John-Michael Erlendson is the creator of the infinite loop “Ghostbusters” deck from Day 1 of Pro Circuit San Francisco and here he is finding himself on the doorstep of a Top 8 finish in $10K San Francisco, somewhere he’s been before. John-Michael made Top 8 at $10K New York the same weekend as Pro Circuit New York, so he’s hoping for a repeat success. His opponent is none other than Jesus Esterada; this 17 year-old placed a very impressive 8-1 record at the end of Day 1 and has found himself down 8-3 after 2 rounds this morning.

John-Michael had the initiative. He set a resource, recruited Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee in the hidden area, and passed. Jesus set a resource and passed with no recruit. John-Michael attacked with Detective Chimp for 1 ATK and passed. Jesus also passed and play continued to turn 2.

Jesus led off turn 2 with a resource, recruited Stargirl in his support row, and passed. John-Michael followed up by recruiting Ragman, Patchmonger in his front row and passed back. Jesus attacked with Stargirl into Ragman and passed with no effects. John-Michael also passed and both resolved the attack. John-Michael passed his attack step afterwards and on to turn 3 they moved.

John-Michael recruited Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific in the hidden area and passed to Jesus’ attack step. Jesus recruited Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl in his front row protecting Stargirl and passed to John-Michael’s attack step. John-Michael used Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee to give all his characters the JSA affiliation, declared Ragman, Patchmonger into Kendra Saunders, and passed. Ragman gained +2 ATK/+2 DEF for Mr. Terrific and John-Michael passed priority to Jesus. Jesus reinforced with Stargirl and passed as well. John-Michael then declared Mr. Terrific into Stargirl and passed. Jesus passed back and stunned Stargirl. Jesus chose to keep Stargirl during the recovery and play moved onto turn 4.

Jesus set a resource, recruited Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman in the hidden area, and passed to John-Michael’s build. John-Michael recruited Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero in his support row and passed to Jesus’ attack step. Jesus announced Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman into Ragman, Patchmonger, played Epic Battle from his hand, and passed. John-Michael flipped Justice United in response teaming-up JSA and Shadowpact. John-Michael then flipped Heroic Rescue, giving Ragman reinforcement, and then passed back. Jesus announced Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl into Katar Hol at 7 ATK and passed. John-Michael responded by discarding The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero to power-up Hawkman and passed back. Jesus stunned Kendra Saunders and passed to John-Michael’s attack step. John-Michael attacked directly with all his characters for a total of 15 points of endurance loss and passed to recovery.

JM set a resource, recruited Witchfire and Lois Lane, Earth 2 in the front row, and, with Lois Lane’s effect, searched out Superman, Earth 2 from his deck, adding it to his hand before passing to Jesus’ build. Jesus set a resource, recruited Black Adam, Teth-Adam in his support row, and then flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower, activating it to equip Tricked-Out Sports Car to Black Adam. Then he activated Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman’s backup power and passed to John-Michael’s attack step. John-Michael figured up some math to see if he could end the game this turn, “I think I might have you, but I’m not sure. Might as well check,” John-Michael said as he started jotting numbers down on a piece of paper. “That doesn’t work, how about this…” John-Michael started jotting some different numbers down to try and figure out what he could take Jesus down to this turn. John-Michael used Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee to make all his characters JSA again and then he announced Ragman, Patchmonger in to Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl and passed as a 6 ATK/3 DEF to Jesus. Jesus flipped up Checkmate Safe House to team up Villains United and JSA and reinforced with Black Adam, Teth-Adam. The attack resolved and John-Michael then announced an attack with Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific, Detective Chimp, and Lois Lane for a total of 12 ATK on Black Adam. Jesus resolved the attack taking 5 endurance loss bringing the score to 37-20 with John-Michael leading. John-Michael then declared a team attack with Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero and Witchfire for a total of 13 ATK to bring Jesus down to 7 endurance. Both players passed to the recovery phase.

After drawing, Jesus shook his head as he looked over his hand. He set a resource, recruited Power Girl, Earth 2 in his front row, and passed to John-Michael’s build. John-Michael recruited Superman, Earth 2, exhausted Lois Lane and Detective Chimp to return The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero from his KO’d pile to his hand, and then thought over his formation. John-Michael formed with Witchfire protecting Superman and Lois Lane protecting Hawkman and then passed to Jesus’ attack. Jesus activated Dr. Fate’s Tower before the start of combat to transfer Tricked-Out Sports Car to Power Girl and then both players moved into the combat phase. Jesus announced Black Adam, Teth-Adam into Witchfire and passed with no effects. John-Michael looked at his resources and thought about what move he could do in response. He chose to take the full brunt of the attack, taking 8 endurance loss, while Jesus took 5 endurance from Black Adam, Teth-Adam’s stun. Jesus declared Power Girl, Earth 2 into Superman, Earth 2 and passed with no effects. “I gotta try it,” John-Michael said as he discarded The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero to power-up and then removed The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel from his hand to power-up again. He also flipped Collecting Souls to make Superman a 13 ATK. The attack resolved with both characters stunning. Then Jesus declared Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman into Lois Lane and passed. John-Michael also passed bringing him down to 12 endurance. Jesus then promptly conceded the game.

It looks like John-Michael is in the Top 8 at yet another 10K!  Jesus will surely be back some day on the $10K circuit. If he doesn’t make Top 8 with his 8-4 record, he’ll definitely be a player to look out for in the future.

Winner: John-Michael Erlendson