Craig has an 11-4 record coming into this match, while Hans is at 12-3. Both players are 2-0 in the draft pod and have ridiculous decks. Craig’s Top 8 potential is on the line in this match, as five losses at this stage will most likely put him out of contention.

Hans won the flip and chose to take the odd initiatives.

Turn 1

Hans opened with a Joystick recruit. Craig mulliganed into an all-character hand, but he was able to row a reservist before recruiting the mighty Basilisk. An attack from Hans did 1 endurance loss to each player.

Turn 2

Craig chose to go off-curve with Radioactive Man, Chen Lu and Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight. He also could have recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi or Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara.

Hans played Shape in front of Joystick and quipped, “This is Constructed, right?”

Craig smiled and said, “Something like that,” as Basilisk attacked into Shape. Hans played a Shrink from hand, bringing Shape up to a 3 ATK / 3 DEF and reversing Craig’s attack. Now Craig was forced to team attack with his remaining characters into Shape. Black Knight and Shape went down. Craig then passed to Hans, who considered trading Joystick with Radioactive Man, but opted against it.

Craig 47, Hans 47

Turn 3

Hans under-dropped, recruiting only Thermite to join his team. Craig had no such difficulty as he positioned Helmut Zemo ◊ Citizen V, Tactician behind Radioactive Man. While Hans considered his attack, Craig lamented over his “poor Nathan Garrett” in his KO’d pile, who’d been “Mikado and Mosha’d with Shrink.”

Then suddenly, the tone of the match shifted.

Hans shook his head and couldn’t seem to come up with a fruitful series of attacks. After being prompted by a judge to make a play, he played Seek Cover from hand on Thermite and attacked with Joystick into the 5 ATK/1 DEF Radioactive Man (thanks to Helmut Zemo).

“Do you pass?” Craig asked, prompting Hans to reply with a quick, “Yes.”

Craig followed up by asking, “So your Joystick is a 3/4?”

Suddenly, panic arose in Hans’s eyes. “Wait, I want to play something first!”

Unfortunately, Hans had already passed, and now his Joystick traded with Radioactive Man. Hans was clearly frustrated with the ruling and his misplay, and for the remainder of the match, he kept shaking his head as though he were trying to banish a bad memory.

After lamely trading Thermite with Basilisk, Hans had to pass the turn.

Craig 43, Hans 45

Turn 4

Craig recruited his own Joystick and Melissa Gold ◊Screaming Mimi, and then he used Melissa to deal 4 to Hans. Craig opted for this aggressive off-curve strategy over playing the 4-drop Mr. Hyde, Engine of Destruction from his hand, strongly indicating that he had at least one of the four Faces of Evil in his deck ready to go.

Hans got back on curve by playing Jolt in front of Joystick. Shape took an aggressive stance in the front row as well. Craig used Faces of Evil and a power-up to allow his Helmut Zemo to take out Hans’s Shape. Basilisk then flew over Jolt to trade with Joystick. Finally, a team attack with Joystick and Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi took down Jolt.

Craig 41, Hans 32

Turn 5

Hans recruited Whizzer and put both of his characters into the front row. Craig locked in 5 resource points and then recruited Mr. Hyde from his resource row and once again burned Hans for 4, opting not to replace the resource with his one card in hand, Paul Ebersol ◊ Techno, Gadgeteer.

Craig created a “T” formation around Helmut Zemo. Hans predictably sent Whizzer into the leader, who was reinforced by Screaming Mimi. Then Jolt attacked into Mr. Hyde, and a Might Makes Right emptied Hans’s hand and gave Jolt a monstrous +5 ATK. Now that Hans’s hand was empty, Whizzer was able to take another swing at Craig through Screaming Mimi. That brought Craig’s endurance back into range and made this a tense game going into turn 6.

Craig 21, Hans 22

Turn 6

Craig continued to fail in drawing any plot twists other than the one Faces of Evil in play, and he recruited Plant Man and Beetle ◊ Mach 1. Unfortunately, Craig didn’t have another card to play as a resource other than Techno, so Techno sat unusable in hand, with only four resources in play. Hans was able to recruit the giant Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, and then he played a topdecked Force Field Belt to put a counter on Whizzer. Then, he transferred the equipment to Nuke.

Without any plot twists, Craig couldn’t hope to compete with the monsters on Hans’s side of the board. He promptly conceded, flipping over his deck and fanning through the many ATK pumps he didn’t get to draw this game. Craig’s dreams of another Sunday of Pro Circuit fame are fading fast, but Hans is now in an incredible position to make the Top 8. We’ll see how they both do as they discard their current monster decks and enter the final draft of the Pro Circuit.