Scott Hunstad is a 30 year-old IT worker who currently hails from Sydney, Australia, though he grew up in America. He qualified for this tournament via an Australian PCQ. Antonino De Rosa also qualified via PCQ and is one of the great big men in the world of collectible card playing. His jolly Italian presence always lightens the mood at a tournament with his laughter and self-deprecating humor. He's had some success in other TCGs, but has recently drifted away from gaming a bit as he pursues job opportunities in Italy.

Scott chose the odd initiative and spent turn 1 using Optitron to seek out Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. Puppet Master from De Rosa locked down Robin for turn 2, meaning the action wouldn't really begin until turn 3. Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal was the play for Hunstad, which De Rosa matched with Wolverine, Logan who then got his beats on, after Hunstad was forced to pass the initiative with no real action.

Jean Grey ◊ Marvel Girl entered the fray for De Rosa, but Hunstad trumped her with Terra, who took out Wolverine before he got a chance to attack this time. Turn 5 brought new recruits in Garth ◊ Tempest and Professor X, Charles Xavier. Combat brought about some curious results and mumbling from Hunstad, who made some mistakes (like forgetting to use Garth), but still managed to take out De Rosa's entire team with Roy Harper. One Finishing Move made sure that Puppet Master would no longer pull any strings, but a second one on Professor X was foiled by Children of the Atom. The turn still ravaged De Rosa's squad, but at least he kept his 5-drop.

Antonino had been whiffing with Cerebro all game, and it now began to show as he missed his 6-drop, playing Rogue, Power Absorption instead. Arsenal shot down Rogue's attack before it began, so De Rosa used Professor X to get rid of Hunstad's last card in hand and then made sure Garth couldn't attack with a Pleasant Distraction. Hunstad used Ka-boom! from his resource row to take out a Cerebro.

Hunstad again notched a stellar turn the next time, as he knocked De Rosa down to 16 and left him with only an Emma Frost to Hunstad's Garth, Roy Harper, and Terra. Hunstad then mised Dawn Granger Dove off the top of his deck, giving him an almost perfect play from an empty hand, as he boosted Hank Hall ◊ Hawk into play as well. De Rosa reduced Hunstad's endurance to 21 after recruiting Sunfire, but he was clearly under the gun as Hunstad regained the initiative next turn and De Rosa was already at 11.

Before Hunstad was able to attack, De Rosa used Sunfire and Rogue to wipe out Hawk, Dove, and Arsenal for free, causing Hunstad a great deal of consternation.

"Wow, two Ka-Boom!s and I still might win this. I'm excited!"

At this point, time was called (which included a three-minute add-on for the brief and unexplained fire alarm called by the Convention Center staff. Thankfully no real panic occurred, but the players did, in fact, leave the play area and begin to exit the building before being called back.).

Antonino played Mimic and left Mimic and Emma Frost in the front row with Sunfire behind Emma. Tim Drake came down for Hunstad, who put him and Garth in front of Roy Harper and Terra. De Rosa used Sunfire on Arsenal before attacking, and Hunstad scooped up his cards, ruing a series of mistakes that left De Rosa with just enough endurance to survive and kill him.

Hunstad: "Wow, am I bad at this game. Mistakes definitely cost me that game—there were almost too many to count. I'm still not good enough at the intricacies of the Teen Titans deck to really be comfortable."

De Rosa 1 - Hunstad 0