With 10-3 records, both Doug Tice and Ryan Jones are poised to make a run at Sunday. Each also represents one of the two superteams of the game, Doug with TDC and Ryan with FTN. Doug described his deck as a bit of mismatch, while Ryan was unusually quiet, normally a sign of the nut high deck.

Doug won the roll, took evens, and kept his first four, while Ryan shipped his to the bottom. Ryan missed on turn 1, while Doug had Talla Ron. Doug played the best 2-drop in the format, Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth, on the second turn and suited up his visible character with Power Gem. Ryan again missed, claming that he was “playing around the Power Gem.”

Ryan finally got some action on turn 3 with Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Soul Searcher, also giving her a Power Gem of her own. Doug continued to fire away with Lieutenant Kona Lor and Destroyer. Frankie wanted to fight Destroyer, but Franklin moved her over to the hidden area. Ryan then attacked the Lieutenant, and Doug had Hala for the stun back, plus a reinforce. The rest of Doug’s troops then got in for a direct attack.

Doug looked firmly in control with a fourth turn Terrax, The Tamer along with a sizeable advantage on board, while Ryan had Moondragon and a Mind Gem to draw some additional cards. Doug started combat by attacking Nova with Terrax, and Ryan decided to play Cosmic Necessity. Doug let him have the cards, seeing as though Ryan had already drawn so many. Ryan then sent the Lieutenant and Talla after Moondragon, so Ryan teamed up Infinity Watch and Heralds with Extended Family, then flipped both Pacification and Elemental Battle to both reduce Talla’s ATK and increase Moondragon’s DEF. When Doug went for the stun with Hala, Ryan had a power-up for the brickwall. Doug then moved Terrax to the hidden area with Frankie Raye.

Turn 5 featured Air-Walker, Harbinger of Despair from Ryan, who was continuing to play the high-DEF characters. Doug first stunned Nova with Terrax, then flipped Penal Colony to return the Lieutenant, and finally played him along with Ultimus. Moondragon attacked the Lieutenant, and Doug forced the stun back with Hala plus Starforce Strike. Air-Walker then stunned Ultimus. Doug didn’t attack back and bounced the Lieutenant during recovery.

Doug went into the tank to start the sixth turn, eventually going with Lieutenant Kona Lor, Clumsy Foulup, Penal Colony on the Lieutentant with a re-recruit, and Frankie Raye ◊ Nova. Ryan kicked off his recruit with some terraforming: both Elemental Converters and Soul World went down. Then, he recruited Destroyer, Harbinger of Devastation and set up with Air-Walker in front of Destroyer. He also added an Ultimate Nullifier to Destroyer to lock out Hala for the turn, which prompted Doug to fire off a The Lunatic Legion before combat. Pacification added a cosmic counter to Destroyer at the start of combat, and then Doug attacked Air-Walker with Destroyer and Frankie Raye. Ryan had a power-up plus Soul World for the second, and when Doug went for a power-up of his own, Ryan had another Elemental Battle for a devastating brickwall. Terrax then stunned Moondragon, and the remaining Kree characters stunned Air-Walker, but Destroyer was able to crack back, and the writing was on the wall. Doug extended the hand on turn 7 to Silver Surfer, Harbinger of Oblivion without bothering to recruit.

Ryan wins 1-0