Jelger Wiegersma is a top Dutch TCG player who recently won a major TCG team championship. Quang Nguyen is strictly a Vs. System player from San Diego who won the $10K event in his hometown at ComicCon. The two began the match with comparisons of lifetime earnings, with Jelger’s six figures far surpassing Quang’s total. Jelger comforted Quang “You’ll make more than me when this is all said and done.”

Game 1

Quang won the flip and elected to take the odd initiative. He started with a mulligan, while Jelger kept his starting four. Quang had nothing, and Jelger kicked off with Longshot, naming Wild Sentinel and Mark IV and hitting two of each. On the second turn, Jelger played two Wild Sentinels, while Quang played Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner. Jelger attacked a Wild Sentinel into Nightcrawler, and the two stunned each other. Jelger then came across with his other Sentinel and activated Longshot again, hitting two Wild Sentinels and a Sentinel Mark IV for three extra cards. Turn 3 saw Quang play Quicksliver, Pietro Maximoff, and Jelger answered back with three more Wild Sentinels. Jelger moved all the recently recruited Sentinels to the front, and his old Sentinels and Longshot to the back. Nightcrawler attacked Longshot, and Jelger responded by activating him, hitting two more Wild Sentinels and a Mark IV. Nightcrawler then stunned Longshot and caused 2 additional points of breakthrough. Quicksilver attacked a fresh Wild Sentinel, with Quang also flipping over a Lost City and powering-up Quicksilver to a 6 ATK/7 DEF. Jelger responded with a Cover Fire, and Quang had another Quicksilver to power-up. Jelger attempted to power-up his Sentinel again to save it, but Quang turned over Avalon Space Station, returned his two Quicksilvers by discarding a Pyro, and powered-up again. Jelger allowed it and lost a Wild Sentinel during recovery.

Turn 4 started with the endurance totals at 48-43 in favor of Quang, and Jelger spent his fourth turn playing a Sentinel Mark IV, which entered play as a 9 ATK/6 DEF. Quang flipped over Cerebro and activated Avalon Space Station, discarding a Quicksilver to return his Pyro and other Quicksilver. He then played Sabretooth, Feral Rage, moving it and Quicksilver to the front. Jelger started combat by activating Longshot, and once again hit two Wild Sentinels and another Mark IV. Jelger then flipped Combat Protocols on Brotherhood and played another Protocols from his hand, effectively making his Wild Sentinels 5 ATK while attacking Quang’s characters this turn. He team attacked two of his old Wild Sentinels into Sabretooth, with the ’Tooth and one Sentinel ending up stunned. Jelger then attacked a Wild Sentinel into Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff, once again trading. Jelger finished off his attack by sending the Mark IV into Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner, stunning him. Jelger lost one Wild Sentinel during recovery, while Quang lost everything except for Sabretooth.

Turn 5 Quang played Quicksilver, Speed Demon and activated Cerebro, hitting and discarding Colossus. Jelger fired back with another Mark IV and a Wild Sentinel and then turned over Underground Sentinel Base, running another Mark IV from the resource row to the front. Quang’s position was quickly falling apart, and he thought for a long time before attacking. He eventually decided to have Sabretooth attack one of the Mark IVs, which was currently an 11 ATK/6 DEF. Jelger responded with another Longshot activation, and for the fifth straight time, he hit for at least three. Jelger powered up his Sentinel with six Mark IVs, and Quang had no response. Sabretooth was stunned from the attack, and Quang took 4 without stunning the Mach IV in return. Quang then had Quicksilver attack a Mark IV and returned two Quicksilvers with Avalon Space Station to power it up to a 14 ATK/14 DEF. Jelger had a Reconstruction Program, returning three Mark IVs, and powered-up three times, attempting to stun Quicksilver in return. Quang had another Quicksilver to power-up with, but Jelger had three more Mark IV’s to force the trade. Jelger’s attack back with two Mark IVs and a pile of Wild Sentinels was more than enough to take Quang down.

Jelger Wiegersma 1, Quang Nguyen 0

Game 2

For game 2, Quang chose to have the odd initiative once again. It was Jelger’s turn to mulligan, while Quang kept his four. Quang had no turn 1 play, and Jelger kicked off with the lucky Longshot, naming the standard two. In stark contrast to game 1, Jelger actually missed. His second turn featured a Longshot activation, this time hitting one of each Army Sentinel. Jelger then ran out two Wild Sentinels, while Quang had Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner. One Wild Sentinel traded with Nightcrawler, and the other one got in for 2 points of endurance loss. Turn 3 showcased a Wolverine, Logan revealing Nightcrawler, Fuzzy Elf from Quang. Jelger’s turn started with a Longshot activation, hitting two Wild Sentinels and a Mark IV. He then played another Longshot, losing his first Longshot, and activated again, once again hitting for the standard two Wild Sentinels and a Mark IV. With his 2 remaining resource points he played two more Wild Sentinels, with the new ones going up front protecting the old ones. Quang attacked Nightcrawler into a support row Wild Sentinel, and Jelger played a Cover Fire which stopped the attack cold. Quang then sent Wolverine into a Wild Sentinel, and Jelger reinforced, taking 1, and elected not to attack back. Jelger’s fourth turn involved a highly expected Mark IV, while Quang played Nightcrawler, Fuzzy Elf, losing Kurt Wagner in the process. Jelger then activated Longshot for the standard two, and actually missed.

“I missed. So unlucky.” —Jelger Wiegersma

Jelger mulled his options and finally settled on sending the Mark IV into Wolverine, attempting a power-up to save it. Quang had a 5-drop Wolverine to power-up, and Jelger had another Mark IV. Quang flipped Avalon Space Station, discarding Quicksilver, Speed Demon to return his Nightcrawler and Wolverine, and powered-up again. Jelger played Combat Protocols out of hand and returned his Mark IV’s, powering-up for a third time. Quang had no other pumps and reinforced with his Nightcrawler. Jelger had four remaining Wild Sentinels and played another Combat Protocols, set on X-Men, and team-attacked the four Sentinels into the Nightcrawler, stunning him. Quang recovered his Nightcrawler, losing Wolverine.

On his fifth turn, facing a 47-39 endurance deficit, Quang used his Space Station to return and then play Quicksilver, Speed Demon, moving him into the front. Jelger responded with another Longshot activation, with no hits, and then flipped two Underground Sentinel Bases, moving two Mark IV’s to the front. Quang flipped over Mutant Nation and mulled an attack into a board of four Mark IV’s, five Wild Sentinels, and a Longshot with his less than impressive (by comparison) Quicksilver and Nightcrawler. Quang eventually decided to run Nightcrawler into a Mark IV, and Jelger had a Cover Fire to play from his hand, improving the Sentinel’s defense to a more than adequate 22 and stunning Nightcrawler. Quang then had Quicksilver attack a Wild Sentinel, and Jelger reinforced. Quang discarded Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner to ready Quicksilver, and attacked Quicksilver into a Mark IV. Quang then flipped Lost City and played two Reconstruction Programs, letting him return two Quicksilvers to power-up twice, stunning the Mark IV without getting stunned in return. Jelger then attacked back with a Mark IV into Quicksilver, with the two stunning each other and Quang taking 3 breakthrough. Now unopposed, Jelger attacked his two remaining Mark IVs and three Wild Sentinels in for 23 endurance loss, leaving Quang at 4. Jelger spent his next turn playing three Wild Sentinels from hand and using Underground Sentinel Base to play a Mark IV from the resource row. Facing an overwhelming position, Quang conceded.

Now with three loses, Quang must win his last round to make the second day, while Jelger has locked up a Day 2 appearance. When asked about the round, Jelger said, “I have no idea if that matchup is good for me or not, since it’s the first time I’ve played against it all day, but my draws and Longshot activations were insane, so that’s good enough.”  

Jelger Wiegersma 2, Quang Nguyen 0