Round 4 of the Melbourne 10K saw PC: LA money finisher Luke Bartter take on Matt Barton, who is one of the young guns of the Australian Vs. System scene.
Sydney resident Luke was playing his trademark team, The New Brotherhood, while his 18-year-old opponent from Adelaide had been having success with his metagamed My Beloved build.
Both had three wins at this point.
They flipped a coin, with Matt winning and choosing the odd initiative.
Matt mulliganed, while Luke kept his opening hand.
Neither player recruited a character on the first turn and the game kicked into turn 2.
Luke brought out Toad, while Matt recruited Tim Drake ◊ Robin, The Boy Wonder.
Luke sent Toad to attack Robin and flipped The New Brotherhood. Matt exhausted the Boy Wonder in turn to Bat-Signal for Jason Todd ◊ Robin. Both characters were stunned, but Matt took an extra 3 breakthrough endurance loss. Both characters were recovered.
Matt brought out the ill-fated member of the Robin franchise, with Luke saying, “Wow, I didn’t see that one coming.” The jovial Sydney player recruited Rogue, Anna Raven. All characters were situated in their respective front rows.
Jason Todd attacked Rogue and they traded stuns, while Tim Drake attacked Toad, who jumped back to Luke’s hand. This left Matt with 40 endurance and Luke with 44. Rogue and Jason Todd were recovered, and the other two characters were KO'd.
Turn 4 saw the arrival of the feared Sabretooth, Feral Rage, with Pyro being discarded as part of his cost. Luke put both his bashers up front.
Matt played Kyle Abbot with boost, making him 9 ATK/3 DEF, and put the bigger character in front of Jason.
However, Luke’s Rogue was able to fly over the protector and attack Robin, exhausting him in the process. Matt responded with an Acrobatic Dodge, which Luke countered with a Flying Kick from his resource row. This resulted in Robin becoming stunned, but not Rogue. Sabertooth then flew into Kyle Abbot in a feral rage, resulting in a double stun and lots of breakthrough endurance loss for Matt. Matt flipped My Beloved while he still could, then recovered Robin over Kyle Abbot.
Matt brought out Bane, Ubu on turn 5 and put both his characters in the front row. Luke replied by playing a fifth resource and bringing out Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr, who he put behind Rogue, with Sabertooth also in the front row.
Robin attacked Rogue, and in response, Luke flipped and activated the inevitable Genosha, drawing four cards and getting The New Brotherhood back online. They traded stuns.
Bane then attacked Sabertooth, and both characters were stunned. This left the board clear for Magneto to fly in directly. Luke played a Savage Beatdown to try and achieve lethal endurance loss, but Matt’s Fizzle, discarding a Bronze Tiger, said otherwise. Still, Matt was reduced to just 3 endurance, while Luke was still healthy at 31.
Matt recovered Bane, while Luke lost his Rogue.
Finally, when Luke recruited Quicksilver, Speed Demon on turn 6, Matt knew it was all over and conceded.
Winner – Luke Bartter