Anthony and Dave shuffled up opposite Anthony Justice and Vidi Wijaya, a top four featuring two Top 8 novices and two battle-hardened PC champions. This time last year it was David Leader and ex-teammate Jason Dawson who sat on opposite sides of the bracket hoping to produce an all-FTN final; this year it was David and Vidi, though they now had the additional problem of Justice—a Donkey Clubber—intent on blocking their path. Mixed in with these three pro team players was Anthony Calabrese, a player since the very first Pro Circuit who has come close to the Top 8 on numerous occasions but always fell just short. Though Anthony’s testing team was not well-known prior to this event, its success in putting two players into Day 3 means that this will likely change in the future.
David stated yesterday that he believed Anthony’s deck would win the Pro Circuit, which in theory meant that his run at the title was to end here. However, he had already defeated Josh Hensley, who had the same deck as Anthony, in the quarterfinals—albeit against a brace of poor draws—so he was not entering the game feeling defeatist in the least.
Anthony won the die roll and selected the odd initiatives. He contemplated a hand of two Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, Slaughter Swamp, and Gorilla City before deciding to mulligan. Dave kept his hand.
Anthony kicked things off with a Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster, while Dave played Sue Dibny and searched out Maxwell Lord, Financier. “Are you attacking me, or am I attacking you?” grinned Dave, and Anthony indicated that it would be the former. Both characters stunned, and Anthony chose not to recover his mischievous Imp. Dave joked about Sue hitting Mr. Mxyzptlk with her coffee cup and added the sound effect, with an unnatural squeal for a 30-year-old man. Your feature match reporter could only glare enviously at Michael Palmer, who was covering the gentile and serene Justice and Wijaya a few feet away.
End of turn 1: David Leader 49, Anthony Calabrese 49
Dave chose not to play his Maxwell Lord after drawing into a copy of his Team-Up this turn, instead choosing to play Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow with an Nth Metal. He flipped his Team-Up to draw a card and passed. Anthony returned his KO’d Mr. Mxyzptlk to hand and then discarded it again to Dr. Fate’s Tower, finding Amulet of Nabu. He played Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and then equipped the Amulet and a Helm of Nabu to him, drawing two cards and discarding Mark Desmond ◊ Blockbuster and Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose.
Dave attacked Deadshot with Green Arrow, and both characters stunned before Sue pinged Anthony for 1 endurance.
End of turn 2: David 47, Anthony 44
Turn 3 saw Anthony hit his vital Poison Ivy, alongside a recurred Mr. Mxyzptlk. Your reporter realizes now, after three days, that “Mxyzptlk” is second only to “Postlethwait” in awkwardness of typing, and decided to copy the name so he can simply hit Ctrl+V for the rest of the match.
Dave hit his optimal drop in Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman and formed his characters up with Shayera protecting Sue, with Connor in the support row. Anthony activated his Tower to transfer the Fate Artifacts to Poison Ivy. He then flipped Funky’s Big Rat Code to team-up Injustice Gang and Secret Society, tipping two Slaughter Swamps and a Hector Hammond, Mind over Matter into his KO’d pile. Playing a second copy to do the same thing, he sent a Poison Ivy, Deadshot, and Amulet of Nabu to the grave. Finally, he KO’d his Mr. Mxyzptlk with Poison Ivy to replace one of his Team-Ups with Gorilla City and notch up the all-important 10th card in his KO’d pile.
Before any attacks could take place, he removed his Deadshot from the game to kill Shayera Thal. He then attacked with his suited-up Poison Ivy into Sue Dibny, using Gorilla City to flip another card into his KO’d pile. Dave reinforced her and, before the turn ended, used Hero’s Welcome to find two copies of Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer for next turn.
End of turn 3: David 46, Anthony 44
Dave may have hit his curve thus far, but his position was less than optimal, and his Katar Hol looked fairly meek this turn when he was played with no equipment. Anthony recruited Fatality, Flawless Victory and used his Tower to transfer the Fate Artifacts to her.
Leader flipped two copies of Magical Lobotomy, targeting both his opponent’s characters, and then paid 8 endurance to turn them down at the start of the combat phase. Dave flipped one of them up again immediately to target Ivy before sending Sue Dibny in to clobber her green-fingered adversary. Both characters stunned and were KO’d by Fatality.
Dave flipped his second Lobotomy and again targeted Fatality. He swung in with his less-than-impressive Hawkman to have his 7 ATK just match her 7 DEF. Both 4-drops stunned, and Dave’s Connor Hawke attacked freely to the face for 5 endurance.
End of turn 4: David 33, Anthony 34
Anthony laid his resource on turn 5 before flipping Slaughter Swamp, discarding a card to get back Crystal Frost from his KO’d pile. He played her in front of Fatality and passed. Dave made a little speech about how he “hated to do this” before playing Hero’s Welcome to search out Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero and then being able to find his Green Lantern counterpart, Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Emerald Archer. He played Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle—four turns too late—and used him to find a Cloak of Nabu before playing 4-drop Oliver and the Cloak on Hawkman. Commenting on his lack of methods to bring Oliver into the World’s Greatest Heroes fold, he flung him to one side of the playmat and protected his Connor Hawke with Ted Kord; he put Katar Hol in the support row somewhere vaguely near his Emerald Archer.
Anthony used the end of the build phase to transfer his artifacts to Crystal Frost, and Dave took the start of the combat phase as his signal to flip both Magical Lobotomies face down. Anthony then flipped Funky’s Big Rat Code to team-up Villains United and Secret Society while burning Psycho-Pirate; Hector Hammond; and Straight to the Grave from his deck.
Calabrese made his first attack of Fatality into Katar Hol, using Gorilla City to send a Gorilla Grodd to his KO’d pile. Both characters stunned. He then sent his Crystal Frost into Connor Hawke, playing Straight to the Grave to put a copy of Crystal Frost and a Dr. Fate’s Tower into his KO’d pile. With an activation of Slaughter Swamp to return Calabrese’s newly-found copy of Frost to his hand, and in anticipation of the locking-down power-up from her effect, Dave scooped.
Anthony Calabrese wins Game 1.
Hoping for a better draw in the second game, Leader chose to play the even initiatives. Anthony’s hand this time was a belter: two copies of Ted Kord, a Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Poison Ivy. He looked away momentarily, feigning thought about whether to keep his hand, but soon indicated that he would. Dave chose to mulligan.
On turn 1, both players played Ted Kord and discarded Mr. Mxyzptlk. Anthony searched out Cloak of Nabu, while Dave found Booster Gold. There were no attacks.
End of turn 1: David 50, Anthony 50
After their last match was frequently interrupted by both players forgetting to announce their decision on Mr. Mxyzptlk recursion at the appropriate time, Anthony noted after they drew for the turn that they would have to keep on top of things this game. Dave agreed and spontaneously picked up Anthony’s (gold-sleeved) Mr. Mxyzptlk and put it in his hand, indicating that his opponent should pick up his copy (which was sleeved in picturesque protectors featuring a rather young fairy girl in skimpy clothing). “This way, we will never forget!” he grinned, while the judge next to him looked as if he would choke with horror. Anthony nervously suggested this might not be wise, and Paul Ross’s representative at the table indicated his agreement. Never a dull moment with David Leader.
After returning his opponent’s Troublesome Trickster, Dave played Booster Gold and found an Nth Metal with Blue Beetle to equip to him. Anthony answered back with Poison Ivy and KO’d Ted Kord and a Gorilla Grodd from his resource row to search out Dr. Fate’s Tower. He flipped this up and went forth into his deck to seek the Helm of Nabu. The full suit of Cloak, Amulet, and Helm were donned by Poison Ivy; three cards were drawn; and copies of Ivy, Crystal Frost, and Manhunter Clone were discarded by Calabrese.
Dave, facing a brickwall of any potential attack, passed and had his Ted Kord alone in the back row slapped down for 7 endurance loss.
End of turn 2: David 43, Anthony 50
It was only turn 3, yet Anthony seemed to have an air of inevitability about him as his deck performed exactly as it was supposed to. He activated Slaughter Swamp to return the Manhunter Clone to his hand and played it alongside Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. Dave—either mindful of Deadshot, or simply because he didn’t have her in his hand—did not make an on-curve drop of Shayera Thal and chose instead to play Sue Dibny, search out Maxwell Lord, and play Lord to find a World’s Greatest Heroes. He formed up with Sue protecting Ted Kord and Maxwell protecting Booster Gold.
Calabrese sent his Manhunter Clone into Sue Dibny, resulting in a Magical Lobotomy to push the stunback. Anthony lost a Cloak of Nabu from the top of his deck as a result. He then sent his deadly Poison Ivy into Booster Gold, who was stunned.
Anthony then played Straight to the Grave from his resource row and took Crystal Frost and Amulet of Nabu out of his deck. He then KO’d his Clone and the just-flipped resource to find Gorilla City.
Deadshot was sent on a mission to take out Ted Kord, and Calabrese activated the Gorilla City, KO’ing a Manhunter Clone from the top of his deck. Dave activated Ted to find himself a Cloak of Nabu. Both characters were stunned, and Anthony passed. Dave chose to send Maxwell Lord into Poison Ivy, dropping a Trial by Fire and Magnificent Seven to make the grade and stun her. The entire field of characters on both sides was now stunned, and Dave (though he did not let it show) was surely less happy about this than Anthony. He kept his Booster Gold, while his opponent kept Poison Ivy.
End of turn 3: David 29, Anthony 47
Dave dropped Katar Hol on turn 4 and played a World’s Greatest Heroes from his resource row to team-up, and then another from hand to draw a card. He played the Cloak of Nabu on Hawkman and passed. Anthony activated Slaughter Swamp to bring back Crystal Frost, then played Hector Hammond and readied his location. He exhausted the Tower to transfer Ivy’s artifacts to his new character. Dave chose to flip his Magical Lobotomy back down at the start of the combat phase.
The FTN leader began his attacks by sending Hawkman into Poison Ivy. Anthony indicated he had nothing to play and stunned his character.
“I believe I take 7,” said Anthony.
“I believe you take 8.”
“I believe I’m 3 DEF to your 8 ATK.”
“I believe math is hard.”
With no further attacks to make, Dave passed. Anthony chose to send Hector Hammond into Booster Gold. He activated Gorilla City, churning a Funky’s Big Rat Code into the void, and Booster Gold stunned.
End of turn 4: David 14, Anthony 40
After activating his Slaughter Swamp to bring back Crystal Frost, Anthony played the character, readied his location, and passed to Dave. He was met with a drop of Fire.
Crystal Frost commenced the attacks with an assault on Booster Gold. Dave flipped Magical Lobotomy to reduce the 5-drop’s DEF by 1, and Fire triggered to burn Anthony for 2 endurance. Dave KO’ed a Kooey Kooey Kooey to search out Magnificent Seven and played it. Anthony chained a power-up for Crystal Frost, and her ally ability resolved, removing Cloak of Nabu, Amulet of Nabu, and Straight to the Grave from the game and locking down Fire for the turn. Magnificent Seven resolved, and Dave played a second one, with each giving Booster +3 ATK thanks to Katar Hol. Both characters stunned.
Anthony then attacked Fire with Hector Hammond. He activated Gorilla City to discard Mark Desmond ◊ Blockbuster from his deck, and Dave stunned Fire and took 9 endurance loss from the Fate-suited 4-drop.
Dave, now at a precarious 3 endurance to Anthony’s 29, passed his attacks. Anthony used Slaughter Swamp to return his copy of Crystal Frost from KO’d pile to hand. Dave thought deeply during his recovery step about whether to recover the locked-down Fire or the free, Nth-Metal-equipped Booster Gold. He studied his hand and did some quick arithmetic before deciding to keep Booster.
End of turn 5: David 3, Anthony 29
In the final turn, Dave KO’ed another Kooey Kooey Kooey to bring John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man into play, but he had no equipment in either hand or KO’d pile to armor him with. Anthony meanwhile used his Slaughter Swamp to bring back Gorilla Grodd, recruiting the Simian Mastermind and readying his Swamp again. He activated Fate’s Tower, and Grodd found himself imbued with the power of Fate.
Dave began the combat phase by giving Hector Hammond a Magical Lobotomy. He declared an attack of Steel into Hammond, but Anthony responded by KO’ing the character with Gorilla Grodd to steal Booster Gold.
Dave went through every possible permutation of attacks out loud to see if there was any way to survive the turn, yet came up short. He extended the hand and congratulated his opponent on making the finals of the Pro Circuit.
Anthony Calabrese wins!