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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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| Quarterfinals: Alex Elzel vs. Matt Maclachlan |
| Mary Van Tyne |
| July 25, 2004 |
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“It’s fun now. Even if you lose, it’s worth it,” Alex said before the match. Alex and Matt discussed their previous tournament experiences as they waited for the match to begin. Matt’s birthday was yesterday—what a fitting birthday present, coming to Comic-Con and making it into the Top 8. Matt is here all the way from Alabama. “You should have a prize for the guy that comes the furthest. [Call it the] ‘Dedicated Player’ prize.”
Apparently, Matt ran into Lou Ferrigno on the way into the convention center today. There was some slight difficulty in getting to the tournament site this morning, and Matt and his friends were quite amused to see the first incarnation of the Incredible Hulk while on their way to play a game based on comic books at a comic book convention. This entire event has been filled with various amusements and diversions.
Matt is playing a classic-style Big Brotherhood deck, choosing to rely on cheap, large characters instead of trying to swarm his opponents with a flurry of attacks. Whose strategy will reign supreme?
 Game 1
Matt began with the initiative, and both players kept their hands. The first character in play was Toad in Alex’s front row. Undeterred, Matt played a Toad of his own. Alex flipped The New Brotherhood on the second turn to give some extra oomph to his attack. Both players then played Rogue, Anna Raven on turn 3. The Rogues traded with each other. Matt attacked Toad with his Toad, causing Alex to consider his plot twists and power-up his Toad twice. Matt responded by flipping an Overload to stun Alex’s Toad.
Alex opened the fourth turn with Sabretooth, Feral Rage, discarding Toad. Matt answered with another resource and Blob in his front row to keep everyone company. Matt rearranged his characters, placing Blob in the front row with Rogue and Toad in the back row. Alex attacked Blob with Sabretooth, causing Matt to power-up Blob to stun Sabretooth back. Alex then attacked Toad with Rogue, causing Matt to reinforce his Toad with his Rogue and lose less endurance. Minimizing endurance loss is quite important when playing against New Brotherhood.
Matt played Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr on the fifth turn, placing him behind Blob. Alex played, flipped, and KO’d a Genosha, looking for more cards to play. He finally decided on Pyro and Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff, placing Pyro in the back row behind Quicksilver and putting the rest of his characters in front. Matt opted to exhaust Alex’s Sabretooth at the beginning of his attack, and then proceeded to attack Pyro with his Rogue. Alex activated Pyro to make Matt lose 3 endurance, and Matt powered up his Rogue to make her hit for more damage. Alex flipped another The New Brotherhood to stun Rogue back but went to 29 endurance in the process. Next, Matt attacked Quicksilver with Blob, handily stunning the speedy man. He finally sent Magneto after Rogue, causing Alex to lose 8 and fall to 20 endurance. Matt ended up recovering Rogue, and Alex was left with Sabretooth and Rogue in play on his side at the end of the turn.
Alex played a fifth resource on turn 6 and his own Blob, but placed all his characters in the front row instead of hiding some of them. Matt played his own resource and a Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin. He rearranged his characters, putting Blob and Mystique in the front and Magneto and Rogue behind. Alex’s Rogue went after Blob, causing Alex to flip a Lost City and power her up enough to take him out. Alex also flipped a Flying Kick to give Rogue even more of a punch. Matt responded with an Acrobatic Dodge, giving Blob some much-needed nimbleness. Alex then flipped Ka-Boom! to destroy his own Lost City, giving Rogue a total of 14 ATK from two The New Brotherhoods in his resource row. Blob’s total defense was 12, and Matt was forced to flip his own Lost City to further power-up Blob. Alex cringed as he sent Sabretooth in after Mystique, causing Matt to reinforce her with Magneto to avoid catastrophic breakthrough endurance loss. Alex’s Blob then went after Matt’s Blob, flipping them both and taking endurance totals down even further. Alex and Matt ended the turn at 16 and 19 endurance, respectively.
Matt began the seventh turn with Sabretooth, Victor Creed, and placed everyone except Magneto in the front row. Alex played an Avalon Space Station along with Toad and Pyro, placing all of his characters in the back row behind Blob and forcing Matt to go through Blob first. Matt exhausted Alex’s Sabretooth at the beginning of combat, then considered his options carefully. He decided to attack Blob with Mystique, which Alex reinforced. Rogue then attacked Pyro, taking him out and causing Matt to lose 3 endurance from Pyro’s ability. Sabretooth finally attacked Toad, and a timely power-up caused Alex to scoop his cards.
Matt Maclachlan 1 – Alex Elzel 0
 Game 2
Alex began the second game by giving the initiative to Matt. “Just to get the record straight, I’m going first,” Matt joked as he mulliganed his cards. The first character in play was Destiny on Alex’s side, and Matt played Toad. Toad attacked Destiny as soon as possible, causing Alex some early endurance loss. Matt’s third turn was slightly more impressive, as Rogue, Anna Raven joined Toad in play. Alex played another resource and Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff in the front row in front of Destiny. Matt attacked Quicksilver with Toad, then powered Toad up to stun the speedy man. Alex flipped a Lost City and powered up his Quicksilver, causing Matt to shake his head and allow it to happen. Matt returned Toad to his hand and attacked Destiny with Rogue, and Alex activated Quicksilver to cause Matt to lose 5 endurance.
On the fourth turn, Alex played Sabretooth, Feral Rage, discarding Rogue to bring him into play. Matt played a Mystique, Raven Darkholme, and rearranged his characters, putting Rogue in the back and Mystique in the front. Quicksilver attacked Rogue, causing Matt to Relocate Alex’s Lost City. Alex flipped a Flying Kick to pump up Quicksilver. Alex then attacked Rogue with Sabretooth, causing Matt to take 10 and drop to 28 endurance. Matt chose to recover only Rogue during his recovery step.
During the fifth turn, Matt played his own Scarlet Witch in the back row behind Rogue, causing Alex to reveal and KO a Genosha. Alex then played a Quicksilver, Speed Demon, and put Destiny behind him in the back row. Matt attacked Quicksilver with Scarlet Witch, causing Alex to flip an Avalon Space Station to return two Quicksilvers to pump the Quicksilver in play up to a 10 ATK/10 DEF. Matt powered up Scarlet Witch to take out Quicksilver and bring Alex down to 37. Matt then attacked Sabretooth with Rogue, losing some more endurance in the process, but not as much as if he’d let Sabretooth run rampant.
Alex played Blob on turn 6 and decided to place all his characters in the front row. Matt answered with Sabretooth, Victor Creed, putting him in front and hiding Rogue and Scarlet Witch behind him. Alex opted to attack Sabretooth with Sabretooth, and Matt turned over an Acrobatic Dodge. Alex flipped a Savage Beatdown to make his Sabretooth even larger, leading Matt to reinforce Sabretooth to avoid enormous breakthrough endurance loss. Quicksilver attacked Rogue, and Alex returned two Quicksilvers with the Avalon Space Station to power him up. Alex then readied Quicksilver and attacked Scarlet Witch, causing Matt to turn over an Avalon Space Station of his own to get Scarlet Witch and Magneto back. Matt powered up Scarlet Witch, but Alex had another Savage Beatdown to cause more endurance loss. Finally, Alex sent Blob after Matt directly, causing Matt to realize the loss and scoop up his cards.
Matt Maclachlan 1 – Alex Elzel 1
Game 3
Matt opted to retain the initiative for this pivotal third game, and both players decided to mulligan their hands. The first character in play was Alex’s Pyro in the front row. Matt played a Toad on his side, then attacked Pyro and lost some more endurance due to Pyro’s ability. Matt played Mystique, Raven Darkholme on the third turn. Alex countered with Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff, placing him in front of Pyro. Matt attacked Quicksilver with Mystique, powering her up. Alex responded by activating Quicksilver to make Matt lose 5 endurance. Alex then reinforced Quicksilver with Pyro. Finally, Toad attacked Pyro as well, bringing Alex to 38 endurance and Matt to 41 endurance.
On the fourth turn, Alex played Sabretooth, Feral Rage, discarding Rogue, Anna Raven, and passed to Matt. Matt played his own Sabretooth and discarded Magneto, Master of Magnetism, the costliest character seen on either side of the table during this match. Matt then placed Sabretooth in the front and Mystique next to Toad in the back. Alex attacked Sabretooth with Sabretooth, causing both players to lose 4 endurance after Matt reinforced with Toad. Quicksilver then attacked Mystique, and Alex flipped Lost City to take him to a 6 ATK/7 DEF. Matt powered up Mystique, then revealed an Avalon Space Station, discarding Magneto to return two Mystiques and power-up the one in play. Alex turned over his own Avalon Space Station and returned two Quicksilvers to power-up the one already in play. Each player lost 6 endurance on this turn, but Alex ended up ahead, Ka-Boom!ing Matt’s Avalon Space Station before the end of the turn.
Matt played Rogue, Anna Raven and placed all his characters in the front row, then yielded to Alex. At a higher endurance total, Matt was feeling confident and perhaps slightly cocky. Alex returned Blob and Quicksilver, Speed Demon to his hand with Avalon Space Station, then played Blob in the front row and hid his Sabretooth behind him. Matt’s Sabretooth was forced to attack Blob, causing Alex to reinforce and lose 4 endurance. Alex then activated Pyro to make Matt lose 3 endurance.
With the initiative on the sixth turn, Alex played Quicksilver, Speed Demon, then placed all his characters in the front row. Matt finally played Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr, in the support row behind Rogue, then moved him behind Sabretooth. After rearranging the characters, Sabretooth and Toad were in the front, and Magneto and Rogue were in the back.
I’ve seen this before. Matt’s board position looked strangely like the final scenes of the first X-Men movie, with Toad and Sabretooth protecting Magneto as he channels energy through Rogue. However, there wasn’t a single Wolverine, Storm, or Jean Grey to stop him this time.
Alex turned over a Flying Kick for Sabretooth, who was attacking Magneto. Alex then flipped Genosha and KO’d it to draw some more cards, finally attacking Sabretooth with Blob. Alex flipped Savage Beatdown from his resource row to give Blob some extra ATK, causing Matt to attempt to find a way out of losing. Alex then attacked Toad with Quicksilver, causing Matt to pick Toad up after reinforcing him with Rogue. Alex next readied Quicksilver and attacked Rogue, looking to win the game immediately, but Matt discarded an Acrobatic Dodge in an attempt to hang on just a little longer. It was not to be, though, as Alex flipped another Avalon Space Station, KO’ing his already tapped Avalon Space Station, and brought back a Quicksilver to do enough damage to win the game.
Final Result: Alex Elzel defeats Matt Maclachlan, 2–1
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