Mike Dove is a 33 year-old engineer from Chicago who is a TCG veteran of Pro events. Yesterday was the tenth such event he has attended, but today he finds himself on the DC side of the $10K, trying to elbow his way through 45 other players into the Top 8. Jarrod Burt is 25 year-old draftsman from Louisville, Kentucky, who is also running the DC cards today.

Both players said they were on this side of the bracket because they made an assumption that there would be considerably fewer competitors for DC than for Marvel, thus giving them a better chance to make money in the event. They were quite correct in this, and in exchange they also have to play fewer rounds today than the Marvelites. The deck matchup here has Dove playing Teen Titans against Burt's League of Assassins deck.

Dove kicked off with Pantha and Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, but stalled on turn 3, declaring it a crime because his deck is loaded with 3-drops. Burt had no play for turn 1, but plopped Hassim down on turn 2 and Ubu on turn 3, to the consternation of Dove. Beatings ensued, and suddenly the endurance race was even, but Burt had board advantage.

Burt's Merlyn, Deadly Archer faced off against Dove's Terra for turn 4. Dove used Terra to shut down Ubu during Burt's attack, and then Heroic Sacrifice saved Terra from the wrath of Merlyn, essentially nullifying what should have been a pretty good turn for the Kentuckian. Garth ◊ Tempest appeared as Dove's fifth turn play, and Burt used Mountain Stronghold to seek out Bane, Ubu and put him into play, sticking Ubu and Hassim in the front row, while Merlyn and Bane huddled together behind the little guys in the back.

Terra and Garth teamed up to smack down Ubu, and Dove played the inevitable Teen Titans Go! Garth then slapped around Merlyn like his name was Susan, Tim Drake battered Hassim into submission, and another Teen Titans Go! let Garth and Terra team up to put Bane out of commission. Burt had A Death in the Family to make sure the stunned Garth did not come back to haunt him on the net turn, though it dropped his endurance to a scary 13. The players then discussed the fact that Dove made no less than four mistakes on that turn and yet still managed to decimate Burt's squad, signifying the power of the Titans deck even when played imperfectly.

Ra's al Ghul, Master Swordsman was Burt's turn 6 play and Dove matched it with a 6-drop of his own: Koriand'r ◊ Starfire. Bane tried to take down Terra with help from Flying Fortress, but Titans Tower made sure that it was a trade instead of a bashing. Ra's al Ghul rammed through Tim Drake for 13, making the endurance totals Dove 15 - Burt 8.

Dove actually had a 7-drop for turn 7 in Raven, but unfortunately for Burt, his Lady Shivas had both been buried as resources when Ra's came into play, forcing him to play another Merlyn. Dove team attacked Merlyn with his whole team, and then played Teen Titans Go! but put his head in his hands when Burt played Tower of Babel. "Oh no. I forgot about that - that's huge." Unfortunately Burt could not capitalize on it, and they went into the final turn with Dove at 10 and Burt at 4.

Burt tapped the top of his deck, searching for his 8-drop Ra's Al Ghul, but plucked two weenies instead and was unable to pull ahead in the damage race on the final turn, giving Dove the win in spite of a series of mistakes that should have made the game much more of a beating than it actually was.

Dove 1 - Burt 0