Shaun Hayward is playing up-and-comer Shaun McDowell in this semifinal match. Hayward dispatched Andrew Corney’s Sentinels deck 2-0 and McDowell beat Troy Palmer 2-1 in the other quarterfinal. Even though their names are the same, they come from different cities. McDowell is one of two Wellingtonians that are left in the Top 8, down from 5. He’s looking to make sure that at least one Wellingtonian is in the finals if Jared Blakemore was to fall in the other semifinal. Hayward is trying to represent his team The Four Horsemen and bring their new creation High Voltage to another $10K win.
Game 1
McDowell won the coin flip and chose the even initiative. Hayward started the turn with Surprise Attack for 5 endurance loss and then Electric Eve. McDowell had Roy Harper ◊ Speedy and shot down Eve when she tried to attack.
Turn 2
McDowell started turn 2 with Roy again, but this time Dawn Granger ◊ Dove accompanied him. Hayward had to think hard now. With no 2-drops in his deck, any 1-drop could be shot down with by Speedy. He decided that Speedy couldn’t shoot two characters and played Ratcatcher and Chomin in the hidden area.
Dove attacked Ratcatcher and both players pass without incident, but McDowell took more endurance loss because of Ratcatcher’s static ability. McDowell forgot to attack with Speedy first and just KO’d Chomin instead. Endurance totals were 42-49 to Hayward.
Turn 3
Hayward played Enemy of my Enemy discarding Eve to get Black Panther, King of Wakanda and searched out Advanced Hardware. McDowell again played out Speedy, but this time with Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, and placed all of them in the support row before using Speedy to KO Ratcatcher. Hayward used Wild Ride to search out Mikado and Mosha to stun Dove before attacking Tim with Black Panther.
Turn 4
McDowell played Terra behind Tim. Hayward came out the gates with Wild Ride for Micro-Chip and played Advanced Hardware on him, then Electric Eve with Advanced Hardware on her. All this time, McDowell did not respond with Terra, but flipped up Optitron to stun Black Panther when he was done recruiting.
McDowell then attacked Tim into Eve, but Hayward just burned McDowell for 3 and evaded. Tim then went after Micro-Chip and Hayward went into the tank to think. Hayward eventually decided to burn for 3 and let the attack resolve. Eve recovered first and hit McDowell for 1 before Micro-Chip hit the KO’d pile. Hayward had the lead in endurance totals with 41 to McDowell’s 23.
Turn 5
Hayward had no play but a resource, and things looked grim for the $10K Brisbane Champ. McDowell had Speedy and Red Star for his turn 5 and used Speedy to KO his third victim, Electric Eve #2, but at least she burned for another 3, unlike her predecessor. Red Star attacked Black Panther and Panther burned for 3 before both characters turned over and Terra teamed with Tim to the dome. With the endurance totals at 29 to 13, Hayward was slightly in the lead.
Turn 6
Hayward had to win this turn or it’d be over for him. McDowell started well with U.S.S. Argus and then played Garth ◊ Tempest, Atlantean Sorcerer with Speedy. Hayward had Electric Eve with Flamethrower, again with no responses by McDowell.
McDowell used Speedy once priority was passed back to him, but Shaun burnt him for 5 and then played Die for Darkseid! Terra tried to stun Black Panther but Shaun burnt him for 3 and had another Die for Darkseid! And that was the game, –3 to 29.
Game 2
Hayward started with Electric Eve with Flying Kick and then double evaded to put the endurance totals at 48-43.
Turn 2
McDowell again had no play and passed. Hayward did not take advantage and only had Advanced Hardware. He attacked and again he double evaded.
Turn 3
Hayward started with Wild Ride for Black Panther, King of Wakanda and along with him came another Advanced Hardware. Before he passed, he set Panther in the front and played Surprise Attack.
McDowell could only muster Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. However, he had Betrayal! Hayward exhausted Eve to burn for 3 and then stunned her. When Panther attacked Tim, McDowell had Titans Tower and Tamaran to stem the bleeding.
Turn 4
McDowell started with U.S.S. Argus and a resource before playing out Red Star, probably not his preferred drop at this point. Hayward had Golden Archer with a Jetpack and formed with him behind Panther.
Red Star attacked Black Panther and activated Tamaran. Hayward burned for 3 before he took the beats. McDowell played Betrayal, but Hayward trumped it with Die for Darkseid! on his Black Panther to negate Betrayal. McDowell passed and Archer attacked Tim Drake. The endurance totals were 30-8.
Turn 5
Ape X searched out Flamethrower, Mikado and Mosha came with Advanced Hardware and Chomin in the hidden area were all of Hayward’s plays for turn 5. McDowell sniffed with Argus and claimed his deck hated him before playing Hank Hall ◊ Hawk with boost and then burnt Hayward for 5 with Red Star and then formed with Red Star and Hank in the front protecting Tim and Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, respectively.
Red Star attacked Ape X, but Hayward burned McDowell for 5 and then used Chomin to stun his own Ape X. Red Star then attacked Golden Archer with Tamaran. Hayward responded with an activation for 5 endurance loss. Hayward then burned for 3 with his Mikado, and McDowell was at –6 endurance.
Shaun Hayward wins a very lop-sided game 2 and advances to the finals!