Adam’s Round 16 opponent was Peter Sundholm, a great guy with a great accent, a great beard, and a great mullet. Both players had eleven wins and four losses and had won two games in their previous pods.
Peter won the die roll and chose the even initiative, an odd choice unless he was playing Revenge Squad and hoping to capitalize on Parasite and/or Lex Luthor, Power Armor.
Peter had to mulligan his opening hand, while Adam kept his hand of Big Barda, Scorn, I Hate Magic!, and Izaya ◊ Highfather.
On turn 1, Adam drew into Serifan and Back to Back before placing I Hate Magic! in the resource row and passing his recruit. Peter also passed, and they moved on to turn 2.
Adam pulled Devilance and Scorn off the top of his deck to begin the turn. Peter played Professor Emil Hamilton, and Adam cheered that his incoming Serifan would be able to keep his cosmic counter barring an unexpected play from Peter. As expected, neither player attacked.
On turn 3, Adam drew an Escape Artist that headed to the resource row, and an Eradicator, Soul of Krypton. Adam declared that he had a great play, and then he revealed that the play would be to not recruit a character. Peter said that he had a slightly better play and followed up by playing Mongal in his front row next to the Professor. Adam declined to attack, and Peter sent his Mongal after the little cowboy, clearing the way for the Professor to head straight for Adam. At the end of the turn, Peter was in the lead with the endurance totals at 47 - 50.
Turn 4 for Adam began with a draw of Superman, Clark Kent and Metropolis. He could not have gotten two better cards. Peter stayed on curve by playing Fastbak, who joined Mongal and the Professor in the front row. Adam placed his team-up in the resource row and recruited Superman to his support row behind Serifan. Peter thought about his play for a while before sending Mongal into Serifan. Adam teamed up the Gods with the super men and activated Superman to become the defender in place of the cowboy. Peter passed, allowing his character to become stunned, and then he sent Fastbak after Serifan. Now it was Adam’s turn to think for a while, trying to decide whether or not to use Escape Artist. He finally opted to use it, which led Peter to make a play that he later regretted. Peter readied Fastbak by removing his counter, giving him back a counter by using the Professor. Then he sent the fast one into Superman for a mutual stun. Peter had to lose Mongal, and the endurance totals were at 43 even.
On turn 5, Adam drew his second combat pump in the form of Female Furies. He also drew a copy of Fastbak. He placed the furious plot twist into the resource row and considered which character to play. He had Forager, Devilance, and Scorn. Scorn would have 11 DEF but an unimpressive ATK of 8. Forager was a strong 9 ATK and 9 DEF, and Devilance was, well, Devilance. Adam already had a 7-drop in the form of Eradicator, so he opted to play Devilance, who he put in the back row with Superman. Peter played Forager in front of the Professor, with Fastbak also in the front. Adam sent the super one into the fast one and passed to Peter, who thought about it for a while before discarding a Superman character to the Professor’s ability, giving Fastbak his counter back so he could force a mutual stun with Superman. Next, Adam had Devilance attack Forager, and Peter played Back to Back. Adam played Female Furies to KO Superman, telling Peter to “pitch the grip!” Instead, Peter flipped Fortress of Solitude, played another Back to Back, and powered-up Forager. Adam played I Hate Magic! on Forager, and finally Peter gave up and accepted the mutual stun. Devilance caused 2 breakthrough endurance loss and an additional 2 burn damage from his ability, putting Adam in the lead with 34 endurance to Peter’s 29. Both players kept their 5-drops (Peter still controlled the Professor) and moved on to turn 6.
Adam drew into Superman, Red and Izaya ◊ Highfather. Peter played Takion ◊ Highfather in front of Emil Hamilton, with Forager also in the front row. Adam said, “Going to 8 already?!? Woohoo!” Adam then thought about his play for a while, perhaps to give Peter false hope, before recruiting big, bad Big Barda, who he initially put in front of Devilance before reversing that formation.
It was Peter’s attack step first, and he had to think about it for a while. Peter would need a lot of pumps to hit Barda, and he probably would have to settle for beating down Devilance with Takion while taking 8 endurance on Forager from Big Barda. As I always said, your 6-drop had better be Barda or something that can remove her counter (usually, that’s Orion, True Son of Darkseid). Peter finally decided on attacking Devilance with Forager, and they both passed their way into a mutual stun. Adam led in endurance 28 -21 after Devilance’s burn. Peter thought about it for a while, and I wondered if he had the ATK pumps so Takion could take out Barda. If not, his play didn’t make much sense. Peter passed his attack, and I can only guess that he didn’t think that attack out as much as he should have. Adam sent Barda into Takion and paid half of his endurance for her effect. Peter could do nothing, so he took the damage. With endurance totals at 14 - 13 in Adam’s favor, and with Adam having Barda with cosmic plus the initiative the upcoming turn, things looked grim for Peter.
On turn 7, Adam drew into Cadmus Labs and Superman, Kal-El. He put the Labs in the resource row and thought about his play for a while. Adam finally decided that Superman, Red and Fastbak would be the optimal play, as they both have flight and he could power-up Superman three times with the Labs in play and the copy of him in his hand. Adam put all of his characters in the front row and passed to Peter, who played Lightray. Peter’s final formation consisted of Lightray in front of the Professor, with Takion also in the front row. Adam asked a judge to confirm that stunned characters can’t be protected (they can’t) and then sent Fastbak after the Professor, causing 6 damage to Peter. Adam then removed Fastbak’s counter to ready him and sent Superman and Fastbak into Takion with 14 total ATK. Peter took 6 more endurance loss and stunned back Fastbak. Adam exclaimed, “BOOM!” and sent Barda into Lightray. Peter activated Lightray prematurely, Adam paid half of his endurance with Barda’s ability, and Peter scooped and shook hands with Adam.
See how Adam drafted and built his winning deck by clicking here!