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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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| Quarterfinals: Chris Vanderginst vs. Lawson Sutherland |
| Geordie Tait |
| May 15, 2005 |
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In this battle of Curve Sentinels vs. Curve Sentinels, Chris Vanderginst would clash with Lawson Sutherland. Both players were all business—each had made his first $10K Top 8 on this day, and neither had any intention of going home with anything but a victory.
 Chris’s version was packing four Juggernaut, but more importantly, it had Betrayal for the mirror, a piece of tech that Lawson couldn’t boast. For his part, Lawson had access to plenty of defensive plot twists—four Cover Fires and three Acrobatic Dodges. The players had had access to each other’s decklists since early yesterday, so these things were no secret.
Lawson won the roll and chose to go first.
“I will mulligan this hand.”
Chris chose to keep his, and the first game was on. Lawson could only pass on his turn 1. Chris, who had kept a hand including Boliver Trask, Nimrod, Overload, and Nasty Surprise, played out Boliver and retrieved Hounds of Ahab—an amazing starting position.
Chris, on the initiative, played the Hounds. Lawson again had nothing, and Boliver and the Hounds bashed in. With the initiative on turn 3, Lawson finally got in the game with a Boliver Trask of his own, fetching Sentinel Mark V and a Hounds of his own. Chris, without access to a 3-drop, played another Boliver Trask (KO’ing the first), fetching and playing a second copy of the Hounds.
Lawson, down a Hounds and some endurance but otherwise none the worse for wear, pondered his attacks. Boliver on Boliver action was the sordid result, but Chris had his third Boliver of the game to leave him on the winning end of the exchange. Lawson sent in the Hounds to get the job done instead, but Chris counterattack KO’d Boliver and dealt 2 endurance loss, leaving totals at 48–43 for Chris.
On turn 4, both players played a Mark V. Chris, with the initiative and a two-character advantage, was looking to achieve a Hounds lock and take control of the game. He team attacked Lawson’s Mark V with his Mark V, Boliver, and a Hounds, and Lawson used one of his Dodges, showing the defensive strength of his deck. He also powered up to leave Chris a point short, but Chris had the Savage Beatdown, and Lawson’s Dodge had left him without the ATK to stun Chris’s Mark V. Then, Chris’s final Hounds went in and KO’d the Mark V. The endurance totals were 44–39 in Chris's favor.
Lawson tried to get back into the game with Nimrod, but Chris had one of his own to keep his advantage. Still down two characters (Nimrod and a lone Hounds), Lawson was hard pressed to turn his situation around, but he was certainly willing to try. He went deep into the think tank before declaring his first attack, Nimrod on Nimrod.
Chris: “It’s legal. Cards in hand?”
Lawson: “Four after I power up. Does it resolve?”
Chris: “Yours does, but I’ll power up, too.”
Never one to be stymied for long, Lawson used Reconstruction Program to get his Nimrod back and power up again. Chris used Nasty Surprise to ensure the elimination of both repair counters. Then his team attack was able to take out Nimrod, leaving him with a clear path and a second Hounds ready to strike. They did, and Lawson’s Nimrod became puppy chow. Chris’s advantage was growing with endurance totals at 39–34, but they were about to take a big swing on turn 6 with the appearance of Bastion.
Lawson could only play Boliver Trask and a boosted Mark V, signaling the beginning of the end.
The attacks came fast and furious. Bastion and a Mark V went into Lawson’s Mark V. Nimrod attacked into Trask, leaving the endurance totals at 35–21. Again, Lawson had no defenders and the double Hounds decimated his board, leaving him with no characters in his visible area.
Lawson had Magneto, but it looked hopeless. Chris unleashed Juggernaut.
Lawson: “Can I give him a quick read?”
Even with the help of a Genosha, Lawson was deep in the hurt locker. Magneto went after Bastion, and Chris reinforced without using Bastion’s ability on anyone before the stun. Lawson looked very vulnerable with his Cover Fires basically dead, and Chris tried to figure out how to finish him off. He had only one viable attack—Juggernaut into Magneto. A team attack with Nimrod and both Hounds would do only 15. Juggernaut did attack, and despite the eight cards in his hand and four down in his row, Lawson had nothing but a Nasty Surprise. Magneto went down and got eaten by Hounds, and the turn ended with Lawson at 2 and down a resource with no characters. A Dodge would have made the difference, but it wasn’t there, and Chris went up 1 game to 0.
The start of turn 1 Boliver, turn 2 Hounds, and turn 3 Boliver/Hounds was just too much.
Lawson: “Your three seemed weak, but the two Hounds really worked out for you! Did you have any Overloads? I couldn’t find any. Did you have any?”
Chris: “Yeah.”
Lawson: “I was thinking, ‘I bet I could double Beatdown a Hounds and send ’em at somebody, but that’s just asking for it.”
 Between games, the two chatted about the Titans matchup and the general state of the universe, and then it was back to business.
In game two, Lawson was on the play for turn 1 and busted out with Boliver Trask, a big improvement over last game. He got Hounds, of course. Chris had no play, and the roles from last game were reversed; Lawson was up a Boliver and a Hounds going into turn 3.
Lawson played a Mark II, and Chris matched it with one of his own. Lawson team attacked with Boliver and Mark II, trying to make sure that he got the all-important stun and subsequent Hound meal, and was successful. Then the Hounds came in and did their thing. Endurance was 47–43 to Lawson, who also had character advantage.
Turn 4 brought Chris a Mark V, but he needed Lawson to miss a drop in order to get back into the game. Lawson did! He had nothing, his advantage evaporating in a flash as Chris’s Mark V flew into his Mark II and hammered home some endurance loss. Chris followed up with Micro-Sentinels on Lawson’s Hounds of Ahab.
On turn 5, both players had Nimrod, and the Hounds phase of the game that was so prevalent in the last contest seemed to end early. Lawson declared Nimrod on Nimrod, and like last game, powered up. Chris had Cover Fire and Nasty Surprise, putting the pressure squarely on Lawson, but he again had the Reconstruction Program and a second power up. Sadly for him, Chris had a second Cover Fire. They had been dead on the first four turns and were now emerging to make an impact after Lawson’s missed drop and failure to achieve a Hounds lock.
Lawson’s Nimrod lost his repair counter, and the game took a sharp turn. Chris pounded his fresh Nimrod into a Mark II, and his Mark V stepped on Boliver Trask. It was a damaging series of counterattacks, especially going into Chris’s initiative. He was up 43–24 and looking to close out and find his way into the semifinals.
Chris missed Bastion, but had a boosted Mark V. Lawson did have Bastion, giving him some hope for recovery. Chris declared Nimrod and Mark V on Bastion. Now it was time to see if Lawson’s seven defensive plot twists could get the job done. He Cover Fired and discarded a Mark II to make Bastion a 13 ATK/17 DEF, and Chris powered-up. Bastion used his ability again, and Chris could only pass. Lawson decided to knock the repair counter off of Nimrod. Chris then sent his boosted Mark V into Lawson’s Mark II for 9, dropping him to 15 endurance.
Lawson got to counterattack. He sent Nimrod after the 7 ATK/7 DEF Mark V. Chris Cover Fired, but Bastion’s ability combined with a Reconstruction Program was enough to push Nimrod through. Then Bastion went after Chris’s Nimrod, and Chris decided to use Cover Fire. Lawson only had to discard one card to make his Bastion the required 15 ATK/15 DEF, and Chris lost 11 endurance.
On turn 7, with endurance totals 28–15 in favor of Chris, Lawson recruited Magneto and Chris had Juggernaut. Lawson then used two Genoshas, and things were looking almost impossible for Chris unless he could somehow conjure up both of his Betrayals.
Lawson: “Magneto on Juggernaut.”
Bastion made Magneto an 18 ATK/18 DEF, and it was enough to stun Juggernaut.
Nimrod attacked Mark V, and Lawson pulled some tricks to Nasty Overload the boosted Sentinel. Then Nimrod went after Nimrod, and Chris scooped before the inevitable finish.
One win each. It was time to play for all the marbles. Well . . . since it’s only the quarterfinals, a chance to get all of the marbles.
So far, the player with the initiative had won both games. Chris mulliganed and kept a hand of four plot twists, but ripped Mark V and (more importantly) Boliver Trask on turn 1 to save himself from an ugly start. He fetched Hounds. Lawson had to pass, and that was an ill omen considering how the match had gone thus far.
Lawson’s turn 2 also yielded nothing, and Chris had the Hounds, of course. He sent for 3 and then recruited Mark II on his turn, which Lawson matched. He team attacked with Boliver and Mark II, but Lawson had one of his Dodges to stay in the game! It was a key card, with Cover Fire so often useless. Chris was able to infect Lawson’s Mark II with Micro-Sentinels, but the turn didn’t go as planned.
 Lawson was on the go on turn 4 and busted out with a Mark V, which Chris matched on his side. His draw was still very heavy on plot twists and there was no sign of Nimrod for turn 5. Lawson declared no attacks, preferring to play defense, and Chris went into the think tank. Eventually, he declared Mark V into Mark II and Nasty Overloaded. Lawson knew he was in trouble. Having only one Sentinel left would deaden his Cover Fires, and with Mark Vs trading, the Hounds could get through to cripple him. And that was exactly what happened. You could almost see Lawson lamenting the useless Cover Fires that were no doubt in his row.
Then, showing that he was perhaps destined to win, Chris recovered and drew Nimrod. As it turned out, Lawson was the one who could only Reconstruct and play a Mark V. He was going to need Bastion or a good run of cards to win this game.
Nimrod and Mark II crashed into Lawson’s Mark V. Nimrod lost his repair counter, and then Chris wiped Lawson’s board with the Hounds (and Micro-Sentinels eating the last Mark II).
Lawson had Bastion on turn 6, but Chris had Boliver Trask and Sentinel Mark V to give him a six to one character advantage. It wasn’t looking good for Lawson; he would need drastic measures to stay in the game. Bastion went after Nimrod, but Lawson had another Cover Fire. His plot twist–heavy draw was paying off. Lawson could only pass and mentally prepare to leave the table—it was looking terrible.
Turn 7 started with Chris having a seven-to-one character advantage, including Juggernaut, and three Savage Beatdowns in his resource row. You figure it out.
Chris wins 2-1 and advances to the semifinals! |
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