These players met before in the Swiss rounds, where Dominic carried the game. Because of that, Tze Hong was understandably tense.

 

Game 1

 

Both players mulliganed their opening hands. They got off to a fast start on turn 1, with Dagger, Child of Light for Dominic and Mendel Stromm for Tze Hong. On turn 2, Iron Fist, Danny Rand hit play for Dominic and Electro came down for Tze Hong. Tze Hong also flipped Midnight Sons, naming Sinister Syndicate.

 

Electro then swung into Dagger and Mendel Stromm attacked Dominic. Dominic also chose to counter-attack when Dagger was already stunned, causing him to lose Dagger.

 

The next turn saw Dominic and Tze Hong recruiting Elektra, Elektra Natchios and Orphan, Guy Smith, respectively. Elektra swung into Orphan and Iron Fist went after Electro. Neither side had any tricks, and both Iron Fist and Electro were lost.

 

Tze Hong played Venom on turn 4. He allowed the ability to go on the stack before flipping Marvel Team-Up and letting Venom assimilate Orphan for three +1 ATK/+1 DEF counters. Dominic recruited Luke Cage, Street Enforcer.

 

Tze Hong repeated the stunt he pulled in the quarterfinals. He swung with Mendel Stromm, then Venom. Before combat resolution, he sacrificed Mendel Stromm to give Venom +1 ATK/+1 DEF, and flipped X-Statix Cafe.

 

Despite Venom having an innately high DEF, Dominic wanted to push through some endurance loss. Luke Cage ran into Venom, and Dominic powered him up. Evil Awakens returned Luke Cage, and Dominic continued with Hell's Fury and Sucker Punch. Tze Hong replied to the barrage with Dead Weight, which Dominic responded to with another power-up and Strength of the Grave for 4 points. Luke Cage got through and cleared the path for Elektra who dealt another six points of endurance loss.

 

Turn 5 was Dominic's and he recruited Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Battering Ram came down on the other side of the table. Daredevil chose to dive into the hidden area to pounce upon Battering Ram with an additional +2 ATK. Battering Ram was stunned.

 

Dominic then proposed a team attack on Venom with Luke Cage and Elektra. Tze Hong countered with Glory Hound targeting Luke Cage. Undeterred, Luke Cage swung into Venom with Hell's Fury. Tze Hong returned Battering Ram to his hand with Mind Over Matter and allowed X-Statix Cafe to come into effect once more. However Dominic still had a Flying Kick to take him out. Dominic was at 16 endurance and Tze Hong was at 10 endurance at this point.

 

Tze Hong came up with Zeitgeist on turn 6, while Dominic got Yelena Belova ◊ Black Widow and Werewolf by Night. The beefed-up Venom went right for Dominic as Dominic's characters looked on helplessly from the hidden area. Mind Over Matter then whisked Venom back to hand to allow Zeitgeist to activate to stun Daredevil.

 

Dominic was now at 0 endurance, and as a last ditch effort, ran Luke Cage and Elektra into Zeitgeist in a team attack. Tze Hong had Dead Weight, but Dominic also had the answer in Crime and Punishment.

 

With the board cleared, Yelena Belova was able to go through and bring Tze Hong down to the same endurance total. Both players ended the turn at -4 endurance and the game carried on to the next turn.

 

It was Dominic's initiative on turn 7, and he chose to recruit Mephisto. Tze Hong played Weapon of Choice for Anarchist and Dr. Octopus, and was given the tentacled doctor.

 

Werewolf by Night and Mephisto team-attacked Dr. Octopus when Tze Hong had but a single card in hand. Dominic revealed Werewolf by Night and removed all 4 character cards from Tze Hong's graveyard and the 2 from his own graveyard. He then powered-up Werewolf for exactly 15 points of endurance loss.

 

His next action was to propose a team attack on Zeitgeist with everything he had. Tze Hong chose to concede.

 

Game 2

 

Tze Hong decided to take the odd initiative this time around. Both players mulliganed their opening hands.

 

Dominic played Werewolf by Night on turn 2, but Tze Hong still had nothing.

 

On turn 3, Tze Hong played Weapon of Choice, discarding X-Statix HQ and X-Statix Cafe for Orphan and Plazm. He kept Plazm, but he had an Orphan in hand anyway. I really wondered what this play is about as Dominic played Elektra, Elektra Natchios. They traded stuns and the Werewolf went in for a couple of additional points on the side.

 

On turn 4, Luke Cage, Street Enforcer hit play on Dominic's side while Tze Hong had Venom. Luke Cage swung into Venom for a double stun and to bring the endurance totals to 35 apiece. Werewolf by Night swung into Orphan with Crime and Punishment, and was met with Dead Weight. Dominic played Hell's Fury on his Werewolf and Tze Hong was forced to reveal his trump, X-Statix Cafe. However, it was to no avail as Dominic still had a Flying Kick in reserve. Elektra then followed the trail blazed by her predecessors to deal another 6 points of endurance loss.

 

At the end of the turn, the endurance totals stood at Dominic 33, Tze Hong 27. Dominic also KOed Werewolf by Night.

 

This game certainly went poorly for Tze Hong, as he missed his 5-drop. He was forced to play the severely underpowered Plazm, which was almost immediately sacrificed to X-Statix HQ. On the other hand, Dominic dropped Daredevil, Matt Murdock.

 

Orphan swung into Daredevil for a double stun and Luke Cage and Elektra had free reign thereafter. However, Dominic had insufficient pumps to destroy Tze Hong that turn.

 

Turn 6 was Dominic's. He dropped Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow and Tze Hong promptly sacrificed Orphan to X-Statix HQ. Tze Hong had Zeitgeist. Natasha proposed an attack on Zeitgeist right away, and Zeitgeist activated to stun her.

 

Daredevil once again leaped into the shadows to sneak in on Zeitgeist. A Flying Kick was negated by Dead Weight, but Dominic was able to negate that effect right back with Crime and Punishment.

 

With that, Tze Hong recognized that it was over and conceded the game.

 

Dominic Ortega wins, 2-0.