Michael Jacob is a 21-year-old card gamer from Michigan. He played an elimination match for the Top 8 last week at U.S. Magic Nationals, and then bettered that result this weekend with his first Pro Circuit Top 8. Jacob is actually something of a divisive figure on the Circuit, as he’s very chatty and upbeat while he’s playing and that chatter can turn decidedly bitter and caustic if things aren’t going his way. Jason Dawson is practically the polar opposite from Jacob. Dawson is a 30-year-old law student who currently resides in Santa Clara, California. Where Jacob is noisy, Dawson is practically a computer, taking inputs and converting them to winning outputs with a minimum of flash and a maximum of efficiency. He’s also part of the FTN team that managed to put three players in the Top 8 here in Indy—an outstanding performance in any regard.
The deck matchup is Superman Blue Abuse on Jacob’s side against Dawson’s GLEE +ATK deck that uses cards like Remoni-Notra ◊ Star Sapphire and Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps to rough up the little GLEE decks in the field. Jacob declared that in spite of his 10-2 record on Friday against a GLEE-filled field, the matchup was not a good one.
“I’d say good luck, but if you hit Dr. Light, I lose, so don’t play that.”
Jacob won the die roll and chose to take initiative on the even turns. Dawson started off with Salakk plus a Willworld on his opening turn, while Jacob started off with (shockingly) a first turn Soldiers of New Genesis. Another Soldier and Lois Lane for Jacob on the next turn squared off against Dawson’s nuts draw, as he hit Dr. Light, Master of Holograms off of Willworld, discarding Arisia, playing Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, and equipping him with Light Armor and Salakk with Chopping Block. Jacob’s volume on the “I can’t win” mantra he’s been sporting all morning increased. In fact, he started to break into a half-decent tuneless song: “I can-not win . . . he has a turn 3 Light. I thought I might . . . but he drew Dr. Light.” Kyle Rayner went away after the stuns, while a Soldier was Chopped out of the game. The endurance totals were now 50 for Jacob to 46 for Dalton.
Dawson threw Dr. Light into play for his turn 3 and brought Kyle back, fetching a Helping Hand. Jacob had a very nice foil to that by adding another Soldier to the board and then equipping both of his Soldiers with Supercycles. Dawson passed his combat without attacking, letting Jacob smash at will, which made the endurance totals 49–42 post-combat.
Jacob’s turn 4 was where his deck started to cough fumes at him, as it just would not turn up a fresh Soldier to go along with Superman, Red. The Ring Has Chosen for Dawson let him get Roy Harper ◊ Speedy—a brutal beating against Jacob’s deck. Not unlike Dr. Light, apparently Roy Harper is meant to be ridiculous in all forms. Speedy sent one of Jacob’s Soldiers to the KO’d Pile, but while he was still on top of Dawson’s deck, Jacob used The Source to get rid of The Ring Has Chosen, forcing Speedy into Dawson’s resource row. Superman kicked off the combat by attacking Salakk, causing a mutual stun as Dawson burned [Trial by Sword] and Shock Troops to get it. Jacob attacked The Shark with a Soldier, exhausting his character, but then said, “I think” just after Dawson said, “It’s legal, pass.” The judge determined the attack had been declared and that it must go forward, getting another mutual stun. At the end of that turn, Dr. Light and The Shark were left for Dawson. Jason had Superman, Red and Lois Lane, no Supercycles in play, and the knowledge that Remoni-Notra was raring to go to work on turn 5 for Dawson. The endurance totals were not 46–33, still in favor of Jacob, but not where he would need them to be to win this one.
Remoni arrived right on time for Dawson, while Jacob recruited another Superman, Red and two Soldiers. Dawson started to swing the game back in his favor, KO’ing a Supes and a Soldier while losing Kyle and making the endurance totals 33–30, still narrowly in favor of Jacob. Jacob drew his cards for his turn, shook his head, and conceded on the spot, realizing that he wasn’t going to win this one and still clearly disgruntled at the rules technicality that cost him a better attack, though probably not the match.
Dawson 1 – Jacob 0
Both players mulliganed their opening hands and had turn 1 men—G’Nort for Dawson and a Soldiers of New Genesis for Jacob. The Soldier ran over the little dog, and things were on for game 2. Two more Soldiers for Jacob ran over Kyle Rayner (who found a Helping Hand when he came into play) and his little dog too, and the endurance was now 50–44 in favor of Jacob. Dr. Light made his inevitable sinister appearance on turn 3 for Dawson, bringing Kyle back and grabbing another Helping Hands. Kyle traded stuns with Superman, Red, Jacob’s lone man for the turn.
Turn 4 for Jacob gave him Lois Lane, two more Soldiers, and a Supercycle on Red. He began to play faster and more angrily, perhaps still mad at his error in the last game. No team-up meant that the New Gods infantry were getting the bonuses from the Supercycle, but nobody else was. Olapet with boost grabbed Arisia, and Dawson played Salakk to a constant commentary of “how lucky” from Jacob. It took three Soldiers to stun the puppy this time because they had to get past Helping Hands. Shock Troops made sure it took two Soldiers to take down Plant Head as well, blunting Jacob’s attacks with busty plot twists. Trial by Sword meant that Kyle Rayner traded with Superman, and Dawson’s counterattack stunned the rest of Jacob’s team, leaving him with just Superman, Red on his side of the board to G’Nort, Salakk, and Dr. Light for Dawson. The turn ended with another slim lead of 40–34 for Jacob.
Dawson played Rot Lop Fan and Arisia during his recruit step, while Jacob added his first Superman, Blue of the game to the board. Pace was proceeding very briskly; it was clearly entering an end game in Dawson’s favor, and Jacob’s actions became more and more despondent as he flipped cards out of Dawson’s deck after resolving The Source on Shock Troops. The attack on this turn evened the endurance race to 27 each, and Jacob packed it in after the next draw.
Dawson 2 – Jacob 0
Jacob: “Mr. Spears, no sir. Like I said, he played Light.”
Spears: “Wow, you guys are really fast. We’re still in game 1 over here.”
Jacob: “Yeah, he played those Dr. Lights out quickly. I never had a chance.”