From a Top 8 that included two Common Enemy decks, two Teen Titans decks, a Gotham Knights deck, a Big Brotherhood deck, a Fantastic Four burn deck, and a Fearsome Knights deck, we were left with only two.

Alex, who hails from Sydney, piloted his metagamed Teen Titans deck through a field of Teen Titans throughout the day. Narrowly scraping into the Top 8, Alex had the unfortunate matchup of Common Enemy in the Quarterfinals against Nation TCG Champion Tim He, but drew and played like a fiend to take it out. He was able to best Luke Bartter’s Big Brotherhood deck, despite repeated Flame Traps burning up his smaller characters. Alex, who writes a column for VSParadise.com, is a long time TCG player, and has put in a lot of effort in recent months learning the intricacies of Vs. System.

Ben Kreis is relatively unknown to the national TCG scene—his Fearsome Knights deck has raised many eyebrows as he gravitated towards the top tables all day. Ben is from Brisbane and flies the flag as the lone non-Sydney player in the Top 8.

They came through a diverse field to make it here. All the usual suspects in the metagame were represented in the field of 81 players, which given the relatively recent uptake of the game in Australia, was a terrific success for all involved.

Game 1

Ben led with a GCPD Officer, while Alex matched his 1-drop with a Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. After they traded stun damage, both players were left at 49 endurance.

Turn 2 saw Alex with no play on his initiative. Ben exhausted the GCPD Officer to play a Bat-Signal, which went for Barbara Gordon ◊ Oracle, eliciting a groan from Alex. Barbara was recruited and Dove swung at her. Alex revealed a Titans Tower and pumped his Dove for three, taking down Barbara and leaving him at 48 endurance with Ben at 45.

On turn 3, Ben played Shimmer and exhausted his GCPD Officer to play a Bat Signal from his hand, searched for an Alfred Pennyworth, and recruited him. Alfred sat in front of Shimmer while the GCPD Officer protected Oracle. Alex flipped USS Argus and took an extra card before recruiting Beast Boy. Ben revealed a Clocktower and exhausted Barbara to look at his top card before activating Shimmer to exhaust a character of Alex’s, choosing Dove. He passed the attack and Alex attacked Oracle with Beast Boy, who was now 4 ATK/4 DEF.

Alex recruited Terra on his fourth turn, and placed Beast Boy in front of Terra and Hank in front next to Beast Boy. Terra then activated to stun Shimmer, KO’ing Argus to do so (which had just been used). Ben then entered his recruit step and activated Alfred to search for a Bat Signal. Barbara Gordon exhausted to Bat-Signal out Harvey Bullock. Harvey came down, along with three GCPD Officers. The formation was three Officers in the front row, with an Officer, Oracle, and Harvey behind them, and the stunned Shimmer off to the side.

Alex entered the attack and Beast Boy was exhausted down by Harvey’s ability, exhausting four officers to which Alex responded with a Finishing Move on Shimmer. Dawn attacked Harvey with a Tamaran activation, leaving Alex at 48 and Ben at 37.

Turn 5 had Ben using a resource point with Barbara to draw a card before playing Alfred, a GCPD Officer and a new Shimmer. Alex responded to that with Garth ◊ Tempest, and Ben was visibly unhappy about that development. Alex placed Beast Boy in front of