Justice won the flip and chose odds. Justice drew his hand and decided to mulligan. Jonas chose to keep his, and the match was underway.

Neither player had a character on turn 1, and Skali opened with Puppet Master on turn 2. Justice played Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. He played Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth for her alternate recruit cost, and Skali activated Puppet Master in response, exhausting Deadshot. When Frankie came into play, Justice pitched The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero to draw two cards.

During Justice’s draw step, Skali read the Phantom Stranger and activated Puppet Master to force Justice to exhaust a character. Justice chose Frankie and moved to his recruit step. He recruited Cardiac and passed. Jonas had his own Cardiac, whom he placed behind Puppet Master. Justice exhausted Deadshot and Cardiac to return the Phantom Stranger to his hand and passed his attack. Jonas thought for a minute and sent Cardiac into Frankie Raye.

Justice 47, Skali 50

It was Skali’s initiative on turn 4, and he recruited Gambit, Remy LeBeau. Justice played Professor X, Headmaster; Skali decided not to use Puppet Master or Cardiac in response. Justice activated Cardiac targeting Skali’s Puppet Master, which was activated in response. He also responded to his own Puppet Master activation by activating Cardiac targeting Deadshot, and he responded to Cardiac with Gambit targeting Frankie Raye. Justice then responded by flipping Avalon Space Station and activating it to return Mikado and Mosha, then exhausted Frankie Raye and Deadshot to return The Phantom Stranger. Gambit resolved stunning Frankie, Cardiac resolved stunning Deadshot, Puppet Master resolved, and Justice exhausted Professor X. Justice’s Cardiac finally resolved, and Puppet Master became stunned. There were no attacks.

During recovery Justice drew a card with Professor X, and Skali flipped and activated Slaughter Swamp to get back a Rogue, Power Absorption that he discarded earlier that turn to use Gambit. Anthony responded by flipping and activating Ego the Living Planet to lock down Skali’s Slaughter Swamp and, finally, Justice recovered Deadshot and let Frankie hit the KO’d Pile.

Turn 5 Started with Skali activating Puppet Master, responding with Cardiac targeting Deadshot. Deadshot became stunned, and Skali activated Gambit targeting Cardiac. Justice responded by activating Cardiac targeting Skali’s Puppet Master, which resolved, then Gambit resolved, and finally Puppet Master, who tapped Professor X . . . and all this before Justice had a chance to even recruit a character.

After all the activated powers, Justice played Straight to the Grave to get Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose. Then he recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and his own Puppet Master. He activated Dr. Light to return Poison Ivy to play, then activated Avalon Space Station, discarding The Phantom Stranger to return Frankie Raye to his hand. He recruited Frankie Raye for her alternate recruit cost, discarding a Dr. Light. When Frankie came into play, he put her ability on the chain and exhausted Frankie and Poison Ivy to return Phantom Stranger, which he discarded draw two cards. He then terraformed a Soul World and set up his formation. Whew. My fingers are starting to hurt already, and it’s only the first game.

Skali’s turn was a little bit simpler. He played Red Shift, Rift Walker in his hidden area and flipped and activated Birthing Chamber.

Finally we moved to combat, and Justice played Press the Attack on Professor X, readied him, and attacked Gambit. The attack resolved, and Justice had another Press to ready the Professor again. He then attacked Cardiac, stunning him. Justice activated Puppet Master, and since Red Shift was Skali’s only ready character, he was forced to exhaust him. During recovery, Justice activated Professor X to draw a card, then activated Poison Ivy, KO’ing Deadshot to find Birthing Chamber. He flipped and activated the Birthing Chamber and discarded Black Cat, Master Thief. Skali recovered Gambit, and Justice recovered Cardiac.

Justice 39, Skali 33

On turn 6 Skali thought for a while before recruiting Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and activating him to return Puppet Master. Anthony responded by activating Birthing Chamber, discarding a Dr. Light. He then activated his Puppet Master, and Skali asked Justice, “Can you get Terrax? If you can I’ll concede.” Justice flashed the Enemy of My Enemy. Skali extended the hand.

On to game 2.

Skali took the odd initiatives, and both players decided to mulligan. Once again, neither player had a character on turn 1.

On turn 2 Justice kicked things off with a Straight to the Grave to find Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth. He flipped a Soul World and activated it to return Frankie. He recruited her for her alternate cost (pitching Merlyn, Deadly Archer) and discarded Professor X, Headmaster to draw two cards. He then recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose. Skali recruited Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Spaceways.

Justice attacked Silver Surfer with Poison Ivy and KO’d Frankie Raye for Ivy’s ability to find Slaughter Swamp. Before the attacked resolved, Skali played Wild Ride to find Mikado and Mosha, then activated Silver Surfer to put Press the Attack on top of his deck. The attack resolved, and both characters became stunned. In the recovery phase, Justice flipped and activated Slaughter Swamp, discarding Puppet Master to return Frankie Raye to his hand.

Justice 44, Skali 46

Skali had the initiative on turn 3. He played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Dr. Light, Master of Holograms to get Frankie Raye, and he recruited her by pitching a Cardiac. When she came into play, he discarded Gambit, Remy LeBeau to draw two cards, then played Cardiac and activated him to stun Justice’s Poison Ivy. Justice started his recruit step by activating Soul World to return Professor X to his hand. He then recruited Frankie Raye for her alternate cost, discarding Black Cat, Master Thief. When Frankie came into play, he pitched his Professor X to draw two more cards. He then played Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and activated him to return Black Cat to play.

Jonas attacked Black Cat with his Silver Surfer and Justice evaded, readying Silver Surfer, who then attacked Frankie Raye. Justice had no attacks, and both players moved to recovery. During recovery, Justice activated Slaughter Swamp to return Professor X, Headmaster to his hand, then recovered Poison Ivy and Black Cat because of evasion.

Before Justice could play a character on turn 4, Skali used Cardiac to stun Poison Ivy. Justice then proceeded to activate Dr. Light, putting Puppet Master into play, and recruited Professor X. Skali added Gambit, Remy LeBeau to his side of the board. Justice attacked Silver Surfer with Black Cat and discarded Mikado and Mosha to stun Skali’s Frankie Raye. He then used Puppet Master to exhaust Skali’s only remaining character, Gambit. Skali responded by activating Gambit to stun Puppet Master, discarding a Sunfire. Justice then attacked Cardiac with Professor X, and Skali took 8.

In recovery, Justice used Professor X to draw a card. Skali flipped Slaughter Swamp and activated it to return Sunfire to his hand, discarding Mimic, Calvin Rankin. Justice flipped Ego the Living Planet to keep Skali’s Slaughter Swamp exhausted, much to the chagrin of the German. Justice then activated his own Slaughter Swamp to return Frankie Raye by discarding Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival. He also activated Soul World to return Merlyn to his hand. Skali recovered Cardiac, and Justice recovered Puppet Master.

On turn 5 Skali led off by activating Cardiac, targeting Puppet Master. Justice responded by activating Puppet Master, to which Skali responded by activating Gambit, targeting Dr. Light. Dr. Light and Puppet Master both became stunned. Then Skali flipped up and activated Avalon Space Station to return Sunfire to his hand; he then recruited Sunfire. Justice went into the tank for a bit, as it was sure to be a complicated turn (as they usually are). He started by playing Frankie Raye for a resource point and discarding Professor X to draw two cards. He then recruited Merlyn and awaited Skali’s next move.

Sunfire attacked Merlyn, and Justice flipped Worldeater Apparatus. He exhausted Merlyn to gain 3 endurance, and the attack resolved. The characters stunned each other, and it was Justice’s turn to attack. Professor X attacked Cardiac. Before the attack resolved, Skali discarded Mikado and Mosha to stun Frankie Raye. During recovery Justice drew a card with Professor X, used the Slaughter Swamp to return Professor X, and recovered Merlyn. Skali recovered Sunfire.

Justice 15, Skali 22

Turn 6 rolled around, and guess what Justice started off with—yup, Frankie Raye with her alternate recruit. He discarded Professor X to draw two. He then played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Mikado and Mosha to find Terrax, Harbinger of Ruin, whom he recruited. Skali played his own Terrax.

Justice flipped Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and replaced it to activate Terrax. Skali responded by flipping Worldeater Apparatus and exhausting Gambit to gain 3 endurance before stunning him. Justice then declared Terrax and Professor X as team attackers at Skali’s Terrax. Before the attack became legal, Skali discarded Mikado and Mosha to stun Frankie Raye. When that resolved, the attack became legal, and Skali replaced his Slaughter Swamp to activate Terrax. Justice then stunned his Merlyn, Skali exhausted Terrax to gain 3 endurance with Worldeater Apparatus, and the attack resolved, stunning Skali’s Terrax and Justice’s Professor X. Skali exhausted Sunfire to gain 3 more and passed with no attacks. During recovery, Justice activated his Slaughter Swamp to return Puppet Master to his hand and recovered Professor X, Headmaster. Skali recovered Terrax.

Before the players drew cards on turn 7, Justice activated Ego, targeting Skali’s Avalon Space Station. With only one card in his hand, Skali had a tough choice on whether he wanted to activate it in response or just stick with the card he had. He decided to keep the card he had and moved to the draw step. It must have been a good card.

Skali played Straight to the Grave to put Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster in his KO’d pile and returned it to his hand at the start of his recruit step. He then played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Mr. Mxy to find The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero, whom he recruited. Justice recruited Puppet Master and activated him. Skali responded by exhausting all his characters to gain 9 with Worldeater Apparatus so that when Puppet Master resolved, he’d have no ready characters. Justice then activated Slaughter Swamp to return Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth, whom he recruited for a resource point; he discarded The Phantom Stranger to draw two cards. Justice had 4 resource points left. He activated Soul World, returning Merlyn to his hand, and used his last resource points to recruit him.

Skali passed on combat with no ready characters. Justice attacked Sunfire with his Terrax and passed. The attack resolved and Skali took 9, bringing him down to 21. Justice then flipped X-Corporation and activated Merlyn to KO Sunfire. He then exhausted the rest of his characters to gain 3 endurance with Worldeater Apparatus, moved to recovery, and drew a card with Professor X. He also activated X-Corp to gain 4 endurance, discarding Dr. Light, Master of Holograms.

Justice 10, Skali 21

On turn 8 Justice recruited Galactus, The Maker and played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Poison Ivy to get Mimic, Calvin Rankin. He activated Slaughter Swamp to return Frankie Raye to his hand and used his final resource point to recruit her. When she came into play, he discarded the Mimic he had just searched for to draw two cards. Skali returned Mr. Mxyzptlk to his hand and recruited Red Shift.

Justice started out combat by activating Puppet Master. Skali decided to exhaust all his characters again to gain 9 endurance, putting him at 30. Justice then activated Galactus, chopping Skali’s endurance total in half, bringing him to 15. Justice declared a team attack with Terrax, Professor X, and Merlyn on The Phantom Stranger. When the attack became legal, he played Press the Attack targeting his Galactus and passed. The Phantom Stranger became stunned, and Skali chose to stun Merlyn. Galactus attacked Terrax, and Skali took 9, bringing him to -1. Frankie attacked directly and got powered-up three times with Slaughter Swamps to bring Skali to -4, and Skali conceded.

Anthony Justice defeats Jonas Skali 2-0.