Scott Hunstad is the leader of the Australians, known for his Metagame articles and for his Top 8 finish at PC Amsterdam. T.J. likes to be known as the captain of the Deck Tech team. Both players seemed to have tested a good amount for this event. They focused their testing at drafting Avengers. They feel that the format is very skill-intensive, and since only six wins are needed to make Day 2, they felt that their time was best spent learning the intricacies of Avengers draft.
Scott won the flip and decided to take odds.
Turn 1 was pretty uneventful, with Scott playing Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer and T.J. following it up with Boliver Trask, searching for Hounds of Ahab. At the end of combat, Scott sat at 49 endurance to T.J.’s 48.
Turn 2: T.J. recruited Hounds of Ahab, and Scott played Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. T.J. put both his characters in the front row, while Scott’s Paul Ebersol hid behind Melissa Gold. T.J. sent his team into Melissa Gold, bringing the endurance totals to 47-47, and Scott attacked back with Paul Ebersol directly at T.J.
Turn 3: On Scott's initiative, he recruited Beetle, Armorsmith, discarding Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird and searching for Dallas Riordan. Scott formed up with Melissa Gold and Beetle in the front, and Dallas and Fixer behind them in the support row. T.J. recruited Sentinel Mark II and put both of his visible characters in the support row. Beetle attacked Boliver Trask, and T.J. reinforced and had a Nasty Surprise to get the double stun. Next, Melissa Gold went after the Sentinel Mark II, and finally, Fixer hit T.J. right in the face, with Scott flipping Faces of Evil to do an extra point of endurance loss. Hounds of Ahab attacked back into poor, defenseless Dallas Riordan, bringing the endurance totals to Scott 41 and T.J. 35.
Turn 4: T.J. simply hit his curve, playing a Sentinel Mark V. Before recruiting, Scott decided to give himself more options by activating Dallas Riordan. He drew a Null Time Zone off the top, and then thought for a while about what to recruit. The Australians’ plan against Flame Trap was coming together for Scott—on their initiative, they have Fixer in play, and during the off-initiative turns, they Null Time Zone opposing Flame Traps.
Scott finally decided to play Mystic Summons for Heinrich Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo. Scott then played Null Time Zone on Flame Trap before his formation, and T.J. came back with a Null Time Zone on Cover Fire—too bad for T.J. that the Australians don't even have Cover Fire in their decks. T.J. sent his Sentinel Mark V into Heinrich Zemo and then had Sentinel Mark II take down Fixer. Finally, he attacked with his Hounds of Ahab into Dallas Riordan. At the end of turn 4, both players stood at 31 endurance. T.J. had all three of his characters left, and poor Scott was left with only the lonely Heinrich Zemo.
Turn 5: This was the turn where Scott had to make his move, as it was the last one before T.J. would start recruiting Bastion and Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Scott played Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern and searched out Hard Sound Construct, and then some confusion occurred. T.J. wanted to Null Time Zone after Scott revealed the Hard Sound Construct, but the rules state that once you have revealed what you search for with Kyle, his effect has resolved, and the player who played it would regain priority. Scott regained priority and played Hard Sound Construct for Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. The Australian then recruited Speed Demon and played another Hard Sound Construct for Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird. Scott put Heinrich Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo in the front row with Speed Demon to his right and Paul Ebersol to his left. Melissa Gold hung out behind Zemo, accompanied by Kyle Rayner, who was lurking behind Speed Demon. T.J.’s turn 5 play was the dreaded Nimrod. Kyle attacked Sentinel Mark II—T.J. didn’t realize that Faces of Evil also works for non-Thunderbolts and Masters of Evil characters. Speed Demon, with 8 ATK, went after Sentinel Mark V. T.J. powered up, played Reconstruction Program, and powered up again. Scott flipped another Faces of Evil, but T.J. had another Reconstruction Program for another power-up. Scott finally flipped Savage Beatdown to get the stun. Melissa Gold took the counter off of Nimrod, and then Scott sent Speed Demon and Paul Ebersol to take down the Mutant Hunter. Heinrich Zemo attacked directly, and then it was up to T.J. attack back. He did so, sending his Hounds of Ahab into Heinrich with a little help from a Savage Beatdown. The turn ended with T.J. at 9 endurance and Scott at 19.
Turn 6: Luckily for Scott, T.J. played two copies of Sentinel Mark II this turn, missing Bastion himself. Scott played Beetle, getting Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi, and also recruited Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer. He then used his last resource point to burn T.J. for 4 endurance. T.J. played Null Time Zone twice during the build, once on Cover Fire and once on Savage Beatdown. Scott’s formation looked very defensive, as T.J. was trying to figure out how much breakthrough he could deal.
T.J. sent his Sentinel Mark II into Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi. Scott elected not to reinforces, trading 4 endurance for 3. T.J. used his second Sentinel Mark II to go after Paul Ebersol, and then attacked Beetle with Nimrod. The endurance totals at this point stood at 2 each. Scott had Heinrich left on the board, while T.J. had Nimrod in the front row, protecting his Sentinel Mark II. Scott's last card was a Flying Kick that dealt the last blow to TJ, bringing the endurance totals to T.J. -8 and Scott 2 amid cheers of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!” from Scott's friends in the stands.
Scott defeats T.J.