Mulcahy began with initiative and opted to keep his hand while Edbury declared a mulligan. Neither player recruited on turn 1, but turn 2 saw Edbury’s She-Thing hit the field and swung directly at Mulcahy.

Both players recruited She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters on turn 3, and a formation of She-Thing behind She-Hulk prompted no attack from Mulcahy. Edbury also refused to attack—with four 8-drops in his deck, three of them being different, it was likely that he thought time was on his side. He Signal Flared for an Invisible Woman, Sue Storm on turn 4, recruited her, and passed play to Mulcahy who used a Signal Flare of his own for an Invisible Woman of his own, which he also recruited. Edbury teamed Invisible Woman and She-Thing to attack Mulcahy’s Invisible Woman, resulting in She-Thing and Invisible Woman stunning.

Turn 5 arrived and Mulcahy activated the third Signal Flare of the game, using it to hit his drop with Thing, Heavy Hitter. “I’ll see you,” said Edbury in a good-natured mock-poker voice, recruiting his own Thing, Heavy Hitter, and protecting She-Hulk and She-Thing with Thing and Invisible Woman, respectively. Thing and She-Hulk attacked Edbury’s Thing, resulting in both Things being stunned. Invisible Woman attacked She-Hulk, but Edbury discarded a She-Hulk for the power up to make the save. Edbury’s Invisible Woman then attacked Mulcahy’s She-Hulk, which was saved by an Acrobatic Dodge.

After drawing his cards for turn 6, Edbury Signal Flared for Hulk, placing all his characters in the front row. Again, Mulcahy matched the recruit by playing a Hulk of his own, protecting Invisible Woman. She-Thing and Thing teamed up to attack Mulcahy’s Hulk, but Mulcahy responded with Flame Trap to stun She-Thing in an attempt to break up the attack. Edbury activated It’s Clobberin’ Time! on the Hulk, and both characters stunned. Invisible Woman and She-Hulk went after Invisible Woman, and Hulk took out Thing. Mulcahy did not attack back, and the field was Thing, Hulk, and Invisible Woman in Edbury’s control, and Hulk and She-Hulk in Mulcahy’s.

Turn 7 heralded the first taste of Dr. Doom that the game had seen—Mulcahy recruited Purple Man and Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and flipped Common Enemy. Mystical Paralysis was chained to Dr. Doom’s effect and exhausted Hulk. Edbury recruited Boris and then flipped up a Common Enemy of his own, recruiting a Darkoth which was quickly returned to his hand with Reign of Terror. Mulcahy’s She-Hulk and Purple Man then teamed up and went after Invisible Woman, stunning her and She-Hulk. Hulk then attacked Boris and Edbury had no Doomstadt to flip to help him run away. Boris got clocked for a total of 15 endurance loss, and Boris was not recovered.

Edbury recruited Silver Surfer on turn 8, and Mulcahy recruited Terrax. Edbury used the Surfer’s effect to steal the initiative and tried to attack Hulk with Silver Surfer, but was hit with a Mystical Paralysis. Thing then attacked the exhausted Dr. Doom—it stunned, but was reinforced by She-Thing. Invisible Woman attacked She-Hulk to stun her and Hulk attacked Hulk, resulting in both being stunned. Beginning his attack step, Mulcahy used Have a Blast! on Common Enemy and attacked, but it wasn’t enough to beat Edbury any lower than he already was. Edbury won the first game.

Game Two

Mulcahy announced he intended to go first, and both players kept their hands. Like game 1, neither player recruited on the first turn. Both players recruited She-Thing on the second turn, and both ended up being stunned.

On turn 3, Mulcahy recruited Boris and flipped down Common Enemy. Edbury recruited Darkoth. She-Thing attacked She-Thing and Darkoth attacked Boris, but Mulcahy flipped Doomstadt in response to the attack to search for a Faces of Doom, getting Boris out of the line of fire.

Edbury recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and activated Signal Flare, forgetting to announce that he was chaining it to Dr. Doom’s effect, to search out a Thing, Heavy Hitter. Mulcahy recruited a Dr. Doom as well, but since his Dr. Doom had the benefit of Doomstadt, Edbury had to think long and hard and then refused to attack. Mulcahy attempted to activate Reign of Terror but was stopped due to Dr. Doom’s effect. Mulcahy’s Dr. Doom attacked Edbury’s, but Edbury surprised Mulcahy by flipping his own facedown Doomstadt. Mulcahy responded by flipping Faces of Doom to search for another Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, and powering up with a Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria to stun Edbury’s Dr. Doom. Now he could use Reign of Terror, and use it he did, to bounce the Darkoth.

Turn 5 began with Mulcahy recruiting another 4-drop Dr. Doom to use its effect. Edbury used Flame Trap to stun She-Thing, turning off the opposing Dr. Doom’s effect, and then played Signal Flare from his hand to search out Ghost Rider. He then flipped Common Enemy and passed the turn to Mulcahy. Mulcahy refused to attack, Ghost Rider was hit with a Mystical Paralysis, and Edbury refused to attack in return.

Both players opened turn 6 by recruiting Hulk. Ghost Rider attacked Dr. Doom and Mulcahy powered it up in response, curbing Ghost Rider’s offensive. Hulk then took a turn trying to stun Mulcahy’s Dr. Doom and succeeded, being reinforced by She-Thing. Edbury’s Dr. Doom then attacked She-Thing to hammer through some damage. Mulcahy’s Hulk then stunned Ghost Rider. She-Thing would then be KO’d.

Once again, both players recruited the same character, Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing to the field. Edbury was up by a Ghost Rider, but it was Mulcahy’s initiative. Mulcahy’s Hulk attacked Ghost Rider, and he attempted to attack Hulk with Thing, but was prevented from doing so by Mystical Paralysis. Thing attacked Thing, and both players powered up once for a mutual stun. Edbury’s Hulk smashed Dr. Doom for a substantial loss of 9 endurance total. Both players recovered Thing.

Edbury’s commitment to 8-drops paid off once again, as he recruited an Apocalypse. Mulcahy recruited Sub-Mariner, thanks to Doomstadt. Apocalypse’s effect destroyed two facedown resources, one of which was Have a Blast! which was then activated to destroy Edbury’s Common Enemy. Apocalypse took out Sub-Mariner, Thing stunned Hulk, and at that point Mulcahy scooped and offered Edbury the handshake.

Rich Edbury wins the Gen Con UK $10K Championship!