It’s the last round of the Swiss, and Stephen King and Kristian Kockott are both one win away from making the Top 8. For Kristian, this would be his second PC Top 8, his first one being at PC: Amsterdam. Stephen is a young player from Maryland who’s looking for his first major tournament success.
Before the match started, Stephen wanted to give a “Go Terps!” for the viewers at home.
Stephen won the choice for the initiative and selected evens. Both players passed turn 1 without incident. A Weaponers of Qward from Stephen and a Manhunter Protector from Kristian made turn 2 a quick one, with no attacks from either player.
On turn 3, Kristian played Manhunter Soldier, while Stephen recruited Xallarap, revealing Element Man. Kristian made a curious play by not attacking at all—he simply passed the attack to Stephen. Stephen sent Xallarap into the Protector, and the Soldier reinforced. Then, the Weaponers attacked the Soldier, and Stephen used Yellow Impurity to force the trade. Kristian flipped In Remembrance, replacing another copy of Manhunter Soldier, to save himself 1 point of endurance. Stephen lost Xallarap during recovery, while Kristian KO’d the Protector.
On turn 4, Stephen added Rot Lop Fan, while Kristian played Mark Shaw. Stephen sent Rot Lop into the Soldier in the back row, and he used Weaponers to lower the defender’s DEF by 1. Kristian used In Remembrance to trade with Rot Lop. He then sent Mark Shaw in directly for 5 endurance loss.
The Manhunter swarm got into full swing on turn 5 with a boosted Manhunter Excavator that returned a Manhunter Soldier to play. King continued to add characters to his hidden area, recruiting Element Man. Kristian proposed a direct team attack with all of his characters. Stephen could have moved one or more of his characters to his visible area with Element Man, but instead, he decided to take the attack directly.
Stephen then sent Element Man at the Excavator. Kristian used In Remembrance along with Nero Unleashed to try to stun back, but Stephen had Thunderous Onslaught, which saved Element Man. Rot Lop stunned a Soldier, and then the Weaponers, with some help from Yellow Impurity, took down the other Soldier.
Stephen’s plan to save some board position by taking the direct attack had worked, but he entered turn 6 at a precariously low 11 endurance. He recruited Sinestro, Lantern in Exile, while Kristian added Manhunter Lantern. Stephen started by trying to trade his 6-drop for his opponent’s, which Kristian allowed after exhausting it and Mark Shaw to enable Manhunter Science. Stephen dropped to 5 endurance. When he sent Element Man after the Excavator, Kristian used In Remembrance along with two power-ups to try to stun the attacker. Stephen had no tricks of note, so he offered the concession.
Kristian Kockott advances to the Top 8!