Featured this round are two players that need very little introduction. Metagame.com writer Ben “Kergillian” Kalman has decided to play this Pro Circuit instead of doing his normal Metagame.com coverage gig. His opponent, Steve Horowitz, has several Vs. System accomplishments to his name and he’s here to compete in yet another Pro Circuit.

Both players drew their starting hands and looked them over carefully. “I’ll mulligan,” Ben said, as he threw his four cards on the bottom of his deck. Steve decided to keep his hand and the game started off with a turn 1 face-down resource from Ben with no recruit. Steve played a resource face-down and recruited Joystick to the front row. Play moved to the combat phase and Ben passed to Steve’s attack step. Steve attacked with Joystick playing Trial by Fire on Joystick from his hand for an ATK of 6.

Steve played a resource face-down and recruited Shape into the front row. He formatted with Shape in front of Joystick and passed. Ben played a resource and looked shocked to see that he hadn’t hit a 2-drop character and passed. Steve attacked with Shape, discarding Light Armor from his hand and followed closely by a discarded copy of Shape from his hand to power-up. Ben took the full brunt of the attack and Joystick soon followed up with an attack as well. “Missing my 2-drop was definitely not good,” Ben said as play moved onto the recovery phase.

It was Ben’s initiative going into turn 3. Ben played Enemy of My Enemy, discardingSolomon Grundy, Born on a Monday, and searched for a copy of Black Panther, King of Wakanda. He recruited Black Panther, King of Wakanda in the front row and searched out Mindtap Mechanism with his comes-into-play effect. Ben soon passed and Steve played Wild Ride searching for his own Black Panther, King of Wakanda, which he recruited, searching for an Atlantean Trident. He formatted with Black Panther, King of Wakanda and Shape in the front row, Black Panther protecting Joystick. Ben attacked with Black Panther into Shape, playing Shrink on his own attacker so he could avoid stunning back; Shape stunned from the attack and Ben then discarded Mikado and Mosha to stun Joystick. Steve passed with no attack and they both moved onto the recovery phase. Steve decided to keep Shape and play moved to turn 4.

Turn 4 saw Steve recruit Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace, Mikado and Mosha, and Electric Eve, all of whom he recruited to the front row. Steve formatted with everyone in the front row and passed to Ben's recruit step. Ben recruited Hawkeye, Clinton Barton in the support row and kept his formation with Black Panther in front of Hawkeye. Both players passed to the combat phase. Steve announced Melissa Gold into Hawkeye and, before the attack was legal, Ben decided to stun her with Hawkeye’s effect. Steve then attacked with his Black Panther into Ben’s Black Panther and the attack resolved with no effects and both players' Black Panther cards becoming stunned. Steve used Electric Eve’s evasion and the game continued into the recovery phase. Electric Eve automatically recovered, burning Ben for 1 endurance loss, and Steve chose to recover Black Panther.

Turn 5 came around with Ben discarding a card to return Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday from his KO’d Pile to his hand, recruiting him in the front row protecting Hawkeye, and passing. Steve played a resource face-down and used Answer the Call to search for a copy of Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke and recruited him into his front row. During his attack step Ben decided to attack with Solomon Grundy into Albert Gaines and, once the attack was declared legal, he flipped Mojoverse to get an extra +1 ATK/ +1 DEF. Ben then followed up with two copies of Resistance is Useless to get another +4 ATK and +4 DEF and the attack resolved with Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke stunning. Hawkeye then attacked into Black Panther and Ben activated Mojoverse to strip Hawkeye of his affiliations with Hawkeye becoming a 9ATK/6DEF for the attack. Steve had no effects and Black Panther became stunned. Steve decided to evade Electric Eve and passed his attack step. During the recover phase he decided to keep Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke and sent Black Panther to the KO’d pile.

Play moved to turn 6. Steve decided to recruit Ape X and used its effect to search for a copy of Thunder Jet. He equipped Thunder Jet to Nuke and formatted with both Ape X and Nuke in the front row with Nuke protecting Electric Eve. Ben flipped and activated Slaughter Swamp to bring his Black Panther, King of Wakanda back to his hand from the KO’d pile and then recruited Black Panther into his hidden area. Ben failed to search for an equipment card and passed to Steve’s attack step. Steve announced Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke into Hawkeye, Ben responded by activating Hawkeye to stun Ape X. Steve evaded Electric Eve in response and then flipped Trial by Fire and Flying Kick from his resource row onto Nuke to make him a total of 20 ATK. Ben resolved the attack from there and then said “That’s game.”

What a dramatic end to such a close match-up! The endurance totals at the end before that attack saw Steve at 11 endurance and Ben at 8 endurance.

Winner: Steve Horowitz