Vidianto Wijaya is here in the semifinals for the third time in his third straight Pro Circuit Top 8 this year. Anthony Justice has brought his Shadowpact deck to his first ever Pro Circuit Top 8, but now he must face the best Vs. has to offer.
Game 1
Both players shuffled as they made small talk about the weekend. “I played against the Secret Society deck some in the Swiss,” Anthony said as the two rolled a die. “The Deadshot becomes a bit of a problem.” Vidi won the die roll and took the odds.
Both players kept their starting hands, and Anthony was the only one with a turn 1 recruit, dropping Nightmaster, Jim Rook and hitting Vidi for 1.
On turn 2, though, it was Anthony who had no recruit; he just flipped Chimp Detective Agency and used it to pull a The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel. Vidi recruited Talia, Beloved Betrayer. Anthony passed with no attacks, and Vidi sent Talia after Nightmaster, putting him ahead 48 to 44.
Vidi started off turn 3 by recruiting Ahmed Samsarra in the hidden area and flipping Brother I Satellite to search out Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker. He then used Ahmed to upgrade the Brother I Satellite to a Dr. Fate’s Tower, discarding Mr. Freeze and netting a Cloak of Nabu to put on his King. Anthony activated Chimp Detective Agency, getting a copy of The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel and recruited Zatanna, Magical Manipulator protecting Nightmaster.
Vidi flipped Checkmate Safe House to team-up, then announced Talia into Zatanna, using Brother Eye to pump Talia up to 6 ATK. Anthony had Collecting Souls, though, which gave Zatanna +1 ATK/+1 DEF for the turn and let him draw a card. “All right, you’ve got me,” Vidi said, as his Talia stunned. Zatanna then swung back directly for 5, leaving the score at 41 to 32 in Vidi’s favor.
Anthony led off turn 4 by activating Chimp Detective Agency, which yielded a copy of Manitou Dawn. Dawn came down beside Zatanna, and Anthony used 1 of his last 2 resource points for Collecting Souls to put a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter on the Magical Manipulator. Vidi followed by recruiting Fatality, Flawless Victory in the support row behind Talia, Beloved Betrayer. Anthony flipped Magical Lobotomy, targeting Fatality. Vidi negated the Lobotomy by discarding Huntress, Reluctant Queen, and Anthony resolved all of his Shadowpact effects, drawing a card in the process. Anthony sent Zatanna into Talia, hitting Vidi for 4. Nightmaster then swung into Fatality with some help from a Magical Conduit for 4, which netted Anthony a card and put the 1-drop up to 10 ATK. Vidi used Checkmate Safe House for an extra 1 DEF and took 4 from the attack to Anthony’s 1. Anthony finished by sending Manitou Dawn in directly for 2. Vidi activated Ahmed Samsarra, trading in Dr. Fate’s Tower for a Slaughter Swamp, and then used the Swamp to return Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard from his KO’d pile to his hand. The score going into turn 5 saw Vidi leading 31 to 18.
“It’s not fair. All my good cards get KO’d, and you just keep discarding yours,” Anthony said, eyeing Fatality. Vidi looked over his hand and board, pondering his turn 5 recruit. He settled on Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard and then activated Slaughter Swamp to return Huntress, Reluctant Queen to his hand. Anthony activated Chimp Detective Agency, pulling Blackbriar Thorn. He recruited Thorn and then played Divination, electing not to draw a card. Madame Xanadu was then recruited and immediately activated to get Collecting Souls, which Anthony played to buff up Zatanna and redraw Xanadu. He recruited her again and repeated the loop, this time searching out Transmutation to replace Vidi’s Brother Eye. Madame Xanadu came down one last time, and Anthony formed with Blackbriar Thorn protecting Zatanna and Madame Xanadu protecting Manitou Dawn.
“How many cards are in your hand?” Vidi asked as he thought over his attacks for the turn. “Nine,” Anthony replied. Vidi did some math, trying to figure out if he could finish off Anthony, who sat at a precarious 8 endurance, this turn. When he came out of the tank, he declared a team attack with all three of his characters into Blackbriar Thorn. Anthony started to figure up how much defense he could pump up, and as he did so on his score pad, Vidi jokingly stood up and walked over to the other semifinal match and just gave a friendly “What’s up, who’s winning?” He finished his seventh-inning stretch as Anthony started going through the motions, trying to find a way to survive the turn. When he found himself on 1 endurance with no way to get his 10 DEF 2-drop big enough to survive the 22 ATK assault, he scooped up his cards.
Game 1 Winner: Vidianto Wijaya
Game 2
Anthony took the odds for the second game and kept his starting hand, while Vidi shipped his back. Turn 2 saw the first recruits of the game, with Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant for Vidi and Manitou Dawn for Anthony, who had used Chimp Detective Agency to grab Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe. Vidi sent Dr. Psycho after Manitou Dawn, leaving him up 48 to 44.
Anthony started off turn 3 by activating Chimp Detective Agency, pulling June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch. He then recruited Zatanna, Magical Manipulator and Nightmaster, Jim Rook with his alternate cost. After some thought, Vidi boosted out Sarge Steel, KO’ing Nightmaster. “I had big plans for that guy, big plans,” Anthony said as he moved Nightmaster to the KO’d pile. Anthony moved both of his characters to the hidden area with two copies of Stepping Between Worlds and drew two cards, for a net endurance loss of 7.
Anthony sent Manitou Dawn into Dr. Psycho, who was reinforced by Sarge Steel, and Zatanna into Sarge Steel. In response to the second attack, Vidi flipped The Science Spire and used it to return Dr. Psycho to his hand, drawing two and discarding Dr. Psycho and Sarge Steel. He then used Checkmate Safe House for +1 DEF. At the end of the turn, Vidi was at 44 to Anthony’s 29.
Vidi counted the cards in Anthony’s hand (there were ten) and muttered to himself as he looked over the board. He flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower to search out Amulet of Nabu, recruited Fatality, Flawless Victory, and put the Amulet on her. Anthony activated Chimp Detective Agency, which yielded a tough choice between Blackbriar Thorn and The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel. Anthony chose The Phantom Stranger and then flipped Magical Lobotomy targeting Fatality, losing a net of 1 endurance to draw a card. He finished up his build phase by recruiting June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch, and paid 4 at the start of combat to turn Magical Lobotomy back down.
Before attacking, Vidi flipped and activated Satellite HQ, and Anthony let out a sudden “Oh, shoot,” as he realized his hidden characters were no longer all that hidden. Vidi then declared Fatality against Manitou Dawn, and Anthony responded with another Magical Lobotomy to draw another card. Anthony then activated June Moon targeting Sarge Steel, prompting Vidi to return him to his hand with The Science Spire. Anthony played Magical Conduit for 4, gaining 2 and electing not to draw. Vidi responded with Knightmare Scenario from his hand, which Anthony negated with The Conclave, again electing not to draw. Vidi had another Knightmare Scenario, though, and he exhausted Dr. Fate’s Tower to give Fatality +2 ATK / +2 DEF. Anthony played another Magical Conduit, this time for 2, which was enough to get the double stun. Anthony took 7 to Vidi’s 4, and then Anthony got to swing back directly with Zatanna for 4 more. When the turn ended, Vidi was up 36 to 9.
It was Anthony’s initiative on turn 5, and he had a gaggle of cards at his disposal. He settled on recruiting Blackbriar Thorn, Manitou Dawn, and Madame Xanadu. Vidi had only one recruit: Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard in the support row adjacent to Fatality. Anthony turned down his Magical Lobotomy and then flipped it back up, declining to draw. Vidi countered the Lobotomy by discarding Huntress, Reluctant Queen, and it was back on Anthony for any possible action. Anthony played two copies of Collecting Souls targeting Blackbriar Thorn, still choosing not to draw cards and putting himself at exactly 10 endurance. A Divination from the hand cost him a net of 1 endurance, as did a Mystical Binding, targeting Mr. Freeze.
Anthony sent his 9 ATK Blackbriar Thorn into Fatality, and Vidi responded by activating Checkmate Safe House and powering-up to get Fatality to 10 DEF. Anthony used Madame Xanadu to search out Collecting Souls and played it, targeting June Moon, which put Blackbriar Thorn up to 10 ATK. “Yeah, that’s fine,” Vidi said, as he stunned his Fatality. Anthony then announced June Moon into Mr. Freeze and used The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel to put her up to 10 ATK/10 DEF against Mr. Freeze’s 9 ATK/8 DEF, and Vidi had no tricks. Manitou Dawn and Zatanna then team attacked directly, taking Vidi to 19. Vidi returned Mr. Freeze to his hand with The Science Spire to draw five and discard five. “Nice card, another nice card,” Vidi said, as he discarded two copies of Multiverse Power Battery and a copy of Ahmed Samsarra.
Vidi pondered his hand and score pad at the start of turn 6, looking for a way to win that turn. He recruited Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double and drew two cards, then flipped another copy of Dr. Fate’s Tower to search out Cloak of Nabu. The Cloak went on Fatality and was followed by a Helm of Nabu, letting him filter three more cards. Anthony was left in a bit of a bind—June Moon had been locked down by Mr. Freeze’s vengeance power on the previous turn, and now the Shadowpact player was stuck trying to find a way to combat Vidi’s 11 ATK / 11 DEF 4-drop and 11 ATK / 14 DEF 6-drop.
Anthony recruited Madame Xanadu and used Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe to search out Dr. Occult. He recruited Dr. Occult and used his last resource point for Collecting Souls, removing Huntress, Reluctant Queen from Vidi’s KO’d pile and putting a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter on Blackbriar Thorn. Anthony ran through several different formations before settling on Blackbriar in the front row protecting Manitou Dawn, and June Moon protecting Dr. Occult. Vidi activated Satellite HQ before leaving the build and moved on to his attacks.
Vidi declared Alexander Luthor into Zatanna with no effects, and Anthony used Madame Xanadu to grab Stepping Between Worlds, which he used to send Blackbriar Thorn to the hidden area to reinforce. Vidi then declared Fatality into Blackbriar for 11 ATK against Blackbriar’s 10 DEF. Anthony removed another copy of Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe from his hand to search out The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel, which he immediately used to pump Blackbriar Thorn to 12 ATK / 12 DEF. Vidi powered-up Fatality to 12 ATK, and Anthony activated Chimp Detective Agency, looking for a power-up or pump that would get him out of the attack. He missed, though, and offered his hand in concession.
Vidi advances to his third straight PC finals!
Game 2 and Match Winner: Vidianto Wijaya