This is the Your Move Games grudge match. YMG has long been at the top of competitive trading card games, and the team has shown up in force to this Pro Circuit.
Rob Dougherty, the founder of YMG, faced-off against Pro Circuit 1 finalist Craig Edwards at the 2-0 table. Both players were excited about the prospect of getting to Day 2.
Craig: “Avengers is the funnest thing ever.”
Rob: “Oh my god, it’s so good.”
Rob and Craig tested together with the rest of YMG for this event, so their decks were nearly identical. I asked Rob who he predicted would win.
“I predict Craig Edwards. He is the man. Then again, I did win the die roll.” Rob chose the even initiative.
Turn 1
Craig mulliganed his hand, while Rob kept a hand of Arisia, Willworld, and some plot twists. Craig recruited G’Nort to match Rob’s Arisia, and the players ended the turn with 49 endurance each.
Turn 2
Rob Willworlded into everyone’s favorite doctor (Dr. Light, Master of Holograms), and then he discarded a second copy of Willworld. Next, Rob played Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who fetched a copy of Chopping Block. After some consideration, the equipment was played on Arisia.
Rob regretted his decision when Craig played Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, who took out Arisia and her equipment. Chopping Block is a valuable resource in this matchup, and Rob’s aggressive play could have cost him in this match. Rob could only lamely attack into G’Nort for 2. The turn ended with Rob at 49 endurance and Craig at 47.
Turn 3
Craig recruited Dr. Light and used The Ring Has Chosen to fetch Hector Hammond. Tomar Tu was discarded for the plot twist, but he was immediately put into play via Dr. Light. Rob, who had previously put a copy of Speedy on the bottom of his deck with Willworld, plucked his second copy off the top. (One of the key differences between Rob’s deck and Craig’s is Rob’s second copy of Speedy). Rob discarded Speedy to Willworld, and then he used his own Dr. Light to bring back the speedster and take out Craig’s G’Nort. Craig’s Tomar Tu attacked into Kyle Rayner, bringing the new endurance totals to 46-45 in Rob’s favor.
Turn 4
Rob recruited Dr. Polaris and G’Nort. Combined with Dr. Light and Kyle Rayner, his newly flipped Birthing Chamber was enabled. Then, Dr. Light brought Major Disaster into play.
Craig boosted Olapet to fetch Henry King Jr ◊ Brainwave, though he choose to recruit Speedy and The Shark instead. Dr. Light brought back G’Nort and enabled the full power of Birthing Chamber. Craig formed up with Speedy in front of The Shark, Tomar Tu in front of G’Nort, and Dr. Light in front of Olapet.
Craig’s Speedy promptly KO’d Rob’s G’Nort. Rob then attacked with Dr. Polaris into Tomar Tu, who was reinforced by G’Nort before both attacker and defender were stunned.
Major Disaster then ran into the now-vulnerable G’Nort, prompting a flurry of plot twists. Craig played Shock Troops, and then Rob played a Shock Troops of his own before Craig played yet another copy. Rob played Ole to finally win out. Olapet reinforced G’Nort, bringing the endurance totals to 41-42 in Craig’s favor.
Turn 5
At the start of the turn, Rob controlled Dr. Light, Dr. Polaris, and Kyle Rayner. Meanwhile, Craig controlled The Shark, Tomar Tu, Olapet, and Dr. Light.
Craig recruited Salakk, Hector Hammond, and Kyle Rayner, who fetched Chopping Block. His Dr. Light then returned the abused G’Nort to service. The cruelly killed cur of the Corps could count on being culled from the crew, as Rob swiftly summoned Speedy to his service. (Just try to say that three times quickly!)
But Speedy wasn’t just going to target G’Nort this turn. Rob used Birthing Chamber and Hard-Traveling Heroes to redraw and replay Speedy two more times to take out Salakk and The Shark, removing every 1-drop from Craig’s side of the board. It was a sneaky play that’s usually critical to winning this mirror match.
Rob then played Olapet without boost. It looked like Rob was so busy being clever with Speedy that he forgot to play Olapet first and get a free character in hand.
Craig’s Olapet attacked into Kyle Rayner, who was hit with Shock Troops to survive the fight. Hector Hammond took down a reinforced Dr. Polaris, and Tomar Tu then smashed into a reinforced Olapet. Finally, the Kyle Rayner mirror match took down both characters.
At the end of the turn, each player had three characters left. Rob had Dr. Polaris, Dr. Light, and Major Disaster, while Craig had Dr. Light, Hector Hammond, and Olapet.
The endurance totals were at 34-36 in Craig’s favor.
Turn 6
Rob tried to maximize having the initiative by using Dr. Light to fetch Kyle Rayner, who in turn searched for Light Armor. Rob had four characters and a chance to use Birthing Chamber. Birthing Chamber revealed the powerhouse of Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps, who Rob promptly played with boost.
Craig considered his choices for Dr. Light to return, but he opted in the end to mimic Rob by returning Kyle Rayner, who fetched Ole. Craig recruited Major Disaster and Henry King Jr ◊ Brainwave before using The Ring Has Chosen to fetch his own Dr. Polaris. Speedy was discarded in the process, prompting spectator and YMG teammate Anthony Shaheen to exclaim, “Speedy!” in a high-pitched voice. Anthony is kind of weird.
Craig had seven characters to Rob’s five. Rob had to maximize this initiative in order to have a chance of winning next turn. With only three minutes on the clock, it was pretty clear that there would be no turn 8 in this game.
Rob sent Kyle Rayner into Henry King, and Craig used King’s power to exhaust Olapet and deal 6 to Rob before reinforcing and taking 1. Polaris attacked into Major Disaster and exhausted Hector Hammond. Craig took 6 thanks to Guy Gardner’s boost. Rob’s Major Disaster then swung into Kyle Rayner for an extra 2 endurance loss. Finally, Guy Gardner attacked into Craig’s lone ready character, Dr. Polaris, for a mighty 14 endurance loss. Craig’s Ole! made sure that Guy was stunned as well, and then a Chopping Block from hand removed Rob’s biggest threat from the game.
Rob must have regretted even more the loss of his own Chopping Block on turn 2. In addition, it’s not clear why Rob didn’t use his Light Armor to deal an extra 3 endurance loss to Craig. Since time was called on this turn, there was little chance that Rob would get another attack where the Armor could be useful.
The turn ended with the endurance totals at 23-11 in Rob’s favor.
Turn 7
Since time was called during turn 6, this had to be the last turn of the game. The players began the turn with four characters each, and Craig had a lot of work to do to recover from his endurance deficit.
While Craig was thinking, blog reporter Ted Knutson came by the table and commented, “This is a very YMG table.” He noted that not only are both players from YMG, but this reporter is also a former member.
Craig, like a broken record, used Dr. Light to fetch Kyle Rayner, who in turn fetched Light Armor. Rob knew he was in trouble, and he was forced to wait while Craig revealed what he could recruit that turn. Craig eventually settled on Sonar and Major Disaster.
Rob began to hunt for options with Hard-Traveling Heroes, Willworld, and Birthing Chamber, all in an effort to prevent Craig from pulling off a comeback this turn. Craig, in the meantime, began to sing the praises of “Dr. P” (Dr. Polaris). Rob’s exhausting of Hector Hammond on the previous turn had been a huge advantage, and now Craig’s Dr. Polaris was seriously hampering Rob’s ability to threaten Craig this turn.
Rob finally recruited Olapet with boost and fetched G’Nort. He drew his own Hector Hammond and slowly . . . ever so slowly . . . recruited Hector, Speedy, and The Shark. Dr. Light then fetched Henry King, also known as “6 to the head.” Rob’s ten characters then began to form up to face Craig’s six characters.
At long last, the attacks began.
Kyle Rayner attacked G’Nort. Rob tried to save G’Nort with Shock Troops, but Craig’s Light Armor made sure that G’Nort would get stunned. G’Nort was reinforced, bringing Craig to 9 and Rob to 22 endurance.
Craig’s Olapet attacked into Dr. Polaris assisted by No Man Escapes the Manhunters to finish the job. Rob choose not to reinforce and took 5 endurance loss to Craig’s 2.
Major Disaster attacked into Henry King, prompting Rob to exhaust Olapet for 6 to the head. Rob took only 2 from the combat. Craig looked at the 15 endurance differential and his total character ATK value of 12, and he decided this was the right time to concede.