By: Norman Halimsetiawan
Second round of the tournament, but my first game, due to scheduling difficulties for the first round.
Part of the excitement in this tourney is that all decklists are public, so there is much preparation that can be done.
For this round my matchup is Eric Isabedra, who is piloting Cosmic Burn. A Doom/Fantastic Four deck utilizing Volcana, Cosmic Radiation and Mjolnir for some serious burns. The rest of the deck mostly tries to stall the opponent using several effects from different sources.
My take on this was I probably need to get Black Hand early on the table to gain enough endurance and counterbalancing his burns. With that I should be able either to stall it with Hal Jordan in the late game or use Sinestro, Enemy of the Corps, alternate win condition. Meanwhile taking out his team-ups with Breaking Ground might be enough disruption to his strategy using the cosmic radiation and prevent him search out the necessary characters. My only fear is, that 2 Breaking Grounds might not be enough.
So off we go:
GAME 1
Eric won the roll and decided on odds
Turn 1
Eric mulligans.
I keep my opening hand with Brainwave, Blackhand, The Ring has Chosen and Rain of Acorns.
Eric sets a resource and passes.
I set a resource and recruit Brainwave.
Brainwave burns for 1.
Cosmic Burn 49 – GLOCK 50
Turn 2
I set a resource and recruit Black Hand protecting Brainwave.
Eric sets a resource and recruits Kristoff von Doom into his front row.
In the attack step, I might be overcautious and just passed my attack. Since Eric did not attack as well, I burn for 1 exhausting Black Hand.
Start of recovery I gain 2 endurance through Black Hand.
Cosmic Burn 48 – GLOCK 52
Turn 3
Eric sets a resource and plays Boris in the front row next to Kristoff von Doom, who now gets equipped with an Advance Hardware. With 1 resource point left he passes.
I set a resource and recruit Tomar Re into the support row, while Brainwave protects Black Hand.
Eric decided to pass on his attack. Tomar Re swings for Kristoff von Doom, who burns with Advance Hardware for 3. He uses Boris’ effect to fetch a Reign of Terror. So, I know what to expect soon.
Black Hand does a direct swing for 2, while Brainwave gets exhausted for a Millenium from my resource row, teaming up GL and EE and drawing me a card.
Start of recovery I gain 4 endurance through Black hand.
Cosmic Burn 44 – GLOCK 53
Turn 4
I set a resource and play a Ring Has Chosen From my hand, trying to keep my options from the resource row open, should he drop Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, this turn. I fetched Malvolio and discarded Rain of Acorns since it will not really be of use in this match up. I recruit Malvolio and have him protect Black Hand, while Tomar Re protects Brainwave.
Eric sets a resource and recruits Valeria Richards to his front row. He exhausts her to play Millenium from his resource row, teaming up FF and Doom and drawing a card. He plays Signal Flare from his resource row, to which I respond and chain Tomar Re’s effect, discarding Kyle Rayner, Ion, and Meltdown for it. I fetch a Breaking Ground and put it on the chain, exhausting Brainwave for the additional cost and replace Eric’s Millenium, hoping to mess up his search. However, he has a second Millenium in the resource row. He exhausts Kristoff von Doom to pay the additional cost. So, two extra draws for Eric and he can go on with his search for either FF or Doom. He fetches Dr. Doom, Unholy Arsenal, and recruits him into the front row. My efforts preventing the Reign of Terror did not work out. He forms Doom protecting Kristoff, Valeria is unprotected in the support row.
I get to attack first and go for Dr. Doom with Malvolio. Eric flips up a Doomstadt, so ending it in a stalemate. Black Hand tries to go for Valeria. Before it is legal, the dreaded Reign of Terror swoops in, targeting Brainwave and Black Hand. As a response I flip up an Emerald Dawn from and KO’d Brainwave to fetch Katma Tui for the next turn. Black Hand gets returned to my hand. Finally, Tomar Re succeeds in making any damage at all by attacking Valeria and dealing a total of 3 damage. Eric passes on his attack with only Dr. Doom left ready.
Cosmic Burn 40 – GLOCK 53
Turn 5
Start of the draw phase Malvolio lets me arrange my top 3 cards.
Eric sets a resource. He uses Valeria’s effect to draw a card. He recruits Volcana protecting Valeria and equips her with Mjolnir. He plays A Clash of Worlds from his hand naming Valeria to recruit a second one into his support row and directly uses her effect to draw another card. He forms Valeria protecting Volcana. Doom protects Kristoff and the second Valeria is next to Kristoff unprotected.
At this point my whole hand are purely characters, giving me the difficult choice what I should set as a resource, since it will be a useless card for the rest of the game. I decided to put Dr. Light as a resource, figuring I would not recruit him anyway. Katma gets recruited protecting Tomar Re, while Malvolio is next to him in the support row.
Eric passes his attack, so I try to make the first attack sending Katma Tui into Volcana. Eric flips up a Mystical Paralysis, preventing the attack. I chained to exhaust Katma and Tomar Re for 5 endurance. Malvolio now tries the same attacking Volcana, while Eric realised it probably would have been better to use Mystical Paralysis before Katma entered play. Before the attack becomes legal, Eric flips up a Cosmic Radiation. He chains the effects of Volcana and Advance Hardware to burn me for a total of 10. I hesitated a bit about fetching my second Breaking Ground to prevent the Doom characters readying, but decided against it, taking another burn for 10. Meanwhile Eric draws 2 extra cards through his Valerias. Malvolio stuns Volcana and that is all I can do.
Cosmic Burn 36 – GLOCK 38
Turn 6
Malvolios lets me arrange the top 4 cards of my deck before I draw 2.
I mistook this turn for Eric’s initiative, before he reminded me that it is mine. I set a resource and directly flip it up. Book of OA and 3 characters with a Willpower of 2 or greater, allows me to look at the top 3 cards of my deck. Fetching me Call in A Favor while discarding Black Hand. I recruited Sinestro, formed Katma protecting Sinestro and Malvolio protecting Tomar Re.
Eric uses both Valerias to draw 2 cards. He sets a resource and flips it up, which is a Signal Flare. I use Tomar Re’s power, discarding Parallax and a Cover Fire, which are worthless against burn. I fetch my second Breaking Ground and use Tomar Re for the additional cost, replacing his Millenium. With Millenium gone, he fetches another Valeria through Signal Flare and discards Invisible Woman for it. He recruits Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, into the front row, flipping down the Cosmic Radiation and also causing the other Doctor enter the KO’d Pile. As a second recruit Rama Tut enters play and fetches a Cosmic Radiation. Eric forms Dr. Doom protecting Kristoff. Rama Tut in the middle protecting Volcana, while one Valeria is protecting the other.
I start my attack declaring Katma into Volcana. Volcana uses her burn and together with Mjolnir gives me 6 damage. Volcana gets stunned without reinforcement for a breakthrough of 3. Malvolio goes for Kristoff and he burns for 3, being stunned himself and a breakthrough of 2. Sinestro swings on Doom. During the attack Eric plays a Reign, sending Tomar Re back to my hand. Doom gets stunned with a breakthrough of 3. Eric plays a Reign on his own Kristoff in his attack step. In the recovery he chooses to keep Volcana and KO Doom.
Cosmic Burn 19 – GLOCK 29
Turn 7
Malvolio lets me arrange the top 6 cards of my deck.
Eric starts his build phase by playing a Tech Upgrade from hand using Rama Tut to pay for it and fetch a Cloak of Levitation. He tries to draw 2 cards with Valeria, but I reminded him that he has no Team-Up and her powers are off. Realising this he conceded the game, since he has no Team-Up in the resource row nor hand and could not use his combo.
GLOCK takes the first game.
GAME 2
Eric chooses odds again
Turn 1
Eric mulligans. I mulligan as well.
In any other game I might have hold the hand with Lanterns in Love, Brainwave, Rain of Acorns and Speedy, but for this matchup Speedy and Rain of Acorns are not useful. My mulligan gives me 4 character cards Katma, Major Disaster, Kyle Rayner and Professor X. Not bad, but not the optimum as well. Luckily the next 2 cards are 2 The Ring Has Chosen, at least ensuring a good curve.
Eric sets a resource and recruits Valeria to the front row.
I set a resource and pass.
Cosmic Burn 50 – GLOCK 50
Turn 2
I set a resource and recruit Kyle Rayner into the support row, fetching a Breaking Ground through his recruit effect.
Eric sets a resource and recruits Kristoff von Doom into the front row. He immediately flips up a Common Enemy and uses Valeria’s effect to draw a card. Small hiccup in using OCTGN, he accidentally drawn 2 cards. 1 Card was put back on top and we’re good to go again. He formed both characters into the support row.
Kyle swings for Valeria in the attack step and Kristoff reinforces her. Mitigating the damage to 1
Cosmic Burn 49 – GLOCK 50
Turn 3
Eric sets a resource and recruits Puppet Master. With the remaining resource he equips Kristoff with an Advance Hardware.
I set a resource and recruit Dr. Light. I play a The Ring Has Chosen from my hand to fetch Malvolio while discarding Major Disaster. With that I get to use Dr. Light’s effect, bringing Major Disaster into play from the KO’d pile. I form Dr. Light protecting Kyle and Major stays unprotected in the support row.
During his attack step Eric uses Puppet Master’s effect, to which I exhaust Major. Kristoff stays ready and Eric passes.
Kyle swings for Valeria, but Eric uses her effect to move her to his hidden area before the attack, paying 1 endurance for it. Kyle then goes on Puppet Master and does the stun. With Kristoff not needed for reinforcement, Eric burns for 3. I play a Meltdown to get rid of his Hardware afterwards.
Cosmic Burn 46 – GLOCK 47
Turn 4
I set a resource and recruit Malvolio. I form Kyle in front of Major, while Malvolio protects Dr. Light. I thought about using The Ring Has Chosen to fetch Black Hand and discard him for Dr. Light to bring him into play but considered I might need it later to hit my curve.
Eric sets a resource and flips up a Signal Flare. I flip up Breaking Ground to replace his Team-Up, exhausting Kyle for it. To still get his desired drop, Eric chains a second Signal Flare. Discarding Invisible Woman he fetches Boris. With the other Signal Flare he only managed to fetch another Invisible Woman, that he discards again. He recruits Dr. Doom, Unholy Arsenal, and Boris. I smell a Reign of Terror here…
Eric forms his characters, having Boris protecting Doom and Kristoff protecting Puppet Master.
I start the attack by swinging at Doom with Malvolio. With no effects played Malvolio stuns Doom without any further damage. I know a Reign would be coming, but I still need to go on with the attacks. Dr. Light tries to swing at Puppet Master. Eric reacts by using Boris’ effect and fetches a Reign of Terror. He immediately plays the Plot Twist targeting my Dr. Light to be returned to my hand. Since I cannot negate it, I flipped up an Emerald Dawn and chose to KO Dr. Light for it and fetch Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar. Major tries to swing at Kristoff, but Eric uses Puppet Master to have me exhaust Major as my last ready character before that can happen.
Eric decides to pass on his attack.
Cosmic Burn 43 – GLOCK 47
Turn 5
I rearrange my top 3 cards of the deck through Malvolio’s effect before drawing.
Eric sets a resource and flips it up. It’s Tech Upgrade. He exhausts Kristoff for it and fetches a Cloak of Levitation. He recruits Robot Destroyer and equips Doom with the Cloak. He forms Puppet Master protecting Kristoff and Robot Destroyer protecting Doom. His sneaky Valeria keeps lurks from the front row of his hidden area.
I set a resource and recruit Katma, forming her protecting Major. Malvolio protects Kyle and we go to the Combat Phase.
Puppet Master’s effect is Eric’s first action for which I exhaust Major. Doom swings at Kyle and I take the stun and breakthrough of 3. Eric passes, before he realises, he still has the Cloak. The Cloak gets exhausted and forbids Katma from attacking this turn. My only attack is Malvolio on Puppet Master, which Eric allowed to happen. I thought that Robot was going to be used to stun my Malvolio, but do not mind that it did not happen. I pass and we go to recovery.
Cosmic Burn 39 – GLOCK 42
Malvolio lets me arrange my top 4 cards before drawing.
I set a resource that I directly flip it up. The Book of OA now gives me the chance to pick a card from the top 4, but also discarding one for it. I chose Call In A Favor and discarded a Katma for it. I recruit Sinestro. My formation has Malvolio protecting Major, Kyle protecting Sinestro and Katma standing next to Sinestro unprotected.
Eric thinks a bit before setting a resource and after a while decided to concede. He did not have a Team-Up he could play and no drops to play, leaving him open to my attacks, even though he could stun Malvolio and have me exhaust another character. That would still leave me Katma, Sinestro and either Kyle or Major to attack. Although he would survive the turn, it will probably be difficult to deal enough burn damage the next turn, since Katma would allow me to regain part of that endurance.
GLOCK managed to make it two straight games.
It was a good match up. I was happy I managed to win the first game, because during the game I had my doubts several times, if using Tomar Re’s effect, which cost me two cards every time just to get the Breaking Grounds would do more good than damage to myself, since I was able to gain enough endurance anyway to anticipate the large burns. In the end I think it was the correct decision.
Pretty curious what my next matchup would be.
No comments:
Post a Comment