SoL Rnd 1: Psychos vs Dr Spectrum

Anyone who’s listened to this week’s TRHC is already aware of Squire’s concerns for this matchup. The Squadron/Inhumans teamup looks pretty darn sweet on paper, with a strong curve, good search, and card recursion – but the deck comes into its own on turn five, and Lady Luck’s paired it up against Brian Foley’s rush fiends in the Avengers/Sinister Syndicate deck.

Trying to do Squire a favor by not letting Spud play and miss drops, I took the reins of “Hi Dr Spectrum” while the Eponymous Pablo picked up the Psycho Reservists.

True to form, I roll a 1 for initiative, handing it over to Pablo. He opts for odds, cos he’s a Welshman with no legs. My opening draw includes Arcanna and Mysterium, so I opt for a mulligan…

Turn One

Pablo starts his little rush squad with Slyde. I, on the other hand, have hit none – NONE – of the mulligan conditions for the deck. That said, I have a Substructure and a Great Refuge for later, so I’m hoping to catch up.

I recruit nothing, and Slyde kicks me the face.

Spectrum: 48
Psychos: 50

Turn Two

Up come the locations, and Great Refuge gets me a San visibly – I’m not desperate for locations, and he has a healthy 4 DEF to help cut down on the beatings a little.

Beast comes out for the Psycho’s, shipping Wolverine to get The Contract. Dagger also joins the board.

San kicks Slyde in the jubblies, and Pablo decides not to lose a character and passes combat. WUSS!

Spectrum: 48
Psychos: 48

Turn Three

The horde expands with Fusion and Razorfist, up comes The Contract. On my side of the board, I’m missing Inertia so the Great Refuge grabs Crystal for me, also visible to more walling.

Razorfist pricks Pablo at the start of combat, and then Beast and Dagger tag-team San. Not to be outdone, Razorfist carves Crystal with +1 ATK form The Contract, before Slyde and Fusion kick me in the face.

Spectrum: 41
Psychos: 39

Turb Four

I’ve got the choice between Triton and Amphibian, but the way this race is going, I need to cause break wherever I can and wear him down. Triton it is. Flipping Construction Site, the second Great Refuge makes way for a Behaviour Modification Device, which quickly goes online and starts reducing my hand of chaffe in preparation for next turn.

On the other side of the board, Punisher: Secret Avenger slinks into the hidden area.

Crystal drops a metric tonne of dirt and rock on Slyde, though Dagger somehow manages to reinforce his slippery butt.

Following up, and fully aware that he can get ‘em back next turn if needed, Triton summons not one but two Royal Guard posse’s and gets medieval on Dagger.

In the face of this onslaught, Pablo blanches and passes combat.

Spectrum: 41
Psychos: 27

Turn Five

With over 40 endurance remaining, the Psycho’s have their work cut out for them…

A new Slyde comes into play, along with a boosted Carnage. Spider Hunt also flips, giving the entire Psycho Reservist board +4 ATK.

On my side, just to show love for Squire, I DIDN’T miss the 5-drop. Albert Gaines @ Nuke rolls out in good order.

Bring on Combat.

Carnage burns Pablo a little. Just a little, he’s managed to nuke his resources down to 3.

Slyde gathers his wherewithall about him and yells something incomprehensible as he charges into Triton… along with a Call Down The Lightning, and a Legacy of Evil just for kicks.

Fully aware that I could likely ditch my entire hand (which, to be honest, I could - I could ditch for BMD, play an Extended Family from hand, and power-up), Beast and Dagger joined up for 12 attack on Nuke.

Carnage, at 13/7, went after Crystal with a power-up to be sure.

From there on, Fusion and Punisher beat to the face, before Punisher bounces himself to get rid of Nuke for an extra 5 burn, tipping Dr Spectrum over into the negatives.

Spectrum: -2
Psychos: 22

And with that, we officially burn any chances we have of getting Summer Of Love any airtime on future episodes of The Ring Has Chosen.

Sorry, Squire - I had 6-drop Dr Spectrum in the resource row ready to go, the Construction Site had put Attilan in the place of the original Great Refuge, I was all set for a very smashy turn 6, but that rush was just too much, too fast.

On the other side of the coin, DAMN, Brian, that’s smashy… I’m thinking even initiative might he harder on the Psycho’s, but that’s a heck of an impressive turn 5 kill. Kudos for the build.