For the very first match of Draft day nobody wants to sit down opposite a Pro Circuit champion. Equally, in a perfect world, nobody wants to have to play against a teammate. For Donkey Club members Karl Horn and Adam Bernstein though, this was the situation they were in.

Neither player had a turn 1 recruit, and, with the initiative on turn 2, Horn went with Crimson Commando, to Bernstein’s Cannonball. The 2-drops traded off and it was quickly onto turn 3.

Bernstein was forced to put a character in his row, and then had a bit of a think about who was best to recruit from his character heavy hand. He went with Nightcrawler, Swashbuckler, and formed up with everyone in front, ready for battle. Horn had Silver Sabre, and winced a little as he was forced to reinforce Crimson Commando as Cannonball barrelled in. Nightcrawler took down Silver Sabre, and all of a sudden Adam was up a character.

Anne-Marie Cortez came out of the row for Karl in the fight-back, and was met with her doppelganger from the other side of the board. The PC SoCal champion frowned at the PC New York Champion, as at the start of combat he didn’t have a character to reveal to his 4-drop’s ability. Adam, meanwhile, showed Crimson Commando in his row to shut off 2-cost plot twists for a while.

Karl’s Anne-Marie smashed through Cannonball, leaving Nightcrawler open to being hit by Silver Sabre. Freedom Force allowed Silver Sabre’s ability to kick in, and the 3-drop got to swing again at Adam’s Anne-Marie Cortez. Another Freedom Force secured the stun, leaving Bernstein with just a 4-drop going into turn 5, and down on endurance 30 to 34.

He played Gambit, Ragin’ Cajun on turn 5, protected by Anne-Marie Cortez, and passed. As Sunder hit the board for Horn, Bernstein did his best pirate impression declaring that the big man was ok.

At the start of combat each player revealed a 2-cost character from their row, then Gambit did his little card trick, throwing Electric Eve from Bernstein’s hand at Horn’s Silver Sabre. His characters then traded with Horns in combat to put the endurance totals at 21 to 18 for Bernstein, with each board consisting of just a 5-drop.

Horn had more or less the 6-drop of choice, in the form of Harry Delgado, and a 5-drop with plenty enough ATK to cause some major hurt for his opponent. Bernstein had to content himself with Storm, Gold Leader, and try to hold out for another turn.

Horn replaced Spoor in his row to make Storm un-reinforceable with Harry’s ability, then crashed in with Sunder. At least, he tried to crash in. Magnetic Force from Bernstein stopped that plan, and forced Harry Delgado to go in himself, with Special Delivery. X-Corp: Amsterdam saved any breakthrough for Bernstein, but he didn’t want to lose a character, and as such had no attacks back for the turn. He was down 15 to 18, but had the initiative in what looked likely to be the final turn of the game.

Rogue, Anna Marie was Bernstein’s 7-drop, while Horn went for Blob, Freedom Force and +5 DEF for Sunder, who otherwise looked like something of a liability for the turn.

After a little thought, Adam went in with Rogue on Sunder, with an X-Corp: Amsterdam pump to keep his 7-drop from being stunned. This attack took Horn down to nine, and he followed up with a team attack on Harry Delgado, as he was unable to secure a kill with both of Horn’s 6-drops in the back row. Horn had no way to give Blob range, but he did have Mutant Massacre for Storm, and was still alive (on just 3 to Bernstein’s 9) for turn 8.

For turn 8, Karl went with a collection of smaller characters – Callisto, Electric Eve and Julia Carpenter, Freedom Force. Bernstein also played multiple characters, playing Cyclops, Blue Leader and Plague, who was moved to the hidden area.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” enquired an amused Horn.

“Yeah, pretty sure…” remarked Bernstein, just before he noticed Caliban on his opponent’s side of the board. He let out a quiet oath.

“I did not see that.”

At the start of Horn’s combat step Bernstein let out a hopeful, “Did I do it?”

“You did it,” remarked Horn with a little smile.

“Must be nice to be the nut stupid and get away with it huh?” said Bernstein, suddenly all smiles again.

Horn used Harry to make Cyclops unreinforceable, and smashed in with Blob. This let Blob trigger and made Horn’s team unstunnable on attack. A team-up and a big attack on Bernstein’s 7-drop took her down, and all of a sudden Horn had the game, Plague or no.

While Bernstein might be a Sealed Pack $10K up on Horn, he is now a point down on him in the race to get a second Pro Circuit victory.

Karl Horn wins!