In this match, Australia is fighting the “Old Country,” but the confluence of events does not end there. The very teams themselves are at odds, with the battle of the lawful Marvel Knights and the chaotic Crime Lords/Underworld being fought in the field of play. Neither player is confident enough to give himself the moniker of “favorite,” but each of them is quietly confident in their decks’ abilities to perform.

Luke Bartter, co-creator of Hunstad’s mono–Marvel Knights build, let me know that the deck’s nickname was “Get in the Pit!” though I suspect it was something he came up with very recently. The name refers to the feature match area, in which Scott had gone an ignominious 0-5 before this point. Stuart, on the other hand, said his deck had no name, saying that Vs. decks had a recurring theme of being named simply by the teams that built them.

Stuart chose to have the even initiative upon winning the die roll, and after Scott passed the first turn, Stuart played the devastating Roscoe Sweeny. Roscoe exhausted to thin his deck of another Roscoe, and then the game proceeded to the next turn.

The second initiative saw Sniper hit play via a Roscoe search, and Hunstad replied with Hannibal King. Hannibal King was chosen by the Australian contingent for one primary reason—he has flight. In a format that has a relatively scarce amount of flying characters, Hannibal was crucial to breaking up formations. With both their drops for this turn being hidden, they just traded endurance loss.

On his third build step, the expatriate American (now an Aussie!) was forced to play Wild Ride in order to hit his third drop, Elektra, Elektra Natchios. Stuart continued his “fixer” abuse, searching for Kingpin, Wilson Fisk and forming him in front of Roscoe. Hannibal King flew over and attacked Roscoe Sweeny, who became stunned, and Elektra used her martial arts on the Boss of Bosses, and they were both stunned. Sniper, now left with no one to shoot, decided that some direct endurance loss was the way to go. It was at this point that Stuart revealed Club Dead and recovered Kingpin. Scott sighed, as he didn’t have the Quick Kill to ensure that Wilson Fisk was KO’d.

Stuart failed to take advantage of his fourth initiative, playing only Morbius, The Living Vampire, who fetched a Hypnotic Charms. Scott was again forced to Wild Ride for his fourth drop, fetching the powerful Luke Cage, Street Enforcer. With no visible characters, Stuart was forced to attack directly, causing only 13 breakthrough. Scott’s first attack had Luke Cage use his ability to attack hidden characters to go for Sniper. Using a Blown to Pieces in an attempt to get a mutual stun, Scott countered with a Crushing Blow, which wasn’t responded to, and caused a total of 11 endurance loss. Elektra now chose Kingpin as her mark, and the attack caused both characters to be stunned. After a little trip to Club Dead, Stuart walked away wounded but with his board intact. Endurance totals were Wright at 17 and Hunstad at 15.

The fifth turn recruit step was foreshadowed earlier by Hunstad, who had revealed Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Scott recruited him as his first visible character of the game. Stuart first flipped Marvel Team-Up, bringing together the Crime Lords and Underworld. This allowed Stuart to use Roscoe to recruit Deathwatch, who he put in his front row along with Morbius.

Hunstad used Mikado and Mosha (who was found via Wild Ride) to stun Roscoe. He then swung Luke Cage into Deathwatch and used a No Fear to stun him. With Hannibal King attacking Morbius with yet another No Fear, Stuart decided that it was time to pack it in. After he had conceded defeat, it became apparent that a significant misplay had happened during the match—Deathwatch should have had an additional +2 DEF because of Kingpin’s ability. But with the match completed, it was deemed too late to recreate the game state, and the win stood. Wright was verbally berating himself for the error, but Hunstad revealed that he had extra combat tricks to ensure a successful combat.

Scott Hunstad 1, Stuart Wright 0

Stuart once again chose the even initiative, attempting to take advantage of his huge double-loyal Deathwatch. This time there was no Roscoe Sweeny action, and both players passed their first turn.

The second turn had Sniper recruited for the Englishman and Hannibal King (found via Wild Ride for the Australian.

Hunstad failed to make a play on turn 3, but Stuart didn’t do much better, only mustering a Steel Wind. Knowing the importance of Zen and the art of board maintenance, Scott used a Head Shot on his Hannibal King when it attacked the cyborg cyclist, and finished him off with a Quick Kill.

The fourth turn was more interesting than the previous three, with Stuart bringing in Bullseye, Deadly Marksman, and Luke Cage, Street Enforcer coming down for Hunstad. Bullseye had no one to attack, but Luke Cage came from the shadows to take down the master assassin, and one Quick Kill later, he joined Steel Wind in the KO’d pile. This left the endurance totals at 26 for Hunstad and 37 for Wright.

The next turn had Daredevil, Matt Murdock versus Deathwatch (as there was a Marvel Team-Up flipped up on a previous turn). Daredevil used his ability with a Crime and Punishment to stun the double-loyal character, but the nail in the coffin came with the Australian flipping up Judge, Jury and Executioner and exhausting Hannibal King to KO Deathwatch.

The sixth turn was a mere formality, with Scott playing Weapon of Choice for the option of Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man or Yelena Belova ◊ Black Widow. After receiving the hidden character and recruiting it, Scott passed the turn. When Stuart could only muster the 4-drop Saracen, the end of game was a formality and he extended the hand.

Scott Hunstad 2, Stuart Wright 0