It was a cold, cold morning in LA . . .well, cold for California, anyway. And raining. Everyone got to experience this, as the Top 8 spent some quality time outside following the second fire alarm at Gen Con. Luckily, this one had the courtesy to happen before games were being played. On Day 1, the alarm forced all 270 players to leave their tables mid-game, which could have been a gigantic fiasco if not for the acumen of the tournament staff.
Ryan and Raymond chatted about their matchup. Raymond declared that his teammates had tested the decks thoroughly the night before, while Ryan admitted that he had just grabbed some food and hit the sack.
Yesterday, Ryan commented that he’d played the whole tournament at the top of the tables without getting a feature match. I informed him that the problem was that he was doing too well—he was virtually a lock for the Top 8 from the beginning of Day 2, winning fourteen straight matches—and that there was never a time when he was playing to make the cut. Sometimes, it’s possible to be doing too well for your own good. Next time, Ryan . . .
Raymond kept his strong mid-game Doom hand, with Faces of Doom and Reign of Terror, while Ryan mulliganed away two Garths. Ryan drew into Optitron, ensuring that the key sorcerer was not left buried. He ditched a Koriand’r ◊ Starfire for Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Moving into turn 2, Ryan recruited Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and pumped him up with Tamaran.
Raymond looked at his strong mid-game hand as Ryan dropped Arsenal, knowing that turn 4 would be very strong with double Reign.
Ryan, meanwhile, drew into his full compliment of locations, using the U.S.S. Argus to hunt up Terra. Raymond matched this with Dr. Doom, using a Mystical Paralysis and flipping it back down. The Reign began, and both of Ryan’s little guys left Latveria, while Raymond Faces of Doomed up two more copies of the good doctor—a Diabolic Genius and Victor Von Doom.
The scores at the end of turn 4 stood 50 to 40 in Ryan’s favor.
Locked under the Argus, Ryan watched as Raymond dropped a Robot Destroyer. He contemplated a moment, nine cards in hand, and then dropped Garth ◊ Tempest, placing him in front of the weaker Terra. Raymond Paralyzed Garth to slow the tempo of the game, not wanting to get into a character trade. Ryan attacked Terra into the Destroyer, flipping Titans’ Tower and ditching a card. Raymond quickly and smartly stunned her with the Destroyer, adding to his already impressive card advantage. Ryan knew he wasn’t producing enough damage in the early game, locked as he was under Raymond’s double-Paralysis.
At the end of turn 5, Ryan was ahead 46 to 35.
Ryan looked calmly at his hand before Optitroning for Red Star—clearly not the optimal play for his deck coming into turn 6. He boosted the Russian hero, knocking Raymond to 30. Raymond surveyed the board, flicking the 6-drop Doom, Sub-Mariner, and Gamma Bomb in his hand. He slid Boris into play. Then, he flipped up a second copy of Mystical Paralysis, exhausting Garth again with the Diabolic Genius before playing a second copy of him and resetting the potent defensive card. With both of Ryan’s attackers at the 4-drop level in easy range of the Destroyer, Raymond was setting the stage for his turn 8—the last turn before the Bomb would come online.
Raymond stunned Red Star, knowing he could not wait until the attack, and Ryan responded by playing Finishing Move, KO’ing the Robot. Terra came across at the adorable Manservant, but Dr. Doom had his man’s back and Ray only took 1.
The score was now 39 to 24, with Ryan in the lead.
Raymond was visibly relieved to be in the end-game, drawing into a Latveria that would simplify the whole equation. Namor came down hard as Raymond began moving with more confidence. If only he knew . . .
Ryan spent a while concentrating on his hand. He couldn’t match Namor, but he had some options. Paying 3 with Garth, he brought back Koriand’r and used another resource point on Red Star, knocking Ryan down to 19. The Sub-Mariner crashed into Garth, and between Tamaran and Titan’s Tower (with Connor Kent in hand), Ryan had enough to stun the big Atlantean. This forced a surprisingly good trade, considering the circumstances. Raymond debated Have a Blast!ing the Tower but didn’t—a choice that left his team vulnerable to attack from Ryan’s three remaining attackers. Red Star came in against Doom and was Paralyzed. Raymond activated Boris in response to an attack by Koriand’r, desperately searching for an out to his worsening situation. Finding nothing of consequence, he searched out a Faces and immediately used it to get 8-drop Doom.
Koriand’r crashed into Doom, but Raymond had Latveria, saving him the breakthrough. However, he was still vulnerable to Terra, and Ryan quickly flipped a Savage Beatdown. Raymond began to shuffle up.
Ryan 1, Raymond 0
The players moved quickly into game 2. Again, Raymond kept a solid hand while Ryan mulliganed away into Optitron. This time, Raymond’s hand was centered around the early game, and it looked like he would have the tools to deal with Ryan’s early Hawk/Dove combo. Raymond opened hostilities with a turn 2 Puppet Master.
I’d like to note that it’s funny when characters’ secret identities have names in common with their hero names. Like, what could these people possibly do with their lives—other than become criminals—with these traits? Phillip Masters? Nat Tryon? Harleen Quinzel?
Anyway, Raymond played out turn 3 Purple Man, which Ryan matched with Hawk and Dove.
Hawk moved to attack Purple Man with Tamaran backup, knocking Raymond to 46.
Ryan opened up turn 4 with Optitron, ditching Garth for Arsenal, who was recruited immediately and hidden behind Dove. Raymond flipped Doomstadt and played Faces, bringing the Diabolical Genius into play with the standard Paralyzing trick. Raymond Have a Blast!ed Optitron, then used Purple Man on Ryan’s third resource, which, unfortunately for him, was another Optitron. Puppet Master slowed things down, but Ryan still struck with Hawk, bringing Raymond to 42.
Turn 5 was Raymond’s, but he lacked a strong drop and spent a while pondering. His earlier confidence had diminished slightly as he was forced to play down a Robot Sentry instead of its significantly larger cousin. Raymond got tricky, using Puppet Master before Swift Escaping him and bringing him back for a double-tap.
I started thinking of the scene in Ed Wood, when Bela Lugosi starts shouting, “Pull the strings! Pull the strings!” Because, see, he’s the Puppet Master . . . forget it.
Ryan dropped Garth—his only attacker for the turn—as Raymond Purple Man’d into an Overload. Practically useless for Ryan in this matchup, it could prove worrisome for him on the other side of the table. Garth just crushed Purple Man. Ryan Tamaran’d him, revealing a Savage Beatdown. He returned it to his hand, forgetting that Dr. Doom was in the room, preventing plot twists from being played from hand. The score at the end of turn 5 was 47 to 33 in Ryan’s favor.
Optitron called up Russia’s finest, Red Star, who came out singing. Ryan’s growing team was almost perfectly matched by Raymond’s weaker defensive group. Just as in game 1, Raymond’s hand was incredible for turns 7-9 . . . but would he live long enough to get there?
He dropped his sixth resource and paralyzed Arsenal, then flipped up Faces of Doom, searching out another 4-drop. Then the exhausting began, as Raymond froze out most of Ryan’s turn and Purple Man’d another resource. Ryan tagged Raymond with Red Star, but then lost Garth to Paralysis. Ryan, without attackers, could do nothing but activate Garth. Now it was 44 to 28 in Ryan’s favor.
Turn 7 saw Doom’s old pal, Namor, on the up and up. Raymond looked at a board he should dominate.
Ryan Optitron’d Cassie Sandsmark, recruited her, and fired off Red Star again, pushing all of his guys forward in respect to the Sub-Mariner. Purple Man went after Dove to start the attack, knocking down the obvious Puppet Master choice. Ryan, visibly concerned over the situation, forgot to pump Arsenal, though it’s unclear how much impact that might have, considering Raymond’s board of minor characters and one gigantic dude that Harper could not touch. Raymond Sentry’d Hawk, and Ryan pumped Arsenal.
Then, things started rolling. Doom came after Arsenal, who needed two pumps to take him down, thanks to Doomstadt. There are definitely advantages to having your own castle, and that was one of them. Rather than losing his chance to counterattack, Ryan just let Doom have his way. Namor then paid a visit to Red Star in a crushing blow. Raymond had only the Puppet Master to knock down Garth, leaving Ryan with Cassie to bash back on Puppet Master. Ryan had a lot of options, but he had to be wary of his stolen Overload. He Titan’s Towered and Tamaran’d the Wonder Girl up to 15 ATK/9 DEF. Raymond responded with Faces from his hand for the 8-drop Doom. In desperation, Raymond Have a Blast!ed His own Doomstadt, looking for a Swift Escape, but found only another Paralysis. The score was 18 to 8.
Turn 8 began with both players knowing it would be the end. Ryan had now seen 8-drop Doom and was planning for it, but he did not know that Raymond had Apocalypse lurking in his hand (not to mention the freshly replaced Mystical Paralysis). Ryan dropped Arsenal, to which Raymond responded by exhausting Hawk, Red Star, and Cassie, diminishing the sharpshooter’s effectiveness. Raymond looked at his ready Gamma Bomb . . . but planning for the next turn was moot. Ryan shot him with Red Star again, bringing him to 3. Virtually any stun on his side would end the game, and Ryan would be able to fire off Red Star again before any Bomb could resolve. Ryan added a Tim Drake to the mix, but was not looking especially strong offensively, with only 15 points of ATK on ready characters. The scores stood at a tense 18-3 as both players analyzed the board in silence.
After three solid minutes of contemplation and a quick rules clarification from Alex Charsky, Raymond played the Lord of Latveria. If he had played out Apocalypse, he could have shut down any chance for Ryan to mount an offense (by KO’ing Titan’s Tower and Tamaran), but the Doctor had a different plan—probably one involving Raymond playing his 75th Mystical Paralysis of the game. Raymond decided against it, and instead Have a Blast!ed the Tower, then Purple Man’d a Foiled! before letting the attack resolve. Namor went down, trading with Arsenal and putting Raymond into the negatives. Ryan played Press the Attack with Red Star and played Teen Titans Go!
It should be noted that, had Raymond dropped Apocalypse instead of Doom 8, Ryan would have been locked out of the Savage Beatdown he used to stun Namor, as well as the Press the Attack and Teen Titans Go! that brought his team back online. Now, Raymond was facing an almost impossible situation, as each of Ryan’s attacks required him to make up more ground with just Dr. Doom. He Finishing Moved Namor, then Pressed and Teen Titans Went! again. Raymond, looking at a mountain more damage, extended the hand.
In a match that could have gone either way, Raymond seemed to have the advantage going into each late game. Because of his choices, he pushed himself into increasingly deadly circumstances that him to drop two straight.
Ryan 2, Raymond 0.