Not only was this a quarterfinal matchup to determine who would fight on for at least one more round toward a $40,000 first prize, it was also the unofficial New Jersey State Championships. Adam Horvath is from the well-known New Jersey based team known as TOGIT. They take their name from The Only Game in Town, a Somerville based game store that has churned out some of the best TCG players ever to randomize a deck. They put three players into the Top 8 of the last Pro Circuit event and put forth two this week. (Hometown hero Jeroen Remie works with the TOGIT squad for major TCG events these days.)

Dustin Pidgeon, playing in the quarterfinals of his first ever high-level TCG event of any type, is also associated with an initialed store—KGB, otherwise known as Kings Games Brooklyn. Despite his association with Alex Shvartsman’s Brooklyn store, he belongs to the Garden State and attends university at Rutgers—the same school that TOGIT’s fearless leader attended for his undergraduate studies.

“You go to Rutgers?” asked an incredulous Osyp Lebedowicz from the rail. “Get out of here. Small world.”

Neither player actually tested this matchup very much last night. “We actually had a deck that was almost identical card-for-card,” explained Horvath with a nod toward his teammate Anand Khare. “We spent the entire plane ride over testing the matchup, so I figured there wasn’t much left to learn.” We would later learn that this was not completely accurate.

Dustin also eschewed testing, but for a more pressing reason. “I just went back to my room and went to sleep. I didn’t actually sleep for two days, so I thought I was better off resting.” Noticing the TOGIT crowd gathering on the rail, Dustin looked around for his fellow KGB agents, but they were nowhere to be found. He did have his girlfriend occupying his cheering section, and trust me on this; she looked a lot cuter in the cheerleader get-up than Anand Khare or Eugene Harvey.

Quarterfinal matches go to best two games out of three and have a two hour time limit—something that was imposed after the grueling TOGIT mirror match between DeRosa and Sottosanti in the quarterfinals of PC: So Cal.

Game One

Dustin got the odd initiative at Adam’s insistence and kept his opening hand. Horvath pushed his four to the bottom, and neither player made a man—the second surprise for Dustin in the opening moments of the battle.

Stilt-Man stepped up for Horvath, and Hounds of Ahab strained at his leash in Dustin’s hidden area. Adam came over for 2 points, and Dustin passed with no attack. Turn 3 saw Elektra, Elektra Natchios join the sentinel in the hidden area (revealing the love of her life, Daredevil, Matt Murdock).

Adam mulled his hand over for a long time while Khare and Lebedowicz craned their necks from the rail. A sucking sound came from Khare when Horvath only put Chameleon into play. Dustin revealed Wild Ride for Mikado and Mosha and stunned the front row Chameleon. Elektra traded stuns with Stilt-Man, and the Hounds got in unimpeded to feed on his inert body.

Horvath rolled his eyes on turn 4 and looked back at his teammates for emotional support. He sat and stared at his board for a good ten minutes. He peeked repeatedly at his resource row and finally played Stilt-Man and Hammerhead, leaving everyone up front. Dustin’s turn was much more straightforward with Luke Cage, Street Enforcer.

Adam proposed a team attack directly at Dustin with Chameleon and Hammerhead. He flipped up Doc Ock’s Lab and got in for 11 points of endurance loss. Stilt-Man also attacked, and Adam did not pass, thinking about the race and how far he should press. Finally, he just let Stilts get in for 3.

Dustin sent Luke Cage into Hammerhead. Both players passed. Hounds of Ahab came after Chameleon. Adam used his ability to give it the Crime Lords affiliation and flipped Uprising from his resource row. Dustin came back over the top with Crushing Blow. Adam showed No Fear from his face-down cards. Dustin threw away another Hound to get in for one more point of breakthrough. Elektra came after Stilt-Man, and they traded stuns. When the recovery step rolled around, the score was 24 to 19 in Dustin’s favor. Dustin recovered Elektra and let his Hounds go, but Adam could only keep one of his men. He stuck with Hammerhead after another long internal debate.

Dustin revealed Midnight Sons naming Spider-Friends and then popped Wild Ride for Firestar. The score went to 19 all. “That is very interesting, very interesting,” sighed Adam, who played Carnage and arranged his board so that both of his characters were in the support row.

“I had such a good draw this game,” Adam deadpanned with a sweeping gesture to his curve-inefficient draw. “This is how it went almost every time in playtesting. I almost never draw a 1-drop.”

Dustin announced that he was using Firestar’s ability and stunned Hammerhead. He then sent Luke Cage in for a little street justice. Head Shot was flipped up, and Adam took 11 and Dustin 4. Elektra’s direct attack was just enough to close the deal.

Game Two

Adam was still shaking his head as he announced a different tack than the one he took in game one. “I think I am going to take odds.”

“I was honestly surprised at that when you took evens.”

“Yeah, well now I am taking odds.” It turned out that when the TOGIT guys were looking over the decklist the night before, they confused Daredevil, Matt Murdock with the 3-drop version. Evens had been good to Adam throughout the tournament against visible characters, and it was a combination of reflex and the misunderstanding of the contents of Dustin’s deck that led to the initiative flip-flop for Adam.

The TOGIT cheerleaders buoyed Adam‘s spirits and dampened the spirits of Dustin, whose teammates were nowhere to be found. “Where the hell is my group?”

Adam led off with Chameleon, while Dustin went on a Wild Ride for Dagger. Adam swung in and both players took 1. Dustin had a Hounds of Ahab ready for the second turn. Adam still did not seem happy with the quality of his draw, even though he had Cobra to search out Mr. Hyde. Adam set both characters up so that Chameleon was in a position to reinforce. Dustin sent his Hounds after Cobra and had no trick when Adam powered up.

“I was afraid of that,” slumped Dustin against the crack back from Adam.

Adam attacked Dagger, and Dustin bounced her to hand, allowing the TOGIT player to attack for 2 directly.

Mr. Hyde showed up as announced, and all three of Adam’s men went to the front lines. Dustin had Elektra, revealing Dagger. Adam sent Chameleon over, and Dustin Wild Rided for M&M and stunned the 1-drop. Adam attacked directly with the Cobra and Hyde team-attack. Hounds went after Cobra and they traded. Elektra did the same with Mr. Hyde, and both players recovered their 3-drop. The score was 41 to 29 in favor of Adam.

Dustin led off turn 4 with Luke Cage. It was head in hands time again for Horvath as he agonized over his turn 4 play. Finally, two Mysterios emerged from the green mists of turn 4. Adam had some more angst as he tried to figure out his formation. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready . . . this could be a while.” Eventually, he left them as they were, with Mr. Hyde as the lynchpin of the classic “L” formation.

Elektra came after Mysterio, but the master of confusion and illusion evaded her attack and the befuddled assassin readied and looked for someone else to kill. She went after Mr. Hyde, and they both stunned. Dustin used Quick Kill on Mr. Hyde and drew a card. Luke Cage came after Mysterio and smacked him around a little. The score was 26 to 24 in Dustin’s favor.

Turn 5 was another think-fest for Adam, who took at least ten minutes before even playing his resource for the turn. The game was incredibly close, although the head shaking, muttering, and psycho-girlfriend-in-the-middle-of-the-night sighs from Adam’s side of the table did not radiate confidence that it would remain so for long. Finally, a resource allowed Carnage to hit the table, which was much better than it sounded from Adam’s side of the table prior to the build step. Dustin played the misunderstood Daredevil, Matt Murdock.

When Adam proposed his attack of two Mysterios on Daredevil, the KGB agent paid 3 endurance to move him out of the way. Adam team attacked with everyone directly and flipped up Crime and Punishment. Dustin went to -4. He came back with Daredevil flying over at Mysterio in the back row and played a Head Shot from his hand. Mysterio stepped back and the green smoke vanished, leaving Adam at 21. Elektra went after the other Mysterio and powered up. Adam had some math to do and he allowed them both to stun. The score was 11 to -7 in Adam’s favor. Luke Cage came after Carnage, and they both turned over, leaving a 15 point differential.

The game was about 2 endurance points out of Dustin’s frustrated grasp. He looked over at the Daredevil he had paid 3 to move into the hidden area and kicked himself. “I should have just absorbed that attack. The game would have gone to the next turn. I forgot about Mysterio’s evasion.”

Adam Horvath smiled and slapped his hand on the table in an unusual display of exuberance. “Eugene Harvey is sooooooo smart. The one thing he said to me was that I could counter his Head Shots with evasion. Eugene is so smart and I am not. Thank you, Eugene!”

Anand and Osyp laughed as Adam showed off the secret contents of his resource row, which were all characters. “Nice resource row.”

Adam knew he had dodged a bullet. “Not a single blue card. Every turn it was just two more reds.”

Dustin looked back on turn 2 and wished that Adam had drawn one fewer red card in particular. “What killed me was the Cobra pump.”

“Yeah, I had no choice there. I figured you play seven Hounds, but maybe I would get lucky and I did.”

Game Three

The final game started with Dagger for Dustin and Vulture for Adam. Dustin swung into the old man, but Adam had the power-up. Adam played Cobra and searched for his compatriot. He left his two guys up front, and Dustin had no play. Adam sent Cobra into Dagger, and Dustin played No Fear from his hand. Vulture came over for 2, and Dustin Quick Killed Cobra, pitching a Daredevil.

Elektra showed up for her turn 3 appointment, while Adam put Mr. Hyde in front of the senior citizen. The assassin came over, and they traded. The same thing happened with the 1-drops, and each player recovered their most recent drop.

Adam’s turn 4 saw a Masked Marauder slip in behind Mr. Hyde. This was Dustin’s game to draw a clumsy hand, as he only had the Hounds of Ahab with 2 resource points squandered. Adam team attacked for 12 points, and the score was 46 to 27 in Adam’s favor. He also paid 3 to exhaust Elektra.

Dustin sighed. “Yeah, I guess that is the move.”

He did have a 5-drop and played Daredevil, Matt Murdock, but there was a lot of ground to make up. Adam did not have a 5-drop. Rather, he played Cobra and Rhino. He arranged things such that Rhino protected the Masked Marauder and Cobra protected Mr. Hyde.

Dustin took a little time with his plan of attack this game as he tried to figure out how best to exploit his initiative. He decided to pay 3 endurance to give Daredevil flight and sent him into Mr. Hyde. Masked Marauder reinforced. Elektra traded with Rhino. Hounds came after Cobra, and Dustin had a power-up while Adam merely passed. He recovered Rhino from amongst his walking wounded, while Dustin lost no one. The score was 32 to 21 in favor of Horvath.

Horvath took 4 from his Rhino and drew a “whuff!” of imminent defeat from the Rutgers student when he played a pair of Mysterios and the back-breaking Hammerhead. Dustin could only manage Luke Cage and Dagger, with one card left in his hand and an unspent resource point. Adam sent Rhino after the poor defenseless Dagger and flipped up Honor Among Thieves. Dustin powered up with his lone card to save a point, and Dagger stunned.

With the only visible character dispatched, Adam followed up with an all out team-attack. He flipped up Doc Ock’s Lab and two copies of Crime and Punishment, and if doing 40 points there wasn’t injury enough, he added insult by using Masked Marauder to exhaust all of Dustin’s guys.

Final result: Adam Horvath defeats Dustin Pidgeon, 2 to 1