Metagame.com - Take Your Game to the Next Level

The match started with both players chatting about the potential of each deck in the matchup. "I'd totally dismissed Shadowpact," commented Shaun. They talked about the recent errata to unique equipment and the potentially devastating Black Panther/Punisher/Fate deck that almost was.

With Shaun winning the coin flip and electing to take odds, the match was underway.

Turn 1
Shaun laid a resource and recruited Dagger, Child of Light in the back row before passing. Bobby could only manage a resource, and both players moved in to the attack phase. Not wanting to help Bobby trigger any of Shadowpact's low-endurance abilities, Shaun elected to pass his attack and both players moved on to turn 2.

Endurance:
Shaun: 50
Bobby: 50

Turn 2
Bobby started off by playing Chimp Detective Agency, netting himself a Nightmaster. He then played Madame Xanadu in the front row, played a copy of Divination, and passed over to Shaun. Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards came out for Shaun (setting up the fist crucial piece of his A Child Named Valeria engine) and he promptly activated the Fantastic Four leader. He failed to find an equipment card. Both players passed on their attack steps and moved on to turn 3.

Endurance:
Shaun: 44
Bobby: 50

Turn 3
Before the resource step, Shaun used another copy of Dagger to search for Midnight Sons. Bobby used the Chimp Agency and found himself a copy of June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch. Shaun recruited Shimmer into his front row and then activated Mr. Fantastic, who once again failed to find equipment. Regardless, Shaun still managed to play a Catcher’s Mitt onto Mr. Fantastic before passing. Bobby tried to play Conjuration from his resource row, which yielded a Fizzle from Shaun. Bobby responded by activating Madame Xanadu who found him a Fizzle of his own, in the form of The Conclave. He played it from hand to negate Shaun's Fizzle (editor's note: This illegal play was not detected until after the game's conclusion). June Moon came out with a Helm of Nabu, and Bobby was set to use her ability with 22 endurance.

When Shaun used Shimmer to exhaust June, Bobby flipped Total Anarchy and activated the Good Witch to send the equipped Reed into the KO pile.

Endurance:
Shaun: 22
Bobby: 48

Turn 4
Bobby played Rose Psychic in the concealed area and recruited Madame Xanadu in the back row. Without a search card, Shaun was forced to scoop and both players moved on to the next game.

"Well, it would have been a reasonable draw if I'd had a search card that turn," said Shaun. Bobby professed that he had specifically kept a hand containing Total Anarchy and commented "I can’t let you win your third championship!" With that, they moved on to Game 2.

GAME 2
Shaun elected to take the odds again and the game was underway.

Turn 1
Shaun played a copy of Dagger in the back row and passed. Ape X, Xina came out for Bobby, who searched out a Cloak of Nabu. He decided to equip it to the Ape alongside its companion Amulet of Nabu and Helm of Nabu to make Ape an incredible 5 ATK/5 DEF.

Shaun could only pass his attack step and was forced to take 5.

Endurance:
Shaun: 45
Bobby: 50

Turn 2
Bobby played Divination, discarding Detective Chimp. He netted himself another copy of Helm and used it to search through the top 3 cards of his deck by re-equipping it to Ape X. He kept a copy of The Conclave and then, without another character, he was forced to pass and moved to Shaun's initiative. Dagger was discarded, pre-resource step, to find a copy of Midnight Sons, which was then flipped to team up with Gotham Knights. Shaun used Wild Ride to search for Commissioner Gordon, James Gordon, who was recruited in front of Dagger. Realizing the potential to remove equipment, Shaun exclaimed, "It’s gonna cost me nine! My endurance is important!"

When Ape swung into the Commissioner, Shaun could only reinforce and move on to the third turn.

Endurance:
Shaun: 41
Bobby: 47

Turn 3
Shaun started his turn off by discarding a third copy of Dagger to search for Midnight Sons. He used the amazing Enemy of My Enemy, which was met by a Conclave from Bobby (editor's note: This illegal play was not detected until after the game's conclusion). Shaun recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and used the Doctor's ability to return Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to play. Bobby played Rose Psychic in the concealed area. Shaun paid 6 endurance to KO the Helm and the Amulet of Nabu, bringing his endurance total down to 35.

The Commissioner attacked Ape-X and the 1 ATK/2 DEF character went down without being able to trade. When Rose Psychic attacked Dagger, Shaun flipped a second Midnight Sons, teaming up with Arkham Inmates. He reinforced with Ivy and passed.

Endurance:
Shaun: 34
Bobby: 45

Turn 4
Bobby played Madame Xanadu in the front row and passed. He used her ability to get a copy of Divination, and then played it from hand. He kept a copy of Witchfire and then, realizing that he had no real options, scooped his resources and moved onto the third and final game.

"Well, at least now we've both had a bad draw," commented Shaun, in typically good spirits.

GAME 3
With both players discussing everything from how Alfred Pennyworth still hadn't been seen, the importance of an early Anarchy, and their very close match in the Swiss (which Bobby lost by a single point of endurance), Bobby elected to take odds and the game begun.

Turn 1
Bobby laid a resource and played his own Alfred-of-sorts in the form of Madame Xanadu. Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl came out for Shaun with an invisibility counter, prompting Bobby to activate his Xanadu and search for a copy of The Conclave.

Shaun elected not to attack, for fear of bringing Bobby’s endurance total down too far, and both players moved onto turn 2.

Endurance:
Shaun: 50
Bobby: 50

Turn 2
The Commissioner once again came down for Shaun, and Bobby replayed his freshly-drawn Xanadu in the front row. With no other character, Bobby passed the remainder of his recruit.

When Shaun passed his attack, Bobby looked at the board, realized that he had no way for Xanadu to take down the Commissioner and passed.

Endurance:
Shaun:50
Bobby:50

Turn 3
Bobby played a Helm of Nabu and an Amulet of Nabu onto his Xanadu, allowing him to draw two cards and discard two copies of Secret Origins. Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe was recruited alongside Xanadu with an Amulet of Nabu and Cloak of Nabu, forcing the Amulet on Madame Xanadu to be put into the KO’d pile. Shaun played Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and activated him, which resulted in no equipment. A GCPD Officer was recruited in front of Mr. Fantastic, and Shaun passed.

When Detective Chimp tried to attack Mr. Fantastic, Shaun paid 3 endurance to KO the Amulet and remove flight from the monkey. Madame Xanadu tried to attack the GCPD Officer but was met with Mikado and Mosha from Shaun. The Chimp had no choice but to attack into the Officer and Bobby flipped a copy of Absolute Dominance. With no way to reinforce, Shaun was forced to take 4 and remove the Officer from the game. Bobby recovered Madame Xanadu and both players moved on to the next turn.

Endurance:
Shaun:49
Bobby: 43

Turn 4
Shaun started his turn off by playing Wild Ride. After some deliberation from Bobby, the plot twist resolved, finding Shaun a copy of Dagger, Child of Light. The Dagger was discarded for Midnight Sons, which went straight into his resource row. Shaun recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms into his front row. The Doctor brought Dagger back into the game, and then everybody's favourite butler, Alfred Pennyworth, was recruited into the back row. Mr. Fantastic missed an equipment card once more and Shaun passed over to Bobby. Bobby started his turn by using his Xanadu to search his deck for a copy of Shadowpact's answer to Flame Trap—Spectral Slaughter. Ape X was played by Bobby, and used to search for a Helm of Nabu. Judge Tom Haddy was called to discover whether or not Bobby would be able to draw cards from the Helm if Shaun was able to KO all of the artifacts before the equipment's effect resolved. When the trigger from the Helm of Nabu went onto the chain, Shaun responded by paying 6 endurance via Commissioner Gordon to KO both the Cloak of Nabu and Helm of Nabu attached to the Chimp. This resulted in no card draw for the Shadowpact player. Commenting "I have to take the risk,” Bobby played the incredible Conjuration and used it to recruit Witchfire into the back row.

Commissioner Gordon attacked Ape X, and when both players passed, the monkey was removed from the game. Shaun passed the rest of his attacks and moved to Bobby's attack step. The Chimp was sent into the Commissioner. Shaun flipped up a copy of Midnight Sons, teaming up with Gotham Knights, and then used his back-row Dagger to reinforce. The Commissioner was removed from the game and Witchfire was sent into Alfred. With no way to prevent the butler from becoming stunned, Shaun was forced to flip a second copy of Midnight Sons, teaming up with Fantastic Four. He used Cosmic Radiation, attempting to ready all of his characters. The Radiation was met with a Conclave from Bobby and the Butler was removed from the game.

Endurance:
Shaun: 26
Bobby: 28

Turn 5
Bobby started off his turn by using Chimp Detective Agency to find himself a copy of June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch. She was equipped with Amulet of Nabu and Cloak of Nabu, and set in the back row next to Witchfire. Both players moved to Shaun's resource step. With both Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic in play, Shaun looked to set up his turn with A Child Named Valeria. However, with the combo of June Moon and Absolute Dominance staring him down, he was forced to make some difficult decisions. He started by recruiting Micro-Chip into the front row. A third Midnight Sons was, flipped, naming Arkham Inmates. Mr. Fantastic failed to find equipment once more. Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose was recruited behind Invisible Woman and the Invisible Girl was exhausted to Bat-Signal. It found Shaun a copy of Shimmer, who was recruited with the final two resource points.

Dr. Light activated to return Mikado and Mosha to play, and Detective Chimp attacked into Shimmer. Shaun simply passed, then chained the trigger of Absolute Dominance to KO the Fearsome Five character to Poison Ivy. Cosmic Radiation was replaced with a copy of UN Building. Witchfire attacked Poision Ivy, causing Shaun to reinforce via Dagger. With Shaun's endurance down to 19, Bobby desperately needed a way to push through the final endurance loss before the next turn. Realizing that he couldn’t win the game this turn, Bobby simply sent June Moon into Mr. Fantastic. Micro-Chip reinforced the Fantastic Four leader, bringing Shaun to 17. When the attack resolved, Mr. Fantastic was removed from the game and the potential Child Lock was broken.

Endurance:
Shaun: 17
Bobby: 27

Turn 6
Bobby used the Chimp Agency to put Nightmaster, Demon Slayer into his hand. In response to Shaun's resource, Bobby activated June Moon to target Dr. Light, who went down without a fight. Shaun played Wild Ride, and with no response from Bobby, searched out a new copy of Mr. Fantastic. Sitting on a dangerous 12 endurance, Mr. Fantastic was recruited, activated, and finally yielded Shaun a Catcher's Mitt. Commenting "It’s the first time I’ve ever wished that I was playing two Dr. Lights," Shaun took a long look at his board before realizing that he really had no way to play around Spectral Slaughter anymore. With that, he offered Bobby a handshake and wished him best of luck for the rest of the day.

Bobby Rana’s Shadowpact Control deck takes him to yet another victory!