Josh won the die roll, declaring that it was his first time to play on odds all weekend. He looked at the first card of his opening four and bullishly declared a keep. Batow had to mulligan.
“Do you want a pre-match hug?” asked Josh. “The game is going to be a beating.”
Tim didn't take Josh up on it this time, but Wiitanen did declare that Batow was the hottest player he'd hugged on Friday.
The only play on turn 1 was Basilisk (the one-card keep), and Josh followed up with Beetle ◊ Mach 1 and a Framistat for Basilisk to allow for major beats into Batow's empty board. Turn 3 saw the first recruit from Tim in the form of Bulldozer, but Batow was still way behind.
“Turn one Basilisk, turn two equip is pretty much good games,” quipped a visibly happy Josh, for whom Basilisk is a “Zeroeth Pick.”
Josh made Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight and took down the 3-drop with Basilisk before beating in with the rest of his team (helped out by Faces of Evil). Clearly pleased with his draw, Josh broke out the Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and passed them around the feature match area. At this point, I was forced to reveal that we don't have Reese’s chocolate in England, which apparently is cause enough for no Pro Circuit in England. My solution? Bring your own. In fact, also, bring me peanut butter cups in general when I'm over here. I quite like them.
With the initiative on turn 4, Batow made Scorpion and used his ability. For Josh, it was Moonglow with an Airskimmer. Tim's attacks were pretty good, with Might Makes Right making them that much better. Moonglow was taken down by Scorpion, and Tim got in what turned out to be about the only endurance loss of any note that he would manage for the match. Josh then blundered in with Beetle ◊ Mach 1 only to find that he couldn't play his Windstorm, giving Batow both some information and an extra stun.
“I would be slightly angry if I wasn't killing you this turn,” remarked Wiitanen as he plopped Whizzer into play on his initiative on turn 5. Batow's recruits were Charcoal and Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi courtesy of Hard Sound Construct.
First up, Josh used his colossal Basilisk to take down Scorpion, then Nathan Garret went into Melissa Gold. A Shrink from Batow was enough to end that plan, but Wiitanen appeared unfazed as he sent Beetle in to finish the job. The reasons for Josh's blase attitude became clear as he used Airskimmer and Wind Storm on Whizzer to empty his hand before flipping a Rocket Central and attacking for enough to send Batow packing.
Josh Wiitanen wins.