Matthew Tatar is a long-time TCG player from the Washington DC area. Coming into this tournament he was the second-ranked Limited Vs. System player in the world. He reckoned that he had probably moved up to number one after sweeping his first pod. Matthew quietly lurked near the top tables all day yesterday and had to feel pretty good about the prospect of a Top 8 appearance, coming into this round with an 11-2 record.

Matching his record to this point was his opponent Ryan Jones. Ryan is a local player who was recently called up by Team Realmworx, the prestigious group who dominated the Texas $10K tournament a few weeks back. Ryan was the fourth-ranked Limited player coming into the tournament and also posted a 3-0 run in the Superman rounds. Ryan has written in to my column a couple of times with tips and advice. Most notable was when he pointed out to me the synergy between Post and Mojoverse, one of his favorite draft combos. He was featuring that in his second draft deck as he had Post, two Mojoverses, and the Twist of Fate to pull it all together.

Nothing much happened until Madame Web hit play for Ryan on turn 3. Tatar spent his first turns digging with Osborne Industries, which he calls one of the most powerful cards in the set for Limited. He answered Madame Web with Prodigy. Ryan flipped a Mojoverse and both players took three in battle.

Tatar faced a Twist of Fate during his build and revealed Venom, Alien Symbiote and three other cards he had little interest in. He played the Alien Symbiote and it stood in the front row alongside Prodigy. Ryan had Black Cat, Felicia Hardy and outfitted her with a sleek new Jetpack. Prodigy went after Madame Web, and Ryan used her ability. Ryan powered up and attempted to reinforce with Black Cat. Matthew Sucker Punched his opponent. Venom went after Black Cat and took her down without stunning thanks to Sucker Punch.

Human Torch, Friendly Rival arrived on the scene for Ryan on turn 5. Tatar played Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote, who stepped in front to protect Prodigy. Ryan sent Black Cat after Spider-man and they both stunned. Human Torch swung at Venom as a 9 ATK/10 DEF (thanks to Mojoverse) and Tatar – after flipping up Forced Allegiance – used the evasion ability to save his Venom. He took eight from the Torch coming down hard on Prodigy and the score was 37 to 30 in Ryan’s favor.

Tatar played Hobgoblin and Ryan trumped him with Mattie Franklin ◊ Spider-Woman.

“Let’s not mess around,” announced Tatar as he sent Venom and Spiderman at Mattie Franklin. Ryan flipped up three copies of Dusk and a Rocket Racer and binned them to make Mattie a 15 ATK/15 DEF. When he went to do it a second time, Tatar was shocked and asked for a judge to confirm how Mattie’s ability worked. He was disappointed to learn that Mattie triggered for each attacker and he had to power-up to take down the monstrous  6-drop.

Hobgoblin came after Human Torch, and when Ryan powered it up they both stunned.  When the initiative came to Ryan he sent Black Cat after Venom and flipped an odd card to make Matthew discard. “Scorched Earth,” announced Tatar as the characters on both sides of the table were all face down.

Ryan’s turn seven got underway with a Twist of Fate that turned up Post. “You are playing Post?” Ryan shrugged and pointed at his Mojoverse although he boosted a Silvermane instead for a 13 ATK/2 DEF character to join Mattie Franklin on the frontlines.

“It’s looking good for you.” Matthew played his own Silvermane which was a 14 ATK/2 DEF and put it in front of Hobgoblin but he conceded during the attack phase since both of his defenders were terribly outclassed by Ryan’s offensive stats.

Ryan Jones won the match and was now 4-0 on the day in Limited. He probably also passed Tatar as the number-one ranked Limited Vs. System player in the world, although the day was still very young.