TJ Holman’s exultations about the quality of his deck impressed me enough that I decided to feature him. Both of these players came far for this tournament—TJ is from Philadelphia, while Niles came all the way from Las Vegas. Although these players both have limited success at $10K events (Niles has one Top 8 and TJ has none), they both place consistently at the Pro Circuit.

Niles won the roll and took the odd initiative. Both players kept their hands, and Niles led off with an unlikely Joystick. TJ had no play and took 1 to the face.

TJ led off turn 2 with Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. Niles played Shape in front of Joystick. TJ attacked Melissa into Joystick, and Niles couldn’t attack back. The endurance totals were now 49–44 in favor of TJ.

Niles played Lady Lark on turn 3, confirming the Squadron Supreme theme of his deck. Lady Lark was set in front of Joystick, and Shape was left beside her in the front row. TJ played Helmut Zemo ◊ Citizen V, Tactician in front of Melissa Gold. Niles declared his first attack of Lady Lark into Helmut and powered up to save Lady Lark. TJ played Win-Lose Deal before the stun, and Niles went into the tank. Eventually, he opted not to draw any cards. He attacked Shape into Melissa, and then Joystick went after TJ directly for 2. Endurance was tied at 42 heading into the fourth turn.

TJ had the lead on turn 4 and could only recruit another copy of Helmut Zemo to replace the one that he had KO’d on the previous turn. His formation was unchanged. Niles had a Golden Archer from his resource row and a Thunder Jet for Joystick. The ladies were left in the back row with Golden Archer protecting Joystick and Shape protecting Lady Lark. TJ went into the tank when thinking about his attacks. “A 4-drop would have been nice.”

Niles agreed. “Would you win if you had a 4-drop?” TJ shook his head and continued contemplating his attacks. Eventually, he chose to send Melissa into Shape and Helmut into Lady Lark. Both of these attacks called mutual stuns. Niles attacked back directly with Golden Archer, powering up for an extra point. His last attack brought Joystick in directly for 6. He chained the last card in his hand, Answer the Call, and used two Panacea Potions from the resource row to recover and pump each of his characters. The Call resolved and got Whizzer. TJ recovered Helmut at the end of the turn. Niles made an unprintable joke about the speedy 5-drop as TJ recovered, and it seemed pretty clear that he had this game in the bag. Niles had established a sizeable endurance lead of 34–23.

On turn 5, Niles played the predictable Whizzer. All of his characters were set in the front row. TJ had a Charcoal, which was hidden behind Helmut Zemo. Niles took down Helmut with Joystick and team attacked into Charcoal. He had a power-up for his Shape, emptying his hand and turning Whizzer into a monster. TJ played a Deadly Conspiracy to dig for anything that might let him survive. Finding nothing, he conceded.

Niles Rowland wins!