“The good news is that whoever loses this stops playing mirrors! We broke the format, so we are just playing mirrors all day!” Once again, Gabe Walls has broken the format.
Last night, both Karl and Gabe were playing X-Men stall until around 10 PM, when each audibled into the same list.
Karl Horn is hot off winning Pro Circuit Los Angeles and seems well prepared to break the Curse of the Extended Art Beatdown, making Day 2 in subsequent events. He’s on possibly the most powerful team in Vs. right now, the “super-team” Donkey Club, which features a veritable who’s who of Vs. luminaries.
Both players mulliganed their opening four, and then GWalls led with Gargantua. When Karl had no 1-drop, Gabe pumped the fist, ran over to Doug Tice, and high fived before swinging for an uncontested 2.
“Cheater,” joked Horn.
“Shut up,” retorted the ever-sharp Walls as he drew for turn 2.
Karl did have Cannonball for the second turn, while Walls used Beetle to improve his “wretched” hand a little.
“What am I supposed to get?” Gabe asked his teammate on the other side of the table.
“I don’t know; you’ve played the deck more!”
Eventually, Gabe went with Archangel, Angel, and the show continued. After some unspectacular beats, it was on to turn 3.
Gabe played his Angel and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace, fetching an X-Corp location in the process. Karl also got to hunt through his deck a little as he boosted out Yellowjacket to find Beetle, Armorsmith, who in turn found Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide.
With the initiative, Walls flipped Faces of Evil and attacked with Archangel into Cannonball. Horn found Brave New World with X-Corp – Amsterdam, then took his beats. Gabe had a lot to dish out, taking Horn down to 32 compared to a happy 45 for the big man.
The banter flowed thick and fast as Karl continued his recruits for turn 4. He had Dallas for the hidden area and used Mystic Summons to find Plant Man ◊ Blackheath, who got a little old school Batman theme music from the ever helpful Gabe; must be nice to have a theme song.
“Odds seems to be the important in this match,” remarked Karl.
“What makes you think that?”
“Last turn.”
Karl’s board after recruits was pretty unexciting compared to Gabe’s Faces of Evil, Melissa Gold, Gargantua, and Archangel. Then Gabe added Beetle, Armorsmith; Yellowjacket; and a Dallas of his own.
“Karl and I played ten games total with this deck before the tournament,” remarked Gabe somewhat apologetically as he worked out how to form up. Given Walls’s propensity to audible at the last minute, this is hardly a huge surprise.
“We did it,” declared Karl as he flipped a Faces of Evil.
“We did it again!” Gabe cursed his luck as Karl flipped Faces number two.
Yellowjacket beat up Gargantua, who was reinforced by Yellowjacket. The endurance totals dropped to 44–31 in Gabe’s favor. Cannonball then beat up Melissa. Plant Man took down Dallas, though Gabe did get a card out of the deal, and then Dallas traded with Archangel.
“I still got Beetle and Yellowjacket!” declared Gabe defiantly, his board position somewhat diminished. Ahead 31–30, he could afford to joke around, though he was unsure whether he should attack back.
Ahead on characters, he did elect to trade Beetle for Cannonball, and at recovery, each player had two characters. Plant Man and Cannonball faced off against Yellowjacket and Melissa Gold. GWalls had the initiative and was ahead 29–26. He needed some gas to finish it off this turn, but given the explosive power and consistency of the Faces of Evil build that came out of The Donkey Club super-team, it seemed more than possible.
Until Gabe recruited.
Shocker was the only character for Walls, and while he did stun Plant Man, it looked a little too tough to win before turn 6. Horn boosted Yellowjacket to find a Shocker of his own, and then used the powerful 2-drop to take down Melissa. Gabe could only reply with a knowing nod. The reigning Pro Circuit Champion’s powers were strong.
Gabe’s Yellowjacket went for Shocker, and Horn used X-Corp, Amsterdam for an extra point on the back end. Mob Mentality from Gabe stopped that plan, and Karl went to 19 to his opponent’s 26. Cannonball cracked back through Shocker, and before the end of turn, Mystic Summons (which had earlier been flipped face down thanks to Gabe’s Melissa Gold) found Karl a Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster.
For the mythical turn 6 in the matchup, Karl had his Speedster and a new Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace with which to bring the pain. Hard Sound Construct brought back Beetle, Armorsmith, who in turn got hold of Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi, most likely as a power-up.
“I probably needed to kill you on 5, didn’t I?” asked Gabe.
“Probably.”
Gabe Walls knows where it’s at. He simply extended his hand.
Karl Horn wins!