As of round 7, there are two undefeated players left in this tournament: these two. You were introduced to Paul last round, where he took out his friend Brian in a grueling control matchup. Josh’s name and deck should be familiar to most readers out there as well, since he wrote an article on Metagame.com this past week detailing the Teen Titans deck he would be playing today. The winner of this match becomes the only undefeated player in the tournament, and is almost guaranteed to make the Top 8.

Paul won the die roll and elected to take the odd initiatives. Paul mulliganed, while Josh kept his opener. Paul missed his first turn play, and Josh had Roy Harper ◊ Speedy—not a good card for the New School deck. On turn 2, Josh led off with Hank Hall ◊ Hawk, while Paul recruited Robot Sentry. Paul took more beats, and the turn ended.

Paul had the initiative on turn 3, and discarded Dagger, Child of Light to fetch Midnight Sons before playing a resource. After his resource was set, Paul played Wild Ride from the resource row to get Micro-Chip, which he recruited. Next, he flipped Midnight Sons, teaming up Marvel Knights and Fearsome Five. He removed Micro-Chip from the game to reuse his Wild Ride, this time fetching Shimmer. He recruited Shimmer, flipped Marvel Team-Up to crossover Marvel Knights and Doom, and then passed. Josh recruited Beast Boy, and passed back. Paul exhausted his characters to stop combat for the turn, and neither player had anything else to do.

On turn 4, Josh recruited Red Star and played Null Time Zone, naming Reign of Terror. Paul exhausted Shimmer to Bat-Signal for Cloak, which he recruited. Cloak and the Sentry shut down Beast Boy and Hank, respectively, and Josh was free to attack. A Press the Attack allowed Red Star to take down both Robot Sentry and Shimmer, and a Titan’s Tower forced through more endurance loss. At the end of the turn, Josh led 48-29.

Paul had Glorious Godfrey for turn 5, and teamed up Darkseid’s Elite with Marvel Knights before passing. Josh recruited Garth ◊ Tempest, and passed back. Paul’s characters shut down Josh’s entire team, but Josh had another Press. He Pressed Garth twice, stunning Paul’s visible characters and bringing the endurance score to 41-7.

On turn 6, Josh flashed another Red Star from his hand, and Paul simply conceded.

Josh Wiitanen wins!