There was plenty of joking as everyone sat down, with lots of recognizable faces around the table. Team Tonkatsu hails from Japan, with the exception of Eric Hunter, who ended up on the team not only because he speaks a little Japanese, but also because, as he claimed, “I give the height advantage.” Akihiro Shimizu and Ko Okada join him, both having previous $10K and Pro Circuit money finishes to their names. As an interesting side note, tonkatsu is a Japanese dish of breaded pork eaten by baseball players before big games. It is believed to be good luck due to the fact that katsu, the word for “to win,” is part of the dish’s name. Standing in the way of a team that must be hungry for victory is the formidable Team I Love Jager: Carl Perlas, T.J. Holman, and Mike Gemme, all regulars on the PC, with T.J. and Carl being well-recognized veterans.

For the actual match play, I sat down next to Ko and Mike, the B seat for these teams. Seat A featured Eric against Carl, and C pitted Akihiro against T.J.

Mike won the roll and took the odds, passing the first turn with no play. Ko led off strong with Cheetah, followed by Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant on turn 2. Mike could only manage Deadshot, Dead Aim in the hidden area, allowing Ko to attack directly to send Mike to 42. (Meanwhile, in the next match over, Eric made the first big play, dropping Sasha Bordeaux, Knight with the full set of Fate Artifacts.)

Mike played Help Wanted during his recovery phase before going on to turn 3, getting a Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl and teaming up JLA, JSA, and Secret Six. Ko played Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature. Deadshot was then sent into Dr. Psycho, and Kendra was sent into Polaris with a Burning Gaze, preventing a mutual stun.

Ko underdropped on turn 4, with only Count Vertigo and a Laser Watch equipping Dr. Polaris. Mike pressed the advantage by recruiting Batman, Earth 2. Ko declared a team attack of Cheetah and Polaris against Batman, only to see Mike play A Moment of Crisis, naming Hawkman, and power-up twice through Kendra’s ability. Ko flipped and used Rann to earn the stun, with Polaris being stunned back and Mike choosing to exhaust Deadshot. Vertigo was returned to exhaust Kendra, saving him from a return attack.

Mike dropped a bomb on turn 5: Cheshire with Cloak of Nabu and Amulet of Nabu. Okada answered with Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard. Kendra stunned Dr. Polaris, which exhausted Deadshot again. Cheshire then took out Mr. Freeze, who targeted Batman with his vengeance trigger. Batman then went after an unprotected Cheetah, sending Ko to 22 compared to Mike’s 33. (With a look down the table, T.J. was controlling Akihiro with his VU deck, and Carl was having a hard time with Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight who was the one who now had Eric’s Fate suit.)

Back at the B table, Ko had played a Hunter Zolomon ◊ Professor Zoom across from Mike’s Power Girl, Earth 2. Mr. Freeze went after Batman, whose power took out Ko’s Rann, exhausting Power Girl. The threat of Mr. Freeze kept Mike from attacking with Cheshire after his Power Girl was stunned by Professor Zoom. (Meanwhile, Eric had moved his Fate suit to Dr. Fate, Hector Hall, putting the game away in the process.)

Mike went into turn 7 with the initiative and the endurance totals in his favor at 19-16. He played a Helm of Nabu on Cheshire, giving her the full suit, and followed it with Black Adam, Ruthless Hero out of his resource row. Ko played Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin and tried to get ready for the worst. A 14 ATK/15 DEF Cheshire went into Professor Zoom, who received a Defend Yourself to earn the mutual stun. Power Girl went into Deathstroke with the help of I Still Hate Magic! and a flipped My Beloved, prompting a scoop from Ko and evening the count to one game for each team.

This meant that the match was going to come down to Akihiro and T.J. I sat down on turn 8 just in time to watch T.J. KO Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double by accidentally replacing it with Alexander Luthor, Duplicitous Doppelganger, which searched out a Mr. Freeze that he recruited. Akihiro made a similar mistake, replacing his own Superman, Earth 2 with a boosted one, thinking that Multiverse Power Battery’s ongoing effect would allow both to be in play at the same time. With five characters to Akihiro’s two, an Epic Battle from T.J. got the concession and sent Team I Love Jager into round 2 with a win!