Higgins is playing a Gotham Knights/Fearsome Five deck built to abuse Alfred and Dr. Light before swinging with a massive Batman, The Dark Knight to end the game. Williams is playing Common Enemy, the deck of choice this weekend among most of the professional TCG players that play Magic.

Game 1

Williams won the die roll and chose to take initiative on the even turns. Higgins started off with a GCPD Officer and played Bat Signal in order to search out Alfred Pennyworth, while Williams played Boris, Personal Manservant of Doom. Williams passed turn 2 with no play, while Higgins played Alfred and another GCPD Officer. Higgins used Alfred at the end of his draw step on turn 3 to search out a Fizzle, and then recruited Shimmer. Williams played She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters, but Shimmer, with a little help from Marvel Team-Up, tapped Dave’s creatures before he could attack. Another Bat Signal from Higgins searched out Cassandra Cain, Batgirl.

Dave played Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, drawing a card off of Common Enemy in the process. Higgins searched out Press the Attack at the end of Dave’s build step and then played Cassandra Cain and Utility Belt, which Williams responded to with Boris, fetching Reign of Terror. Reign returned Shimmer and an Officer to Higgins’s hand. Dr. Doom stunned the remaining Officer on Dave’s turn, while Higgins stunned She-Hulk with Cain on his attack.

Higgins used The Underworld Star to search out Harvey Bullock, and then recruited an Officer, Shimmer, and Alfred before passing the turn. Williams tried to Flame Trap, but Higgins Fizzled the effect, leaving his team unscathed. Williams then used Signal Flare to fetch out Dr. Doom and put Doom into play, flipping over Flame Trap, which he then used again. Higgins responded by tapping two of his Officers intentionally to not tap Dr. Doom, and then Pressed the Attack, targeting Alfred. Williams responded to that by playing Reign of Terror on Alfred and Shimmer, finally resolving Flame Trap. The end result was that Higgins’s whole team except Batgirl and Shimmer went to the KO’d pile.

Williams searched out Hulk, New Fantastic Four for his turn 6 play. Higgins played Dr. Light. Doom and She-Hulk team attacked Cassandra Cain, stunning her, but Higgins played Home Surgery, exhausting Dr. Light to recover Batgirl. Williams just shrugged and ran over Shimmer with his Hulk, dropping Higgins to 20 endurance. Higgins was running out of gas for turn 7, as he only played another GCPD Officer and passed the build over to Williams. Before his recruit phase, Williams used Faces of Doom to get Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius again, recruited Doom, turning down Signal Flare, and then recruited Darkoth. Dr. Light activated to stun Doom, but Williams responded, using Mystical Paralysis on Cassandra Cain. Press the Attack readied Dr. Light, who was then used again to smack down She-Hulk. Williams 32, Higgins 20.

Williams used Signal Flare to search out Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria. Higgins used Underworld Star to search out Batman, The Dark Knight, and play him. Williams had the initiative here, and started off attacking an Officer with She-Hulk. He then thumped Dr. Light with Hulk, losing Darkoth to Dr. Light in the process, and then attacked Batman with Dr. Doom, leaving Higgins at 6 to Dave’s 29.

On turn 9, Higgins played Dr. Light with boost, returning all characters in his KO’d pile to the front row. Flame Trap from Williams was negated by Fizzle, as was Signal Flare, leaving Williams one card short of using the Trap a second time, and leaving the players with 8 minutes left in the round.

Dr. Light with boost is officially ridiculous, especially since it can put multiple copies of the same unique character (like Dr. Light himself) into play.

Michael Higgins 1, Dave Williams 0

Game 2

Higgins recruited Gizmo on turn 1 and Harvey Bullock and Alfred on turn 2, but this game was largely irrelevant. There was no possibility of Williams winning in only eight minutes, though they did get to turn 5 this time with the 8 minutes available.

Michael Higgins wins 1 - 0