempted to play Answer the Call from this resource row. In response, Graham used his swamp to make Kenneth pick up his Ape X. In response to that, Kenneth exhausted his Archer to hit Graham for 6. With the Call still on the chain, Kenneth flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower to discard Ape, failing to find a Fate artifact. The Call resolved, getting another Archer to replace the exhausted one. Kenneth, now representing lethal endurance loss on the board, set up with Archer protecting Ape X and his other two characters flanking Ape in the support row. Graham sent Freeze into Golden Archer, and Kenneth hit him for 6 and reinforced. Ahmed took down Ape X, and Kenneth allowed it. Huntress went after Lady Lark, and Graham discarded two power-ups and flipped a Threat Neutralized. Kenneth used Flamethrower to bring Graham to negative endurance, but Bizarro caused more than enough breakthrough on Ted to bring Kenneth even lower, clinching the game for Graham.