They flipped three coins, declaring that best two out of three had priority. Izsak called heads, but sadly there were more tails.
A Chevy Chase* native, Izsak admits that his Pro Circuit result of 5 and 5 was a disappointment. He’s won and lost even numbers of games in each of the last three Pro Circuits.
“I guess I’m firmly mediocre in Constructed,” he admitted.
Lockard chose evens. Izsak had no turn 1 play, leaving the board open for Lockard’s Archangel, Angel to swing across for a quick slap. Angel Dust and Electric Eve joined Lockard’s board on turn 2. Izsak recruited Destiny, Freedom Force.
Lockard swung in with Archangel with a team-up of Above and Below drawing him a card and X-Corp: Hong Kong boosting the attacks of everyone. The score was 36 to 48 at the end of the turn 2.
With the initiative again, Izsak recruited Bevatron, discarding two cards and forming up with Bevatron in the back and Destiny in the front. Lockard had Tar Baby and moved Angel Dust into the hidden area. Bevatron attempted to run into Tar Baby, but the Morlock evaded. Destiny then ran at Archangel who was reinforced by Electric Eve. Bevatron attempted to hit Eve, who also evaded. A direct attack from Bevatron hit Lockard for 6, and every character on the board recovered. The endurance was 33 to 38 in Lockard’s favor.
With the initiative on his side, Lockard recruited Viper and Cannonball, Blast Field and formed up with everyone but Electric Eve in his front row. Izsak recruited Havok, Critical Mass and put him to the side of Destiny in the support row, with the precognitive senior citizen protected by Bevatron. Cannonball and Tar Baby team attacked Havok. Thanks to the pump from Viper, their ATK was a total of 8. Izsak played Alter Density for +2 ATK, but Lockard exhausted his X-Corp: Hong Kong for 2 more ATK. Izsak takes 4 and the stun while Tar Baby stuns. Lockard passed on further attacks. Bevatron ran into Viper for the stun. Before the attack was legal, Electric Eve exhausted to play Drain Essence on Havok. The endurance totals were 30 to 28 in Lockard’s favor as they moved into turn 5.
Izsak recruited Trevor Fitzroy, forming up with the White Rook and Destiny in front and Bevatron in back. Lockard’s response was to recruit Stonewall.Bevatron ran at Stonewall with a replacement of Planet X to pump the attack and a discard of Annalee to Destiny to give Stonewall -3 DEF with the result of a mutual stun. Destiny then swung at Cannonball for the mutual stun. Trevor Fitzroy ran into Archangel who exhausted for Neutralized targeting Bevatron. Lockard evaded his Electric Eve and played Angel of Mercy targeting his Cannonball and Archangel. He’d managed not to lose a character on his opponent’s attack step while effectively getting rid of two of his opponent’s, which was no mean feat. The endurance totals were 22 to 11 in Izsak’s favor, but the board told a different story.
On his attack, turn 6, Lockard recruited Sunder and formed up with everyone in the front. Iceman, Deep Freeze joined Izsak’s side of the table and protected Trevor Fitzroy.
“I really screwed up last turn,” Izsak said.
Sunder and Archangel team attacked Iceman with a total combined ATK of 18. Izsak took 6 and his opponent took 5 from the stunback. Lockard attacked Stonewall into Trevor Fitzroy. With Drain Essence targeting Sunder and Mind Control to save some breakthrough, Trevor stunned with no stunback. A series of direct attacks and one Kill or be Killed sundered Izsak’s endurance.
“I’m going to take odds again,” Izsak said, kicking off the second game. Despite misgivings, he decided to keep his opening hand. Lockard seemed far more confident and kept.
Turn 1 saw only Artie swing across to deal 1 endurance loss to Izsak. On turn 2, Izsak recruited Chrome to his opponent’s Plague. They traded beats and the score was 48 to 43 for Lockard.
Turn 3 Izsak recruited Caliban while Lockard played Beast, Feline GeneticistBeast was exhausted by Chrome’s ability at the start of the combat step. Chrome swung into Plague for the mutual stun. Caliban attacked Artie, but the Morlock evaded, targeting Caliban with a -1 ATK. Lockard played Tar Baby and Archangel, Angel and sent Plague into the hidden area. He formed up with his entire lineup in the front.
Izsak had to burn off Sovereign Superior to get himself a 4-drop, but Doctor Druid was certainly worth it. He formed up around the leader ability with the Avenger in the crux of an L with Caliban up front and Chrome to the side. Lockard sent Tar Baby into Chrome and revealed X-Corp: Hong Kong, teamed-up with Above and Below to pump the Morlock and do breakthrough on the Acolyte. Izsak was now behind in endurance with the totals at 39 to 41.
Plague ran over with a power-up for a mutual stun with Caliban. Lockard then sent the rest of his characters into the Druid for a stun and a stunback on Beast. Harry’s Hideaway recovered Beast, and Plague also recovered while Izsak opted to keep Druid. With the endurance at 36 to 32 things were still close for Izsak, but Lockard had major board advantage.
Izsak played Trevor Fitzroy who went in front of the Druid. The other side of the board gained Stonewall. On his attack step, Izsak sent Stonewall into the hidden area with Fitzroy and ran over for a hit on Archangel and another on Beast. Angel of Mercy helped Lockard maintain his board and, going into turn 6, he had 26 endurance to Izsak’s 32.
With a serious under-drop on his initiative, Lockard played Viper and Electric Eve and Izsak responded with Iceman, Deep Freeze. Archangel, Artie, Beast, and Plague team attacked into Iceman, who used Magnetic Force to exhaust Stonewall. Iceman was stunned and Beast took the stunback. Druid attacked Viper and Electric Eve exhausted for Drain Essence on Iceman.v Rogue, Anna Marie was the turn 7 play of choice for Izsak and earned him a concession from his opponent.
With the match locked at 1 and 1, Lockard chose odds. He had to mulligan and Izsak followed suit. Angel Dust was the lone recruit turn 1 and Izsak took early endurance loss.
He started turn 2 with Destiny, Freedom Force and Image Inducer. Lockard recruited Viper. Destiny attacked Angel Dust for the mutual stun and then Viper struck for 2 directly. Lockard played Electric Eve and Artie as his turn 3 recruits. Destiny attacked Artie for a mutual stun and Lockard proceeded to attack Izsak directly. Destiny was the target of Neutralized with Electric Eve exhausting.With four characters to Izsak’s none, the endurance race was going badly for Izsak.
Turn 4 recruits were Bishop, XSE Commando on Lockard’s side and Havok, Critical Mass on Izsak’s. As his only attack, Havok swung into Viper. Lockard revealed Above and Below, drawing a card, and played a second one for another card.
Angel Dust and Bishop ran over into Havok. Izsak chose to stun Angel Dust back and took Electric Eve as a direct attack. Endurance totals were at 34 to 24 in Lockard’s favor.
Turn 5, Lockard recruited Sunder and formed up with Bishop and Electric Eve in the support row and Sunder, Artie, and Viper up front. Jetstream came out on Izsak’s side and protected Havok. Revealing District X gave Izsak’s board the Mental trait. Sunder swung across at Jetstream, Izsak taking 10 endurance loss from the stun and breakthrough. Jetstream was KO’d for his ability, exhausting Bishop. Artie and Electric Eve team attacked into Havok who exhausted to Drain Essence Sunder.
Ending the turn, endurance totals were 11 to 28 in Lockard’s favor.
Izsak had the initiative for the turn and recruited Iceman, Deep Freeze, discarding Gambit, Ragin’ Cajun and forming up with Havok protected. But Lockard’s Scaleface brought a look of pain to Izsak’s face. District X gave Havok and Iceman the Mental trait and Izsak kicked off the attack with Havok running at Scaleface. Planet X replacement allowed the Summers brother to stun the Dragon Lady, and Iceman ran over into Viper. The endurance totals were 7 to 8 in Lockard’s favor as he took over the attack step. Without enough on the table showing to stun Iceman though, Lockard had some tough choices to make.
“I’m wondering if I should try to kill you,” Lockard said. ”If I miss, I likely will lose next turn.”
Lockard evaded Electric Eve and recovered her again with Harry’s Hideaway to put the score at 5 to 6 in his favor. Lockard recruited Cannonball, Blast Field, Plague, and Tar Baby and formed up offensively with everyone but Electric Eve and Bishop in the front row.
“It’s up to you,” Izsak said as he recruited Exodus.
Havok and Exodus took up the rear with Alex Summers protected by Iceman. District X gave Izsak’s characters the Mental trait.
“That’s a relief,” Lockard said.
Lockard declared a team attack on Exodus, running Tar Baby, Artie, Cannonball, Plague, and Electric Eve into the Acolyte. He exhausted X-Corp: Hong Kong to give his team attack +3 ATK and stunned the 7-drop. Electric Eve took the stunback and put the endurance at -2 to 5 in Lockard’s favor. Scaleface attacked Iceman with a Kill or be Killed which was negated by Mental Domination. Lockard evaded his Artie to make Iceman unreinforceable, and Izsak scooped.
Lockard goes on to the finals of $10K Atlanta!
* Chevy Chase, Maryland, is entirely unaffiliated with the actor Chevy Chase, and its residents take no responsibility for “Three Amigos.”