You can’t script a story like this. Jose Maria Aramburu’s KO’d pile recursion deck is the talk of the tournament. He went from “Did you see the crazy deck?” comments to “Can I get a complete list today?”
Across the table sits Raul Gonzalez and his trusty Evil Medical School. Not only did he reach the finals, but he also helped run the Spanish coverage I mentioned earlier. In fact, he woke up at 6am to help set up a concession stand for the tournament.
In the end, it will come down to a fight for the big guns. Mephisto, Soulstealer’s ability is particularly useful against a boosted Dr. Light, Arthur Light, and all of the Evil exhausting characters might just be enough to contain Aramburu’s monsters.
Raul: “Can I take one of these cool playmates instead of the cup if I win?”
Although he had his locations in his opening hand, Aramburu didn’t seem too happy about it. By turn 2, Gonzalez already had out Boris and Alfred Pennyworth.
On turn 3, Jose Maria played Brother Voodoo, Jericho Drumm. He tried to play Midnight Sons, but Have a Blast! shot that plan down.
Raul went about building his defensive wall, using a turn 4 Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius to turn down Have a Blast!. Aramburu dropped his usual Centurious. Dr. Doom attacked Brother Voodoo, but things didn’t work out and Gonzalez was forced to find Reign of Terror to bail out Doom.
Dr. Doom won back some respect by stunning Centurious so that GCPD Officer could ice it with Finishing Move. Aramburu tried to Wake the Dead for help, but Raul had a Fizzle for it.
A Marvel Team-Up joined the Gotham Knights and Doom teams, giving Raul Gonzalez half of his puzzle. With no character in play, Jose Maria rebuilt with Centurious and Dagger.
Dr. Doom got himself a Power Compressor, shutting down some of Aramburu’s tricks. Jose Maria tried another Midnight Sons and got stopped by the same Have a Blast!. Still, he used Wild Ride to fetch Luke Cage, Power Man.
Obviously, that was his turn 6 play, but it was overshadowed by Gonzalez’s second Doctor—Dr. Light, Arthur Light. Gonzalez decided not to attack, so Jose Maria got a chance.
He wanted to attack with Luke Cage, Power Man, but Raul fetched out Mystical Paralysis to exhaust it. Centurious brought down Dr. Doom. Aramburu went into overdrive, using Wild Ride to get Dagger and Dagger to get Midnight Sons, and then fishing Varnae, First Vampire out of his KO’d pile.
Raul: “That’s big.”
Jose Maria: “After turn 4, that’s all I do—play fat guys.”
Down came the beast, and the extremely tired Raul Gonzalez leaned back to ponder his options. He discarded Psimon to play The Underworld Star, to find Boris, to fetch Mystical Paralysis. Clearly, he was having trouble containing Aramburu’s crew.
Mystical Paralysis kept Varnae in check, but Jose Maria Aramburu was in no mood to slow down. He revealed Lost City and pumped Luke Cage, Power Man to near-Imperiex proportions.
Raul: “This is my turn now, the good turn.”
Jose Maria: “You’d better do something special.”
He used Alfred Pennyworth to find another Mystical Paralysis, and used that before replacing his Dr. Doom with Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria. Aramburu smiled and played Dr. Strange with boost.
Raul Gonzalez read it and laughed. He was reduced to Dr. Doom, while Aramburu had several huge characters. Moving everyone to the hidden area would basically result in direct hits, at that was a game that Raul Gonzalez couldn’t play. He scooped.
Gonzalez started the second game with Alfred Pennyworth and GCPD Officer before Jose Maria played his first character, Steel Wind. He followed that with the perfect play for turn 3, Brother Voodoo.
The overworked Alfred Pennyworth fetched Mystical Paralysis and Reign of Terror, and then rejoined the table along with Boris and a second GCPD Officer. Aramburu’s crew attacked to send away one Officer.
Then came turn 4, when Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius entered the game. Aramburu revealed a second Midnight Sons to link everyone up and used Avalon Space Station to refill his hand. Satisfied, he played Moon Knight.
Raul: “So . . . on your turn he’s a normal guy, and on my turn he’s huge?”
Jose Maria: “Something like that.”
Raul: “Man, Marvel Knights is such an amazing set.”
After Aramburu took down another Officer, Gonzalez played two Reign Of Terrors to bounce the Jose Maria’s little guys. Avalon Space Station brought up Mephisto, Soulstealer.
Raul: “That’s why they call the deck The Brotherhood of Mephisto?”
Jose Maria: “I guess so.”
In came Mephisto, Soulstealer, and Gonzalez checked the KO’d piles twice. He then used Mystical Paralysis on Mephisto, aimed Have a Blast! at Avalon Space Station, and played another Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius to hide Have a Blast! once again.
Losing his Station and knowing that he would certainly lose the next one (already in his resource row) didn’t shake Jose Maria Aramburu. He quickly revealed the next one and used it while Raul Gonzalez loudly proclaimed how unfair it was.
He dropped Shimmer, which forced Aramburu to change plans. He dropped all the characters he could with his 6 resource points, trying to outrun the exhausting machine.
Gonzalez had the necessary Marvel Team-Up, and Jose Maria was reduced to using Brother Voodoo and Avalon Space Station to refill his hand. On turn 7, the usual Varnae, First Vampire joined the fray.
To stop it, Dr. Light, Arthur Light showed up, immediately stunning Mephisto. A few searches later, he fired Press the Attack to prepare the Dr. Light again, and struck down another character.
Brother Voodoo attacked Dr. Doom, and Gonzalez tried to stop Lost City with the usual Have a Blast!. Jose Maria was ready with another Lost City. The Evil Genius got stunned.
Jose Maria pressed on with his attack, and despite two Fizzles, he eventually managed to get rid of Dr. Doom and an Officer. He now had five characters to Gonzalez’s three. Raul needed help.
He got it in the huge, scary shape of Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria that would flip back four resources. Aramburu stopped him to answer with Have a Blast! on one of the Marvel Team-Ups. Dr. Doom only flip back one Have a Blast!.
Then Jose Maria dropped the bomb—Dr. Strange with boost. All of Gonzalez’s characters ran to hidden area, and Aramburu left only his Varnae in the visible area. Raul went through the motions, but he was clearly outmatched at this point.
He stunned one with Dr. Light and exhausted two with Shimmer, but the crowd could feel the end coming. Everyone stood up. Dr. Doom smashed into Varnae and got prepared with Press the Attack.
Nervously, he did the math and figured his 35 resistance were not enough to withstand a 37 ATK/5 DEF Mephisto and the 15 ATK/15 DEF Dr. Strange.
Jose Maria Aramburu is the winner of $10K Madrid!