Table One: Patrick Yapjoco vs. Olav Rokne

The two undefeated players of the event went head to head, Yapjoco’s Titans against Rokne’s Evil Medical School.

The early game went incredibly well for Rokne, as he kept Yapjoco off balance long enough to delay until turn 4. Once he got out Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, Rokne dropped a bomb—triple Reign of Terror! From there, he kept the board locked down with Power Compressor. All that was missing was Shimmer. Didn’t seem so bad . . . yet.

Unfortunately, Rokne let go of his stranglehold on the game when he recruited another Doom two turns later. He lost the Compressor, and with it, a great deal of control. Yapjoco rebounded, firing off shots from Arsenal as often as he possibly could to stay in the game. Rokne made the Doom replacement move in order to double up on Mystical Paralysis. Even with his triple Reign of Terror, he was having problems keeping Yapjoco exhausted—he was missing that Shimmer. Eventually, a flurry of Savage Beatdowns ended the game. Yapjoco was able to stick and move, picking his spots and punching through with damage throughout the entire mid- and late game.

Rokne was beaten but really seemed to enjoy the game. “You didn’t even do Teen Titans Go!”

Yapjoco grinned. “I couldn’t! I never had two guys ready!” They both laughed.

At 7-0 and 6-1, it’s a good bet that both competitors will be making it to Day 2.

Match Win: Patrick Yapjoco


Table Two: Colin Rodriguez vs. Torise Perosi

This match pitted two Curve Sentinels players against each other in a mirror match, and it was unfortunately a total crush—Perosi managed to miss all of his drops until turn 5. It was an odd repeat of a handful of earlier performances from other Curve Sentinel players.

Though Perosi hit Bastion on turn 6 and Rodriguez did not, it was just impossible for him to come back from four turns of direct beatings. The pummeling mercifully ended on turn 6.

Match Win: Colin Rodriguez


Table Three: Mike Bodey vs. Peter Sundholm

Peter Sundholm summed up the neck-and-neck Curve Sentinel mirror perfectly: “I got Bastion and he didn’t.” In a match that pitted two excellent, dedicated Sentinel players against each other, it really came down to an issue of draws, and Bodey was unfortunately the first to come up short.

A pair of Betrayals on turn 7 didn’t exactly help Bodey’s cause, either—Sundholm destroyed him, taking apart his board with auto-stuns before sending his Bastion-powered hordes in for cleanup. Ouch.

Match Win: Peter Sundholm


Table Four: Jason Kurtzhall vs. Eric Wood

Table four pitted a teched-out Big Brotherhood against Curve Sentinels, and though both players curved well, Wood was completely deprived of the Avalon Space Stations and Insignificant Threats that his deck is so dependant on. As a result, he ended up having to pitch a copy of Magneto, Master of Magnetism as a Lost City power-up for Eric Lehnsherr on turn 5—it was a desperation play that, though wise at the time, would lose him the game.

Without a turn 7 play opposing him, Kurtzhall walked all over Wood in the late game. As a result of his poor draws, there was just nothing Wood could do. As Magneto led the attack into his mutant brethren, it was very apparent that the end was nigh, but Wood opted to play it out for formality’s sake.

Match Win: Jason Kurtzhall