Both of these players have a previous $10K Top 8 finish to their name. Other than that, this is the first high-level tournament experience for both of them. This is certainly the first time that either of them has played in the Danger Room, which is the name of the feature match area for the Pro Circuit. They’re friends from Indiana who came here for the PC, and they chatted genially as they waited for the judges to finish checking their decks. When the deck checks finally ended, the players took several minutes to shuffle up. Vincent won the die roll and elected to take the odd initiatives for the first game.

Game 1

Both players kept their opening hands, and neither player had a first turn recruit. Dair made the first play of the game on the second turn, recruiting Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee in the hidden area. Vincent recruited Maxwell Lord. Dair couldn’t attack, so Vincent beat in directly with Maxwell. On turn 3, Vincent recruited David Clinton ◊ Chronos, The Time Thief, and moved both of his characters to the front row. Dair recruited Silver Sorceress. Vincent proposed the trade of 3-drop for 3-drop, and Dair allowed it, but not before flipping Funky’s Big Rat Code to team up. Both characters stunned, and Maxwell attacked directly again. Dair declined to attack back with Zazzala, and the turn ended with Vincent ahead, 47-42.

“I love me a Nimrod,” said Dair as he recruited Crimson Fox in front of Silver Sorceress. Vincent had The Joker, Headline Stealer in his front row. He set up with Maxwell protecting David in the next column. At the beginning of his attack step, Dair moved Maxwell to the hidden area. His first attack sent Crimson Fox into The Joker. Shake it Off from Vincent made Joker just large enough to survive. Dair still had effects, though, and used Secret Files to fetch a power-up. Vincent picked up Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz with the Files, and then played Balance of Power brick-walling Fox. Dair team-attacked Joker, then teamed up with Gang-Up.  He flipped Injustice Gang Satellite and activated it to KO joker. Surprisingly, Vincent sent Maxwell into the Fox. All Too Easy forced the stun. At the end of the turn, Dair lost the Sorceress. Vincent had an endurance lead of 41-34.

Predictably, Vincent’s turn 5 recruit was nothing other than the Martian Manhunter, set behind Maxwell Lord. David was left next to Maxwell in the front row. Dair recruited Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid, and hid Crimson Fox behind him. Vincent’s first attack brought the Manhunter into Crimson Fox. Dair had UN Recognition, but Token Resistance and a little Manhunter movement kept Fox at a reasonable 8 ATK. With no ready characters, Vincent passed. Dair attacked Vincent’s 3-drop with Floronic Man, and used his Satellite to KO it. At the end of the turn, Vincent was ahead 36-27.

Before recruiting a character on turn 6, Dair had another copy of Secret Files. Dair picked up Metamorpho, while Vincent fetched Prometheus. Dair recruited Metamorpho behind Fox, and kept Floronic Man alone in the front row. Vincent had The General, and set him in front of Martian Manhunter. Maxwell hid in the support row next to the Manhunter. Dair’s first move of the combat phase was the proposal of an attack on the Manhunter by Metamorpho. Vincent moved it to the hidden area to make the proposed illegal. Next, Dair went after Maxwell Lord with Crimson Fox. Vincent allowed it, and Vincent took the stun endurance loss and the breakthrough. Dair’s third attack proposal was Zazzala and Floronic Man on The General. The attack was legal, and The General traded with Floronic Man. With The General’s recovery effect on the chain, Dair used Injustice Gang Satellite to remove it from play. Vincent chose to discard a card anyway, though The General was KO’d. Dair’s final attack brought Metamorpho in directly for 14. Finally given the chance to attack, Vincent hit Crimson Fox with his Manhunter. The endurance totals at the end of the turn were a precarious 15-8 in Dair’s favor.

Turn 7, presumably the last turn of the game, was Vincent’s initiative. He recruited his Prometheus behind Maxwell. Before recruiting a character, Dair played Gang-Up from his hand to dig for another card. He didn’t find what he was looking for, and recruited Tasmanian Devil. He also had Bluejay, who was set in front of Zazzala in the hidden area. Dair moved all of his visible characters to the support row, with Tasmanian Devil in the center of the formation. Vincent’s first attack brought his Manhunter into the Devil. Dair had no effects, and both characters were stunned. Next, Prometheus went after Metamorpho. Dair chose to give it -2 ATK/+2 DEF. A discard to Prometheus and a Trial By Fire dealt some additional breakthrough. Finally, Vincent attacked his 2-drop into Floronic Man to get it off the board. Vincent was ahead by 2 at this point, but Dair had Die for Darkseid! to take the game.

Game 2

Vincent took the odd initiatives, and neither player had a turn 1 play. A turn 2 Maxwell Lord from Vincent hit Dair for 2 unopposed. Vincent had the initiative, but had no play. Dair recruited Sam Scudder ◊ Mirror Master, and beat into Vincent’s 2-drop.

Dair had the initiative on the fourth turn. He recruited Crimson Fox, and passed. Vincent recruited Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, “Pretty Bird” in front of Maxwell Lord. Before attacking, Dair teamed up with Gang-Up. His first attack sent Fox into Dinah. Vincent had Shake it Off, but Dair had a power-up. Dair had no further attacks, but played Death Trap on Vincent’s 4-drop. Amazingly, Vincent had a Death Trap of his own. The players laughed and shook hands. “That was nice.” The players were chatting and playing so fast at this point, I could barely keep up. Both of them were at a healthy 44 as the turn ended.

Vincent’s turn 5 play was Scarecrow, Fearmonger in front of Maxwell Lord. Dair had Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid behind Sam. Vincent made his only reasonable attack, sending Scarecrow into Sam. Dair simply reinforced, and that was the turn. Scarecrow had gained a counter, and Vincent had eked out a lead of 3 endurance.

Dair’s 6-drop was the unimpressive Manhunter Conquerer. “This guy does nothing,” he said. He moved all of his characters to the front. Vincent had Lex Luthor, Evil Incorporated. He set up with Scarecrow in front of Maxwell. Dair’s first attack brought Floronic Man and Sam Scudder into Lex in a team attack. Dair flipped Bizarro Ray, and paid 1 to force the stun. Vincent capitalized on this misplay and flipped Balance of Power. Dair was successfully brick-walled; Floronic Man stunned. Fair’s next attack sent his Manhunter into Scarecrow. Vincent teamed up with Justice League Task Force and used Magnificent Seven to power up. Maxwell reinforced, and both characters stunned. Vincent attacked back with Lex, dealing quite a bit of breakthrough as he took down Dair’s 3-drop. Before recovery, Dair flipped Injustice Gang Satellite and attempted to KO Scarecrow. Vincent played Secret Files from his hand, and failed to find a character, negating the effect of the Satellite. Dair picked up Tasmanian Devil from the Files. Dair was left with only his Manhunter, while Vincent lost nothing. The endurance totals at the end of the turn were 39-20 in Vincent’s favor.

Turn 7 was Vincent’s initiative. He under-dropped with The General, behind Lex. Both of his other characters were pushed to the front row. Dair had Prometheus in front of his Manhunter. Vincent went into the tank for the first time this match, trying to figure out how to kill Dair before the close of the turn. Before attacking, he moved a counter from Scarecrow to The General. He flipped Funky’s Big Rat Code to team up, and then attacked Prometheus with both The General and Maxwell. Dair had nothing, and conceded the game.

Game 3

Dair took the odd initiatives for the final game of the match. Vincent kept his opening hand, but Dair mulliganed his. Dair led off with a resource, but no play, and Vincent followed suit. On the second turn of the game, both players again missed their drops. Dair made the first play of the game on the third turn, recruiting Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory. Vincent also had a 3-drop, recruiting Shadow Thief in the hidden area. He retrieved a hidden copy of Illusionary Warriors with his thief, and passed. Dair attacked in for 5, and Vincent attacked back. The endurance totals at this point were 46-42 in Dair’s favor.

Vincent had the initiative on turn 4, and he missed his drop completely. Dair recruited Circe, and set both of his characters in the front row. Vincent declined to attack; Dair teamed up with Gang-Up and team attacked for 11 (Token Resistance stopped a point). The endurance score was now 46-31 in Dair’s favor.

Dair hit his 5-drop, which took the form of Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid for the third game in a row. He played another Gang-Up from hand, and passed. Vincent recruited Scarecrow, Fearmonger. Dair declared a team attack with all three of his characters, and Scarecrow was KO’d due to Joseph’s ability. Dair attacked back with Shadow-Thief, taking down Joseph Jones. At the end of the turn, Dair lost Joseph, but maintained a sizeable lead of 38-23.

Vincent led off turn 6 with The General. Before recruiting, Dair played Secret Files. Once again, he searched out Metamorpho. The Files also yielded a copy of Prometheus for Vincent. Dair set up with Floronic Man protecting Circe, and Metamorpho in the support row. Vincent attacked The General into Floronic Man, and Dair had nothing to stun back. Floronic Man went down. Vincent’s next, very surprising attack, brought Shadow-Thief into Metamorpho. Dair chose to boost his DEF, but it wasn’t enough—All Too Easy and Trial By Fire took the 6-drop down. The players shook hands again. “That was a nice attack,” said Dair. At the end of the turn, Dair lost Floronic Man, and his lead had shrunk to 24-20.

Turn 7 was Dair’s initiative, and he had Prometheus protecting Metamorpho. Circe was left in the support row. Vincent recruited Libra behind The General. Dair’s first attack sent Metamorpho into Libra; he chose to pump Metamorpho’s ATK. He also discarded a card to Prometheus to power Libra down. Vincent used Token Resistance to hold off the stun, and Dair flipped Bizarro Ray. “Twice in one match,” he said. Vincent played Shake it Off, and Dair had nothing more to pump Metamorpho’s ATK. The 6-drop stunned. Dair’s next attack brought Prometheus into The General. Vincent reinforced, and with The General’s recovery effect on the chain, Dair again had Injustice Gang Satellite for the KO. Neither player had anything else to do, and play moved to turn 8 with Dair ahead 17-14.

For what would almost certainly be the last turn of the game, Vincent recruited a Prometheus of his own behind his Libra. Dair under-dropped—obviously—with a boosted Booster Gold, Sam Scudder ◊ Mirror Master, and a boosted Rocket Red #4. Rocket Red was given 8 DEF with his ability, and Dair moved to formation. He set up with Rocket Red in front of Prometheus, Sam in front of Metamorpho in the next column, and Booster protecting Circe in the final column of his formation. Play moved to the combat phase, and Vincent immediately declared an attack of Shadow-Thief on Sam. Vincent discard a card to Prometheus, and Sam’s ability was triggered. Dair drew and discarded, then considered his options. He also discarded to Prometheus, giving the attacker -2 DEF. Both characters stunned. Vincent’s next attack brought his Illusionary Warriors into Booster Gold. Trial By Fire gave the Warriors +2 ATK, and both characters stunned. Dair chose not to reinforce. For his third attack of the turn, Vincent sent Libra into Metamorpho. Dair gave Metamorpho ATK, and discarded a card to Prometheus to force the stunback. Dair reinforced; both characters stunned. Finally, Vincent attacked Circe with Prometheus. Dair KO’d Circe to her own ability, failing to find an Army character. Vincent made his only remaining legal attack, sending Prometheus into Rocket Red. Dair gave Rocket Red a total of 19 DEF, negating the attack. Rather than attacking back, he simply played Die for Darkseid! to seal up the game

Dair Grant wins!