Hans Joachim Hoeh, the German double $10K champ of Bologna and Hannover, is playing a Green Lantern/Emerald Enemies deck. Hoeh uses an odd drafting balance, running three characters per drop at spots on the curve where most would use four. He remarked earlier that he had “drafted good support,” but he felt he would miss his curve and lose.

 

Jason Hager's team qualified all four of its members for Day 2 with its revolutionary New School deck. Incredibly well-rounded, Hager is the perfect kind of player to be successful in this kind of environment.

 

Both players managed to hit 1-drops: Sonar for Hager and Brik for Hoeh. Brik smacked Sonar and play moved to turn 2. Manhunter Protector protected Sonar on Hager's side, while Hoeh had to decide between Harlequin, Hector Hammond, and Dead-Eye. He went with the latter. Sonar activated to exhaust Brik, and that was it for the turn.

 

Hoeh wasn't happy with his mitt full of low-drops, and he became less happy when his only character drawn for turn 3 was G'Nort. He recruited Space Bears on turn 3, tucking Brik neatly behind it. Hager took some time to muse over his best play before settling on recruiting Carol Ferris ◊ Star Sapphire to the visible area. He opted for an “L” formation, protecting Sonar with Star Sapphire.

 

Hoeh then took some time to consider his attacks. He was playing slowly, and Hager was getting a bit annoyed.

 

“You gotta pick up the pace a little,” Hager said politely, but he was obviously a little irked. Space Bears swung into Star Sapphire and brought her down. Then, Brik attacked Sonar for the double-stun, and in the recovery phase, Sonar was KO'd.

 

It was difficult to tell what was going on in the head of each player. While Hoeh was unsure of his deck, and draft play has historically been his Achilles heel, he's notorious for a slow, grinding, controlling style of play that gets under his opponents' skins. It was hard to tell whether he was playing slowly on purpose or he was just unsure of the decisions he was making.

 

Meanwhile, Hager is a relatively patient and calculating player. It was difficult to tell whether he was genuinely annoyed by Hoeh's pace or he was just rushing him in an effort to counteract what might have been Hoeh's signature mind game.

 

On turn 4, Hager brought out Kiman. After some slow decision-making, Hoeh brought out G'Nort and Hector Hammond. He formed up with Hector protecting Brik and Space Bears protecting G'Nort. The moment Hoeh passed, Hager committed Star Sapphire to an attack on G'Nort. The attack quickly resolved, and G'Nort hit the dirt. Kiman then attacked Hector Hammond. Hager was playing it smart, knocking out Hoeh's legs to discourage him from attacking back due to the possibility of losing even more characters. Hoeh took some time to consider his responses to the attack, until he was advised by judging staff to pick up the pace of play. He eventually opted not to pull any tricks, and he ate the full 7 endurance loss. Ouch. He decided not to attack back after some confusion in that regard, and then he lost G'Nort at the end of the turn.

 

The endurance totals were 40 to 44 in Hager's favor.

 

On turn 5, Hoeh managed to hit one of his two 5-drops, Katma Tui. It was definitely not what Hager wanted to see, given Hoeh's slow play and the impending time limit—the match was seventeen minutes in. Hoeh gave Brik a Chopping Block, stuck Katma behind the Space Bears, and passed.

 

Hager brought Johnny Quick out to the visible area and stuck him behind Manhunter Protector in an “L” formation next to Star Sapphire. He was getting a lot of mileage out of that Protector. Hector Hammond lashed out at it, and after the Protector was activated, Hammond went down to a Thunderous Onslaught. Katma Tui then fired off a bolt of hard light at Johnny Quick, prompting Hager to flip Pest Control to give him +4 DEF. In response, Katma smacked him with an Uppercut, and Hager considered what to do. Long, combat-oriented chains tend to define games in this format, usually tilting them in favor of the player with the most answers. Hager activated Kiman to try and bring Katma down, but a Jackhammer kept her alive! The chain resolved, and Quick was stunned.

 

The Space Bears then attacked Star Sapphire with Locked in Combat, and she exhausted for Millennium. Dead-Eye attacked directly, and BrikChopping Blocked Johnny Quick—a horrid turn of events for Jason Hager, who was now on the losing end of a 40-29 endurance match. Five minutes remained.

 

Hager sped through his turn-6 build, quickly dropping a resource and recruiting Legion to protect Star Sapphire. He had the initiative but needed to pound through some serious endurance loss quickly. Hoeh flipped The Ring Has Chosen and quickly thumbed through his deck twice before choosing Evil Star and shuffling. He spent a few moments forming up. Legion smacked the heck out of Evil Star, and Hoeh did not reinforce. Hager then passed combat to Hoeh and activated Coast City to keep Star Sapphire safe. Hoeh gave up on attacks for the turn, gained 5 endurance with Katma Tui, and passed.

 

Boodikka came up on Hoeh's side of the field on turn 7—he only had one 7-drop, Ganthet, and it wasn't in his hand. After quite a bit of consideration, Hager recruited Superman, Returned and Gnaxos, forming up with Legion again protecting Star Sapphire and Superman protecting Gnaxos. Since time had been called and play was obviously going to progress to turn 8, his main goals were to minimize damage and keep as many characters around as possible. That meant forcing team attacks and sticking his big characters up front when Hoeh was relatively low on flight. However, at the last second, he seemed to second guess himself. Instead, he opted to protect Legion with Superman and leave Star Sapphire to Legion's left. Gnaxos was formed up on Sapphire's left. It was utterly bizarre to see, but it was the right play to make. Hoeh could commit a character or two to take out Star Sapphire, and then he could pound breakthrough past Gnaxos. Hager was tempting him to stay away from Superman and Legion. Pretty clever.

 

Unfortunately, Hoeh didn't fall for it. He immediately declared Boodikka into Superman, who had been activated earlier. Superman went down, and the Space Bears set their sights on Gnaxos. Star Sapphire reinforced. This wasn't the outcome that Hager had been looking for. Hector Hammond mauled Star Sapphire, and Evil Star then swung into Legion. Hager examined his face-down resources and shook his head.

 

“Well, I can't play plot twists, so hey, it's legal.” Evil Star busted out an Uppercut, and Legion went down hard off the double-stun. Dead-Eye swung directly, Katma followed suit, and Hoeh passed combat to Hager. He left Brik open and ready, waiting to see what Hager would do before putting someone on the Chopping Block. Kiman attacked the Space Bears protecting Brik, and Hager flipped Empire of Tears. He activated it, hoping to force Hoeh to reinforce. Again, Hoeh didn't bite. He ate the endurance loss and Chopping Blocked Legion. Then, both players recovered.

 

It was Hager's Kiman and Superman to Hoeh's Dead-Eye, Boodikka, Katma Tui, Hector Hammond, Brik, and Evil Star. It looked very, very bad for Hager. The endurance totals were 4-29 in favor of Hoeh.

 

But then, Hager hit a ray of hope. He drew his top two cards, slapped down a resource, and dropped Appa Ali Apsa into his front row protecting Superman! Hoeh recruited Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern of the Universe, Harlequin, and Olapet. Appa Ali Apsa tore into Kyle Rayner, but in response, Hoeh exhausted his entire board to gain 20 endurance. Hager just scooped, because there was nothing he could do. He showed a lot of class, taking the slow play issues in perfect stride and giving Hoeh a handshake with a smile. Definitely a cool individual.

 

Hans Joachim Hoeh overcomes a problem-riddled deck to win Game 1 of the first draft round!