This final match of the tournament pits two nearly-identical Teen Titans against each other for all the marbles. The players, however, are nothing close to identical. Doug Werre is a virtual unknown with no major tournament finishes. Josh, on the other hand, has seven $10K Top 8 finishes and a Top 8 finish at the recent Pro Circuit Los Angeles. On the other hand, both players have the same number of $10K wins—zero. Josh has posted some notoriously poor performances on Sunday, and a number of people take it for granted that in any given $10K, he’ll make Top 8 but not take home the trophy.

Game 1

Doug had the initiative on turn 4, and used his Argus before recruiting a Terra behind Hawk. Tim was moved to the front row. Josh recruited Red Star behind his own Hawk, and kept his own Tim in the front row as well. Doug’s first attack brought all three of his characters into Hawk. The attack was legal, and the Hawks traded with each other. Doug, in a curious move, passed to Josh, who attacked Red Star into Terra. Tamaran and Finishing Move meant that Red Star stayed unstunned, while Terra was KO’d. Josh’s lead widened to 45-38.

Turn 5 was Josh’s initiative, and he used his Optitron to discard another Red Star and pick up a Terra of his own. He recruited her and pushed all of his characters to the front. Doug used his Argus and recruited another Terra, setting up in the same formation he used on the previous turn. Before any attacks were declared, Doug used his Terra to stun Tim. Josh declared an attack of Hawk into Hawk, and used a Tamaran to prevent stunback. Doug had nothing to stop this, and his Hawk went down. Next, Terra stunned Doug’s Tim Drake, and a powered-up Red Star took down Doug’s Terra. At the end of the turn, Josh lost nothing, while Doug was left with only Terra. The endurance score was now 43-28.

On turn 6, Doug used his Argus and played a very unimpressive Beast Boy. Josh recruited Garth ◊ Tempest. “I’m not winning this,” said Doug. He didn’t concede quite yet, though; he sent Beast Boy into Hawk. Josh allowed the attack, used Tamaran, and then stunned Beast Boy with Terra. Next, Doug attacked Red Star with Terra. Before trading stuns, Josh used Finishing Move to KO Beast Boy. After the attack resolved, he used Garth to rebuy the Finishing Move and clear the last character from Doug’s board. Doug took the cue and they moved to the second game.

Game 2

Doug again selected to take the even initiatives. Both players kept their opening hands. This time, Josh had Pantha on turn 1. Doug used Optitron to discard Terra, searching for Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. On turn 2, Doug led off with Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. Josh flipped an Optitron of his own, discarding Hawk to fetch Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Tim attacked in, and Tamaran prevented a point for Josh.

Josh recruited his Dove on turn 3, boosting it to get Hawk. Doug did the same, boosting his Hawk to get Dove. He formed with Hawk behind Dove and Tim in the support row before passing. Josh flipped and used USS Argus, and then moved to combat, where he sent his Hawk into Tim Drake. Doug flipped and used Titans Tower, discarding Red Star. Both characters stunned. Next, Josh went after Doug’s Dove with his own. He used Tamaran and passed to Doug, who played Finishing Move on Hawk. Doug also had a power up from the hand, brickwalling Josh. Another Finishing Move KO’d Josh’s Dove, and that was the turn. Josh led 46-44.

On turn 4, Doug used Argus before recruiting a Terra. In response to her recruit, Josh used his own Argus. In his recruit step, he recruited Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Next, he used his Optitron to trade a copy of Tim Drake for Garth ◊ Tempest. Josh moved both of his characters to the support row and passed. Doug started things off by sending everyone except Terra into Roy. Josh used Tamaran, and Roy traded with Dove. Next, Doug sent Terra after Pantha. Josh took 6 and lost Pantha at the end o the turn. Doug had pulled ahead in the endurance race, 43-37.

The fifth turn was Josh’s initiative, and he used Argus before recruiting his Garth. In response to the recruit, Doug used his own Argus and KO’d it to Terra to stun Josh’s Roy. Doug began his own recruit with an Optitron activation, discarding Tim Drake to grab his own 3-drop Roy Harper. He played Roy, and passed. As soon as Josh tried to declare an attack, Doug exhausted everything but Roy to make Roy 10 ATK. He then exhausted Roy in an attempt to stun Garth. In response, Josh paid 3 endurance to return Hawk to his hand. Garth stunned, and Josh lost Roy in recovery. Doug had pulled far ahead, as the score was now 43-26 in his favor.

Turn 6 was an opportunity for Doug to recruit . . . absolutely nothing. He moved his characters to the front row and passed. Josh used Argus, and then flipped Null Time Zone, naming Teen Titans Go!. He then recruited Connor Kent ◊ Superboy, Tactile Telekinetic. In response, Doug exhausted everything except Terra to shoot Garth with Roy. In response to that, Josh used Garth to bring back his Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. Connor Kent entered play, and Josh passed to combat. Doug started things off by playing Press the Attack on Roy. He attacked Roy into Connor. Both players used Tamarans, and Josh used Connor’s ability to give him an additional +2 DEF. Doug had the Savage Beatdown to force the issue, though. Josh flipped and used another Tamaran, losing a resource, and both characters stunned. At the end of the turn, Doug led 40-4

Josh had to pull out something pretty impressive to win on the seventh turn of this game. He used his Argus, and went into the tank. His first recruit was Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, and he followed that up with an Optitron activation for Terra, which he also recruited. Josh set all three of his characters in the front row, and passed. Doug showed him the Red Star, and Josh scooped it up.

Game 3

Josh chose to take the odd initiatives for the third and final game of the match. Josh kept his opening hand, while Doug mulliganed his. Josh had his first turn Optitron, discarding Terra to search for Garth ◊ Tempest. Doug had no play. On the second turn, both players had Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, and neither attacked.

Josh recruited Beast Boy for turn 3, and set both of his characters in the front row. Doug flipped and used USS Argus before passing on his recruit step. Josh had an Argus of his own, and attacked first with Beast Boy, then with Tim Drake. Josh had an early lead in both board position and endurance, with the count at 50-45 in his favor.

Doug had the initiative on turn 4, and used Argus before recruiting Terra behind Tim Drake. Josh used his own Argus before recruiting his own Terra. In response to Josh’s recruit of Terra, Doug used his own Terra to stun Beast Boy and KO his Argus. In response to that, Josh played Null Time Zone and named Finishing Move. The stun resolved, and Doug flipped over the second USS Argus that he had just gotten off the top of his deck. He used it, and let Terra enter play. Josh used his Terra to stun Tim Drake and KO his own Argus, and then considered whether or not it would be worth it for him to attack Tim into Terra. He eventually chose not to, and ended the turn with a lead of 47-43.

On turn 5, Josh recruited his Garth and pushed all of his characters to the front. Doug used his Argus before recruiting a Garth of his own. He used Terra to stun Beast Boy, and in response, Josh used his own Terra to stun Tim Drake. Doug hid Garth behind Terra and passed. Josh declared a team attack of Tim and Garth on Terra, and Tim traded stuns with Terra. Teen Titans Go! readied Garth, and he attacked into his counterpart with help from a Tamaran. Doug powered up from his hand, paid 3 endurance to return it, and powered up again. Josh played Savage Beatdown, and paid 3 endurance to return Null Time Zone to his hand. Both characters stunned. Josh was left with Garth and Terra, while Doug had only Garth. Josh maintained a lead of 34-29.

After drawing his cards for turn 6, Doug flipped over and used yet another copy of USS Argus. He recruited a Terra of his own, as well as Tim Drake. Doug moved his characters to the front row and passed. Josh paid 3 endurance to return his own Argus to his hand, then played it and used it. He then used his Terra to stun Tim Drake, and recruited Dawn Granger ◊ Dove with boost. Hank Hall ◊ Hawk came into play, and was soon joined by Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal. In response to Roy’s recruit, Doug replaced his Argus and stunned Hawk with Terra. Josh set up with Garth protecting Terra and Roy protecting Dove. Before moving to combat, Josh exhausted all of his characters to pump Roy three times. Press the Attack readied Roy, and he exhausted to KO the face-up Press the Attack and stun Garth. Neither player had anything else to do, and Doug lost Tim in recovery. Josh’s lead was now at 29-19.

Turn7 was josh’s initiative, and he wasted no time in dropping Red Star. In response, Doug tried to stun Roy with Terra. In response to that, Josh exhausted Terra, Hawk, and Dove to give Roy 10 ATK. Roy exhausted to stun Garth, and a Press the Attack readied Roy to stun Terra as well. Terra’s ability resolved, and Roy stunned. Josh paid a resource point to Red Star to deal 5 to Doug, pushed his characters up front, and passed. Doug used an Argus before recruiting Dove with boost. Hawk came out to join the party. Doug’s next recruit was a Roy of his own, and in response to that, Josh played Null Time Zone naming Press the Attack. Doug left his characters in the front row and passed. Josh played another Null Time Zone naming Heroic Sacrifice (a card not present in Doug’s deck), and tried to attack with Red Star. Doug shot him, but there was still no way for him to survive the turn.

Josh Wiitanen wins $10K San Francisco!