While I have been somewhat satisfied with my match reporting in the tournament thus far, I am always looking to improve upon my writing. One major problem that I have is that I’m such a slow typist that I have to type furiously to keep up with the action—adding flavor is out of the question. So, when I read the match reporting done by Alex Tennet, and the acclaim that he had received thus far, I decided to find out how he manages to put out such quality material.

Alex—like his fellow countrymen Steve Garrett, Tom Reeve, and Tim Willoughby—is an excellent author. So I thought the secret might have something to do with their British heritage. To get into this “British” mindframe, I decided to forego my normal breakfast of “coffee and donuts” for “tea and scones”. However, when I made my dining request to the server at Starbuck’s, she looked at me as if I were contagious. Next, I tried using British spelling on common American words, like “colour” and “flavour,” but the end result was that Metagame.com editor Cate Muscat simply corrected my “mistakes” in the final product and told me to start using spell checker.

As a last ditch effort, I decided to get the scoop straight from the horse’s mouth, the horse being Alex Tennet (and if you’ve ever met Alex, you’d know how apt a description this is). He informed me that the key to his writing success involved three easy steps:

1)     Include a funny anecdote or joke;

2)     Add a quote from one of the players in the match;

3)     Make fun of David Leader.

This sounded completely silly to me, but who am I to argue with writing greatness? Anyway, here is my effort at the writing stylings of Alex Tennet:

In the middle of the match, Tim Batow hit his head oh the table and knocked himself out cold. Vidi Wijaya ad-libbed, “Wow! I didn’t even play Finishing Move yet!” Ummm . . . oh yeah! David Leader is funny looking.

So, yeah . . . that didn’t go nearly as well as I had hoped. I think I’ll just stick with my own style of writing.

Our quarterfinal match features two of the more well-known players from The Donkey Club. Michael Jacob, four-time $10K winner and now three-time PC Top 8’er, is set to do battle with his Checkmate/Villains United deck which splashes the Fate Artifacts for extra power. Anthony Justice, who consistently finishes high at competitive Vs. System events and has long been regarded as the best Vs. System player never to make a PC Top 8 (until now, that is), will try to match Jacob with his spin on the TDC Shadowpact deck. Jacob’s build is a pretty standard variant of the Checkmate/Villains United deck, but Anthony’s deck was a little more unique. Of course, you can usually count on any deck being played by a West Virginian to stand out in a crowd.

Game 1

Anthony won the opening die roll and took the odd initiatives. He peeled the top four cards from the top of his deck, revealing Divination; Magical Lobotomy; Blackbriar Thorn; and Zatanna, Magical Manipulator. He seemed pretty satisfied with this draw, so he kept his hand. Michael, on the other hand, didn’t like what he saw, so he traded in his first four.

Turn 1 was uneventful for both, as neither had a drop, and while Michael had nothing for turn 2 either, Anthony hit big with Blackbriar Thorn. After recruiting the 2-drop with huge potential, Anthony played a copy of Divination, discarding Zatanna, to take a look at his top three cards and give his druid a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter. He then sent the slightly larger Blackbriar Thorn in for 3 points of endurance loss. Turn 2 ended up tied at 47 apiece.

Although he had discarded a copy a turn earlier, Anthony had a copy of Zatanna for turn 3. After recruiting her in the support row behind Blackbriar Thorn, he passed over to Michael, but Michael once again came up empty, giving Anthony a chance to swing in for more uncontested beats. Before combat, Anthony played Magical Lobotomy on his own Zatanna, paying 3 endurance (for Zatanna’s power) to draw a card. Once combat began, Anthony paid another 4 endurance to flip Magical Lobotomy back down. Zatanna and Blackbriar Thorn—now at 4 ATK/4 DEF—team attacked directly for 8 points. Even though Michael had no characters, Anthony held just a 1 point lead at 39 to 40.

Michael finally hit pay dirt on turn 4 with the massive Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1. He recruited the gigantic 4-drop in the support row. Michael then flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower, discarding Knight Armor to search out Amulet of Nabu. He recruited the Amulet and Cloak of Nabu onto his Bizarro, but in response to the recruit of the Cloak, Anthony chained the copy of Magical Lobotomy in his resource row to give Bizarro -1 DEF, put another counter on Blackbriar Thorn, and draw another card. Mind you, this all happened before Anthony had even recruited a character.

Anthony’s build was even more complex. He started by bringing out Manitou Dawn and Madame Xanadu. Following that, he activated Madame Xanadu to search out a copy of Stepping Between Worlds. Next, Anthony flipped a copy of Chimp Detective Agency in his resource row, activated it, and dropped to 34 endurance to draw the copy of Madame Xanadu that he hadjust placed on top of his deck. He once again recruited the cartomanacer and set all of his characters in the front row.

Michael: “Front row . . . that’s surprising.”

At the start of combat, Anthony once again paid 4 to flip down Magical Lobotomy. Michael declared an attack into Manitou Dawn with Bizarro, but Anthony made the attack illegal by using Stepping Between Worlds to send her to the hidden area, paying 3 to draw a card with Zatanna in the bargain. Anthony also decided that Zatanna would be safer in the hidden area, so he played another Stepping Between Worlds hide her away as well (and once again paying 3 to draw a card). All of these endurance payments left the score at 39 to 23 in Michael’s favor . . . and he hadn’t even attacked once this game! Bizarro once again tried to attack, this time on Madame Xanadu. However, Anthony had a third copy of Stepping Between Worlds. He chained to his plot twist by activating Madame Xanadu and paying 3 for Zatanna to draw a card. The end result was that Anthony drew, fetched a copy of Divination from his deck, and put Madame Xanadu back on top of the deck. Stepping Between Worlds then resolved without effect, and Anthony went to 22 END. With the only visible character for Anthony being a 8 ATK/8 DEF Blackbriar Thorn (who could undoubtedly get larger), Michael passed on further attacks.

Anthony began his attack step by playing Divination (paying the standard 3 endurance for Zatanna’s effect), followed by an activation of Chimp Detective Agency. He followed this play up with a couple of copies of Collecting Souls targeting Blackbriar Thorn and a Magical Lobotomy targeting his own Zatanna, paying 9 to draw three cards. The end result was a gigantic 14 ATK/14 DEF Blackbriar Thorn on Anthony’s side of the board. Anthony sent his upgraded druid after Michael’s Fated-up Bizarro. Michael exhausted Bizarro for the effect of Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle to find himself a Helm of Nabu, but he still took 9 in the attack. Zatanna and Manitou Dawn then attacked directly to put the score at 24 to 17 in favor of Michael.

On turn 5, Anthony brought out a rather large Dr. Occult. This play was followed by recruits of Madame Xanadu and Nightmaster, Jim Rook, using the 1-drop’s alternate recruit cost. On the other side of the board, Michael brought out Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard and activated Dr. Fate’s Tower to send the equipment on Bizarro to his 5-drop. Michael finally equipped the Helm that he had searched out onto his Bizarro, formed with Freeze protecting Bizarro, and passed.

Anthony paid 4 endurance once again to turn Magical Lobotomy face down. This put Anthony right at 10 endurance, making his Dr. Occult 10 ATK/10 DEF. He sent his 4-drop after Michael’s Mr. Freeze, using two copies of The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel to bring Dr. O to 14 ATK/14 DEF. In response, Michael quipped, “I don’t know if you can handle this pump.” He then played a copy of Knightmare Scenario for an additional +1 ATK/+1 DEF on Mr. Freeze, bringing him to 13 ATK/15 DEF. Anthony had an answer, though, as he used Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe to find another Phantom Stranger for +2 ATK/+2 DEF. Mr. Freeze went down. Zatanna, Nightmaster, and Manitou Dawn then ganged up on Bizarro. With Blackbriar Thorn still ready and nothing to protect his endurance, Michael scooped.

Michael: “That game was over much more quickly than either one of us expected.”

Anthony justice wins game 1.

Game 2

While shuffling up for the second game, Michael told Anthony, “If you get draws like that every game, you can beat Vidi.” Though Michael sounded like he was conceding defeat to Anthony’s Shadowpact deck, he was bound and determined to give it his best. He selected the odd initiatives for the second game.

Anthony once again elected to keep his opening four, this time staring down Madame Xanadu; Blackbriar Thorn; Zatanna, Magical Manipulator; and Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe. Michael also elected to keep, and game 2 was underway.

Michael once again had nothing for his first turn. Anthony had a pretty good set of recruits, though, in Madame Xanadu and Nightmaster with his alternate recruit cost. The 1-drops took a small bite out of Michael’s endurance, and play progressed to turn 2 with both players at 47.

Anthony took a moment to consider his play for turn 2. “No Blackbriar Thorn?” asked Michael hopefully. But Anthony indeed recruited the pesky 2-drop, to Michael’s dismay. Michael had a pretty decent recruit of his own, though: Talia, Beloved Betrayer. The 3 ATK/3 DEF 2-drop forced Anthony to play a copy of Collecting Souls on Blackbriar Thorn to make him large enough to take down the daughter of The Demon’s Head. Anthony swung with Blackbriar Thorn on Talia, then hit Michael for 5 more (thanks to Nightmaster’s temporary attack boost). The turn ended with Anthony ahead 39 to 44.

Michael had his optimal recruit on 3: Ahmed Samsarra in the hidden area. Anthony also had his optimal recruit of Zatanna. He put her behind Blackbriar Thorn, and Madame Xanadu behind Nightmaster.

Michael wasted no time sending Ahmed into Anthony’s Nightmaster, and Anthony reinforced. Michael followed this successful attack with Talia into Madame Xanadu, hitting Anthony for 3 and bringing the scores to 39 to 40 in Anthony’s favor.

On Anthony’s attack step, he sent Zatanna into Talia, and Blackbriar Thorn in for some tiny beats on Michael. Thorn’s ATK was improved by 1 when Anthony played Divination during the attack (paying 3 for Zatanna’s effect as well). Anthony was forced to lose Nightmaster in recovery, and the turn ended with Anthony maintaining a slight lead at 32 to 34.

Turn 4 got a bit crazy for both players. It started off innocently enough, as Anthony laid a face-down Magical Lobotomy as his resource and recruited June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch.

Michael: “But you’re only at 34?!”

Anthony: “I think I can get there.”

Michael: “You think you can get there? I probably agree with you.”

Once Anthony passed on his build, Michael activated Ahmed to find Checkmate Safe House. He flipped the location to team-up Checkmate and Villains United, and then flipped a copy of Brother I Satellite to search out Fatality, Flawless Victory. Considering that Anthony had a character in play that could stun Michael’s King, Anthony was surprised when Michael recruited Fatality.

Michael: “I’ve probably got it.” (referring to the fact that he undoubtedly had The Science Spire in his resource row)

Michael formed with Fatality protecting Talia and passed to Anthony. Before combat, Anthony played Magical Lobotomy on Fatality (paying 3 for Zatanna). He then paid another 4 endurance to flip down the ongoing plot twist at the start of the combat phase. Anthony started with a copy of Divination (with another 3 endurance for Zatanna) and selected a copy of Collecting Souls. June Moon then activated to try to stun Ahmed. Michael chained with an activation of The Science Spire to return Ahmed to his hand.

Anthony finally declared an attack of Blackbriar Thorn into Fatality. He played Collecting Souls on his druid to bring him to 8 ATK/8 DEF (using Zatanna to draw). Michael tried to counter with Knightmare Scenario, but Anthony activated Madame Xanadu to fetch a copy of The Conclave to negate (and draw with Zatanna). Michael decided to try for the stun back by playing Target Acquired, exhausting Brother Eye and Checkmate Safe House to give Fatality +4 ATK. Anthony responded by flipping the Magical Lobotomy in his row, playing another copy from his hand, and playing a copy of Magical Conduit for 0 to give the druid three more counters. Michael made a last ditch effort for the stun with another copy of Target Acquired, but Anthony had a Chimp up his sleeve, which he discarded to fetch and play a copy of The Phantom Stranger (giving Blackbriar Thorn another +2 ATK/+ 2 DEF since Anthony was at exactly 10 endurance). The attack finally resolved, and Fatality went down without getting the mutual stun. The final attack brought Zatanna after Talia for 3 more to Michael. He used Talia’s effect to target herself, ensuring that she would stay around for turn 5. Michael was in the lead at the end of turn 4 by a score of 23 to 10.

Michael kicked off turn 5 by using The Science Spire to bounce Talia back to his hand. Michael noted that Anthony had one face down card in his resource row and quipped, “That last card’s probably an Abjuration.” (It was.)

Michael then flipped Brother I Satellite and searched out Maxwell Lord, Black King, which he recruited. Anthony set a resource and recruited Manitou Dawn and Madame Xanadu. He activated his cartomancer to fetch Magical Lobotomy, which he then played on Maxwell. Between Manitou Dawn and Zatanna, he effectively played 1 endurance to get Xanadu back in his hand, and then repeated the same play, using his last resource point to play Xanadu for the third time. This left Anthony at 8 endurance, but with a very large Blackbriar Thorn (13 ATK/13 DEF).

While Michael tried to work out his attacks, Anthony regaled me with a story of The Donkey Club’s celebration at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse the night before, where the three Donkeys who made the Top 8 today footed a bill of $750 for the ten team members in attendance. He left me with one piece of sage advice: “Never treat Gabe Walls . . . the man is a machine.” I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.

Michael lead off by sending Fatality into Manitou Dawn; Anthony reinforced with Madame Xanadu, then sent her to the hidden area with Stepping Between Worlds (netting 1 point of endurance thanks to Manitou Dawn). Manitou Dawn was KO’d, and the attack dropped Anthony to 7. Michael used Maxwell’s effect on June Moon, discarding Dr. Fate’s Tower, and declared an attack on June Moon with Maxwell. A copy of Target Acquired pumped Maxwell’s ATK by 5, and with no way to make up the near–30 point deficit in endurance, Anthony picked up his cards.

Michael Jacob wins the second game.

Game 3

Anthony decided that he would be best served taking even initiatives for this game, which seemed odd as he had just lost the previous game on evens.

At this point, it was revealed that the winner of the match would be facing off against the amazing Vidi Wijaya. This was it—a third and final game for a shot at the championship!

Both players kept their opening four cards this game. Michael actually had a turn 1 recruit this time in Connie Webb. Anthony, on the other hand, had nothing, and Connie got in for a free hit.

Turn 2 saw a copy of Manitou Dawn from Anthony. “That’s not a Blackbriar Thorn!” Michael declared. After Anthony passed, Michael deliberated: “I’m deciding on whether to get Black Thorn or not.” Eventually, he chose to activate Connie Webb to search out the 2-drop.

Anthony naturally sent a direct attack with Manitou Dawn at Michael, and Michael took 2. Michael then attacked, and the 2-drops traded stuns. Anthony ended the turn ahead 46 to 47.

After setting his third resource, Michael flipped Brother I Satellite to search out the awesome Ahmed Samsarra. He recruited the location-fetching King in the hidden area and then activated him to find Dr. Fate’s Tower, which he immediately flipped, pulling a Cloak of Nabu from his deck and dropping it onto the 3-drop.

Anthony’s build was a little more straightforward, recruiting Zatanna behind Manitou Dawn. He then played Magical Lobotomy on Black Thorn (and drawing a card). At the start of combat, he turned the Magic plot twist face down. As Ahmed was exhausted, Michael passed on his attacks, so Anthony sent his characters in directly for 6. The turn ended with Anthony still leading 40 to 42.

Anthony placed Chimp Detective Agency in his resource row for turn 4, then flipped and activated the location. He kept the copy of Madame Xanadu that he found and recruited her, along with the awesome Blackbriar Thorn. He then performed the familiar play of activating Madame Xanadu to search his deck, this time for Divination, redrawing Xanadu when he played the Magic plot twist, and recruiting her again.

Michael recruited Bizarro to his side of the board and played a copy of Amulet of Nabu on the monster. In response to the Amulet, Anthony used Transmutation on Dr. Fate’s Tower, forcing Michael to replace the location. Michael then flipped Checkmate Safe House, teaming up Checkmate and Villains United, and activated the powerhouse location to give his support row characters +1 DEF. Finally, he activated Black Thorn to ready Checkmate Safe House and passed to Anthony.

Prior to combat, Anthony made the familiar play of flipping up the Magical Lobotomy in his resource row, targeting Bizarro and drawing a card, and then paying 4 to turn it back down. Before attacking, he used Divination to dig through his deck a bit (and used Zatanna to draw). He followed this up by playing a couple of copies of Stepping Between Worlds on Manitou Dawn and Zatanna, Magical Manipulator to ship them to the hidden area (and draw two more cards). With the score at 20 to 40 now, Blackbriar Thorn was at 8 ATK/8 DEF.

Magical Lobotomy flipped up once again, targeting Bizarro and facilitating a draw with Zatanna. Two copies of Collecting Souls also allowed Zatanna’s power to trigger for more cards and put Blackbriar Thorn up to 13 ATK/13 DEF. Finally, Anthony played another Magical Lobotomy on Bizarro, drawing another card and putting Blackbriar Thorn at 14 ATK/14 DEF.

Blackbriar Thorn was now ready to take a shot at Bizarro. Michael had no response other than to activate Checkmate Safe House for an additional point of DEF, taking a whopping 10 as Anthony gained 4, putting the scores at 30 to 18. Anthony sent the remainder of his team in directly for 7 more on Michael, and Anthony passed. Rather than attacking, Michael chose to activate his King, KO’ing another Connie Webb, to fetch a copy of Brother Eye. The turn ended with a very close game at 23 to 18 in favor of Michael.

Michael began the final turn of the match by discarding a copy of Bizarro to Brother I Satellite to find a copy of Maxwell Lord, Black King. Maxwell came into play in front of Bizarro. Michael then asked Anthony if he would try to take even initiatives if he faced Vidi.

Michael: “At this point, you’d be easily able to bounce 20 ATK.”

Michael passed his build over to Anthony, who had a great underdrop in Dr. Occult. Anthony then activated Madame Xanadu to fetch a copy of Magical Lobotomy, redrew Xanadu, and replayed her. Before the end of the build phase, Michael used Ahmed to KO Brother I Satellite, replacing it with Brother Eye. He also flipped The Science Spire, activated Black Thorn (targeting his Spire), and used the location to bounce Black Thorn back to his hand. After resolving the chain, Michael drew and discarded, and The Science Spire readied.

At the start of combat, Michael flipped and activated Satellite HQ. This enabled his characters to attack into Anthony’s smaller characters in the hidden area. While Anthony prepared for this by putting his characters in the support row so they could reinforce one another, Michael had the location in hand for Maxwell Lord’s effect to remove Manitou Dawn’s team affiliation. He then sent Maxwell into Manitou Dawn, using Brother Eye for +5 ATK. He also attempted to pump with Target Acquired, but Anthony used Madame Xanadu to search out The Conclave to negate it. Undeterred, Michael played a copy of Knightmare Scenario on Maxwell Lord to bring his ATK to 17.

While there was nothing that Anthony could do avoid taking a ton of endurance loss, he elected to use some effects prior to Manitou Dawn becoming stunned. First, he played two copies of Collecting Souls on Dr. Occult. This had the net effect of Anthony gaining 2 endurance (thanks to Manitou Dawn) and Dr. Occult and Blackbriar Thorn gaining +2 ATK/+2 DEF (putting Dr. Occult at 12 ATK/12 DEF and Blackbriar Thorn at 16 ATK/16 DEF). Anthony also powered-up [Manitou Dawn. Still, she stunned, and Anthony took 15 to drop to 2.

Michael followed this up with an attack of Bizarro on Zatanna. Anthony had no responses to this, and he took 11 more to drop him to -9. Before passing priority, Michael had one final play—he scooped.

Even though Anthony could probably not make up the difference in their endurance totals, Michael decided that his teammate would stand a much better chance against the other semifinals players, so he elected to let Anthony move on.

Due to Michael Jacob’s concession, Anthony Justice wins and moves on to face Vidi Wijaya in the semifinals!