Marcus Kolb is a local. At 19 years old, he is a student. Maik Stich is 24. When asked what he does when not playing cards, he replied, “I do anything else? I’m involved in a lot of card games.”

Kolb won the roll and opted to begin with the initiative. Neither player played a 1-drop, and on turn 2, Kolb’s Sentinel Mark III swung at Stitch unopposed. It swung directly again on turn 3, this time accompanied by Sentinel Mark II. 

Stitch finally hit a drop, recruiting Sabretooth, Feral Rage on turn 4. It was met with a  Sentinel Mark V in return, and as the Sentinels gathered themselves into an L formation around the Mark V, Sabretooth plotted his attack.  Sabretooth leapt at the Mark II, and after some thought, Kold decided to take the breakthrough damage. However, he then decided not to attack with the Mark V, seeing that he’d be losing a character if he did.

Kolb recruited Nimrod on turn 5 and Stitch recruited Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr. Nimrod went after Magneto, but Stitch flipped Lost City and gave Magneto +3 ATK/+3 DEF. Kolb fired back with a Savage Beatdown, stunning Magneto and losing Nimrod’s counter. The remaining Sentinels then team-attacked Sabretooth, and Sabretooth was powered up in response. Insignificant Threat blew away the Sentinel Mark II. A second power-up was applied to Sabretooth, and after some thought, Kolb let the combat resolve. The Mark V was stunned and Sentinel Mark II was sent to the scrap heap.

Stitch recruited Mimic on turn 6, but Kolb recruited Bastion—the stage was set for a big purple hoedown. As combat began, Magneto exhausted the Mark V and then attacked Nimrod. Showing astounding flexibility for a robot, Nimrod Acrobatically Dodged to avoid the attack, but Savage Beatdown would again make the attack lethal to Nimrod. Kolb added Nasty Surprise to the chain and both characters were stunned. Sabretooth smashed into the Mark III, dealing a big chunk of damage via breakthrough. Mimic then attacked Bastion, and though Kolb powered him up, it wasn’t enough to save Bastion from the Savage Beatdown that Stitch chained . . . until he added Reconstruction Program to the chain and gave Bastion +1 ATK/+1 DEF five more times.

But Stitch still had another trick up his sleeve, activating yet another Savage Beatdown. Both characters stunned, and while Stitch opted to keep Mimic over Magneto, Kolb was left with just Bastion and the Mark V.

On turn 7, Kolb recruited Magneto, Master of Magnetism. “Somehow Sentinel decks always seem to draw turn-5 Nimrod, turn-6 Bastion, and turn-7 Magneto without any draw manipulation.  Fourth game today!” Stitch observed before recruiting Blob. Bastion charged at the immovable object, and Stitch took some time to think at this point. He only had three cards in his hand and KOLB had none. After a few moments of hesitation Stitch powered up the Blob with another copy from his hand, and the Mark V stunned. Magneto then took out Mimic. 

Kolb recruited a card on his turn 8 board, and suddenly it looked exactly the same as his turn 7 board: Bastion, Mark V, and Magneto. Stitch recruited his own Magneto, Master of Magnetism as well. He thought long and hard before sending Magneto after Bastion. Sentinel Mark V reinforced, and Kolb’s Magneto attacked Sabretooth to win the game.

Match Win: Marcus Kolb