Dair Grant is a player from the Indianapolis area who has been trying hard all season to qualify for the first Pro Circuit, which just so happens to be in his own backyard.  Yesterday was his fifth PCQ, and he finally qualified via sealed pack. He's not playing his Pro Circuit deck today, opting instead for a Puppet Master/Rogue stall deck that eventually wins with Apocalypse and/or Onslaught. Eric Wall is playing Fantastic Four.

Game 1

Both players took a mulligan. Neither player had a first turn drop, and on turn two Wall had She-Thing, while Grant had Puppet Master. Tech Upgrade let Wall get Fantasticar, and on the next turn he had Luke Cage, and put Fantasticar on She-Thing. Invisible Woman, Sue Storm followed, and Grant had Rogue, Power Absorption which copied Puppet Master's ability. Luke Cage was able to get through Rogue for some damage, and Grant played Blackfire on turn five. Wall played Mr. Fantastic, Stretch on his fifth turn, and Blackfire attacked Invisible Woman. Wall exhausted her to search up Fantasticar, and then discarded another Invisible Woman for a power-up. Grant had another Blackfire for a power-up of his own, allowing his character to survive while Invisible Woman was stunned. Rogue attacked She-Thing, causing Wall to stun a second character. Luke Cage's attack was somewhat nullified by Fast Getaway, and She-Thing was KO'ed during recovery. Wall played Hulk, and then put Fantasticars on Hulk and Invisible Woman. Thanks to Batplane, Grant was able to get multiple uses out of his Puppet Master, keeping Wall's attack nullified.

On turn seven, Grant dropped a bomb in the form of Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Wall had Ghost Rider, and used Entangle to exhaust Blackfire. Grant added an Entangle of his own to the chain, exhausting Invisible Woman. A Puppet Master and Rogue activation once again minimized the amount of offense that Wall could push through, and Invisible Woman was stunned by Grant's attack. Mr. Fantastic got some beats through Rogue, but Invisible Woman headed right to the KO'd pile due to Magneto. Wall played She-Thing, and Grant activated Puppet Master, playing another to get a second activation. Swift Escape bounced it to get a third, and Rogue was a fourth. With Wall's offense slowed to a crawl, and Magneto chipping away at his creature base, Onslaught was the final nail in the coffin.

Dair Grant 1 – Eric Wall 0

Game 2

Grant had a second turn Puppet Master, while Wall had nothing. His first play of the game was a third turn Thing, Ben Grimm, while Grant had Medusa. Tech Upgrade was used in response to Puppet Master, letting Wall get Fantasticar. Rogue, Power Absorption gave Grant another exhaust ability, and Wall played a fifth turn Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, followed by two Fantasticars. Grant played Blackfire and used Entangle for one exhaust, and Puppet Master along with Rogue took care of the rest. Hulk came out and took a Fantasticar, but even with three copies of the powerful piece of equipment, Wall was having trouble getting through Grant's defense. Even when an attack did get through, Burn Rubber was able to minimize the damage. Wall used Signal Flare to get Thing, The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing, which slowed down Grant's defense. However, now that it was turn seven, Magneto, Master of Magnetism reared his ugly head. Thing went after him, and Grant used two Acrobatic Dodge after Thing was powered-up. Wall used Savage Beatdown to help Thing win combat, and Magneto was stunned. The rest of Wall's characters got through for massive damage, stunning all of Grant's characters. However, Grant's deck had done a good job of stalling out the early game, and he had lived to play Apocalypse on turn eight. Wall used Tech Upgrade to get his fourth Fantasticar of the game, and Apocalypse KO'd Wall's two face-down resources (Savage Beatdown and Entangle). Apocalypse attacked Hulk, causing him to become stunned.

Wall paid two endurance to move Fantasticar to an exhausted She-Thing, then back to Ghost Rider. He kept doing this until he was down to 24, where Ghost Rider would become bigger. He butted heads with Magneto in combat, and both were stunned. Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, Sue Storm team-attacked Apocalypse, causing him to become stunned along with Mr. Fantastic, and Wall was able to push through enough for the win.

 Dair Grant 1 – Eric Wall 1

Game 3

Wall had She-Thing on turn two, and once again Grant had Puppet Master to slow things down. Wall played Thing, Ben Grimm on turn three, and Grant played Medusa. Thing smashed into her, causing her to become stunned. Signal Flare searched up Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, and Grant played Rogue, Power Absorption. She copied Puppet Master, and Wall's early game was slowed down once again. Still, he could only deal with two of Wall's three characters, so one got through Medusa to force through some endurance loss. Grant activated Puppet Master and added Flame Trap to the chain, so Wall responded by exhausting She-Thing to Tech Upgrade for Fantasticar. Swift Escape bounced back Puppet Master, and it was replayed for another activation. Mr. Fantastic, Stretch came out on turn five, and three Fantasticars in a row followed. Wall played Hulk and gave him a 'Car, bringing the total to a full four once more. Thing attacked Rogue, and both players exchanged Acrobatic Dodges and It's Clobbering Time/Savage Beatdown - the end result was a stunned Rogue, although she did activate to exhaust She-Thing before becoming stunned. Grant used Burn Rubber to survive as long as possible.

 Magneto, Master of Magnetism came out on turn seven, but even he wasn't going to be enough to fend off Wall's side on his own. Hulk attacked Magneto and was powered-up, causing it to be dominant in combat. Thing followed to attack Puppet Master, ending the game and match.

 Dair Grant 1 – Eric Wall 2