Two of the three players still sporting an undefeated record sat down to decide who might be the last undefeated player and—barring any major disaster—collect a Top 8 slot. Which of these players will feel the bitter taste of defeat for the first time in $10K Madrid?
Tarin is playing the ultra-fast The New Brotherhood deck and he came out flying with a turn 1 Lorelei and turn 2 Pyro. Omar opened with Alfred Pennyworth and Mirage, Miriam Delgado, clearly announcing himself as a The Brave and the Bold player.
Alfred brought up Bat-Signal on a silver platter, and The Brave and the Bold got revealed to give Rohner full access to his toys. Miguel tried to use Foiled to stop the team-up, but Omar had another one ready.
Bat-Signal fetched Terra, Tara Markov, but that was still three turns away. For now, it was all about Miguel Tarin sending in his crew, which was rather thematic because he was using the Thor play mat in the feature match area.
On turn 3 (remember that they lost a resource because of Foiled on turn 2), Omar Rohner could only play Hank Hall ◊ Hawk to protect his Alfred. That certainly would not be enough to stop Tarin’s growing army.
The Thor-inspired crew swooped in, energized by The New Brotherhood. Rohner grimaced and took a beating while the crowd watched on the TV. Omar was down to Hank Hall ◊ Hawk on the table, while Tarin had three characters and The New Brotherhood.
Turn 4 brought forth Rogue, Anna Raven, and Omar revealed USS Argus to dig for help. He replayed Alfred and added Mirage, Miriam Delgado and Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Rohner took a couple of minutes to figure out his formation.
Tarin revealed Savage Land and began destroying his opponent. Rogue, Anna Raven went after Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, and Toad hopped all the way to Hawk’s face, but Heroic Sacrifice stopped that for a while.
Omar: “That was a good draw.”
Miguel: “Very good.”
When the dust settled, Omar was again down to a single character (Hank Hall ◊ Hawk), while Miguel Tarin had three characters, Savage Land, and The New Brotherhood.
Out came Terra, Tara Markov, and Tarin answered in style with Sabretooth, Feral Rage. He was obviously in a hurry. Terra stunned Rogue, Anna Raven and Hawk attacked Toad.
Sabretooth and Pyro returned the favour, and even GCPD Headquarters couldn’t keep Omar Rohner from falling to a single-digit endurance total. At thas point, Tarin had already revealed a second The New Brotherhood, further signalling to Rohner that he was running out of time at an alarming rate.
There was little Omar could do, short of hope for a miracle. Tarin played Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr and let his opponent have a go at figuring out the puzzle. Rohner played Garth ◊ Tempest and sat back to witness the bloodbath. Miguel smoothly went through the motions, and soon Omar Rohner extended his hand.
Miguel Tarin kept Omar on the ropes from turn 1, and he may now be the only undefeated player in the tournament. As I type this, the only other match involving an undefeated player looks like this one did (yup, it’s a mirror Evil Medical School match with three copies of Dr. Light, Arthur Light on the table).
We’ll just have to wait to find out whether or not Tarin has company at the top of the standings.