Jason Green did not look well. I found him passed out across three side-event chairs an hour earlier.

“I feel really sick, my back hurts, I have a headache, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Can you put in the coverage that Jason Green entered the feature-match area whining?” asked Green’s friend, Jeremy Gray, with a big grin.

Yes, we can, Jeremy. Yes, we can. Despite feeling ill, Jason Green was carrying himself well and staying in good spirits. Rich Edbury was in his top form, with his smile, wit, and constitution intact. He joked a bit with Jason Green—Green knew Gray from Indiana, and Edbury knew him from the time Gray spent in Britain last year, so camaraderie abounded.

Green won the opening roll. “Five! That’s unbeatable! Watch—bam!” Edbury rolled a one. “It’s the ‘bam’ that did it! I am the greediest man alive,” Green said, as he mulliganed and Edbury kept his opening hand.

No characters hit on turn 1, but Edbury did manage to Baxter Building successfully. On the next turn, he would recruit Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl and give her The Pogo Plane.

“Optitrizon!” shouted Green, searching out and recruiting Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. In response, Edbury activated Baxter Building, but it missed.

“And a whiff!” exclaimed Green cheerily.

“I’ll assume attacking is sort of a waste at this point,” said Edbury, who passed.

“I’ll swing in!” announced Green, smacking off Invisible Girl’s counter. Edbury activated The Pogo Plane to search out Antarctic Research Base (ARB), and both characters readied.

With the initiative behind him, Green recruited Hank Hall ◊ Hawk with boost. “It would not have been funny if I forgot the boost,” quipped Green to one of his friends.

Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards was recruited by Edbury, and Reed hunkered down behind Invisible Girl. Mr. Fantastic nabbed Unstable Molecules, and Edbury carefully stacked the cards he was placing on the bottom of his deck—he seemed to be planning for Thinking Outside the Box. Edbury equipped Unstable Molecules to Mr. Fantastic, and in response flipped Antarctic Research Base to score a draw. He then flipped his third set resource, Pier 4. He equipped Mr. Fantastic with another Unstable Molecules, drew again, and then blew the first Molecules to free up space on Reed. A Fantasticar was then given to Reed, spending Edbury’s last resource point. Placing both characters in his support row, Edbury passed his build. Before the build phase ended, Green flipped and activated USS Argus. He then attacked with Hawk, smacking Invisible Girl. Edbury’s Baxter Building dug up a War Wagon, and all characters readied as the recovery phase was entered.

After both competitors drew, Edbury again activated Baxter Building, this time without hitting anything. He recruited Thing, Ben Grimm, equipped an Unstable Molecules to him to draw a card, flipped Thinking Outside the Box, and equipped War Wagon to Thing to draw yet again, this time off the bottom of his deck. He formed up in a reverse L, with Invisible Girl protecting Reed Richards, and Ben Grimm in front.

Green activated USS Argus, nabbed Terra, and recruited her. He formed up with Terra and Hawk protecting Roy Harper ◊ Speedy and Dove respectively. Invisible Girl attacked Dove, Green activated Terra on Thing, Edbury activated A Child Named Valeria, Speedy KO’d Invisible Girl (or at least tried to), and Edbury chained yet another Child. Invisible Girl went down, but Grimm was saved. Stretch pummeled Dove, and Edbury passed.

“Leeeeet’s not have you draw all the best cards together at once,” said Green, using Foiled to destroy Thinking Outside the Box. Thing activated to War Wagon away Dove, and that was the turn.

Green regained control of the initiative for turn 5, and he recruited Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and Speedy. Terra attempted to stun Ben Grimm, but Edbury threw the War Wagon at Speedy before Thing stunned. Green activated Argus again and then used Optitron to fetch Red Star.

Edbury activated Baxter Building, but it missed again. He recruited Human Torch, Hotshot and protected Mr. Fantastic with him. Robin promptly attacked into Human Torch with a Savage Beatdown and managed to get the stun. Hawk then attacked Mr. Fantastic with a Savage, and Edbury activated Fantastic in response, missing his effect but again being able to stack the bottom cards of his deck. Unstable Molecules was activated and KO’d, but both characters still went down. Edbury lost everything but Human Torch, while Green kept Terra and Speedy.
 
Baxter Building again activated and got Edbury a Personal Force Field. He equipped it to Human Torch, recruited Ant Man, and then gave the Torch yet another Force Field. Flamethrower was then attached to Ant Man, and Green Argus’d in response. Terra then targeted and stunned Ant Man before the equipment was equipped. When the recruitment of the Flamethrower resolved, Ant Man was face down, and the attachment was no longer legal, so the Flamethrower was discarded. Flipping another Argus to replace the one he blew up moments ago, Green took another card, and Edbury ended his build by recruiting another Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. Human Torch hid behind her, and Garth ◊ Tempest arrived on Green’s side. Speedy wiped out the Invisible Girl, and Edbury announced, “I have no attacks.” Green did not have one either, so Edbury burned with Human Torch’s effect for 5 endurance. It was 36 to 29 in Jason’s favor.

Green drew. “Hey! Didn’t know that card was there,” he grinned, taking the Speedy back. “I’ll just play this guy.”

He recruited Connor Kent ◊ Superboy, Tactile Telekinetic and formed up in an L with ranged characters in the back and Connor Kent up front. Edbury activated Baxter Building, hit an Unstable Molecules, recruited it to Ant Man, and drew a card. He then Signal Flared for Mr. Fantastic, Stretch and gave him Advanced Hardware—once again, ARB got him another card. Ant Man got a Flamethrower, and this one stuck.

“Can I look at your yard?” asked Green. Edbury forked over his KO’d pile, and Green looked through it before letting the attachment go through. Edbury drew a card for it, recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, and gave her an Advanced Hardware for yet another draw. Another Advanced Hardware came down on Stretch, another card was drawn, and the same happened with a Pogo Plane on Invisible Girl.

It was Green’s beats, and he declared an attack with all three of his characters against Human Torch, Hotshot—it was legal. Torch activated to burn for 5, and Edbury activated A Child Named Valeria. In response to it, Green activated A Child Named Valeria. His characters readied. Still in response, he Overloaded Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, and she activated to burn Green for 3 with her Hardware. However, there was nothing that Edbury could do, so Invisible Girl stunned.

“Still in response to Valeria, I’ll Finishing Move.” He finally let Valeria resolve, and the attack was still in progress. Torch was stunned and dealt no stun back since his two equips were nothing but Personal Force Fields. Edbury’s board was packed with too many equips to shuffle Advanced Hardware around in order to force a stun.

Superboy attacked Mr. Fantastic, who activated in response to burn for 3. Green paid 3 with Garth, took back Teen Titans Go!, and Terra’d Ant Man. Ant Man exhausted to Flamethrower Green’s endurance, and that was all he could do. Ant Man stunned and got KO’d by the Flamethrower. Still responding to his own attack, he played Teen Titans Go!—Superboy and Garth exhausted to give Superboy +4 to DEF, and with everything stunned, Green again searched Edbury’s KO’d pile a bit before deciding on a course of action. It was turn 7, with six resources each, and a Finishing Move could be game breaking.

Sure enough, Green just revealed it from his hand. “It’s going somewhere, just wondering where it’s going.” He pondered for another minute or two. “This is like, the most important decision I’ve made ever!” He talked it over aloud, and then decided to Finishing Move Stretch.

Turn 8, and the initiative was again under Edbury’s control. Baxter Building again activated and missed. He Signal Flared to find another Stretch, recruited him, and then gave him a Flamethrower. With only three cards in hand, none of which were equips, Edbury was seriously running out of steam. He recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, stuck her in front of Stretch, and passed. Burning for 5 with Stretch and Hotshot this turn, the game was going to end one way or another, as the endurance totals were 10 to 25 in Edbury’s favor.

Green recruited quickly. Koriand’r ◊ Starfire hit the field, and in response to the recruitment, Hotshot and Stretch both burned. Responding to that, Green paid 2 endurance and blew up one of Human Torch’s Force Fields. A second payment blew up the other. Green needed to pound home maximum damage, and he couldn’t let Stretch bounce either Force Field between the characters he was going to attack, so he dropped to -4. Terra stunned Invisible Girl with her effect, and Koriand’r smashed into Hotshot to drop Edbury down to 13, and Garth crashed into Stretch with a Savage Beatdown. Edbury went down to 4 endurance, and Green went to -9. Edbury dropped to -8 with an attack from Connor Kent, but it was just a hair short! Edbury took the win for game 1!

Green took the initiative on odd turns, and neither player had a character on turn 1. Edbury recruited She-Thing on turn 2, and Green managed a Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. She-Thing knocked into Robin, and both characters stunned and recovered.

Robin would be joined by Roy Harper Arsenal on turn 3, and Edbury would get his engine going by flipping Antarctic Research Base, recruiting Frankie Raye and giving She-Thing an Advanced Hardware. He drew a card, then drew another by giving Frankie a Flamethrower. At the end of Edbury’s build, Green Argus’d. Arsenal attacked into She-Thing, who burned Green in response, and both characters stunned. Tim Drake attacked into Frankie Raye, who also activated to burn, and both characters again stunned (Frankie Raye was immediately KO’d). Green recovered Harper, and that was the turn.

Edbury was moving at a faster clip now, and Green was matching his pace. Edbury drew his two cards, recruited Ant Man, gave it Advanced Hardware, and drew. He recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, hid him behind Ant Man, and passed, leaving She-Thing in the front row. Green Argus’d, recruited Terra to protect Arsenal, and invited Edbury to move to his combat phase. Terra swung into Ant Man, dishing out some breakthrough, and Arsenal attacked Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. Titans Tower with another copy of Terra made Arsenal nice and large, and Edbury could not reinforce. Instead, he activated Reed Richards to dig for another Flamethrower, and he lost 8 endurance. She-Thing then activated to burn with Advanced Hardware, and at the end of the turn, it was Arsenal and Terra vs. She-Thing and Reed.

Green was really tearing through the game now, dropping cards quickly and drumming his fingers when he wasn’t. He Argus’d, recruited Garth, formed up in an L with Terra protecting Arsenal, and attempted to snipe at Mr. Fantastic with Arsenal’s effect. Reed activated in response to nab another piece of equipment, and Reed went down. Terra blew up Argus and took off after She-Thing, who responded with another Advanced Hardware burn and then stunned. The endurance totals were at 27 to 26, Edbury still narrowly in the lead.

It was Edbury’s build. He recruited another She-Thing, gave her a Flamethrower, drew a card, and then protected the new She-Thing with Invisible Girl. Garth attacked Invisible Girl and was repelled by the force field of her counter. She-Thing burned with her Flamethrower, and play passed into the recovery phase.

Edbury entered his next turn and activated Mr. Fantastic, finding another Advanced Hardware. He activated Baxter Building, hit an Unstable Molecules and Pogo Plane, and took them both. He then recruited Mr. Fantastic, Stretch. Green chained Terra’s effect to stun She-Thing, and as was becoming the routine, Edbury chained, activating She-Thing to burn Green for 5 with her Flamethrower. She stunned and KO’d. Still in response to Stretch coming into play, Roy Harper took a shot at Invisible Girl. In response to that, Edbury KO’d the Pogo Plane to search for a location. Discarding another copy of Mr. Fantastic, he took a Pier 4.

“You really need to know the rules well to run this deck,” observed Edbury, almost overwhelmed but well in control.

Invisible Girl stunned, and Edbury lost 1. Unstable Molecules was given to Stretch. Edbury ARB’d himself another draw, KO’d the Molecules, recruited Advanced Hardware, and drew another card. He was in a bad position, but Green wasn’t really rallying a ton of power. Down to three resources, Green would be in a lot of trouble if he could not manage a win sometime soon. Edbury recruited another Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, and while he played out his turn, Green repeatedly raised and dropped his own hand. He was exhausted. Stretch burned for 3 with Advanced Hardware, passed it off to Invisible Girl, and she burned as well. It was now 24 to 10 in favor Edbury.

Cosmic Radiation readied both characters. Invisible Girl burned again, and then Stretch took the Hardware and did the same as well. Green was down to 4. A second Cosmic readied the pair again, and Green was again burned for another 6 total. He was down to -2 endurance.

“Personal Force Field on Mr. Fantastic,” Edbury said.

Green smiled, saying, “Now you’re just being excessive!”

Edbury passed, Green looked at his hand a moment, and then he recruited Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, KO’ing Arsenal. “Bah! Now KO her!” He picked up Roy and shook him threateningly at Invisible Girl. “Ha! Take that! . . . Uhh . . . I scoop.”

Green and Edbury both laughed and shook hands.

Edbury takes the match and moves on to the finals!