Craig won the die roll and took evens. He kept his opener, but Sal mulliganed before dropping a turn 1
Boris.
There was some friendly banter on turn 1. “If I didn't have someone, I don't know what I would do!” said Craig. Craig dropped an
Ant Man and the players took 1 point of endurance loss each. Play moved on to the next turn.
Craig kicked off turn 2 with a
Sonar. “He's the ‘tap a guy' guy?” asked Sal. “Yup.” Craig passed with Sonar in back of Ant Man. Sal flipped a
Mountain Stronghold before the recruit step to get an
Assassin Initiate, discarding
Sensei. He put the Initiate in front of Boris and passed to Craig's Attack. Craig exhausted. Sal attacked Ant Man and the score was 47-47.
Sal played
Political Pressure in the recruit step of turn 3 and used his
Assassin Initiate to kill off
Sonar. Craig responded by playing
Millennium, exhausting Sonar. He recruited Dr. Light and flipped another Millennium, this time exhausting his
Ant Man and choosing the same two teams as he did for the first
Millennium. Craig played
The Ring Has Chosen and searched out Kristoff, which he discarded. He then flipped his last resource, a
Marvel Team-Up, and teamed up Doom. Finally, he
Signal Flared for the requisite
Rama-Tut and discarded Boris. He played
Cosmic Radiation from his hand to exhaust all of his characters, and then used Dr. Light to return Boris to play. He passed the attack to Sal. Sal took down Ant Man and Kristoff. Craig chose to recover the Boy Who Would Be Doom (44-42 Craig).
Craig began his fourth turn by using Boris to fetch a
Devil's Due. The head judge, Alex Shvartsman, walked by. “This deck is just stupid,” he said with a smile. The onlookers issued a murmur of agreement. Meanwhile, Craig played
Rama-Tut from his hand, returning
Cosmic Radiation. He played a
Millennium from his hand to draw a card, and finally flipped his
Devil's Due.
“How many?” asked Sal.
“Forty-two thousand counters on each,” replied Craig, motioning towards Kristoff and Dr. Light. Sal made light of his increasingly dire situation. “Anyone have an
Overload?”
Once the loop was finished, Craig used his
Rama-Tut to return
The Ring Has Chosen, search out
Black Cat, Master Thief, and put her into play. Craig took a few moments to decide on his formation. “You're not teamed up?” he asked, gesturing towards Sal's sad Assassin Initiate and Boris. He finally set up. Sal did nothing on his build phase but flip
Latverian Embassy, discarding
Gamma Bomb. “Don't think I'll be needing that,” quipped Sal. Craig took down the Assassin with his Rama-Tut, and attacked through Boris for 41,960 more damage than he needed.
Craig Edwards 1, Sal D'Agostino 0
The players joked about the brutal effectiveness of Craig's deck as they shuffled up. Before decks were presented, Stephen Silverman announced that he had won his match in thirteen minutes.
Sal took even initiatives and had no play on turn 1. Craig simply played
Valeria Richards. Sal led off turn 2 with Talia, while Craig played the optimal Kristoff Von Doom in front of Valeria.
Sal led turn 3 with
Political Pressure before Craig's recruit. Craig played and flipped
Millennium, exhausting Kristoff, and immediately drew a card from Valeria. Craig played Dr. Light, returning Boris. “Pass,” said Craig. Sal played an Assassin to KO Valeria, hit a Stronghold with Talia, missed with his Throne Room, and turned Political Pressure face down (48-46 Craig).
“It's not Dr. Doom!” remarked Craig.
“It's close!” said Sal.
“That's a savage lie,” said Craig, grinning widely.
“Close enough. Do you have it?”
“Yeah, you're dead. But make it slow for the fans.”
Craig did his thing, getting the Dr. Light engine online with a Valeria in play. “I won't give you the satisfaction of drawing your deck,” said Sal, extending his hand.
After the match, both players remarked on Sal's lack of Dr. Doom. The Dr. Doom 4-drop is a very difficult card for the combo deck to deal with, and Sal's inability to draw it meant that he had absolutely no way to stop the devastation.
Craig Edwards wins!