This was one match that I couldn't miss. I interviewed Jonathan a little earlier and I really want to see his four-affiliation deck in action.

 

Earl won the die roll and opted for the odd initiative. Big mistake—Jonathan told me earlier that he has problems mainly when opponents chose to go with the even initiative.

 

Earl sent his first hand back and proceeds to miss his drops for the first 2 turns. On the other hand, Jonathan had Dagger on turn 2. “She's one turn late,” he griped under his breath. Earl recruited Suicide on turn 3, while Cardiac, who promptly hid behind Dagger's skirts to minimize breakthrough endurance loss, came through for Jonathan.

 

Turn 4 saw Moon Knight recruited on Jonathan's side while Dagger and Cardiac stood in support. Earl recruited Centurious, who then protected Cardiac.

 

Moon Knight swung into Centurious, who was reinforced by Suicide, and both stun. Meanwhile there was a Coalition of Heroes on Jonathan's side, after which Dagger returned to Jonathan's hand and was prompted discarded for Midnight Sons.

 

Earl under-dropped on turn 5, managing only Orb and Blackout, while Jonathan flipped the tutored Midnight Sons, naming Underworld, and recruited Blade.

 

Earl proposed an attack of Blackout on Moon Knight, and Jonathan responded to by activating Cardiac to stun Orb. He then allowed the attack and the two characters are stunned. Centurious concluded the attack step with a Flying Kick into Blade for another double stun.

 

As the dust cleared, Jonathan was left with Cardiac and Blade, while Earl has Suicide and Centurious. Both players are still at 35 endurance each.

 

Turn 6 was Jonathan's, and he began with Weapon of Choice for Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly and Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, discarding two of the earlier drops. Earls allowed him to keep Scarlet Spider, forcing Jonathan to Wild Ride for the web-slinger. Jonathan played Spider-Man, and Earl played Blackheart.

 

In the combat phase, Cardiac took on Suicide, forcing a double stun upon which Spider-Man webbed all of Earl's characters sideways. Jonathan then swung Blade into the exhausted Centurious, in hopes of gaining card advantage, but Earl had the power-up and Strength of the Grave to force the mutual stun.

 

During recovery, Earl discarded two cards to keep Suicide around, thereby pulling ahead of Jonathan in terms of board position.

 

Turn 7 was Earl's, but it might as well have been Jonathan's. Earl missed his turn drop and only Blackout managed a reappearance. Jonathan played Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man and exhausted all of Earl's characters. He proceeded to flip Midnight Sons, naming X-Men, and then played Bamf!

 

Jonathan made a couple of token attacks before Earl acknowledged the futility of his struggle and conceded the game.