De Rosa won the coin flip and selected the odd initiatives. Both players opted to mulligan, and though neither player had a drop, Fiorillo did flip Gravesite on turn 1. On turn 2, Fiorillo dropped a copy of Kirigi, but De Rosa hucked a Tryks and gained a point of endurance.

 

On turn 2, Fiorillo recruited Iron Fist, Danny Rand, and De Rosa recruited Sniper. Both attacked directly. Next turn, both players discarded an Underworld character to gain an endurance point. De Rosa recruited Mr. Hyde, Fiorillo recruited Daredevil, Protector of Hell's Kitchen, and Mr. Hyde attacked, resulting in a double-stun. The two concealed characters each attacked directly, and that was the turn.

 

Turn 4's Gravesite again saw an endurance point gained for each player—if either was packing Mephisto, Soulstealer, then that Gravesite could become gamebreaking. Fiorillo recruited Centurious, and De Rosa recruited Saracen and shifted everything to his back row. Centurious attacked Hyde, Saracen reinforced him, and Saracen's effect caused a double-stun. Iron Fist and Daredevil then teamed into Saracen, and Daredevil and his mark were stunned. Sniper attacked directly.

 

Both players discarded Marvel Knights characters next for Gravesite—Daredevil, Guardian Devil for De Rosa and Brother Voodoo for Fiorillo. Sure enough, Fiorillo recruited Mephisto, while De Rosa just recruited Jigsaw. Jigsaw attacked Centurious, Centurious powered up, and Black Magic kept Jigsaw nice and big. Fiorillo eventually settled on using Strength of the Grave to pump Centurious's DEF, also using Wake the Dead to search out a character to use with Centurious's power, making him a 9 ATK/13 DEF monster.

 

“Ok . . . I'll Black Magic again.”

 

“Awwww, again?” Fiorillo couldn't believe it, and De Rosa attacked directly past Fiorillo's concealed characters to take the lead in endurance, 36 to 17.

 

On turn 6, Fiorillo recruited Asmodeus. De Rosa recruited Dracula, Lord of the Damned, stuck both his visible characters in the back row, and passed. Centurious ran into Jigsaw, Midnight Sons teamed him up, and Fiorillo discarded a copy of Mikado and Mosha for his effect. De Rosa powered up in response and flipped Marvel Team-Up, but Fiorillo foiled him with two activations of Punisher's Armory. Saracen reinforced, and both characters in combat were stunned.

 

Asmodeus then attacked Saracen, quickly wiping him out. Antonino attacked back, sending Dracula into Asmodeus, backed by a Crime and Punishment. The resultant damage and a direct attack from Sniper brought Fiorillo to 4.

 

Both players recruited Bullseye, Master of Murder on turn 7. Dracula attacked into Asmodeus, and that was all Fiorillo needed to see to scoop.

 

Antonino De Rosa wins!

 

After the match Fiorillo revealed his problem: he never had a Marvel Knights or Underworld character to reveal to use Mephisto, Soulstealer's effect. Ouch.