Both players came to play with vastly different strategies. Hunstad had the Australian version of mono Marvel Knights, which concentrated on board dominance with a combination of Quick Kill and Judge, Jury, and Executioner, and Horvath came with the Antonino De Rosa–inspired Honor Among Thieves swarm deck. With the majority of Scott’s characters being concealed, the matchup did not seem overly favorable, especially in the face of Hammerhead. The mood in the match was pretty light, with the jovial TOGIT crew fighting for crowd dominance over the Australian contingent. But this was a battle of superheroes, not cheer squads, and the winner would be determined on the field of play.

Scott won the roll and chose the even initiative, allowing Adam to have the jump on him with a turn 1 Vulture that revealed Mendel Stromm. With no play in response, Adam came over for 2 breakthrough and gained 2 from Vulture’s ability.

Scott established himself with a Hannibal King on turn 2, and Adam was able to recruit the nefarious Stilt-Man on his side of the board. After some thought, Hannibal attacked Vulture, resulting in a mutual stun. Stilt Man sought revenge for his stunned comrade, and after flipping Honor Among Thieves, attacked for 4 points directly.

Turn 3 seemed to signal the beginning of the end for Scott as Adam used his resource points to bring in Hammerhead and the aforementioned Mendel Stromm. Scott had Elektra, Elektra Natchios, but as she came into play into the hidden area, she could only watch as Adam’s team crashed into Scott for a massive 26 endurance to the face. To add insult to injury, Vulture gained 6 endurance, but even worse, Scott didn’t realize that he could Wild Ride for Mikado and Mosha to stop the 12 point endurance swing. Scott did decide to use Mikado and Mosha on his attack step, stunning Vulture. Hannibal King traded with Hammerhead, and finally Elektra went for Stilt Man. After taking such a beating, the game was all but lost. The endurance totals were 47–10 in favor of the Garden State native.

When Hunstad played nothing more than Moon Knight and Horvath boosted Mysterio, Scott conceded. Adam flipped up another copy of Honor Among Thieves just before he scooped up his cards, to which Osyp jokingly cried from the sidelines, “Only a jerk would do that!”

Horvath 1 – 0 Hunstad

Osyp Lebedowicz, official TOGIT Jester, said between the rounds that, “We traded Scott Hunstad to Australia for TBS? I’ll take that trade any day!” He was referring to my recent move to the States. Luke Bartter from Australia replied, “I think we got the better deal.” It’s nice to feel wanted.

Game two had Hunstad choosing the odd initiative to avoid losing on turn 4 this time. Both players mulliganed away mediocre hands, and then Adam opened with Mendel Stromm when Scott passed his first recruit.

The second turn brought Cobra into play on Adam’s team, and he used its special ability to fetch Mr. Hyde. Scott had a Hannibal King, but it sat on the bench while Adam flipped an Honor Among Thieves and attacked directly for 6 endurance. Scott passed his initiative, fearing that he needed to conserve every endurance point.

Scott attempted to assert control with Elektra, Elektra Natchios on turn 3, revealing Iron Fist, Danny Rand from his hand. Adam’s turn was fairly predictable, with Mr. Hyde coming out to help his buddy Cobra. The teams clashed—King on Mr. Hyde with the help of No Fear, and Elektra taking care of Cobra. With the rest of the field stunned, Mr. Stromm decided to help himself to 2 of Scott’s endurance.

The road looked uphill for the former American as Horvath brought down Mysterio with boost. When yet another of Scott’s characters, this time Luke Cage, Street Enforcer, came down into the hidden area, it seemed like he’d be in a world of hurt. Adam rose to that occasion by attacking for 19 through Scott’s empty visible area and making the conservative attack of bringing Elektra into Mr. Hyde. He used Judge, Jury and Executioner to KO him and draw a card via Luke Cage.

Turn 5 brought a significant choice on Scott’s side, as he could recruit Daredevil, Matt Murdock or play two characters in the form of Iron Fist, Danny Rand and Stick.  He chose the latter and got the benefit of having Luke Cage in play, giving Iron Fist an extra three +1 ATK/+1 DEF counters. Horvath took a while to make his choice, finally deciding on Carnage, Cletus Kasady and placing him in the support row. With a Mysterio and Mendel Stromm in the front, Scott chose to send Stick into Mendel Stromm, forcing out a reinforcement after playing a Head Shot. Iron Fist then tried his luck against the Mysterio in the front row and was also successful in drawing out a reinforcement, this time from Carnage. Elektra, powered up by Adam’s Carnage, was then able to take down Carnage himself, which put Scott in a dilemma. With his endurance total at 4, he could risk an attack on Mysterio, but if Adam had a single No Fear or Uprising, he would lose the game. After some thought, he decided to attack the remaining Mysterio, and when Adam flipped Uprising, Scott took lethal damage and congratulated Adam on making the finals.

Adam Horvath wins 2–0.