The round 15 feature match between Michael Dalton and Anthony Justice began quietly, with both players shuffling their cards in uninterrupted silence. Eventually, Justice broke it, fishing out a penny and offering Dalton the choice of heads or tails. Justice won the toss and elected to take the odd initiatives.
Justice was content to keep his first four. Dalton on the other hand, shipped his opening hand in the hopes of finding some early drops.
On turn 1, both players laid resources and passed without recruits. Turn 2 began with a topdeck (the first of several in the game) for the formerly–2-dropless Dalton: a Copperhead. He recruited the snake with boost and pushed him forward into the front row. Justice had no play and took 3 to the face (Justice 47, Dalton 50).
On the third turn, Justice recruited Captain Cold onto his empty board and passed. Continuing the Secret Society trend, Dalton recruited Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue and placed him in the front row protecting Copperhead. Justice’s Captain Cold attacked Floronic Man, Copperhead reinforced, and both players took 3 (Justice 44, Dalton 47).
Both players stayed on curve for turn 4. Dalton recruited Henry King ◊ Brainwave, Sinister Psionic, and Justice played a Hector Hammond, Mind Over Matter, which he placed in front of Captain Cold. Floronic Man and Copperhead came in on Hector Hammond, and with the help of a newly flipped Gorilla City, the pair of attackers were able to take down the 4-drop (Justice 40, Dalton 44). Dalton attacked Captain Cold with Henry King; Justice had no effects and took 6 (Justice 34, 44). During the recovery phase, Justice flipped Slaughter Swamp and discarded The Wizard to return a JLI 3-drop in Dalton’s KO’d pile to his hand—Justice was trying to keep his Secret Society opponent from accruing a critical mass of cards in his KO’d pile.
On turn 5, Justice had the uncommon bomb Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz, which he recruited into the hidden area. Dalton recruited yet another Secret Society character—Darkseid, Heart of Darkness—equipping the evil tyrant with an Nth Metal. He formed with Copperhead and Henry King in the front row protecting Darkseid and Floronic Man, respectively. With his first attack, Justice sent Hector into Copperhead, with Dalton promptly evading the 1-drop (Justice 33, Dalton 43). Next, Martian Manhunter attacked Henry King. Dalton flipped With Prejudice to try to force the stun, but he failed to reveal any Secret Society characters. The whiff did put Power Girl and Captain Marvel, Billy Batson into Dalton’s KO’d pile. Undaunted, Dalton KO’d his stunned Copperhead with Darkseid’s ability to give J’onn J’onzz -1 DEF. Justice then flipped Satellite HQ and gave his Martian Manhunter +4 DEF. Dalton reinforced with Floronic Man and took 4 (Justice 33, Dalton 39).
Justice then declared an attack on Floronic Man with Hector Hammond. In response, Dalton KO’d the 3-drop to return the Power Girl in his KO’d pile to his hand. Faced with the prospect of attacking a soon-to-be 11 ATK/10 DEF Darkseid, Justice passed. Dalton, however, had no qualms about attacking and brought Darkseid in on the hapless psychic. After an Nth Metal trigger and a Gorilla City activation, the 5-drop came in for 12. Justice declined to move his Martian Manhunter for reinforcement purposes and took 7 (Justice 26, Dalton 39).
During recovery, Justice activated Slaughter Swamp, discarding another copy of The Wizard, to return another JLI 3-drop to Dalton’s hand.
On turn 6, Dalton recruited the aforementioned Power Girl in the front row, protecting Darkseid. Henry King stayed in the support row next to the leader character so that Dalton could sacrifice him for -4 DEF if he needed a little extra firepower. Justice recruited Gorilla Grodd in the front row, one column over from Hector Hammond. Hammond remained in the support row, leaving a nice hole for Martian Manhunter to slide (fly?) into at a moment’s notice.
The appearance of the simian kleptomaniac put Dalton into the think tank. In an attempt to keep Gorilla Grodd from monkeying around with his attacks, Dalton attacked the ape first, sending Power Girl into the 6-drop. Justice paid 2 endurance (Justice 24, Dalton 39) to move Martian Manhunter in front of Hector Hammond, making his Gorilla Grodd 15 ATK / 12 DEF. Power Girl’s 14 ATK was enough to take down the monkey, and both players took 6 (Justice 18, Dalton 33).
Dalton’s Darkseid then came in on the Martian for 11 (after Nth Metal triggered). Justice flipped Wall of Will and exhausted Martian Manhunter to give himself +4 DEF, losing 3 endurance in the process (Justice 15, Dalton 33). Dalton exhausted Henry King, flipping Death Trap to return Gorilla Grodd to his owner’s hand, and then KO’d the 4-drop to give the Manhunter -4 DEF. Justice flipped over Funky’s Big Rat Code, teaming up Secret Society and JLA, and exhausted Hector Hammond to reinforce (Justice 10, Dalton 33).
At the start of the recovery phase, Justice activated his Slaughter Swamp, discarding a character to return a Zauriel to Dalton’s hand. Dalton, with no 7-drops in hand and one already in the KO’d pile, flipped over a Vicarious Living, discarding a 3-drop, in the hopes of thinning his deck.
Justice began the seventh turn by recruiting Wonder Woman, Princess Diana in the front row, protecting Hector Hammond and standing alongside Martian Manhunter. Dalton’s deck-thinning paid off, as he ripped Solomon Grundy, Buried on Sunday. He recruited the 7-drop in the front row, protecting Darkseid. Power Girl, her cosmic counter gone, hung out in the support row next to the 5-drop. For his first attack, Justice sent Martian Manhunter and Hector Hammond into Solomon Grundy. Wonder Woman’s ability triggered, powering-up the two team attackers, which in turn triggered Hector’s ability. Justice targeted Dalton’s Darkseid, which the latter moved out from behind Solomon to the other side of Power Girl. At this point, the team attackers were coming in for 17; Dalton had no effects and chose to stun back the Manhunter (Justice 5, Dalton 26).
Wonder Woman then attacked Darkseid. Dalton declined to KO his Power Girl to try to force the stun (Justice still had a ready Satellite HQ). Instead, he flipped Justice League Task Force, teaming up Secret Society and JLI, and attempted to reinforce. In response, Justice flipped Teleport Tube, readying Wonder Woman and allowing her to crash back into Darkseid for the full amount (Justice 5, Dalton 15).
During the recovery phase, Justice activated Slaughter Swamp yet again, returning Bluejay to Dalton’s hand.
On turn 8, Dalton recruited Metamorpho and the Bluejay Justice had given him the turn before. Justice could only chuckle, conceding that “you’re destined to pick one wrong sometime, I guess.” Dalton responded with a chuckle of his own before putting Power Girl and Solomon Grundy in the front row, with the latter protecting the shape changer. Bluejay hid out in the hidden area.
Justice re-recruited Gorilla Grodd, and with Slaughter Swamp’s readying trigger on the chain, he discarded a character to return Darkseid to Dalton’s hand. Justice formed with Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter in the front row protecting Hector Hammond and Gorilla Grodd, respectively.
Dalton’s first attack—Metamorpho into Gorilla Grodd—triggered Wonder Woman’s ability, which triggered Hector Hammond’s ally ability. Justice targeted his own Martian Manhunter, moving the big green man to the support row flanking Gorilla Grodd. Justice then activated his ape’s leader ability, sacrificing Wonder Woman to take control of the attacking 6-drop, which he then placed in front of his Hector Hammond.
Dalton thought for a moment and then declared an attack on Martian Manhunter with Power Girl. Before the attack was legal, Justice paid 2 endurance to move J’onn J’onzz to the hidden area (Justice 3, Dalton 15). Power Girl then flew over Metamorpho to attack Hector Hammond. Justice used Shake It Off to soak up an endurance point. The power-up triggered Hector’s ability, and Justice moved Metamorpho so that he was in front of Gorilla Grodd. Hector stunned, and Justice took 6 (Justice -3, Dalton 15).
Dalton then went for the kill, flipping over Air Strike and replacing an unused Reform the League to give his Solomon Grundy +4 ATK and flight. Grundy crashed into Gorilla Grodd, and, after a Gorilla City activation, Justice took 14 from the 20 ATK monster (Justice -17, Dalton 15).
Faced with a 32-point endurance deficit, Justice conceded without making any attacks.
Michael Dalton wins!
Throughout the game, Justice’s repeated activations of Slaughter Swamp kept Dalton’s hand full of useless characters. At the end of the match, Dalton admitted that he probably should’ve been playing those characters into his resource row and playing his plot twists from hand in order to fill up his KO’d pile. Like any great player, Dalton was quick to recognize and admit his error, and I have no doubt that he will not make the same mistake again.