The game was on! In the first corner was Rachel Reynolds; a former Magic Team Pro who can no longer play competitive Magic as a Wizards of the Coast employee, and has strayed to Vs. System for the competitive play. Rachel had never played in an individual Pro tournament before, and this was her first major Vs. System tournament. She qualified through a courtesy invite as an important gaming personality.

Rachel brought her Common Enemy deck to face off against the man in corner number two: Brian Kibler. Brian, the reigning PC champion, having won PC Indy with a celebrated Common Enemy deck, has brought Teen Titans to Anaheim in the hopes of a repeat win. Brian claims that the first two rounds of this tourney were “playtesting rounds” and that he has been “learning to play the deck, making a ton of mistakes” as he goes along. “I’ve managed to get obscure strategic points right, but made basic tactical errors.” Well, those errors haven’t kept him from a 2-0 start . . .

Before the match began, there was a random deck check that left Brian claiming, “They don’t trust me! They think I’m shady.” Ten minutes later, and the battle began. Brian won the coin toss and decided to let Rachel play first. Both players opted to mulligan and then went on to turn 1.

Rachel had no 1-drop, missing her Boris. Brian flipped an Optitron, discarding a Beast Boy in order to get Red Star from his deck.

On turn 2, Brian had no drop, succumbing to She-Thing’s attack. Rachel 50, Brian 47.

Rachel found her Boris on turn 3, electing to play it instead of a 3-drop. Brian responded with Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, boosted in order to fetch Hank Hall ◊ Hawk. She-Thing immediately charged Dove, but Brian flipped Tamaran, powering up Dove to return the stun. Rachel passed to Brian, who wailed on Boris with Hawk. Boris stunned, Rachel recovered She-Thing, and the totals were Brian 46, Rachel 44.

Brian began turn 4 by recruiting the Red Star he searched for back on turn 1. Rachel recruited Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, starting a chain where she flipped Faces of Doom to search for a Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom and then used Diabolical Genius’s recruit ability to flip the Faces back down. She placed Doom in front of She-Thing and flipped Mystical Paralysis to exhaust Red Star. She sat back and calmly awaited combat.

It was Hawk and Dove in a joint effort to end the Diabolic Genius’s reign! Rachel flipped Faces of Doom again and searched for another Diabolic Genius, but decided not to use it as a power-up. Instead, she stunned Hawk and allowed Doom to stun as well. They both recovered, and it was Rachel 40, Brian 44

Turn 5, and Rachel threw down Thing, Heavy Hitter, putting the Fantastic Four 5-drop beatstick in front of Doom, with She-Thing by his side, striking a menacing pose. Brian recruited Garth ◊ Tempest, placing Hawk in front of Garth and Dove in front of Red Star. Rachel ended the recruit phase with a Have a Blast!, discarding Boris to KO Tamaran. Rachel then sent She-Thing into Dove, stunning Dove and dropping Brian to 42 endurance. Next, it was Dr. Doom attacking Hawk, bleeding another 5 endurance. Finally the beefcake entered the fray as Thing steamrolled Garth . . . only Brian had a trick up Garth’s sleeve, flipping Titans Tower and discarding a Terra in order to bring Garth’s ATK up to Thing’s level. They both stunned, and the totals were Rachel 35, Brian 30. Rachel flipped Pleasant Distraction to stop Red Star from attacking, and Brian elected to recover Garth in order to end the turn.

Turn 6, and the time had come for some serious strategic thought. Brian paused for a few minutes of careful planning—and perhaps a touch of psychological stall. He finally played Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal and another Hawk, boosted to fetch Dove. He placed Hawk in front of Red Star, Dove in front of Garth, and Arsenal alongside Dove in the front row.

Rachel began her recruit by flipping Common Enemy, finally teaming up her characters and rewarding herself by drawing a card. She played Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom, replacing her Diabolical Genius, and placed She-Thing behind Thing, with the new and improved Doom in support.

Brian decided that it was time to go all out. He teamed up all of his characters for a massive swarm on Thing. He then played Teen Titans Go! to ready his characters—only to have Hawk and Dove run back to his hand as they fell to Doom’s Reign of Terror! Fearless to the last, the remaining Titans stuck together, Garth pumping Arsenal to 6 ATK and then using his powers to return Teen Titans Go! to his hand. Then it was Red Star’s turn, pumping Arsenal to 8 ATK, followed by Arsenal boosting his own ATK up to 10. The inevitable Teen Titans Go! hit the board, readying everyone, and Arsenal used his teammates to his advantage again, with a pump from both Red Star and Garth to reach 14 ATK. Arsenal took aim and blew up a face-down resource to dispatch Thing, dropping Rachel’s endurance to 30. With no defender, everyone readied again, and Red Star attacked She-Thing, stunning her, and Garth and Arsenal sandwiched poor Victor, Garth and Doom stunning together. Rachel elected to recover Doom, and the game was tied at 22 endurance, each.

Turn 7, and it was the endgame. Rachel played Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing, his sheer strength shooting Arsenal back to Brian’s hand. She placed the massive, orange rocky man in front of Doom, and waited to act.

Brian played the Hawk, Dove, and Arsenal who had all run away. It was Hawk in front of Red Star, Arsenal in front of Garth, and Dove next to Garth in support.

Rachel wasted no time, sending Doom to manhandle Arsenal. And then the math began again: Brian pumped Arsenal with Hawk, Dove, and Red Star, to 10 ATK total. Garth brought Terra back from the KO’d pile, then discarded it for Titans Tower. With Arsenal at 14 ATK, Brian used Garth to bring him up to 16 ATK and then powered Arsenal up for good measure. Another face-down resource exploded, and another Thing went with it. With Rachel down to 15 endurance, Brian allowed the attack to go through. Both Doom and Arsenal stunned (thanks to Arsenal’s hyper-inflated ATK power). It was Rachel 9, Brian 7, and Brian administered the coup de grace—he used Press the Attack and sent Garth through an empty field armed with a Savage Beatdown and took Rachel out of the game. End result: Brian 7, Rachel -5.