Luke Chen is a 27 year-old data entry worker from Seattle who began the match by giving me grief for my Kai Budde–centric match coverage from Gen Con Indy, noting that Luke himself finished 25th in Indy and Kai didn't show up for this tournament. Bygones. In reality, Luke was probably trying to make certain that I didn't make the same mistake this match, since his opponent is another TCG heavyweight, the one, the only, the master buffoon: Indy PC Top 4 competitor Gabe Walls. Both players came into this match at 6-2, meaning they had already guaranteed themselves a spot at the Sealed Pack tables tomorrow, but the victor would be in better position to push on into the Top 8.
Walls used Optitron to find a drop before turn 5, plucking Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective from his deck to recruit him on turn 2.
"Jessica?" asked Chen
"Imonna read that one." Walls took a closer look at Jessica Drew ◊ Spider-Woman, shrugging.
"Ricochet?" was Chen's next question.
Walls: "Oh God. Okay. Can I Roy this guy?"
Chen: "No."
Walls: "Can I Terra this guy?
Chen: "No."
Walls: "Can I Savage Beatdown this guy?"
Chen: "No."
Walls: "Can I Overload this guy?"
Chen: "No. That's just a preemptive no."
Walls: "Oh, that's nice. Yeah, that's good for business."
Turn 4 brought Terra for Walls and Will O' the Wisp for Chen, exasperating Walls. "You got a pretty good draw this game, eh?" Chen placed Will in the front row, letting Ricochet cower behind him. A team attack between Terra and Robin took down Will, but Terra bounced off of Ricochet due to Acrobatic Dodge. A second Teen Titans Go! (there's always a second one, isn't there?) forced Ricochet to evade the attack this time, and Chen did the same when Beast Boy attempted to rough up Spider-Woman.
Walls used USS Argus and frowned at Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, saying "This guy doesn't really do much in this matchup," keeping a Titans Tower for his hand and playing Garth to match Chen's Daredevil, The Man Without Fear. Chen then proceeded to savage Walls's team, leaving him with only a Garth and Beast Boy to deal with Daredevil, Will O', Ricochet, and Spider-Woman.
"This is a sound smashing," was the observation from Walls as Chen played Nova to help counteract Walls's Pantha and boosted Tim Drake. "Boost can't be good for you though, can it?" "No Gabe, it's not." Attack, Attack went Walls; Spider Senses, Spider Senses went Chen, as Chen continued to foil Walls's best plans. The attacks dropped Chen to 20, costing him Daredevil, with Walls sitting at 23 as time ended. Since Chen still had a lot of fat left on the board and the initiative, things were not looking good for the Indiana native.
"Quit slow-rolling it, Gabe Walls" came the cry from Nick Little, who was watching the game with a group of friends. "Hey, this is freaking hard. Aaaaand, in case you hadn't noticed, I have no idea what to do!"
"Yeah Gabe, I noticed."
Walls played Roy Harper, putting Garth and Beast Boy in the front row, with Pantha ducking behind Beastie, Robin ducking behind Garth, and Roy Harper gunslinging on the wing.
"Alright, we're over fifteen minutes past when the round ended, so I'm going to give each player twenty seconds for their priority each time," came the decree of Feature Match judge Matt Hyra.
In the end, it all came down to this:
"Team attack with Spider-Woman and Ricochet on Garth. Savage Beatdown Ricochet."
Walls looks at the judge and asks, "I still can't target Ricochet with an Overload?"
"No."
"Okay. Good game, Luke."
Chen managed to withstand Walls's antics to push his record to 7-2 on the day, while Walls went over to discuss combat math with his teammates, trying to figure out if there was some way he could have pulled that one out. In the end they decided that he didn't really have a chance, but the way that he played gave Chen the most chances to goof up. Fortunately for Luke, he played everything correctly and pulled in another W.
Chen 1 - Walls 0