Round 7 sees Metagame.com’s own Thomas Reeve face off against Joseph Corbett. Reeve traveled a bit further to be here this weekend—coming from London—while Joseph hails from Topeka, Kansas. Both players are sporting 5-1 records, so a win here will lock either of them into Day 2 and the draft tables, not to mention a nice check.
Corbett won the roll and took a moment to decide which initiative to go with, eventually choosing odds. Thomas leaned over and showed me a hand that he said he couldn’t possibly mulligan, revealing three 3-drops; clearly this was a majority of the 3-drops from his deck. The table was clear until Joseph played Quicksilver, Inhuman by Marriage with his initiative on the second turn. He then flipped up Battleworld and Blue Area of the Moon to have the speedy mutant deal an easy 8 to Thomas.
Commander Dylon Cir helped matters for Joseph the next turn before he passed off the baton to Reeve, who had clearly been waiting for his chance to finally play a character. Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival was the 3-drop of choice for Thomas, and believe me, he had choices. A Mind Gem dropped on Dr. Doom after the cloaked one found Armies of Doom. Dylon easily stunned Doom, giving Thomas another shot with Mind Gem but also taking him to 31 with double attacks from Quicksilver.
On turn 4, Firelord, Pyreus Kril came down for Thomas, and Armies of Doom brought back Doom-Bot Corps, which had been discarded with Mind Gem that turn. Joseph brought Human Torch, The Invisible Man out to slow down anything Thomas hoped to do, but Firelord easily took him out with a discarded Magneto, Acts of Vengeance. Doom-Bot Corps then took down Quicksilver, allowing Reeve to KO the Corps to return a Technarx to play before Armies of Doom could remove the Army character from play.
With endurance totals at 39-25 in his favor, Joseph seemed to cement his lead when he played Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans with the initiative. Alaris seemed like a pretty strong play from the Englishman, perhaps giving him the chance to get one turn further and seal the game. Black Bolt went after the opposing 5-drop with the aid of Battleworld and Blue Area of the Moon (for +4 DEF), and even though Thomas had Alien Insurrection to try for the mutual stun, It’s Slobberin’ Time! gave Joseph the DEF boost he needed for the one-way stun. Dylon easily took care of Dr. Doom, who KO’d Technarx to replace a resource. After Human Torch hit Firelord (earning mutual stuns), Thomas KO’d Doom to return Technarx to play once again.
Thomas had what would be his last chance to deal with Joseph on turn 6, and with the score at 32-12 in Joe’s favor, he would need to have a very good turn. Dinu came out and moved Black Bolt to the hidden area, but Joseph moved Thomas’s Dinu into the hidden area with his own copy of the 6-drop. Thomas flipped his own Blue Area of the Moon and used it to safely send his Dinu into Joseph’s. Technarx got some help from Sworn Enemies and attacked Human Torch with 9 ATK, getting the mutual stun and allowing Thomas to send Alaris into Joseph unopposed. Thomas was sitting at 9 endurance, with only Alaris as a possible attack target for retribution. Joseph sent Black Bolt in with boosts from Blue Area of the Moon, Battleworld, and Sworn Enemies to push his ATK to 14, giving him enough to finish the job. Thomas had been able to get Joseph to 8, but the deficit going into the turn had just been too much to overcome.
Joseph Corbett moves on to round 8 with a 6-1 record, guaranteeing him a spot at the tables tomorrow, a nice check, and his first Day 2 appearance!