Chris Nowicki is a 21-year-old Vs. System player from Reno, Nevada. He’s been playing VS for about 2 years now, but this is his first $10K event. Bulk Lao, of course, needs no introduction; he’s a mainstay on the Pro Circuit. Both players are 2-0, with Bulk sporting the deck that was featured earlier.
Bulk won the die roll, choosing to take evens, so Chris would start things off on turn 1.
Chris played a resource and recruited Surveillance Pawn in the hidden area, while Bulk had no recruits. Chris attacked into Bulk directly with Surveillance Pawn, and play proceeded to the next turn.
Bulk recruited Brainiac, Earth 2 in the visible area, while Chris recruited Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy in the support row. Bulk attacked with Brainiac, Earth 2 into Blue Devil, and then Chris announced Surveillance Pawn into Bulk directly.
On turn 3, Chris recruited Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive in his front row. Bulk recruited The Penguin, Arms Merchant in his front row, and both players drew a card and discarded two cards for Penguin’s effect. Chris attacked with Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive into Penguin and passed with her as a 6 ATK / 4 DEF. Bulk responded by flipping Thanagar and activated it to give Penguin +1 DEF. The attack resolved, and both characters stunned, with both players suffering 3 endurance loss. Chris then attacked with Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy into Brainiac, Earth 2 and removed The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel from his hand to give Blue Devil +1 ATK / +1 DEF. Bulk played Defend Yourself! to give Braniac an extra +1 DEF, and then both characters stunned. During the recovery phase, Chris chose to KO Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy—gaining 6 endurance for his effect—and recovered Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive.
Turn 4 came around, and Bulk recruited Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 in his support row behind The Penguin, Arms Merchant. Chris played a resource and passed with no recruit. Bulk attacked into Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive with Bizarro, stunning Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive and dishing out a 10-point endurance loss. Bulk then concluded by attacking into Chris directly with Penguin, and Chris announced no attacks.
Chris led off turn 5 with a resource and recruited Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard in the front row. Chris then activated Surveillance Pawn to give his characters +1 ATK and passed to Bulk’s build. Bulk laid a resource and recruited Carter Hall ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Champion in his support row. He formed with Penguin protecting Carter Hall and Bizarro adjacent to Hall. Chris announced Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive into Penguin. Bulk reinforced with Carter Hall and passed priority back, earning a mutual stun. Chris declared his second attack with Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard into Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1, both characters stunned, and Chris targeted Carter Hall with Mr. Freeze’s effect. At the start of the recovery phase, Chris played No Mercy targeting Bizarro, and Bulk attempted to fire back with a No Mercy of his own, but he had to target Zazzala instead of his intended target of Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard.
Turn 6 started with Bulk recruiting Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double and drawing two cards with his effect. Chris recruited Dr. Fate, Hector Hall in the visible area in front of Mr. Freeze. Bulk attacked into Dr. Fate with a powered-up Alexander Luthor, stunning Fate and ending the action for the turn.
Chris had the initiative on turn 7 and recruited Black Adam, Ruthless Hero from his resource row into his front row. Chris then activated Surveillance Pawn to give his characters +1 ATK. Bulk laid a resource and then recruited The Calculator, Crime Broker in the hidden area. Chris announced a soon-to-be 17 ATK / 16 DEF Black Adam into Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double; Bulk reinforced with Carter Hall ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Champion. Chris then attacked with Dr. Fate, Hector Hall into Carter Hall. Bulk stared at his hand as he contemplated what move he could make and then started looking at his resources. Bulk chose to take the full brunt of the attack, allowing Carter Hall to stun. Chris announced Mr. Freeze into Bulk directly, but Bulk soon made the declared attack illegal by playing Watch the Birdie! on his The Calculator, Crime Broker to bring him into the visible area. Chris passed to Bulk, and Bulk declared The Calculator into Dr. Fate, Hector Hall for 14 ATK. Chris took 8 endurance loss from that attack but maintained a slight lead endurance total lead, with the totals standing at 12-11.
On turn 8, Bulk laid a resource and recruited his own copy of Dr. Fate, Hector Hall in the visible area. He then used his last 2 resource points to recruit Weather Wizard. Bulk formed with The Calculator, Crime Broker and Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double in the front row and then placed Weather Wizard and Dr. Fate in the support row. Chris laid a resource and then used Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle’s effect (exhausting Surveillance Pawn) to search for a copy of T-Spheres. Chris then recruited Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific in his hidden area and followed that up by equipping Dr. Fate with T-Spheres. Bulk thought a moment, then chose to attack with Weather Wizard into Black Adam. Both players passed, and Weather Wizard stunned, activating his vengeance power to give all of Bulk’s characters +1 ATK / +1 DEF and flight for the turn. Bulk then announced Dr. Fate into Chris’s Dr. Fate with 13 ATK and activated Thanagar to give his Fate +1 DEF. Chris’s Fate stunned, and Chris lost 6 endurance, leaving him at 6. Bulk then announced The Calculator, Crime Broker into Mr. Freeze. Chris’s Mr. Freeze stunned, and he lost a total of 7 endurance to put him down to -1 endurance. Bulk followed up by attacking in directly with Alexander Luthor to bring Chris down to -12 endurance. For good measure, Bulk then discarded The Penguin, Arms Merchant to The Calculator, Crime Broker’s effect to bring Chris down to -14 endurance. Chris simply said, “Good Game,” and shook hands with Bulk while scooping up his cards.
Winner: Bulk Lao