Josh Wiitanen and Jonathan Job have been together constantly for almost thirty-six hours. Yesterday afternoon in Las Vegas, NV, the two started out their road trip to the $10K, driving overnight to play in the event this morning. And it doesn’t stop there! If either of them wins the event, they’ve vowed to leave directly from here on a road trip to Columbus, OH for next weekend’s Silver Age $10K.

The die rolled in Josh’s favor. He thought for a moment—a silence rarely observed in the exuberant pro. He eventually settled on odds and led off with a Connie Webb. Jonathan matched the play with a Sue Dibny, who searched out Booster Gold. The 2-drop came out for Jon on the next turn with his initiative, and was answered by a Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant on the opposite side of the board. Sue Dibny stunned the little Doctor, and Connie Webb was returned to Josh’s hand before Booster Gold could stun her, finding an Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. The turn ended with Josh at 44 and Jon at 48.

Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker came down for Josh on turn 3, while Jon continued to curve out with Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman. Even though Jon had seen the perfect set of drops up to this point, he was in a bad position, as Peacekeeper backed up Dr. Psycho and the 2-drop stunned all three of Jon’s characters (between Psycho’s vengeance and the back-up from Peacemaker). Booster Gold exhausted in response to the stun to play Removed from Continuity targeting Dr. Psycho, discarding a card to pull two more copies out of Josh’s deck. They moved on to the next turn tied at 42 and with only their respective 3-drops in play.

Jonathan continued to hit his curve with Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer, which was answered by a topdecked Fatality, Flawless Victory from Josh. He then equipped her with a Cloak of Nabu, but it was nothing to stop Katar from stunning her. Shayera Thal exhausted to remove Fatality with a second Removed from Continuity, leaving Josh at 35 to his 42.

Josh was looking to get back in the game and sought out a Maxwell Lord, Black King with a Brother I Satellite. Jonathan, of course, had Fire, and flipped two copies of World’s Greatest Heroes to start eating away at Josh’s totals with Fire’s ally ability. Christopher Smith backed up Maxwell, who then swung into Fire. Jon tried to earn the stunback with a Magnificent Seven, but it wasn’t meant to be; Josh flipped a Knightmare Scenario to walk out of the attack unscathed. Shayera Thal was stunned with Peacekeeper’s effect, and Jonathan passed the option to swing back into Maxwell Lord with his ready Katar Hol. Josh was finally in the lead going into turn 6, with him at 35 to Jon’s 32.

Trying to hold on to a game that looked to be in his favor early on, Jon recruited a Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, a Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow, and another Shayera Thal. He used Ted to search out an Nth Metal for Katar Hol and passed back to Josh, who thought long and hard about how he was going to proceed, noting that it seemed like a pretty terrible situation for him. He eventually settled on recruiting Huntress, Reluctant Queen and putting both his visible characters in the back row. Katar Hol led the charge, going into Huntress with a power-up from Nth Metal and another discarded Katar, burning for 4 with Fire and taking the queen down. Shayera went after the exposed King, using a power-up and Blinding Rage to get the job done. With Josh at 17, Jon was only able to attack for another 16 endurance, allowing Josh to live for one more turn.

With Jon at 25, Josh was unable to make up the deficit, even after hitting Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype and Jonathan not playing a character. Jonathan Job wins the car pool match and moves to 2-0.