Guillaume Potvin is another one of QB’s finest (Quebec, not Queensbridge—a nickel at the next PC for anyone who gets the reference), a member of the French-Canadian rising stars, AttaQc. His opponent, Loren Nolan, is a consistent $10K finisher (including a win), and could go toe to toe (or hair to hair, or whatever) with Peter Sundholm in a mullet contest. Both started the pod with four losses, meaning a 3-0 is a sure bet for Top 8 and a 2-1 leaves it to the tiebreaker gods. Guillaume’s got a little press action going on, while Loren is sporting an Inhumans/Heralds control deck.
Potvin won the roll and took evens, and both players mulliganed. The mission to drag the game out to turn 7 started well for Loren, who had with Galan, while Potvin missed. Pip the Troll, with no search, showed up for Potvin on turn 2, while Loren recruited Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth. Pip attacked, and again Galen gained some endurance.
For the third turn, Loren had Crystal, Elementelle, which dug out an Extended Family, while Potvin had Mar-Vell ◊ Captain Marvel, Soldier of the Empire. Loren attacked Pip with Crystal and then passed the attack. Potvin assumed it would be safe to attack Galen with Marvel plus a Hala for one, but Loren had a power up for Galen along with The Devil We Know to force the awkward stun back. Pip went down during recovery.
Turn 4 featured Sub-Mariner, Illuminati, along with Nega-Bands on Marvel. Loren had Nahrees, threatening to begin the Franklin Richards abuse. Sub-Mariner attacked Galen (the lone visible character), and Loren shipped Crystal out of the hidden area and teamed up Heralds and Inhumans with The Extended Family to reinforce. Mar-Vell then traded with Crystal with a little extra breakthrough thrown in. Loren passed his attacks, satisfied to surge up his concealed characters.
On the fifth turn, Loren had Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans in the hidden area, looking to shut down Hala and other Nasty Surprise–type effects. Potvin had Korath the Pursuer, possibly looking to make a dent in Loren’s concealed board the following turn. Naharees attacked Sub-Mariner and avoided the stun back with Black Bolt, then Black Bolt traded with Korath after Naharees locked him down. Crystal stunned Mar-Vell with the help of Blue Area of the Moon, and Potvin went into the sixth turn with nothing but an exhausted Korath versus Nolan’s robust board.
Press being what it is, however, Potvin made a stab at it, pressing out Captain Att-Lass, Colonel Yon-Rogg, Mar-Vell, and Lancer along with Nega Bands on Yon-Rogg, and pushed his fresh Kree characters up front. Loren had Firelord, Harbinger of Havoc. With little endurance to play with, Potvin made the most conservative play available, using Yon-Rogg on Firelord and sending Lancer after Crystal with the help of Barbaric Brawl. Franklin stunned Att-Lass on the way back (Black Bolt again prevented the stun back), and Naharees went after after Yon-Rogg, who stunned Naharees with the help of Live Kree . . . or Die!, but not before Naharees would lock down Korath yet again. Black Bolt then attacked Mar-Vell, and Potvin traded a Hala activation with a Blue Area activation. Yon-Rogg stuck around during recovery for Potvin, while Loren kept Firelord.
Loren had Potvin on the ropes and looked to cement his win with Human Torch, Sparky. Unfortunately, he also added Firelord, Pyreus Kril, replacing his much larger Firelord. Suddenly with new life, Potvin recruited Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant and Talla Ron, equipped Yon-Rogg with Nega-Bands, and set up with Yon-Rogg in front of Doom, who flanked Korath and Talla Ron in the support row. Loren sent Franklin after Talla, and again the two players exchanged Hala and Blue Area activations. Potvin then used The Infamous Seven to blunt the attack. Firelord attacked Yon-Rogg, Nolan pumped him with the last card in his hand, and the two traded stuns. Fearing any remaining Nasty Surprise effects, Loren held Black Bolt back, content just to burn Potvin into the negatives with Human Torch. Potvin tried to figure out some iteration of attacks and Dr. Doom usage that could push Loren into the negatives, but Loren had Elemental Battle for a backbreaking endurance swing.
Loren Nolan Wins!