The finals of the Columbus Vs. System $10K were set to begin. A decent crowd began to form around the to finalists—Gabe Walls playing Teen Titans, and Jason Hagar playing a homebrewed deck cleverly named Evil Medical School after its numerous evil doctors. Before the match began, Mike Guptil (the tournament coordinator) dropped by the table to show his support for one of his biggest fans. “I just want to say that I am sexy,” said Guptil. Gabe simply stared at Jason, dropped his eyes, and said, “I can’t believe you voted for Guptil . . . you are dead to me.” Jason won the die roll and got to take the initiative first.
Gabe got the action rolling with a turn 2 Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. Jason followed that with Boris, which quickly got stunned by a mad Hawk. Jason started turn 2 with Alfred Pennyworth, which enabled him to flip up his Marvel Team-up selecting Gotham Knights and Doom. He took advantage of the new affiliations by tapping his Boris to flip Bat-Signal, searching out a Robot Sentry and dropping it into play. On his turn, Gabe flipped up his U.S.S. Argus, started digging, and then played Dawn Granger ◊ Dove and Tim Drake ◊ Robin. During this attack, Robot Sentry kept Dove on lockdown, but Robin still got through to smash Boris. After these attacks were done, Gabe flipped up Foiled! and destroyed Jason’s Marvel Team-up. This left Jason with only two guys and no shared affiliation. Team-ups are essential for his deck to run smoothly and hold off his opponent.
The next turn involved Gabe playing Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, while Jason tried to rebuild his board position. First, he played Boris and a GCPD Officer. He activated his Alfred to search out a World’s Finest and then replayed him. When Gabe tried to attack, Robot Sentry tapped down Dove, which Gabe tapped to pump his Roy. The rest of that turn involved Gabe stunning every character Jason controlled except his Alfred. Jason was forced to KO all of his characters except Alfred and Boris.
Turn 5 was the magic turn for Jason. He started by flipping up World’s Finest and teaming up GK and Doom again. He then Bat-Signaled for Dr. Doom—the reason to fear the fourth turn against any Doom-based deck. Jason then played his Doom and responded to it by playing Reign of Terror on Gabe’s Roy Harper, and then flipped his Bat-Signal face down.
Gabe dropped a Terra and passed to Jason. First, Doom bashed into Hawk, stunning him. Next, Jason activated Alfred and got another Reign to bounce Dove and Robin back to Gabe’s hand. Gabe then sacrificed his Argus to stun Boris, simultaneously getting rid of him and freeing up his draw.
Gabe led on turn 6 with a Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, which he used to try to stun Boris. Naturally, Jason used Boris in response to get Pleasant Distraction. Gabe then followed up with the Roy Harper that Jason had sent to his hand last turn. Jason began his part of the turn by flipping Mystical Paralysis to tap Terra, which pumped Roy in response. He then dropped a cop, Signaled for Robot Sentry, and dropped a Boris. Gabe started the attack by pumping his Roy with Hawk after Jason’s Robot tried to exhaust Hawk. Using his newfound strength, Roy smashed into Boris, who fetched a Bat-Signal in response. With his Roy now ready, Gabe began to think deeply about his next play.
“You should Roy my Alfred,” Jason suggested.
“It’s on my list,” Gabe replied. He then Roy’d Jason’s Doom, sacrificing Tamaran, flipped Press the Attack, and readied Roy. Roy bashed into the cop, bringing police brutality to a new level. Gabe tried to play Press the Attack from his hand on Roy, but it was Fizzled by Jason.
Then next turn was very similar to the fifth, with Jason playing a couple of little men and Doom and searching out a Reign with Alfred. Gabe simply played his Red Star and said go. When Jason sent Doom into Dawn, Gabe pumped his Roy enough to activate it and kill off Doom, but before he could, Jason’s Reign of Terror scared Roy back to Gabe’s hand. Jason decided to Press the Attack with Doom and bash into Hawk who, thanks to a timely Titans Tower, ended up being big enough to take down Doom. “You’re at 2, and I have a Red Star, right? Just checking.”
Faced with the inevitable, Jason conceded.
Gabe 1, Jason 0
Game 2 was unfortunately anticlimactic. Both players began with a mulligan, and Jason’s opening draw didn’t give him the early push he needed to get his deck’s defenses online. He managed to begin the first two turns with a cop and a Shimmer to Gabe’s empty board. Turn 3 brought nothing more from Jason, while Gabe brought out a boosted Dove to take the advantage. The fourth turn still brought nothing new for Jason, while Gabe continued to cement his advantage with a turn 4 Red Star. Troubles continued for Jason, as he could do nothing more than replay his Shimmer and drop a new Robot Destroyer. After Gabe played a Garth during his build, Jason extended the hand, and the title of Columbus $10K Champion went to Gabe Walls.