Ryan Jones won Pro Circuit So Cal and is now looking to reclaim his title and earn a whole bunch of money in the process. Both players are playing Curve Sentinels today, and after winning the “blonde or brunette” game at the start, Jones somewhat controversially chose to go second.
After a mulligan, Alex had no recruit, while Ryan had the massively important
Boliver Trask who fetched
Hounds of Ahab and bashed for 1. On turn 2, both players had the
Hounds of Ahab to play, but Ryan had a significant up through his 1-drop beater.
Alex decided to use his
Boliver Trask a little late, bringing him out on turn 3 and fetching a
Sentinel Mark V and a second
Hounds of Ahab. Jones had nothing at all, making for a marked change in momentum.
Hounds of Ahab number one beat up Ryan's Boliver before the second Hounds feasted on the remains. Boliver then got to do some fighting of his own. Ryan swung back with his Hounds, and it was on to turn 4.
Each player had a
Sentinel Mark V for the fourth turn, but Alex had the spicy one with the optional foily extra. Clearly, he had negotiated harder at the Sentinel dealership when brokering his deal. Jones's
Sentinel Mark V attacked through O'Connell's
Boliver Trask, and Alex went for a big mirror fight. Alex's power-up was trumped by an
Acrobatic Dodge from Jones.
Savage Beatdown from Alex met a second Beatdown and an
Overload from Ryan. Jones also used a
Finishing Move to finish his opponent's 4-drop. Alex flipped
Micro-Sentinels, and it was on to turn 5.
Alex had
Nimrod, and Ryan mirrored his recruit. With repair counters on both, these would be tough nuts to crack. Alex's
Nimrod attacked
Sentinel Mark V and successfully stunned him.
Boliver Trask then went for a kamikaze attack on
Nimrod to ensure that he wouldn't be around to take a bunch of breakthrough.
Ryan's
Hounds of Ahab died to
Micro-Sentinels, but he had the somewhat superior
Bastion off the top that turn, so he wasn't too sad. The same could not be said for O'Connell, who boosted out a
Sentinel Mark V on his turn 6. He lamented his choice to recover his 1-drop and passed with all of his characters in the back row.
“Do your worst,” suggested Jones.
“I'll try,” said Alex as he popped a
Genosha.
Jones had one, too, and all of a sudden, each player had a lot of cards in his hand. Magneto attacked into
Bastion, and Jones showed another two
Genoshas. Clearly, the concept of large was being redefined. Jones made
Bastion a 17 ATK/17 DEF with his ability. O'Connell powered up the old-fashioned way. Jones had another
Bastion pump and a wry smirk to go alongside all the cards in his hand.
Ryan Jones wins.
The really interesting story in this match for me, having covered a whole mess of Sentinels mirror matches, was the controversial choice of the even initiative by Jones. With a typical build of Sentinels, the common wisdom holds that having odds allows players to gain an advantage through potentially holding off attacks and then swinging back large with a still-pumped set of characters.
I sat down briefly with Ryan to get his views on this element of the game. He indicated that with his build, which runs
Finishing Move and
Acrobatic Dodge, taking evens actually gives him an edge in the mirror for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it potentially allows him to construct a Hounds lock more easily. With an early
Acrobatic Dodge stealing the initiative, the black dog can engineer a favorable board position even if both players are hitting their drops. The second reason is that with
Finishing Move, taking evens gives Jones a realistic shot at KO'ing
Bastion on turn 6 with a decent “all-in” attack followed by the original KO effect.
He's currently 2-0, so keep checking back to see if this gambit pays off.