“Good luck—let's have a good game.” Peter Sundholm is such a nice guy. He opted to keep his opening hand, as did Bragg. Sundholm had control of the initiative on turn 1, and moments after the turn began, he sent G'Nort to slam directly into Bragg. Next turn, he'd protect G'Nort with Hector Hammond, watch Hector get smacked by Gnaxos for a double-stun, and again let G'Nort gnaw on Bragg's ankles a bit.

 

On turn 3, Seattle's $10K champ flipped Book of Oa and dug through two cards. While he decided what to take, Bragg stared at his hand. Olapet and Arisia both hit the table, with the two 1-drops hiding in Sundholm's back row behind Olapet and Hector Hammond. Eesh, it was like he was playing Constructed. Bragg recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, who was promptly smashed by Olapet (thanks to the bonuses from Arisia and G'Nort). Hector and Gnaxos traded off, Arisia attacked directly, and G'Nort again nipped on Bragg's endurance. The endurance totals were 46 to 38, advantage Sundholm.

 

Dr. Ub'X hit the field on Bragg's side, and Sundholm blew air through his clenched fist for a moment, contemplating. He then used Book of Oa, discarding Mark Shaw and getting Rot Lop Fan, who was immediately recruited. After considering a change, Sundholm opted to stick with the visible formation he had last turn, again protecting Arisia and G'Nort. Dr. Light attempted to smack G'Nort, but Dimming of the Starheart robbed him of flight, rendering the potential attack illegal. Ub'X attacked Olapet, G'Nort reinforced, and Dr. Light swatted G'Nort—the attack worked this time, and G'Nort went down after Arisia reinforced. Rot Lop Fan then bashed Dr. Light and, Hector Hammond attacked directly.

 

The endurance totals stood at 43-30, with Sundholm in the lead.

 

In control of the initiative on turn 5, Sundholm used Book of Oa to search before recruiting Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps. Bragg flipped Emerald Dawn to KO Dr. Light and fetch himself an Element Man—the loss of board presence no doubt hurt, but it was all he could do at this point. Missing a drop was not an option given the fact that Sundholm was up two powerful 1-drops, and was thus generating crazy effects. Element Man came into play in the hidden area, leaving nothing but Gnaxos in Bragg's visible area—and leaving Bragg quite vulnerable this turn. Sundholm controlled the odd initiatives, and his pace of play suggested he was looking to control tempo and win on turn 7. At this rate, he was going to take it on turn 6.

 

Sundholm didn't seem to be aiming for that, though, and was happy to control the game entirely. To that end, he exhausted Hammond to use Damsel in Distress, bringing Element Man into the visible area. Guy Gardner attempted to attack the newly-revealed Qwardian, but was stopped short by In Evil Star's Evil Clutches. Arisia brought down Gnaxos for the double-stun, Hard-Traveling Heroes bought Bragg a card, and Guy Gardner finally stunned and KO'd Element Man. Rot Lop Fan and G'Nort swung for 9, and the endurance totals at the end of the turn were 42 to 10. There was no way Bragg was walking away from this one. Arisia was KO'd, and play moved to turn 6.

 

Things got even worse as Bragg missed his 6-drop, recruiting Carol Ferris ◊ Star Sapphire and Slipstream. Sundholm kept bringing the pain, though, slapping down Boodikka onto the table and pressing her to his front row to create a wall of beefy characters. With no flight whatsoever, Bragg would need to team attack to bring down Gardner and Boodikka, and with Rot Lop Fan able to attack back anyways, the game would be over. Still, Slipstream and Gnaxos attacked Gardner with a Qwardian Pincer, stunning the defending Lantern and Slipstream. Bragg looked at his row and offered Sundholm the handshake before revealing his resources—a pair of Qwardian Pincers highlighted a bunch of combat pumps. “Whoah!” exclaimed Sundholm. “I'm lucky I had the board advantage there. Anyways, I hope you get the win in the last game. I'll see you in the Top 8!” Peter Sundholm's got to be one of the friendliest people playing pro-level Vs. today.

 

Your winner, previous $10K Seattle champion Peter Sundholm!