After Round 1 victories, these two competitors squared off in search of a 2-0 start to PC NY. Carl Perlas is a member of team Realmworx and has a long history of success, including a second place finish at $10K Origins and a tenth place finish at $10K So Cal. Matt Oldaker is a famed deckbuilder whose team is responsible for the infamous Evil Medical School. He came to this PC with another crazy creation that uses five teams!

 

Take a look at this exciting creation at work. Matt won the coin flip and chose the even initiative. Both players mulliganed their opening hands and play began. Turn 1 saw Matt play an Alfred. On turn 2, Matt jovially mocked his opponent by asking, “What should I play this turn?”

 

“Nothing?”

 

“Not quite.” Matt played Dagger and flipped Midnight Sons naming Gotham Knights. Alfred excitedly jumped up and fetched a Bat-Signal and got replayed. Carl once again played nothing and took 1 from Dagger. On turn 3, Carl decided that his plan of not playing any characters seemed like it was working well, so he continued with it. Matt used Alfred for a Doop/Wolverine art Marvel Team-Up, replayed Alfred, and dropped Commissioner Gordon. On turn 4, Doom came down and Bat-Signal was used in response to Doom's come into play effect. The Bat-Signal met with a Not So Fast but got flipped face down, ready for another use.

 

Carl finally changed strategies and played his first character of the match—a mighty Sabretooth, Feral Rage. In the combat phase, Matt may have been the first person in Pro Circuit history to say, “I guess I'll team attack Sabretooth with Alfred, Dagger, and Dr. Doom.” Carl took this opportunity to try for a reversal. He flipped Lost City and powered up with the 6-drop Sabretooth. Matt responded with a power-up of his own. Avalon Space Station brought another power-up for Sabretooth, letting him stun Doom and stay ready for an attack.

 

Sabretooth swung back into Alfred with a Savage Beatdown for a massive 16 breakthrough, bringing the endurance totals to 46-30 in Carl's favor and sending Alfred to the KO pile. This massive turn-around represented a huge mistake on Matt's part. Matt risked nothing by letting Sabretooth attack into a reinforced 1-cost character and had little to gain from a successful attack, since his strategy revolves around a powerful endgame and not a damage race.

 

On turn 5, Carl recruited Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff. In response, Matt returned Dagger to hand and discarded her for another copy of Midnight Sons. Scarlet Witch is a huge threat against Matt's deck, which is filled with activated character abilities, and the extra 20 damage Matt took on turn 4 only added to the threat. Scarlet Witch took up position behind Sabretooth. Matt flipped Midnight Sons naming—and I am not making this up—Darkseid's Elite, followed by another use of Bat-Signal. “You can't Not so Fast this one since you have to see what I get.” Carl agreed and let the plot twist resolve. Matt revealed a Glorious Godfrey, prompting Carl to chuckle. “You know what, if I lose this game, at least it's not to Curve Sentinels.”

 

Godfrey took up a position protecting Doom. Gordon sat in the support row next to Doom. Godfrey tapped Sabretooth, dealing 4 to Carl but 5 to Matt from Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch attacked Glorious Godfrey, who got reinforced by Doctor Doom. The Score was 42-20.

 

Believe it or not, another Midnight Sons got flipped on turn 6 naming Fearsome Five! (That is the fourth team-up, for those keeping track at home.) A Wild Ride fetched Shimmer, which got recruited along with Boris and Lacuna. Another Ride fetched Micro-Chip, which joined the team. Those two Wild Rides brought Matt down to a lowly 17 endurance. Scarlet Witch was clearly a huge threat against his board full of good activated powers. Carl recruited a Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin in front of Scarlet Witch, who joined Sabretooth in the front row. Shimmer exhausted Carl's team at a cost of another 5 endurance. Avalon Space Station kept Matt's hand full, but he was clearly still looking for something at the start of the next draw.

 

Carl: “Come on, baby!”

Carl didn't get what he was looking for on turn 7 and couldn't make another unique drop for the turn, so Sabretooth got upgraded to the 6-drop in the same formation as last turn. No one knew what character Matt would recruit next, since his deck seemed to have every possible team and character. Micro-Chip turned down Bat-Signal (taking another 5 from Scarlet Witch), which got used. Carl tried to stop with Not so Fast, but a Fizzle trumped that exchange and Dr. Light joined the fray.

 

Dr. Light stunned Scarlet Witch, forcing both players to take 5 and bringing the score down to 37-2. Freed from the Witch's power, Boris fetched Mystical Paralysis, followed by another Boris. Doom paralyzed Sabretooth. Lacuna did her thing and fetched Matt his fifth team-up.

 

Now the crowd began to form in earnest around the feature match area.

 

Spectator: “Wow, I want to watch these guys, they are doing something crazy?”

 

Yes they were—Press the Attack readied Dr. Light who stunned Mystique, brining the endurance totals to 31-2 and leaving Carl with no attackers and only an Avalon Space Station activation left for the turn.

 

On turn 8, Matt had Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria replace its smaller counterpart, causing Carl to ask, “Is infinite Press coming?” Matt replied, “That's the plan.” This banter, however, made Matt forget to flip any cards down with the good doctor. I don't know if Carl did that on purpose, but either way, this play illustrates the importance of keeping focused in high-pressure matches. Magneto, Master of Magnetism showed up a turn late for Carl and took up position in front of Scarlet Witch. Sabretooth dropped to the support row. Shimmer activated, exhausting Carl's team and bringing Matt to -3. Doom attacked Sabretooth and brought back Press. A Genosha activation followed by an agonized, “Please, for god's sake, do something for me!” left Carl without answers. Sabretooth got stunned by Doom. Dr. Light exhausted to stun Scarlet Witch, and Lacuna did her thing again, conveniently bringing the number of non-stunned exhausted characters to four. The Press combo began and Doom swung into Magneto. If Matt had drawn even one other copy of Magneto, he would have been able to use two Avalon Space Stations to stun back Doom and have a chance to win. But alas, it was not to be, and infinite breakthrough spelled Doom for Carl.