We kick off Day 2 of the Atlanta $10K by looking back to the match between Russell Pippin and Anthony Justice in the quarterfinals of the Origins $10K tournament. During that game, Russell piloted his Fantastic Four deck past Anthony’s Common Enemy deck and won two games to one. Almost three months later, we find a similar match-up being played out in front our of eyes. This time it’s Russ’s The Brave and the Bold deck vs. Anthony’s Common Enemy deck. Can Anthony tie this series up? Or will Russ solidify his position against Anthony’s Common Enemy?

Game One

Anthony kicked things off by selecting odd turns for initiative, and immediately mulliganed his hand after a seemingly bad draw. He must have found what he was looking for, as Boris hit the field. The initiative passed to Russ, who recruited Mirage, using her effect to give her the Gotham Knights team characteristic. Boris took a rare opportunity to attack, and each player lost 1 endurance.

Russ began turn 2 by playing The Brave and the Bold, and placed Dawn Granger ◊ Dove in the front row. Anthony happily put She-Thing into play, knowing that Russ’s missed drop put him in the driver’s seat. In an effort to “do something,” Russ crashed Dove into Boris, and She-Thing returned the favor by attacking Mirage. With both of his characters stunned, Russ recovered Mirage and moved onto the next turn.

Anthony, currently with the character advantage, recruited Darkoth. Russ responded by playing another The Brave and the Bold, and placed Beast Boy in his front row. During the combat phase, Anthony's Darkoth ripped into Beast Boy, She-Thing tore in Mirage, and Boris took a swing into Russ’s endurance. During the recovery phase, Anthony flipped Doomstadt, and played Faces of Doom, retrieving Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius.

Knowing that Anthony had Dr. Doom in his hand, Russ seemed obviously frustrated when he was forced to activate Optitron (using 1 resource), putting Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal into play. “This is bad for me, by the way,” Russ stated, as Anthony played Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius from his hand, chaining the activation of Common Enemy, and flipped Common Enemy down upon resolution just to play it again. With a heavy heart, Russ took it to the combat phase where he declared an attack on She-Thing with Beast Boy. Anthony responded by activating Boris and playing Reign of Terror directly from his hand on Beast Boy, bouncing him to Russ’s hand. Russ responded by exhausting Beast Boy to give Roy Harper +2 ATK for this turn. With his target set on She-Thing, Russ decided to swing at her again, this time with Roy Harper. They both were stunned, and Anthony used this opportunity to ram Darkoth into Russ’s endurance. Anthony showed some injustice as he plays A Death in the Family to KO R