Former Canadian TCG National Champion Jurgen Hahn sat down against longtime TCG draft specialist Neil Reeves of Texas. At 7-2, one more loss may effectively eliminate either player from Top 8 contention, so the pressure was really on this round.

Game 1

Jurgen won the choice and took initiative first. Jurgen kept his opening four, as did Neil. Neither had a turn 1 play, and on turn 2, Neil lead with an Assassin Initiate. After a bathroom break, Jurgen returned to play an Assassin of his own. Neil attacked, and they traded. On the third turn, Jurgen played Ubu, while Neil ran out a boosted Hawk, fetching Dove. Jurgen then attacked Ubu into Hawk, and Neil reinforced with Dove and Tag Teamed to make Hawk a 6 ATK/6 DEF. In response, Jurgen powered-up Ubu with another Ubu from his hand, so Hawk was stunned. The Assassin then traded with Dove, and Neil recovered his Hawk, losing Dove.

Neil’s fourth turn consisted of Bart Allen ◊ Kid Flash, while Jurgen fired back with Dr. Tzin-Tzin. Neil attacked his Kid Flash into Dr Tzin-Tzin, and Jurgen had another one in hand to power-up and force the trade. Neil then attacked his Assassin into Jurgen’s, and they traded. Jurgen then got to stun Hawk with his Ubu. During recovery, Jurgen lost his Assassin, while Neil lost everything save his Bart Allen. Looking to press his advantage, Jurgen played Killer Croc on the fifth turn. Neil’s return play was a less impressive Wonder Girl. Jurgen began his attack by team attacking his two League of Assassins characters into Bart Allen, stunning Bart Allen and the Dr. Jurgen then attacked his Croc into Wonder Girl, stunning Neil’s Wonder Girl without losing his Croc. Neil recovered his Wonder Girl and played Conner Kent ◊ Superboy on his sixth turn. Jurgen answered with the 6-drop Ra’s al Ghul. Neil team attacked his two characters into the Croc, stunning it.

Neil then played a rather expected Teen Titans Go!, getting a thumbs up from Jurgen. Neil tried to attack Superboy into the Dr., and Jurgen reinforced with Ubu, although this was unnecessary. Neil attacked Wonder Girl into Ra’s al Ghul, flipped a Titans Tower, and discarded Red Star. Jurgen had nothing, and the Ra’s was stunned. Jurgen recovered it and used a Lazarus Pit to prevent the Doctor from being KO’d. Jurgen then spent his seventh turn playing Lady Shiva, Master Assassin. Neil considered his options before settling on Roy Harper, Arsenal, Hawk, and Pantha, activating Roy Harper using Pantha, and then playing a second Pantha, losing the exhausted one. Then, before combat, Neil exhausted all of his characters to Roy Harper, increasing his attack to 14, and activated him, KO’ing a resource, to stun Lady Shiva. Jurgen attacked his Ra’s al Ghul into Conner Kent and flipped up a Mountain Stronghold to search for another one to power it up. Neil discarded the last card in his hand, Koriand’r ◊ Starfire, to try to trade, but Jurgen had two From the Shadows. Conner Kent was stunned, and Jurgen had no further attacks. Lady Shiva was recovered, and the Doctor remained protected by the Pits. Needing a big draw, Neil ripped Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing, Titan Leader with boost. Jurgen’s play was flipping up another Mountain Stronghold, getting another Ra’s al Ghul, and playing Bane, Ubu with boost, making it a 12 ATK/12 DEF. With an “Alrighty then,” Neil weighed his options before sending Wonder Girl into the Immortal Villain. Jurgen powered-up to prevent 1 point of breakthrough, and Neil followed up by attacking Superboy into Lady Shiva. Jurgen flipped a Fast Getaway, once again preventing some minor breakthrough damage, and Neil continued his rally with a team attack of Hawk, Pantha, and Arsenal on Bane. With Nightwing, the team attack proved too much, and Neil was able to come back from a game that looked unwinnable at several different points.

Neil Reeves 1, Jurgen Hahn 0

Game 2

Jurgen once again took the odd initiative, and chose to keep his hand, while Reeves sent his back. Jurgen played a Thuggee on the first turn, while Neil had Pantha. Neil’s second turn featured Hawk, while Jurgen had nothing. Hawk stunned Thugee, and Pantha got in for 3. Jurgen played Charaxes on his third turn, prompting Neil to say, “Not what I was expecting at all.” Neil then played Roy Harper. Jurgen attacked Charaxes into Hawk, and Neil flipped Titans Tower and discarded Pantha to attempt a trade. Jurgen had a From the Shadows, however, stunning Hawk and leaving Charaxes untouched. Jurgen then traded his Thugee with Pantha. Neil elected not to attack back and recovered Pantha, possibly signaling Hawk/Dove next turn.

He in fact had a Hawk on turn 4 and boosted it, searching out Dove. Jurgen had the much-maligned Dr. Tzin-Tzin as an answer. Neil sent in Hawk and Dove in against the Dr., and Jurgen reinforced with the Thuggee and flipped over Tag Team. Neil responded by flipping Clocktower and replacing a resource. Neil then elected to use Titans Tower on Hawk, discarding Koriand’r ◊ Starfire and allowing the Dr. and Hawk to trade. Neil continued by sending Pantha into Charaxes, forcing a trade, and sending Roy Harper into Thuggee. The turn concluded with Neil losing Pantha and Jurgen keeping his Dr.

On turn 5 Jurgen played Bane, Ubu, and Neil answered back with Cassie Sandsmark ◊ Wonder Girl. Jurgen sent Bane into Wonder Girl, and powered-up Bane with another Bane. Neil discarded Roy Harper to the Titans Tower to try to trade, but Jurgen had another From the Shadows. Neil turned up another Titans Tower, losing the first one, and discarded the last card in his hand—another copy of Roy Harper. The two characters traded. Then, before Jurgen could attack again, Neil tried to stun the Dr. using Roy Harper. Jurgen responded by flipping Mountain Stronghold (discarding Ra’s al Ghul), to get a Dr. to deal with the ability, but Neil simply tapped Dove. With an empty hand and only three resources in play, Neil drew two cards, played one as a resource and played nothing. Jurgen answered with Ra’s al Ghul. Neil sent a team attack in at the Ra’s with Hawk and Wonder Girl, and Jurgen stunned Hawk. Neil then turned over Teen Titans Go! and traded Wonder Girl with Bane. Neil then attacked Jurgen with Dove and Roy Harper and discarded his only card, Conner Kent ◊ Superboy, to the Titans Tower to reduce Jurgen to exactly 0 endurance.

Final Result: Neil Reeves defeats Jurgen Hahn, 2-0