Though both of these players are strong and Karakot has the matchup advantage, Andrew Corney may very well come out ahead. It isn’t because his Matter Knights deck is better than Kakarot’s Child Lock build, but rather because this is his third $10K Top 8 compared to Kakarot’s first. That kind of experience may tip the scales in Corney’s favor under the pressure of the big lights.
GAME 1
Andrew won the coin flip and chose odds. Both players mulliganed to start the match.
Turn 1
Andrew had only a resource and passed to Kakarot, who played Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl and swung for 1.
Turn 2
Beetle, Armorsmith was Kakarot’s next play—a very good character, as it gets almost any card in his deck. He chose Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose this time.
Corney had to Wild Ride for Micro-Chip. His Micro-Chip then proceeded to get smashed by Beetle, and then Invisible Girl swung to the dome. The score was 50-44 to Kakarot . . . and we thought Corney was the Beatdown in this matchup, right?
Turn 3
Slipstream is a powerful character who can attack twice, but Corney played him in the visible area. A Matter Convergence could be up Corney’s sleeve. The newly acquired Poison Ivy from the turn before was played out by Kakarot, and he formed in a “V” formation.
Slipstream then declared on Invisible Girl. When Kakarot removed the counter, Corney used Mikado and Mosha to stun the Girl and ready his Slipstream. Slipstream then got another crack and swung into Ivy, which prompted Ivy to use her ability to KO Beetle and a resource to get Doomstadt. Before anybody passed, Corney also played a Flying Kick. The score was 42-41 in favor of Kakarot
Turn 4
Vicarious Living was used, pitching Alistair Smythe to get Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He played it and then dropped a Catcher’s Mitt on him. Kakarot then played Boris and The Ring Has Chosen to get out Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, which really only served to discard Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards so that the good doctor could revive him. All characters were in the front row, with the doctor in the middle and Reed Richards behind him.
Chomin and Xallarap were in the hidden area for Corney. He passed to Kakarot; Kakarot flipped Birthing Chamber to draw a card and then flipped up Doomstadt. He used Boris for A Child Named Valeria, which he promptly played.
In the combat step, Kakarot sent his unstunable Invisible Girl into Micro-Chip. Kakarot passed, and Corney stunned his Xallarap via Chomin and passed back. Kakarot used Reed Richards during the recovery, which netted him a Flamethrower. The score was 39-37 to Kakarot.
Turn 5
The powerful Element Man was recruited into the hidden area for Corney. He formed with everyone in the front row except for Xallarap, who was behind Chomin.
Kakarot played the second Beetle of the game, this time fetching Boris, who would most likely get another Child. Ted Kord also joined Boris in the ranks and made it possible for Kakarot to draw two cards from Birthing Chamber. Poison Ivy again joined Kakarot’s ranks, but this time with a Flame Thrower. Kakarot then used Boris to get Child and used it.
“Hmm . . . all these pumps are really good in my hand,” said Andrew.
Corney just passed his attack. When Kakarot tried to attack Slipstream with Ivy, he used Matter Convergence to move him to the hidden area. Then, when he tried to attack Corney’s dome, he used Element Man to move everyone to the visible area. Beetle tried to attack Chomin, but Corney got another Matter Convergence to move him, and Kakarot passed his attack. Corney stunned his Xallarap during the recovery phase, and Kakarot used Flame Thrower to burn Corney for another 5. The score was 36-29 to Kakarot.
Turn 6
The Ring Has Chosen was Kakarot’s first play to get Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi and then another Ring, which got Boris. He then drew two cards off of Birthing Chamber before reviving Boris. Another point was used to burn Corney for 8!
Corney just conceded here.
GAME 2
Corney again chose to go odds.
Turn 1
Wild Ride was Corney’s first play, which searched out Micro-Chip. Micro-Chip then swung through an empty board for 1 endurance.
Turn 2
Beetle was Kakarot’s first play of the game, which got out Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose.
Dagger, Child of Light was Corney’s turn 2 play, and he moved both of his characters into the support row. Beetle swung into Dagger, who got reinforced by Micro-Chip. The score was 49-48 in Karakot’s favor.
Turn 3
During the resource step, Corney used Dagger to get Midnight Sons. He laid it, flipped it, and teamed it up with Anti-Matter. Micro-Chip flipped down Wild Ride so that it could be flipped back up to search out Slipstream. Corney recruited him in the hidden area support row so that he could Mega-Blast him before moving him into the front row.
Kakarot played Ivy in the front row and protected Beetle.
Corney played Flying Kick so he could attack Beetle, then played Thunderous Onslaught so he could move to the visible area and then ready when Corney paid 3 endurance.
Kakarot discarded Catcher’s Mitt to reinforce, then used Salvage to get back the Mitt. Before Corney’s next attack, Kakarot used Ivy to get Doomstadt. Corney didn’t want Ivy to be reinforced, so he used Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe to move Ivy and swing in for 15 ATK. The score was 39-34 in favor of Corney.
Turn 4
Beetle again proved how useful he was to Kakarot as he searched out Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle. Karakot played both characters into the front row. He searched out Invisible Woman via Kooey Kooey Kooey and then played her out with his last resource point before passing it over to Corney.
General Fabrikant in the visible area was Corney’s only play during the build phase, and he let Kakarot go into his combat step, which Kakarot promptly passed back over to Corney.
Another Mega-Blast was used on Slipstream. He attacked into Beetle for 9 ATK, but Beetle didn’t stun because of General Fabrikant. General then went over to Ted Kord, which was a one-way affair. Then, Mikado and Mosha got discarded to stun Invisible Woman. The score was 17-39—a commanding lead for Corney.
Turn 5
Corney’s first play of the turn was to Wild Ride for Element Man, hoping that he would replace into a couple copies of Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe.
Kakarot played Dr. Light, Master of Holograms behind Invisible Woman and then declared Catcher’s Mitt on Dr. Light. Corney responded with Element Man’s ability to replace two resources but found nothing of use, so the Mitt resolved. Kakarot then played another Ted Kord and revived Reed Richards with Dr. Light. The final play from Kakarot was to Kooey for A Child Named Valeria.
Andrew couldn’t do any endurance loss to Kakarot, so he just passed. All Kakarot did was use both Reed Richard and Ted Kord’s ability to find some equipment. The score was 17-39 in favor of Corney, but the board was starting to look bad for him.
Turn 6
Karakot played Vicarious Living on turn 6, discarding Ted Kord for Boris. Birthing Chamber netted him two cards before he played out Spoiler, Stephanie Brown and revived Beetle with Dr. Light, who got Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi. Instead of playing Mimi, he played two Flamethrowers on Spoiler and Invisible Woman. Ted Kord then got out the third Flame Thrower, but he realized he had used up all his points this turn.
Luke Cage, Street Enforcer and Anti-Green Lantern were played out on Corney’s side, but he didn’t even bother to attack. Kakarot just burnt him for 10. During the recovery, Kakarot used Ivy to replace the Birthing Chamber with another Birthing Chamber to draw two cards. The score was 21-24 to Corney, but the board position said that Corney should lose next turn.
Turn 7
Chomin was the only recruit for Corney, and he was placed in the support row. Kakarot played only one character this turn, but it was Screaming Mimi, who activated her ability to burn Corney for 7 before a Flame Thrower was recruited on her. Ivy then used her ability to get Kooey Kooey Kooey, which in turn got A Child Named Valeria, which prompted Corney to concede.
Kakarot Wins!