Sunday, February 25, 2018

The Goods: Week 8 - The Finals


So here we are: 
The finals.
And with it, one last chance for me to give you all...




So first of all, to you gamblers wanting to immortalize yourselves in the glory of Banner-hood for the VS system Collective We are going all out. So betters! Here is how you can score in this final week:

10 points: Call the series winner
10 points: Call who wins the opening coin-toss.
10 points: Call which team lands first blood damage in game 1.
10 points: Call what turn the game ends in the final game.
10 points: Call the series result (Example: TNNB wins 2 games to 1)
2x points: Call the endurance total of the winner in the final game within 5 points.
3x points: Call the exact endurance point total of the loser of the last game.

Now take note! to double your score you don't need to guess WHO wins, just the the general area the winner ends the game on for endurance. So if you picked, say 35, if the winner ends anywhere from 30 to 40 endurance at the end of the game, you DOUBLE your points! Not bad! thats 100 potential points!

HOWEVER, there is a dark horse pick! Pick the exact endurance of the LOSER of the last game. and your new total is tripled.
That is 300 points on a perfectly picked series! This means that there is a chance even a player that has never made a single pick yet could walk out as the pick-master supreme champion!


Now lets take a look at the finals match-up.

GRAND FINAL - TNNB(Steph) VS (Aaron)Captain Italy
This is it. We started with 32 of the biggest, baddest, most frustrating and the fastest builds out there that we could find. And these are the two that survived bad matchups and occasionally... bad play and they are still here.

In one corner stands a build that needs no introduction.
The New Next Brotherhood has long been a mainstay of winning culture since its inception. An example of the monsters that exist in a long-forgotten age where only the strong survive. It's simple consistency reigns supreme while its ease of use can be often mistaken for a lack of complexity and far-sighted deck-building.
Not so. Rather it is a shining example of advanced deck design boasting unique answers to many problematic builds it may cross paths with while keeping true to a merciless tempo.
The king of old has come to defend its crown.


In the other corner, we have some new blood.
Captain Italy is a newcomer to a formal top finish listing, but do not be fooled by its unique approach and campy style. It doesn't actually Play VS against its opponents, rather, it dares opponents to win within 4 turns. and plays virtually zero defenses. And then, if the opponent fails, it wins on an improbably explosive turn 5 with what I would describe as, the most efficient series of pumps, removal and answers a single turn could ever boast with a consistency that even the deck's pilot finds surprising.
See, the problem with older classics like TNNB being labelled as King of a monster format is, when a contest of monsters is started, you occasionally attract the attention of something undiscovered.
Something Unique, and unanswered. Something that doesn't seem to have an immediately observable weakness.
A new monster.

Favored to Win: No line.




Best of luck to those picking this week!





Friday, February 23, 2018

Postgame Report: Seminfinals - Week 7

A 71 point swing in a single turn! A match determined by a single point in game 3!
Holy cow these decks deserve to be here! It`s time for...



Semifinals Match 5 - TNNB VS Anti-Matter
TNNB was business as usual in game 1, but Anti-Matter managed to claw a game 2 win leaving it all on the table for a game three that ended on TNNB playing meltdown to sneak in a completely reidiculous match by the skin of their teeth -8 to -9.
Final: TNNB  ELIMINATES  Anti-Matter
2 games to 1



Semifinals Match 6 - Fantastic Fun 2.0 VS Captain Italy 
This is one that could have legitimately gone either way. but in practice Null time zone into warp shards into Null time zone was just a bitter bitter pill for the fantastic four list to swallow.As things went decidedly in favor of Captain Italy.
In game one Italy drew the nuts and swung once for game on turn 4 reducing fantastic 4 from 50 endurance to -4 in a single swing.
In game 2 it was a bit more of a fight, as Italy overcame a 32 point lead favoring Fantastic Fun exiting turn 4 to hit back with a monster swing of 71 points of damage to lock game 2.
This deck is for real folks. What`s more, it`s in the finals.
Final: Fantastic Fun 2.0  ELIMINATED BY  Captain Italy
2 games to 0



Semifinals Match 5: TNNB VS Anti-Matter

TNNB
Steph

-VS-

Anti-Matter
Aaron

-GAME 1-


Aaron wins the flip and elects to take odd initiatives.

Steph Keeps.
Aaron Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruiits Kleinstock bros.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph swings the Bros direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Anti-Matter -> 48




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals Unuscione and Anne-Marie Cortez to recruit Amelia Voght for free. She then recruits Unuscione from her row, replacing it with a card in hand and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits two anti-green lanterns from his hand hidden and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

steph flips up a rowed New Brotherhood and swings everything direct for 13 and passes.

Aaron sends an AGL into Unuscione for a mutual trade and then sends the second into Kleinstock Brothers. trading into The Bros for another mutual trade.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Kleinstick Brothers.

Aaron recovers an AGL, KOing the other.

    TNNB -> 42    Anti-Matter -> 33




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Slipstream into his Visible area and equips it with a Ring of the Sinestro Corps and passes.

Steph sets a resource and wiffs. forming both her characters into her support row.

"uh oh."
"shut up, you."

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares slipstream into Amelia. for an easy stun. Steph reinforces. Then Aaron pays 3 endurance and then swings slipstream into Unuscione for a mutual trade. He then sends his AGL direct for 4 and plays a rowed Emerald Dawn to KO it and search out Xallarap.
both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Slipstream.

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Amelia.

    TNNB -> 30    Anti-Matter -> 27




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a rowed Scanner and Anne-Marie to free recruit an Amelia in front of Unuscione. She then recruits the rowed Anne-marie replacing it with a card from her hand and passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chomin in his hidden area follewed by Xallarap hidden as well, protecting Chomin.

    COMBAT PHASE
Anne-Marie's effect triggers.
Aaron chains Matter Convergence, a rowed Crackshot, a rowed Flying Kick and a second Flying kick from his hand all on slipstream. Matter Convergence moves Slipstream to Aaron's hidden area.
Anne-Marie resolves, revealing a rowed Anne-Marie.
"whew! That was close!"

Steph swings everything direct. Flipping and playing PLanet X, replacing itself to grant +2 ATK to  Amelia. She continues, playing the next Brotherhood, Call down the lightning (replacing Anne Marie) Then plays a rowed Air Strike (replacing a rowed Mystique) then flipping up and using the effect of Planet X to grant +2 ATK to Unuscione and replace itself. Leaving Aaron at -7 Steph passes.

Aaron declares slipstream into Unuscione. Once legal playing Thunderous Onslaught to move him to the visible area for an additional +2 ATK and unstunnability for an easy 1-sided stun. Unfortunately in the negatives, Aaron can't pay to ready him.

"Uh Oh." It was steph's turn to mock Aaron.
"Shut up, you."

Aaron then declares Xallarap into Amelia Voght, once legal, playing Thunderous Onslaught from his hand and moving it into his visible area for another easy stun. he then passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 0    Anti-Matter -> -7

TNNB wins game 1!


Thoughts:

Aaron - I was sure i had it. right up until i went to pay to ready... haha. Oh well. We'll try evens next and see how things go.

Steph - Hey Aaron. SMASHY SMASHY! Haha!





-GAME 2-


Aaron chooses even initiatives this time.

Both players Keep.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Rem-Ram (revealing Senyaka, Scanner, teh next brotherhood, and Amelia) After some prolonged thought, she decides to put Amelia into her hand and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chomin in his hidden area.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph flips up The New Brotherhood and Aaron groans. Then swings Rem-Ram direct for 3.

Aaron sends Chomin into rem-Ram for a mutual stun and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Rem-ram.

Aaron recovers Chomin.

    TNNB -> 49    Anti-Matter -> 46




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits an AGL in his hidden area protecting Chomin and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recrutis Mystique into her hidden area adn Barnacle in her front row adjacent to Rem-Ram and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends the AGL into barnacle. once legal he plays Cosmic Conflict for +4 ATK and moves his AGL visible before passing into a mutual stun.

Steph sends Rem-Ram and Mystique direct for 6 and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers his AGL.

Steph recovers barnacle.

    TNNB -> 41    Anti-Matter -> 40




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a rowed Anne-Marie Cortez and Joanna Cargill to recruit Amelia for free and then recruits Joanna from her row (replacing it with a card from her hand) and forms them all in her front row (no range anyway)

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap protecting Chomin and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph sends the 5/1 barnacle into the visible AGL for a mutual stun She then team swings Joanna, Re-Ram, and amelia direct for 14 and finally swings direct with her hidden Mystique. Once legal she plays Air strike fromher hand to replace a face down Meltdown for +4 ATK and passes.

Aaron sends Xallarap into Amelia for an easy stun and then uses Chomin's effect to stun him and deal 3 damage to Steph before passing.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Amelia, KOing barnacle.

Aaron recovers Xallarap, KOing AGL.

    TNNB -> 29    Anti-Matter -> 14




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and plays a rowed The Ring has Chosen searching out Slipstream (discarding an AGL) and recruiting Slipstream into play in his visible support row before recruiting an AGL hidden. He passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Anne-Marie Cortex from her row (replacing the card with one from her hand) Sensing Steph might have that key 1 drop reservist, Aaron plays a rowed Megablast, a rowed cosmic Conflict, and a flying kick from his hand. Moving Slipstream to his hidden area.
Steph forms everything up front

    COMBAT PHASE
Anne-Marie reveals a rowed Spoor.

"oh. no more 1 drops huh."
"nope." She pops the 'p' sound as she says it.

Aaron declares his Xallarap into Anne-Marie for a mutual stun and then sends his AGL into Rem-Ram. Once legal steph plays a Next brotherhood from her hand and the attack becomes a mutual stun. Aaron then declares Slipstream into Joanna. Once legal he plays Thunderous Onslaught from his hand and moves slipstream to his visible front row and pays 3 endurance for his unstunnable attacker to ready before playing a rowed Matter Convergence to send him back into his hidden area with a final ATK value of 20ATK on teh unstunnable swing.
Joanna stuns.
Next aaron sends Slipstream into Amelia with 18 ATK, ending in a mutual stun. Finally Chomin swings direct for 2 and Aaron passes.

Steph swings with what she has. A 5/2 Mystique. Once legal she plays Call Down the Lightning from her hand (replacing Amelia) And plays a rowed Air Strike (replacing Spoor) She then flips up another rowed Air strike (replacing Joanna) and then plays a rowed meltdown to gain 2 endurance.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -15    Anti-Matter -> -5

Anti-Matter wins Game 2!


Thoughts:

Steph - it looke like this is the battle for evens. Too bad i get it next game. Haha!

Aaron - We'll see how things go.





-GAME 3-


Steph chooses evens.


Steph Keeps.

Aaron Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits kleinstock bros.

    COMBAT PHASE

The bros go direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Anti-Matter -> 48




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Steph sets a resource and reveals a face-down Spoor and a face-down Mystique to play Amelia for free. She follows up recruiting Mystique from her row (replacing with a card in her hand) and then recruits barnacle from her hand forming them all into her front row but not placing barnacle adjacent to any others and passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits an AGL hidden. he then plays a rowed the ring Has Chosen to fetch Chomin (discarding an AGL) he recruits Chomin in his hidden area and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph flips up The New Brotherhood and swings with everything direct like a BOSS.

Aaron sends his AGL into barnacle for a 1-sided stun then sends Chomin into Kleinstock bros for a mutual ttrade. He then plays emeral Dawn from his hand (koing AGL) to fetch Xallarap.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Kleinstick Brothers, KOing Barnacle.

Aaron recovers Chomin.

    TNNB -> 44    Anti-Matter -> 33




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and recruits Slipstream in his hidden front row and equips Chomin it with a ring of the sinestro corps and passes.
"lets try something drastic."

Steph sets a resource and recruits Senyaka. She forms kleinstock bros protecting Amelia and forms Senyaka adjacent to Amelia in the support row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Chomin into Amelia for a mutual trade. Steph thinks and finally decides to reinforce the single point of breakthrough damage.
Aaron then declares Slipstream into Kleinstock Bros, Once legal, playing Thunderous Onslaught for +2 ATk this attack and moving Slipstream into his visible support row. he pays 3 endurance to make slipstream a readied attacker and plays a rowed Megablast and flying kick before playing aCrackshot from his hand, passing at an unstunnable 16 ATK for the easy stun. Continuing, he sends Slipstream into Senyaka at 14 ATK for a mutual stun and passes.

Steph sends Mystique direct for 3.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Senyaka, KOing Amelia and Kleinstock Brothers.

Aaron Recovers Slipstream, KOing Chomin.

    TNNB -> 13    Anti-Matter -> 26




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)


    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Spoor from her row, triggering Senyaka for 2 endurance loss to Aaron. She replaces teh resource with a card from her hand and forms Spoor protecting senyaka before passing.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap in his hidden area followed by Chomin and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph declares Senyaka into Slipstream. Once legal, playing The Next Brotherhood from her hand.
"Aw crap. Now im forced to do something dumb."

Aaron flips up Matter Convergence and moves Slipstream to his hidden area protecting Chomin. Then reinforces Slipstream with Chomin.

"you sneaky..."

Steph then declares Spoor direct with 11. Once legal she uses his effect (replacing Kleinstock Brothers) for +3/-3 for 14 direct. Steph then plays a rowed Meltdown to replace Tempo. and swings direct with Mystique for 5. before passing. leaving Aaron at 2 endurance.

"that BS play saved your ass."
"Did it?"

Unable to survive a stunback aaron is forced to pass.

"OOOOH."

    RECOVERY PHASE
Xallarap's effect triggers KOing it.

Steph recovers Senyaka.

Aaron recovers Slipstream.

    TNNB -> 10    Anti-Matter -> 2




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap hidden and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Unuscione replacing the resource with a card from her hand. Senyaka triggers dealing 2 endurance loss. Then steph recruits a rowed Joanna Cargill, electing not to replace the resource, again dealing 2 damage to Aaron. she forms Spoor protecting Senyaka and Joanna protecting unuscione and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron plays a rowed flying kick onto Chomin and sends it into Unuscione for a mutual trade, he follows up with Xallarap swinging into Spoor and plays Thunderous Onslaught to move him visible and prevent the stunback, Finally he sends slipstream into Joanna for a mutual trade ending his initiative.

this leaves the score with Steph at -7 to Aaron's -6. and one card in stephs hand.

"If you are forced to team swing, I win. if you have the pump, you win."

Steph surveys the field and declares a team swing of Mystique and senyaka into Xallarap. the two 3 drops trade.

Steph Smiles.

Steph plays meltdown. Gaining 2 endurance.

"wow. you've gotta be shitting me."
"Smashy Smashy."

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -8    Anti-Matter -> -9

TNNB hangs on for dear life in a nail-biter Finale to Secure its spot in the finals!



Thoughts:

Aaron - Haha wow are you kidding me? a 1 point game 3 victory by a camped Meltdown? Damn thats cold.

Steph - SMASHY. SMASHY. Haha.

Semifinals Match 6: Fantastic Fun 2.0 VS Captain Italy

Fantastic Fun 2.0
Aaron

-VS-

Captain Italy
Steph

-GAME 1-


Aaron wins the flip and elects to take odd initiatives.

Steph Mulligans.

Aaron Keeps.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Black Panther in his hidden area and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Moonstar.

    COMBAT PHASE

steph activates Moonstar (revealing Wave of destruction, Null Time Zone and Savage beatdown) keeping them all.

Aaron swings direct for 2 and first blood.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Invisible Woman and then equips Future tech onto Black Panther. He flips up new Baxter Building and activates it to draw a card. he then Uses ne baxter's effect (discarding invisible woman) to ready it and draw again before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph activates Moonstar (revealing Tropuble with Dinos, Pathetic attempt and reconstruction program) netting them all.

Aaron swings direct with invisible woman and Black Panther for 6.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50    Captain Italy -> 42




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets and flips a rowed Mobilize (discarding a Clash of Worlds) to fetch himself Mr Fantastic. he recruits him protected my Invisible Woman and then equips a Future tech to her. he activates New Baxter to draw and uses its effect (discarding Dr. Strange) to ready it and draw again.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph activates Moonstar (revealing Bodyslide, Common Bond and SttG) keeping them all.

Aaron swings direct with everything for 11.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50    Captain Italy -> 31




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and  plays SttG (sending The Captain to the KO pile) and then plays Reconstruction Program from her hand to place teh Captain into her hand.

She recruits the Captain in her visible support row and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Thing, idol o millions and then recruits it with a Future tech. he then draws a card from new baxter (discarding a Mr. fantastic 2 drop to draw again)

    COMBAT PHASE
The Captain gains the name Blink and steph draws a card.

Steph plays warp shards targetting Invisible woman.
Aaron chains A Child Named Valeria.
Steph chains Flametrap (discarding Bodyslide and Only Human)
"ouch"
Aaron chains black Panther's and Invisible woman's future tech's to deal 6 and chains mr. fan's effect (revealing 2x Uatus, Clash and Mobilize) wiffing.
Flame trap resolves stunning everything except Thing.

Warp Shards resolves removing Invisible woman shifted with 1 counter.

Then steph plays a second Warp Shards on thing, Aaron activates Thing to deal 3 and the game ends swiftly as steph declares her attack direct.
She sends Captain Blink direct. Once legal she thinks for a bit... and goes absolutely HAM. She plays 3 rowed Common Bonds (discarding 3 Pathetic attempts) for +12 Atk for Captain Blink, and then plays 3 Trouble with Dinos for +21 and then 2 savage beatdowns for anther 10 before passing



    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> -4    Captain Italy -> 22


Captain Italy wins Game 1!


Thoughts:

Aaron - Baiting the child into a flametrap was huge. just bonkers good. But drawing into two Warp shards without me seeing it from moonstar? That's the real feat.

Steph - Aaron is going winless this week. I can feel it. TNNB VS Italy! The question is, if both decks i love to play make the finals... which do i pick?



-GAME 2-


Aaron elects odds again.


Aaron Keeps.

Steph Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50    Captain Italy -> 50




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Steph sets a resource and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Mr. Fantastic and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Mr fantastic swings for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and recruits Invisible woman protecting Mr. Fantastic. he equips her with a Future tech and then equips Mr. Fantastic with a Future tech before passing.

Steph sets a resource and recruits dr. Doom, richards rival and places a Common Bond on the top of his deck.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron Sends Invisible woman into Doom for a mutual stun and sends Mr fan direct for 5.

Steph then flips up Lust for Power, KOing dr. Doom.

    RECOVERY PHASE


Aaron recovers Invisible Woman.

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 49    Captain Italy -> 37




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Instead of drawing, Lust for power triggers (revealing common bond, pathetic attempt, SttG, savage Beatdown and reconstruction program) Steph keeps them all. Steph ten plays a rowed Null Time Zone. aaron has no response, and she calls Child.
(Aaron draws 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and plays SttG from her hand (sending the Captain to her KO pile and then plays a rowed Recon Program to get him back to her hand before she recruits The Captain in her visible support row. She then passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Human Torch and Flips up 4 freedoms plaza before they both pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE
The Captain gains the name Blink and draws a card.

Steph Blays Warp shards onto Mr. fantastic.
Aaron chains a future tech burn from Mr. Fan. and Then goes ahead and activates Human Torch and Invisible woman for more burn and then chains two rowed Cosmic radiations.
The First cosmic resolves, and he burns with the 3 characters again before allowing the second one to resolve and of course... activates them all to burn once more.

Warp shards resolves Shifting out Mr. Fantastic with 2 shift counters.

And Captain Blink swings into Human Torch for a 1-sided stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Human Torch.

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 42    Captain Italy -> 10




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Lust for power replaces Steph's draw with its effect (revealing Pathetic attempt, Common Bond, warp Shards, dr. Doom and Techno-Organic Virus) keeping all but doom.

Steph then flips a rowed Null Time Zone. With no mr/ fantastic in play Aaron cant chain the child even if he wants to. he passes.
Steph calls Child.
(Aaron draws 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and Shifts Mr. Fantastic into play. he then plays the 2 face down 100 Ideas from his row to fetch himself 2 cards from the bottom 4 cards of his deck and then recruits Thing and Namorita and activates 4 freedoms plaza to fetch a card. and forms thing protecting Torch and Invisible woman protecting Mr. fantastic while Namorita forms on the side of Thing.

Aaron passes.

Steph sets a resource and plays a rowed SttG (sending the Captain to the KO pile) and then she plays Recon Program from her hand to get him to her hand and recruits him next to Captain Blink.

    COMBAT PHASE
Captain Blink gains the name Cable, drawing Steph a card.
The Captain gains the name Annihilus, and again, draws steph a card.

Steph then plays Techno-organic Virus drawing 4 cards. once it resolvesm she plays another, drawing 4 more. Unsurprisingly, She plays a third drawing 4 more.

Aaron declares Thing into Captain Blink-able (haha!) But before it is legal Steph plays 2 bodyslides. 1 targetting Captain Annihilus and the other targetting Captain Blink-able.

Aaron swings direct with everything then plays Cosmic radiation, readying everything and activates Human Torch. Steph chains to this activation and plays Only Human on torch. Aaron chains Invisible Woman to deal 3 and Removes Namorita from play to play cosmic radioation again readying his board and activating Human torch for 5 as well as invisible woman. Steph responds to torch's second activation and Pathetic Attempts it. The chain resolves and poor torch doeseffectively does nothing. However this still leaves the score in Aarons favor -14 to 42 as he passes his combat phase.

The two Captains return to play with no names but the one they started with and steph immediately goes to work playing 2 common bonds from her hand (discarding a Pathetic Attempt, and the captain) She then plays reconstruction Program from her hand fetching the captain and plays a third Common Bond 9discarding The Captain) rendering both her 4 drops at 19 ATK.

Steph declares The Captain into Mr Fantastic In an unreinforcable position, Aaron takes 18 on the stun. next The Captain declares an attack on Human Torch. Once legal She plays a full playset of Trouble with Dinos and 2 savage beatdowns to end the game with an EXTREME prejuduce as her 53 ATK Captain swings for game.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> -29    Captain Italy -> -14

Captain Italy wins sending a message to the naysayers! A dominating 2 games to 0!


Thoughts:


Aaron - my first winless week and its the frikkin semifinals. Null time calling child into warp shards into null time the following turn draw phase calling child again is just insane for a child lock to deal with.

Steph - Hey Aaron? Remember that time your wife beat you like you were a red-headed stepchild in an old disney flick? Twice? You remember that one Aaron? 2 game series in a row? Do you? Haha, yeah... That was a good time.


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

The Goods: Week 7 Semifinals

Only 4 teams remain! 2 rushes a combo build and... whatever Captain Italy is supposed to be! You need some insight into the matchups? Don't worry! I've got your medicine with...


The rest of the crew takes a break this week, as Husband and Wife fight for supremacy to set-up our finals this weekend!

For The Gamblers, we are double points this week!
call the match winner - 16 points.
call the team dealing first blood in the matchup - 2 points.
call the match winner AND the series result? (TNNB beats Anti-Matter 2 games to 0) Double your points related to that match. (maximum 36 points per game!)
Call BOTH match winners - 8 point Bonus! (you dont need the series results of each match to be perfect only guess the winners correctly.)

That's 80 possible points you can score in 2 games. it may be a close leaderboard, but ANYONE can still win with the right picks, and a bit of luck!

Remember folks...

Who will become the face of the VS System Collective?

SF Match 5 - TNNB(Steph) VS (Aaron)Anti-Matter
There's something to be said about consistency when you are two matches away from an undefeated run. I don't think anyone here doubts the validity of TNNB's consideration as King of the Monsters. However, Anti-Matter, like a true middle child, has proven that it has a bone to pick with the "champ" And with a surprisingly similar resume including an undefeated run, and the title of the vaunted Spider-Stall killers. (Arguably one of TNNB's worst matchups) it gets harder and harder to count out the Simple-but-not-so-simple rush.
But let's be real here. a completely concealed list vs TNNB means hands-down: advantage TNNB.
Favored to Win: TNNB - 2 games to 1


SF Match 6 - Fantastic Fun 2.0(Aaron) VS (Steph)Captain Italy
Looking at this match-up, you can't assume anything. You'll just fall into the rabbit hole.
Here's an example of what I mean:
Captain Italy has no answer to Child.
Null Time Zone.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
You sure did.
Ok how about, reinforcement counters Captain Italy's win condition.
Warp Shards 3 drop Invisible Woman.
Huh. I suppose so. Fine then. Fantastic Fun has no answer to Captain Italy.
Ultimate Nullifier can negate The Captain's start of combat name changes.
Wow. This is harder than I thought to break down.
EXACTLY.
So here's the best breakdown I can give and still hopefully be reasonably accurate.
Captain Italy is not nearly as inconsistent as the potential "BAD" draws of Fantastic Fun. Because of that and only that, I'm calling the series to go...
Favored to Win: Captain Italy - 2 games to 1



Saturday, February 17, 2018

Postgame Report: Quarterfinals Week 6

Upsets! Upsets everywhere! Which favorite to win actually held on? Then read on! in this weeks...





Quarterfinals Match 1: TNNB VS Rad Man
TNNB won the toss and that honestly counted for most of what it wanted to do right there. When Rad-Man held its preferred initiatives it managed to take a game but this was the TNNB show. 
First blood: Rad-Man.
Final: TNNB  ELIMINATES  Rad Man
  2 games to 1


Quarterfinals Match 2: Anti-Matter VS Spider-Stall
 Slipstream proves to be too much too soon as Anti-Matter uses this matchup as a resume demonstrating its consistency (or luck, depending on perspective) into a control matchup, refusing to drop a single game to the potent stall.
First Blood: Anti-Matter
Final: Anti-Matter  ELIMINATES  Spider-Stall
2 games to 0



Quarterfinals Match 3: Migga City VS Fantastic Fun 2.0
Migga City is one of those decks that just seems to give you everything you want. It bricks beautifully, and easily fields a nearly complete collection of meta answers to a myriad of matchups. With easy and relatively quick access to both Rogue on 4 and Scarlet Witch on 5, it might be easy to expect a fairly easy win here.
As it turns out however, Fantastic four swinging offensively under a Child lock can do some pretty decent damage. And Flamethrower is not an activated effect. These facts were ridden harder than baby's first trike to consecutive wins.
First Blood: Migga City
Final: Migga City  ELIMINATED BY  Fantastic Fun 2.0
2 games to 0



Quarterfinals Match 4: Wolverine Direct VS Captain Italy
With a fairly easy win in game 1 it looked like this one was going to go exactly as predicted, with a 2-0 advance. However, after an unlikely win on a game that stretched farther into turn 5 than Wolvie would have preferred, it turns out Captain Italy can win on 4 too! In an insane come-from behind series of miracle draws to end the deciding game with a score of -1 to 0. All riding on the back of a single Captain swing.
First Blood: Wolverine Direct
Final: Wolverine Direct  ELIMINATED BY  Captain Italy
2 games to 1







Top 8 - Match 1: TNNB VS Rad Man

TNNB
Steph

-VS-

Rad Man
Aaron

-GAME 1-


Aaron wins the flip and takes odd initiatives.

Both players keep.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Green Goblin, insanity unleashed in his hidden support row and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Mystique, raven in her hidden front row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron attacks direct for First blood and passes.

Steph attacks direct for 1 and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 49    Rad Man -> 49




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a rowed Unuscione and Rem-Ram to Bring Amelia Voght into play inher front row. She then reveals Unuscione and recruits the reservist from her support row, replacing the resource with a card in her hand. She forms Amelia Protecting unuscione and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph team swings Mystique amelia and Unuscione direct. Once legal flipping up Planet X and replacing it for +2 ATK on Mystique dealing 8 damage direct before passing.

Aaron passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 49    Rad Man -> 41




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets and flips up Stark Armory and recruits Rad Man in his vosible Support row before passing.

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Senyaka replacing the resource with a card in her hand and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark Armory gains a tech counter.

Aaron declares Rad Man into Amelia and powers up for a 1-sided stun and passes. Steph decides not to reinforce.

Steph flips up a rowed The New brotherhood and then declares Senyaka into Rad Man with 7/4 aaron responds and plays Speedball is dead from his hand stunning Rad man. Steph then swings direct for 7before Unuscione and Mystique swing direct for 10 more and both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Rad Man auto recovers and gains 2 +1/+1 counters.

Steph recovers Amelia Vought.

    TNNB -> 44    Rad Man -> 28




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Aaron Uses green Goblin's effect to place a 3rd counter onto Rad Man.

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Rem Ram (revealing The new brotherhood, Senyaka, call down the lightning, and planet X) keeping the Senyaka and dealing 2 damage to AAron from the recruit. before peplacing her resource with a card in her hand. Next she recruits Kleinstock Brothers from her row, replacing with a card in hand and dealing 2 more damage via Senyaka's effect. finally she plays a rowed The Next brotherhood for a global +2 ATK until the end of the turn before passing.

Rad Man gains a counter. (4)
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man, equipping him with Extremis Upgrade and flips up Underground Movement and decides to form Iron Man protecting Rad man before passing to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark armory gains a tech counter.(2)

Steph declares Mystique and Rem-Ram into Iron Man at a combined 10 ATK. Passing once legal.
Aaron passes and instead of a stun, Iron man exhausts and Extremis is KO'd. Iron man stuns back Mystique.

Steph continues and Team swings Amelia and Kleinstock into Iron Man. Iron man trades with Amelia in a mutual stun

Unuscione's effect puts it at a 9/4 and steph declares it into Rad Man alone. Once legal Aaron moves Rad Man hidden and plays a rowed Mobilize (Discarding Iron Man) and then chains a rowed Enemy of my enemy (discarding Silver Surfer) to collectively fetch 2 power-ups and Unuscione can't get over the large 3 drop stunning in the brick. Steph then sends Senyaka direct for 7 unable to play any pumps thanks to rad Man's effect. Steph finally passes.

Aaron declares Rad Man into Kleinstock Brothers for 9 damage on an easy stun. and both players pass to recovery.


    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Kleinstock, Mystique and Amelia.

Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing green Goblin.

    TNNB -> 28    Rad Man -> 14




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Rad man gains a counter.(5)

Aaron decides ot to play a resource and recruits green Goblin in his hidden area and Night Thrasher. He forms thasher protecting iron Man and moves rad man and green goblin offset and no adjacent to each other then passes.

Steph sets a resource and then reveals and recruits Scanner from her row, choosing not to replace it. Senyaka deals 2 damage to Aaron. Steph forms rem-ram protecting Senyaka and unuscione adjacent to the 3 drop and passes.


    COMBAT PHASE
Stark armory gains a tech counter.(3)

Aaron activates Stark armory and places 3 +1/+1 counters on Iron Man. then he declares Night Thrasher into Unuscione for a mutual trade. Steph decides not to reinforce with Senyaka. and Night thrasher's stun triggers Iron Man's auto-recovery and counter trigger.

Iron Man then swings into Senyaka at 10/10 for a 1-sided stun and Aaron passes.

Steph triggers Scanner's effect (replacing a rowed Senyaka) and rearranges the top 4 cards of her deck. she then sends Scanner into Iron man. Once legal, Aaron triggers goblins effect stunning itself to place a +1/+1 counter onto Iron Man.

Steph then sends Rem-Ram direct for 3.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Night Thrasher auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
Green Goblin auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.

Aaron recovers Iron Man KOing green Goblin.

Steph recovers Scanner, KOing Unuscione and Senyaka.

    TNNB -> 11    Rad Man -> 3




        TURN 6 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph decides not to play a resource and recruits Unuscione and tempo, forming Uniscione behine Rem-ram and passes.

Rad Man gains a +1/+1 counter. (6)
Aaron sets a resource and recruits green Goblin hidden and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark armory gains a tech counter.(1)
Aaron activates Stark Armory to place a +1/+1 counter onto Iron Man.(5)

Steph declares tempo into Night Thrasher for a mutual stun. Iron man's effect triggers for thrasher.
Steph then thinks for a moment and then sends Rem-Ram and Scanner on a team-swing into Iron Man Iron Man stuns back Scanner. And unuscione swings direct at 7 before Steph passes.

Without many good options, Rad-Man swings into Rem-Ram for an easy stun and 10 damage and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -5    Rad Man -> -8


TNNB wins game 1!


Thoughts:

Aaron - If i had only drawn any relevant character on 6, I think I could have stolen the win.

Steph - Smashy Smashy! Hahaha!



-GAME 2-


As the loser of game 1, Aaron elects to try his luck with Even initiatives.

Both players seem happy with their starting hands and keep.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Green Goblin.

    COMBAT PHASE

Green goblin swings direct for 1.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 49    Rad Man -> 50




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Night Thrasher in his visible front row. He boosts him (discarding a pathetic attempt) to search out Underground Movement and place it into his hand before passing.

Steph sets a resource and ten recruits Amelia Voght and passes.

"Yikes."

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares Night Thrasher into Amelia for a mutual stun. Green Goblin swings dorect for 1.

Both pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Night Thrasher.

Steph recovers Amelia.

    TNNB -> 46    Rad Man -> 48




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Joanna Cargill into her front row and passes.

Aaron sets and flips Underground Movement and then plays a rowed Enemy of my Enemy (discarding Human Torch) to search out Rad Man, recruiting him into play protected by Night Thrasher and both players pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph declares Joanna into Night Thrasher. Aaron evades Thrasher and Joanna readies.
Steph then declares Joanna into Rad Man. Once legal Aaron stuns Green Goblin to his effect to place a +1/+1 counter on Rad Man enabling a mutual stun. Steph responds and flips up a rowed New Brotherhood for an extra point of damage. Then Amelia swings direct for 4.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Night Thrasher auto-recovers.

Steph recovers Joanna.

Aaron recovers Rad Man KOing Green Goblin.

    TNNB -> 43    Rad Man -> 36




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Rad Man gains a counter. (2)
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron Man and equipping it with Extremis. He forms Iron Man behind Night Thrasher and adjacent to the support row Rad Man before passing his build.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Unuscione protected by Amelia and then recruits Temp and Kleinstock Brothers into her front row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Rad Man into Amelia, after some debate, Steph opts to reinforce with Unuscione and amelia stuns. Next Night Thrasher swings into Unuscione for a mutual stun. Iron man's effect triggers an auto recov and a counter for Thrasher.
Next Iron Man swings into Tempo for a 1-sided stun and passes.

Steph declares Joanna into Iron Man. Once legal playing Call Down the Lightning from her hand (replacing a rowed Joanna) for a +3/+3 and avoiding the stunback. Extremis is KO'd and Aaron takes 3 breakthrough. Steph then passes.

Before passing, Aaron plays a rowed Speedball Is dead, triggering an autorecovery and 2 counters for rad man at the start of recovery, while also triggering Iron Man's free conter as well.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Rad Man autorecovers and gains 2 +1/+1 counters.(4)
Iron man triggers granting rad man an additiona +1/+1 counter.(5)
Night Thrasher recovers from Iron man's effect and gains a +1/+1 counter.(1)

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Tempo and Amelia.

    TNNB -> 30    Rad Man -> 28




        TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Scanner from her row, electing not to replace the resource and passing.

Aaron sets and flips Stark Armory and flips up Omnipotence.
Steph doesnt respond.

Aaron calls Scanner.

Aaron then recruits Mr. Sinister and forms him protecting Iron Man while Night Thrasher protects Rad Man and he passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark Armory gains a tech counter.

Steph team swings Joanna and Kleinstock into Mr. Sinister for a mutual stun back onto Joanna. Iron man triggers an autorecovery on sinister.
Steph then sends Scanner into Iron Man for a 1-sided stun. Aaron activates Stark Armory to place a +1/+1 counter onto Iron man before passing on the swing.
Then Steph sends Uniscione unto Thrasher at 7/4. Once legal Aaron moves Thrasher hidden and evades it.

Unable to get over the 10/9 Rad Man with no plot twist help, Steph Passes.

Aaron sends Rad man into Kleinstock Brothers For an easy stun. Once legal he moves Rad Man hiddenSteph reinforces with Unuscione and then checks hew row but seems to have no plot twists to take advantage of.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Sinister auto recovers and gains a counter.
night Thrasher auto-recovers.

Steph recovers Joanna, KOing Kleinstock bros.

Aaron recovers Iron Man.

    TNNB -> 26    Rad Man -> 13




        TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Rad man Gains a counter.(6)

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Holocaust in his unprotected visible support row adjacent to Iron Man and passes.

Steph recruits Spoor protecting Unuscione and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Sinister's effect triggers.
Stark Armory gains a tech counter.

Aaron activates Stark Armory to place a +1/+1 counter onto Iron Man.(2) and then declares Holocaust into Spoor. Steph reinforces and spoor stuns. Holocaust triggers KOing Joanna. Mr. Sinister then swings into Unuscione for another easy stun and Iron Man swings direct for 9 followed by Night Thrasher for 4 more before passing.

Steph sends Scanner into Sinister for a mutual stun and passses.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -6    Rad Man -> 6


Rad Man wins game 2!


Thoughts:

Steph - missing a good Amelia turn 2-3 play really hurts.

Aaron - maybe I should have taken evens in game 1? This sort-of felt easy.




-GAME 3-


As the loser Steph chooses odd initiatives.

Both players keep.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Steph sets a resource and recruits Kleinstock Brothers in her front row before passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph flips up a rowed New Brotherhood and swings direct for 4.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Rad Man -> 46




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and recruits Night Thrasher boosted (Discarding a Pathetic Attempt) to fetch Underground Movement and passes his build.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Rem-Ram into her front row. Rem-Ram's effect triggers (revealing New brotherhood, Senyaka, Amelia Voght and Next brotherhood) she keeps Amelia and places the rest on the bottom of her deck.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Thrasher into KLeinstock Brothers for a mutual stun and passes.

Steph sends Rem-Ram direct for 3.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Night Thrasher.

Steph recovers Kleinstock Brothers.

    TNNB -> 47    Rad Man -> 41




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Steph sets a resource and recruits Senyaka, forming him into her support row protected by Kleinstock Brothers.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Rad Man protected by Night Thrasher.

Both players pass to combat

    COMBAT PHASE
Steph sends Rem-Ram into Night Thrasher. Thrasher evades.
Then Steph sends Rem-Ram and the Kleinstock Brothers into Rad Man for a mutual trade stunning back the brothers.
Then Senyaka swings direct for 7.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Night Thrasher auto-recovers.

Steph recovers Kleinstock Brothers.

Aaron Recovers Rad Man.

    TNNB -> 46    Rad Man -> 29




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Rad Man gains a counter.

Aaron  sets and flips up Stark's Armory and flips up a rowed Underground Movement and then plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding an Underground Movement) to search out Iron Man and plays BPRD onto Iron man before forming Night Thrasher protecting him and leaving rad Man unprotected adjacent to him and then passing.

Steph then sets a resource and reveals Joanna and Spoor to play Amelia for free from her row, replacing the resource with a card in her hand and dealing 2 damage via Senyaka's effect. She tne recruits the rowed Spoor (replacing the resource) and deals 2 more damage to Aaron She then forms Spoor protecting Senyaka and leaves the rest in her front row.

both pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark Armory gains a tech counter.(1)

Aaron activates Stark Armory and places a +1/+1 counter onto Iron Man.(1)

Night Thrasher attacks Kleinstock Brothers for a mutual stun. iron man's effect triggers an auto-recovery and a +1/+1 counter onto Thrasher. Next Rad Man declares into Rem-Ram. steph reviews her board setup and passes for a 1-sided stun before sending Iron Man into Amelia Vought for another 1-way stun before passing.

Steph plays The Next brotherhood from her hand for a global +2 ATK and then declares Senyaka into Iron man. Once legal She plays Meltdown from her hand to KO BPRD from Iron Man and activates Spoor's effect (replacing Spoor) to grant Senyaka +3/-3 for this attack.
Aaron plays Speedball is Dead to stun Rad Man before Iron Man goes down to net 3 counters later. and Iron Man goes doen in a mutual Stun. Spoor then swings direct for 11.

    RECOVERY PHASE
NIght Thrasher auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
Rad Man auto recovers and gains 2 counters from speedball is dead and an additional +1/+1 counter from Iron Man.

Aaron recovers Iron Man.

Steph recovers Senyaka, KOing Kleinstock, Rem-Ram, and Amelia.

    TNNB -> 28    Rad Man -> 3




        TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Steph sets a resource and then reveals JOanna and Spoor to recruit Amelia from her row for free. Dealing 2 endurance damage to Aaron. She replaces the resource.
Next Steph recruits Tempo from her row (choosing not to replace the resource) and dealing another 2 damage to Aaron before finally recruiting Joanna from her row (replacing teh resource with the last card in her hand)
she forms everything except Senyaka in her front row and passes.

Rad Man gains a counter.(5)
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Lex Luthor, metropolis mogul protecting iron Man. He follows up equipping Extremis onto Iron Man, and he then forms Night Thrasher protecting rad Man before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE
Stark Armory gains a tech counter.(1)

Steph Sends Amelia into Night Thrasher for a mutual stun, and then sends Tempo and Joanna into Rad Man again resulting in a mutual stun, triggering an auto-recovery but tempo will keep rad man exhausted if it goes into another turn.

Steph then flips up a second rowed New brotherhood and plays a rowed Air Strike on Senyaka. before declaring a swing into Lex with 11 ATK for another trade. Finally Spoor swings into Iron Man. Once legal he replaces a rowed Joanna to give himself +3/-3. Aaron activates Stark armory for another +1/+1 counter for Iron Man. Spoor deals 5 breakthrough. Aaron KO's Extremis and exhausts Iron Man to prevent to Stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 16    Rad Man -> -20


TNNB Wins the series!


Thoughts:


Aaron - after game 2 I felt like there was always a chance, but Senyaka showed up and reminded me why I REALLY lost in game 1. Can't feel bad that Rad Man made it this far though. GG.

steph - Smashy Smashy! Wooo!

Top 8 - Match 2: Anti-Matter VS Spider-Stall

Anti-Matter
Mark

-VS-

Spider-Stall
JS

-GAME 1-



JS wins the flip and elects to take odd initiatives.

Mark Mulligans.

JS keeps.



        TURN 1 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Js sets a resource and passes.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Chomin in his hidden support row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Chomin swings direct for 2 damage and First Blood.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Anti-Matter -> 50    Spider-Stall -> 48




        TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets a resource and recruits 2 AGL's in his hidden front row and passes.

JS sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Both agl's and chomin swing direct for 10. Chomin uses his effect to stun an AGL dealing 1 damage to JS and then plays a rowed Emerald Dawn to KO the unstunned AGL to search his deck for Fiero.

Both pass combat.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Mark recovers AGL.

    Anti-Matter -> 49    Spider-Stall -> 37




        TURN 3 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Ultimate Spidey. It enters play with 2 web counters. JS then passes his build.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Slipstream in his hidden area front row. and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Js removes 2 web counters to exhaust Anti Green Lantern and Chomin and then flips up ESU activating it and exhausting Ultimate Spidey to net a card. JS then passes.

Mark declares Slipstream into Ultimate Spidey. once legal he plays Thunderous Onslaught from his hand to make slipstream unstunnable with +2 ATk this atack and moves it into his visible support row. Once that resolves he pays 3 endurance to ready slipstream and plays a rowed megablast followed by a rowed Matter Convergence and a flying kick from his hand. They resolve and matter convergence moves slipstream hidden again, where his passive gives +1 ATK and the unstunnable ready attacker hits spider-man with 17 ATK.
JS plays an Enemy of my Enemy (discarding Lex) to fetch Spider-man <> The Spider discarding it to power up the ultimate spidey. he also powers up again 9discarding secret avenger spidey and passes into the 1-sided stun. Then Mark sends slipstream direct for 15, and activates Chomin to stun his AGL dealing 1 damage to JS.


    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers his Spider-man.

Mark recovers AGL.

    Anti-Matter -> 45    Spider-Stall -> 8




        TURN 4 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets a card and recruits Fiero into his hidden area. he immediately activates her effect to deal 6 damage to JS and passes.

Js sets a resource and reveals Scarlet Spider before recruiting a second Ultimate Spiderman. It enters play with 4 web counters. JS then spends all 4 to exhaust Slipstream and AGL and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

With only chomin able to attack, Mark instead opts to try to end. He then declares an attack with Chomin into one of the ultimate spideys. Once legal, he plays Cosmic Conflict from his hand, pushing chomin to the visible area and granting +4 ATK. before passing, Mark then uses Chomin's effect to stun fiero, to deal 4 damage to JS.

Js plays Straight to the Grave from his hand, sending Koriand'r to his KO pile and them plays a rowed Messiah Complex Boosting it and exhausting both of his Spider-men to return Koriand'r to his hand and gaining 7 endurance.

Realizing that will put JS to 1, Mark plays a rowed The Ring has Chosen to search out another chomin (discarding another ring has chosen) and powers up his attacker to end JS at exactly 0.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Anti-Matter -> 41    Spider-Stall -> 0


Anti-Matter wins game 1!


Thoughts:

JS - With an opening hand of 2 ultimate spider-men I thought I could slow things enough through web counters. I was a bit off on that calculation.

Mark - I'm actually surprised  at the damage output considering i only really saw 4 pumps over 4 turns. Mulling for Chomin was super worth it.








-GAME 2-



Having lost, JS elects to try even initiatives.

Mark mulligans.

JS keeps.



        TURN 1 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Mark sets a resource and passes.

JS sets a resource and recruits Aunt May, golden oldie into play, fetching himself an ultimate spider-man and passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Anti-Matter -> 50    Spider-Stall -> 50





        TURN 2 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


JS sets a resource and shifts The Spider with a shift counter. he then fips up ESU and activates it exhausting aunt may to net himself a card. He then plays Indebted (discarding Omnipotence) to search out another he Spider and shifts that with 1 shift counter as well before passing.

Mark sets a resource and recruits an AGL then plays a rowed Ring has Chosen to fetch a Chomin (discarding another AGL) and recruits Chomin in his hidden area protected by the AGL.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS passes combat.

mark sends AGL into Aunt May for an easy stun and then swings direct with Chomin for 2 before using Chomin's effect to stun AGl and deal JS 1 damage.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Js recovers Aunt May.

Mark recovers AGL.

    Anti-Matter -> 49    Spider-Stall -> 43




        TURN 3 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Mark sets a resource and recruits Slipstream in his visible area and then equips it with a Ring of the Sinestro Corps forming it into his support row. and passes.

JS sets and flips Bad press and recruits ultimate spider-man in the support row adjacent to aunt may. it enters play with 2 web counters. Js spends thos counters to exhaust AGL and Chomin before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE


Mark sends Slipstream into Spider-Man at 6/5. Once legal JS exhausts Spidey for ESU to net a card and reinforces with Aunt May. Mark pays 3 endurance to ready it and both players pass into the reinforced stun. Slipstream then declares an attack over Aunt May and plays a rowed megablast. Aunt may stuns and JS takes 10 damage. Chomin uses his payment effect to stun Slipstream and deal 3 to JS.

To end, Mark then plays Emerald Dawn from his hand KOing AGL to search out Fiero.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Mark recovers Slipstream.

JS recovers Spider-Man, KOing aunt may.

    Anti-Matter -> 43    Spider-Stall -> 27




        TURN 4 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Js sets a resource and plays a rowed Straight to the Grave (sending Ultimate Spider-man to his KO pile) and then plays a rowed Messiah complex to put it into his hand.

JS reveals Scarelt Spider and recruits the second Spider-Man. It enters play with 4 web counters. next JS shifts in The Spider also entering his hidden area with 4 web counters. before passing his build.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Fiero protecting Chomin in the hidden area.
Both players then pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE


Js declares a team attack with The Spider and the ultimate spidey with no web counters into the visible Slipstream. once legal JS spends 1 web counter off of The Spider to exhaust Chomin and then spends 4 more to exhaust Fiero.(3)

Mark chains Fiero's effect and JS negates it with his shifted Spider, removing a shift counter to negate the burn damage.

Combat resolves and Slipstream stuns back Ultimate Spider-Man in a mutual trade.

The remaining ultimate spider-man then swings direct for 4.

    RECOVERY PHASE


JS recovers Ultimate Spidey.

Mark recovers Slipstream.

    Anti-Matter -> 36    Spider-Stall -> 24




        TURN 5 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Mark sets a resource and recruits Element Man in his hiodden area and passes.

JS sets a resource and reveals Scarlet Spider. He then recruits Spider-Man, secret avenger. it enters play with 4 web counters and JS forms him protecting his ultimate spiderman still holding 3 counters. Then he activates secret Avenger's effect (discarding Aunt May) to target Slipstream. Then he spends 5 counters to exhaust element Man.(2) and then spends 1 to exhaust Chomin.(1) before passing his build.

    COMBAT PHASE

Mark declares Fiero into the protected Ultimate Spider-man. Once legal, Mark plays a rowed Crackshot and passes. JS exhausts the defending Spidey for ESU's effect netting a card. and passes for the 1-sided stun. electing to reinforce with his other ultimate spidey. Next Slipstream swings into Secret Avenger. Once legal, Mark plays a rowed megablast and activates Element Man's effect to move Chomin, Fiero and Element Man into his visible area to replace 3 face up resources (replacing both megablasts and the ring has chosen)
Next Mark plays Matter Convergence from his hand to move Slipstream to his hidden front row and grant +3 ATK. he follows up with a rowed Crackshot and a rowed Flying kick and after doing some mental math plays a thunderous onslaught from his hand to push Slipstream visible and prevent the stunback and a crackshot from his hand. (leaving his hand empty)
Js checks his row and his hand and powers up once (discarding stark's Protege) both players pass to the 1-sided stun. The 24 ATK slipstream deals 14 breakthough and stuns Secret Avenger.

Mark notes the shifted spider has no counters and activates Chomin's effect to stun Element Man dealing 5 damage to JS.

"so what you replaced into all pumps?"
"nah."
Mark flips up a rowed slipstream and a rowed AGL.
"Only needed 1 to land 1 though. Barring some crazy messiah complex play."

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Anti-Matter -> 31    Spider-Stall -> -2



Anti-Matter wins! 2 games to 0


Thoughts:


JS - All i ever needed was to make it to turn 6. I honestly thought it was smarter to prevent a doubleswing and start curving out rather than underdrop. Maybe an aunt may into zombie spider-man would have been a better play to cover his board but i would have had to use ESU earlier and he would have had an out through slipstreams re-readying. So I'm not sure if things would have ended differently.

Mark - even our playgroup treated the slipstream build as an underdog but I never felt like it was. To me his only hope was turn 1 bad press into turn 2 black cat. Or just me wiffing a decent play by turn 2 after an aggressive mulligan. I love how this list doesn't choke if the game goes late and it has seemed pretty relevant for the past few matchups.

Top 8 - Match 3: Migga City VS fantastic Fun 2.0

Migga City
Josh

-VS-

Fantastic Fun 2.0
Aaron

-GAME 1-



Aaron wins the flip and elects to take evens.

Josh Mulligans.

Aaron Keeps.



        TURN 1 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and recruits Harley Quinn and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Uatu the watcher (revealing Josh's hand of Soul world, Magneto, Poison Ivy and Pathetic Attempt) and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh sends harley direct for First blood.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 50    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 49




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh Draws Mystique and Avalon Space Station.

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Black Panther in his hidden area he then equips uatu with Future tech and flips and activates new Baxter Building to draw a card. He then discards another Uatu to ready the location and draw another card before passing his build.

Josh then sets and flips Avalon and recruits Poison Ivy protected by Harley and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Future tech for 3 and passes.

Ivy and Harley wing direct for 4. Then ivy KO's Harley (koing a rowed Mystique) to search out 31st Century Metropolis and set it into his row. he then activates Avalon (discarding Mystique) to return Mystique and Harley to his hand.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 47    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 45




        TURN 3 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh draws Blob and Lost City.

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets his lost city and  recruits Mystique. He flips up 31st Century Metropolis to crossover Brotherhood and Arkham and passes his build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Mr fantastic in his visible support row. activating his effect (revealing 2 Childs, namorita and Four Freedoms) wiffing. he then recruits 1 cost Invisible Woman protecting Mr. Fan. She enters play with a +1/+1 counter.

Both pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh sends Mystique into Invisible woman. Aaron plays a rowed Child to prevent any stuns and both bounce.
Josh continues sendign Ivy into the 1 drop and Flips up Lost city and powers up with Harley. Aaron removes the invisible Counter to remove the attack. Josh then discards Magneto to fuel Avalon and returns Harley and Mystique to his hand before passing.

Aaron team swings Invisible woman and Black Panther into Poison Ivy. Josh powers up to prevent the stun and Aaron exhausts Uatu for 3 damage and then flips up a rowed Thinking outside the box

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 44    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 45




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh draws Usual Suspects and Penguin.
Aaron draws from the bottom of his deck

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and activates Mr. Fantastic (revealng Black Panther, invisible woman, 100 ideas and Mr fantastic) wiffing again. and recruits Human Torch, sparky in his visible support row and passes.

Josh sets and flips soul World and then plays The Usual Suspects from his hand Searching out and revealing Rogue and Joker (randomly discarding Pathetic Attempt and Harley Quinn)
Josh then recuits Rogue. Aaron chains to the recruit, Uatu's future tech and then flips up Four Freedoms Plaza and chains Human Torch's effect. He then plays Cosmic Radiation from his hand, playing it allowing it to resolve and then burning with his 2 characters again. He Activates Mr. Fantastic (revealing Ultimate Nullifier, Dr. Strange, Pogo Plane and Cosmic Radiation) keeping the Nullifier.
Rogue enters play and josh forms her protecting Ivy before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron passes Combat.

Josh declares Rogue into Invisible Woman. Once legal Aaron plays Child from his hand still able to deal breakthrough damage, Josh powers her up with Mystique and then activates Avalon (discarding The Penguin) and chains Ivy's effect (koing Mystique and Avalon to search out a fresh Avalon. Penguin resolves removing itself from play to return a Mystique and avalon resolve placing mystique and harley into josh's hand and Josh uses all three to power-up before Discarding Joker to return both Mystiques and power-up 2 more times.

Rogue then deals 24 breakthrough damage to Aaron.
Josh activates Soul World to return Mystique to his hand

Next Ivy swings into Invisible woman for 2 more damage and Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 26   Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 19




        TURN 5 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Mr Fantastic to the draw (revealing mr. Fantastic, stretch, the 100 ideas, Flamethrower and Invisible Woman, first lady) he takes 4 damage from rogue and scores a flamethrower. setting the rest on the bottom before drawing from the bottom thanks to Thinking outside of the box.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh draws Savage Land and Poison Ivy.

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets and flips Savage Land and activates Avalon (discarding Blob) to return Magneto and Mystique to his hand and then recruits Magneto and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Invisible Woman, first lady of the four in his hidden area (koing the 1 drop to uniqueness) and equips her with an ultimate Nullifier. He then activates New Baxter to draw a card from the bottom and he discards Stretch to ready it and draw again. Then Aaron equips Flamethrower onto Human Torch and passes his build.

    COMBAT PHASE
Magneto triggers, and Josh exhausts Human Torch. Aaron chains Flamethrower's effect since it does not trigger Rogue's burn thanks to its unique wording and deals 5 damage to Josh Josh then sends Poison Ivy into Human Torch.
Aaron plays a Child from his hand.
"Wow seriously?"
Ivy stuns. Josh Passes, unable to do damage.

Aaron team swings Black Panther, Uatu and Invisible Woman into Rogue for 8. Josh powers up to brick and both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Josh recovers Ivy.

    Migga City -> 21    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 15




        TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh draws Caliban and Mystique.

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron activates Mr. Fantastic (revealing Clash, new Baxter, Thing and Human Torch) wiffing on equipment. Aaron then sets a resource and plays the 100 Ideas from his hand to put Thing, idol o millions into his hand and recruits Thing into play protecting Human Torch. He then passes his build.

Josh sets Ivy into his row and recruits Caliban in his hidden area. He then activates Avalon (discarding Mystique) to return Mystique and Joker to his hand and recruits Joker into play.

Aaron chains to the joker recruit, activating four freedoms plaza to search his deck for a card and he then plays the last Child. He then plays the 100 Ideas from his hand to place a card into his hand from among the bottom 4 cards of his deck.

Joker enters play protecting Magneto and josh passes his build.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares everything he has into Rogue. Once legal, he powers up Human Torch and passes. (25 total atk)
Josh goes into the tank and starts doing math after some time he passes and Rogue stuns. Aaron then plays a rowed Cosmic radiation to ready his board and activates Human torch to burn for 6, then Uatu to burn for 3 with 3 cards in hand, Aaron then plays a second Cosmic radiation and burns for 6 and 3 again before passing his combat.

Josh is forced to pass with no means to hit Aaron's hidden area for breakthrough.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City ->  -1   Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 11


Fantastic Fun wins Game 1!


Thoughts:

Josh - No SttG, No counterplay. Bat beats.

Aaron - An opening hand of 2 childs? Damn right I kept it.






-GAME 2-



Josh elects to take even initiatives.

Both players Keep.

        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and recruits Uatu. Josh groans and lays his hand on the table. (Josh has Lost City, Aunt May, Pathetic Attempt, SttG, Mad Hatter, and Magneto) Aaron Passes.

Josh sets Lost City and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Both Players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 50    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50




        TURN 2 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh Draws Penguin and Pathetic Attempt.

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits a future tech onto Uatu, activating him to deal 3 damage then passing.

Josh sets SttG and recruits Mad Hatter.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh swings direct for 1

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 47    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 49




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)
Josh draws Scarlet Witch and Enemy of my enemy.

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and plays The 100 Ideas from his hand grabing a card from the bottom 4 cards in his deck. He then recruits the 3 drop Invisible woman into his hidden area and passes.

Josh sets and flips Enemy of my Enemy (Discarding Scarlet Witch) to fetch Poison Ivy, recruiting her into play protecting Mad hatter. he then uses Mad Hatter's effect to steal Uatu.
Aaron responds burning Josh for 3. josh then activates Ivy's effect (KOing Uatu and the face up Enemy) to grab 31st century Metro and place it into his row and proudly picks his cards up off the table.

"No more peeking! Haha!"

Both players then pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aron sends Invisible Woman into Ivy for a 1-sided stun and passes.

Josh sends Hatter direct for 1

    RECOVERY PHASE

Josh recovers Ivy.

    Migga City -> 42    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 48




        TURN 4 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Josh sets a resource and plays a rowed SttG (sending Rogue to his KO pile) he then activates Ivy's effect (koing hatter and SttG to place Avalon Space station into his row and flipping it up to immediately use its effect (discarding  Magneto) to return Rogue and Scarlet Witch to his hand and recruiting Rogue in his front row adjacent to the front row Ivy. he then flips up 31'st Century Metropolis to crossover Brotherhood and Arkham and flips up Lost City before passing.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Mr. fantastic, reed richards and equips a flamethrower to him and then equips a future tech to invisible woman. He flips up a New Baxter and draws a card and then passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh sends Rogue into Mr fan to test teh waters, and sure enough Aaron plays Child from his hand. Josh powers up discarding harley quinn to avoid the stunback and passes.

Aaron declares Mr fantastic into rogue and Rogue stuns. Then Invisible Woman swings into Ivy for another stun. Then both pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Josh recovers Rogue, KOing Ivy.

    Migga City -> 33    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 48




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Aaron sets a resource and plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding Clash) to search out Thing, recruiting him into play protecting Mr Fantastic before recruiting Namorita in his front row.

Josh sets a resource and recruits Scarlet witch protected by Rogue and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron Removes Namorita from the game to get Child afrom his KO pile and play it. He then declares a team attack with Invisible Woman and Thing into Rogue. Josh activates Avalon (discarding Ivy) to return harley and Mad hatter to his hand before passing into the stun. Aaron then activates Flamethrower's effect to deal 5 damage. Josh plays a rowed PA to negate the damage.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Josh recovers Rogue.

    Migga City -> 29    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 48





        TURN 6 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE


Josh sets a resource and recruits Mad Hatter, paying a resource to steal Mr fantastic. Aaron responds and uses Flamethrowers effect to deal 5 damage but Josh negates it with another PA from his hand.
Then Josh recruits Ivy into play and KO's Mr. fantastic and his face up rowed PA to fetch a slaughter Swamp flipping it face up.
With his last resource he then recruits Aunt May in his support row adjacent to Hatter, who searches out a Mystique, raven for him placing her into his hand. before he passes.

Aaron sets a resource and plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding Black Panther) to search out Human Torch, sparky recruiting it into play protected by Thing. Aaron then recruits mr, Fantastic, reed richards and equips Future tech onto Thing.
He continues, activating New Baxter to draw a card and then passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh declares Scarlet Witch into Thing. Passing once legal.
Aaron flips up and activates Four Freedoms Plaza and searches his deck for a card. After it resolves he plays Child from his hand. The attacks bricks, unable to stun or deal breakthrough, Josh passes.

Aaron sends Human torch into Rogue.
Josh considers things briefly and then powers up twice to avoid the stun. Next Aaron sends Mr. fantastic into aunt may. Josh passes and she stuns unreinforced.
Finally Aaron team swings Thing and Invisible woman into Rogue at a combined 15 ATK. JOsh passes and she stuns.

Aaron then plays a rowed Cosmic radiation readying his 4 characters. He activates Invisible woman, then chains the activations of Thing and Human torch, chaining a second rowed Cosmic radiation.
The chain resolves and they all ready, torch deals 6, and invisible woman and thing each deal 3. Scarlet witch triggers on each activation and Aaron loses 15.
Aaron then activates Torch for 6, and again chains Invisible Woman and Thing for 12 more total damage once more taking 15 from Scarlet Witch.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> -1    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 18


Fantastic Fun wins 2 games to 0!


Thoughts:


Josh - Ok that was super annoying. Being stuck in a situation where not blowing everythig to brick a team attack loses you the game just friggin sucks man. I wasn't expecting him to eat 30 damage from witch to end either.

Aaron - I was super worried about hatter so from the start the focus was getting 3 drop invis woman out. I had some pretty lucky draws though, i feel like if we played this series 10 times in a row, Fantastic fun would probably not win 2 straight games again.