It was the quarterfinals, and Antonino De Rosa and Paul Sottosanti sat down in the Going Rogue mirror match of death that everyone on Team TOGIT had been dreading all weekend. If either of them had known how this one would turn out, I’m sure they both would have fought over who got to concede first. This game broke all records as the longest Vs. System match in the history of the game, between two decks that were built to take on just about anything except themselves. De Rosa won the die roll and chose the even initiative. He shook Paul’s hand with a “good luck, and may the best Italian win!”
The first six rounds were fairly straightforward, with each side using Cerebro and laying down exhaust, stall, and discard characters, such as Puppet Master; Professor X, Charles Xavier; and Rogue, Power Absorption; and Mimic to copy their abilities. Come turn 7, a good half hour had passed, and no blood had been drawn. It was about this point when the strain of strategy started to get to the players, with Antonino pleading for death to release him from the match.
By turn 10, more of the same, although a Sunfire-absorbed Rogue and a couple of X-Corporations altered the life totals a little, with Paul at 54 and Antonino at 35. On turn 10, the resource rows were starting to get a little cramped, causing both players to start a second row, which Brian David-Marshall would later dub “The Support Resource Row.” Antonino remarked that he’d never had to place rows of resources before. Jean Grey, Phoenix Force had hit the table a couple of times at this point, and the match continued to stall. On Antonino’s turn 11 recruit step, it took him about ten minutes to decide how to play. While he pondered his moves, one could hear him muttering, “Kill me, kill me, kill me.”
“And me!” Paul chimed in, amidst spectators commenting that root canals would be less painful to watch. Antonino laughed and said, “I hear myself getting fatter . . . that’s how bad it is.” His recruit was a Mimic and a Puppet Master. “I thought for that long, and my big play: Puppet Master, Mimic.”
At the end of turn 11, Paul had taken his first endurance loss of the game, putting him at 47. Antonino was at 33. On turn 8, with the game already clocking in at well over an hour—and this was only game 1!—Head Judge Rune Horvik told them to try to speed it up. Antonino told him, “We’ve never been this far in a game—I’ve never been past turn 9 before!” He then laughed and added, “I know that after this tournament they’ll be changing the rules on time limits in Vs.” At the end of turn 12, Antonino was down to 30, with Paul still at 47. At the end of turn 13, Paul 41, Antonino 23. And then, more stall and more life-gain through X-Corporation. Onslaught finally hit the board for the first time on Turn 15, but a Phoenix-copied Rogue stopped that threat before it started. The Turn ended at Paul 45, Antonino 31.
Turn 16 and it was Paul’s turn to lament, “God I wish I had lost the last round.” Antonino sagely nodded and said, “Same.” Paul held his head, “I would give anything to have missed the Top 8 . . . ” Turn 16 ended at Paul 39, Antonino 31.
The game dragged on to the previously-mythical turn 17. Antonino and Paul could barely scrape together the gumption to go on. They took a moment to confer with Head Judge Rune Horvik and UDE bigwig Jeff Donais, explaining their impossible situation and the near-zero chance of finishing the game. They settled on sharing an equal prize split, and then decided that Antonino would advance. They got up from the table and hugged like men, the crowd applauding as much in admiration as relief.