ATM FTW is no stranger to Sunday play, but this is the first appearance for No Name, who has only a single Pro Circuit Day 2 finish between them. They are clearly the underdogs coming into this matchup, but with Nick Little’s underpowered deck, they have a chance of being David to ATM FTW’s Goliath. I decided to cover Dair and Sacha because Dair insisted he was the A-list player on the team.
Sacha won the roll and chose odds. He played a Cheetah on turn 1 that was answered by a Fiddler from Dair. Dair’s Stargirl on the next turn could only be matched by a Count Vertigo on the other side of the board. Down a character after the attacks, they went on to the next turn.
A Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive came out to play for Sacha’s team. It looked to be the best possible counter to Dair’s The Calculator, Evil Oracle, which is widely considered to be one of the strongest turn 3 plays in the format. Sacha was left with no choice but to attack Stargirl with Cheetah, but Dair had a Forbidden Loyalties to team-up JSA and Villains United, giving a counter to Calculator. He then returned Fiddler to his hand to pump Stargirl and put up the brick wall. Relentless Pursuit moved Calculator to the visible area, but with Stargirl to protect her, Zazzala was forced to go into Stargirl again. The scores were 41-44 in Sacha’s favor going into turn 4.
Dair recruited Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 and a free Fiddler, but all Sacha could muster in defense was Dr. Light, Furious Flashpoint. Sacha lost his board in the following attacks, which left him at 27. Turn 5 was better for him, though, when he was able to recruit Black Adam, Teth-Adam. Dair answered back with a Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero before Dr. Light went after Stargirl. After Dair flipped and used a Rann to get the stunback and reinforce with an adjacent Fiddler, Sacha tried to play a Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy with Dr. Light’s vengeance, only to realize that it had to be a Villains United character. Adam went into Hawkman, and a Grand Gesture was used to return Dr. Light and give Hawkman -3 ATK / -3 DEF. Stargirl was returned to Dair’s hand with Calculator to try to get a mutual stun, but a Thanagar saved Sacha’s 5-drop, regaining some of the board position he had lost the previous turn.
A great turn 5 for Sacha put the total down to 23-21, but still in Dair’s favor—a lead he intended to maintain when he played Superman, Earth 2 and put a free T-Spheres on Bizarro. Zazzala was returned to Sacha’s hand with Baddest of the Bad, finding his drop for the turn—Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double. He then placed both of his characters in the back row, trying to hold on for one more turn to give him the initiative again. Hawkman and Bizarro went into Alexander, who exhausted for Return Fire! Bizarro was stunned so Sacha could gain endurance, and Superman was then sent after Black Adam, who also exhausted for a second Return Fire! A Defend Yourself! on Adam stunned Superman and took Dair to 2. Sacha was at 9.
With the initiative, Sacha dropped The Calculator, Crime Broker. Dair KO’d his Fiddler to return and play an Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double of his own, but he boosted him to play Stargirl and Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific for free. Sacha flipped Magical Lobotomy on Dair’s Luthor before the Combat Phase and paid 4 endurance to turn it back down. Calculator stunned Luthor with no effects. Sacha played Lobotomy on Superman, but when he tried to attack, a Revitalize stopped him, instead forcing him to go after Alexander Luthor, who forced an attack on Stargirl instead. Dair still wasn’t able to take the game, though. Nick had lost his first game also, putting the team in a bit of a hole, even though the “weak link” that Nick was looking to trade earlier won his first game against Chris.
Game 2 got off to an uneventful start with no plays for either player until Sacha brought down Talia, Beloved Betrayer on turn 2. She was met by a Prince Khufu ◊ Hawkman from Dair. Dair once again had the Calculator on the next turn, but Sacha matched him again with Zazzala, hoping to cause extra damage from her burn effect. When the Prince went into Talia, Sacha flipped and used Thanagar, only to be stunned with a flipped and activated Rann from Dair.
Turn 4 began with Dair at 40 and Sacha at 41. Sacha had played the perfect 3-drop to punish Calculator again this game, and he tried to capitalize on it with a Bizarro, which was mirrored by one from Dair. The Bizarros traded and Talia stunned Hawkman. Thanagar and Rann cancelled each other again. Zazzala went directly at Dair before a No Mercy from Dair, returning Calculator, attempted to KO Sacha’s Bizarro. A Baddest of the Bad returned the marked Bizarro and searched out an Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double before they moved on to the next turn. Sacha held the lead, 39-24.
The turn began with Dair in an uncomfortable position. Nick had just lost his match against Sau, and Dair was forced to under-drop for the turn with Fiddler coming out for free along with a replayed Calculator and a Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant. Sacha had Black Adam, Teth-Adam, making life even harder. Calculator took care of Talia, and Bizzaro stunned Adam, leaving a small Psycho to get attacked back with Zazzala.
Turn 6 brought out Alexander Luthor for Sacha and Superman for Dair, but Dair forgot to replay the Fiddler for free, which would have given him an extra character to use with Calculator. A Deflection took Bizarro through three separate attacks, brickwalling Black Adam and Zazzala in successive attacks before finally falling to Luthor. At 6-27, Dair hadn’t won yet, but he had just created an opportunity to snatch a chance back for the team. In the mean time, Karl “Weak Link” Horn won his match against Chris.
Dair used his extra turn to play the Calculator again, along with Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific, Fiddler, and Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl. He also placed a T-Spheres on Bizarro before passing to Sacha. Sacha had The Calculator, Crime Broker going through a meaningless combat phase before finishing Dair and ATM FTW off with a hand of nine cards and Calculator. No Name pulled a “Rocky” and advanced to the semifinals!