Paul Bernard hails from Montreal. A 22-year-old student of Mathematics at the University of Montreal, he was last seen in action at Gencon Indy.

Dave Spears is . . . well, Dave Spears. As an internet personality, Gencon Indy Top 8 competitor, and a star member of Team Realmworx, he was one of the very few notable American players in attendance today.

Bernard won the roll and opted to take odd initiatives. He kept his hand, but Spears opted to mulligan—“I’ll ship mine back.” There was obviously not enough Black Panther goodness, which Spears would’ve been ecstatic over. Each player dropped a resource, passed, and play moved to turn 2.

“Wow,” said Spears, trying to decide what to set. He eventually opted to abandon the Panther hopes and recruited Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight, who promptly smashed Paul Ebersol ◊ Techno, Gadgeteer. On the next turn, Bernard sent out Marcus Daniels ◊ Blackout, who was confronted by Helmut Zemo ◊ Citizen V, Tactician. Spears took a moment to decide on formation and had Black Knight shield Zemo. It took Bernard a while to decide what to do. He eventually team attacked into Black Knight, and Spears recovered before moving to turn 4. Endurance totals were 46 to 44 in his favor.

Spears’s set resource from turn 1 came out to play next. The Piledriver that he had so hesitantly added to the deck emerged from his resource row, and quickly hopped into the Thunder Jet. He pushed all three characters to the front and passed. Bernard recruited Hawkeye from his hand. “Hawkeye seems good,” remarked Spears. Bernard chose an L-formation protecting Blackout with Techno, and Spears eagerly started crafting battle plans.

“Alright, Black Knight into Techno.” Hawkeye activated to stun Black Knight and prevent the attack.  Piledriver flew into Blackout to hammer through some breakthrough. Bernard flipped Stormfront-1, but the card he drew didn’t help him, and Blackout went down. Zemo then attacked Techno, putting the endurance totals at 44 to 31. Bernard lost Techno, sealing the turn as a good one for Spears!

On turn 5, Bernard was either forced to play off-curve or opted to do so. He recruited Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger and a Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight of his own. If he had a Legendary Battles or even just a Playroom, he might be set to redeem the last turn. Spears recruited Amenhotep, though, and sent him to protect Citizen V. If Bernard had an interest in board control, he had just lost one integral part of his plan.

Blackout took down Piledriver, and then Quicksilver was sent into Spears’s Black Knight.  Then Hawkeye and Black Knight team attacked Amenhotep. Although he recovered, his initial stun readied Quicksilver. Quicksilver then attacked with Call to Arms, smacking Citizen V for a total of 7 endurance loss! Spears wasn’t finished, though—he flipped Behavior Modification Device to team up Avengers and Masters of Evil, getting the additional team-up out of the turn before losing all of his Avengers to the KO’d pile. It was 25 to 24, with Spears’s lead now significantly smaller than before.

To start off turn 6, Spears used the Device’s effect to cycle Melter. He then recruited Skymax, and formed up with both him and Piledriver in his front row. Bernard played his 5-drop a turn late, recruiting She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell and forming up in a box. Black Knight, pumped up by his effect, protected Hawkeye, while She-Hulk braced for attack in front of Quicksilver.

Amenhotep attacked Hawkeye and Quicksilver reinforced. Piledriver then used his Thunder Jet to fly over She-Hulk and nail Quicksilver—it was a strong blow that reduced Bernard to only 12 endurance. Spears then checked his row for options. He wanted to take down She-Hulk, and would, but with 14 ATK on Skymax against She-Hulk’s 7 DEF, he wanted to win the game this turn.

Skymax attacked her, and Two Worlds teamed up Squadron Supreme with the Avengers. A burst of electricity tore through the heavens as Spears added a Call Down The Lightning, and Repulsor Ray sealed the deal. Dave Spears took the game on turn 6!