Here’s some hot semifinal action, coming your way. And by “hot,” I mean scorching. Donald Noland, coming fresh off of his quarterfinal win, is poised to take his Anti-Matter–based Qward Stall deck to the top of a mountain built of GLEE. His opponent this round is Maximilien Bouchard. Max is a member of the Quebec-based Team AttaQC. His quarterfinal match against David Brucker went the full amount, and he managed to win a squeaker.

Donnie won the roll and started things off with a turn 1 Qwardian Watchdog. “Just give me a dog, and I’ll be all right.” Max started his first turn off with a monster Willworld activation, which netted him G’Nort and Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. Before recovery, Donnie flipped up Qward and ended up stunning Max’s G’Nort.

On turn 2, Max dropped a nice set of 1-drops: Salakk with some Light Armor and Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. Donnie simply said, “Nice. Very nice.” He dropped a couple of Shadow Creatures into his hidden area, and they went into combat. Max activated Speedy to KO Donnie’s Watchdog. Donnie returned the favor by giving Salakk -1 DEF. Salakk didn’t like that too much, so he went after Donnie’s face. Donnie then sent a Shadow Creatures in after Max’s G’Nort and used Qward to finish off the Salakk.

Donnie led off the next turn with another ninja added to his team, bringing the total to three. Max followed that up by recruiting Speedy and Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who fetched himself a Chopping Block. Speedy ended up KO’ing a ninja, which exhausted to hit Kyle Rayner with Qward. Then, Donnie entered combat, sending in one of his remaining ninjas at Kyle.

Turn 4 found Max recruiting Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, who was immediately used to grab G’Nort out of the KO‘d pile. He replayed Speedy and used him to KO a Shadow Creatures, which Qwarded G’Nort before succumbing. Donnie recruited Kiman, and the players moved into combat.

Kyle Rayner went straight for Donnie’s face, meeting no resistance. G’Nort then went in to bash, and Donnie ended up using Kiman to stun the dog. Before the turn ended, Kiman gave Dr. Light -3 DEF, and the remaining Shadow Creatures gave him an additional -1 DEF, allowing Qward to stun him. This put Donnie down with 39 endurance compared to his opponent’s 47.

On turn 5, Donnie played Qwardian Watchdog as his only recruit. Max got to replay Speedy again, and he finished using his resource points by playing Rot Lop Fan. He also used Dr. Light to grab himself a Hector Hammond out of his KO’d pile. Speedy immediately went active and KO’d the poor doggie before the players went into combat.

Having a less-than-stellar recruit step, Donnie was forced to pass. Rot Lop Fan activated to give himself, Kyle, and Salakk the ability to get into the hidden area. Rot Lop was the first to test his luck, going after Kiman. However, a Helping Hand and a Men of Steel sent the Lantern packing. Max’s second attack was to send Kyle Rayner in at one of Donnie’s Shadow Creatures. Donnie used Qward to give Hector Hammond -1 DEF. The next attack pitted an armored Salakk against Kiman. Trial By Sword allowed the smaller Salakk to defeat the Chief Weaponer. Before Kiman stunned, he reduced Hector’s DEF again. But before Qward could finish the job, Hector got to go into Donnie’s face. The turn ended with Donnie down in endurance, 16 to 32.

Max started off turn 6 by declining to play a resource and replaying Speedy. Thanks to the recurring Speedy, he had only drawn a few cards this game. That left him with nothing else to do except use Dr. Light to return Tomar Tu from his KO’d pile. Donnie took advantage of this by playing The Ring Has Chosen to grab a Shadow Creatures, enhancing his ninja forces. Unfortunately, that was all he could do. After a sub-par recruit from both players, they headed to combat.

The first thing Max did was to KO one of Donnie’s Shadow Creatures with Speedy. You have to keep those sneaky ninjas in check. He then sent Kyle Rayner in at one of the remaining Shadow Creatures. Kiman used both of his abilities and stunned the poor artist-turned-Lantern. Max pondered for a while about his second attack and ended up letting Tomar Tu in on the hidden area action. Donnie used Qward to shrink Tomar’s DEF to 0 before using Kiman to stun him. However, in the face of 13 endurance loss from Max’s other characters, Donnie knew he was at a precarious 1 endurance. Realizing that he couldn’t win, he scooped.

Maximilien Bouchard wins game 1.

“I can’t believe it. I played the worst game of my life,” Max complained.

“It can’t be too bad. I mean, you won,” Donnie reminded him. “You can scoop to me. I wouldn’t mind,” he joked.

Donnie started off game 2 with another Qwardian Watchdog. Max matched him with Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave, which wasn’t bad, since he couldn’t attack through the huge dog anyway. He tried to get rid of the dog on turn 2 by calling the dogcatcher, a.k.a. Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. One arrow later, and Henry King and G’Nort were free to attack while Donnie’s two Shadow Creatures looked on from the hidden area.

Turn 3 was explosive for Donnie. He dropped two more Shadow Creatures as well as a replacement Watchdog. Max then recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, snagging the Speedy he had discarded to Willworld. Donnie sent one of his Shadow Creatures into Speedy to force Max to use him to KO one of his other ninjas. He then passed the attack to Max. All Max could do was use Henry King for a point of endurance loss.

Turn 4 saw Max recruit Kreon and Speedy. Donnie got the almost requisite Kiman as his 4-drop. Speedy KO’d Donnie’s dog, which exhausted to hit Kreon with Qward. Max tried to replace Qward, and Donnie responded by using it on G’Nort and Henry King. Hector Hammond then attacked, and Kiman’s abilities worked in tandem to stun him. Donnie flipped up Sector 2814 and ended the turn down by a score of 46 to 48.

Donnie led off on turn 5 by playing Katma Tui. Max had a rare whiff on his Willworld activation, so he just played Speedy, who immediately KO’d a ninja. Max then used The Ring Has Chosen to search out Rot Lop Fan. He discarded the Speedy he had drawn off of Birthing Chamber to pay the Ring’s cost, and then he brought Harper back with Dr. Light. Speedy immediately KO’d another ninja.

Combat started with Katma Tui heading into G’Nort, who didn’t get reinforced. Kiman then went into Dr. Light, and The Ring Has Chosen fetched Max a power-up. Donnie had a power-up as well, and the good doctor was stunned. Donnie’s sole remaining ninja went into Henry King, and that brought the turn to a close with Donnie up 44 to 35.

Max had the initiative on turn 6, and he recruited a boosted Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps. He also used Dr. Light to get G’Nort back from doggie heaven. The dog promptly got a Chopping Block. Donnie spent his turn playing a Shadow Creatures and using The Ring Has Chosen to grab Element Man.

Rot Lop Fan used his effect on Kreon and himself. Kreon went after Kiman, and after a flurry of plot twists from both players, Kreon stunned with Kiman unscathed. Rot Lop Fan was up next, and he went into Kiman. Before Kiman stunned, he reduced Guy’s DEF by 3. Guy then went into Katma Tui. Donnie got himself three new resources with Element Man and came up with a Men of Steel to force Guy to stun. That caused Max to scoop.

Donald Noland wins game 2.

Max chose the odd initiative and started things off with a mulligan. Donnie wasn’t too pleased with his hand either, and apparently, he wasn’t too pleased with its replacement.

“Ah, crap. Oh well, bad beat.”

Max ended up recruiting G’Nort on turn 1, which was met with a Shadow Creatures on Donnie’s side. After G’Nort got in to hit Donnie, he used Qward to take care of the pesky critter. He started off the second turn by tripling his ninja army with two more Shadow Creatures. Max brought out Arisia and Salakk for his turn 2 recruits. Donnie sent one of his ninjas in to take out G’Nort. After he passed, Max got to send his remaining guys in to hit Donnie for 2. Donnie then used Qward to give Salakk -2 DEF so it would finish him off at the end of the turn.

On turn 3, Max started by recruiting Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. The doctor grabbed Hector Hammond out of his KO’d pile. In a move unheralded before in all of Vs. System, Donnie assembled the largest ninja army I’ve ever seen, with three new recruits. That’s sixShadow Creatures by turn 3! After Max’s entire team managed to get in to hit Donnie, he used Qward to stun all of Max’s characters except Dr. Light.

Turn 4 started with Donnie using The Ring Has Chosen to grab Malvolio, his 4-drop of choice when he’s on the even initiatives. Max followed with Major Disaster to deal with the Qward that had been wrecking him. He then used Dr. Light to grab Hector Hammond. Donnie responded by hitting Max’s Birthing Chamber with Anti-Matter Cannon. Max chuckled a little when he saw what it was being replaced with. He flashed Roy Harper ◊ Speedy at Donnie.

“Woo hoo! Roy in the row! I love it when Roy’s in the row!”

Max finished up his turn by recruiting Olapet and using Major Disaster to replace Donnie’s Qward. Donnie led the charge by sending a ninja in to kill G’Nort. He followed that up by sending Malvolio in to stun Major Disaster. When Max passed, Donnie flipped up anotherQward and used it to stun Olapet. The turn ended with Donnie ahead barely by a score of 39 to 38.

Turn 5 had Max recruit Rot Lop Fan and G’Nort. He then used Dr. Light to get Olapet back from the KO’d pile. Donnie chose to play The Ring Has Chosen to snag Element Man to take advantage of the fact that he still had sixShadow Creatures in play.

Max started combat in the tank. Eventually, he glumly looked up and asked, “Do you have a 6-drop?” When Donnie showed him Evil Star, Max dropped his hand and packed it in.

Donald Noland wins!