Josh and Robert played in a feature match yesterday. Josh won that game, but the win was communicated the passing of priority.
Josh and Robert shared some bad beat stories from earlier Sealed Pack events while they shuffled up for the game. Robert finally got out two dice for each of them and Josh won the die roll. Josh agonized over the choice for initiative, despite choosing evens in yesterday’s winning game. Eventually he came to the same decision.
Robert ripped two copies of Roy Harper Arsenal, Beast Boy, and Titan’s Tower off the top of his deck and decided to keep the hand. Depending on what kind of draw Josh had, the early game could be bad for him.
Josh played She-Thing on turn 2, while Robert still had no characters. Josh dealt first blood, sending She-Thing into the pain zone.
Robert's hand hadn't improved much—he drew a third copy of Roy Harper Arsenal and a Teen Titans Go!. Josh missed his 3-drop though, tossing Boris on the table.
“I'll play the doctor,” Josh announced on turn 4, putting Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius into play. He put the Doc's ability on the chain, then flipped Common Enemy to draw a card and Signal Flared to get Robot Destroyer. When Josh then tried to use Boris, Robert decided he had been a spectator long enough. He flipped USS Argus up on the table and went looking for cards.
Finally, Boris was allowed to resolve, and Reign of Terror went into Josh's hand. Reign sent the Beast Boy away, and Josh enjoyed a turn 4 party. Turn 4 is the crucial turn for Common Enemy, and frequently the turn in which the game is either won or lost.
“This game is pretty much yours,” Robert said, as he could do nothing but replay Beast Boy. Doom went swinging into Beast Boy, and they both stunned because of Titan’s Tower. She-Thing went swinging into Robert, and the endurance totals were 42 to 38 in favor of Josh.
“Foiled,” Robert announced. He flipped over the resource-destroying monster in an effort to make Josh replay turn 4. Josh had the answer, though, playing Have a Blast! on his own Common Enemy to keep his resource row on pace for turn 5.
“This is so bad,” Robert announced on turn 5 as he stared at the board. He was forced to play Roy Harper Arsenal and an unboosted Dawn, missing out on Garth. Josh didn't have the standard turn 5 Thing, Heavy Hitter, but instead played Robot Destroyer. Thing might be beefier, but Robot Destroyer is the far better card in this match.
Robert announced a team attack, sending all of his characters into the She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters that Josh left in the front row. Josh finally decided it was legal, and Robert exhausted his attackers. He had a copy of Teen Titans Go! in his hand and a second one in his resource row, which he flipped up.
The second copy of Teen Titans Go! was used to boost Roy Harper even further, and when things were all over, it looked like Robert had control of the board. Endurance totals were 34 to 31 in his favor, and he had Roy Harper and Beast Boy. Josh looked at all of his characters—She-Thing, Dr. Doom, and Robot Destroyer, and decided to keep the Robot Destroyer.
Josh had the initiative on turn 6, and he didn’t have a single face up resource in front of him. He didn't have a turn 6 play, either, so just replayed a 4-drop Doom and Boris. Robert played a 5-drop Garth.
Doom attacked Roy Harper, and after a long exchange, the attack became illegal when Roy was removed from the table with Reign of Terror. Doom found a new target in Beast Boy, and stunned him with an attack instead. Garth reinforced Beast Boy, leaving Robert with no attackers.
Turn 7 saw Robert in the uncomfortable position of being stuck under USS Argus with a dwindling hand. His four-card Argus look showed him Terra, a way to get rid of Argus, but instead he took Tamaran. He still had two copies of Roy Harper Arsenal in his hand, and he could kill the Argus if he wanted to.
He played the Terra face down and paid 3 endurance through Garth to get Dove back. Robert played the Dove/Hawk combo onto the table, and Josh let it through. When he tried to follow it up with Roy Harper, though, it was time for Josh to act.
“Flame Trap,” he announced. He tossed a Diabolic Genius and a copy of Common Enemy from his hand to stun the lovers and take Robert down to 25. It left Robert with Beast Boy, Roy Harper, and Garth on the table, to face off against Josh's Doom, Robot Destroyer, and Sub-Mariner. Robert recognized the threat that Submariner was and attacked with a double Savage Beatdown on Garth.
The turn ended with Josh still controlling Submariner and Doom, and Robert controlling Garth and Beast Boy. Endurance totals were 19 to 17 in favor of Josh, and with turn 8 coming up, it was still anyone's game.
“Yours,” Josh said after playing a resource. He didn't play an 8-drop. Robert went and got Koriand'r Starfire from his KO'd pile and played her. His side of the board looked a little more impressive than Josh's did, but Submariner was still huge.
The Ally of Doom swung into Garth, and Starfire stunned Doom. Heroic Sacrifice was used by Robert to save Garth from the huge attack, but left him with no way to attack back. Turn 8 ended at 15 to 11, still in Josh's favor.
The initiative for turn 9 was Robert's, and unless Josh could find Silver Surfer he was in trouble. Robert played Red Star and made Josh lose 5 endurance, sending the totals down to 10-8.
“Three turns without characters,” Josh agonized as he scooped up his cards.
Robert Leander 1 - Josh Wiitanen 0
“I don't know how I won that game,” Robert laughed.
“I didn't draw a character for three turns,” Josh said. “I had everything else I needed, but never found a character.”
Josh decided he wanted evens again. Robert wasn't happy with his first four cards and tossed them back.
No Boris on turn 1 and no 2-drop for Josh or Robert. On turn 3, Robert finally played the first character of the match—Beast Boy. Josh had Purple Man instead of She-Thing, but he was going to use it to steal a resource. Purple Man grabbed Heroic Sacrifice, which Josh described as a “gooder.” Robert flipped over Tamaran to deal some extra damage to Josh, taking the early lead.
“Any responses to Doom,” Josh asked? “Yeah, you should flip up Heroic Sacrifice,” Robert replied. The spectators all chuckled, and Josh instead played Have a Blast! on Tamaran. Robert had Red Star to play for his own turn 4, and stuck him behind Beast Boy.
Purple Man took Roy Harper from the resource row, and Doom swung into Beast Boy. The attack was declared legal and Doom stung Beast Boy. Red Star swung back at Purple Man, and the endurance totals were 46 to 40 in Robert's favor. Both players only had one stunned character last turn, so the board position didn't change for anyone.
“Ghost Rider?” Robert asked as Josh played Signal Flare. “I know you have him.”
“Did you read my decklist at all,” Josh asked? Everyone around the table laughed because Ghost Rider was a late-night cut from the deck on the Friday before the event.
Purple Man wanted to continue his thieving ways, but Robert decided to flip up Teen Titan's Go! with no effect, rather than lose it and risk ending up with a dead card in his resource row.
Robert was completely in control of the match, and you knew Josh was in trouble just by watching his mannerisms. Garth stunned Invisible Woman, who had been the target of the earlier Signal Flare, and then Robert passed the attacks over to Josh.
Robert tried to Foiled Josh's Common Enemy again, and Josh played Have a Blast! on his own resource. “I got a gooder,” he said to Robert after he replaced it. The new resource he played face down was Signal Flare, which would allow him to go get a 7- or 8-drop if the game lasted that long.
Josh did have his turn 6 Iceman, the tech designed for the Common Enemy mirror, but it did very little good here. Robert made his standard turn 6 play, starting off his recruit step with Hawk and Dove, and then trying to get Roy Harper. Josh had the Flame Trap for Hawk and Dove.
“Invisible Woman will attack Beast Boy,” Josh announced. He had a copy of It's Clobberin' Time! to add to the attack. Robert had a lot of responses for the attack, making things were ugly for Josh.
Two copies of Press the Attack ended things for Josh, as Roy Harper was able to activate three different times and stun Invisible Woman, Dr. Doom, and Iceman all in the same turn. When all was all said and done, Roy was even able to take his newfound 19 ATK bash with it.
Teen Titans madness can get a little confusing sometimes, but it amounted to two copies of Press the Attack, plus Garth getting one of them back. Robert KO'd three of his own resources and left Josh with nothing on the table. When it was all over, Roy Harper had an ATK value of 16, and Josh was only at 14 endurance.
Robert Leander wins the semi-final against Josh Wiitanen 2 games to zero, advancing to play Dave Spears in an all Realmworx Final.