It’s been 11 rounds of play and we're finally down to two players. Michael Lou, The Loumeister, and a bit of a people's champion at this $10K, playing his funked-out Skrull deck that has more teams than the WWE. In the blue corner is Vs System semi-pro Kakarot Turker, piloting the deck of the weekend, Lost in Space. Both players have arranged armored cars to take their swag of $$$ home with them after the game. Super-judge Paul Ross, the Hugo Boss of TCG judges, is presiding over proceedings, despite the constant distractions of screaming teenage girls in ongoing combat with his security people trying to get his autograph, and any article of clothing he's willing to give up.

There is no banter as both players go into professional focused mode, shuffle up and start dealing. A dice is rolled, Kakarot wins 17-12 and takes evens.

Turn 1

The Loumeister mulligans, and Kakarot keeps. Nenora pops down for Michael. Kakarot plays Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth for 1, pitching The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero to draw.

Nenora biffs and it's Turn 2.

Michael: 49

Kakarot: 48

Turn 2

Kakarot plays Ivy and passes, while Michael passes and prepares to take a beat . . . but Kakarot elects to exhaust and bring back The Phantom Stranger instead, and KOs Frankie to Ivy to search out Dr. Fate's Tower. They pass and go to turn 3.

Michael: 49

Kakarot: 48

Turn 3

Michael plays Captain America, Skrull Impostor and passes. Kakarot receives a phone call, presumably from his agent in LA, or maybe LA police, we're not sure, but he hangs up, plays Enemy of My Enemy, pitching Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster for Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, plays Dr. Light, then Light brings back Frankie, pitching the Stranger to draw 2 cards. Frankie and Ivy exhaust to bring back the Stranger once more, and he is once more discarded to a flipped-up Dr. Fate's Tower to grab an Amulet of Nabu. Light gets the Amulet of Nabu, and a Helm of Nabu, while Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and another Ivy hit the bin. Kakarot forms up with a 6 ATK/ 6 DEF Light in front.

Michael teams-up Skrull and Marvel Knights with Act of Defiance. Cap swings into Dr. Light and Mister Lou flips Interstellar Offensive. Dr. Light falls down, Caps doesn't get stunned, and Kakarot takes 7. Nenora beats on Ivy. Kakarot flips Straight to the Grave, getting Mikado and Mosha. He then KOs Frankie to Ivy to get Slaughter Swamp, and brings the gals back to pitch and stun Nenora. They pass and go to recovery.

Michael: 48

Kakarot: 41

Turn 4

Kakarot uses Light to bring back Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, playing Frankie for free, pitching The Stranger and Mxy to draw the hotness. He then plays Enemy of My Enemy for Human Torch, The Invisible Man, plays him, and moves the Fate gear onto him, dropping a Cloak of Nabu on him, just for good measure. He then forms up and passes. The Loumeister goes into the tank, and plays Ethan Edwards up front. They check, and he has four different affiliations, which goes to show some people just can't make up their minds . . .

Kakarot swings The Torch into Cap and passes at 11 ATK/ 11 DEF VS 5 ATK/ 4 DEF. Kakarot gains 7 and Michael loses 3. Kakarot passes.

Nenora swings at Deadshot. Kakarot uses the Swamps, pitching M&M, and brings it back to stun. Ethan then decides that Ivy is the threat and Ethan is 15 ATK. Kakarot KOs Frankie Raye to Ivy to grab a UN Building, flips the Building teaming Heralds, Arkham Inmates and Emerald Enemies, and passes, taking the beats.

Michael: 44

Kakarot: 46

Turn 5

Michael goes into the tank, and lays Paibok into the support row. He passes. Kakarot decides the battle will be won in the tank, so he goes in as well. Mxy pops back to his hand, and is discarded to Swamp for a Frankie Raye. Kakarot plays Scarecrow, Fearmonger, Mike thinks about scooping right here and now, and decides to keep on playing for pride. Light brings Frankie back from the KO’d pile, she and Deadshot exhaust to bring back The Phantom Stranger, and the Stranger is ditched to pay for Frankie's draw effect. Kakarot then plays another Frankie for free, pitching another Frankie, exhausting more dudes for the Stranger, and pitches the Stranger again for the draw. The Tower then moves the bling from Human Torch to the Crow, and Kakarot plays another Helm on the Torch, drawing 3 and ditching Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth, Ronan and Poison Ivy. He forms up . . .

At the start of combat, the Crow steals Ethan's counter. The Loumeister goes into meditation mode, breathing deeply, embracing the good, expelling the bad. Nenora then swings at Ivy, and Deadshot shreds her before she gets 5cm. Ethan wants his counter back, so he swings into the Crow. Lou flops Extended Family to put a counter back on Ethan, but Kakarot points out he can't unless it’s a Inhumans guy. Mike realizes his mistake and scoops.

Kakarot is up 1-0.

Michael chooses evens and we shuffle up and deal . . .

Turn 1

Both players draw, Michael throws, Kakarot keeps enthusiastically.

Kakarot plays Frankie Raye and pitches an Adam Warlock to draw. Michael plays Nenora.

They swing, and it’s 48 each.

Michael: 48

Kakarot: 48

Turn 2

Michael plays Act of Defiance teaming up Kree and Skrull. He then flops The Great Refuge, grabbing Franklin Richards, plays the Creator of Counter-Earth, and passes. Kakarot plays Ivy, flips Meltdown to gain 2, then KOs Frankie Raye to Ivy to grab Slaughter Swamp. He pitches Meltdown and Human Torch to play Frankie for free and draw, and passes.

Michael swings Nenora into Ivy. They pass and Kakarot takes it. Franklin goes into Frankie. Kakarot powers up Frankie twice for the stun, then swings the Optimist into Michael to rub his face in the mud.

Michael: 44

Kakarot: 48

Turn 3

Kakarot has the initiative, and starts by using Slaughter Swamp to bring back the Torch, pitching a Phantom Stranger. He exhausts Frankie and Ivy to bring the Stranger into the ranks, flips Dr. Fate's Tower for the Cloak of Nabu, pitching the Stranger, then KOs Frankie to Ivy to get a Soul World. Soul World flips, Kaki brings back Frankie, plays her for free losing Mephisto, Soulstealer and Gorilla Grodd to draw, makes a sound like he has just been kissed, and plays Dr. Light. He then plays Enemy of My Enemy from hand, losing Human Torch for Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth. He sacks Richards to another Fate's Tower, grabbing an Amulet of Nabu, and Dr. Light brings on back Franklin into the hidden area. Michael flips another The Great Refuge and grabs Crystal, Elementelle. He plays her, losing a Great Refuge to grab Act of Defiance. Nenora then plays for free, and Kakarot brings back a Phantom Stranger.

Michael swings Franklin Richards into Frankie Raye and passes. Nenora swings into Dr. Light and they trade. Crystal then goes into Poison Ivy, with Kakarot passing. Both Franklins get their surge cosmic counter, and we're into turn 4.

Michael: 43

Kakarot: 35

The Loumeister starts the turn by playing Ethan Edwards down, and plays Act of Defiance, teaming Fantastic Four and Skrull, then passes with Ethan at 5 teams.

Kakarot takes a break. He has options, maybe too many, and it takes a while for him to lay a resource. He uses Swamp to bring back a Human Torch, The Invisible Man, pitching a Phantom Stranger. He then plays The Ring Has Chosen, grabbing and pitching Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. Dr. Light brings him back. Deadshot and Franklin Richards, then exhaust to bring the Stranger back, and Human Torch comes down with an Amulet and Cloak.

Deadshot KOs Michael's Franklin Richards. Crystal swings into the Torch. This seems to take Kakarot by surprise, and he uses Franklin to move him into the hidden area. Nenora swings into Dr. Light and passes. Michael shrugs and they trade.

Ethan and Crystal then team to Kakarot's dome. Kakarot's dome is made of stern stuff, and he takes it for 17, though he seems to be listening to music in the distance . . .

It now swaps to Kakarot’s attack, and he checks a few things, his vision being the main one. Even with a 9 ATK/ 10 DEF Human Torch, he passes and we go to turn 5.

Michael: 42

Kakarot: 14

Turn 5

Kakarot looks very focused and makes the tank his own. He brings back Frankie Raye with Light, pitching the Phantom Stranger to draw. Enemy is played from the row, pitching Ivy and getting the Scarecrow, Fearmonger. The crowd erupts as they acknowledge The Kak is back! The Crow comes down, Torch gets a Helm, Richards and Raye exhaust to bring back the Stranger, and Kakarot throws two Strangers and a Light to the Helm. He parks the Crow up front with Dr. Light behind and Frankie waiting for a bus out wide. With that, he passes (see image for formation).

The Loumeister seems in control. He plays Paibok into the support row and has a ponder about how the cricket is going, and passes. Kakarot announces he is thinking about using Dr. Fate's Tower. He then asks super-judge Paul Ross whether it's bad if he takes longer than two minutes to think about it, to which Paul replies no. Paul then whiles away the time by thinking about signing some of his lady fans' clothing.

Kakarot moves the gear from Torch to the Crow with the Tower, and, at the start of combat, steals Ethan's counter. Crow bashes Paibok, and it’s a lose-5-gain-5 swing to Kakarot. Torch swings into Ethan, and they trade thanks to a power-up on Michael's side of the board. It's now 33 plays 15.

Kakarot passes and Mister Lou muses over how ridiculous the situation is. Crystal swings into Frankie, and Kaki has a think. He elects to suck it in, and takes 5, putting him at a tenuous 10 endurance. Michael passes, safe in the knowledge that he has initiative next turn.

Kakarot plays an Enemy at the end of combat, getting Mikado and Mosha, and stuns Nenora. Recovery comes around and we are into turn 6.

Michael: 33

Kakarot: 10

Turn 6

The Loumeister seems to be unable to twist the knife, but makes his best effort by starting with Black Bolt, Illuminati in the hidden area. Lockjaw, Inhuman's Best Friend follows, and he fishes a Paibok out and into hand. Kakarot asks Michael what he has in hand, but Michael can't remember. He plays Wolverine, Skrunucklehead and passes.

Kakarot flops out an Enemy, his 4th, and this makes Michael quite unhappy. He gets a hold of Gorilla Grodd, pitching Deadshot. Dr. Light then brings Deadshot back, and suddenly 33-10 doesn't look that great anymore. Kakarot forms up the Torch in front (Concealed), Grodd in front, the Crow pimped up with Fate bling behind, and with Dr. Light back left and Deadshot back right.

It's the start of combat, and Paibok gets his counter back. The Crow then moves Human Torch's counter to Dr. Light. Michael swings Lockjaw into Deadshot and Deadshot KOs Wolvy in response. The Loumeister announces Crystal into Grodd and the crowd get ready for some loving. She is 10 ATK when she swings, and a Call to Arms makes her 14 ATK. Franklin sees danger, and loses his counter to move Human Torch next to Grodd, and KOs the Torch to the Gorilla to steal the Loumeister's babe.

Black Bolt swings at Dr. Light, and Kakarot ponders the prospect of taking 6 endurance loss. Kaki uses Swamp for a Phantom Stranger out of his hand to get a Light, which he uses to power up, forcing the trade. Paibok swings at Gorilla Grodd and it's legal, and exact. They trade 6 ATK/ 5 DEF Mike’s way, and Kakarot goes to -1.

Kakarot swings Crystal and the Crow into Michael, taking him down to 5. Kakarot then plays Meltdown from hand, his last card to gain 2 to put him on 1 endurance!!!! He then informs the crowd that he has Adam Warlock in his bin, as well as a Slaughter Swamp, and the Loumeister concedes!