SoL Rnd 1: Hitler’s Watch vs Box Full of Evil

It’s funny how you end up cheering for one deck or another based purely on the personality behind it. On the one hand here we have Jason Hager, master deckbuilder and guy who’s won more accolades in this game than I could ever hope to; on the other hand we have the voice that was the purest form of optimism for so long, Rian Fike, championing the Damn Nazi’s in memory of their purple robot counterparts, the Wild Sentinels.

Even more amusing in this random matching is that we have the opposing BPRD and Thule Society squaring off in the first round. Will the forces of good prevail, or will the forces of evil ensure there is no third Hellboy movie???

Box Full Of Evil (myself) wins initiative, and opts for Evens, leaving Hitler’s Wristwatch (Spud) with Odds. I keep my opening hand, while Spud mulligans.

Turn One:

A nazi saunters out, unopposed, and kicks me in the proverbials.

Wristwatch: 50
Box of Evil: 48

Turn Two:

Sidney Leach arrives, digs in his storage bin and finds an Amulet of Nabu. Gosh, he thinks, this’ll go well that that Cloak I found earlier… and yes, I do believe we’ve just uncovered some sort of Helm in that Tower we found. (Yeah, I dumped all three artifacts on Sid… hee…)

Blinking in the glare of all that Nabuness, Spud tries to Wake The Devil but gets bupkiss. Karl Ruprecht comes out to play instead.

Karl does prove useful, finding a Nazi to join the cause, before Sidney thwaps him. The pre-existing Nazi reinforces.

Wristwatch: 48
Box of Evil: 48

Turn Three:

Out come the Nazi hordes! Spud recruits three of them; in response, I put a call in to the BPRD HQ and Thomas Manning comes a-running. He looks awfully nice in the Fartifacts.

Karl fails to find a Nazi this turn, losing a Flying Kick instead. He vents his frustration by sending a Nazi into Sidney, but Thomas kicks Karl right back. Whaddaya know, reinforcement abounds.

Wristwatch: 45
Box of Evil: 46

Turn Four:

One of my favourite BPRD members, Ben Daimio lurches out of the cave and slides right into those Fate Artifacts.

In response, not one but TWO Kang: Rama Tut’s hit the board, along with a Huge Annoying Tentacle. Damn, those things are huge and annoying.

Entering the combat phase, Karl drops his cell phone in a puddle and fails to call for reinforcements. Accordingly, Thomas Manning kicks a Nazi, followed by Sidney Leach swinging at one of the goose-stepping soldiers.

Damocles Base fails to reveal a powerup, so Spud rolls the dice with the Game of the Galaxy, revealing a pair of Nazi’s… but I reveal a pair of Jaime Reyes, so no powerup for Spuddly.

To round it out, Ben Daimion jumps up and down on the tentacles, squishing them lots. Sure, they’re reinforced, but it was satisfying anyway. They’re REALLY annoying.

Wristwatch: 38
Box of Evil: 46

Round Five:

Spud wakes the Devil on Damocles Base; for all his efforts he gets a single Nazi, which he recruits along with some Macrobots.

One of these things is not like the others

Finally showing some Legion presence, Ferro Lad soars in, teams up in the Past, Present and Future, and luckily topdecks Shrinking Violet, who fills out my resources for the turn.

Once again, Karl fails to find a Nazi – must have dialed a wrong number.

Spud’s entire board exhausts to pump a Macrobot to 8/9, which then declares into Manning. I let it come through, wanting to save Ben for a return swing, but apparently Macrobots can Press The Attack.

Eek! says I, but it turns out Manning’s Assassination was foiled, and he’s just fine… so the Macrobots hit him again. He can’t have another Press can he? I let it through, again thinking the swingback will counter the loss.

Oh dear, he has another one. Crushing Blow puts the Macrobot at 11/12 to Ben’s 11/12 (since Ben exhausts- those tentacles are annoying!!!), and Rama Tut bounces to hand to get the stun on Ben Daimio.

Just to rub it in, another Press The Attack puts the bots through poor Violet.

Wristwatch: 38
Box of Evil: 25

Turn Six:

Lobster Johnston proves he’s not a ghost, meandering in with some Light Armor. Lacking anything higher than a 2-drop, Rama Tut plays another Game Of The Galaxy, fetching a Nazi.

Just to remind us he’s still around, Karl actually finds a Nazi this turn. Go figure.

Sidney declares into Rama Tut thanks to Ben pointing him out, but Rama Tut runs away to Spud’s hand.

Lobster snaps at Karl, and a Nazi reinforces. Ben jumps up and down on the Tentacles again, before Sidney declares into another Nazi. Each of these victims have been activating to pump up a Macrobot to 8/9, who swings on Sidney in response.

Wristwatch: 25
Box of Evil: 17

Turn Seven:

That Rama Tut, he’s a gamer at heart… once again playing for the Galaxy, the revelation of two Nazi’s nets Spud a Flying Kick. Damocles Base doesn’t find anything though, and Spud’s left recruiting a single Nazi.

I opt not to play a resource, and recruit Johann Kraus in the Visible area to help protect poor little breakthrough magnet Sidney Leach.

Nazi #1 suicides into Lobster to exhaust him (damn tentacles!). Nazi #2 does the same on Johann. Some board exhaustion pumps a Macrobot to 7/6, a Flying Kick makes it 10/6 into Sidney, but… Ben reinforces.

Wristwatch: 23
Box of Evil: 15

Turn Eight:

Finally, we see Hellboy… but it’s his 1-drop. Heh. Another Shrinking Violet also comes out to play. In response, Damocles Base gets a Nazi for Spud, and it’s his only recruit for the turn.

Hellboy? Kicks a Nazi. Violet? Kicks a Nazi. Sidney? Kicks a Nazi. Johann? Kicks a Macrobot. Lobster? Kicks a Macrobot. Ben? Kicks a Nazi.

There’s really nothing more to say than that.

Wristwatch: -9
Box of Evil: 14

The Box Full of Evil advances to the second round.