Maik’s MOEGLEE deck, built following some positive reactions to what he saw of it in LA, uses a few of the new JLA cards in order to bolster what was already a busty archetype for Golden Age.

Praet had the initiative, and quickly mulliganed away his hand. Maik did the same, and had the only recruit for the first turn, in the form of Henry King, Jr. ◊ Brainwave, who burned Praet with his mind rather than going to the trouble of attacking. With the initiative on turn two, Maik recruited Beetle, Armorsmith discarding G’Nort in order to find Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Marcel, meanwhile, was still without recruits, and lost 4 endurance from Stich’s attacks.

Praet’s first recruit was a big one, Black Panther, revealing three reservists, which received a consternated sigh from Stich. For Stich it was Olapet boosted to find Arisia, and a copy of the girl herself in her revealing extended art form.

“Flying Kick, Flying Kick, Flying Kick, Beatdown, Beatdown, win?” suggested Stich.

Marcel laughed and just played a single Flying Kick on his 7 ATK/6 DEF 3-drop before attacking Henry King, Jr. No Evil Shall Escape Our Sight allowed Stich to reinforce, and with Henry’s burn on top it was a swing of 1 endurance each. The crack back left Maik ahead at 49–45. Maik drew a card with Birthing Chamber and passed.

For turn four, Stich had Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who made the party a block party with his Chopping Block, which stayed in Stich’s hand. Tomar Tu came right into play, protecting Arisia, and Stich passed.

For Praet it was simply Carol Danvers ◊ Warbird who sat in the back row feeling rather lonely looking at the throng Maik was hidden behind. At the start of the attack step he used Birthing Chamber to draw two and discard one. Kyle Rayner and Olapet went after Warbird, helped out by Arisia’s ability, and took her down at the cost of the plant with all the willpower.

No Man Escapes the Manhunters then allowed Tomar Tu to trade with Black Panther and even do some breakthrough. Five more came through unstopped, and Maik was leading 47–27.

Following his draw, Praet shook his head. His hand was 100 percent plot twists, which is not as ideal for Avengers as it might be for, say, Squadron Supreme. He played She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell from his resource row and passed, forming her up in front of Warbird. All the girls are doing it for themselves.

Millenium secured the full MOEGLEE three-team set, and Dr. Light, Master of Holograms came out along with Hector Hammond before the Dr went into surgery and brought back Olapet. Carol Danvers went for Beetle, and Maik reinforced with Kyle Rayner. She Hulk then had a Flying Kick which was just the manoeuvre with which to attack the now un-reinforceable Kyle. He used a few extra pumps for value—two Savage Beatdowns, another Flying Kick, Heroes in Reserve for three and Call Down the Lightning, making it a total of 32 ATK. All of a sudden, Maik was down to 11 endurance almost from nowhere, while Praet looked comparatively comfortable at 27 endurance. Henry King, Jr. worked with Olapet to take down that number to 21, but things were still a lot closer all of a sudden.

Maik started his turn with a Birthing Chamber activation, discarding Black Hand. Dr Light returned Beetle, Armorsmith to play, who fetched out Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi. He then played The Ring Has Chosen to find Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps, who he played with boost. As big as the attacks of the turn before had been, this turns seemed likely to be able to compete.

Wonder Man stunned Hector Hammond, who in response burned Praet with some help from Henry King Jr. In the build phase, Maik used Hard Sound Construct to bring back Black Hand and replaced Birthing Chamber, looking for more pumps.

Olapet then attacked Warbird, but was thwarted by System Failure. Tomar Tu tried the same thing, and was more successful in his attempts. Guy Gardner then went for Wonder Man, getting the mutual stun and taking Praet down to 4 endurance to Maik’s 2. Kyle Rayner then went in against She Hulk with some help from Light Armor, and Praet was forced to scoop up his cards.

Maik Stich wins game one.

With the initiative again in game two, it was Praet who had the only recruit in the form of Beast, Furry Blue Scientist. He got his beat on while he could, being royally trumped the turn after by Olapet with Light Armor. For Praet, it was Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, Super Spy. After one reinforced attack from Maik, it was on to the third turn.

Praet moved with appropriate speed to deploy Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger on the board, and Stich was every bit as speedy to put Dr. Light, Master of Holograms into play. He had no characters in his KO’d pile, so the 3-drop was uncharacteristically unspectacular, but it still did the job.

Beast and Natasha attacked Olapet, which prompted a double Cover Fire from Stich, and a Call Down the Lightning in return from Praet. Natasha’s ability kicked in to stun Dr Light, and Quicksilver quickly attacked to the face, and it was with much alacrity that the game moved on to turn four.

Maik’s plays on four were G’Nort followed by Emerald Dawn, sacrificing the dog to find Olapet. The plant was boosted to fetch Arisia, and finally Dr Light summoned the Green Lantern pet back onto the field. For Praet, the curving had unfortunately stopped, with Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight hitting play and his ability pumping him up slightly, though not enough for him to be “on curve.”

Maik’s attacks begun with Beast being beaten up by Olapet in a flurry of tendrils and fur that’s not seen often in Vs. System. When the sap settled, there was one stunned Beast and a little breakthrough endurance loss as well.

Arisia attacked Quicksilver with No Man Escapes the Manhunters, then G’Nort followed her example, hitting Dane Whitman with some help from No Man Escapes the Manhunters, forgetting about the ability that had been used earlier in the turn. Frustrated by his mistake, and facing a costly board wipe, Maik scooped up his cards.

Marcel Praet wins game two.

Praet was quick to keep his opening four cards with the initiative, having a good curve of reservists, including the powerful Hawkeye, Clinton Barton. He led off with Beast, Furry Blue Scientist, which Maik answered with Brik. Not quite good enough.

A turn two Light Armor and pass from Maik was met by Natasha Romanoff from Marcel, and his 2-drop got beaten in by Stich’s 1-drop. After Beast got some tiny revenge, it was on to the third turn.

The one point of Praet’s curve that was not yet filled was the 3-drop, and he was forced to savagely under-drop with Rick Jones as his only recruit. Stich, meanwhile, had Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer, Problem Solver, who exhausted to a Millennium team-up, and Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who fetched Lanterns in Love.

Rick and Natasha attacked into Kyle Rayner, who utilized Cover Fire to try to stay safe. Marcel used Heroes in Reserve for three. Maik played a second, and stunned the hidden 1-drop who would otherwise be tough to pin down. On the attacks back, he stunned the rest of the reservist board, at the cost of only Kyle Rayner for himself. He elected not to recover his only 2-drop, telegraphing Dr. Light, Master of Holograms for the following turn.

Stich played The Shark and used Hard-Traveling Heroes to team up Emerald Enemies with Green Lanterns. He then played a boosted Yellowjacket, who could now fetch a character from one of three different teams. His choice was Olapet, and after drawing a card with Birthing Chamber, he spent his final two resource points on Tomar Tu, who stood in front of Brik.

Marcel rebuilt his board while looking to demolish his opponent’s using Rick Jones’s alternate recruit cost, and playing Hawkeye, Clinton Barton with his real resource points. This is the character that put enough fear into Team FTN that they made a late swing away from the Masters of Evil/GLEE deck they had been testing for the Pro Circuit.

Paul Ebersol took down Natasha Romanoff, then Maik had to think very carefully about his attacks, as he was facing down a character who could stun much of his board in one fell swoop. Brik and Tomar Tu went for the troublesome 4-drop. In response he shot at Brik and The Shark, who worked with Lanterns in Love to recover Paul Ebersol before succumbing. Tomar Tu was suddenly well out of his depth, and was easily stunned.

When Marcel recruited She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell, things looked bleak for Stich. He exhausted Yellowjacket to draw off Millenium, but even after playing Dr Light, Master of Holograms and fetching back Tomar Tu did not look in good shape. Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern fetched Hard Sound Construct, and following a Birthing Chamber activation, Stich used Emerald Dawn to KO Kyle (fetching Fatality, Emerald Assassin).

The Ring Has Chosen found Black Hand, and Maik discarded the Fatality to it. Hard Sound Construct returned Kyle, who found another Hard Sound Construct to get back Fatality. Are you following this? Good.

The endurance totals stood at 37 each, and Marcel looked to change things up a bit, by team attacking Fixer with Natasha Romanoff and Rick Jones. Natasha’s ability kicked in, and Dr Light got stunned in addition to the tradeoff between the Masters of Evil one drop and Natasha. She-Hulk then attacked Fatality, and Maik simply took all the breakthrough endurance loss that he was due. Hawkeye elected to shoot down Brik and Yellowjacket, and Marcel passed. With no good attacks, Maik, moved to recovery where he lost most of his team, going down to just Dr Light, Master of Holograms and Tomar Tu. On 21 compared to 35, Maik was in serious trouble.

He boosted out Olapet to find Arisia, playing those two and returning Kyle Rayner once more with Dr. Light. Another Hard Sound Construct came with him.

Maik surveyed his hand and the board, and extended the hand. He was defeated.

Marcel Praet wins!