Game 1

Stephen won the die roll, selecting the odd initiatives. Stephen mulliganed his opening hand, while Shaun kept. Stephen missed on turn 1, and Shaun got to attack directly with Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide. On turn 2, Shaun played Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain. Stephen played Beetle, Armorsmith, discarding Dr. Light, Master of Holograms for Booster Gold. In combat, Shocker traded stuns with Beetle, and Dallas attacked directly.

Turn 3 was Stephen’s initiative. He recruited Booster Gold with boost, and followed it up with a Melter. Shaun had Enemy of My Enemy for Yellowjacket, Rita Demara, discarding Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Yellowjacket came into play in the hidden area, searching Shaun out a Beetle of his own. Shaun used Shocker to stun Melter, and passed. In combat, Booster Gold ran over Dallas, and Beetle traded stuns with Shocker. Shaun declined to attack. In recovery, Stephen lost Beetle and Shaun lost Dallas. Shaun led, 42-41.

Shaun had the initiative on turn 4. He went into the tank, considering his options, and eventually decided to use another Enemy of My Enemy to trade Beetle for Fatality, Emerald Assassin. He recruited Fatality and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace, then passed. Stephen played Dr. Light, Master of Holograms from his hand, and used it to return Beetle to play. Stephen discarded Nightshade, Eve Eden to search for Mikado and Mosha. Stephen set up with Light protecting Melter, Beetle protecting Booster, and passed. In combat, Shaun sent Yellowjacket into Melter. Stephen attempted to use Mikado, and Shaun countered it with Fatality. Next, Melissa Gold went after Dr. Light, assisted by a very odd No Man Escapes the Manhunters. The remaining characters in play traded stuns. When the dust cleared, Dr. Light faced down Shocker. Shaun led, 35-28.

Turn 5 was Stephen’s initiative. He used Dr. Light to return Booster Gold to play, then played Hard Sound Construct from his resource row to return Beetle to play. Another Dr. Light was discarded to allow Stephen to search up Fatality, Emerald Assassin. Next, Stephen played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Fatality for Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. UN Building was flipped, teaming up Masters of Evil, Emerald Enemies, and JLI. Stephen played another Hard Sound Construct to return Fatality to play. Yet another Hard Sound Construct brought Melter back. Finally, Stephen played Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight, and moved to his formation step with two resource points unspent. He set up with Light protecting Booster, Melter protecting Beetle in the next row, Fatality protecting Kyle in the next row, and Nathan Garret alone in the row adjacent to that. Stephen passed to Shaun, who played and activated a Dr. Light to return Beetle to play. He discarded Paul Ebersol ◊ Techno, Gadgeteer to get Joystick, which he recruited. Shaun set up with Joystick in front of Beetle and Light in front of Shocker, then passed to combat (Bonus reader question: Just how many mistakes did Stephen make during this build phase? Here’s a hint: If you guessed seven, you guessed low). In combat, Stephen traded Fatality with Shocker. Next, Beetle went after Beetle. Stephen played The Wrecking Crew from his hand, then revealed two copies of Kooey Kooey Kooey that he used to get two more copies of the Wrecking Crew. Shaun conceded.

Game 2

Shaun took the odd initiatives for the second game. He kept his opening hand, while Stephen mulliganed. Shaun missed on the first turn, but Stephen had Nightshade, Eve Eden. On turn 2, Stephen played Beetle, Armorsmith, discarding Trial by Fire for Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose. Shaun had a Beetle of his own, trading Morg, Slayer for Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain. After some elementary combat, the turn concluded.

Turn 3 was Shaun’s initiative. He recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, which he immediately used to return Morg to play. Stephen played Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row, discarding Ivy to get Dr. Light, which was immediately used to bring Ivy back into play. In response to Dr. Light’s activation, Shaun used Morg to get Nightshade off the board. Stephen set up with Beetle protecting Ivy, and passed. In combat, Shaun sent his Beetle after Poison Ivy. Stephen used it in response, KO’ing Beetle to get a Kooey Kooey Kooey. Shaun used this opportunity to play No Man Escapes the Manhunters on Stephen’s team, and to trade his characters for Stephen’s. In recovery, Stephen’s Dr. Light faced Shaun’s Dr. Light and Morg. The endurance score was 41-38 in Shaun’s favor.

On turn 4, Stephen went into the tank. He came out with a predictable Dr. Light activation on Beetle. When the 2-drop entered play, Stephen discarded Sue Dibny to search up another Poison Ivy. He recruited another Sue, fetching Booster Gold. Booster came out with boost, as did Poison Ivy. Stephen flipped and used Birthing Chamber, then set up with Light protecting Booster and Ivy protecting Beetle. When Shaun attempted to use Dr. Light, Stephen had the Slaughter Swamp. Shaun played Shocker, and attempted to stun Ivy. In response, Stephen KO’d Sue Dibny to get another Kooey into his resource row. Stephen sent Beetle after Morg, and then Booster into Shocker. Mutual stuns ensued. In recovery, Stephen lost Beetle and Booster. Shaun lost Shocker. Stephen now had the upper hand in endurance, 32-30.

Turn 5 was Shaun’s initiative. “This sucks,” he remarked as he surveyed his hand and board. Shaun played a fifth resource and recruited Beetle, discarding another Beetle to search up a Fatality, Emerald Assassin. He played Fatality, and then followed it up with Straight to the Grave for Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Shaun activated Dr. Light, and Stephen attempted to Swamp Kyle. Shaun used Fatality to counter this, and Kyle came into play. He got the predictable Hard Sound Construct, which was used to bring Shocker back into play. Shaun recruited Klaw, and passed. In his own recruit step, Stephen used Hard Sound Construct to bring a Beetle of his own back to play. He discarded to search out Yellowjacket, Rita Demara, which he played with boost in the hidden area. Yellowjacket yielded a Shocker. In response to Yellowjacket, Stephen used Ivy to KO Yellowjacket and search for another Kooey. Stephen used Dr. Light to return Booster Gold to play. He used the Kooey to get Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight, which he recruited. Stephen discarded Shocker to Nathan, and used Hard Sound Construct to return it to play. He used Shocker and his remaining resource points to stun Beetle. Stephen used Birthing Chamber to draw two and discard one. In formation, he set up with Shocker protecting Beetle, Dr. Light protecting Nathan in the next column, and Ivy in the column adjacent to that. Stephen passed to Shaun who sent Klaw into Dr. Light. Both characters stunned. Next, Kyle Rayner went after Booster Gold. Again, the characters traded stuns. Morg traded stuns with Beetle, Shocker traded stuns with Ivy (with help from a No Man), and Fatality traded stuns with Nathan Garrett. In recovery, the board was swept clean — Dr. Light for Stephen faced Dr. Light and Shocker for Shaun. Shaun still led, 24-18.

Turn 6, likely the final turn of the game, was Stephen’s initiative. He used Dr. Light to return Beetle to play, discarding Justice League Task Force to search out a Yellowjacket. The 1-drop was boosted in the hidden area, yielding Melter. Stephen used Slaughter Swamp to trade the Melter for Booster Gold, which he played with boost. He played Melissa Gold from hand, and used his final point to burn Shaun for 5. After setting up with Light protecting Beetle and Booster protecting Melissa, Stephen passed. Shaun used Dr. Light to return Beetle to play, discarding Melter to get Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. He recruited Deadshot, and then paid two resource points to stun Booster Gold. When Stephen declared an attack, Shaun used Deadshot to KO Melissa Gold. Stephen used Birthing Chamber to draw a card, and then sent Beetle into Beetle with a very poor copy of The Wrecking Crew. Both characters stunned. Finally, Yellowjacket attacked Shocker. Stephen used his Kooeys to get enough copies of Trial by Fire to represent lethal endurance. Luckily for Stephen, his opponent didn’t have a copy of Mikado and Mosha with which to punish him for this astounding misplay.

Stephen Silverman wins, and advances to the finals!