Not only does this Top 8 match represent two of the finest players in the game, Ryan Jones and Matt Oldaker, it also represents the game’s two iconic teams, Jones with FTN and Oldaker with TDC. Both players are also playing the team’s flagship deck, Oldaker with a multi-team control deck glued together by Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and Press the Attack, and Jones with a Crisis on Infinite Earths–centered Doom control deck. For both players, the objective would be clear; a turn 7 Press the Attack–fueled initiative for Oldaker, and a defensive game plan until Ra’s al Ghul, The Demon’s Head created a soft lock for Jones. Because of this, the odd initiatives would be critical.
Oldaker won the choice and took odds, and both players sent their first four back. Oldaker missed on turn 1, while Jones had Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom, who got in. On turn 2, Jones flipped Doomstadt, used Boris to fetch Enemy of My Enemy, and replayed Boris. Oldaker had an alternate recruit Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth, discarding Professor X, Headmaster and Galactus, The Maker, and then recruited Poison Ivy. Ivy attacked, and Oldaker flipped Avalon Space Station, discarding Mimic (how lucky), to return his two characters to his hand.
Oldaker used Enemy of My Enemy to find Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon, and recruited her in the back behind Poison Ivy, intending to use her simply as a way to impede Jones’s own Enemy of My Enemy. Now with Enemy out of the question, Jones had to settle for a Boris activation, finding Crisis on Infinite Earths, recruiting San to find Slaughter Swamp, and recruiting his third Boris of the game. Ivy stunned Boris, and Frankie connected directly. When San tried to take out Frankie, Oldaker responded by KO’ing her to Poison Ivy to get Thanagar.
On the fourth turn, Jones flipped Political Pressure inside of the draw, then recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius and turned Political Pressure back down. Oldaker had Professor X, and set up with Ivy in front of Sage and the Professor in the back. Doom stunned Ivy, and neither player had any other attacks. Turn 5 featured Merlyn, Deadly Archer for Oldaker after Jones Pressured him inside of the draw, while Jones had Kristoff Von Doom, Pretender to the Throne. The Professor and Ivy teamed into Kristoff, and inside of the attack, Oldaker used Ivy (KO’ing Sage) to find Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and flipped Ego the Living Planet to produce a full row of locations. Kristoff and the Professor traded. Merlyn gunned down Doom, and Oldaker went for a Mikado and Mosha on Boris, prompting Jones to fetch a Mystical Paralysis. San went after Ivy with two power-ups to push through Thanagar, and both players Slaughter Swamped and reused a power up. Jones turned his Pressure down during recovery, and Oldaker kept Professor over Ivy after some consideration.
Jones used Political Pressure again inside of the draw on turn 6 and recruited Supermanhunter, looking to lock out Merlyn and Galactus from making much on an impact. Clearly struggling under the Political Pressure, Oldaker could only recruit Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and use him to return Puppet Master from his KO’d pile to play, looking to set up shop with Xavier’s School and Professor Xavier. The Manhunter stunned Professor X after Puppet Master exhausted the rest of Jones’s board, and Jones paid 3 to remove Merlyn’s cosmic counter.
On the seventh turn, with Jones at 22 endurance, it would likely be Oldaker’s last shot to win the game before Ra’s locked things up. Oldaker Swamped back Galactus and recruited him, while Jones had Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival, fetching Enemy of My Enemy, to which Olakder responded with two Puppet Master activations, forcing Jones to Mystical Paralysis Galactus in response. Jones then flipped Crisis and recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. Oldaker was without any copies of Press the Attack, so he was unable to push through Jones’s defenses. Ra’s on turn 8 along with some good, old fashioned Savage Beatdowns sealed the deal.
Ryan 1-0
Game 2
Again Oldaker took odds to start game 2, and again both players looked for new hands. Oldaker passed on turn 1 while Jones had Boris, but it stopped looking like game 1 all over again on turn 2 when Jones played Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Spaceways to Oldaker’s alternate-recruit Frankie Raye, pitching Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and Press the Attack. Oldaker then flipped a Soul World to dig Deadshot back up and recruited him as well. Jones passed on his attacks, using Silver Surfer to find Kristoff Von Doom. Oldaker used Mikada and Mosha on Boris and attacked Surfer with Deadshot, causing Jones to lose the Surfer.
Oldaker started his card advantage engine on the third turn, recruiting Dr. Doom to find Straight to the Grave. He then KO’d Frankie to Doom and used Soul World to get back Frankie before recruiting her for free. Jones could only Slaughter Swamp back Silver Surfer and recruit him again. Frankie traded with Boris, and Doom ran over Surfer, who searched up Reign of Terror before the stun. Deadshot then got in directly, and things were already looking better for Oldaker compared to his first game. Jones again recovered Boris over Surfer.
The fourth turn brought Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius for Jones, who turned down nothing. Oldaker used Straight to the Grave to get The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero, KO’d Frankie to Doom for a replace, free recruited a fresh Frankie, and used Frankie and Doom to return Phantom Stranger to his hand. He then recruited Professor X. Jones sent his Doom after the opposing Doom, and when Jones went to reinforce with Professor X, Jones Reigned Doom back to Oldaker’s hand. Oldaker went for another M and M on Boris, who fetched Enemy of My Enemy in response. Doom then went after Deadshot, and after thinking for some time, Oldaker decided to smoke his own Frankie with Deadshot, leaving the board with just Professor X staring down Dr. Doom. Both players then decided to pass to the fifth turn.
Oldaker started to kick things into gear on the fifth turn, with a free Frankie, a Dr. Light returning Poison Ivy, and a Puppet Master. He then tried to lock up the Swamp with Ego, and Jones responded by digging up Surfer at the expense of his Reign. Jones had a much less impressive Kristoff Von Doom. Oldaker then began the process of thinning out his deck in a hunt for Press the Attacks, using an Enemy and a Straight to the Grave to fill out the rest of his curve. He was content just to use Xavier’s School plus Puppet Master to exhaust Jones’s board, and he KO’d Frankie to Ivy to dig out Birthing Chamber to draw another card. Jones continued to stumble, recruiting Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant and replacing his old Doom. Oldaker added Frankie, Merlyn, and Leech (via Dr. Light) and locked down Jones’s board again. Turn 7 featured Galactus, while Jones had Carnage. A Galactus and Merlyn activation, a team attack, and some Press the Attacks later, and they were moving to the third game.
Tied 1-1
Jones won the preferred initiative for the third game, and for the third straight game, he sent his hand to the bottom. Oldaker finally got one he was comfortable with, and they were off. Jones finally missed on turn 1, while Oldaker got in some early action with Mikado and Mosha. Oldaker continued the pressure with Poison Ivy, while Jones airballed again. Jones used Enemy of My Enemy to find Dr. Doom on the third turn, who in turn searched for Faces of Doom. Oldaker continued with his solid draw, using Enemy of My Enemy to discard Puppet Master and find Dr. Light, who then brought Puppet Master out of the KO’d pile. Then, Mikada and Mosha was KO’d to Ivy to find Birthing Chamber. Puppet Master locked down Doom, and Oldaker drew a card with the Chamber.
On turn 4, Oldaker played Frankie Raye for a resource point (how honest) and Sage, which Ryan responded to by playing Faces of Doom for a Diabolic Genius. Puppet Master was then KO’d to Ivy to fetch Xavier’s School, and Dr. Light brought him back. Ryan recruited Diabolic Genius and turned Enemy of My Enemy face down. Again, Oldaker was content to just Puppet Master his way to the fifth turn.
Jones had Slaughter Swamp to dig back Human Torch, The Invisible Man and discarded him to Enemy of my Enemy to find Garth ◊ Tempest. Oldaker went to the Merlyn setup, recruiting him along with another Puppet Master/Ivy/Dr. Light iteration after using Puppet Master to find Ego as a measure to stop Slaughter Swamp. Puppet Master again exhausted the board, and Merlyn went to take out Diabolic Genius, which prompted Jones to replace a resource with Richards’s Rival.
Turn 6 had another Frankie for a point and Professor X from Oldaker. While he was doing a great job of keep Jones from working over his board, he wasn’t making much progress of his own, and Ra’s al Ghul, The Demon’s Head loomed large on the horizon. Oldaker’s plan to lean on Merlyn was blown out by Supermanhunter. Puppet Master again locked down the board, and Oldaker sent Ivy, Sage, and Merlyn after Supermanhunter only to have the attack blunted by a Cover Fire out of the hand and a re-buy from Garth.
Play moved to the seventh turn, which saw Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant from Jones, then Reign of Terror on Dr. Light before he could be activated. Oldaker went through several hoops to recruit Frankie Raye over and over, digging for cards, and topped off his recruits with Galactus. When Oldaker went to ready Puppet Master with Xavier’s School, Jones had another Reign of Terror (through Garth) to send back Puppet Master and Frankie Raye. Jones started to work over the board, with Garth stunning Sage, Doom on Professor X, and Manhunter on Merlyn. Manhunter then stripped Galactus of his cosmic counter. Galactus got to ship back at the small Doom, knocking Jones to 18 going into the last turn.
Turn 8 featured more digging from Oldaker with Frankie Raye and then a recruit of The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero. Jones had The Demon’s Head after KO’ing Garth and Manhunter to his two Dooms. It still looked like Oldaker would get the win with his hand full of Press the Attacks, but Jones had two copies of Doomstadt (now non-unique, thanks to Ra’s al Ghul] to absorb some of the damage on Doom 3 and make it impossible for Galactus to continue to attack. Jones recruited nothing on turn 9, knowing his Doom and Ra’s al Ghul were unstunnable. Oldaker extended the hand.
Ryan Jones wins 2-1 to advance to the semifinals.