SoL Rnd 3: Warp 9 vs. TF: Revenge

by Captain Spud

Gday: “…no, I don’t really know either of the decks.”

Spud: “Bwuh? But you don’t know any of the decks we’ve played.”

Gday: “Maybe, but Pablo DOES know this deck, so let’s let him pilot it.”

Spud: “You’re just inherently a bad person.”

*time passes*

Spud: “Sit. You’re playing TFR.”

Pablo: “Sweet, that means I can play drunk!”

Spud: “I know. I hate you so much right now.”

********************************************************

Warp Factor 9 (Spud) vs. Task Force: Revenge (Pablo)

********************************************************

Suggested Accompaniment: Load this YouTube link in a new tab/window. Nothing says drama like Gustav Holst.

Pablo wins the die roll and takes odds. Both players keep.

Turn 1

Pablo hits Sue Dibny, using her power to get Booster Gold. Spud hits WF9’s 1-drop for the first time in the entire tournament, putting Galan on the board. Spud activates his 1-drop to gain 2 endurance; Pablo dives into him with a power-up to chip a little of Spud’s score back off. During recovery, Spud plays Kindred Spirits to put Silver Surfer and Air-Walker on top of his deck.

Yes, that’s right: that was absolutely the most action-packed Turn 1 to date in Summer of Love.

Pablo 50, Spud 51

Turn 2

Spud recruits Silver Surfer, and in another landmark event, immediately hits the Board without needing to search! Surfer hides, and Spud flips Dr. Fate’s Tower to get a Cloak of Nabu for Galan, then passes. Pablo brings out Winslow Schott, and then a half-cost Mr. Mxy in the back row, before passing to combat.

Surfer starts things off by flying into and bouncing Mxy. (“Oh yeah, he flies.”) Galan goes into Winslow Schott for a stun, and doesn’t stun back thanks to the Cloak; Winslow puts the Sue Diny power-up back on top of the deck. Speaking of Sue, Surfer runs her over; she makes a phone call to the UN General Assembly as she arcs through the air, picking up a 5-drop Martian Manhunter before she hits the ground.

She doesn’t get back up.

Pablo 48, Spud 51

Turn 3

Pablo leads off turn 3 with Ruin, followed by a freebie Mxy in the back row. Spud brings out Air-Walker, transfers the Cloak to him, and then adds a Helm to the ensemble, forming him in the back.

Ruin dives through the 4/7 Herald, with Pablo giving him a Mob Mentality to ensure a dual; Air-Walker exhausts Winslow, and Ruin searches out Justice League Task Force as he goes down. Next, Mxy goes into Galan with a second Mob– Galan gains 2, then eats dirt.

On Spud’s swing-back, he first bounces Mxy to Pablo’s hand, and then decides that none of the available targets are really worth killing, so he activates to find 4-drop Barry Allen and passes. Galan is lost to recovery.

Pablo 45, Spud 47

Turn 4

Spud has turn 4 and recruits Barry Allen, transferring the partial Fate set to him. Pablo recruits Sue Dibny, flips a Justice League Task Force in response to her effect, and then searches out a Brainiac 13. Booster Gold comes out with boost, followed by Terra-Man and a freebie Mxy.

Surfer bounces Mxy for the third consecutive turn. Air-Walker goes into Booster Gold for a one-sider, followed by Barry Allen into Winslow Schott for the same (Winslow puts a recently-discarded 5-drop Manhunter on top of the deck as he goes down). Surfer closes it up by going into Sue Dibny.

Knowing he can’t let good attacks go to waste against this stall deck, Pablo sends Ruin into Barry Allen, playing the third Mob Mentality of the game for a dual, digging out a Toy Soldiers on the way down. Terra-Man then goes through Air-Walker for a one-sider, and combat’s over.

Spud plays Kindred Spirits during recovery to put 6-drop Terrax and 7-drop Surfer on top of his deck, then rallies with Alias to grab the former. Spud loses Air-Walker to recovery, Pablo loses everything but Ruin and Terra-Man.

Pablo 27, Spud 39

Turn 5

Pablo’s pretty happy with his recruit for this turn, putting Brainiac and a free Mxy on the board– followed by an Atomic Skull, who can finally nuke the hidden Surfer and shut down Spud’s search engine. However, Spud spoils his fun, bringing out Wally West – Fastest Man Alive, who activates to stun Atomic Skull before combat. Before passing, Spud completes his Fate set by putting an Amulet on Barry.

Pablo flips Justice League Task Force, then thinks for a while– he has a really solid board, but it’s mostly based around team attacking. After a few minutes, he sends Ruin (6/5 thanks to Toy Soldiers and Battle For Metropolis) into Wally West, but Spud activates Surfer and Alias to dig out a power-up, then discards it along with a second from hand to brick the attack. Ruin goes down, but digs out a second Toy Soldiers as he does so. Pablo’s second attack puts Mxy and Brainiac into Barry– combined they’re at 13, so Spud simply activates Barry to negate the attack. A little frustrated, Pablo sends the 9/9 Terra-Man (2/2 + five face-ups + two Toy Soldiers) into Wally, powering up for a one-sider.

Atomic Skull is lost to recovery.

Pablo 22, Spud 29

Turn 6

Spud activates Surfer and Alias during draw to dig out I Hunger, then rows it. He recruits Terrax and passes. Pablo activates Brainiac on Terrax to try to force him to transfer the artifacts over for the negation, but Spud, after pondering it for a while, ultimately elects not to, and takes a 6DEF hit on his 6-drop. For his recruit, Pablo brings out Martian Manhunter in the hidden area, followed by the ubiquitous Mr. Mxy. Before combat, Wally activates on Ruin.

Spud’s first attack is the now-customary Surfer Into Mxy. Next, he sends Barry (12/9) into Terra-Man (8/8). Manhunter pays 2 to move visible and give TM the +2ATK he needs to cause a dual; Spud responds with I hunger to gain a bit of life, then both characters go down. Terrax fires his payment power (replacing the Tower) to stun the hidden Brainiac, then goes in direct after Manhunter runs away again.

On Pablo’s return swing, he sends Manhunter through Terrax at Some Ungodly Amount for a dual. Recovery sees Terrax and Ruin leave the party.

Pablo 5, Spud 16

Turn 7

Pablo leads off turn 7 with Blue Beetle and Mr. Mxy. While the latter is on the chain, Spud activates Wally on Ted Kord, causing Pablo to activate him to find Booster Gold, who he recruits once the stun resolves. Lil’ Surfer grabs The Beyonder, then is replaced by his big brother, who slides some useless character into Spud’s row. Before passing, Spud plays a copy of Full Throttle from his row to ready Wally, then activates him to trade with Terra-Man, yanking out potentially Pablo’s strongest piece. Pablo’s on 2, Spud’s on 11.

Manhunter dives into Barry at 13ATK, but Barry activates, merely taking the 4 break. Mxy and Booster go into Surfer, and due to the obscene amount of pumps in play, the 7-drop goes down.

With no further ready characters in play, this ties the score… on 0.

The Beyonder recovers Silver Surfer, and play moves to turn 8.5.

Pablo 0, Spud 0

Turn 8

MWA

HA

HA

HA

HA

HA

HA

HA!

Final Score: Warp9 -13, TFR -73

********

Spud: “DAMNIT.”

Pablo: “Dear god. He’s still in for another round.”

Gday: “Another round at LEAST.”

Spud: *weeps uncontrollably*

Gday: “There there, buddy. We’ll DQ him next round.”

Spud: *sniff* “Super-swear?”

Gday: “Super-swear.”

Spud: *sniff* “You’re a good friend. I mean it.”

Gday: “That’s nice. You still can’t have your insulin back.”

Spud: “AAAAAARGGGHH DIE YOU $*(&(!$!!!!”

*sound of crashing pots and pans*

********

Out of interest: if you’ve ever wondered just how classy we are here at Lost Hemisphere, I think I’ve finally found a way to answer your question in a single image.

That, my friends, is a Warp Factor 9 deck composed of 44 proxies.

Classy.

-Spud