In this quarterfinal match, Dan’s Gotham deck was up against James’s FF Burn deck. Both players are from Sydney and have been playing Vs. System since its inception earlier this year.
Game 1
Dan got off to a good start with Alfred Pennyworth and then Barbara Gordon ◊ Oracle, but James had She-Thing and She-Hulk on the second and third turns, and was able to get some early endurance loss as Dan missed his third turn play.
Turn 4 had Dan recruiting Cassandra Cain ◊ Batgirl, while James got a Human Torch, Hotshot. James’s attempt at a Tech Upgrade was negated by Dan’s Fizzle. During the attack, Batgirl traded in attack with Johnny Storm, but not before Dan is hit for 5 breakthrough endurance loss. After this turn, the endurance totals are Dan 37, James 25.
James took advantage of his fifth recruit step to play Mr Fantastic, Stretch and placed an Advanced Hardware on She-Hulk. Dan used his recruit step for Batman, Caped Crusader.
The attack step had James swinging into Batman with Mr Fantastic and playing It’s Clobberin’ Time! on Stretch, but unfortunately this was Fizzled. Dan had his own Nasty Surprise on Batman but before the head of Marvel’s First Family became stunned, the Human Torch shot, and the Advanced Hardware was passed around to inflict 11 endurance loss. James’ play seemed sound when he played Cosmic Radiation to ready the team, but Dan had yet another Fizzle and James’ team was left exhausted. Dan swung into the Torch with Batman and James took some beats, leaving him on 28 endurance and Dan at 24.
Dan recruited Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing, Defender of Bludhaven on his sixth recruit step. This didn’t seem to faze James, who burned Dan with Human Torch and replaced him with another Torch. Between the Torches and the Hardware, James had Dan at 0 by the time he actually got through to the attack.
Dan’s Savage Beatdown was not enough and James ended the turn as the only player with a positive endurance total.
Dan Gow 0, James Kong 1
Game 2
Dan chose the first initiative, but was unable to capitalize, with both players passing on their first turn. James recruited She-Thing on turn 2 and Dan had trouble containing his frustration at his turn 2 Alfred. She-Thing showed she can also bring the noise on Alfred’s dome.
Dan started turn 3 by recruiting Huntress and sent her up front, but James had Thing, Ben Grimm, which meant that Dan had to refrain from attacking. James didn’t have such a restriction and attacked with Thing for 4. Dan then exhausted Alfred to use Bat Signal in his recovery step to find Batman, Caped Crusader.
James had the initiative on turn 4 and recruited Human Torch, Hotshot. He put the Thing twins up front with the Torch at the back. Dan called Cassandra Cain ◊ Batgirl into action and places her in front of Huntress with Alfred off to the side. James attacked Alfred with Thing, so Dan activated him to fetch an Acrobatic Dodge.
After Dan talks James out of attacking, he then proceeds to swing Huntress into Thing, powering-up in the process, which allows them to trade stuns. Batgirl attacked into She-Thing, but Dan then used a Nasty Surprise with an Overload to stun She-Thing and restart the attack. Batgirl then ripped into Human Torch, which burned Dan before also going down. The turn was very good for Dan—without initiative he managed to KO two of James’s characters and almost restored parity in life totals. Dan was at 35, with James at 38.
Turn 5 was Dan’s initiative and he recruited the Batman, Caped Crusader that he searched for earlier and James matched with his own 5-drop Mr Fantastic, Stretch