This game is a writer’s dream. Appearing in this finals match are two players with big personalities and big stories behind their road here. Josh Wiitanen began the tournament with a 1-2 record and hasn’t lost a game since. He’s hot in pursuit of his second $10K trophy, but has already earned his ninth $10K Top 8 appearance this weekend. Sitting down across from him is Alex Smith, who requested yesterday that he not be covered in feature matches because he was cursed. Before this tournament, he had an 0-5 lifetime record while being featured, and while I thought he was joking, the feature match he received on Day 1 pushed his streak to 0-6. The two teammates set the tone for a fun atmosphere before the match began but still maintained the professional edge they used to get here.
Josh won the roll and thought long and hard about taking the even initiatives. Turn 1 began with volleys of Connie Webb from both sides, getting the game off to a consistent start. Dr. Fate’s Tower found Josh an Amulet of Nabu for his newly recruited Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant on turn 2. Alex used Connie Webb to find an Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot and played Talia, Beloved Betrayer. Turn 2 ended with the totals at 47-45 in Josh’s favor.
Turn 3 saw an Ahmed Samsarra from Alex, who promptly found a Dr. Fate’s Tower of his own to get a Helm of Nabu, which was played following an Amulet of Nabu on Talia. Connie Webb jumped back to Josh’s deck to find him an Ahmed, keeping pace stride for stride. He then used Ahmed to KO the Tower he played last turn, finding Checkmate Safe House, flipping a second Tower, and getting a Cloak of Nabu for Dr. Psycho. After an attack from Talia on Psycho, they moved on to the next turn.
Josh flipped Satellite HQ and activated it before KO’ing it to find a Brother I Satellite with Ahmed. Fatality, Flawless Victory came out to play before Josh passed to Alex, who recruited Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1, and both players moved their Fate Artifacts to their 4-drops. Fatality attacked Alex’s concealed Ahmed with a Brother Eye boost on top of the artifacts, and Alex searched out The Science Spire to keep him from losing to Ahmed if Fatality KO’d him. Josh sent his Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant into Bizarro on a suicide run to prevent Alex from having an avenue for massive breakthrough during his attacks. Bizarro stunned Fatality and Talia went at Josh directly, bringing the totals to 35-30 in Josh’s favor.
Alex had a very underwhelming play with the initiative on turn 5 when he simply replayed a concealed Ahmed. Josh responded with a Mr. Freeze Brutal Blizzard, who received the artifacts via Dr. Fate’s Tower. Alex sent Bizarro into Josh’s Ahmed with a Satellite HQ, searched out by his King. Josh searched out The Science Spire to keep from losing the game to his own Fatality. Josh then repelled an attack on his Fatality with a Knightmare Scenario to counter the Brother Eye pump Alex had hoped would give Talia the boost she needed to regain some ground he had been losing. Attacks from Josh brought Alex to 12 with him at 24. Without a 6-drop on turn 6, Alex conceded when Josh’s Alexander Luthor, Diabolical double came down to finish him off.
Josh Wiitanen 1, Alex Smith 0
Alex led off game 2 with a Connie Webb across from Josh’s empty board on turn 1, but he didn’t have a 2-drop to follow it up. Josh played Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant and used Dr. Fate’s Tower to find an Amulet of Nabu for the crazy doctor. With no other action, turn 3 kept up a good pattern for the match, with both players hitting Ahmed Samsarra. Dr. Fate’s Tower found a Helm of Nabu for Dr. Psycho, who led the charge to bring Alex down to 38.
Turn 4 looked like it might be turning around for the cursed Smith when he played Fatality, Flawless Victory and used Dr. Fate’s Tower to find an Amulet of Nabu for her. Josh played Bizarro and moved his Artifacts onto him with the Tower. Alex used Ahmed to find a Satellite HQ, sending Fatality into the opposing Ahmed. Josh played Target Acquired to get to 10 ATK / 6 DEF, then played Knightmare Scenario to get to a 12 ATK / 8 DEF, answering Alex’s double Knightmare Scenario. A Threat Neutralized pushed Fatality over the top, earning the 1-way stun on Ahmed and putting Josh to 42. The Science Spire returned Ahmed before Josh lost to Fatality’s KO, and Bizarro stunned Fatality. Dr. Psycho went in directly to put the score to 38-33, still in Josh’s favor, but with no Ahmed, his board position looked to be a lot worse than it was when the turn had started.
Josh used a Brother I Satellite to find an Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot for his initiative on turn 5. Josh answered the challenge with Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard and used Dr. Fate’s Tower to find a Helm of Nabu, playing it on Fatality and moving the equipment to Ahmed in the hidden area. Bizarro traded with Mr. Freeze, who locked down the Robot for the turn. Undaunted, Josh sent the robot into Fatality, using Dr. Psycho to KO Freeze with the OMAC’s ability before allowing another mutual stun. The turn ended with Josh returning the locked-down OMAC Robot to his hand with Science Spire and the totals at 21-29 in Josh’s favor.
Alex used Ahmed at the beginning of the turn to find a Brother I Satellite, then found Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double. Josh didn’t have to waste time with the searching, as he had already drawn the same 6-drop. Both players moved their artifacts to their Luthors, and the carnage started with Fatality attacking Dr. Psycho, who was in the back row next to Bizarro. Rather than decide if he wanted to reinforce or not, he used Science Spire to return the 2-drop and negate the attack. For his next trick, Alex sent his Luthor into Josh’s, earning the stun with the help of a Brother Eye and remaining un-stunned himself. Fatality was sent into Bizarro next. A Knightmare Scenario got over Josh’s Safe House and earned the stun, putting the totals to 15-21 and giving Alex the lead for the first time this game.
The loss of Ahmed was starting to catch up with Josh as he flipped and used Slaughter Swamp to return a Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin to his hand and recruit him. Alex answered with a boosted Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. Both players used their Dr. Fate’s Towers to move their artifacts to their respective drops for the turn. Deathstroke stunned the Annihilation Protocol, KO’ing Alex’s Luthor in the process. Josh sent his Luthor at Fatality, used Brother Eye, and flipped a second Brother Eye to go for the win, but Alex used The Science Spire to return Fatality, leaving Josh with an 11 ATK Luthor that would only be able to bring him to 5 with a direct attack. It was on to turn 8, with Josh down one resource (from flipping the second Brother Eye) and Alex with the initiative.
Alex played Black Adam, Lord of Kahndaq and promptly passed to Josh, who played Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype and opted not to trigger her ability at the start of combat. Alex discarded four characters to give his entire team +4 ATK / +4 DEF with Black Adam’s payment power, and then sent Annihilation Protocol into Sasha. A Target Acquired from Josh, exhausting four locations, made Sasha threaten to stun back, but Josh returned Ahmed to his hand to find more pumps, and after everything was said and done, he discarded another four character cards, bringing his whole team to +8 ATK / +8 DEF and prompting a concession from Wiitanen. Alex was now one game away from ending his feature match curse, but Wiitanen wasn’t giving up his trophy dreams just yet.
Tied 1-1
Game 3
Alex led off the deciding game with Connie Webb, who went unopposed by Wiitanen. With the initiative on turn 2, Smith flipped Brother I Satellite to find Sarge Steel and equip him with an Amulet of Nabu. Josh used a Satellite of his own to find Sarge Steel, and then flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower to give his Steel an Amulet of Nabu, too. After uneventful attacks, it was on to the next turn.
Josh brought out Ahmed Samsarra, and Josh returned Connie Webb to find an Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, which he played in his resource row and then KO’d after playing an Ahmed of his own to find Dr. Fate’s Tower. A Helm of Nabu was found with the Tower and played on Sarge Steel. Alex’s Sarge Steel was stunned by Josh’s and the players moved on to turn 4, with Alex leading 48-43.
Alex played the Elimination Protocol he had returned from his KO’d pile the previous turn with Brother Eye and passed to Josh, who played Bizarro and used Ahmed to find another Tower, getting Helm of Nabu to join the Amulet on his 4-drop. Alex sent Ahmed into Sarge Steel, who was reinforced by Bizarro. The 4-drops then stunned, and Sarge Steel attacked Josh directly, putting him to 31.
An Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot from Josh was answered by a Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard on Alex’s side of the board. Alex also moved his Fate Artifacts to Ahmed (in his hidden area) to try to prevent them from being lost due to an unfortunate Annihilation Protocol use. Josh’s robot attacked Sarge Steel, and two Target Acquireds and a Knightmare Scenario brought the Sarge to 12 ATK / 3 DEF, trumping the Knightmare Scenario Josh had played to bring the robot to 12 ATK / 10 DEF. Josh then sent Bizarro into Elimination Protocol, earning the stun and keeping his Bizarro safe. Both players passed on any remaining attacks, but not before Josh searched out The Science Spire with his Ahmed.
Turn 6 began with Alex possessing a slight lead of 28-26 as he played Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double. Ahmed searched out another Tower to find Cloak of Nabu, moving the entire Fate set to his 6-drop before passing. Josh brought down a Luthor of his own and moved his two artifacts onto it before Josh’s attacks. Elimination Protocol attacked Josh’s OMAC Robot with help from a Brother Eye activation, getting a mutual stun. Alexander Luthor was sent into Bizarro, who was all alone in the back row and a prime target for some breakthrough. A Target Acquired for +6 ATK, a Knightmare Scenario with the exhaustion, and a power-up brought Bizarro to 20 ATK / 10 DEF, stunning the 19 ATK / 20 DEF Luthor, who had received a Knightmare Scenario of his own. Josh’s Alexander stunned Mr. Freeze, who locked down Bizarro with his vengeance.
During the following turn, Josh brought down Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin, while Alex recruited a boosted Annihilation Protocol, mirroring the previous game. After both players suited up their newest team members, Josh sent Deathstroke into Annihilation Protocol, getting a mutual stun and KO’ing Alexander Luthor again. With The Science Spire flipped up, there was no way Alex would be able to pile enough Brother Eye pumps onto his lone Ahmed to attack back for the win, as Josh could simply return the defender to his hand. With that knowledge, Alex offered his hand to Josh. Josh Wiitanen became the $10K Denver Champion, lengthening Alex Smith’s feature match curse to 0-7.
Congratulations, Josh!