Wess Victory’s last major finish was his win at this very tournament a year ago, and he’s looking to make a comeback. He's bearing a rather unlikely X-Men beatdown deck. His opponent, Matthew Long, is from the nearby town of Decatur. He’s playing that old standby, Sentinels. Both of these players are 3-1 going into the fifth round.

Wess won the coin flip and chose to take evens. Each other player I’ve featured has opted to take the odd initiatives, so this struck me as a little strange. Wess chose to mulligan his opening hand, while Matthew held on to his first four cards. Matthew kicked things off with Boliver Trask, fetching a Sentinel Mark II. “I have no recruit,” declared Wess. Boliver got in there and play moved on.

Wess kicked off turn 2 with Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner, while Matthew had the predictable Hounds of Ahab. Nightcrawler took down Boliver, and Matthew chose to pass his attack.

Turn 3 was Matthew’s initiative again, and he dropped his Mark II. Wess played [Wolverine, Logan] protecting Nightcrawler. Matthew’s Mark II flew right by to crush Nightcrawler. This was Matthew’s only attack. Wess beat back into Boliver. Matthew attempted to use Finishing Move on Nightcrawler in response, but Wess had the Children of the Atom. No characters were lost, and the endurance totals were 44–41 in favor of Wess.

Wess underdropped a Banshee on turn 4 with a grimace. Matthew continued his optimal curve with a Sentinel Mark V protecting Boliver. Wess, undaunted, attacked Nightcrawler into the Mark V, which was stunned with the help of a Savage Beatdown. Wolverine took out the Mark II, and Banshee took down Boliver. Matthew lost his Mark II and Boliver, while Wess didn’t even suffer a stun. 44–26 Wess.

Matthew played a turn 5 Nimrod. Wess used Cerebro and missed before opting to bring out Sunfire. He set up with Sunfire in front of Nightcrawler and Wolverine in front of Banshee. Matthew declared his attack of Nimrod into Sunfire. Before the stun, Wess used Sunfire to take down the Hounds. He then used Acrobatic Dodge, which successfully (and surprisingly) saved Sunfire from the stun. Sentinel Mark V took down Wolverine without a problem, and Matthew had nothing else to attack with. Wess passed his attacks, as well. Before recovery, Matthew used Flame Trap to take down Nightcrawler and yield a little board advantage. Still, this was another fine turn for Wess. 38–24 Wess

Wess had Rogue, Powerhouse on turn 6, while Matthew kept things up with Bastion. Wess wasted no time in team attacking Rogue and Sunfire into Bastion, KO’ing him. For Wess’s next attack, Wolverine and Banshee team attacked Nimrod. Banshee’s ability exhausted the Mark V, and Wolverine eventually went down to trade for Nimrod’s repair counter. 29–18 Wess

Matthew completed the best possible character run with Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Wess used Cerebro, missing again, and was quite upset when he had nothing but an Archangel to recruit. He set up defensively, though, and Matthew could only bring him down to 6. Unfortunately, Magneto had already done what he came to do, and Wess was left with only a Banshee. His recruit of Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath on turn 8 was no match for Matthew’s board full of monsters, which included a new copy of Bastion.

Matthew Long wins!