Alvaro Jirau is a Puerto Rican player that ground in on Thursday and is making the most of his good fortune. After a 6-4 record yesterday, he’s 4-0 today and still in contention for Top 8—“all” he needs are five more wins. He plays in Puerto Rico with Jean Baez, who is also at the tournament here today.
Jonas Skali is a German national who qualified for the tournament via a Top 4 finish in San Francisco. He’s here today on behalf of Team Zissou: Skali, Mario Boley, Thorsten Schelian, Manuel Peelen, and Richard Kloster. Jonas started 7-3 yesterday and has dropped one match today. Both players need to win out, or else they’ll have to depend on their tiebreakers to get them into the Top 8.
A deck check revealed that Jonas forgot to register a card in his deck, and he got an official warning. Alvaro and Jonas rolled off for initiative, and Jonas won and chose evens. Both players kept their opening hands.
Turn 1 passed with a resource and no character for either player.
On turn 2, Jonas played San hidden and searched for a Worldeater Apparatus. Alvaro smiled and played his own hidden San, searching for a Penal Colony. The players then traded attacks, leaving both at 48.
Alvaro led off turn 3 with Captain Att-Lass plus Nega-Bands. He then played Genetic Destiny. He got a Lieutenant Kona Lor off the top and dropped that into play as well. Jonas played Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Soul Searcher. Alvaro team attacked his Kree into Frankie, and Jonas responded by flipping Worldeater Apparatus and gaining 3 endurance by exhausting both his characters. Jonas chose to stun back Att-Lass, and the Nega-Bands returned to Alvaro’s hand. Alvaro’s San then attacked directly, putting both Jonas and Alvaro at 46.
Jonas played Dewoz in front of Frankie Raye on turn 4. Alvaro played Admiral Galen Kor and dropped the Nega-Bands back into play on him. He formed Galen Kor in front of Att-Lass, with Kona Lor next to the Captain in the back row.
Jonas attacked with Dewoz into the Admiral and used a Barbaric Brawl to trade stuns. He then sent San into Att-Lass. Alvaro responded by playing Improper Burial targeting Dewoz, and the Captain stunned. Frankie then attacked into Kona Lor, but Alvaro flipped up Penal Colony and returned Kona Lor to save himself a point of endurance. Endurance totals at the end of turn 4 stood at 34 for Alvaro and 42 for Jonas.
Alvaro started turn 5 with Kona Lor to replace Jonas’s Worldeater Apparatus (his only face-up resource), then used Penal Colony on her and replayed her to add to the number of characters he’d played that turn. He followed up with Clumsy Foulup and Ultimus.
Jonas underdropped Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend to search out another Lockjaw and thin his deck, then played Stardust behind Frankie Raye.
Alvaro attacked Ultimus into Stardust, and the characters traded stuns. Galen then attacked for 12 into Frankie Raye to even the endurance totals at 30. Kona Lor and San then attacked directly to drop Jonas to 26. Clumsy Foulup exhausted to use The Kyln on Stardust, and Jonas’s Lockjaw did the same to Ultimus.
On turn 6, Jonas dropped the powerful Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant in front of Frankie Raye. Alvaro used Penal Colony on Ultimus and replayed it, then played Talla Ron and formed with Clumsy in front of Kona Lor and Ultimus in front of Galen Kor, with Talla Ron hanging out in the back row next to the Admiral.
Jonas declared the surprising attack of Lockjaw into Ultimus, then revealed his master plan: Armageddon from the row. The characters traded, Dr. Doom killed Lockjaw to flip ‘Geddon back down, and Jonas attacked Galen Kor with San plus the ‘Geddon. Alvaro powered-up with the last card in his hand, and Jonas could only shake his head as he flipped his San down. Frankie then took out Kona Lor, and Doom took out Clumsy to make the endurance totals 9 for Alvaro and 21 for Jonas. Alvaro had no attacks and recovered Ultimus, while Jonas KO’d San and recovered Stardust.
Alvaro went into turn 7 with the initiative, but his draw yielded him only a Kona Lor. He played it to force Jonas to replace The Kyln, then used Penal Colony on it and replayed it to force him to replace Armageddon. He then played The Lunatic Legion followed by Remnant Fleet on Ultimus and Kona Lor so that he could replay both of them. Finally, he replaced a Talla Ron in play with one from his resource row. Despite drawing only one character, he played five of them, bringing his Admiral Galen Kor to a total of 15 ATK (five characters played, plus The Lunatic Legion and the still-around Nega-Bands). Not only that—Jonas had six face-down resources, meaning that Talla Ron was a 9 ATK / 1 DEF.
Jonas simply played Dorma and formed with Dorma in front of Frankie and Stardust in front of Doom.
Alvaro deliberated for a while, then attacked Ultimus into Frankie Raye. Jonas wasn’t teamed-up, so he didn’t reinforce. Galen Kor then attacked Stardust, and Jonas flipped up Act of Defiance to reinforce the more damaging attack. Alvaro then team attacked Kona Lor and Talla Ron into Dorma, but Jonas’s response of two Elemental Battles from the row on Dorma was too much for Alvaro to overcome, and the return attack won Jonas the game.
Jonas Skali wins.