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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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| Round 5: “Smilin’” Dave Spears vs. Chris Piekarski |
| Jason Grabher-Meyer |
| May 14, 2005 |
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Dave Spears is a fixture of the online community, a regular face on the pro scene, and probably the happiest guy in Vs. System.  He never stops smiling and is a genuinely nice guy. He also happens to kick serious butt, which placed him and his Curve Sentinels deck at table one for this match.
Chris Piekarski is a widely recognized player who prides himself on having developed the Force deck with Michael Jacob (the deck with which Michael Jacob won $10K Chicago). He was playing it today.
Piekarski won the opening roll and chose to take the even initiative. While it was a choice that favored his deck, it also favored Spears’s. Both players declined to mulligan and neither had a character to recruit until turn 3.
“Pass again?” asked Piekarski with a grin. No such luck—Spears dropped Sentinel Mark II. It quickly got mauled by Wolverine, Logan, and both characters recovered. Piekarski drew his two cards and then labored over his decision for a good minute. He settled on Rogue, Power Absorption and pushed everything to the front row. Spears recruited a Mark V to protect his Mark II, and Rogue flew over it to try to take out the protected Sentinel. It was a greedy move that would cost him, as a Nasty Surprise clinched the double-stun. Spears sent his Mark V into Logan, and Piekarski powered up. Spears powered up in return, Piekarski flipped Avalon to reuse his previous power-up, and Spears did the same with a Reconstruction Program. Logan went down and was KO’d!
Turn 5 hit in a big way for Spears as he recruited Nimrod. Piekarski was forced to go off-curve and formed up in an L, with Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff behind Rogue and Longshot off to the side in the support row. Mark V swung in on Quicksilver, and this prompted Piekarski to flip two copies of Mutant Nation—he was clearly looking for answers. It was a smart move, limiting the impact of Quicksilver, as in his haste, Piekarski forgot to active him entirely. The Mark II slammed into Longshot, and Nimrod attacked Rogue. Lost City gave her a major bonus, but Savage Beatdown cleared her out. At this point, Piekarski wished to use Rogue’s effect to Longshot. He had forgotten to declare a target at the beginning of combat, though he believed he had. It was a mandatory effect, though, and Spears let him go without calling a judge on the issue. Piekarski lost Longshot and Quicksilver by the time the turn had ended.
 Piekarski opened turn 6 by claiming his six resource points and then using Avalon to grab Longshot. Longshot activated, but Spears shut him down with the Mark II. Piekarski then recruited Wolverine, James Howlett and hesitated before having him protect Longshot. He again chose an L, with Rogue in the back. Either he had a Mega-Blast, or he’d made a big mistake.
Spears then recruited Master Mold, bringing up another Mark V. Master Mold guarded the Mark II, one Mark V protected Nimrod, and the other sat to Master Mold’s flank in the front row. Wolverine clawed at the Mark V, but a round of Cover Fire bumped the blue bot up to a 9 ATK/15 DEF. Piekarski had nothing, since Rogue was in the back row with her new friend Wolverine thanks to Howlett’s effect.
One Mark V slammed into Rogue, and a power-up made her a 10 ATK/10 DEF. “You’re a 10/10?” asked Spears, musing. Upon hearing the confirmation, he flipped Nasty Surprise and Overloaded her. Rogue then Longshoted in desperation, and Piekarski hit nothing. “That’s game,” he said, offering Spears the handshake.
“I had all the combos, I just didn’t get it off properly,” reflected Piekarski. “I got everything I needed,” admitted Spears in response. “You’re going to New York, right?”
“I’m not sure,” replied Piekarski. “I might, I might not.” He seemed a bit rattled at his utter defeat but again shook Spears’s hand and made a bit more chitchat before departing the feature match area.
Dave Spears moves on to round 6 undefeated! |
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