The Postgame Report: Round 1

A "Wild" upset!
A Teen Titans power stall?!? That works?
A win by only a single endurance!
A tied game at -9 goes into overtime!
All this and MORE in this week's SUMMER OF LOVE 2...

With no eliminations being threatened this week the stakes are lower than any other round, however an early win now helps cover that skewed match-up later. So let's get to it!

ROUND 1

Match 1: Defenders, Attack! -VS- Gamma Robuts

A promising matchup turns sour when Defenders completely miss their hulk on 5, while somehow also never managing to ever play a single Hulk Smash, even though pulling 2. A bastion imbued Sub-Mariner cleans house on turn 7 to come from behind and take the game after Hulk swings 3x at 19/19 with a Mjolnir equipped to damage Gamma Robuts exactly to zero. Again, No hulk smashes since Hulk needed righteous anger to juke the Paralysis. This left our Defenders player lamenting some searches that just didnt pay off as he spent a search for Sam Parington on 3 rather than waiting for the topdeck potential of 4 before doing so.

Final:Defenders Attack  DEFEATED BY  Gamma Robuts

-9 to 0

Match 2: SkrullF*cked  -VS- The Cliffs of INSANITY!

Opting to mulligan out of what would have been a God-hand, Skrulls ran into some tough times when they wiffed entirely on 4 and didn't manage to see Mutopia all game long. Bad beats.

Final: SkrullF*cked   DEFEATED BY  The Cliffs of INSANITY!
-7 to 25

Match 3: The MorMans are Coming! -VS- Secretly Wolverine

Mormans controlled the entire game, managing to prevent Wolverine's multiple swings over weak targets, and even managed to not place a single counter on Master Man! However a turn 6 Kirigi swinging with 32 over a Marrow with 14/23 with no outs sealed the deal... Except Healer and Electric Ever brought the game to a TIE at -9 on turn 6! EXTRA INNINGS!
With the initiative things looked good for the Morlocks, Even with no big drops to add marrow promised to be at least a 15 atk without pumps... and thats when the Illuminati underdrop happened. Iron man and Mr fan exhausting for Iron Man's effect put Marrow on ice. Leaving the MorMans player wishing the deck had a Calisto.

Final: The MorMans are Coming!  DEFEATED BY  Secretly Wolverine

-25 to -20

Match 4: BroStat-X -VS- Exhaust Squad

With a potent turn two dealing a crazy 22 damage to BroStat-X, it seemed perhaps Exhaust Squad could keep up the pressure, but a hard wiff on 3 and another one on 4 sealed their fate as BroStat-X jsut turn their cards sideways better. Sending Exhaust Squad into the deep negatives. Bad luck and bad beats happen. This one was both.

Final: BroStat-X  DEFEATS  Exhaust Squad

12 to -18

Match 5: Dark Magic -VS- Evil Secrets

An early Total Anarchy and a turn 4 Grigori on initative forced a board wipe for Evil Secrets on 4 (with the exception of a hidden deadshot). While Evil Secrets benefitted from their sustain trying to re-establish themselves, it was a double Conclave negating a double Hard Sound Construct play on turn 6 that put down any thoughts of a comeback.

Final: Dark Magic  DEFEATS  Evil Secrets

1 to -10

 Match 6: The Swingers' Club -VS- HellKnights

The Swingers' Club immediately got to work with the perfect turn 1, alt playing Aunt May into a Zabu, and by the start of turn 3 had dealt a fast 14 damage. HellKnighs patiently dropped prof for hellboy search before subbing in barb and euipping her with the complete fate suite. while she did some damage, The Swingers kept swinging face for cutting them almost to half endurance. However once Hellboy hit the table, things took a decisive turn, with a Ka-Boom keeping both teams locked into 2 consecutive turn 4's and a nice stack of pancakes to defend with, HellKnights manages to hang on and sneak a victory against the spider-friend hidden swarm.On the back of a clutch Bat Got Your Tongue on a Mega-blast, leaving Zabu in the support row unable to contribute in the final swing.

Final: The Swingers' Club  DEFEATED BY  HellKnights

-13 to -11

Match 7: Mind Games -VS- Unjust Fear

In a nail-biter going straight to turn 7, Unjust fear finally wore out the Jean Grey mind-games and remarkable counter-abuse for the decisive board wipe before a Phoenix Force could rally to save the game.

Final: Mind Games  DEFEATED BY  Unjust Fear
  -13 to 15

Match 8: Devourer of Speed  -VS- Hulk Smash You... Yesterday

While Devourer hit surver on 2 and the surfboard, Hulk was perfectly fine to have his characters go direct for fast damage. A questionable turn 3 recruit of Kang Cobra hidden on 3 gimps Hulk 4's ability to stun surfer while Morg (thanks to a free cosmic counter from surfboard) spins hulk 4 back to hand. On 5 Devourer sought to regain some tempo, dropping Wally west to swing into the hidden Kang with another replenished Morg spinning the under-dropped Hulk 4 back to hand again. With a turn 6 initiative, however, a 13/13 hulk with a rfp'd miek slammed face with a double hulk smash over Morg for maximum damage and plays a righteous anger to ready up and then swing over the 6 drop Barry Allen as well, Thanks to Kang, no power-ups to force a stunback. Hulk passes with his opponent at a -16 endurance total on his enemy before passing with 15 endurance himself.
Devourer terminal velocities the lone 5 drop flash. and swings direct, double beatdowns to 20, then flips full throttle discarding another flash to ready the attacker and laments his inability to power-up before playing team tactics, exhausting it to itself for a 40 atk direct swing. and falling short... by 1 endurance. Hulk smash wins by a thin green hair!

Final: Devourer of Speed  DEFEATED BY  Hulk Smash You...Yesterday
-16 to -15

Match 9: Gods Matter -VS- Rita Repulsa

The potential of Rita Repulsa to put supermassive characters into play is shadowed only by it's potentially already large plot twist benefactors like Terra-Man and Fatality to make some massive swings. However, those things take time. and Gods Matter handily closed the game on 4 with a triple megablast turn and smart use of chomin to get to the negatives.

Final: Gods Matter  DEFEATS  Rita Repulsa
23 to -2

Match 10: IMMORTALS -VS- Sub-Mariner SHIELD of Atlantis

A great set-up for IMMORTALS is interrupted by wiffing their Code White on an unneeded Gorilla City pump, preventing them from keeping their board intact. On 6 a topdecked WarMachine armor left IMMORTALS at 1 endurance as the SHIELD of Atlantis misplayed their turn, forgetting to swing their 2 drop for a mutual stun. On a defensive7 though Thor activated 3 times for 23 burn on each activation to lock up the game, even though IMMORTALS had a massive swing, to the tune of 40 damage, it proved not to be enough... not by a longshot.

Final: IMMORTALS  DEFEATED BY Sub-Mariner SHIELD of Atlantis
-63 to -21

Match 11: Demons United -VS- Outsider Protocol

Outsider protocol was off to a great start until a Merlyn turn 5 underdrop with an extremely large Bizarro threatened an alt win on a visible Ahmed. This forced a substitute on Ahmed before he could set up the resources outsiders needed and as a result the game went to turn 8, where Demons United finally put the nail in the combo-swingers' coffin.

Final: Demons United  DEFEATS Outsider Protocol
-4 to -15

Match 12: Foul-Mouthed Dark God -VS- Kill you to Death!

Kill you to Death! managed to set up THREE recharges by turn 4. in an attempt to draw into some answers for the dark god but none were found. what's more on 6, Darkeid, the Omega stole a recharge, and subbed into another, and another, taking all that bonus draw for himself. One of the more one-sided wins of the week.

Final: Foul-Mouthed Dark God DEFEATS Kill you to Death!
26 to -4

Match 13: Crapple Jacks -VS- Super Legionnaires

Super legionnaires wiffed early and it allowed Crapple Jacks to Wipe the entire board with a Negative Zone, Gateway. after that there was no looking back, Star boy couldn't meet loyalty on 6 and a get them my pets KO'd the underdropped Brainiac the second it went to combat, leaving face-shots for 2 seekers with 2 beatdowns.

Final: Crapple Jacks DEFEATS Super Legionnaires
18 to -10

Match 14: Young Avengers Flight VS Intergalactic Carpool

The carpool missed every stop on its way to loser-town this week! wiffing HARD on stargate until it was essentially too late. Not much else to say here.

Final: Young Avengers Flight  DEFEATS  Intergalactic Carpool
42 to -5

Match 15: Tam'Ar Empire VS Dead Guys

Dead Guys came out fast, Using Fire to burn a quick 25 endurance, but some timely Dirty Tricks and Shi'Ar Soldiers allowed for the defense needed to get The Tam'Ar Empire into the late game. A Koriand'r on 7 followed by an 8 drop Raven Locked it up handily.

Final: Tam'Ar Empire DEFEATS Dead Guys
22 to -2

Match 16: BKKO -VS- WEE

With an even initiative, WEE immediately set the tempo with a Crippler on 1 with a prison planet face-up for a fast 4 damage, BKKO's turn 2 saw huntress trade with Crippler who still managed the stunback even after paying 2 ATK to ensure that she not ready. While both teams wiffed on 4, it was the under-dropped Man-Eater allowing access to the hidden area that began to make a difference. After a big turn 5 initiative that couldn't quite seal the deal, leaving WEE at 6, with 2 characters in play, it was the flexibility of Sandman along with a blindsided that stole the close game away on a turn 6 initiative swinging over a Savant with 19 ATK thanks to an imaginative use of 2x Empire of tears, and Sandman's payment effect in a game that might have gone either way.

Final: BKKO  DEFEATED BY  WEE

-16 to -5

Week 2 is just around the corner! I ask that if you built your deck and wish to PLAY please let me know! Once again all matches are due by 11pm EST, Thursday, July 15th! Same goes for Bets!

CHECK OUT THE BRACKET AS IT PROGRESSES!