No match in the Top 8 captures the "old meets new" feel of this Pro Circuit better than this one. Matt Tatar, a retired foot model from Maryland, is running Common Enemy, an archetype that really hasn't made a lot of noise in Golden Age in a long time. His opponent is Andre Muller, a member of the very successful German contingent, who is running the no-hand Squadron Supreme rush deck, one of many new archetypes to spawn out of the Avengers set.
Matt won the die roll and selected the even initiatives, causing Andre to remark, "So you didn't test the matchup." Andre liked his first four cards, which contained a 1-, 2-, and 3-drop, while Matt sent his back.
Andre started with the signature Ape X, finding Dual Sidearms, while Matt played Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom. Andre responded with a Surprise Attack out of his hand. Andre put the Sidearms on the Ape and attacked, with Matt falling to 42 and Andre going to 49. On the next turn, Matt laid a resource, flipped over Doomstadt, and activated Boris, finding Reign of Terror. He then played another Boris. Andre had the headache-inducing Shape, known for his wild statistical fluctuations, and slapped a Jetpack on him. Andre put Shape up front, protecting Ape. Boris wasn't interested in fighting, so Matt passed his attack. Andre then crushed Boris with Shape, and Ape got in directly. The endurance totals stood at 49-33 in Andre's favor.
The rims continued to spin for Andre on turn 3, as he deployed Joystick and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird. Matt played a Signal Flare out of the resource row, fetching and recruiting Medusa, Inhuman in an attempt to slow down the beats. Andre started out with Ape X on Boris and discarded a power-up to empty his hand. Matt first flipped over Common Enemy, then used Boris to get Faces of Doom, signaling his next play. Shape attacked Medusa, who used her ability on Melissa Gold. Sensing he wouldn't get another chance to play it, Andre flipped over Other-Earth to deal an additional 2 points of breakthrough. He then got in direct attacks with the rest of his team, knocking Matt down to 16.
On the fourth turn, before laying a resource, Matt had to decide if he wanted to turn down his Common Enemy or Signal Flare, and Andre seemed to be getting a little frustrated with Matt's pace of play. The chats between the two got a little choppy. Matt finally turned down his Common Enemy, then played Faces for Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. He recruited Doctor Doom, and the chain got a little complicated. First, he flipped up a Common Enemy, drawing a card. Then, he flipped over Doom's Throne Room and whiffed. Finally, he resolved Doom, turning down his Signal Flare. Andre was getting a bit heated over the pace of play and some technical hiccups from Matt, who finally fired back with, "Don't worry, this game will speed up once I destroy you this turn."
Andre had Lady Lark and braced himself for the worst. Matt had two copies of Reign of Terror, shipping everyone except Lady Lark to Andre's hand. Doom then took down Lady Lark, and Medusa got in directly (to the extent that she can), knocking Andre down to 39. On the fifth turn, Andre elected not to recruit the Golden Archer he had just drawn, instead trying to get more power onto the board and empty his hand by replaying his Shape, Melissa Gold, and Joystick. Matt played a couple of Common Enemies out of his hand to draw a few cards and then recruited Robot Destroyer. Andre tried to team attack Robot Destroyer with his two Thunderbolts characters, but Songbird was hit with Mystical Paralysis. Then, Lady Lark and Shape tried to take down the Destoryer, which worked, trading stuns with Lady Lark. Joystick went after Medusa with a Flying Kick, knocking Matt to 6, the exact amount of endurance needed to finish him off with Golden Archer if Andre could empty his hand and survive the ensuing attack.
Matt's sixth turn was simple enough, with a Signal Flare finding Hulk, New Fantastic Four. Andre laid a resource, recruited Ape X to find an Airskimmer, put the Skimmer on Lady Lark, recruited Golden Archer out of his resource row, and equipped the Archer with Thunder Jet. His hand was empty, he had Golden Archer, and Matt was at 6. At 30 endurance, all Andre had to do was survive this attack. He built with Golden Archer in the front protecting Lady Lark, Shape in front of Ape X, and Songbird in the back. Doom went after Golden Archer with the help of It's Clobberin' Time!, and Andre shot Matt down to 0 and reinforced. Then, Robot Destroyer went after the 7ATK/8DEF Shape, and Andre used Answer the Call to find a power-up. This was a very savvy play—either it would force the stun back, or it would force Matt to use another It's Clobberin' Time! on an attack that Andre could reinforce. Matt did in fact have another Clobberin' Time, so Andre reinforced again, falling to 24. Then Hulk attacked Melissa, and between two Savage Beatdowns and another Clobberin’ Time, Matt raised Hulk’s ATK to 26 and knocked Andre to -1, barely taking the game away from Andre.
Matt 1-0
As close as game 1 was, game 2 was anything but. Andre had to mulligan his first four and didn't have a play on the first or second turn, fatal for a deck designed to be as fast as his. Matt, on the other hand, hit his entire curve from 1 through 5, and when Andre finally got onto the board, Matt had a slew of Reign of Terrors and Mystical Paralysis to blunt every initiative he had. Andre conceded on the sixth turn with Matt still above 40 endurance in a game that took about five minutes.
Matt Tatar wins 2-0 and advances to the semifinals.