Both Anthony Justice and Michael Sewell enter round 5 undefeated. Many of you know Anthony Justice as a Pro Circuit regular who quite frequently finishes in the money. Michael Sewell however has been on the Pro Circuit scene awhile but hasn’t made as much of a splash. Michael won the die roll and chose to give Anthony odds.

Both players decided to mulligan their starting hands. On turn 1, Anthony recruited Madame Xanadu in the front row, while Michael recruited Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle in the support row. Anthony declared Madame into Ted Kord, and Michael responded by activating him, discarding Sue Dibny to search for Booster Gold. Both characters stunned, and the endurance totals stood at 49 to 49.

Before playing a resource on turn 2, Michael activated Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, discarding Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to search for Cloak of Nabu. Michael then played a resource and returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster from the KO’d pile to his hand. Finally, he recruited Booster Gold with a copy of Nth Metal equipped. Anthony flipped Chimp Detective Agency and activated it to pull Manitou Dawn to his hand. He recruited her and formed with Madame Xanadu and Manitou Dawn in his support row adjacent to each other. Michael announced Booster Gold into Madame, and Anthony reinforced. The score now sat 45 to 49 in Michael’s favor.

Turn 3 came with Anthony activating Chimp Detective Agency again, pulling a Nightmaster, Jim Rook to his hand. Anthony activated Madame Xanadu to search for Divination, then recruited Nightmaster for free by paying 3 endurance. Anthony then played Divination, discarding a copy of Manitou Dawn. Finally, Anthony recruited Zatanna, Magical Manipulator into his front row and formed with everyone in the front. Michael activated Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, discarding Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to search for Amulet of Nabu. Michael returned Mr. Mxyzptlk at the start of his recruit and then recruited Chay-Ara ◊ Hawkgirl equipped with Nth Metal. He formed with Hawkgirl protecting Booster Gold, with Ted Kord adjacent to Booster in the support row. Anthony played Magical Lobotomy targeting Hawkgirl and paid 3 endurance to draw a card with Zatanna, Magical Manipulator.

At the start of the combat phase, Anthony paid 4 endurance to turn Magical Lobotomy face down and then thought over his attacks. Nightmaster, Jim Rook attacked into Hawkgirl as a 6 ATK / 1 DEF (from the Magic plot twists). When Hawkgirl powered-up through Nth Metal, Michael discarded Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to search for Helm of Nabu. Michael teamed-up with World’s Greatest Heroes and drew a card and then played UN General Assembly attempting to search for another character, but Anthony countered with The Conclave to negate it. With the endurance totals at 49 to 25, Anthony chose to pay 3 endurance with Zatanna, Magical Manipulator to draw another card, bringing him down to 22 endurance total. Nightmaster was then an 8 ATK / 1 DEF; Michael resolved the attack and took 7 endurance loss to Anthony’s 1 endurance loss. Anthony continued to think about his other possible attacks this turn, and he settled on attacking with Zatanna into Booster Gold.

“Before it becomes legal,” Michael said as he played Removed from Continuity, exhausting his Booster Gold to remove Nightmaster, Jim Rook from the game. Michael chose to discard Sue Dibny to try to remove all copies of Nightmaster, Jim Rook from the game. As part of the effect, Anthony revealed his hand, and sitting within it were two copies of Stepping Between Worlds, a Collecting Souls; The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel; Chimp Detective Agency; and June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch.

 “That’s a good hand!” Anthony said with excitement as Michael continued to search for more copies of Nightmaster, Jim Rook in Anthony’s deck. The attack finally became legal, and Booster Gold became stunned, dealing Michael 2 endurance loss. Anthony then announced Manitou Dawn into Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle as a 2 ATK / 3 DEF. Michael took 2 endurance loss from that attack as well, bringing the score to 38 to 21 with Michael still in the lead. Anthony played Stepping Between Worlds to move Zatanna, Magical Manipulator to the hidden area, gained 2 endurance from Manitou Dawn, paid 3 endurance to draw a card with Zatanna, Magical Manipulator, and then lost 3 more from Stepping Between Worlds’s effect. He played the second copy of Stepping Between Worlds to move Manitou Dawn and played the same effects again. In the end, Michael was in the lead 38 to 14.

The game moved on to turn 4. Michael returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster, then looked over at Anthony and contemplated his moves. Anthony played Divination and paid 3 endurance for Zatanna, Magical Manipulator’s effect while Divination was on the chain. Michael played UN General Assembly—exhausting Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle—and searched for Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer, whom he recruited into the front row. Michael then attempted to recruit Cloak of Nabu onto Katar Hol; Anthony responded with Magical Lobotomy on Hawkman and then used Zatanna, Magical Manipulator again to draw a card putting him at 9 endurance to Michael’s 38. Michael followed up Cloak of Nabu with the Amulet of Nabu and Helm of Nabu, drew three cards, and discarded three cards. Michael formed with Ted Kord protecting Katar Hol and passed to Anthony’s build.

Anthony recruited Blackbriar Thorn and then flipped Collecting Souls targeting Blackbriar Thorn; since it’s a Magic plot twist, Blackbriar Thorn also gained a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter. Anthony followed that play up by using Zatanna to draw another card. Anthony used another Divination to look at his top three cards again, and he chose to run the slew of effects he had from all of his characters in play (except drawing a card). Now Anthony stood at 6 endurance to Michael’s 38. Anthony recruited Madame Xanadu in the support row protected by Blackbriar Thorn and then contemplated his next move. Anthony formed with Madame Xanadu and Blackbriar in the front row and formed his hidden characters of Manitou Dawn and Zatanna, Magical Manipulator with Manitou Dawn protecting Zatanna. Anthony chose not to turn Magical Lobotomy back face down.

Michael passed his attack step with no attacks, and Anthony declared Manitou Dawn into Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle; Michael reinforced with Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer. Anthony played another Stepping Between Worlds on his Madame Xanadu, threw the counter on Blackbriar Thorn, gained 2 endurance from Manitou Dawn, and drew a card with Zatanna, Magical Manipulator. Anthony then activated Madame Xanadu while everything was on the chain and searched for a copy of Collecting Souls. The chain resolved, and in the end, the endurance totals stood at 37 to 5 in Michael’s favor. Anthony played another copy of Collecting Souls from his hand, targeting Blackbriar Thorn again to give him another counter plus another +1 ATK / +1 DEF this turn—not to mention the additional +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter he gained from his ability. Anthony then played his third copy of Collecting Souls for this turn, targeting Blackbriar Thorn again to give him a total of five +1 ATK / +1 DEF counters, and an additional +3 ATK / +3 DEF through the effects of Collecting Souls. Anthony decided to draw a card this time, which made the endurance totals 37 to 4 in Michael’s favor. Anthony played his fourth and final copy of Collecting Souls and chose not to draw a card as he made Blackbriar Thorn a 12 ATK / 12 DEF. Anthony declared an attack with Blackbriar against Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer and then removed The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel from his hand to make Blackbriar Thorn 14 ATK / 14 DEF. Michael took 7 endurance loss in the attack. Anthony followed this up with an attack from Zatanna directly for a total 4 endurance loss. The endurance totals now stood at 26 to 5 with Michael still leading.

Anthony played a resource and removed Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe from his hand to search for Dr. Occult. Anthony then recruited both Madame Xanadu and Dr. Occult in the front row. Michael flipped World’s Greatest Heroes to team-up and draw a card again. Then, at the start of the recruit step, he returned Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster to his hand and recruited Fire with an Nth Metal equipped to her. Michael formed with Fire protecting Katar Hol and passed to Anthony’s attack step. Anthony chose not to resolve Magical Lobotomy at the start of the combat phase and sat back to look at his attack possibilities for the turn. He activated Madame Xanadu and searched his deck for Magical Lobotomy. He then played it (targeting Fire) and gained 2 endurance to place him at 7 endurance. Anthony attacked with Dr. Occult into Fire, Fire became powered-up by Nth Metal and triggered her ally effect to deal Anthony 2 endurance loss, to bringing him back down to 5. Michael then responded with a Kooey Kooey Kooey from his resource row to search for a copy of Magnificent Seven, which he played to power-up Fire again. Fire triggered again, dealing Anthony another 2 endurance loss, and Anthony quickly extended his hand in concession.

Winner: Michael Sewell