This quarterfinal match pitted two experienced Magic: the Gathering pros who made the transition to Vs. System against one another—Gabe Walls and Aaron Brieder. Before the match began, both players joked about the comparisons between Magic tournament play and that of Vs. System. “No way you actually tested for this tourney,” Gabe said. “I mean, I didn’t.” Aaron just shook his head and smiled.

After winning the die roll, Gabe started off the match on the odd initiative. On the first turn, Gabe dropped Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, and after Aaron passed, Gabe flipped up Tamaran, activating it to power up Dove and draw first blood.

Second turn started off with Aaron flipping his Cerebro, doing a little digging before playing a Bishop that Gabe followed with Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. When Aaron sent his Bishop into Dove, he responded by flipping up Total Anarchy, which could spell some serious problems for Gabe’s Teen Titans deck. Gabe laughed a little to himself and flipped up Foiled, destroying the Total Anarchy and saving himself from a potentially disastrous turn.

After a quick power-up and a Tamaran activation, both Dove and Bishop were stunned. Next turn, Gabe led off with Tim Drake ◊ Robin, followed by a Nightcrawler on Aaron’s side. Gabe sent Dove over Nightcrawler to hit Bishop in the back and used Tamaran to ensure the stun. Hawk bashed Nightcrawler, leaving a clear path for Tim Drake to hit Aaron directly.

Turn 4 saw Aaron activating his Cerebro and finding Havok, which he promptly put into play. Gabe flipped Optitron and searched for a Red Star. He didn’t have a drop, however, and passed the turn back to Aaron. Nightcrawler bashed into Dove from behind Havok, and Gabe made the decision that it was more important for him to keep men on the table than to bash back.

Turn 5 is when the sparks really began to fly. Gabe flipped over U.S.S. Argus in his build, snagged a Finishing Move, and dropped Red Star onto his side. Aaron added Rogue, Power Absorption to his team. Gabe sent Hawk into Nightcrawler, who had been left unprotected. Then, after Aaron reinforced with Havok, Gabe sent the rest of his team into Rogue. He used Tamaran on Red Star, which put a Teen Titans Go! into his graveyard. After deciding that the unstunnable Red Star was going to take the hit (thanks to Tim Drake), Gabe flipped a Teen Titans Go! and smashed Tim Drake and Red Star into Havoc. With all of his characters stunned, there wasn’t much Aaron could do but put his Rogue into the KO’d pile when Gabe used Dove to play Finishing Move.

Aaron drew his cards and played Wolverine on turn 6, while Gabe casually tossed Garth ◊ Tempest—one of the best cards in the Teen Titans deck, if not the game—onto his side of the board. Aaron had Havok attack into Red Star, which got reinforced by Dove. When Wolverine attacked Garth next, Tim Drake decided to step up and make a Heroic Sacrifice to save the day. Garth snagged a Tim Drake back from the discard for Gabe, which moved the game to turn 7.

Gabe activated Argus on his build and saw Press the Attack, which is absolutely amazing in this Teen Titans deck. He then dropped Tim Drake and Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal into play on his side, and decided to use his final resource point to activate Red Star and hit for 5. Aaron played a Colossus, which got a boost thanks to frequent Cerebro use earlier in the game.

The match was extraordinarily quiet up to this point, with nothing happening that wasn’t strictly related to game play. Both of these players were very focused on the match at hand, especially on these last two crucial turns. Gabe pondered his options as he shifted his focus between his graveyard, hand, and face down resources. Finally, he slammed his hands down on the table and sent everyone on his team but Garth into Colossus, using Tamaran on Red Star to keep his team alive.

Garth grabbed a Teen Titans Go! from the graveyard and used it to ready all of his men. Red Star and Tim Drake decided to run into Wolverine, which pulled a Shape Change for 3 out of Aaron’s resource row. Gabe then pumped his Roy and activated it targeting Wolverine, which caused Aaron to activate its ability to save it. Gabe responded to that by using Press the Attack on Roy and trying to stun Wolverine with him one more time. Aaron had Combat Reflexes for that, though, which moved his Wolverine to the front row, allowing him to activate its ability again. The turn passed, and with no help on top of his deck, Aaron conceded.

Walls 1, Brieder 0

“Turn 1 Dove, turn 2 Hawk . . . I haven’t done that all weekend.”

“You sure picked a good time to start!”

Between games, the very serious mood seemed to lighten up a little bit, probably spurred on by John Rich giving the players a hard time about not having any fun in their match. “That’s what it’s all about. I’m having tons of fun!” Fun or no, there was at least $400 riding on this match, and “serious” had to take center stage—especially between these two veteran players. With the second game staring, the competitive air returned to the match and the players got underway.

Aaron had the odd initiatives for this game and he started things off with a turn 2 Bishop, which got in a free beat on Gabe and Wolverine on turn 3. Gabe followed with a boosted Hawk on turn 3, getting the tag team going. Aaron attacked Wolverine into Dove and responded again by flipping up Total Anarchy. Once again, however, Gabe had the crucial Foiled! to save his game. Gabe’s turn 4 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal was met by Havok from Aaron. Hawk and Dove decided to team up on Wolverine, who knocked out Hawk. Next, Roy attacked Bishop, but after Bishop’s ability triggered and he added his ATK bonus, Gabe Overloaded him and readied Roy.

Roy then bashed into Havok, and Gabe flipped up Tamaran to power up Roy Harper. Turn 5 brought Rogue and Red Star into the picture. Aaron went on the offensive, flipped Bamf!, and sent Rogue into Roy. Havok attacked into Hawk, and that ended the turn.

Gabe flipped up Argus on the next turn and got the Garth he was missing. Aaron dropped a Wolverine on his side and let Gabe go. In a show of true expertise and professionalism, Aaron looked at Gabe and said, “At the beginning of combat, I’ll have Rogue copy Roy Harper’s ability . . . what does he do again?” Gabe just smiled and attacked Garth into Rogue and Red Star into Wolverine.

After a Savage Beatdown showed up on Red Star’s side, Havok reinforced Wolverine. Then, Aaron decided to activate Wolverine and sent him to the back row, completely nullifying the attack. Roy then attacked Havok, and Gabe responded to his attack by pumping Roy and using Press the Attack to ready Red Star.

After that battle, Garth returned Savage Beatdown and sent Red Star into Wolverine, laying the beatdown on him. Aaron played Colossus on turn 7, leaving him with only Colossus and Wolverine, while the boosted Tim Drake ◊ Robin left Gabe with almost the full compliment of Titans on his side.

“Ugh,” Aaron said.

“What more do you want from me?” Gabe asked. “A concession?”

When he didn’t get the concession he was joking about, Aaron sent Wolverine into Roy Harper and flipped another Total Anarchy. Gabe responded by pumping his Roy three times and trying to stun Wolverine with him. After his Wolverine was stunned, Aaron picked up Gabe’s graveyard and flashed one of the strangest looks I’ve ever seen—as if someone had waved something dead under his nose. After recoiling, he sent Colossus into Dove. Gabe spent his last ready guy to pump Roy, readied Roy with Press the Attack, pumped him with Tamaran, and activated him to take out Colossus.

On the final turn, Gabe boosted out a Hawk, activated Red Star to send 5 to Aaron’s dome, and used Optitron to search out another copy of Red Star. Aaron played a Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath—or, as Gabe called him, a “Squeaky.” Gabe sent Red Star into Wolverine and powered him up. After the next all-out team attack on Professor X by Gabe, Aaron extended the hand.

Walls 2, Brieder 0