These two players have been mainstays of the Vs. System professional community since the game’s inception, so neither really needs an introduction. Loren won the coin flip and selected the odd initiatives. Both players kept their openers.

Loren led off with Surveillance Pawn. Doug recruited Archangel, Angel, discarding Beetle, Armorsmith to pick up the predictable X-Corp: Amsterdam. The characters traded stuns. On turn 2, Doug recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose next to Archangel, and passed. Loren recruited a Beetle of his own, discarding an Archangel to search for Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. Archangel traded stuns with Beetle, and Ivy attacked directly. No characters were lost in recovery.

On turn 3, Loren recruited Yellowjacket, Rita Demara with boost in the hidden area. Loren picked up Klaw, Sonic Construct, which he recruited. His remaining resource point was used to recruit a Joystick, ending his build phase. Doug recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and played Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Nenora to get Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. He played another Enemy, discarding Kyle to get Joystick. Doug used Dr. Light to return Kyle to play, searching out a Hard Sound Construct. Doug also used two copies of Amsterdam to get two copies of Faces of Evil. He set up with Ivy protecting Kyle, Archangel protecting Light, and passed. Still in the build, Loren used his Pawn and flipped his own copy of Faces of Evil. In combat, Loren sent Beetle into Poison Ivy. Doug KO’d Kyle to Ivy, fetching another Amsterdam, which fetched another Faces. Ivy and Beetle both stunned. Loren played an Enemy from hand, discarding Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain to get Dr. Light. Joystick, now 5 ATK/3 DEF, went after Archangel. Klaw traded stuns with Dr. Light, and Yellowjacket attacked directly with help from Rann. Loren used Birthing Chamber before the end of combat. In recovery, Loren lost Beetle, while Doug lost Ivy and Archangel. Loren led 41-28.

Doug began the fourth turn by using Dr. Light to return Kyle Rayner to play, fetching another copy of Hard Sound Construct. He played Yellowjacket in the visible area with boost, fetching out a Klaw of his own. Doug played one of his Hard Sound Constructs, discarding a Beetle to get Cannonball. He recruited Joystick and Cannonball, then passed. Loren played Dr. Light and used the 3-drop to return Shocker to play. Loren immediately used Shocker to stun Doug’s Joystick, and Doug flipped up a Faces in response. Loren chose not to use his Pawn, and instead passed to Doug’s attack. Doug flipped up two more copies of Faces of Evil before sending his Beetle into Loren’s Joystick. Loren played Enemy of My Enemy from his hand to get Mikado and Mosha, and used Mikado to stun Yellowjacket. Back in the attack, both Beetle and Joystick were stunned. Cannonball went after Dr. Light, stunning the 3-drop without difficulty. Finally, Kyle traded stuns with Shocker. Doug passed to Loren, who had a Surveillance Pawn and Yellowjacket available to attack. Before sending anyone in, though, Loren used his Birthing Chamber to draw two and discard one. Yellowjacket attacked Cannonball, using Rann for an extra point of breakthrough. After the mutual stun, Loren used Klaw’s ability, KO’ing Yellowjacket, and passed. In recovery, Loren was left with Surveillance Pawn, Dr. Light, and Klaw. Doug had Dr. Light and Joystick. Loren still led, 27-19.

Loren had the initiative on turn 5. He played Hard Sound Construct from his resource row, returning Beetle to play. With Beetle’s ability on the chain, Loren used Birthing Chamber to draw a card. He discarded a copy of Kyle Rayner to the 2-drop, searching out Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose. Loren then activated Dr. Light, bringing Kyle back into play to search out a Hard Sound Construct. Ivy was recruited. Loren’s next move was The Ring Has Chosen for Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi, Mimi Schwartz, which he immediately discarded. He played Hard Sound Construct to return Melissa to play. Next, Loren recruited Yellowjacket with boost in the hidden area, fetching Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide. Loren recruited Dallas, and used Mimi to hit Doug for 8. Finally, Loren passed. In his own build phase, Doug activated Dr. Light to return his own Kyle to play. With this effect on the chain, Loren used his Pawn. He KO’d the Pawn to Ivy, searching out a Slaughter Swamp, which he used to return Doug’s Kyle to his hand. This left Loren with no cards in hand and only a single face-down resource. Time was called, and Doug went into the tank. He finally chose to play another Hard Sound Construct from his resource row, returning Beetle to play. He discarded Kyle to Beetle, fetching Mikado and Mosha. Doug recruited Klaw, Gargantua, and a boosted El Guapo to reinforce all of his characters. Doug passed. In combat, Poison Ivy stunned Gargantua. Kyle Rayner traded stuns with Beetle. Klaw went after Dr. Light, but was met with Mikado. Yellowjacket traded stuns with Klaw, Beetle traded stuns with Joystick, and Melissa traded stuns with Dr. Light. Dallas, Loren’s last character, attacked directly to bring Doug below 0 endurance.