Neither player hit a 1-drop, though Yapjoco did nab one on turn 2 with
Willworld (
Salakk). He recruited him on turn 2, and he quickly popped off a shot at Cook's endurance.
With control of the initiative on his side on turn 3, Cook recruited a
Manhunter Guardsman while Yapjoco played
Tomar Re. Both players passed, as neither had much offensive potential.
Slipstream filled the role of 5-drop for Cook's turn, and since he had the initiative, he decided to bring him into play in the visible area.
Power Ring filled the same for Yapjoco, and he hid him behind
Tomar Re in an L formation, with
Salakk out to the side.
Slipstream attempted to attack
Salakk, and in response to it, Yapjoco banished
Slipstream to the hidden area with
Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe.
Power Ring reinforced,
Salakk went down, and the Guardsman attacked
Tomar Re with the aid of a
Light Armor tossed from Cook's hand. It worked, and without reinforcement, some breakthrough soaked into Yapjoco's endurance. Shaw, with a discarded
Rocket Red, then opened fire on
Power Ring, to Yapjoco's surprise.
In Evil Star's Evil Clutches kicked in next, and Cook made the double-stun. Frostbite then took down the Guardsman—the turn had a lot more action than Yapjoco had anticipated thanks to all of Cook's combat tricks, and the endurance totals were now dead even, at 37-37.
With the initiative again under his control, Yapjoco recruited Sinestro to his front row, protecting
Power Ring. Cook continued curving as well, recruiting
Supermanhunter and also using his bigger drop to protect his smaller. It was a very even matchup.
Frostbite and
Power Ring swung in on
Supermanhunter, who exhausted when he received some
Fire Support—the result was a double-stun and some serious inconvenience for Yapjoco, as his team attackers wouldn't be readying. Sinestro then bashed
Mark Shaw, reducing Cook to 22. Cook looked for a way to get an attack out of
Slipstream, but ended up passing.
Both players hit their 7-drops; Cook recruited
Ultraman, while Yapjoco recruited
Solomon Grundy with boost (basically the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter of 7-drops). Cook had a distinct advantage though, as he controlled the initiative,
Frostbite and
Power Ring were exhausted, and a
Sleeper Agent burst out of his resource row to boot. Though he was down 9 endurance, he was in good shape.
Ultraman flew at Grundy and attempted to drop him with a heavy body blow, but Grundy exhausted and busted out the enormous green flyswatter for some
Pest Control. He smacked
Ultraman across the face with it, and
Ultraman went down, taking Cook's hopes for a good turn with him.
Supermanhunter and
Sleeper Agent then ran at Grundy, as Sinestro was protected, and brought him down at the cost of the 6-drop.
Slipstream, armed with Cook's second
Light Armor, then took down Sinestro. A
Chopping Block took down Grundy, and the endurance totals stood at 19 to 4 for Yapjoco.
Yapjoco recruited
Krona, and having lost
Ultraman last turn, Cook too needed a seven-drop. He hit it, with
Highmaster.
Krona quickly swacked the
Sleeper Agent: “Oh man,” Cook checked his resource row, “all I need is three
Nasty Surprises!” He grinned. “The Agent goes down.”
Power Ring and
Frostbite then attacked
Highmaster, and
Highmaster blasted back with the focused fury of five fallen comrades, and then bit the dust. That was enough for Cook, and Yapjoco finally breathed for the first time in five minutes! He accepted the handshake from Cook and both men sat and talked about the tight game.