And then there were four. A pair of mirror matches and a split decision in the quarterfinals left the Titans/Sentinels ratio even at two apiece in the semis. Two more mirror matches meant that it would be kid heroes taking on purple robots again in the finals—all that remains to be seen is who will be at the helm of each. The Titans mirror match is always an intense one, and this promises to be no exception.
Jason Nelson is fresh off his victory over PC Champ Ryan Jones, but there will be no respite for him this round. His opponent is Adam Prosak, he of the PC: Amsterdam Top 8 and umpteen $10K Top 8s. This event actually marks Prosak’s fifth such finish, an accomplishment matched only by Josh Wiitanen. Neither of them has won a title in all those appearances, however, so Prosak is certainly hungry for a win. A game of “Pick the Sinestro” from the Green Lantern Corps packs the two had won left Prosak with choice of initiative, and they were off.
Prosak started out strong with Pantha on the first turn, but a turn 1 Dove from Nelson spelled trouble. Sure enough, Hawk followed on turn 2, prompting Prosak to exclaim “The natural, huh . . . wow, I’m impressed”. Prosak had a less-than-impressive Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, and the Hawk-Dove tag team took down his board. Adam recovered Pantha and bolstered his team with a boosted Dove of his own on turn 3, but Nelson kept up his textbook plays with Beast Boy, which prompted a roll of the eyes from Prosak, followed by flipping and using USS Argus. Prosak’s Hawk reluctantly attacked his partner on the other side, while Dove followed suit, teaming up with Pantha to take down Nelson’s Hawk. Beast Boy attacked Pantha, and when the dust cleared, Prosak’s Pantha and Nelson’s Dove went to the KO’d pile.
Nelson showed no signs of slowing down, recruiting Terra to add to his already impressive team. Prosak matched him, but when his only response to Beast Boy attacking Hawk was “Yup,” it was clear he had no locations with which to use her. A Tamaran from Nelson meant his Terra won in a fight, and going into turn 5, things weren’t looking good for the five-time-Top 8’er. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse, Prosak missed Garth on 5, playing Red Star instead.
Nelson didn’t have the Atlantean Sorcerer either, however, and Cassie Sandsmark ◊ Wonder Girl made a poor substitute. What looked like a lost cause for Prosak a turn ago was suddenly a winnable game. Two Teen Titans Go!, a Red Star power-up, and a Titans Tower activation later, Nelson’s board was completely stunned, and it was Prosak who had the advantage.
Turn 6 saw a critical mistake from Nelson, as he recruited Red Star and Pantha and burned Prosak for 5. With the endurance totals at 22 to 21, Jason formed with Red Star behind Cassie—just where Prosak wanted him. Koriand’r came down and stunned the Russian hero, leaving Nelson with only Cassie to attack. With the help of a Finishing Move, she sent Terra to the KO’d pile, but Prosak cracked back into Pantha for 7 with Red Star, sending the game to turn 7 with Prosak having a significant endurance advantage and the initiative. When Adam recruited Garth and Hawk and pushed his whole team to the front row, Jason didn’t even bother to recruit and conceded.
Game 2 began much more slowly than the first, as neither player had a character on the first turn. Prosak drew first blood with an unanswered Tim Drake on turn 2, and dueling Roy Harpers squared off turn 3—even Tamaran couldn’t give Nelson the edge. The true mirror match continued on turn 4, as both players recruited Terra and flipped USS Argus. Things broke down when all Nelson could muster on turn 5 was a boosted Tim Drake, and Prosak recruited Garth.
It’s never a good sign when your opponent starts using Roy early in the game, and that’s just what happened when Nelson tried to team attack with Tim Drake and Terra. Terra took a bullet and stomped on Roy in the process, but not before Prosak used Press the Attack to ready Garth, threatening to wipe Nelson’s board. A Titans Tower-fueled attack from Tim Drake staved that off, but Heroic Sacrifice meant that Prosak would be able to keep all of his heavy hitters around. Ka-Boom! on Tamaran set both players back a turn, but Prosak certainly had the edge.
Turn 6 was Prosak’s initiative, and a boosted Tim Drake meant he would make the most of it. Nelson still had no Garth, and Roy Harper and another Tim Drake couldn’t make up for that. Nelson was visibly beaten as he went through the motions of the turn, shaking his head as Prosak took down his entire team once again. Going into turn 7, Nelson had only a Terra against Terra and Garth, and when he could only muster another Roy Harper, it was all over except the formalities.
Prosak wins, 2-0.