Game 1

The players were both tired after a long day and wasted no time in starting this, the final match of the tournament. Adam won the coin flip and chose to take the odd initiatives. Both players kept their hands. Adam led off with Gypsy in the hidden area, while Vidi had Sue Dibny to fetch L-Ron. The characters traded stuns, and that was the turn. Vidi led off the next turn with his L-Ron and moved both of his characters to the front row. Adam had Bluejay and took 4 points of direct endurance loss (Vidi had JLI Embassy to pump L-Ron) before attacking back with Bluejay. Vidi led, 46–43.

Turn 3 was Adam’s initiative, and he played Membership Drive before recruiting Aquaman, Arthur Curry. Vidi had Silver Sorceress behind Sue and left L-Ron next to Sue in the support row. Adam’s first attack sent Gypsy into Sue. Adam flipped Reform the League and used it to power-up. Vidi had nothing to do about that and accepted the stun. Next, Adam sent Bluejay into L-Ron. Vidi reinforced with Silver Sorceress. Finally, Aquaman crushed the Sorceress. Vidi flipped another Embassy and discarded two cards to ensure that he wouldn’t lose any characters. Adam had an endurance lead of 41–35.

On turn 4, Vidi recruited Batman, Hidden Crusader in the hidden area. L-Ron was set in front of Silver Sorceress, and Sue stayed next to L-Ron in the front row. Adam recruited Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman in front of Aquaman and gave him a Justice League Signal Device. At the beginning of combat, the Signal Device triggered and yielded another copy of Katar. Also at the beginning of combat, Sue Dibny was moved to the hidden area with Silver Sorceress’s ability. Vidi’s first attack brought both L-Ron and the Sorceress into Katar. Adam powered-up, and Vidi had Rallying Cry!Balance of Power from Adam evened the attack, but Vidi had Plasma Blast. Adam considered his response and eventually decided to return Gypsy to power-up. He discarded Gypsy to Reform the League and powered-up again. Vidi’s attack failed and Silver Sorceress was stunned. Vidi’s next move was another attempt at Katar with his two remaining characters. Batman traded with Katar. Vidi passed, and Adam attacked L-Ron with Bluejay. At the end of the turn, Vidi discarded a card to recover Batman and lost L-Ron. Adam was ahead on endurance 36–26.

Adam’s turn 5 play was John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man in front of Katar. Aquaman was set in the front row next to John. Vidi had Scarecrow, Fearmonger in front of the Sorceress and equipped it with a Signal Device of his own. At the beginning of combat, Scarecrow stole Aquaman’s counter. Adam went into the tank to consider his attacks and then came out with an attack of John into Scarecrow. He powered-up with Reform the League, making John exactly large enough to stun. Vidi had no defensive plot twists, and Scarecrow went down. Next, Katar Hol attacked Sorceress without trouble, and finally, Aquaman attacked directly for 5. Adam passed, and Batman went into Aquaman. Adam had another copy of Reform the League and used it, removing the last card in Vidi’s KO’d pile from the game. Both characters stunned. At the end of the turn, Vidi lost everything but Sue and the Scarecrow. Adam was ahead 32–5.

Vidi was up on turn 6 and played Power Girl. He moved his characters to the front and passed. Adam recruited Valkyra, protecting Aquaman. In his other column, John protected Katar. At the beginning of combat, Scarecrow stole Valkyra’s cosmic counter. Vidi attacked Power Girl into Katar, and Adam reinforced. Next, Vidi sent Scarecrow after John. Again, Adam had nothing to do about this, and John went down. Vidi passed. Adam attacked Valkyra into Scarecrow and used Trial By Fire for the stun. That was enough to reduce Vidi to 0 and take the game.

Game 2

Vidi had his choice of initiatives for the second game and elected to take the odds. Vidi kept his opening hand, while Adam mulliganed. Vidi kicked off the game with Sue Dibny, searching up Booster Gold, while Adam had no play. Sue got in for 1 to end the turn. On the second turn, Adam got on the board with Faith. Vidi played his Booster Gold next to Sue in the support row and passed. Adam attacked Sue with Faith, and Vidi reinforced.

For turn 3, Vidi had Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory in front of Booster Gold. Joseph was equipped with Justice League Signal Device, and Sue was moved to the front row. Vidi passed to Adam, who recruited Aquaman, Arthur Curry in front of Faith. Vidi declared a team-attack on Aquaman with all of his characters, and then played Safety in Numbers on Joseph. Booster Gold stunned, and Aquaman was KO’d. Joseph attacked Faith, who stunned, and neither player had more attacks. Vidi had the endurance lead, 47–42.

Before recruiting a character on turn 4, Adam flipped two copies of Membership Drive. Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, “Pretty Bird” came into play in front of Faith, and Adam passed. Vidi once again recruited Batman, Hidden Crusader in the hidden area. Sue Dibny was set in front of Joseph and Booster went in the support row. Adam’s first attack brought Faith into Joseph with Trial By Fire. Booster Gold reinforced. Dinah went after Booster, and he stunned. Neither player had more attacks, and Booster was KO’d at the end of the turn. Adam was now ahead, 40–35.

Turn 5 was Vidi’s initiative, and he kicked things off with Scarecrow, Fearmonger. He transferred his Signal Device to the Scarecrow and moved all of his characters to the front row. Adam had Valkyra in front of Dinah and moved Faith next to Valkyra in the front. At the beginning of combat, Vidi used Scarecrow’s ability to move one of Dinah’s counters to Scarecrow. He then declared a team-attack on Valkyra with everyone except Scarecrow; Batman was stunned and Valkyra KO’d. Next, Vidi attacked Scarecrow into Dinah. Adam had Midnight Cravings, which wasn’t enough to do anything, and Dinah went down. Adam attacked Sue back with Faith, and she was lost at the end of the turn. Vidi was now ahead on endurance, 31–28.

On turn 6, Adam had Captain Atom in front of Dinah and left Faith in the support row. Vidi had Gorilla Grodd behind Scarecrow. Joseph was also left in the support row. At the beginning of combat, Scarecrow stole Dinah’s last counter. Adam’s first attack sent Dinah into Joseph. After the attack was legal, he flipped Reform the League and powered-up to exhaust Scarecrow. Joseph went down. Next, Captain Atom attacked Gorilla Grodd. Vidi had no effects, and both characters stunned. Adam passed, and Vidi sent Batman to take down Faith. At the end of the turn, Vidi lost Joseph and Adam lost Faith. Vidi maintained an endurance lead of 17–15 going into the seventh turn.

Vidi thought for a bit after laying his seventh resource and eventually decided to recruit Guy Gardner, Egomaniac. Adam had Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas. Aquaman clearly wasn’t going to be enough to hold off Vidi’s onslaught, and Adam conceded.

Game 3

For the final game of the tournament, Adam chose to take the odd initiatives. He kept and Vidi mulliganed. Adam had no play for the first turn, and neither did Vidi. On the second turn, Vidi played Booster Gold. Adam had Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow, and the characters traded in combat. Adam didn’t have a 3-drop for turn 3, so he under-dropped with Bluejay in front of Connor. Vidi also missed and recruited High-Tech Flare Gun to Booster. Adam’s characters attacked and left him with a lead of 45–41 at the end of the turn.

Vidi had his Batman, Hidden Crusader on turn 4, while Adam played Membership Drive before recruiting Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, “Pretty Bird”. Dinah went in front of Connor, and Adam passed. Vidi thought for a bit about his attacks before opting to go after Dinah with Batman. Adam had Reform the League, and Vidi had Plasma Blast. Both characters stunned. Vidi attacked Connor with Booster, stunning both. To close out the turn, Bluejay attacked Vidi directly for 4. Vidi had a JLI Embassy to save his Booster, while Adam lost Connor. Adam led, 33–31.

Turn 5 was Adam’s initiative, and he played John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man in front of Dinah. Vidi had the ubiquitous Scarecrow, Fearmonger in front of Booster. Vidi stole Dinah’s counter at the beginning of combat. Adam’s first attack brought John into Scarecrow. He used Reform the League to power-up John, and Dinah’s ally power exhausted Batman. Trial By Fire made sure that Scarecrow would stun. Adam sent Bluejay into Booster, stunning both, and then Dinah attacked directly. Vidi lost Booster, and Adam widened his endurance lead to 25–15.

Turn 6 was Vidi’s chance to come back, and he recruited Power Girl in front of Scarecrow. Power Girl got a Justice League Signal Device, and Vidi passed. Adam had Gorilla Grodd. He set up with Bluejay in front of Dinah and Grodd in front of John. Vidi went into the tank for his attacks, and came out with the plan of attacking Dinah with Batman. Shake it Off and an activation of Reform the League pumped up Dinah. Vidi had Magnificent Seven, and both characters stunned. Vidi’s next attack sent Power Girl into John, and he went down without a problem. Rallying Cry! gave Scarecrow range, and he attacked Bluejay. Gorilla Grodd KO’d him to force Vidi to try again. Vidi went after the Gorilla, and both characters stunned. At the end of the turn, Vidi lost Batman and Adam was left with only Grodd. Adam still led the endurance totals, which stood at a precarious 10–6.

For what appeared to be the final turn of the tournament, Adam recruited Wonder Woman, Princess Diana in front of Grodd. Vidi had a Grodd of his own behind Power Girl. Scarecrow was left in the support row. The players entered combat, and Adam declared an attack of Grodd into Scarecrow. Grodd reinforced, and Screcrow stunned. Finally, Adam attacked Wonder Woman into Power Girl. Wonder Woman stunned, taking the game, match, and tournament for Adam Bernstein.

Congratulations to Adam Bernstein, winner of $10K Wizard World Texas!