Chris Green is a sixteen-year-old student from Leicester. He’ll be competing in tomorrow’s Pro Circuit on a rankings-based invite.
Steve Horowitz, 23, is also a student. Well known as one of the Top 8 contenders in the Vs. System’s first PC at Gen Con Indy, Horowitz qualified on Day 2 through, as always, a draft. He won the roll and opted for control of the initiative on the even turns. With an opening hand of Luke Cage, Street Enforcer, Werewolf by Night, Quick Kill, and Deathwatch, he opted to keep the hand.
Both players passed on turn 1 after setting resources. Horowitz brought out Werewolf by Night on turn 2, and Green brought out Roscoe Sweeny. Werewolf tore Roscoe to shreds, and Horowitz dropped Quick Kill to take Sweeny out.
Green recruited Owl to try and get some board presence going. As he pushed Owl to his front row, his opponent considered his next move carefully. Steve had The Rose, Shadowy Lieutenant, Mr. Hyde, and Death-Stalker all at his disposal. He eventually settled on Mr. Hyde. Owl swung into Hyde for the double stun, and Werewolf mauled Green directly. Unfortunately, Werewolf cost Horowitz the top card of his deck for his presence, and that card was Hypnotic Charms.
“That is freakin’ ridiculous,” muttered a frustrated Horowitz. The score was 46 to 42.
On turn 4, Horowitz brought out Luke Cage, Street Enforcer without a second thought, and Green recruited Saracen. “Wow,” said Horowitz as he looked at his board—he had massive advantage, but needed to play carefully in order to maintain his position. Horowitz needed to keep his team affiliations alive until the next turn in order to fulfill Deathwatch’s double loyalty. That was doable, but at the same time, he wanted to be heading into turn 5 with as much power as possible. He hadn’t hit a 6-drop yet, and he needed to cover turn 5 extremely well if he couldn’t draw into a 6-drop in the next four cards.
In the end, Horowitz settled on sending Mr. Hyde to take out Owl, and Cage pounded on Saracen. Though that was a double stun, Werewolf by Night got to snack on Green’s endurance directly. Unfortunately for Horowitz, however, Luke Cage hit the dirt. He could still recruit Deathwatch, but he lost his biggest gun.
Green brought out Punisher, Executioner on turn 5 and gave him a War Wagon. Horowitz cheerily plunked down Deathwatch into his front row.
“Greeeeat,” sighed Green. He then flipped Marvel Team-Up and united his characters, saying, “I wish I had a way to take out Deathwatch without losing Punisher.” He really wanted to get rid of the frustrating 5-drop.
“Well, I wish I hadn’t lost my Hypnotic Charms to randomness,” replied Horowitz. He smiled, but he seemed annoyed with his luck. “Honestly, if I lose, that’s the reason why.”
He was right—his inability to team attack left him with a weak turn, and he couldn’t attack back after Saracen and Punisher teamed up against Deathwatch.
Turn 6 hit, and Horowitz still didn’t have a 6-drop. He recruited Cobra and Masked Marauder, while Green recruited Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Masked Marauder immediately exhausted Punisher, because Horowitz couldn’t afford to lose a character to War Wagon. He knew that he would be taking out Spider-Man anyway, and besides, taking out the corner of your opponent’s L formation is always good. Still, Horowitz labored heavily over his next move. He eventually settled on swinging Deathwatch into Saracen. Green responded with Geraci Family Estate and Face the Master, resulting in a stun back. Marauder then took out Spider-Man in a team attack, and then he ate dust alongside Saracen. Horowitz hadn’t planned for games to go this long, and it was costing him.
Bullseye, Master of Murder came down on Chris Green’s side, and Horowitz wasn’t happy. Eyeing the Moon Knight in his hand, he was considering his position very seriously. No matter what he did, he’d not only be at a raw stat disadvantage, but he’d also be under the thumb of Spider-Man. His lone advantage? Sheer numbers. Horowitz recruited Centurious and Death-Stalker, lined up Cobra and Hyde in front protecting Deathwatch and Centurious respectively, and passed. Spider-Man took out Cobra, Bullseye took out Deathwatch, and Punisher KO’d him with War Wagon. It was 10 to 14 in Green’s favor, and Horowitz passed.
Horowitz needed something big. His saving grace was that at least by this point, he’d be guaranteed that Green wouldn’t hit a turn drop either. Horowitz recruited Moon Knight with boost, making him a 14 ATK and 7 DEF. With so many characters on the field, he would have been wreaking some havoc if he had that Hypnotic Charms. Green brought out Kirigi, and then he Glory Hounded Centurious to keep him from team attacking.
Horowitz played Made Men, exhausting Centurious to make all of his characters Crime Lords, “since he blatantly can’t attack any of your guys,” as he put it. Horowitz took some time to consider what he was doing—several minutes in fact. He didn’t seem particularly hopeful for a good outcome, and Green seemed to know that, though he wasn’t counting his chickens.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to concede,” admitted Horowitz. “The fact that I can’t team attack with Centurious is what did it.” And sure enough, after a few more moments of thought, he resigned from the match.
“I don’t think I should’ve Quick Killed the Roscoe,” Horowitz pondered aloud. “It was the smart decision to make given the position I was in, but he had all his drops anyway.”
In the end, Horowitz’s lack of a late-game strategy was the main problem. Though mid-game wins are definitely achievable in the format, they’re difficult to pull off against decks with access to cards like Face the Master and Mind Over Matter.