Doug “Tico” Tice needs no introduction by this point. With numerous $10K and PC money finishes, as well as a reputation as one of the game’s nicest guys, Doug is no stranger to the feature match area. His opponent, Alex Antonios, is a bit of a mystery but is also currently the most dominant $10K player in his native Australia. Both are 4-1 going into the round, and both are playing odd control decks. Alex’s is a brew of generic quality/stall characters, while Doug’s focuses around Puppet Master, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and Press the Attack.

Alex won the choice and took evens. Doug sent back his first four, while Alex kept. Neither player recruited on turn 1; Alex kicked off the action on turn 2 by recruiting Black Cat, Master Thief and flipping Dr. Fate’s Tower to find Helm of Nabu. He put the Helm and Cloak of Nabu on the Cat, discarding another Tower and Commissioner Gordon, James Gordon to the Helm. Doug flipped Ego the Living Planet to lock down the Tower, and then recruited Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth, discarding Press the Attack and Terrax, Harbinger of Ruin to draw two cards. Black Cat got in on Frankie, and play went to turn 3.

The third turn featured Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon from Doug, which got no responses from Alex, and Dr. Light, Master of Holograms from Alex, which brought back the Commish. Deadshot put it on Black Cat, Sage took out the Commish, and Alex lost the Gotham Knight during recovery.

Alex used Straight to the Grave on the fourth turn to find Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and then discarded Poison Ivy to Slaughter Swamp to return the Doctor to his hand. He recruited Doom, brought Poison Ivy back with Dr. Light, and teamed up Emerald Enemies, Doom, and Injustice Gang with U.N. Building. Doug simply recruited Professor X, Headmaster and set up with Professor X in front of Sage. Given the less than aggressive nature of Alex’s characters, he had to settle for sending his attacks at Frankie and Deadshot, causing Doug to lose Frankie after drawing a card with Professor X. Doug also flipped Soul World and brought back Terrax.

Doug started his fifth turn with an Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Leech for a Dr. Light of his own. He then recruited Light, brought back Leech (thus locking out the opposing Dr. Light), and used his last 2 points on Puppet Master. Alex kicked things off by using Straight to the Grave to find Ape X, which he tried to Dr. Light back. Doug evaded Leech to negate it. Alex then used Slaughter Swamp to bring back Ape X and recruited the Ape to find the last Fate artifact. He then tried to recruit Ronan the Accuser, Starforce, which Doug responded to by flipping Xavier’s School and Straight to the Grave, using the latter to get Poison Ivy. With Doug’s row now up, Alex went for a Reality Gem, taking out the School. Doug responded by using Puppet Master twice (because of the Professor’s adjacency power), exhausting Ivy and Ape. The Professor then stunned Black Cat, and Sage and Deadshot team attacked to take out Ronan.

Alex lost Black Cat during recovery, so Doug took Ego off of the now-useless Tower. This would come back to haunt Alex on the sixth turn, since when he went to Straight to the Grave for his drop, Doug responded by using Ego on the Slaughter Swamp. Alex was then forced to use Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose (KO’ing Ape X) to find another Slaughter Swamp after finding Terrax with Straight to the Grave. Doug went into the tank for a while on his recruits, starting with an alternate recruited Frankie Raye, and then a Dr. Light activation to get his own Poison Ivy. He actually went so far into the tank that after he finished his recruits and formations, he realized that he had forgotten to recruit the Terrax in his hand! Doug was actually so far ahead that he could afford to pass, exhausting his way out of the sixth turn and finishing the game on turn 7 with Galactus, The Maker and multiple copies of Press the Attack.

Doug Tice wins!