This is it, folks, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. After seven rounds of Constructed, six rounds of Booster Draft, and two elimination rounds, the field of 258 players has been narrowed down to 2.

Craig Edwards, a 24 year old law student from Boston, had to navigate his Rigged Elections combo deck through Matt Boccio’s Fantastic Four deck in the quarterfinals and Neil Reeves and his Common Enemy deck in the semis to earn the right to play for the $40,000 cash prize.

Craig Edwards’s opponent, Brian Kibler, is one of the first major Vs. System players, who has been evangelizing the game since before it was officially released. This Atlanta TCG pro has already won tens of thousands of dollars flopping cards, but today he would be competing for the largest prize ever offered at a TCG event. Brian dispatched Steve Horowitz and his Teen Titans in the quarterfinals before beating teammate Nick Little and his Common Enemy deck in the semis. He is now just one more match win away from clinching his first-ever TCG Pro Championship.

The format for the finals was determined ahead of time to be a best of five match, with the winner being the first player to record three wins. The key cards in both players’ decks actually happen to be the 1-drop characters that allow them to search for important plot twists. It will be interesting to see if Edwards’s Rigged Elections deck could overcome yet another Common Enemy deck that seems almost designed to beat it.

The battle of the butlers began, as each player played a 1-drop on schedule, with Edwards putting Batman’s helper Alfred Pennyworth into play to Kibler’s Boris, Personal Servant of Doom. Doomstadt let Kibler search out an early plot twist, while Edwards was able to recruit a GCPD Officer, building his army of weenies one by one in preparation for his eventual combo. Turn 3 saw Kibler use Faces of Doom from his resource row and recruit She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. Edwards used Alfred to search out Marvel Team-Up, and then recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl and Alfred. Kibler’s attack into the Officer merely caused 1 endurance loss for Edwards, as the team Your Move Games member used Bat-Signal to search out Barbara Gordon ◊ Oracle.

The game progressed slowly because Edwards spent a lot of time searching out cards with Alfred and Bat Signal, and then shuffling his deck. Edwards flipped over World’s Finest, and then put Bat Signal on the chain, but Kibler responded with Have a Blast! Edwards shrugged and flipped up Marvel Team-Up, searching out Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards.

“Wow, your draw has been the nuts so far,” observed Edwards. “Two Boris and a Doomstadt are very good.”

“My draw is the best of all time,” responded Kibler. “You’re not winning.”

Edwards played Mr. Fantastic, another Officer, and Alfred, and then played A Child Named Valeria before passing the turn over to Kibler for his recruit step. A fresh Dr. Doom and She-Hulk both attacked through Mr. Fantastic last turn, making the endurance totals 48-43 in favor of Kibler. Have a Blast! before Kibler’s recruit step knocked out Marvel Team-Up. Brian then recruited another Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, flipping over Have a Blast! again, and suddenly Edwards’s board looked very vulnerable. Craig tapped his deck before putting the new resource into play, grimacing as he did so. Alfred searched out another Team-Up and was recruited once more, along with Barbara Gordon ◊ Oracle and Ant Man.

She-Hulk attacked Ant Man, doing 1 as the tiniest FF member was reinforced. Kibler smashed for 7 more through a GCPD Officer and then played Reign of Terror on Alfred and Barbara Gordon.

Kibler used Boris before Edwards played his resource, searching out Signal Flare this time, and using that to fetch Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. Edwards replayed Oracle, used a resource point to draw a card, then recruited Alfred and another Officer before passing the step. Kibler recruited Darkoth and ended his recruit step as well. Edwards passed with no attacks, letting Kibler crush with Dr. Doom on an Officer, She-Hulk on another Officer, and Darkoth on Oracle, making the endurance totals Kibler 48, Edwards 22.

Turn 7 brought the giant version of Rock Boy into play for Brian. With Thing’s ability on the chain, Edwards used Alfred to search for . . . hang on a second, Batman just sat down as the table judge. The caped crusader introduced himself to both players and informed them that he expected no funny business, that they should protect themselves at all times, and have a good, clean fight. When play resumed, Edwards finished his search for Fizzle and then let Thing’s ability resolve. Edwards recruited Reed Richards, The Invisible Girl, Harley Quinn, two Officers, and the inimitable Alfred back to his side. Kibler attacked an Officer with She-Hulk, and Edwards flipped up A Child Named Valeria and put it on the chain. Valeria resolved, and Edwards flipped up Marvel Team-Up and Rigged Elections. Kibler responded by Have a Blast!ing the Team-Up, which Edwards Fizzled. Kibler used a second Have a Blast! on the Team-Up, and this one resolved, but Edwards had a second Team-Up in his resource row that finally went live.

In spite of havin