Game One

Gerardo opted to mulligan, and Sacal did not. Sacal took the initiative and recruited Pantha, while Gerardo recruited Boris. Alex gave some quips in Spanish about Gerardo’s ability to hit drops. “Then it will be She-Thing, and on turn 4, double Reign of Terror, right?” The two jabbed back and forth a bit, and sure enough, up came She-Thing. She-Thing wailed on Pantha, as Sacal had missed his 2-drop.

In a near-replay of his quarterfinals match against Luis Eduardo, Sacal recruited Dove and boosted for Hawk on turn 3. Gerardo recruited She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. Pantha mauled She-Thing for the double stun, and Hawk and Dove team-attacked She-Hulk. Gerardo responded by activating Boris (fueled by Doomstadt) to retrieve and activate Acrobatic Dodge, stunning Dove in return. She-Hulk then attacked Hawk—Gerardo didn’t realize Hawk still had the bonus from Dove being in play. The result was a double stun. Sacal played Ka-Boom! on Gerardo’s Common Enemy and chose to recover Hawk, while Gerardo recovered She-Hulk.

Sacal recruited Beast Boy and Gerardo felt the sting of Ka-Boom!, unable to recruit anything. Both players passed combat. On turn 5, Sacal recruited Terra while Gerardo recruited Dr. Doom. Dr. Doom attempted to Mystical Paralysis Terra, but Terra stunned She-Hulk in return. The double Reign of Terror prediction came true though, as everything but Terra was bounced back to hand. It was bad news for Sacal, who was doing exceptionally well on that turn.

Turn 6 saw Gerardo recruit Thing, Heavy Hitter after playing Signal Flare. Gerard tried to discard Sub-Mariner, forgetting his team-up was gone. “Judge!” Sacal cried with glee. The mistake was corrected and the build phase moved to Sacal, who recruited Arsenal with Twin Firearms and Pantha. She-Hulk attempted an attack on Terra. but was stunned as a result. Dr. Doom attacked Arsenal, but Sacal activated him to stun Dr. Doom before the attack could take place. Gerardo went to attack with Thing. “I’m going to Heroic Sacrifice if you do,” stated Sacal in Spanish. And sure enough, that’s what he did, as Pantha saved Terra and Sacal from some stun damage.

Sacal clucked his tongue while contemplating his turn 7 build. Up came Garth ◊ Tempest. Gerardo recruited a Robot Destroyer. For once, Sacal did not give away his intent by pausing to think for a minute or two. He quickly announced his intent to attack with Garth and Pantha against Robot Destroyer. Sacal appeared to be banking on the hope that Gerardo wouldn’t see what was coming. “It’s Army . . . maybe you have another to power-up?” Sacal knew he didn’t. After long deliberation, Gerardo decided not to stun the Destroyer for its effect, instead just stunning back Pantha. Arsenal and Terra then attacked Thing, resulting in Thing and Arsenal being stunned. Sure enough, Sacal then played Teen Titans Go! to ready Terra and Garth. Dr. Doom exhausted for Mystical Paralysis to exhaust Garth, succeeding in stopping Sacal’s offensive. Sacal retrieved USS Argus with Garth.

Turn 8 looked to be in Gerardo’s favor as he recruited Sub-Mariner. Sacal had 6 resource points to spend, so he recruited Hawk with a boost and a Beast Boy. Everyone went to the front row. Thing attacked Arsenal, but exhaustions from Dove, Hawk, Beast Boy, and Terra pumped Arsenal up high enough to stun Sub-Mariner. Sacal then reinforced Arsenal with Burn Rubber. The total damage? Roy was stunned, but so were Sub-Mariner and Thing. Gerardo then made another mistake, attacking with Dr. Doom against Garth and attempting to use an It’s Clobberin’ Time! though he did not have