This round features two of the biggest names in Constructed Vs. System, Anthony Justice and Michael Jacob. Michael started the day at 1-3 and was on the verge of dropping before going on a 5-0 tear to end up at 6-3, which is where he sits now. Anthony Justice, on the other hand, started out at 4-1 before sliding down to his own 6-3 record. Both players are guaranteed to make Day 2, but this is an important match to win.
Michael had no drop on turn 1 and was extremely surprised when Anthony played Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. “What the . . .” was all he could manage. Anthony got in for 1 and went to the next turn. Anthony recruited a Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern on his second turn and grabbed himself a Chopping Block. “Choppy? Who plays that,” Jacob whined. Michael played a Wasp, Janet Van Dyne-Pym. Anthony attacked Michael’s face and left the alley for Wasp to attack Speedy.
On turn 3, Michael made himself a Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger. Anthony followed this up with a boosted Olapet to fetch himself an Arisia. Michael was giving Anthony a hard time about his formation during his turn. “I can’t believe you’re putting Speedy there! He’s shooting Arisia!” After Anthony decided on his final formation, Michael was free to attack. His first attack was to send Wasp at Anthony’s Arisia. After she was out of the way, Quicksilver got busy on Olapet. Michael ended the turn ahead 46–45.
Anthony got to recruit on turn 4 and showed what his deck was capable of. He played a Beetle, Armorsmith, which fetched him a Yellowjacket that he slid into play. He finished by recruiting G’Nort, teaming up Green Lantern with Masters of Evil, and ended his build. Michael played a potentially devastating Hawkeye, Clinton Barton. After Anthony declared his entire team into Hawkeye, Michael used Hawkeye to stun Arisia and G’Nort. Undeterred, Anthony sent his remaining three characters into Hawkeye to get him out of the way. This left the avenue for Michael to smash him back for a bunch. He started by sending Quicksilver in at Yellowjacket and then sent Wasp into Speedy. Before recovery, Anthony used Chopping Block to get the annoying Hawkeye off the table. Michael ended up ahead at the end of the turn 42–36
Michael started turn 5 by recruiting She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell. Anthony picked up right where Michael left off by recruiting a Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He immediately used his Dr. Light to bring Shocker back from the KO’d pile. He used his newfound electrical powers to stun Michael’s Wasp. Anthony then played a Chopping Block on his Kyle Rayner. Michael was now free to attack. He started by stunning Anthony’s Shocker with his Quicksilver. He then went beefy by sending She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell into Dr. Light, playing Heroes in Reserve for 4 on She-Hulk, and playing a No Man Escapes the Manhunters on the Dr. Light. Anthony was forced to use his Kyle Rayner to flip up a Millennium so he could reinforce. He then discarded a Chopping Block to KO the wasp. That left Michael ahead 40–25 at the end of the turn.
Anthony took advantage of the fact that his Dr. Light was still in play to get back a Tomar Tu from the KO’d pile at the start of turn 6. He followed that up by playing Hard Sound Construct to reach into his KO’d pile for a Beetle, Armorsmith, which ended up getting Anthony a Hector Hammond, Super-Futuristic Mind. All of this recruiting and Anthony hadn’t even used a resource point yet. He used The Ring Has Chosen to search his deck for a Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps, which he played with boost. Once he had finally used his resource points for the turn, he passed the turn to Michael.
Michael recruited the standard Wonder Man as his turn 6 play. He used Wonder Man’s ability to stun the troublesome Chopping Blocked Kyle Rayner. He finished his recruit with a free Rick Jones. Combat this turn was a little rough for Anthony. He began by sending his Guy Gardner into Wonder Man. After he stunned Wonder Man, Anthony set his sights on Quicksilver. A few attacks later and all of Michael’s characters were stunned except his Rick Jones. Sadly for Anthony, Michael had the Call Down the Lightning to send his Rick Jones over Dr. Light. He also had a Savage Beatdown to do a bit more damage. After all was said and done, Anthony had not gained any ground and ended the turn down in endurance 22–7.
Michael began the recruits on turn 7 with the ideal Hercules. “I’ll respect the Starfire,” he said as he slid all of his characters into the front row. “You never know what could pop out of this deck,” Anthony joked back. Anthony then began to amass some more free characters using Hard Sound Construct. Going into combat, Anthony had recruited Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern; Beetle, Armorsmith; Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi; Henry King, Jr. ◊ Brainwave; Olapet; and Hector Hammond, Super-Futuristic Mind. Say that five times fast. Anthony finished his recruit by using his last resource point (yes, he had one left) to use Screaming Mimi to hit Michael for 8.
Michael began his attacks by sending Wonder Man into Henry King, Jr. A couple of Cover Fires later ensured that not even a Savage Beatdown from Michael would force the attack through. Ultimately, after Hercules got his two attacks in, Anthony was left with only three ready characters and a 7-point endurance difference. “So I have to break through Herc, stun both of your guys . . . or give up.” Anthony chose option C and ended the match.
Michael Jacob wins!