A lot of people have different opinions about the players that compete on the Pro Circuit, but most people agree that Vidianto Wijaya is one of the best players—if not the best player—in the entire game. With multiple Pro Circuit Top 8 finishes, including a second place finish and a win, there is no way you haven’t heard of Vidi. His opponent this round, Dan Clark, is doing quite well himself. Dan is a member of RIW Hobbies and is from that hotbed of gaming that is Detroit, MI.

Both players chose to mulligan their starting hands, but both seemed somewhat satisfied with what they drew into afterwards. Vidi led off things with a resource and no recruit, and Dan followed with Connie Webb in the support row and hit Vidi for 1 ATK.

Dan started out turn 2 by recruiting Fiddler and Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific, and then he flipped a copy of Checkmate Safe House to team-up Checkmate and JSA. Vidi played Weather Wizard in the support row and passed. Dan team attacked with Terry and Connie Webb into Weather Wizard and then attacked Vidi directly with Fiddler. At the end of the turn, the score sat with Dan winning 49 to 46.

Vidi played The Calculator, Evil Oracle for his turn 3 recruit, while Dan activated Connie Webb to search out Neutralization Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot (which he recruited into his support row). Dan then formed with Fiddler adjacent to his OMAC Robot in the support row and passed to Vidi’s attack. Vidi declared Weather Wizard into Fiddler; Dan activated Checkmate Safe House to give Fiddler +1 DEF and took 2 endurance loss from the attack. Vidi then declared The Calculator, Evil Oracle with Rann into Neutralization Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot for 6 ATK, stunning both characters. The score at the end of the turn showed Dan still slightly in the lead, 44 to 43.

Dan used Neutralization Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot’s effect to stun his Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific and gain a resource point. He used that to recruit Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot in the front row equipped with an Amulet of Nabu. Vidi chose to recruit Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon in the support row adjacent to Weather Wizard. Dan then announced Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot into Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon. Vidi reinforced with Weather Wizard, flipped Join Us or Die targeting his Weather Wizard, and then activated Rann to pump Deathstroke enough stats to earn the stunback. Dan looked down at his Neutralization Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot and just shook his head as he announced an attack with it into Vidi’s Weather Wizard. Vidi took the 2 points of endurance loss from the attack and stunned his character. Vidi then attacked with The Calculator, Evil Oracle into Neutralization Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot and used Calculator’s effect, returning Weather Wizard to his hand to give Calculator +2 ATK / +2 DEF. The attack was successful, and the end result had Vidi now in control of the matchup 35 to 27.

Vidi just had to deal with a 5-drop on turn 4, and there was a chance he would have to do the same on turn 5. Now, though, he could match that character’s stats with his own 5-drop as he recruited Black Adam, Teth-Adam in the front row protecting Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon. Dan recruited The Calculator, Evil Oracle and Retrieval Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, and he used Retrieval Protocol’s effect to give all his OMAC Robots +1 ATK / +1 DEF for the turn. Dan then exhausted his The Calculator, Evil Oracle to bring Deadshot, Dead Aim into play in the support row hidden. Vidi announced Black Adam, Teth-Adam into Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot; Dan responded by activating Checkmate Safe House to give his support row characters +1 DEF. Vidi activated Rann in response to that, and both characters became stunned at resolution. Vidi targeted Retrieval Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot with Black Adam’s vengeance effect and then declared Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon into Retrieval Protocol. “Ah, this is greedy,” Dan remarked as he returned his Retrieval Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot to his hand to give Deadshot, Dead Aim +2 ATK / +2 DEF. Vidi then declared an attack with his The Calculator, Evil Oracle and Deathstroke into Dan to bring the score to 30 to 10 in Vidi’s favor.

It was Dan’s initiative on turn 6, and he chose to recruit Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman. He then flipped two copies of Thanagarian Invasion and paid his last 2 resource points to give The Calculator, Evil Oracle and Deadshot, Dead Aim both +3 ATK and flight. Vidi followed up the move by recruiting Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard in the support row adjacent to Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon and followed that up with his own Thanagarian Invasion to give Deathstroke +3 ATK and flight. Vidi then formed with all his characters in the support row and passed to the combat phase. “Let me think about using this backup effect here,” Dan said, referring to Valentina Vostok. “I won’t use it,” Dan said, and as he entered his attack step, he looked over the endurance totals to see if he could still win the game.

Dan finally declared Deadshot into Deathstroke for 8 ATK. Vidi decided to take the full brunt of the attack, and both players lost 6 endurance. Dan announced The Calculator into Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard with 10 ATK and returned Deadshot to his hand to give Calculator +2 ATK / +2 DEF (making him a 12 ATK against Mr. Freeze’s 10 DEF). Vidi chose to reinforce with Black Adam, Teth-Adam, and both characters in the attack became stunned; Vidi used Mr. Freeze’s vengeance on Negative Woman. Dan then announced Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman into Black Adam, Teth-Adam as a 10 ATK. Vidi powered-up Black Adam, and Dan responded by removing Parademon from his hand to attempt to use the effect when Negative Woman would become stunned. Before the attack resolved, the score sat with Vidi leading 14 to 1, but the game was much closer than it originally looked. Negative Woman and Black Adam both became stunned upon attack resolution, which put Vidi at 9 to Dan’s -3. Vidi targeted Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot with Black Adam, Teth-Adam’s vengeance effect. Dan then declared a team attack directly for 14 ATK total bringing Vidi down to -5 to Dan’s -3. Vidi proceeded to flip and activate The Science Spire, returning Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard to his hand so he could draw five cards. After discarding, Vidi announced The Calculator, Evil Oracle into Parademon, returning one of his stunned characters to his hand. Vidi then used Rann and powered-up with another copy of The Calculator, Evil Oracle, and Dan offered his hand in concession.

Vidianto Wijaya is 14-4 after 18 rounds; if he wins one more game, he will clinch his fifth Pro Circuit Top 8!

Winner: Vidianto Wijaya