We’re already eight hours into the day, and the competitors are anxious to wrap this up. Both players have excellent decks, but there’s no telling who will win. Interestingly, Craig Edwards is playing Titans / Foes and Will Raiman is playing Legionnaires. Darkseid’s Elite, the team that most people consider to be the best in Sealed and Draft in this format, isn’t present at all. Craig won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiatives for the first game.
Game 1
Will mulliganed, and Craig quickly followed suit. Neither player had a first turn play. Will missed on the second turn, as well, while Craig recruited and attacked with a Saturn Queen. He played Fatal Five Hundred to get Computo, Rogue Program, and moved right on to turn 3. Craig continued to bring the beats with Cosmic King in the hidden area. Will played Lashina. Craig team attacked Lashina, and Saturn Queen traded stuns with the 3-drop. Craig led, 48-45.
Will led off with a turn 4 Spark, then substituted in Dark Thanagarian in the visible are, targeting Spark. Craig recruited Glorith. Before combat, Will flipped Joining the Darkseid to team-up. He attacked Glorith with Spark, powering-up and discarding to Glorith’s ability. Dark Thanagarian attacked directly, and the players moved to recovery. Will led, 45-35.
On turn 5, Craig played his Computo. He also substituted in Bette Kane ◊ Batwoman. Will recruited Ultra Boy and formed with the 5-drop protecting Dark Thanagarian. Craig attacked Ultra Boy with Glorith, and then passed. Both characters stunned. Cosmic King attacked Dark Thanagarian, and Craig made use of his ability. With the ability on the chain, Will removed Spark’s counter to flip Many Worlds, and then replaced it to draw a card. He discarded to counter the King’s ability, and Craig played Tempus Fugit. Will ditched another card. Craig had yet another trick in the form of a power-up. Will had nothing to answer this and simply reinforced. With that victory achieved, Computo went after Spark. Will had nothing to stop the attack; his character was stunned and he discarded a card. Bette attacked directly. Dark Thanagarian and Spark were KO’d in recovery. Somehow, Will still led 32-31.
Turn 6 was Will’s initiative. He recruited Sun Boy behind Ultra Boy and passed. Craig recruited Ol-Vir and set up with Glorith protecting Bette and Computo protecting Ol-Vir. Sun Boy was declared into Bette Kane, and Craig teamed-up with United Planets HQ and reinforced. Ultron traded with Computo, removing Sun Boy’s counter to become invulnerable. In recovery, Craig lost his 2-drop. Will still led, 32-24.
Craig had the lead on turn 7. He recruited Koriand’r ◊ Starfire, Tamaranian Princess and passed. Will recruited Kara Zor-El ◊ Supergirl. At the beginning of combat, Craig discarded a substitute card to break apart Will’s formation, leaving three characters unprotected and unable to reinforce each other. Craig’s first attack traded Glorith with Ultra Boy. Next, Koriand’r traded with Kara. Will exhausted Sun Boy to use Girl’s Night Out. Craig played Five Against One on Sun Boy and attacked it with Computo. When Craig attempted to attack directly, Will had Foiled Assassination to return Ultra Boy and recover Kara. Craig attacked Kara with Ol-Vir and another Five Against One, and Will conceded.
Craig 1 – Will 0
Game 2
Will took the odd initiatives for the second game. He kept his opener, but Craig tossed his back for another set of four. Will had the first play of the game in Jazmin Cullen ◊ Kid Quantum, who attacked into Craig’s empty board. Craig recruited Jack Knight ◊ Starman on turn 2. Will under-dropped with The Blight. Still in the build phase, Craig used Starman to draw a card. In combat, Will teamed-up with Joining the Darkseid. He flipped Legion World and team attacked Starman with both of his 1-drops. Will had Kinetix on turn 3, and then passed. Craig used Starman to draw a card, and then recruited Cosmic King in the concealed area. Will team attacked to stun Starman, attacked directly with Kinetix, and removed Kinetix’s counter to exhaust Cosmic King. At the end of the turn, Will was ahead 48-35.
Craig began turn 4 with The Future is Changing. After discarding Glorith, Craig recruited Alan Scott, White King in front of Starman. Will played Dark Thanagarian in the hidden area, targeting Kinetix. He moved all of his characters to the support row, then reconsidered and protected The Blight with Kinetix. Starman had flight, though, and attacked The Blight anyway. Will powered-up for the mutual stun. Alan Scott attacked Kinetix, and Will played Girls Night Out to stop breakthrough. Cosmic King attacked Jazmin with his ability, and Will opted not to discard. After Jazmin stunned, Will used Foiled Assassination to save his other two characters. Will still led, 37-33.
Turn 5 was Will’s initiative, and he recruited Brainiac 5.1. He flipped Many Worlds, removing Brainiac’s counter, and replaced it to draw a card. He passed to Craig, who substituted out Starman for Bart Allen. Interestingly (and by interestingly, I mean “telegraphing his hand,”) Craig substituted again, trading Bart for Bette Kane ◊ Batwoman. Next, Craig recruited Computo, Rogue Program in front of Bette. In combat, Kinetix swung over and stunned Bette. Brainiac and The Blight team attacked Computo, and Craig had the extremely predictable Order and Chaos. Brainiac was brickwalled. Will couldn’t attack anymore, and Craig’s team came over into Will’s team for an unreasonable amount of breakthrough. Will lost a card from his hand, as well as The Blight and Kinetix from play. The score was 29-9 in Craig’s favor at the end of the turn.
Craig under-dropped on turn 6 with Ra’s Al Ghul, Engine of Change. Will recruited Sun Boy next to Brainiac. At the start of combat, Craig used Ra’s on Sun Boy, but Will discarded to counter the ability. Craig played Five Against One on Sun Boy and attacked the 6-drop with Computo. The characters traded stuns. Craig team attacked Ra’s and Cosmic King into Brainiac, and Will conceded.
Congratulations to Craig Edwards, winner of $10K Orlando 2006!