It was champion versus champion as Realmworx’s Ryan Jones went up against FTN’s David Leader. While Leader’s win at Pro Circuit Indianapolis is fresh in everyone’s minds, Jones claimed his victory almost a year ago, right here in Anaheim at Gen Con So Cal 2004. After a year of highly respectable Top 8 showing, he’s never managed to match his PC-winning performance, but he’s a strong pick for this weekend’s event. Jones was playing his team’s pick, Squadron Supreme, while Leader was running the FTN favorite, Common Enemy.
Jones won the opening flip and opted to start with the odd initiatives. He looked at his hand. “All foil, but it’s not good,” he remarked, mulliganing his hand. Leader did the same.
As soon as play began, Jones quickly recruited Joystick, giving her a Jetpack. Leader didn’t have a 1-drop to match her.
“How much do I take?”
Jones flipped Surprise Attack. “A million.”
It was 41 to 50, and Jones would attack directly next turn as well. He recruited Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird and swung with both characters. “That oughta do it,” said Leader.
Next turn Jones recruited Ape X and debated what he’d take. “I gotta do some math here.”
“You have to do math to decide what you take with Ape X?” Leader grinned, poking fun at Jones.
“Yeah, actually!” He took Dual Sidearms, recruited Shape, and then pondered where to put the equipment. He looked at Leader and deadpanned, “Do I…Do I put it on Shape, since it rhymes?” He opted to arm the monkey, and Leader again had nothing to play. Airskimmer pumped Shape, and Jones’s team attacked directly.
“Surprisingly, I’m going to flip System Failure.” Leader did so, targeting Ape X. Jones flipped it over.
Without skipping a beat, Leader continued on, “Surprisingly, System Failure is not an Overload.” He laughed a little, and Jones corrected his play, turning Ape X face up. The result was still an attack for almost 20 endurance, leaving Leader at just 12. Before the end of the turn, he flipped Doomstadt and activated Faces of Doom to fetch Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius.
Once turn 4, arrived that Doom was recruited. Jones recruited Golden Archer, and Doom attacked. “Dr. Doom will punch Shape in the face.” The attack went through—Leader’s first aggressive move—and the 5 ATK / 5 DEF Shape was stunned. “Ok, I got you down to 46! I’m winning!”
Melissa Gold and Joystick team attacked Dr. Doom. “Let’s see the Reign,” said Jones, knowing it was coming. But Leader had a surprise: he played Savage Beatdown on Joystick and flipped the System Failure again. Jones looked to resolve combat, but Leader then activated Reign of Terror. He spent some time deliberating over his target.
“Well, you’ve got Shape stunned, and the guy I want you to recover anyways (Songbird)…Sending back Ape X never seems like a good idea…” He selected Shape and the attacking Joystick. Jones chained Golden Archer’s effect and then used Answer the Call to take a copy of Golden Archer. Archer ended up burning for 3 endurance since cards were returned to his hand, and play moved to the next turn with Golden Archer, Ape X, and Songbird facing Doom.
Next turn Doom again blasted a Mystical Paralysis towards the Archer. Jones was forced to burn in response, and it served to minimize the damage that Golden Archer could dish out. Jones kept hitting drops though, and Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke was recruited next; he couldn’t have asked for a better series of draws. Archer protected Ape X, Nuke sat in front of Melissa Gold, and Jones passed.
Leader recruited another Dr. Doom immediately. “Mystical on Nuke?” asked Jones.
“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, actually!” Leader flipped down the Mystical Paralysis and used it just as Jones suggested. “You can pick up the back row, too.” Leader activated another Reign of Terror to send Ape X and Melissa Gold back to Jones’s hand. It was 44 to 7, so Leader still had a lot more dancing to do if he was going to drag himself out of the train wreck his terrible draws had landed him in.
A turn later, Leader recruited Hulk, New Fantastic Four and again used a Mystical Paralysis on Golden Archer. Jones had six cards in hand due to the pair of Reigns. “Well, there’s no point in burning you for zero.”
“Shape like friends?” asked Leader, inquiring about Jones’s intended recruits for the turn.
“Oh yeah.” Jones re-recruited Shape, Ape X, Melissa Gold, and Joystick. “Shape has lots of friends.” Ape X grabbed a Thunderjet, which was then passed to Melissa Gold. Shape protected the monkey, Golden Archer shielded Joystick, and Nuke ran interference for Melissa Gold.
Hulk slammed into Nuke, but Jones had the power-up needed to make the double-stun. It sealed the deal as far as Leader was concerned, and he offered the handshake and a “Good game, buddy.”
Ryan Jones moves one step closer to capturing his second Pro Circuit Championship title!