Anyone who doesn’t know these two players hasn’t been following the Pro Circuit for very long. Rob Dougherty is not only the owner of Your Move Games—he is the leader and official mascot of the team. Jason has been putting in strong Vs. performances since the very first 10K in Philadelphia. All of the non-GLEE decks have been eliminated from the event, but this matchup will go a long way in determining the superior build for the upcoming DC Modern Age PCQ season. Rob’s deck sports two Speedys to Jason’s one. Speedy is a wrecking ball in this matchup since both decks feature many powerful 1-cost characters. Rob also uses Prison Planet and Hard-Traveling Heroes to simulate a The New Brotherhood effect for his team. In place of those cards, Jason uses the powerhouse combat pumps No Man Escapes the Manhunters and Trial by Sword. 

Rob Dougherty won the die roll and chose evens. “Guy Gardner is good I hear,” quipped Dawson, referring to the optimal turn 6 play of boosting Guy with a swarm of willpower characters.

GAME ONE

Turn 1

Jason Dawson played The Shark; Rob played nothing. No attacks.

Turn 2

Rob recruited Tomar Tu. Jason responded with Major Disaster.

Tomar Tu beat up on a reinforced Shark.

Jason 49 - Rob 50

Turn 3

Jason played The Ring has Chosen to fetch Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and discarded Hector Hammond. The Dr. promptly returned Hector to play, powering up Jason’s Birthing Chamber.

Rob recruited the good Dr. and used Hard-Traveling Heroes to team up his two characters. Unfortunately, Rob couldn’t find anything in his KO pile to bring back.

Jason attacked Hector into Tomar Tu, and both players took two from the stuns.

Jason 47- Rob 48

Major Disaster then attempted to take down Dr. Light with the help of Shock Troops. This cleared the way for The Shark to attack for 3.

Jason 47- Rob 42

Turn 4

Rob’s lonely Dr. Light stared off against Jason’s four characters as Rob prepared to augment his board and try to regain some lost ground. Dr. Polaris and G’nort were recruited, and Dr. Light made a convincing replica of the recently deceased Tomar Tu.

Jason flipped Willworld and pulled an Arisia from the top of the deck, discarding Olapet. Jason played a second Olapet from hand with boost, searching for a copy of Salakk and thus broadcasting that he already had the far better G’Nort in hand. Jason was then able to use Birthing Chamber for two cards, one of which was Speedy, prompting Jason to exclaim, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Salakk hit the KO pile briefly before being returned to play via Dr. Light. Salakk then quickly took out Rob’s G’Nort. Rob had to be fuming that Jason was able to topdeck his one Speedy while Rob couldn’t find one of his two.

Tomar Tu attacked into G’Nort, who decided to make this a Trial by Sword. The GL dog wasn’t content to duel with swords alone, though.  A Helping Hand from his buddies ensured that he trumped this combat and put Rob largely out of this game.

Rob then sent his only remaining attacker, Dr. Polaris, into Salakk and exhausted The Shark. Jason reinforced Salakk and took only 1 endurance loss total from all of Rob’s attacks.

Now Jason had a chance to swing back. Olapet attacked into Dr. Light as Jason asked, “Legal?” Rob could only shake his head and say, “Morally wrong . . . but legal.” No Man Escapes the Manhunters finished off the Dr., and Rob took 5 to Jason’s 2.

Major D then traded with Dr. Polaris, opening the door for Hector Hammond to bash Rob for 3 more directly.

I can’t help but think that Rob imagined his initiative would have gone better than this.

Jason 42- Rob 29

Turn 5

Jason used Willworld before his draw to put Speedy on the bottom of the deck, announcing, “I’m done with you, Speedy!”

Dr. Light brought Olapet back from the dead, and a newly recruited Dr. Light returned Salakk to play. Arisia rounded out Jason’s amazing eight characters to Rob’s sole Dr. Light.

Rob finally brought out his own Speedy, who took out Jason’s G’Nort. Hard Travelling Heroes returned Speedy from the top of Rob’s deck to his hand, and Speedy returned to wreak more havoc on Jason’s board. Tomar Tu (via Dr. Light), G’Nort, and Kyle Rayner joined Rob’s team, and Rob fetched a Lanterns in Love with Kyle. 

Jason declared Salakk as an attacker on Speedy, who ran away to the top of the deck as he sent Arisia to the KO pile. Hector Hammond then smashed into Kyle Rayner, prompting Rob to lament, “Sad times for the Kyle Rayner.” Kyle refused to go down without a fight, however, and an Ole’ allowed him to trade with the now-large Hector. 

Shark then brought the pain into Tomar Tu, who exhausted along with G’Nort to recover Kyle via Lanterns in Love.

After Tomar and the Shark got stunned, the way was cleared for Salakk to attack the previously protected G’Nort. Rob once again prepared a stunback by flipping Prison Planet. Unfortunately for Rob, Jason had a Major Disaster, who discarded a No Man Escapes the Manhunters to destroy the planet.

Olapet then attacked Dr. Light, using a Trial by Sword to take him down. Trial by Swords are a powerhouse in this deck, and Rob’s lack of them is clearly hurting him this game.

Jason 39 - Rob 17

Turn 6

Rob played The Ring has Chosen and attempted to add Dr. Light targeting Tomar Tu to the chain. Unfortunately, The Ring has Chosen locks in the total willpower in play at the time you play it, so the extra character does not allow Rob to find a character with cost greater than 4 (i.e. Guy Gardner). The Ring chose Olapet as a backup, and Olapet boosted and brought G’Nort into play. 

Jason recruited Remoni-Notra ◊ Star Sapphire and then used Birthing Chamber to discard a Kyle Rayner, who promptly returned to play via Dr. Light and provided a Helping Hand from Jason’s deck. A Chopping Block then came down on Hector Hammond, and everyone took up a position in the support row.

Rob sent Kyle into Major Disaster. Both players played Shock Troops, but then Jason trumped Rob by playing a second Shock Troops. 

Rob finally succumbed and packed up his cards, saying, “Wow that start was amazing.”  Jason was very chatty. “Not too shabby. I mulliganed away Willworld, two 2-drops and a Shock Troops. Missing a 1-drop, as you did, is too harsh in this matchup.”

Jason 1- Rob 0

GAME 2

Rob once again chose the even initiative.

Turn 1

Both players kept their hands. Jason recruited G’Nort, and Rob was once again unable to find a 1-drop, even after using Willworld to find a Dr. Light, Master of Holograms and discard an Olapet. 

Jason 50 - Rob 49

Turn 2

Rob used Willworld again and revealed BOTH of his Speedys. Jason’s eyes widened and he smiled, “Nice.”

Rob then played The Ring has Chosen with no characters in play. Yes, you heard me correctly. With no characters in play, Rob couldn’t search for a character, but he was still forced to discard a card to The Ring’s effect. Rob had no 2-drop to play. I was unable to see Rob’s hand at this time, but it seemed like it was a huge mistake to discard Olapet last turn when he didn’t have a 2-drop ready to play.

Jason began to taunt Rob as he played Tomar Tu and bashed for 5.

“You kept a hand with no 1 drop?”

Jason 50 - Rob 44

Turn 3

Jason boosted out Olapet, who brought Arisia into play. Rob was clearly flustered from his misplays on the previous turn. He attempted to regain his composure and recruited a Dr. Light after using Willworld to get Kyle Rayner into the KO'd pile. Dr. Light returned Kyle Rayner, who fetched Lanterns in Love.

Jason sent Tomar Tu into Kyle Rayner, prompting Rob to flip Prison Planet, which stunned both characters.

Olapet then traded with Rob’s Dr. Light, allowing Arisia and G’Nort to bash Rob directly for an additional 3 endurance loss.

Jason 46 - Rob 37

Turn 4

Rob continued to use Willworld to search for answers. Between the top of the deck and his hand, he found Dr. Polaris and Arisia to recruit. Dr. Light brought back Kyle Rayner, who this time searched for a Light Armor.

Jason recruited The Shark, drew a card with Birthing Chamber, and then played Major Disaster. Tomar took up a position protecting G’Nort, and the others moved to the support row.

Rob sent Dr. Polaris into Tomar Tu and exhausted The Shark for good measure. G’Nort reinforced Tomar, and both characters were stunned. 

Kyle then attacked into G’Nort. Trial by Sword once again played a major role in the match, pumping up G’Nort. Major Disaster lived up to his name and took out the Prison Planet, forcing Rob to discard Light Armor to pump up his attacker. Jason, however, had an answer in the form of Helping Hand, which allowed G’Nort to win the battle with Kyle.

Arisia then made a try at G’Nort, who once again got some Helping Hands to take down another of Rob’s attackers.

Now Jason was able to return fire, sending Arisia into Dr. Light supported by Shock Troops. Rob finally had something go his way this attack as his own Shock Troops prevented the Dr. from getting stunned.

Jason 43 - Rob 28

Turn 5

It must have felt pretty good to be Jason Dawson in this situation. He had the initiative, the endurance lead, and twice the characters that Rob had in play. Oh, and by the way, he recruited Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps this turn. Guy is the biggest beater in either player’s deck, and he looked ready to do his thing this turn.

Rob—never one to give up when only the slimmest chance of victory presents itself— continued to sift through his deck with Willworld. Rob then played what must at this point be his least favorite card—The Ring Has Chosen—to search out Olapet, who fetched The Shark into play. G’Nort and Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave joined Rob’s board, and Dr. Light brought Kyle Rayner back again—I wonder how many times that has happened this weekend. This time, Kyle got Rob an Ole to replace the one he discarded to The Ring. 

Rob’s board consisted of only two characters at the start of the turn, but now he had 7, outnumbering even Jason’s horde of 5 characters. This prompted Jason to remark, “That’s a lot of peeps.  I’m just glad it wasn’t a Speedy.”

Jason’s Arisia attacked into G’Nort, who had to use Ole to stun Arisia back thanks to Jason’s own G’Nort.

Jason then sent Major Disaster into Olapet. Rob used Lanterns in Love, exhausting Shark and Brainwave to recover G’Nort and thus power up his Olapet. Jason played No Man Escapes the Manhunters to ensure that he would win the combat. Olapet exhausted to Henry King’s ability—dealing 6 to Jason—then another Ole made this attack a mutual stun. Rob was unable to reinforce, so he took 4 from this attack compared to Jason’s 2.

Jason 34 - Rob 22

Jason then bashed The Shark into Kyle for 4 more endurance loss, leaving only G’Nort and the big bad Guy Gardner left to attack.

Jason 33 - Rob 18

Guy swung into the weakest link on Rob’s team, G’Nort for a mighty 13, bringing Rob to 5.

G’Nort then attacked into Dr. Polaris backed by Trial by Sword. As Rob hesitated to consider his options, Jason taunted him, “I know you don’t play two of that guy, so your outs are… none.”

“I could play Shock Troops!” Rob retorted.

Jason smugly responded,“You would have played that already,” to which Rob could only smile and lose 3 more endurance, bringing him to a lowly 2.

Jason 32 - Rob 2

Turn 6

Rob had four characters to Jason’s two (boy, Dr. Light sure is good), but with over 30 endurance to make up, he had his work cut out for him, even with a huge character advantage.

Rob made his optimal turn 6 play by boosting Guy Gardner. Rob then considered the value of using Dr. Light vs. simply attacking with him on this final turn of the game. Rob opted for the good Dr. to brawl—an entirely different kind of light show. (Rob no longer had good plot twists to get with Kyle, so the Dr. represented more damage this turn).

Jason made his first major mistake of the match by recruiting Rot Lop Fan and his own Kyle Rayner, who got yet another pair of Helping Hands for his team. Jason could have played Speedy instead of Rot Lop Fan. Rot Lop was only going to be exhausted by Rob’s Dr. Polaris, making him largely useless. Speedy would have been able to take out The Shark, which would have left Rob without any characters that could take down Guy Gardner without losing Rob the game. In addition, Jason was able to use Birthing Chamber after playing his fourth character, which yielded him a Dr. Light. If Jason recruited Speedy instead of Rot Lop, he would have been able to recruit Dr. Light and completely lock up the game. 

Still, Rob had three visible characters to battle through and an enormous amount of endurance loss to deal. Jason looked confident as he declared, “Let the beatings begin!”

Dr. Polaris attacked into Major Disaster and, as expected, exhausted Rot Lop Fan. A Helping Hands from Jason reduced the massive breakthrough to 3.

Jason 29 - Rob 2

The Shark and Brainwave teamed up to take down Guy Gardner, who stunned Brainwave back.

Jason 24 - Rob 1

Guy Gardner then bashed into Kyle for an impressive 14, and Dr. Light went in directly for 5, which was a lot, but not enough to finish the job.

Jason 5 - Rob 1

Turn 7

Jason started the turn with only his two fatties, Guy Gardner and Rot Lop Fan. Willworld found Major Disaster, who entered play along with Tomar Tu and Dr. Light. Dr. Light brought out…you’re not going to believe this…Kyle Rayner. Again. Kyle fetched Light Armor to assist the attack.

Rob recruited Arisia, enabling the full power of his Birthing Chamber (discarding Speedy as Jason had no 1-drops in play). Olapet boosted into play and brought his best buddy G’Nort with him. Dr. Light brought back Major Disaster, and last but certainly not least, Hector Hammond—the 2-drop who feels like a 3-drop—joined Rob’s board, giving him a full ten characters in play.

Jason’s eyes darted among Rob’s many characters as he considered his two tricks in hand—Light Armor and No Man Escapes the Manhunters—and the optimal way to put Rob out of this game. When he had made his decisions, the final combat of this semi-final match began.

Kyle Rayner brawled into a reinforced G’Nort.

Jason 5 - Rob 0

Rot Lop Fan traded with Guy Gardner.

Jason 1 - Rob -5

Tomar Tu used No Man Escapes to augment his assault into Hector Hammond. Rob played a Shock Troops on his defender, which forced Jason to use up his Light Armor. A Second Shock Troops won the attack for Rob. 

Jason -1, Rob -5

Jason then had Guy Gardner attack into Dr. Polaris. Rob had no tricks left up his sleeve and was forced to take the full 12, taking him to -17.

For his final attack, Jason had Major Disaster attack into Arisia, dealing 2 more and leaving Rob with a 20-point deficit to make up with his five remaining characters.

Jason -1, Rob -19

Rob sent Hector Hammond into Dr. Light bringing Jason to -6.

Major disaster attacked Kyle Rayner for 2.  (Jason -8)

The Shark bashed into into Major Disaster for another big endurance swing, bringing the totals even closer.

Jason -13, Rob -20

Finally, Rob exhausted Olapet using Brainwave to deal 6 to Jason, bringing the game tantalizingly close at

Jason -19, Rob -20.

Unfortunately, Brainwave could not attack past Guy Gardner for the last point, and Jason walked away with the victory.

Jason 2 - Rob 0