In the history of tournament Vs., Teen Titans and Sentinels have each had a turn on top of the Golden Age heap. The recent banning of Overload threw the format into chaos, but it didn’t take long for the old regime to reassert its authority. Today’s Top 8 is a battle for dominance between the two former kings of the hill. The lines are clearly drawn, with four of each archetype poised to make a run at the title.

While it remains to be seen whether robotic villains or adolescent heroes will take the crown, there is no doubt that Ryan Jones is VS System royalty. The California native won PC LA with Titans back in December and posted a Top 8 finish at PC New York with Sentinels, so it’s clear he knows both decks inside and out. Jones stuck with Sentinels for this event and they have served him well so far, as he enters the quarterfinals as the first seed.

On the other side of the table piloting Garth and company is Jason Nelson. Jason doesn’t have quite the resume as Jones, citing his best previous accomplishment as winning a

PCQ two days ago. His Teen Titans deck is somewhat unusual, with three copies of Flame Trap– a surprise that can come in handy in the mirror, but won’t help him here against the purple robots.

Both players were strictly business as they shuffled in near silence. Jones took one last opportunity to study Nelson’s decklist and wondered aloud what the Flame Traps were for.

“For one and two drops,” was Jason’s only reply. Insight from the pros, ladies and gentlemen.  

Game One

Jason won the flip and chose evens. Both players sent their hands back.

Jones had no turn 1 play, while Nelson opened with Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. A direct attacked dropped Jones to 49, and it was on to turn 2.

Nelson brought out the other half of the Titans tag team—Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. Jones followed with Hounds of Ahab, his deck’s only 2-drop. Hawk and Dove attacked directly, dropping Jones to 43, and Jones passed his attack.

Turn 3 saw a Mark II hit play on the Sentinels side, while the Titans team recruited Beast Boy. Jones sent his Mark II into Hawk and flipped Total Anarchy, turning the double-stun into a double-KO. With Dove’s stat bonus out of the way, the Hounds were free to attack without getting stunned back. Dove took a dirt nap, and that was all for Jones. Beast Boy attacked directly, leaving the endurance totals at Jones 36 – Nelson 46.

On turn 4, Nelson brought out Red Star, and Jones played a Mark V. Nelson lead off by sending Beast Boy after the Mark V with the help of a Savage Beatdown. After playing the Beatdown but before the combat ended, Nelson dropped both players to three resources with Foiled on Total Anarchy. Red Star then attacked directly, and Jones’s endurance was starting to dip precariously. In an uncharacteristic error, Jones sent his Hounds after Red Star and tried to play Savage Beatdown. When this reporter and the table judge pointed out that Savage Beatdown is threshold 4 and Jones only had three resources in play, the Hounds died an ignoble death and Red Star emerged unscathed.

Turn 5 saw Jones play another Mark 5, while Nelson also hit another 4-drop—Terra. One Mark V went after Beast Boy, and between Beast Boy’s counters and Tamaran, the little green shapechanger grew big enough to get the double-stun. The other Mark V went after Terra, and when Nelson had a power-up, Jones flipped up the Beatdown he hadn’t been able to use the previous turn. Both characters stunned, leaving Red Star to attack directly. The turn ended with Jones on 8 and Nelson on 32.

On turn 6, Nelson played down Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter and Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. Jones boosted another Mark V, but conceded before moving into combat.

Nelson 1 – Jones 0

Game Two

Jones took the evens, and both players sent back their opening four.

Turns 1 and 2 were pretty uneventful, with a Pantha from Nelson as the only character to hit play on either side. Nelson hit Roy Harper on turn 3, while Jones still had no play. Two attacks and a Tamaran activation dropped Jones to 36—with no plays on the first three turns, things were looking pretty bad for him.

He did have a Mark V on turn 4, which Nelson answered with a Red Star. Jones used the combination of Flame Trap and Total Anarchy to take out Pantha and then sent the Mark V after Red Star. He had two power-ups for the robot, but he ran into two power-ups and a Tamaran activation on the opposing side, leaving both characters stunned. Roy Harper attacked Jones directly, sending Jones to 24 and leaving Nelson on 44. Total Anarchy was hit with a Foiled, and play moved to turn 5.

Turn 5 looked an awful lot like a turn 4, as Nelson recruited Terra, and Jones brought out another Mark V. Red Star took down one Mark V with a Tamaran pump to prevent the stun back, while Terra and Arsenal got together to take down the other robot. The game went to turn 6 with Jones at 16 and Nelson at 41.

On turn 6, both players hit their ideal 5-drops—Nimrod for Jones and Garth ◊ Tempest for Nelson, who formed up with everyone in the back row. Jones sent Nimrod into Red Star, and Nelson traded his use of Garth for the turn (getting back a power-up) and a Tamaran activation for Nimrod’s counter. Nelson let Red Star stun without pumping Roy Harper, a mistake that he would regret before the end of the turn.

Jones’s next attack was Mark V on Terra. Nelson had a Titans’ Tower to get the double-stun, and this time he did remember to pump Arsenal. Then it was Nelson’s turn to attack. He sent Garth after Nimrod, dropping Jones to 7, and then attacked directly with Roy Harper . . . leaving Jones on 1, not -1 like he should’ve been if Jason had remembered to pump Roy.

“I suck so bad.”—Jason Nelson

Luckily for Jason, the mistake wouldn’t matter, as he had such a huge advantage going into the last turn that there was almost no way he could lose. Nelson started turn 7 by flipping U.S.S. Argus and thinking for a long time before recruiting Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective and using Red Star. Jones played Bastion and popped two copies of Genosha. Nelson team attacked Bastion with everyone, and Jones went all-in, using all his available pumps on his 6-drop to get him up to 24 ATK/24 DEF. Nelson had Teen Titans Go!, though, and when he started pumping Arsenal, Jones scooped ’em up.

Jason Nelson defeats Ryan Jones 2-0.