Ryan, who we followed during the Draft, didn’t do quite as well as he had expected. He has only gone 1-1 in his Draft pod, and that means he probably won’t make Top 8. However, there is a very slim chance that the winner of this match will make the cut. The players are aware that they probably won’t be playing in the next draft, but they’re still fighting it out.

Daniel won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiatives. He mulliganed, while Ryan kept his opening hand. Daniel missed his 1-drop, and Ryan recruited Insectoid Troopers. Rather than attacking, though, he exhausted the Troopers to flip Criminal Mastermind. The players entered the next turn and each drew an additional card. Ryan led off with Maxwell Lord in front of his Troopers, and then discarded The Shark, Karshan to his effect to fetch Justice League Task Force. Daniel recruited Copperhead with boost. Maxwell and Copperhead traded stuns, and that was the turn.

For turn 3, Daniel had Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue in the front row next to Copperhead. Ryan had a boosted Booster Gold and an IQ. He set up with Maxwell protecting IQ and his Troopers protecting Booster. Daniel’s first attack sent Copperhead into the Troopers. Ryan teamed up with his Task Force, and reinforced with Booster Gold. Daniel’s next attack took down Maxwell with Floronic Man. Again, Ryan simply reinforced. At the end of the turn, Daniel had established an endurance lead of 49–45.

As the players drew their cards for the fourth turn, Daniel took three points of endurance loss from IQ. Ryan laid a resource and went into the tank to choose his recruits. Eventually, he decided that under-drops were called for. He recruited Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Infernal Minions, and another copy of Insectoid Troopers. He set up with Maxwell protecting Booster, Zazzala protecting the Troopers in the next column, and the Minions protecting IQ in the row next to that. Daniel had a run-of-the-mill 4-drop in the form of Poison Ivy, Kiss of Death. He set up with Floronic Man protecting Ivy and Copperhead next to Floronic Man in the front row. Ryan’s first attack was an easy one—he sent his unstunnable Army characters in a team-attack on Floronic Man. Daniel had Bulletproof, but a 7-point All Too Easy made sure that Floronic Man went down. Ryan’s next attack was also a team-attack, bringing all of his remaining characters into Ivy. Alan had nothing to stop this monstrous attack, and Ivy traded stuns with IQ. Daniel attacked back on Infernal Minions with Copperhead; Ryan chose to use it to give Maxwell a counter. At the end of the turn, Daniel lost Floronic Man, while Ryan lost nothing. Ryan led on endurance, 40–35.

Turn 5 was Daniel’s initiative, and he hit a drop that took full advantage of Ryan’s Criminal Mastermind—make that Masterminds plural as Ryan exhausted his Troopers to flip another. In any case, Daniel had Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist. All of Daniel’s characters were pushed to the front. Ryan went into the tank and came out with Secret Files. He searched out a Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist of his own, while Daniel failed to find a character. Ryan recruited his Scarecrow behind Maxwell, then set up with Booster behind the Troopers in the next column and Zazzala protecting Booster in the final column of his formation. At the beginning of combat, Daniel had nine cards in had, while Ryan had six. Ryan used his Scarecrow first, and Daniel played a Gang-Up from his hand in response. He still took 8 points of endurance loss. Ryan surveyed the field and tossed his hand on the board as he shook his head. After some time in the tank, Daniel proposed an attack of Copperhead on Zazzala. Neither player had any effects to add to the chain, and both characters stunned. Daniel’s next attack sent Ivy into Maxwell. Ryan reinforced and took only 2 points of stun damage. Finally, Daniel’s Scarecrow attacked his counterpart on Ryan’s side of the board. Daniel had a power-up, and yet again, Ryan had nothing. Scarecrow was stunned. Ryan took a bit of time before recovery and soon showed us why—he had Injustice Gang Satellite. He used it to attempt to KO Copperhead, but Daniel flipped Sinister Citadel to move its counter to Ivy before the ability left the chain. Daniel had no other effects, and Copperhead was gone for good. At the end of the turn, Ryan lost Zazzala and Maxwell Lord. He still led on endurance, though, 28–26.

Turn 6 was Ryan’s initiative, and he was probably looking to lock things up right then. Time was called, and Ryan went deep into thought to find a way to win the game. In the end, he recruited Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, as well as Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light. Daniel had the ever-annoying, and at this point fairly devastating, Gorilla Grodd. He set up with Grodd protecting Ivy. Scarecrow was set next to Grodd in the front row. At the beginning of combat, Ryan paid 3 endurance to Scarecrow to hit Daniel for 9. Daniel had no responses. Ryan went deep into the tank to consider his first attack—his opponent’s ability to steal instantly his most critical character put a little damper on his plans. After a few minutes, he declared an attack on Scarecrow with a number of his characters. Predictably, Daniel did not allow it, and he KO’d Scarecrow to steal Ryan’s Dr. Light. With a somewhat simplified but still fairly horrible board position, Ryan went into the tank again. He finally sent everyone but IQ into Gorilla Grodd. This represented 20 ATK, but amazingly, Daniel had Power Siphon to bring Grodd up to 19 DEF. Sinister Citadel KO’d Dr. Light to give Grodd one counter and was activated to move a second off of Poison Ivy. Ryan could not force through another point of ATK, and he was brick-walled. Booster Gold was stunned back. Daniel attempted to steal Booster with Poison Ivy, but Ryan activated his Satellite to KO it in response. At the end of the turn, the endurance totals were 23–8 in Ryan’s favor.

On turn 7, Daniel had Copperhead and . . . Ocean Master. This character was bad news for Ryan, as Daniel could dump his hand to negate many of the effects in Ryan’s deck. Daniel set up with Copperhead protecting Ocean Master, and Ivy protecting Grodd. Ryan, who looked to be in exceptionally bad shape, recruited Evan McCulloch ◊ Mirror Master in the hidden area. He also brought out Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist (a number of turns late). Ryan set up with Ted protecting Scarecrow, the Troopers protecting IQ in the next row, and Lex next to IQ in the support row of his final column. The players entered combat, and Daniel declared an attack of Copperhead into Insectoid Troopers. Both characters stunned. Next, Daniel sent Poison Ivy into Lex. Ryan simply reinforced with IQ. Before declaring another attack, Daniel dumped his entire hand to Ocean Master to put five +1 ATK / +1 DEF counters on Ocean Master. He then KO’d Ocean Master to Gorilla Grodd in an attempt to steal Ryan’s Scarecrow. Ryan recognized that this spelled his doom and conceded on the spot.

Daniel Hanson wins!