Coming into this tournament, the Common Enemy deck was at the top of every player’s hit list. Deck choices were made based on whether or not the deck in question could take down Brian Kibler's Championship-winning Pro Circuit Indy deck. On the heels of his win, Common Enemy became one of the most dominating archetypes on the Constructed landscape.

Of course, there was another deck that emerged from that first Pro Circuit event. Tim Willoughby won the $10K Challenge that weekend, and in doing so, put the Teen Titans archetype on the metagame map. However, despite its tournament success, Teen Titans has played second string to Common Enemy, much in the same way that the comic book Titans ran back-up for their older counterparts.

Many players claim that the reason it hasn’t been more dominant is that the Titans deck is one of the most complex decks to play. Robert Leander used the deck to win a recent $10K Challenge in Texas, but even there the big story was about his Realmworx teammates and the success of their Curve Sentinels. No one seemed to notice that Leander beat David Spears and Curve Sentinels in the finals.
 
This weekend, it was Ryan Jones who would represent Realmworx. Almost every member of the team ran the Titans, which they consider to be the most powerful deck in the format. The results stand by them. As Ryan sat down to face off with Mark Slack both players were sporting Teen Titans decks. The deck is always tricky to play, with many different effects piling up in the chain zone and powerful cards getting recycled turn after turn thanks to the ability of Garth ◊ Tempest.

Ryan acknowledged that this would be a tough five-game match, saying, “We’re about six cards off from each other’s build.” Jones did have the advantage of his entire Realmworx team tinkering under the hood, updating the deck for this event. The team’s resident Teen Titans expert, Leander, was draped over the rail to analyze his teammate’s play.

Mark Slack, who practices in Indiana with Corey and Jason Dawson among others, was very confident coming into the finals. “I am 4-1 in the Titans mirror.” He almost didn't make it out of his quarterfinal match against David Fielder. On turn 7, Fielder dropped Magneto, Master of Magnetism, not noticing that Slack had Koriand'r about to come online. Unfortunately, neither did Slack. With seven characters in his KO'd pile, Slack activated Garth to return one to his hand. As a result, his Koriand’r could not take down Magneto, Master of Magnetism, and Fielder took the game.

“That would have been the second time Koriand’r cost me money if I had lost that match.” It turns out that Slack misplayed a Koriand’r in the final round of PC Indy and finished in 76th place—one spot out of the money. “She cost me $1,000.”

Recognition flashed in Ryan Jones’s eyes as he recalled the story, “So you’re that guy.”

Game One

Jones kept a hand showing Overload, but it was Slack who had the turn 1 play after pushing his first four to the bottom. He played Dawn Granger ◊ Dove and revealed a face down Tamaran.

“First blood -- Double first blood.”

Slack did not have a turn 2 play and used Optitron to find Garth. Jones was happy to not find himself under the gun, “No Hawk?”

Jones had Hawk and got in for 2. Jones led off turn 3 with Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Slack could not make up his mind about what he wanted to commit to the resource row and eventually played an Arsenal of his own. Jones’s Arsenal took down Slack’s version, and Jones flipped up Finishing Move to get it off the board.

Slack kicked turn 4 off with Terra and tucked her safely behind Dove. Jones’s Red Star went in the back with Hawk, who was protected by Arsenal. Slack turned up USS Argus and could not seen to decide on a course of action. He went to attack Roy with Terra, and Jones flipped up Titans’ Tower and Savage Beatdown to make Terra susceptible to Overload. Dove came in for Hawk and when the initiative swung to Jones he cracked back with Red Star. The score was 42 to 35 with Jones in the lead.

Garth ◊ Tempest made his turn 5 appointment with Jones, and all of Jones’s guys were pushed to the attack row. Slack nudged Terra forward with his own Garth and then let that arrangement stand. Jones’s Garth attacked Terra, and she dispatched of both Slack’s Argus and Jones’ Roy Harper in one fell swoop before falling to Garth. Hank Hall and Red Star came after Slack’s Garth, and the Indy player used Titans Tower on the opposing Hawk and Overloaded it. Jones smiled and activated his Titans Tower to give Red Star an 11 ATK. Jones returned Arsenal to his hand before recovery. The endurance tally was 30 to 21 favoring Jones.

Slack paid 3 endurance to return Dawn Granger ◊ Dove to his hand and boost her out along with Roy Harper. He put Roy and Garth up front, protecting Dove and Hawk, respectively. Jones considered his turn 6 options and announced Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective with “No boost.” Slack responded by exhausting his team and using Arsenal to take out Garth. Jones returned an Overload to his hand. He then played his Roy Harper and tucked him behind Robin with Red Star in the back of the stunned Garth.

Jones used Arsenal to shoot Dove. He then Overloaded Slack’s Roy Harper and Finishing Moved it.

The initiative came to Jones, and he played Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing with a resource point left over for Red Star. The score was 22 to 4 for Jones as Slack entered his half of the turn. Slack went to 1 to return Roy Harper and also played a non-boosted Robin.

Robert Leander was sitting along the rail watching the match, and he was pleased to see the card hit play. “Dick Grayson was a last minute change. He is the Titans team leader, you know.” Actually, they added Nightwing to be able to push through the high DEF of the Common Enemy decks.

Red Star attacked and Slack pumped Arsenal four times and shot Garth. Jones paid 3 endurance to return Overload and in response. Slack Pressed the Attack and shot the team leader. Slack also used Heroic Sacrifice from his hand and when Dove stunned he went to 0. Jones was at 9.

“I’ll pass”

Slack sent Garth after Arsenal and powered up with Tamaran. Jones fell to -1 but was able to Overload Slack’s Roy Harper to drop Mark to -3.

The players were pretty hard on the game decisions they made but Robert Leander was more generous considering the complexity of the deck. “Slack made like four mistakes, and Ryan has made two or three. So they are playing pretty well.”

Ryan Jones - 1 Mark Slack - 0


Game Two

According to Ryan, playtesting revealed that in most cases the mirror match was determined by who won the coin toss and got the odd initiative. Slack made the most of his turn at the wheel as he slammed Pantha on the table. “First time all weekend!” Jones passed with no play.

Both players called upon the young detective for the second turn, and then both passed as well. Slack was curving out and had Roy Harper ready for the third turn but Jones had no play. Roy came across for young Tim and Jones was already at 39.

Terra was Jones’s 4-drop. Slack played Red Star. Slack looked for the correct arrangement and put Red Star and Tim up front, with Pantha and Roy offering their assistance from the support row. Jones sent Tim into Tim, and powered up the old fashioned way. Slack flipped Tamaran to show him how the new school did things. Jones used Titans Tower and made his boy a 7 ATK/4 DEF. Slack pumped Arsenal with Pantha, and she made a Heroic Sacrifice.

Slack sent Red Star at Tim Drake. Jones went for the Overload play but Slack had a power-up in hand and Red Star did not stun. Jones spent a Ka-Boom! to take out Tamaran.

The next turn saw a Terra from Slack. Jones used USS Argus, and before recruiting used Terra on Arsenal. He then played Red Star. Slack sent the team at Tim Drake and flipped Teen Titans Go!. Tim and Red Star followed up with an attack on Jones’s Red Star, and Jones used Tower to Overload Tim Drake. Slack did not have another Tamaran. Slack used his own Tower on Terra to stun the last of Jones’ characters. Slack recovered Roy and Jones recovered Terra.

Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing arrived on the scene for Jones, though there was not much team for him to be leading. Slack flipped USS Argus and found Garth. Jones responded to that by using Terra on Roy at the cost of his Tower – not that he had any cards in hand to use with it. Jones passed with no attack and Slack’s Garth was more than happy to be the aggressor. He was able to finish Jones off with his superior board position in short order.

Ryan Jones - 1 Mark Slack - 1

Game Three

“I’ll go first,” smirked Jones.

“Really? How about something else just for the sake of variety?”

Jones had the turn 1 double-dip with Dawn Granger and Tamaran. On turn 2 Slack ran Tim Drake out there and braced himself, “Do you have the natural?” Jones did indeed have the turn 2 Hank Hall and took Slack down to 42 by the end of the turn.

The deck kept curving for Jones, who played Roy Harper and faced up an Argus as well. Slack looked to his own Argus to find Beast Boy. Roy attacked Beast Boy and Tim Drake made a Heroic Sacrifice. Now Jones had to decide if he wanted to put any counters on Beast Boy. He decided to put two. He announced a team attack. Slack wanted to play Savage Beatdown – presumably telegraphing an Overload – but he only had three resources and he had to take it back.

Neither player had a draw, relying on Argus to keep up with the rhythm of the game. They each played Terra, but Jones was able to use his to eat the Argus and Beast Boy. Slack came back and used his Terra to stun Roy.

Ryan laughed, “It’s still my build phase!”

“I don’t care.”

Garth joined the impressive squad on Jones’s side of the table, while Slack had to Optitron for a 4-drop on turn 5. Slack activated Terra and Jones responded by shooting Terra back with Roy. With Roy off to the side for the moment, Slack played Red Star. Jones used his Terra on Beast Boy and sent Garth after Red Star. Slack dumped a pair of Savage Beatdowns on the table and flipped up Overload. Slack’s Red Star came over at Dove, and when the dust settled it was 27 to 28 in Jones’s favor.

Slack had the initiative and used Optitron to find and play Garth. Red Star protected the new recruit while Terra hung in the back. Jones flipped up an Argus and looked for a card. When Jones played Roy, Slack responded by activating Terra to take out Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. Dove came down for Jones as well.

The California player pumped up Roy Harper and shot Garth. Slack Overloaded in response and Jones Pressed the Attack. Slack wanted to return the Overload, but it was still in the Chain Zone and not the KO'd pile. Press the Attack resolved and Arsenal shot Red Star. Roy fell to the Overload but he took Garth with him after Slack returned Heroic Sacrifice. Jones returned Press the Attack and let Roy Harper go during recovery.  Slack kept Garth and Terra.

It may have been turn 7 but Jones only had enough resources to play a boosted Tim Drake. Everyone went up front. Slack used Garth to return a guy from his KO'd pile and promptly returned it there to Optitron for Roy Harper. He also boosted out Hawk and Dove, putting them in front of Garth and Terra with Ray in the support row.

Slack pumped Roy three times and attempted to smoke Jones’s Garth. Jones returned Roy from his KO'd pile to his hand and Garth went down. When Slack Pressed the Attack, Jones activated Terra and took down the marksman before he could ready. Jones team attacked Tim, Hank, and Dawn into Garth but a Heroic Sacrifice sent them after Dove instead. Jones Pressed the Attack and readied Terra. He showed Slack another Press the Attack and they were onto the fourth game.

Slack sighed, “You don’t need Overload when you draw three Press the Attack and two Savage Beatdown.”

Leander leaned over and pointed out that since Slack knew there was a Press the Attack in Jones’ grip Mark needed to use the Terra in response to Jones declaring the team attack. That would have left Jones with three characters and Press the Attack would be off the table for the turn.

Ryan Jones 2 - Mark Slack 1

Game Four

Neither player mulliganed, and Jones flipped Optitron for Tim Drake as the only action of the first turn. Turn 2 was dueling Tim Drakes, but Slack had the Tamaran. Jones flipped up his Titans Tower and Overloaded the opposing Tim. He then finished him off with Finishing Move.

Slack seemed pleased with the transaction, “How many cards are left in your hand?

“Two.”

Slack played Roy Harper while Jones boosted out Hawk and Dove. Mark then used Tamaran on Jones’s Hank and Overloaded it. Jones protested that he believed that you could not power-up an opponent‘s character. The table judge ruled that Mark could use Tamaran in that fashion, and Jones’ team was down a crucial man. Slack followed up by attacking Dove with Roy.

Ryan Jones had Terra which prompted some moaning from Slack. Ryan was none to happy about the ruling from the previous turn and hushed his opponent, “You’ll have one, too, you know it.”

Slack looked at some cards with USS Argus and indeed played Terra. In response, Jones used his own Terra on Roy. Tim and Hank team-attacked Slack’s Terra, and Jones flipped a Savage Beatdown but Slack was ready with the Overload.

Slack had Garth for the fifth turn and Jones responded with Terra. He was hoping to replace his Tower with an Argus because otherwise he had no play.

“No play,” fumed Jones.

“No play? Not what I expected to hear right now.”

Slack smashed his team into Jones’s men and returned a Dove to hand.

Jones found the Argus as his sixth resource and searched up a Garth. He used Terra on Roy and played Garth. He used Garth to return a character and then cycled it through a freshly flipped Optitron to find Roy Harper. Slack boosted out Hawk and Dove and played a fresh Roy Harper.

Slack promptly pumped and shot down Garth. Slack’s Garth then came over for Terra. Slack Pressed the Attack and came over again with Garth. He used Tamaran, returned Press the Attack, and attacked again. He flipped up Titans Tower, and that was enough to send it to a decisive game 5.

After the game, it was determined that the ruling regarding the Tamaran/Overload was incorrect. While Slack could target Jones’s character with the Tamaran, he could not, by rule, power it up. Unfortunately for Ryan, there was no way to back up the game, and the ruling at the time was going to stand—although it would be ruled correctly for the rest of the tournament.

Ryan Jones - 2 Mark Slack - 2

Game Five

The rest of the tournament consisted of one more game. Ryan could easily have let the bad ruling affect his play, but he was able to stay calm and move forward with few outward signs of his frustration. He was going to get the odd initiative, and that may have been some solace.

Ryan had to push a hand with two 5-drops. His second hand allowed him to Optitron for Tim Drake with Hawk and Dove waiting in the wings for turn 3. There was no waiting around for Slack has he got right in there for a point with his Dove.

Slack did not have “the natural” for turn 2, and both players made Tim Drakes. No attack from Slack left the window open for Jones to get in 3 points with a Tamaran’d Tim Drake attacking Dove.

Jones boosted out Hawk and Dove and put them up front with Tim. Beast Boy came down for Slack with the animal lover in front of Tim and Dove to one side in the support row. Hawk and Dove came over for Beast Boy, and Tim Drake came after his Doppelganger for the stun. The score was 48 to 42 in favor of Ryan.

Slack played Red Star on turn 4, and Jones played Terra, which promptly stunned Beast Boy. Slack sent Dove over after Hank Hall and used Savage Beatdown. Jones looked at his face down resources for the Overload that was not there and smirked, “You’re tempting fate, huh?”

“What else am I going to do?”

Both characters stunned, and Red Star came after Tim Drake. Ryan exhausted Dove and reinforced.

Garth came down for Ryan, and he sent everyone into the attack row. Mark put his USS Argus into play face up and exhausted, looking for his best turn 5, and played his own Garth.

Ryan sent Tim and Dawn after Beast Boy, and when he got his counters, Jones Overloaded him. Ryan sent Garth and Dove after Slack’s Garth and a Heroic Sacrifice by Red Star sent it elsewhere. Terra and Tim Drake went after Garth and after a Tamaran activation by Jones, Slack used Titans Tower to Overload Tim Drake. Jones flipped his own Tower and Terra and Garth stunned one another. The score was 36 to 23 in Jones’s favor after Garth retrieved Slack’s Overload.

Hawk and Dove came down for Slack and before he could even get Roy out of his hand, Jones was fiddling with Terra.

“Itchy trigger finger?” asked Slack. In response to Roy hitting play, Jones used Terra to take out Hawk. On his half of the turn, Jones revealed an Optitron and searched out Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl.

Slack announced Garth and Ray were going to attack Ryan’s Garth and that was allowed. Jones returned an Overload to his hand and used Savage Beatdown on Roy with the Overload that inevitably follows. Slack paid 3 and powered up his Garth. Jones also had the power-up and the two Garth’s traded. Cassie smashed into the Dove that had been mistakenly placed in the support row where it could not attack and Slack dipped to 2 -- Jones was at 28.

Jones paid 3 on his build to retrieve Red Star. He played it and activated it.

Slack flipped up a pair of USS Argus to find some kind of answer. He only found a Roy Harper who could not do anything against the onslaught coming his way. “At least I’m going to make you attack Roy Harper one time this match.”

Ryan Jones smiled and activated Terra, his game 4 near-tragedy already behind him, “I wanted to win 4 out of 5 anyway.”

Ryan Jones won 3-2 and became the second Vs. System Pro Circuit Champion! He won $40,000 for his efforts, while Mark Slack consoled himself with a normal-sized check for $24,000.

As they celebrated and mugged for the cameras, the finals of the $10K tournament was being quietly played out one table over. Teen Titans was the best deck at the Pro Circuit today, but don’t forget to check out the results from the $10K to see what next year’s champions will be sporting.