Steve Horowitz sits with one loss as we enter the later rounds of Day 1. A member of powerhouse team FTN, he’s played himself into a run at Top 8 with his team’s Doom/Crisis on Infinite Earths deck. His opponent is Stephen King, who’s dug Brotherhood Reservist out of the Marvel Modern graveyard, dusted it off, and piloted it to an undefeated record thus far. The match started with some banter over Stephen’s surname in a scene familiar to fans of Office Space. “You must be a really big fan and all, what with the name and everything.”

Steve won the choice and took odds, with both players keeping their starting four. Steve passed on turn 1, while Stephen came out strong with Rem-Ram, finding Anne-Marie Cortez, and flipped The New Brotherhood. Stephen kept it up on turn 2 with Chrome, while Steve tried to stem the tide with San in the visible area. Chrome and San traded stuns, and Rem-Ram got in again.

Horowitz recruited Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival on turn 3, finding Reign of Terror and putting it on top of his deck. King’s draw continued to be perfect, with Senyaka and a free Amelia Voght out of the resource row. Chrome set up in front of Rem-Ram, with Voght in front of Senyaka. Doom attacked Chrome and avoided the stun back with Doomstadt, and San took out Rem-Ram. Stephen sent Senyaka after San and lost Rem-Ram during recovery.

Stephen then recruited Spoor out of the row on the fourth turn, and Steve went into the tank. Without Crisis on Infinite Earths, he could either replace his Doom with a new one to fire off the Reign, or simply recruit a new character. He settled for the latter, finding Human Torch, the Invisible Man with Enemy of My Enemy and setting up with San in front of Torch and Doom in the back. Amelia went after San, and Steve had a Cover Fire. Stephen used Spoor’s power to try to get the stun, and Steve preemptively used a second Cover Fire that he didn’t need. Steve tried to go back, but the judges held him to it, and Stephen simply sucked up the brickwall rather than fight through it. Senyaka then took out San, and Chrome took out Human Torch with the help of Planet X. Steve KO’d San to Doom, while Stephen lost his Amelia during recovery.

Steve looked annoyed as he recruited an underwhelming Kristoff Von Doom, Pretender to the Throne with the help of Enemy of My Enemy, while Stephen continued with the Senyaka plan, recruiting a free Amelia, Kleinstock Brothers, and Anne-Marie Cortez out of the row. He then set up with Anne-Marie, Spoor, and Chrome all up front. Steve sent Doom into Chrome, and Stephen elected not to reinforce, perhaps sensing that he had the kill on the way back. Torch then took out Amelia Voght, and Kristoff busted up the Kleinstock Brothers. Stephen went into the tank, trying to find the kill. He started with Spoor on Doom, and Steve had two power-ups to force the stun back, so Stephen used Spoor’s power for the additional 3. Anne-Marie then went after Kristoff with a power-up, putting Steve to 4 endurance. Having no defensive tricks, he went to exactly 0 when Senyaka stunned Human Torch.

Stephen King wins and moves to 8-0!