Of the three players piloting Eugene Harvey's revolutionary X-Men Stall deck, Antonino DeRosa was the last survivor. He sat down for his semifinals with little of his usual jolly demeanor. His epic quarterfinal mirror-match against his close friend Paul Sottosanti had left him with little in the tank. Seated across from him was Mark Slack, who had just proved his worth against David Fielder. On paper, the quarters seemed to favor Fielder, but Slack altered his game plan and took the match handily. He'll need that ingenuity again to find a way out of the X-Men stranglehold.

Game 1

Antonino won the choice for initiative and selected odds. Nothing came out of either player on turn 1, while turn 2 featured a Tim Drake Robin, Young Detective from Mark, who also had a Tamaran to hit Antonino for 3. Antonino played Wolverine, Logan on the third turn, while Mark developed his board further with a boosted Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. Wolverine stunned Tim Drake, and there were no further attacks. Mark had a fourth turn Red Star, while Antonino countered with Rogue, Power Absorption. Mark team attacked with everyone on Rogue and used Tamaran on Red Star, then used Tim Drake to redirect Rogue’s damage to Red Star, who couldn’t be stunned due to Tamaran. Mark then used Press the Attack on Red Star, attacking and stunning Wolverine. Antonino lost Logan during recovery.

Antonino had Sunfire on his fifth turn, a critical play against Teen Titans, but Mark’s turn would prove far better, with a Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, a Red Star activation, and an Optitron, which he flipped and used to fetch Raven (which Antonino had to read). Before combat, Mark tried to pump Roy with Dove, but Antonino responded by stunning Roy with Sunfire. In response to this, Mark pumped Roy with two other characters and flipped USS Argus, then used Roy on Rogue, KO’ing the Argus. Now inside of combat, Antonino used Pleasant Distraction on Red Star, Mark’s remaining active character. Turn 6 featured a Garth ◊ Tempest from Mark, while Antonino had a much less impressive Professor X, Charles Xavier. Between Garth, Roy Harper, and Teen Titans Go!, Antonino was unable to prevent his whole team from being stunned and was quickly down a game.

Game 2

Deciding to switch things up, Antonino took the even initiative for game 2. Both players sent back their first four, and neither player had anything on the first turn. Antonino once again missed Puppet Master on the second turn, while Mark had Hawk and Tamaran in the resource row. Turn 3 saw Beast Boy from Mark and Wolverine from Antonino, and a team attack stunning both of the freshly recruited characters. On turn 4, Antonino could only muster a Jean Grey, Marvel Girl, while Mark’s draw continued to look solid with Red Star. Moving into combat, Antonino stunned Beast Boy with Jean Grey and Hawk with Wolverine. Mark then attacked Wolverine with Red Star and augmented the attack with Tamaran.

Mark continued to press his advantage on the fifth turn with Garth ◊ Tempest, a play that Antonino could only answer with an underwhelming Professor X, Charles Xavier. With two copies of Teen Titans Go! to assist, Mark stunned Antonino’s entire team during combat, but Antonino had Children of the Atom to minimize the damage. Thanks to an earlier Tamaran activation, Mark had a Savage Beatdown in the bin, and he returned it to his hand with Garth.

Antonino’s sixth turn featured Mimic, while Mark once again had the better turn: lay a resource, use USS Argus, flip another USS Argus, use that Argus, play Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, return Dove with Garth, play Dove with boost. Antonino tried to attack Garth with Mimic, but in response Mark simply exhausted his entire team to Roy and shot Mimic down. Antonino then stunned Dove with Jean Grey, but when he went for an attack on Hawk with the Professor, Mark had a Press the Attack for Roy and shot the Prof down, too. With things already looking grim for Antonino, Mark’s turn 7 boosted Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective on an already highly advantageous board was enough to cause Antonino to scoop.

Mark wins 2-0 and advances to the finals to face the other Teen Titans deck.