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Now It’s Draftin’ Time!: 6:30 PM

With round 10 finishing, Day 1 ended in record time (with many thanks to Head Judge Paul Ross and his crack team of judges), and the results are in. Of the original 291 players, 109 have passed the Golden Age test and will fight for a chance to make the Final 8.

Those players lucky enough to go 8–2 or better:

10–0

Aaron Weil—Avengers Reservist

Aaron was able to blow away the opposition with the much-vaunted Avengers Reservist deck. Despite 41 other players playing this deck, he was the only one able to post fewer than three losses. Aaron is in the driver’s seat tomorrow, and probably needs to make only a 4–5 record in Avengers draft.

9–1

Michael Dalton—Common Enemy

The FTN build of Common Enemy has taken many players by surprise, as they effectively predicted the rise of Squadron Supreme and decided to counter that with Doom and his Reign of Terror. I was told that they were considering playing a GLEEvil deck (Masters/Green Lantern) before they concluded two weeks ago that the Squadron Menace was going to cause them “splash damage” problems.

8–2

Roy St. Clair—Cosmic Cops

John Tatta—Squadron Supreme

David Spears—Common Enemy

Doug Tice—Squadron Supreme

Alex Brown—Faces of Evil

Phillip Graham—Common Enemy

Craig Edwards—Rigged Elections

Dean Sohnle—Fantastic Fun

Neil Reeves—Common Enemy

Reinhardt Blech—Squadron Supreme

Markus Kolb—Squadron Supreme

Jason Dawson—Common Enemy

Randall Hughes—Faces of Evil

Karl Horn—New School

Common Enemy has shown itself to be the effective check to the metagame, posting a winning percentage far better than the number of players would indicate. This is probably augmented by the fact that all but one of the Common Enemy players have had a Pro Circuit Top 8 finish, but this means that Doom still has a chance to shine. Squadron posted four players into the 8–2 bracket, which is a relatively poor showing for the most popular deck in the format. The Australians were able to get five of their eleven players, running a finely tuned Faces of Evil deck, into Day 2. The three A Child Named Valeria decks were piloted by players who knew their decks intricately—making it clear that the best deck you can choose is the one you are most familiar with.

Stay tuned for the Avengers draft action on Day 2!

4:30 PM: First to Make Money at PC LA?!?

Josh Wiitanen is a wild man. Known for flamboyance as well as skill with the superheroes, it’s always fun to watch his antics. In Round 8, he was playing Aaron Weil in the Feature Match area. Now, in the Feature Match area, one of the players is required to keep score electronically so that the spectators can see what the endurance totals are on the big screen.

The problem is that no one wants to do it because it’s a little different than keeping totals on a score pad. Josh, canny to this issue, quickly shotgunned “not it” and avoided having to score. Aaron was a little dismayed about having to keep score, so Josh offered to score for the princely sum of one dollar. Aaron quickly agreed and handed over the George Washington to Josh. Josh celebrated his free dollar, running around shouting “I'm the first person to make money at this Pro Circuit!” It was then that a re-pairing of the round was announced (due to a technical error). Josh wouldn’t let that little detail kill the moment, though, and quickly ran away with his dollar bill.

4:15 PM: When Onslaught Just isn't Good Enough

Patrick Yapjoco is playing a very cool GLEE endurance gain deck that attempts to stall with Malvolio, Katma Tui, and Kyle Rayner, Ion and get to a brutal turn 9 Onslaught. Pat was playing in the feature match area, and his opponent had previously played a Silver Surfer, making his potential turn 9 play a little worse than usual. By now, Patrick had set up his deck via Malvolio and Book of Oa to draw Onslaught, but he decided he needed to change his game plan when he saw Norrin Radd. He then proceeded to use The Ring Has Chosen to search for Professor X, Mental Master, steal his opponent’s Silver Surfer using the Professor’s boost ability, and then bash his face. I guess there are some times when Onslaught isn’t quite the 9-drop you need.

4:00 PM: Leading the Charge

After 7 rounds, there are only two players who have an unblemished record. First there is Aaron Weil, playing the new hotness that is Avengers Reservist. The other is none other than FTN’s own Michael Dalton, playing the team’s version of Common Enemy. The FTN guys seemed to have been ahead of the metagame once again, tuning their version to be competitive against the Squadron Supreme decks that are everywhere. This deck has gotten new recruit Dave Spears to 6-1. In fact, Common Enemy has been able to take five players to a 6-1 or better record, with FTN leading the charge with both second and third place. Squadron has only been able to manage three players with one loss or less.

Here are the decks that have one or zero losses as of round 7:

7-0

Aaron Weil - Avengers Reservist
Michael Dalton - Common Enemy

6-1

David Spears - Common Enemy
Alex Gellerman - Squadron Supreme
Roy St. Clair - Cosmic Cops
John Tatta - Squadron Supreme
Dean Sohnle - Fantastic Fun
Josh Wiitanen - Teen Titans
Billy Postlethwait - “Blazing Saddles” (Radiation Burn Deck with Roy and Dr. Light)
Sean Poestkoke - Common Enemy
Doug Tice - Squadron Supreme
Philip Graham - Common Enemy
Neil Reeves - Common Enemy
Alex Brown - Faces of Evil
David Frayer - “Fantastic Tactics” (Team Tactics/A Child Named Valeria)
Matt Oldaker - Child Lock
Markus Kolb - Squadron Supreme
Jason Nelson - Teen Titans

One thing that is clear is that the reign of the purple robots is well and truly over. Even though it’s the second most played deck, Sentinels has underperformed dramatically. That has made for a very happy Tim Willoughby, who predicted the fall of Curve Sentinels and the rise of Doom just a week before.

3:30 PM: Sentinels Extended

If you were lucky enough to be a competitor in this Pro Circuit, you would be the proud owner of the man who was responsible for this Sentinel madness, Boliver Trask. At every Pro Circuit, players are given an exclusive Extended Art foil card. Previous cards have been Batman, The Dark Knight; Silver Surfer; a Doop, Ultimate Weapon and Orphan, Good Guy stacker card; Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria; Dr. Light, Master of Holograms; and Arisia. So, for those collectors out there, you now have a new target—the elimination of all mutants!

1:30 PM: Every Format has a Silver Lining

After the announcement of the Silver Age format, which will premier at the recently-announced Pro Circuit San Francisco, I tried to gauge player reactions to the new format. Everyone was excited about it, as it will allow them to escape the shackles of cards such as Flame Trap; Total Anarchy; A Child Named Valeria; Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius; Lost City; Reign of Terror; and even innocuous cards such as Acrobatic Dodge.

David Spears and Chris Price are excited about the format but had a few reservations about the power level of some of the off-curve decks, especially GLEE and Squadron Supreme. “If there are new cards that don’t let off-curve decks go wild, then it’ll be fine. I understand that Total Anarchy and Flame Trap are really strong, but you need to be able to keep those decks in check.”

With some of the secondary market prices of both Marvel and DC Origins cards going through the roof, Silver Age will provide a more stable and accessible format for newer players while still making sure that they have a good return on their investment. Nick Little and Jason Hager loved the idea of being able to play without Flame Trap, which I guess is no surprise considering Jason’s love of 1-drop characters. The Australians were a little more reserved about the addition but still maintained that it was a good move for the game. “Golden Age is stupid,” remarked Alex Brown. “I don’t mean its bad, but the games are all about powerful cards. Golden Age is fun, but there needs to be a stable format that doesn’t have the swinginess of the Marvel and DC Origins cards.”

“Anything that will get new players in is a good thing.” Donnie Noland, who owns a shop in Tennessee, hit the nail right on the head. “If Vs. is to grow in the long term, we need to have formats for the players who are just starting. I’m excited that X-Men might even be good in this format.”

So with a resoundingly positive reaction, Vs. players around the world should get ready for the dawning of a New Age

1:00 PM: Squadron Reigns Supreme!

Squadron Supreme has been the most prolific deck in the format, and you can ask Adam Prosak why. Adam was cruising at 4-0 with his signature Teen Titans deck until he played John Tatta, who came with the deadly no-hand strategy. John hit a perfect curve with Ape X, Shape, Lady Lark, and Golden Archer. He was matched by an equally perfect curve of Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective; Beast Boy; and Terra. But with Tatta dumping his hand on turn 3, he was able to destroy Prosak’s endurance total to the point that Prosak conceded on turn 4. “Must be nice,” Prosak muttered. Hitting the curve with Titans ain’t what it used to be.

12:30 PM: Quick Kill!

You may think that Quick Kill is a plot twist from Marvel Knights, but Chris Price of Team FTN has other ideas. Shunning his team’s deck choice of Common Enemy, he decided to play his own Squadron Supreme deck. Now, this in itself isn’t that remarkable. But Chris was able to win on turn 3 with a combination of multiple Surprise Attacks that easily facilitated the no-hand strategy of Squadron Supreme, much to the chagrin of his first round opponent. Welcome to the Pro Circuit, gentlemen!

11:30 AM: What are the Pros Playing?

What is especially remarkable about this particular Golden Age is that not even
the professional teams seem to agree on which deck is correct for this
metagame. Even though Squadron has the greatest representation in
the field, there is plenty of diversity amongst the pros. Here are
some of the deck types that are being played:

FTN (Internet Based):
Jason Dawson – Common Enemy
Michael Dalton - Common Enemy
David Spears - Common Enemy
Kim Caton - Common Enemy
Steve Horowitz - The New Brotherhood
Milton Figueroa - The New Brotherhood

Realmworx (Los Angeles):
Ryan Jones - Squadron Supreme
Vidi Wijaya - Squadron Supreme
Alex Gellerman - Squadron Supreme
Patrick Yapjoco - GLEE Stall

RIW Hobbies:
Michael Jacobs - Avengers

YMG (Boston):
Rob Dougherty - Squadron Supreme
Craig Edwards - Rigged Elections
Anthony Shaheen - Squadron Supreme

Kings Games (New York):
Alex Shvartsman - Squadron Supreme

TOGIT (New Jersey):
Adam Horvath - Curve Sentinels
Eugene Harvey - Gamma Doom

Hong Kong Cavaliers (West Virginia):
Matt Oldaker - Child Lock
Jason Hager - Child Lock
Anthony Justice - GLEEMOE
Nick Little - GLEEMOE

Vs.Paradise (Australia):
Scott Hunstad - Faces of Evil
Alex Brown - Faces of Evil
Luke Bartter - Faces of Evil

$Mir (Germany):
Hans Höh - Squadron Supreme
Andre Mueller - Squadron Supreme
Kristian Kockott - Squadron Supreme
Reinhardt Blech - Squadron Supreme
Markus Kolb - Squadron Supreme

The English:
Karl Bown - Avengers

Oh Canada!:
David Fielder - Squadron Supreme

There are plenty of names that I haven't gotten the chance to check
yet; I'll try to scour the floor and get an insight on how and why
the big players have decided on their decks.

10:30 AM: United Nations of Vs.

While the United States is the main hotbed of activity for the Vs. System, players from ten other countries have made the journey to sunny Anaheim. The Australians have come in force, with eleven competitors in the event. Players hailing from Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Mexico, the UK, Ecuador, and New Zealand have also come to compete. The diversity from within the United States is also remarkable, with 35 states and the District represented (even Alaska!). However, don’t be too confident that the American streak of Vs. System Pro Circuit champions will continue; I’m certainly not.

The diversity of countries is matched by the diversity of tech cards in the field. From Mad Hatter, Jervis Tetch, El Guapo, Robbie Rodriguez , Green Lantern Ring, to Brimstone, Engine of Destruction, you are certain that people have thought about this format. It’s interesting to note that some people have gone back to the old standards. Neil Reeves is playing an almost exact copy of the deck that took him to the Top 4 of Pro Circuit #1. I was watching him play against a Teen Titans deck, and I remarked, “What is this, 2004?” He gave me a sly grin and showed me a copy of It’s Clobberin’ Time! in his hand, a card that even the modern versions of this deck generally eschew. The more things change . . .

9:00 AM: This Isn’t Your Father’s Golden Age

The excitement leading up to Pro Circuit: Los Angeles is so dense, you can cut it with a knife. With decks from the Avengers expansion making waves at the last two $10K events in Orlando and London, it’s becoming very clear that there are tons of decks that perform well in this format. Several pros from prominent teams have remarked, “When I ask someone what they are running and they say they don’t know, I usually don’t believe them. This time, I do!”

I have seen characters from all eight expansions represented in the field—and nearly every major team affiliation has representation. I haven’t had a chance to look at all the decklists, but I sure hope that someone is running a Crime Lords and a Revenge Squad character in their deck.

The diversity of decks available underscores the international flavor of the event. The Japanese have made their first foray onto the Vs. Pro Circuit stage, hot on the heels of the $10K Tokyo event. There are expectations that they soon will dominate—Patrick Sullivan, knowing their prowess in the TCG world, summed it up: “North America probably has about six months. Then the Japanese will win every PC from now to eternity.” Even accounting for Patrick’s legendary hyperbole, that’s high praise. Stay tuned for a little insight into the players from the Land of the Rising Sun.