The stakes are high in this semifinal match. Ryan Jones is looking to be the first PC Champion to repeat. Michael Jacob is aiming to finally bring home the gold after four failed attempts. Both players sat quietly and shuffled their decks—they saved the small talk for games with less money on the line.
Game 1
Jacob won the roll and chose the odd initiative.
Turn 1:
Ryan mulled his opening four, and Jacob chose to keep. Jacob recruited Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Optimistic Youth and swung on an empty board as Ryan had no recruits.
Turn 2:
Ryan passed again without a recruit, and Jacob replayed Frankie for free, hitting Ryan for another 1.
Turn 3:
Jacob recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and passed. Ryan played Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival and grabbed a copy of Reign of Terror for the top of his deck. Jacob passed and allowed Ryan to hit him for 4 with Doom.
Turn 4:
During his recruit, Ryan flipped a Faces of Doom to grab a copy of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, flipped a Crisis on Infinite Earths, and recruited 4-drop Dr. Doom. He used Doom’s come into play effect to flip down Faces and flip it again to grab a copy of the 6-drop Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant. Jacob played a Straight to the Grave, to which Ryan responded to by playing his Reign and bouncing Light back to Jacob’s hand. Jacob resolved the search, fetched a copy of Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose, tossed her into the KO’d pile. Jacob recruited Professor X, Headmaster behind Frankie. Ryan sent 4-drop Doom into Frankie, and Jacob reinforced. They passed into the recovery, and Jacob drew a card from Professor X’s effect.
Turn 5:
Jacob recruited Dr. Light and targeted Poison Ivy with his effect, bringing her into play. He then flipped Birthing Chamber to draw a card and KO’d Frankie with Ivy’s effect to search for a Xavier’s School. Jacob recruited Puppet Master, formed up, and passed. Ryan flipped Enemy of My Enemy, grabbing a copy of Garth ◊ Tempest, Atlantean Sorcerer, and recruited him.
Jacob sent his Professor X into Ryan’s 4-drop Doom. Ryan powered up, forcing Jacob to do the same. Ryan powered up again, which was matched by another power-up from Jacob. Ryan paid 3 with Garth to power up for the third time. Finally, both characters stunned. Jacob passed, so Ryan sent his Garth into Puppet Master. Jacob responded by exhausting the 3-drop Doom with the Master’s effect before he was turned face down. Jacob kept the Professor, and Ryan kept his board.
Ryan leads 41-32
Turn 6:
Ryan recruited 6-drop Dr. Doom. He then paid 3 to return a Reign from his KO’d pile and used it to target Jacob’s Dr. Light, shipping it back to his hand. Jacob replayed his bounced Dr. Light and activated it to bring Puppet Master back into play. Jacob flipped an Enemy and pulled a Galactus, The Maker out of his deck. He recruited Mikado and Mosha, drew a card with Birthing Chamber, activated Puppet Master to exhaust 3-drop Doom, and played Straight to the Grave to put The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero into his KO’d pile. He immediately returned The Stranger to hand by exhausting Ivy and M&M. He KO’d M&M with Ivy and put a copy of Avalon Space Station into his row. He discarded to Avalon back a copy of Frankie Raye and then recruited her for free. He used his last few resource points to re-recruit a copy of Puppet Master. After a rather complex build phase, Jacob finally passed into combat.
Ryan sent 6-drop Doom into Professor X. Jacob activated Puppet Master, flipped and activated Xavier’s School (readying Puppet Master), and activated him for the second time. Ryan exhausted the rest of his characters. The attack resolved, and Jacob took 8.
Ryan leads 38-23
Turn 7:
Jacob flipped Political Pressure during the draw. Ryan responded by playing one from hand. Jacob exhausted two of Ryan’s characters with the Puppet/School combo. He KO’d Puppet for Ivy and put a Slaughter Swamp into his row. He flipped another School, brought Puppet back into play with Light, and exhausted Ryan’s remaining characters. He recruited Galactus, The Maker and passed. With his entire board exhausted, Ryan played an Enemy to grab Ra’s al Ghul, The Demon’s Head. He replayed a 4-drop Doom and played Mystical Paralysis from his row, targeting The Maker. He flipped his Faces of Doom down with the 4-drop’s effect, and then paid 3 to return Reign and bounce Frankie and Ivy. Jacob returned The Phantom Stranger before the characters bounced and then played Press the Attack on his Galactus before the Reign resolved. Ryan passed his build, allowing 3 resource points to expire.
Jacob sent Professor X into Garth with a double power-up. Ryan responded with a power-up to try to bounce the attack. Jacob activated Thanagar to ensure his Professor X wouldn’t be stunned. Jacob activated The Maker to burn Ryan down to 17 and then Pressed The Maker again to attack into 3-drop Doom. Ryan KO’d Richards’s Rival to reset the attack. Jacob sent The Maker into 4-drop Doom, but Ryan played a Meltdown from his row to gain 2 and KO’d the 4-drop with the 6-drop Doom’s effect to flip it down. Jacob finally settled for another Maker activation, burning Ryan down to 9.
Turn 8:
Before the draw, Jacob played a Political Pressure and Puppet/School’d Ryan’s Board. Ryan responded by exhausting The Maker with a Paralysis and then KO’d Garth to flip it back down. Ryan recruited Ra’s al Ghul in front of Dr. Doom and passed. Jacob recruited Frankie for free and The Phantom Stranger. Ryan sent Ra’s into Professor X for the stun, and Jacob sent Stranger into Dr. Doom, bringing Ryan down to 2 endurance points. Ryan KO’d his Dr. Doom, and Jacob flipped the Political Pressure down for 4.
Jacob leads 7-2
Turn 9:
Jacob studied the board, his hand, and his resource row carefully. With no way to remove Ryan’s 8-drop, he conceded the first game of the match.
Ryan Jones wins Game 1.
Game 2:
Jacob: “Why can’t I ever have a good hand?”
Jacob again chose the odd initiatives.
Turn 1:
Jacob missed, but Ryan played a Boris and swung in for 1.
Turn 2:
Ryan recruited a San and fetched a copy of Slaughter Swamp. He then shipped Boris back into the deck for an Enemy.
Jacob: “So how does it feel to have the nuts, ’cus my draw is just awful.”
Jones: “I could not ask for a better five cards.”
Jacob: “Yeah?”
Jacob recruited Ivy and Frankie Raye for free. Jacob KO’d Frankie with Ivy to get an Avalon for his row, and then activated Avalon to replay Frankie. Ryan passed his attacks, and Jacob swung in for 4.
Jacob leads 49-46
Turn 3:
Ryan played a Political Pressure from the row before the build. Jacob recruited a Dr. Light and played a Straight to the Grave to put Black Cat, Master Thief into the KO’d pile, and then immediately into play with Light. He exhausted Cat and Light to put a Stranger back into his hand. Ryan played 3-drop Doom and put a Crisis team-up on top of his deck. Jacob passed his attacks, and Ryan sent Doom into Light and San into Black Cat. Jacob KO’d Frankie to get a Thanagar to bounce San’s attack. In the recovery, Ryan paid 4 to turn Pressure face down.
Turn 4:
Ryan flipped the Pressure and the Crisis team-up. He then played 4-drop Doom, which flipped the Pressure back down. Jacob tried to Dr. Light Frankie Raye back into play, but Ryan responded by Swamping Frankie back into Jacob’s hand. Jacob settled for a Professor X recruit instead and passed. Ryan team-attacked his 4-drop and San into Prof X for the stun.
Jacob: “Man down.”
The 3-drop Doom went after Black Cat for 5. Ryan played Enemy to fetch Garth. Jacob KO’d Cat to put a Xavier’s School into his row, and then flipped Ego the Living Planet to keep Ryan’s Swamp exhausted.
Jacob: “Keep that exhausted for the rest of the game.”
Ryan leads 40-36
Turn 5:
Ryan flipped Pressure in the draw. Jacob played a Straight to the Grave for Puppet Master, and Jacob returned Puppet with Light and recruited Merlyn, Deadly Archer. Ryan recruited Garth and passed. Jacob sent Professor X into the 3-drop Doom for the one-sided stun. Jacob flipped his final two face-down resources and shot the 4-drop Doom with Merlyn. Doom was KO’d-pile bound. In the recovery, Ryan flipped the Pressure down.
Turn 6:
Ryan flipped Pressure and recruited Supermanhunter. Jacob went into the tank for a semi-complex build phase. He got back Mimic with Swamp and recruited him. He played the Puppet/School combo, and Ryan exhausted two characters. Jacob then KO’d Puppet with Ivy and got another School for the row. He brought Puppet Master back with Light and exhausted the rest of Ryan’s characters. At the start of the combat phase, Ryan paid 3 for Super Manhunter’s ability to remove Merlyn’s counter.
Jacob sent Mimic into 3-drop Doom for 8. Jacob team attacked with the rest of his team into Garth for the stun and then played Press the Attack to send him into the Super Manhunter for the double-stun.
Jones: “Can you finish me?”
Jacob: “Yeah, I got double Press.”
Ryan scooped it up, and they went on to game 3 with the match tied at one apiece.
Michael Jacob wins game 2.
Game 3:
Ryan chose the preferred odd initiatives.
Jones: “Not keeping that.”
Jacob: “This is a pile.”
Both players shipped them back.
Turn 1:
Proving their bad hands, both players missed the turn 1 recruit.
Turn 2:
Jacob recruited Black Cat with a little help from Straight to the Grave and Soul World, and Ryan recruited San.
Turn 3:
Ryan missed his drop, but Jacob recruited Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon, pushing Ryan’s threshold costs to +4. Ryan passed his attacks and took 5 to the face.
Turn 4:
Jacob played Dr. Light, activated, and brought Puppet Master into play. Ryan played Human Torch, The Invisible Man. Jacob passed his attacks, and Ryan gained 5 after stunning Black Cat.
Turn 5:
Ryan was unable to play his Garth because Cat/Sage were keeping him from flipping resources. He passed with no recruits. Jacob recruited a Torch of his own and an M&M, and brought Deadshot, Floyd Lawton into play with Light.
Jacob: “Wow, look at us go. We have awesome decks.”
Ryan attacked Black Cat, got the stun, and flipped his Crisis team-up, Doomstadt, and two copies of Faces of Doom. Jacob bashed his Torch into Ryan’s and then sent the rest of his team in for 9.
Ryan leads 40-36
Turn 6:
Jacob recruited Ivy and activated his Puppet Master. Then, he KO’d him to search for a Xavier’s School before playing Frankie for free and drawing a card from Birthing Chamber. He replayed Ivy to KO Frankie to search for Avalon. He got Frankie back and recruited her again for 1. Finally, he activated Dr. Light to return the KO’d Puppet Master to play. Jacob was enjoying massive board advantage with eight characters to Ryan’s two. Ryan recruited the 6-drop Doom and passed. At the start of the combat phase, Jacob removed his Deadshot from the game to KO San.
Ryan sent Dr. Doom into Ivy for 12 and then Reigned more than half of Jacob’s board away with three copies of the card. Puppet Master exhausted Torch before he bounced back to hand. At the end of the turn, the only characters Jacob had left were Sage, Torch, and Frankie.
Ryan leads 40-20
Turn 7:
Ryan recruited Carnage, Symbiote Surfer and passed. Jacob recruited Professor X and Dr. Light. He then brought Puppet Master back from the KO’d pile. Jacob activated Puppet three times with Press and Xavier’s School to exhaust Ryan’s board. Jacob then sent his Professor X into Torch for 4.
Ryan leads 36-20
Turn 8:
At the beginning of the turn, Ryan played an Enemy to grab a copy of Ra’s al Ghul. Jacob did the math and realized he was in an impossible situation, at which point he conceded the match.
Ryan Jones wins 2-1 and advances to the finals.