Both of these players are participating in their first ever Pro Circuit Top 8. Anthony Calabrese, however, had come close at the two previous Indianapolis Pro Circuit championships. Heath Baker seems to be mostly unknown to the Vs. System community, but he’s definitely made quite the run here this weekend.

Game 1

Table judge Dylan ‘docx’ Northrup flipped a coin with Anthony correctly guessing “heads;” he chose to take odds. Anthony chose to mulligan his starting hand while Heath chose to keep.

Both players played a resource but had no recruit for turn 1. Heath had no recruit again on turn 2, while Anthony led out with a copy of Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose equipped with Amulet of Nabu in the front row. Anthony attacked into Heath for a total of 4 ATK, bringing the score to 50 to 46 in his favor.

Anthony started off turn 3 by recruiting Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle in the support row and activating him (discarding Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster) to search for Cloak of Nabu. Anthony used Poison Ivy’s effect to KO Ted Kord and a face-down Funky’s Big Rat Code to search for a Dr. Fate’s Tower for his resource row. Anthony then flipped the Dr. Fate’s Tower, discarding Amulet of Nabu to get a Helm of Nabu. Anthony announced Cloak of Nabu and Helm of Nabu onto Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, drew three cards, and then discarded two Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster and a Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter. Anthony then recruited Manhunter Clone in the support row protected by Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and passed the turn over to Heath’s build phase. Heath recruited Ahmed Samsarra into the hidden area (revealing Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot from his resource row) and equipped him with Helm of Nabu.

Anthony declared Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose into Heath directly for 7 ATK and Manhunter Clone into Heath for another point of endurance loss. Heath chose to not respond with any attacks this turn, and before passing out of the combat phase, Anthony evaded Manhunter Clone to KO a card from his deck. At the start of recovery, he chose to evade his Manhunter Clone again when it recovered to KO another card. Heath responded by activating Ahmed Samsarra, KO’ing Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot in his resource row to search for Dr. Fate’s Tower. Heath then flipped the Tower to search out a Cloak of Nabu. The score sat with Anthony firmly in the lead 48 to 38 as they moved on to turn 4.

Heath started the turn by recruiting Cloak of Nabu onto Ahmed Samsarra followed by a recruitment of Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot in the support row equipped with Knight Armor. Anthony triggered one of his Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster in his KO’d pile and removed the other two copies. He then flipped Funky’s Big Rat Code, teaming-up Secret Society and Injustice Gang and targeting himself to KO another three cards from his deck. Anthony then evaded Manhunter Clone to place another card from the top of his deck into his KO’d pile. Next, he used Slaughter Swamp, discarding Dr. Fate’s Tower to return Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter back to his hand, and recruited Hector Hammond into the support row behind Poison Ivy. Before passing out of the build phase, Anthony activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to move all three Fate Artifacts from Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter.

Heath declared Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot into Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, flipping Slaughter Swamp and Brother Eye and activating Brother Eye to give OMAC Robot +3 ATK. Heath responded by reinforcing with Hector Hammond and then used Poison Ivy’s effect to KO Manhunter Clone and Funky’s Big Rat Code to search for Gorilla City. Ahmed Samsarra currently stood as a 7 ATK / 7 DEF with both Cloak of Nabu and Helm of Nabu equipped to him. At the start of recovery phase, Heath activated Ahmed to KO the Brother Eye in his resource row and search for another copy. Heath then activated Brother Eye to return Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot to his hand; he then discarded the Robot to Slaughter Swamp to return Maxwell Lord, Black King to his hand. The score still had Anthony leading 45 to 38, with the tides now seeming to change somewhat.

Anthony let out a sigh as he contemplated his turn 5 moves. Looking somewhat stressed over Heath’s board, he decided to return Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand. Anthony then flipped Straight to the Grave and searched found Fatality, Flawless Victory for his KO’d pile. He then activated Slaughter Swamp targeting Fatality, Flawless Victory (discarding Mxyzptlk) before recruiting her and another copy of Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster; he formed with Mr. Mxyzptlk protecting Fatality. Heath recruited Maxwell Lord, Black King in the front row protecting Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot and then activated Ahmed Samsarra to KO Dr. Fate’s Tower to find another copy of it. Heath then flipped the new Tower to search for Amulet of Nabu, which he then instantly equipped to Ahmed Samsarra. Finally, Heath activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to transfer Knight Armor to Maxwell Lord.

Anthony flipped Satellite HQ in his resource row and activated it. Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter then swung into Ahmed Samsarra. Heath responded with a Knightmare Scenario, and Anthony responded to that with a copy of Gorilla City to make his character even larger. Heath responded by flipping Brother I Satellite to search for another copy of Ahmed Samsarra and powered-up followed by an activation of Slaughter Swamp to power-up again. Anthony responded by using Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to search his deck for another copy of Slaughter Swamp, which he activated to return another Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter to his hand to discard for a power-up. Since Ahmed would become KO’d by Fatality’s effect, Heath offered his hand in concession, and on to game 2 they went with Anthony leading the match 1-0.

Game 1 Winner: Anthony Calabrese

Game 2

The players discussed the previous game as they shuffled. “I thought I had it covered from all angles, but I guess I was wrong,” Heath said. “I’m surprised you kept that starting hand,” Anthony responded. Heath defended, “Well, I had Ahmed and Brother I Satellite so I wasn’t about to toss that away.”

Heath chose to take odds this game, and both players chose to mulligan their starting hands. Heath started out turn 1 with no recruit, and Anthony recruited Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster in the front row, attacking Heath to give himself the early lead.

Anthony recruited Deadshot, Floyd Lawton in the support row protected by Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Heath followed up by flipping Brother I Satellite to search for Black Thorn. Heath recruited Black Thorn in the hidden area (revealing Ahmed Samsarra from his hand for loyalty) and passed to Anthony’s attack step. Anthony declared his characters into Heath directly, and Heath responded by attacking with Black Thorn into Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster. The score sat with Anthony still leading 47 to 45.

Heath started out turn 3 by recruiting Ahmed Samsarra into the hidden area and then activated Ahmed to search his deck for Dr. Fate’s Tower. Heath then flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower to search for Cloak of Nabu, equipped the Cloak to Ahmed, and passed to Anthony’s build. Anthony flipped Straight to the Grave in his resource row to send Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and Cloak of Nabu to his KO’d pile. Anthony then flipped Slaughter Swamp to discard a copy of Gorilla Grodd and return Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to his hand. Anthony recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose in his front row and equipped her with Cloak of Nabu. Heath declared Black Thorn into Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and added Brother Eye’s effect to give Black Thorn another +2 ATK. Anthony then attacked directly with Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to bring the score to 44 to 39 in his favor.

While still in the draw phase, Anthony announced that he was going to use Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose’s effect to KO Mr. Mxyzptlk and a Gorilla Grodd in his resource row to search for a Satellite HQ. At the start of his recruit step Anthony returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand and flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower, discarding Mxyzptlk to search for Helm of Nabu. Anthony equipped Amulet of Nabu and Helm of Nabu onto Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and drew and discarded three cards. Anthony then recruited Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter in his support row protected by Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to transfer the artifacts from Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to Hector Hammond. Anthony formed with Hector Hammond protecting Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose in the support row adjacent to Deadshot. Heath recruited Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 in the support row and had no other effects during the build phase.

Anthony activated Satellite HQ and announced Hector into Ahmed. Heath responded with Checkmate Safe House—teaming-up Villains United and Checkmate—and then activated Ahmed to search for The Science Spire. Heath flipped The Science Spire face-up in his resource row and then reinforced with Black Thorn to take 3 points of endurance loss from the attack. Anthony had no further attacks, and Heath declared Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 into Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, flipped another Checkmate Safe House (naming Checkmate and Villains United again), and then activated Brother Eye to make Bizarro 15 ATK total. Anthony took 16 points of endurance loss from the attack, making the score 36 to 28 in Heath’s favor.

On turn 5, Heath activated Checkmate Safe House and then activated Ahmed Samsarra to KO it and search for Brother I Satellite. Heath immediately flipped Brother I Satellite to search his deck for Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. Heath recruited Annihilation Protocol in the support row adjacent to Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 and passed to Anthony’s build phase. Anthony activated Slaughter Swamp to return Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost to his hand and recruited her in the support row. Anthony then activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to move all three of the artifacts onto Crystal and formed with Hector protecting Crystal and Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose protecting Deadshot, Floyd Lawton.

Heath announced Bizarro into Crystal Frost, activating Brother Eye to make Bizarro 15 ATK. Anthony took a balance of 1 endurance loss in the attack to Heath’s 4 points of endurance loss. Heath announced the use of Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot’s effect exhausting Black Thorn to try to KO Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost, and Anthony responded with Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose’s effect to search for Dr. Fate’s Tower. Heath then declared Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot into Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. Anthony responded with Deadshot, Floyd Lawton’s effect on Black Thorn, and Heath responded with The Science Spire, returning Black Thorn to his hand to draw two and discard two. Heath’s last attack was Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot into Poison Ivy. Anthony declared Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter into Annihilation Protocol, using Gorilla City to give him a total of 9 ATK. Heath responded by activating Checkmate Safe House and then played Knightmare Scenario from his hand (exhausting Brother I Satellite); Anthony responded to that with a double power-up courtesy of Slaughter Swamp. The score sat with Heath leading 27 to 14.

Anthony chose to return Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand this turn and flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower to search for Amulet of Nabu. He activated Slaughter Swamp to return Gorilla Grodd to his hand, and then he recruited Grodd equipped with Amulet of Nabu. Heath looked over Anthony’s board and did some mental math on how big Anthony’s characters currently stood. Anthony then recruited Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath in the front row protecting Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. Heath then activated Ahmed to KO Brother I Satellite and search for Dr. Fate’s Tower, which he immediately flipped to search for an Amulet of Nabu for Ahmed Samsarra. Heath then activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to move the two artifacts on Ahmed onto Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath, and then he exhausted Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot to use Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle and search for Helm of Nabu, which he also equipped to Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath. Heath then activated The Science Spire targeting Ahmed to draw and discard another three cards. Heath formed with Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot protecting Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath, and then both players passed into the combat phase.

Heath lost 6 endurance and Anthony lost 5 endurance due to Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath. Anthony declared Gorilla Grodd with Gorilla City into Dr. Psycho, and Heath responded with Checkmate Safe House to gain 1 DEF; both characters became stunned. The players entered the recovery phase with Heath leading 15 to 3.

Heath started off turn 7 by flipping Brother I Satellite to search for Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype, and he recruited her into the support row adjacent to Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. Anthony returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand, used Slaughter Swamp to return Mark Desmond ◊ Blockbuster to his hand, and recruited Mark Desmond into his front row. He then promptly conceded the game to Heath, making it an even 1-1.

Game 2 Winner: Heath Baker

Game 3

Anthony chose to mulligan his starting hand and led off play by recruiting Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster. Heath had no recruit for turn 1, and Anthony announced that he was “coming out swinging” as he flipped Gorilla City to attack with Mr. Mxyzptlk directly for 2 ATK.

Heath recruited Talia, Beloved Betrayer in the front row, and Anthony followed up by recruiting Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose in the support row and flipping Dr. Fate’s Tower to search for Amulet of Nabu. Anthony used Poison Ivy to KO Mxyzptlk and Dr. Fate’s Tower to search his deck for another Tower, which he flipped to get a Cloak of Nabu. “I started early,” Anthony said with a smile as he shuffled his deck. Anthony equipped Cloak of Nabu, Amulet of Nabu, and Helm of Nabu onto Poison Ivy and drew and discarded three cards through the effect of Helm of Nabu. Heath chose not to attack, and Anthony attacked with Poison Ivy into Talia. The score now sat with Anthony leading 42 to 50 in the rubber game.

Anthony returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand and recruited Mr. Mxyzptlk and Deadshot, Floyd Lawton followed by another recruit of Helm of Nabu onto Poison Ivy to sift through another three cards. Heath followed in his build by recruiting Ahmed Samsarra hidden. “Oh crap . . . I just lost this game,” Heath said as he noticed Anthony’s Deadshot. Anthony announced Poison Ivy into Talia and then attacked directly with Mxyzptlk with Gorilla City. Then, he attacked directly again with Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and used his effect to KO Ahmed, and Heath extended his hand in concession.

Anthony Calabrese advances to the semifinals!

Game 3 and Match Winner: Anthony Calabrese