Both players have fought their way into Top 8 contention. If one of them can 3-0 their current draft pod, then he may well be playing on Sunday. Both players rolled for initiative; Patrick won and chose the evens. Jason let everyone know that his deck “was smoking,” and by “smoking” he meant that it was either going to be the nuts on fire, or he would literally be outside smoking. Only time would tell.

Turn 1 found Jason dropping Archangel, Angel, while Patrick laid a resource and passed. The Angel swung directly for 2.

Patrick 48 to Jason 50

Patrick took the punt on his 2-drop, leaving an empty board. Jason excitedly claimed that he had “waited for this all day: a ‘Blackbird Blue deck’ facing the old pass, pass!” Jason dropped a copy of Destiny, Freedom Force and took both characters in for the endurance blitz.

Patrick 43 to Jason 50

As the recruit step in the third turn passed, Jason’s board contained his 1- and 2-drops, along with the newly introduced Tarot, which may strike most people as an odd choice for the Blackbird rush deck. Patrick dropped his first character, Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon, into his front row. Jason activated X-Corp: Amsterdam, searching out Mutopia. He then flipped a second copy of Amsterdam and remarked that he was “disappointed that he couldn’t make Patrick discard his hand on turn 4.” People chuckled, but I suspect that the crowd of on-lookers secretly feared that Jason might someday develop such a strategy for Sealed Pack play. Tarot attacked Sage for the mutual stun, and Destiny and Archangel hit to the grill for dental damage.

Patrick 34 to Jason 47

Jason watched as Patrick laid Julia Carpenter, Freedom Force on his turn 4 initiative. In turn, Hager recruited Healer and paid a resource point to activate his power. He targeted Tarot for the “guaranteed” recovery at the end of the turn. Patrick sent Sage into Destiny for some strong breakthrough. He then sent his Julia Carpenter into Archangel, flipped Wundagore Citadel, and dealt 10 to Jason. Patrick used Julia’s power to limit Destiny’s ability to recover at the end of the turn. When the attack step shifted into Jason’s control, he sent his “blessed” Tarot into Sage for the mutual stuns. Jason flipped Mutopia, drew a card, and teamed-up the Brotherhood and Hellfire Club. He then turned over a copy of Massachusetts Academy, activated, and KO’d Destiny to add a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter to Healer.

Patrick 30 to Jason 30

With the game morphing into a much closer battle, turns 5 and 6 would be sure to decide the match. Jason dropped Trevor Fitzroy. Patrick dropped Feral into the hidden area for a cost of 5 resource points. In the combat phase, Jason flipped Magnetic Force to exhaust Feral, with his Trevor exhausting. “Man, that was dirty,” claimed Patrick. Jason then KO’d the second copy of X-Corp: Amsterdam to search for the second copy of Mutopia in his deck. It’s possible that Jason’s deck contained ten team-ups—yet another strange fact for this “Blackbird Blue” rush deck. When he flipped Mutopia, all of his characters shared an affiliation and everyone shared the Mental and Energy traits. Archangel was KO’d to the Massachusetts Academy to give Fitzroy a counter. Jason was a card drawing machine.

Patrick 30 to Jason 30

The sixth turn brought Masque and the ill-fated Angel Dust to the field for Patrick. Jason dropped Courtney Ross and Jetstream. Jetstream protected Fitzroy, and Jason passed to the combat phase. Patrick sent Masque into Healer, drawing out a Turnabout. Patrick responded with The Forsaken, teaming-up Morlocks and Brotherhood. He flipped Freedom Force, giving Masque another attack, but Jason replied with a pump. Patrick was able to secure the stun with another active copy of Freedom Force. Jason exhausted Feral with Magnetic Force. Julia Carpenter was able to swing into Jetstream, and Jason KO’d Jetstream to exhaust Sage. Patrick ended his attacks by using Mutant Massacre, exhausting Angel Dust.

Patrick 22 to Jason 26

Turn 7. “Your not really running the Blackbird Blue deck . . . you are such a liar,” laughed Patrick. Jason smirked. It turned out that turns 5 and 6 would not decide a game in which turns 7 and 8 were going to decide victory. Jason dropped Emma Frost, White Queen protecting Fitzgerald. Jason still had Courtney Ross chillin’ in the hidden area, bringing his board total to three characters. Patrick, in comparison, dropped Caliban and Destiny, Freedom Force with boost. He drew his cards and arranged his six visible characters. Unfortunately, he did not use an extra resource point to hide his Angel Dust (remember, the ill-fated one), and took 16 breakthrough from the swinging White Queen when she could not be reinforced. Jason then added insult to that brutal injury by exhausting Feral with an Extreme Maneuver by exhausting his own Courtney and Trevor. Patrick passed on the attacks. Jason activated the Academy to give Emma a counter and draw another card.

Patrick 22 to Jason 6

Amazingly enough, a couple of these feature matches have hit turn 8 today. Perhaps no one was as prepared for the eighth turn as Jason Hager. Patrick paid the resource to hide Angel Dust, brought out Fabian Cortez, Acolyte and arranged his eight characters in the front row for his attacks. Jason dropped the anti-bomb, Rachel Summers ◊ Phoenix. He put her at the base of the classic “L” formation, protected by Emma and flanked by Trevor.

Patrick calculated his attacks and declared a team attack of Julia Carpenter and Destiny into Emma Frost. With his bonuses from Freedom Force and a pump on Julia, he reached even status with Emma’s defense. Emma stunned, and Destiny stunned. Then Patrick mounted a huge team attack into the Phoenix. Jason flipped two copies of Super Hero Showdown, and there was nothing Patrick could do. Patrick scooped up his cards.

Patrick 4 to Jason 15

Jason Hager ran the worst Blackbird Blue deck of all time, but he walked away with a turn 8 victory.