Quang Nguyen is no stranger to these sorts of high-pressure situations. The winner of his very own $10K Championship, Quang has been able to continue his success with several good money finishes. With a 7-3 record, he’s hoping to draft his way to the top of the pack and be in contention for those coveted Top 8 positions. His opponent is Hiroki Takeda from Japan. The Japanese players have had their own moderate success on the Pro Circuit level with a couple of money finishes in the last few Pro Circuits. Hiroki is hoping to do more than just make money though; he wants to do his nation proud and be the first Japanese player to ever Top 8 a Vs. System Pro Circuit event.
Hiroki won the die roll and chose to take odds. Hiroki chose to keep his starting hand, Quang decided to mulligan, and this feature match was underway!
Hiroki made a turn 1 play of Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific in the hidden area. Quang matched the turn 1 play with a Connie Webb. Hiroki announced Terry into Connie, and both players stunned their 1-drops.
Quang recruited Brainiac in the hidden area on turn 2, and Hiroki followed with no recruit. Quang bashed directly into Hiroki for a total of 3 ATK and passed. Hiroki matched the attack by ramming Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific into Connie Webb again, and the score sat 48 to 45 with Quang leading.
Hiroki looked over his cards for turn 3 and decided to play Huntress, Earth 2 in the support row. Quang chose to activate Connie Webb and searched his deck for Arthur Kendrick, whom he then recruited in the visible area. Quang then flipped The Science Spire face up and equipped Laser Watch to Arthur, exhausting The Science Spire to draw a card. Hiroki announced Huntress into Arthur, and Quang decided to flip Forbidden Loyalties to team-up Checkmate and Anti-Matter, discarding a card to give Arthur a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter. Hiroki had nothing to stop it, so he stunned his Huntress and passed with no further attacks. Quang announced both Arthur and Brainiac into Hiroki directly, and the score now sat with Quang leading 48 to 33.
On turn 4, Quang contemplated for a moment and decided to recruit The Penguin, Arms Merchant. Both players drew a card, and Quang discarded Checkmate Armory, while Hiroki discarded two character cards. Quang then recruited a Connie Webb and equipped another Laser Watch to Brainiac, exhausting The Science Spire to draw another card. Hiroki followed up Quang’s turn 4 play by recruiting Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot in the front row protecting Huntress, Earth 2. Quang announced Arthur Kendrick into Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot as a 7 ATK, and Hiroki powered-up with a copy of Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot from his hand. Quang responded by flipping and activating Rann, and Hiroki responded by flipping and activating Brother Eye to return his OMAC Robot, which he used to power-up again. Quang discarded a copy of Harry Stein from his hand for Brainiac to give Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot -1 ATK / -1 DEF for the turn. Hiroki responded with Deflection, exhausting Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific to make his OMAC’s defense just higher than Arthur’s attack. Quang activated Connie Webb, searched for Black Thorn, and discarded it to give Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot another -1 ATK / -1 DEF. The attack finally reached resolution, and both characters stunned, putting the endurance totals at 45 to 29 in Quang’s favor. Hiroki flipped a copy of Traitor to the Cause from his resource row—stunning his Terry Sloane to recover his OMAC Robot— and Quang was forced to pass his attacks. Hiroki announced Huntress into Penguin, and both characters became stunned. Quang chose to keep Arthur while Hiroki chose to keep Huntress, and on to turn 5 they went. The score was now 42 to 25 in Quang’s favor.
Hiroki led off turn 5 by recruiting Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight in the front row protecting Huntress, Earth 2. Quang followed up Hiroki’s 5-drop with Cheshire protecting his Arthur Kendrick. Hiroki announced a team attack with Roy Harper and Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot into Cheshire, and Quang responded with Rann on Cheshire, stunning back Roy Harper in the attack. Hiroki decided not to attack with his Huntress and passed to Quang’s attack step. Quang declared a team attack with both Brainiac and Arthur on Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot; Hiroki chose to stun Arthur Kendrick back, bringing the score to 16 to 34 still in Quang’s favor. Hiroki activated Brother Eye during the recovery phase to return Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot from his KO’d pile to his hand, while Quang flipped a copy of Traitor to the Cause, stunning Brainiac to recover Cheshire. Quang kept his Arthur and Cheshire, while Hiroki kept his Roy Harper and Huntress, Earth 2.
Quang looked over his hand carefully for turn 6 as he realized that he’d have to underdrop again. He eventually chose to activate The Science Spire to return Cheshire to his hand, and drawing and discarding five cards in the process. Quang looked happy with the results, as he was able to draw into his 6-drop: Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double. He recruited Luthor in the front row protecting Arthur Kendrick and drew two cards. Hiroki followed by recruiting a copy of Power Girl, Earth 2 and formed with Huntress, Earth 2 protecting Power Girl and Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight adjacent to Power Girl. Quang announced Arthur Kendrick into Roy Harper, but Hiroki activated Roy Harper in response, KO’ing a resource to stun Arthur Kendrick instead. Quang then announced Alexander Luthor into Roy Harper; Hiroki stunned his character and lost 10 endurance from the attack. Hiroki decided not to declare any attacks and on to turn 7 the two went with the score showing Quang firmly in the lead, 29 to 6.
Hiroki—now down a resource due to Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight—recruited Surveillance Pawn in the hidden area and Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot. Hiroki then formed with Power Girl, Earth 2 protecting Huntress, Earth 2 and Roy Harper protecting Elimination Protocol. Quang followed up play with a copy of Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype in the support row adjacent to Arthur Kendrick. At the start of the combat phase, Quang announced that he was using Sasha Bordeaux’s effect to give all of his characters excluding Alexander Luthor +2 ATK / +2 DEF for the turn. Hiroki announced Power Girl into Sasha Bordeaux as a 17 ATK / 16 DEF. Quang lost 8 endurance from the attack and Hiroki lost 6 endurance. Hiroki quickly looked over his options and conceded the game to Quang.
Quang looks hot with his first draft deck and is still in good shape to make his second Pro Circuit Top 8 appearance here in Indianapolis.
Winner: Quang Nguyen