Sowden, 29, is from London and is an IT contractor. You might recognize him as a Top 4 finisher from $10K Minehead, which was the event that qualified him for this weekend’s Pro Circuit. Chris Green is a sixteen-year-old student from Leicester, who defeated Steve Horowitz earlier in the day with his well-balanced Crime Lords team-up build.

Sowden dropped Mikado and Mosha on the first turn. He had the odd initiative, and really came out strong when Green couldn’t recruit anything on turn two. He tossed Dagger, Child of Light to search for a Midnight Sons. “It was right on top of my deck!” he maligned. Still, he had a distinct advantage, and he widened the gap between himself and Green by recruiting Zodiac and attacking directly. In response to his own attack, he flipped a pair of Midnight Sons to team up Crime Lords, Underworld, and Marvel Knights.

“Oh, boy,” said Green. “This is going to be interesting.”

Sowden recruited Brother Voodoo. “Ouch. I don’t think I like the way this seems to be going,” stated Green as he recruited Owl. Zodiac accosted his feathery foe for the double stun, and the other two characters attacked directly. The endurance totals were 48 to 37, and Sowden had a commanding lead.

Green continued getting poor luck, and was forced to play Kingpin with boost to fill his 4-drop. He gave the counters to Kingpin himself and passed, pushing both Owl and Fisk to the front row. It was seemingly Sowden’s turn to miss a drop though, recruiting Gravekeeper and Carbone’s Assassins, which was possibly good news, as he seemed to be telegraphing a turn 5 Blade. If he could pull it off, he’d have control of the initiative and would likely take the game then and there.

Owl flew into Caretaker, and the Assassins reinforced him. Kingpin then took on Zodiac and unable to reinforce, Sowden ate some breakthrough endurance loss. He had definite attack options now, but the question was, did he want to attack and take stuns back? Doing so could net some endurance loss immediately, but it would weaken his Blade rush on turn 5. In the end, it was this factor that was the main issue and Sowden passed.

The bomb dropped on turn 5, as scheduled, and Blade hit the field complete with his signature Titanium Sword! Green recruited Jigsaw, forming into an L with Owl at the corner and Kingpin in the front—he was going to get shredded, but he’d at least block a little of the breakthrough. Voodoo swung into Kingpin and Green pumped him up with Jigsaw. Caretaker gave Voodoo a bit more power, and Green opted not to reinforce with Owl. Mikado and Mosha and the Assassins team attacked Owl. Jigsaw reinforced it, used Face the Master to give Owl more defense, and a single Jigsaw pump ensured Owl would survive. Blade then went after Owl, but Green flipped Shakedown and gave Owl a power up to stun Blade back. Owl, the Assassins, and Voodoo were KO’d.

Sowden flipped Gravesite, and after resolving its effect both players drew. Green controlled the initiative but had no turn-drop character. Instead, he flipped Marvel Team-Up, recruited Punisher and passed. Sowden recruited Asmodeus and formed up. Blade protected Caretaker, and Mikado and Mosha protected Asmodeus.

Kingpin and Jigsaw team-attacked Blade. The Family reinforced him as he got stabby on Jigsaw, and Punisher hammered through a heavy blow on Caretaker. Asmodeus descended on Punisher in revenge and was met by a Face the Master (giving an ATK bonus), but he had a No Rest for the Wicked to answer it. Punisher and Caretaker were KO’d.

Green looked at his hand. “I scoop, I have no characters to play.” He conceded and offered the handshake.

Defensive pumps made the difference in many matches as the day wore on. Face the Master, Mind over Matter, No Rest for the Wicked, and Dead Weight were winning games all day. Placing himself at a severe early game advantage, defensive tactics and pumps were what permitted Lee Sowden the win in this match, and it was a trend that would be repeated throughout the day.