This round’s feature match pitted two Mental decks against each other. One of them was piloted by $10K Tokyo (January 2006) Quarterfinalist Shota Yasuoka, and the other was piloted by up-and-comer Akihiro Shimizu.

Akihiro started out the game with an unanswered Artie, but was unable to follow it up the next turn. Shota, on the other hand, hit everyone’s favorite 2-drop, Sage, Tessa.

Aki led off turn 3 by playing Mastermind, Dark Dreamer, and then teamed-up Morlocks and Hellfire Club with Mutopia. Yasuoka answered in turn with an Enemy of My Enemy, discarding The Beautiful Dreamer to search up Tarot. Mastermind was sent into Tarot for a mutual stun. Akihiro chose to send Mastermind to the hidden area, and then exhausted Artie to play Mutant Massacre on Tarot. At the end of the turn, both players were tied at 45 endurance.

Shota regained some tempo when he played Professor X, Headmaster on turn 4. Aki played a Tarot of his own after failing to find a Professor X with Sage. Everyone got a laugh when Tarot mockingly gave Akihiro a belated Professor X at the start of the combat phase. Shota sent Professor X into Artie, which caused Akihiro to respond with Power and Wealth to find Enemy of My Enemy.

He used Enemy of My Enemy the following turn to find Emma Frost, Friend or Foe, finally getting back on curve after a short detour. Not to be outdone, Shota answered back with an alternate art Emma Frost of his own. The decadence was quickly punished, though, as the Shimizu exhausted her with X-Treme Maneuver, exhausting his Tarot and Artie, and then passing the attack. Shota merely forced Artie to evade, not wanting to risk any other attacks, leaving them at 40-38 in Shota’s favor.

Jean Grey, Red came down on both sides of the table on turn 6. Akihiro prepared a defense by forming up in an inverse-T formation with Tarot in front protecting Emma Frost. Shota played Eye of the Storm and then sent Professor X into Artie. Akihiro played Power and Wealth, exhausting Artie and Tarot to find another X-Treme Maneuver, and then evaded Artie. Shota then sent his Jean Grey into Tarot. Akihiro’s attack consisted only of sending his Jean Grey into Professor X. Several Mental Dominations and a Shrink (Akihiro played it on his attacker) later, there was a mutual stun, which dropped the totals to 38-28 in Shota’s favor.

I wish I could have understood the Japanese that occurred during the brief exchange at the beginning of the seventh turn when Akihiro used War of Attrition on Shota’s Worthington Industries and Shota replaced a Phoenix Rising that Akihiro had used last turn, probably fearing the Emma Frost that was still on board. This was followed by both players hitting Exodus. Akihiro hit a character for the fifth straight time in the game, then exhausted Jean Grey and Emma Frost to X-Treme Maneuver Exodus. Next, his own Exodus was sent after Jean Grey. Shota prevented breakthrough with a Mind Control. Shota played an X-Treme Maneuver of his own, targeting Akihiro’s Exodus and exhausting Emma Frost and Professor X. Sage exhausted for a Mutant Massacre on Artie before the players moved on to the next turn. Shota led off turn 8 with Rachel Summers ◊ Phoenix, and after a short look at the board, Akihiro conceded. Shota Yasuoka wins!