These teams came into the round as the tournament’s only undefeated players, sitting at 5-0. Both teams are new to the scene, with the highest finish between all six players being Mike Brierley’s Top 4 finish at $10K Hamilton. Brierley, Ryan Alarie, and Matt Stonham (the A Team) have come out of nowhere to make a run at Day 2’s drafts. Standing in their way are none other than FTN . . . oh wait, I mean Not FTN. Bob Caton, Jay DiRaimondo, and Don Roeber are on a tear, and they don’t look to be slowing down. I decided to cover Bob and Ryan’s match at seat A, giving Bob his second feature match of the weekend—not too shabby considering it’s only his first Pro Circuit weekend.

Ryan won the roll and chose odd initiatives, and after mulliganing he led the game off with The Oblivion Bar, which he activated immediately. Both players passed with no recruits. On turn 2, Bob played Blackbriar Thorn, while Ryan recruited Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy and a free Nightmaster, Jim Rook. Bob sent Blackbriar at Blue Devil with a Death from Above from his hand. An Abjuration from Ryan forced Bob to play Magical Lobotomy, causing a mutual stun and allowing Nightmaster to attack Bob back uncontested. This flurry of activity put the totals at 31-44 in Bob’s favor.

With the initiative on turn 3, Ryan played a Blackbriar Thorn of his own with a Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee. Bob played a Rose Psychic, proving that the players were undoubtedly playing a mirror match. Ryan sent Nightmaster, Blackbriar Thorn, and Chimp in a team attack on Bob’s Blackbriar, easily stunning him. Bob attacked back into Nightmaster with his Rose only to meet a Divination from Ryan. This triggered Nightmaster’s ability and stunned Rose back, but not before Ryan played a Thanagarian Invasion from his resource row to push through more damage.

Bob used his initiative on turn 4 to recruit Ragdoll, while Ryan flipped True Name and added Rose Psychic to his side, going to 13 before the combat phase. It was revealed why Ryan was trying to get so low when he removed a copy of The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel to try to pump Nightmaster high enough to stun Ragdoll when he was attacked. Bob proved it to be a wasted move when he played Collecting Souls to prevent the stun. A Mystical Binding on Blue Devil gave Blackbriar a third counter, allowing him to safely attack and avoid the stun.

By the beginning of next turn, Ryan was back to 14 to Bob’s 28, and he recruited Ragman, Redeemer of Souls. All Bob could manage was Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman, and he opted not to use her backup ability. Ragdoll was stunned in an attack by Rose Psychic and Nightmaster, with Bob choosing to stun Rose and discarding a card to recover Ragdoll later on. Ragman then attacked into Blackbriar Thorn, easily earning the stun and bringing Bob to 17. In Seat C, Don took the game, giving Bob a good chance to seal the match if he could take advantage of his initiative.

Bob dropped a bomb on turn 6 when he recruited June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Bad Witch, but she was answered with Zatanna, Showstopper on Ryan’s side of the board. At the beginning of the combat phase, the totals were 17-12 in Bob’s favor—but if he was unable to lose 7 more endurance, he would be unable to take full advantage of the Bad Witch’s ability. He started by sending June Moon into Ragman, getting an uncontested stun with Zatanna reinforcing. Bob then sent Blackbriar Thorn and Ragdoll into Zatanna. Ryan activated Thanagar to move out of stun range. Bob played Watch the Birdie!, thinking that it would increase his ATK. In the midst of this crucial mistake, Jay leaned over to say that he won, allowing Bob to relax, knowing that his team was winning in spite of his mistake. A Shazam from Ryan the following turn put the game away, but it wasn’t enough to give his team the win.

Team Not FTN took the match and holds on to its undefeated record!