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Dan Clark is a player from Michigan’s RIW Hobbies who Michael Jacob credits as the original inventor of the X-Faces deck that took many players to success in Pro Circuit Atlanta. Dan also enjoyed mild success in San Francisco, going 8-2 on Day 1 before a 3-6 Day 2. Wes is a local player without any major finishes to his name.

Dan won the die roll and took the even initiatives. Wes kept his hand, while Dan mulliganed. Both players missed their 1-drops. On turn 2, Dan played Captain Boomerang, George Harkness. Again, Wes had no play. Dan exhausted the Captain to flip Criminal Mastermind rather than attack.

In the draw phase of turn 3, Dan exhausted Boomerang to flip another Criminal Mastermind. It was Wes’s recruit, and he made his first drop of the game in the form of Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman. Dan used Enemy of My Enemy to fetch Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist, which he recruited behind Boomerang. In combat, Wes sent Shayera after Lex. A power-up yielded Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman. Wes flipped Reform the League for another power-up, this time picking up an Nth Metal. Dan exhausted Lex for another Mastermind, and Lex went down. Wes now led 50-45.

Turn 4 was Dan’s initiative. After ensuring that his opponent had drawn the required seven cards, he went into the tank. He finally decided to under-drop with Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose and two copies of Illusionary Warriors. He set up with Boomerang behind Lex, and Ivy next to Boomerang in the support row. For Wes’s recruit, he simply dropped his Hawkman and recruited an Nth Metal onto each. In combat, Dan passed. Wes sent Shayera after Poison Ivy, choosing not to use her ally ability. Dan reinforced with Boomerang, then KO’d Boomerang to search his deck for a copy of Fifth Dimension. Poison Ivy went down, and Wes sent Katar Hol into Lex. Dan used Fifth Dimension to remove him from the game. Katar had the opportunity to attack directly. A flurry of power-ups later (including one fueled by another Katar that was searched out by Shayera’s ally power), Dan had taken 11. Wes widened his lead to 50-32.

On turn 5, Wes led off the build phase with Fire. Dan played another Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Sunfire to pick up Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist. In response to his recruit of the 5-drop, Wes played an Enemy of My Enemy of his own for another copy of Katar Hol. “Power-ups aren’t very good for me,” said Dan. “Every deck has a bad matchup somewhere,” replied Wes. In combat, Dan used Scarecrow to burn Wes for 13. Wes declared an attack of Katar Hol into Scarecrow. Before the attack was legal, Dan flipped up a devastating Unmasked. The attack was legal. With Wes unable to augment Hawkman’s ATK in any way, his 4-drop was stunned. Wes’s next attack of Fire into Lex was met with another activation of Fifth Dimension. Wes tried again, this time going after Poison Ivy. The 2-drop was stunned, and Wes used Chopping Block to remove Ivy from the game. He declined to attack with Shayera and ended the turn with a 35-25 lead.

Dan had the initiative on turn 6. His first action (after flipping down Unmasked, of course) was to recruit Gorilla Grodd. Dan flipped Gang-Up to team-up Revenge Squad and Injustice Gang, and then recruited Mr. Mxyzptlk, Fifth Dimension Imp. Dan set up with Scarecrow protecting Grodd and Lex protecting Mxyzptlk, then passed. Wes began his recruit by playing Booster Gold with boost. His remaining 5 resource points were spent on Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero. Wes set up with Fire protecting Booster, Katar protecting Shayera, and Oliver next to Shayera in the support row.

He passed to Dan, who flipped Unmasked at the start of combat. Dan also paid 3 endurance to Scarecrow to hit Wes for another 13. Dan’s first attack sent Scarecrow into Katar Hol. Without power-ups at his disposal, Katar was stunned. Gorilla took down Fire without resistance, and then Lex stunned Booster Gold in the same manner. Mxyzptlk and the Illusionary Warriors stayed back. In Wes’s attack step, he first attempted to take down Mxyzptlk, who was returned to Dan’s hand. Dan removed Lex from the game with Fifth Dimension while the Imp was coming back, further limiting Wes’s attack options. Wes team attacked his remaining characters into Scarecrow, trading his 3-drop for the 5-drop. With no ready characters (except for the Warriors), that was the end of combat. Before moving to recovery, Wes had two copies of Kooey Kooey Kooey and a JLI Embassy to recover one of his characters and get a card out of his hand. The turn ended with Dan ahead 17-3.