Jon Ligon is from the Chicago area, and believe it or not, this is his first Vs. tournament. Thus far it's gone well, as he's 3-1 going into this round. He was paired up against the undefeated Ben Stoll, a Kentucky player who will be playing at Gen Con next week, as he qualified for the Pro circuit via a PCQ. Both players are running Fantastic Four, which seems to be one of the more popular decks today, especially at the top tables.

Game 1

Neither player had a character on turn two. Signal Flare helped Ligon get a She-Hulk, which hit play on turn three. Stoll, who clearly had better draws, still had no action. Ligon used another Signal Flare to get Mr. Fantastic, and played Invisible Woman, Sue Storm on turn four. Stoll had his own Invisible Woman, and Ligon's attacked, using It's Clobberin' Time to get through combat. Stoll had Mr. Fantastic, Stretch on turn five, playing Fantasticar on both his characters. Ligon had a Mr. Fantastic of his own, as well as one Fantasticar. Stoll had Car advantage, which let his characters dominate combat. Ligon played Kevlar Body Armor, and Stoll pulled further ahead with Hulk. Ligon sent a team attack after Mr. Fantastic, and hoped that It's Clobberin' Time would be enough to stun him. It was, but this wasn't enough to put a significant dent in Stoll's plans. Hulk went after Invisible Woman, and Kevlar Body Armor was KO'd to prevent a stun. Mr. Fantastic was recovered, and both players had copies of The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing on turn seven.

Stoll had the clear advantage, in terms of quality and quantity of characters and equipment, and Ligon seemed to be completely against the ropes. That is, until he played Apocalypse. Thing took out Invisible Woman, and Apocalypse went after Mr. Fantastic. Two copies of Acrobatic Dodge saved him, which set up a counter attack that left Ligon with both of his characters stunned, and down a game.

Jon Ligon 0 – Ben Stoll 1

Game 2

Ligon's Luke Cage attacked and stunned Stoll's She-Thing with the help of a discarded Human Torch. Signal Flare grabbed Thing, Ben Grimm for Stoll, which came right out. Ligon played Medusa, which exhausted She-Thing when Thing attacked her. In response to Medusa's ability, Stoll used Tech Upgrade to get Fantasticar. Ligon used Signal Flare to get Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, noting, "The only reason to put Human Torch in your deck is to discard him to Signal Flare." She attacked and became massive thanks to two copies of It's Clobberin' Time, taking out Stoll's Invisible Woman, Sue Storm. Luke Cage then went after Thing, and became bigger when Medusa was discarded. Thanks to Signal Flare, Thing got a power-up to survive the attack. Medusa went after She-Thing and KO'd her, while Stoll's Thing KO'd Medusa. After recovery, both players had Invisible Woman, although Stoll had Thing while Ligon had Medusa.

Ligon played Mr. Fantastic, Stretch on turn five, and had two Fantasticars as well as a Personal Force Field for Thing. Once again, this equipment advantage put Ligon at a clear disadvantage. Still, he was able to stay alive for a bit, and used Salvage to get back Kevlar Body Armor. Stoll awaited the coming of the Apocalypse, noting, "I'm waiting for that big guy to come down and ruin my day." On Stoll's turn, time was called. Ligon now needed to win the game in one turn, or would lose the match. He wasn't able to force it through, and the match was over.