“If I get covered, can I say ‘hi’ to my mom?” – Jacob Rabinowitz

Hi, Jacob’s mom! He’s doing pretty well today, so you can be proud of him.

Jacob and Philip are among the few players who are almost in Day 2 already. At 5-0 each, they’re sitting on top of the standings and need only two more wins to draft tomorrow. Jacob Rabinowitz is a student in Philadelphia and part of the Boston-based team Your Move Games. YMG has been a successful TCG team for years, dominating Constructed formats across several games. The team has been on the decline lately though, as older members have moved on to other pursuits or even worked behind the scenes at Upper Deck. Consequently, YMG is now just a Vs. System team that can focus all of its energy on one game instead of taking up too many challenges. So far, that’s working out quite well for Jacob, who made money in the last two Pro Circuits and is looking pretty good in this one. Philip, on the other hand, isn’t really part of a dedicated team, but he’s one of the many, many German players who took up the game and do well in it. He made Top 8 at the $10K in Hannover and attended both PCs.

Philip is playing Marvel Knights and won even initiative to maximize his Moon Knight on turn 4.

The first few turns were fairly uneventful, featuring Werewolf by Night for Jacob and nothing from Philip. Turn 3 was when the action started heating up, but things cooled down as Jacob had to think long and hard before finally settling on Elektra, Elektra Natchios. He showed Brother Voodoo as his other option for the turn. Philip finally blinked and played Stick wielding a Titanium Sword. Elektra swung in unfazed by the big sword and the ugly man, clearing the way for Werewolf to directly assault Philip.

Philip started turn 4 with the now-classic Moon Knight threatening a big attack. Jacob responded with a flipped Evil Awakens in his build phase before muttering, “That’s the actual worst ever,” as the plot twist didn’t accomplish much. Then Centurious came out to answer the rampaging Moon Knight.

Stick took his sword and a dose of No Fear up against Centurious, slicing him to pieces. This allowed Moon Knight to walk past Jacob’s hidden characters unhindered, delivering 10 breakthrough endurance loss. Philip wasn’t the only one tricky enough to use plot twists though, as Jacob used Crime and Punishment to help his overworked Werewolf stun Moon Knight. Philip was forced to KO Stick and his sword.
 
Jacob’s turn-5 play was recruiting Blade, the Daywalker, while Philip went on a Wild Ride to look up Daredevil, Matt Murdock and ask him if he was looking for a job to shore up his defense. Daredevil accepted but moved to the hidden area at the first opportunity, leaving Blade looking for a different hero to smash. Blade gracefully let Centurious deal the first blow as he smashed into Moon Knight and got powered-up. Jacob discarded Werewolf by Night and then used Evil Awakens to return the Werewolf to hand so he could give Elektra +2 ATK to work with. She used it well, as she and Blade swung in for millions of endurance points, leaving Philip at -10 endurance while Jacob was still at 25. The rest of the turn didn’t really matter too much.

“Oh, can I give another shout out to Lloyd 10’s?” – Jacob Rabinowitz

Here you go.

Jacob 1 – Philip 0