“Good luck, Craig.”

 

“I hope I have good luck also.”

 

Both of these players have had somewhat inauspicious starts. Sitting at 1-2 records, both of them had to mulligan. Spears threw back three copies of Sentinel Mark V and a copy of Reconstruction Program. Sooner or later, one of them would surely be due for a little luck.

 

On turn 1, Craig had Boliver Trask, who fetched Hounds of Ahab. Meanwhile, “Smiling Dave” was not smiling, as he didn't have a recruit. His Boliver Trask came a turn too late and fetched Sentinel Mark V. For Krempels, turn 2 saw Hounds of Ahab.

 

Krempels attacked with Boliver into his twin with the help of Mojoverse. An Acrobatic Dodge stopped those shenanigans though, and the Hounds were forced to try again.

 

On turn 3, both players had Sentinel Mark II, and Dave's ran straight into Boliver Trask, doing a little breakthrough in the process. Krempels had no attacks, but in the recovery step, he flipped Micro-Sentinels, which dealt with his opponent's Boliver Trask.

 

Both players had copies of Sentinel Mark V on turn 4, but Krempels had the more complete board to back his up. He attacked his Mark II into his opponent's, getting a trade. Then, he sent his Sentinel Mark V at its doppelganger with a little help from Mojoverse. Dave had a Nasty Surprise to keep Krempels honest, plus he had Flame Trap to even up the board positions. When the dust settled, each player had only a copy of Sentinel Mark V in play.

 

Turn 5 brought out Nimrod for Spears, who had the initiative and an endurance lead (40 to 36). Krempels mirrored the recruit and setup, putting the big guy out front. Dave's Nimrod attacked Sentinel Mark V successfully, and then his Sentinel Mark V attacked Craig's Nimrod with a little help from Savage Beatdown. That got rid of the counter on Krempels's robot and did a little breakthrough.

 

Turn 6 brought out Bastion for Krempels, while Spears had a signed copy of Master Mold and a little frown.

 

“Do I or do I not activate him?” wondered Spears aloud.

 

Krempels didn't have an answer for him, and Spears took the silence to be a suggestion of the negative. He agreed.

 

Krempels's Nimrod attacked Spears's copy, who got powered-up. A couple of Bastion pumps for Krempels's character were enough to keep things honest. When Bastion attacked Master Mold with a pump or two, the board looked in Krempels's favor. His Sentinel Mark V attacked the Realmworx copy, and with the help of a pump, he took him down. Krempels then used Reconstruction Program and passed.

 

On turn 7, Spears had Magneto, Master of Magnetism and used two copies of Genosha. Even all this card drawing wasn't enough to put the smile back on his face though. Master Mold filled out his board a little further with a copy of Sentinel Mark V.

 

Krempels didn't have Magneto, Master of Magnetism, so instead he went for Boliver Trask to fetch a copy of Sentinel Mark V, who was duly boosted. Neither player was especially happy with his situation. Spears attacked Bastion with Sentinel Mark V and Nimrod, declaring that “this could be awful.” As it turned out, it was fine for the Realmworx player, as the attack stunned Bastion without incident.

 

Next up, Magneto, Master of Magnetism decided to pile in, but there wasn't a weak link in Krempels's formation to exploit, so Magneto could only do 4 endurance loss when he attacked into the boosted Sentinel Mark V.

 

Krempels struck back with a team attack against Magneto with Nimrod and an unboosted copy of Sentinel Mark V. Magneto was stunned.

 

After his draw on turn 8, Krempels admitted defeat, as his big characters failed to come out to play.

 

“I'll be so glad when Green Lantern is legal and the Green Lanterns destroy these robots,” Dave Spears was heard saying.

 

Dave Spears wins.