Big Man on the Pro Circuit Gabe Walls sat down against the diminutive Tim Batow for round 5 with a smile on his face. That is Gabe’s default face, and even losing the die roll for initiative didn’t take it away. He cheekily raised his hand in front of photographer Craig Gibson’s camera as Craig tried to get a good picture of Batow.
With a giggle—and the initiative—he played out Coach with a cry of “Put me in, Coach!” Tim had Connie Webb, who swung for 1 but wasn’t followed up by a 2-drop the following turn. Gabe played Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern to fetch a Hard Sound Construct and got to beat in on his opponent’s 1-drop, who activated to find Ahmed Samsarra, White King.
Walls had Dr. Light, Master of Holograms to his opponent’s King. There weren’t any attacks for Walls, but Tim cracked with Ahmed, helped by a Threat Neutralized and a Brother Eye for extra ATK.
“This doesn’t happen very often,” declared Batow as he played Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant and Connie Webb for his recruits. Gabe had to have a careful think for his recruits, as with Threat Neutralized in play, he had a slightly trickier time working out how to go off with his Justice League of Arkham deck.
He played Deadshot, Floyd Lawton with Dr. Light, and then he used Birthing Chamber to draw a card. Beetle, Armorsmith (with a discard of The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero) found Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, who was played for a pretty busy GWalls board.
Dr. Psycho attacked Dr. Light, a move that prompted a Mikado and Mosha on Batow’s Connie Webb, who had to dive out of the way to find Sarge Steel in response. The combat resolved, and Dr. Psycho took down Light. Coach, upon being targeted with the vengeance, was forced to bounce himself.
Ahmed Samsarra attacked Poison Ivy, and after a Checkmate Safe House team-up and a Brother Eye activation, Gabe was forced to use a Justice League of Arkham to allow for a reinforce. Gabe used the one Breaking Ground in his deck to take out Threat Neutralized, reinforced with Deadshot, used Poison Ivy to fetch an X-Corp: Amsterdam, then finally took his 2 from the stun.
For turn 5, Gabe had the initiative and was looking to get his opponent empty-handed in the Justice League of Arkham lock. However, since Batow had seven cards in hand, it appeared to be a big ask. One of the key strengths of the Checkmate-based control decks is the ability to pack a fair amount of “tech slots” with a toolbox of answers to most decks. Gabe claimed to not be too familiar with the matchup and had a little think about how best to proceed against a potentially large amount of hate. He used Dr. Light to get back the Poison Ivy he had lost the turn before, then blew two copies of X-Corp: Amsterdam to find more Justice League of Arkhams.
Enemy of My Enemy (fuelled by an ever-active Phantom Stranger) fetched Hope, and then the Justice League of Arkham flips began. Tim went down to five cards in hand, and then Poison Ivy KO’d Archangel, Angel to fetch another X-Corp: Amsterdam for the third team-up. Hope made it another discard for Batow, who was now marked by concern as he shuffled up his ever-shrinking hand (now at just three cards). Slaughter Swamp got back Hope, and Coach joined the team again. Archangel came—though without a discard—and after forming up his force, Gabe passed.
For Batow, things were a little simpler. He played Ultron ◊ Crimson Cowl and used Ahmed to fetch a Science Spire, the best way to ensure his King remained safe. Gabe tried for a big team attack, but he was brick-walled by a Knightmare Scenario. Ahmed was ultimately returned to hand by Science Spire, then Ultron attacked to make the endurance 26-42 in Batow’s favor.
For turn 6, all Batow had was his Ahmed (again) and Connie Webb. This wasn’t the biggest of boards, but time was called in this turn, so it might well have been good enough.
Gabe used Dr. Light to return Beetle, Armorsmith, trying to rebuild and engineer a win. He jokingly tried to find Evil Star with his Beetle before having it pointed out that he’d missed a step or two. Gabe laughed and found a Mr. Mxyzptlk, then used Enemy of My Enemy to finally fetch his 6-drop.
Ultron attacked into Evil Star, and Batow activated Ahmed to find a Checkmate Safe House, teaming-up his Masters of Evil with Checkmate. This allowed for a big Brother Eye pump to elicit the mutual stun. Gabe tried to KO the White King with Evil Star, but Science Spire said no to that plan and left Gabe with a wholly stunned board following the attack.
Dr. Psycho and Connie Webb went to Gabe’s face, but a Slaughter Swamp activation was enough to find Mikado and Mosha so that only Dr. Psycho got through. Going into turn 7, Batow led 36 to 15, which—given that it was the last turn of the game—looked like it should be good enough.
Walls had other plans though, playing The Phantom Stranger in front of his Evil Star and passing to Batow, who just had Connie Webb and Bizarro, Me Am Bizarro #1. Gabe tried for the cunning attack of Phantom Stranger into Connie Webb to force a reinforce from Batow. Gabe then tried Slaughter Swamp to try to get Mikado and Mosha back, to end the attack. Tim had Phantom Zone. The crowd sighed.
Gabe flipped another Slaughter Swamp. As Tim replaced his Phantom Zone, the crowd sighed just a little more.
Gabe flipped Slaughter Swamp number three. The crowd cheered.
The attack was made illegal due to no non-stunned defenders, and Gabe got to swing in again. From nowhere, it looked that Gabe might still pull it out. He attacked through a pumped-up Bizarro, gaining some endurance along the way, and took Batow down really close. After his final attack, where a Knightmare Scenario saved on 2 endurance, the endurance difference was 4, in Batow’s favor. Coach made the difference 2. Gabe was just short of being able to pull off a mammoth victory from the jaws of defeat by 2 points. If only Coach had been able to work that little bit harder . . .
Tim Batow wins!