Jack Garrett is a student from Las Vegas. “Josh [Wiitanen] made me come to this tournament. I could be sitting on my couch now!” He grinned, obviously kidding. “Adam beat me in the Swiss, so I’m out for vengeance . . . and hoping I don’t get beat.”

Adam Prosak is from west Phoenix, and at the young age of 23, he is a teacher. Scampering back from the washroom, he hurled himself into his seat just in time for the round to begin.

Game One

Prosak won the flip and took the initiative on odd turns. He dropped Pantha and swung directly before passing to turn 2. Hounds of Ahab hit Garrett’s side of the field, and Prosak recruited Hawk. He swung directly for 5 endurance and the Hounds pounced on Pantha. Garrett flipped Total Anarchy, but Prosak chained Tamaran. Prosak’s Hawk was all that was left.

Prosak made use of his board advantage by spending a resource point on Optitron. He declined to recruit for the turn, but nabbed himself a Garth. Garrett recruited a Sentinel Mark II that he attacked with, and after a flurry of power-ups it remained on the field while Hawk was Anarchy’d away.

Reconstruction Program would let Garrett capitalize on his board advantage in a deadly way. He recruited Hounds of Ahab again, attempting to lock Prosak. Prosak stymied him, using Optitron for Dove and recruiting her with boost. Hounds of Ahab swung into Hawk, backed by a Savage Beatdown. Total Anarchy KO’d both characters. Sentinel Mark II swung into Dove and she hit the KO’d pile as well.

Without a way to fulfill loyalty requirements, Prosak was forced to recruit Red Star. Optitron got him a copy of Koriand’r ◊ Starfire. Garrett gave up on the Hounds lock and started curving, recruiting a boosted Sentinel Mark V. Shuffling his hand, Prosak considered his possible moves – it really wasn’t looking good for him. He settled on swinging into the Mark V with Red Star, and a Tamaran and Titans Tower with Garth bumped up his ATK. With the Tamaran saving him from the stun, he left Garrett with no choice but to pass.

But, Garrett would look to press an offensive on turn 6 as he recruited Bastion and pushed everything to his front row as a gesture of intent. Prosak recruited Koriand’r and formed up with both characters in the back. Sentinel Mark V laid a Savage Beatdown on Koriand’r, and Prosak refused to reinforce. When Bastion brought the fight to Red Star Prosak exhausted him to Finishing Move the Mark V before being stunned (a Tamaran saved him a point of endurance). The Sentinel Mark II then attacked directly.

Prosak opened turn 7 by flipping and activating USS Argus. He then recruited Tim Drake ◊ Robin and Garth ◊ Tempest. Garrett looked at his hand—there was no Magneto! He set a resource and then flipped it: a Genosha. “Don’t get it!” yelled Prosak hopefully. He didn’t. But he’d then flip a second Genosha, and on his second card, he drew into Magneto, Master of Magnetism. A flurry of Bastion-fuelled pumps and an Overload exploded Tim Drake, and Total Anarchy wiped him off the field. Garth and Koriand’r then team-attacked Magneto. A Savage Beatdown and two pumps on Garth later, Garret flipped a Reconstruction Program. He used all three cards to power up Garth more, and then followed with another Overload. Prosak scooped.

Jack Garrett 1, Adam Prosak 0

Game Two

“It worked last time, so I’ll go with odds,” Prosak said with a smile, seeming to be referring to their previous match in the Swiss rounds where he beat Garrett. Neither player opted to mulligan. Prosak opened with a resource, which he flipped and used, revealing an Optitron. He took a copy of Red Star, and play moved to turn two. Garrett found himself without a 2-drop, so Prosak swung directly with Tim Drake.

Turn three was Prosak’s turn to miss a drop though, as he was forced to Optitron for Pantha. Garret recruited a Sentinel Mark II and it was quickly team attacked.

Garrett continued missing drops, and spent a resource point on turn 4 to use Boliver Trask to get another Sentinel Mark II. He recruited it, and formed up with all three characters in his front row. Prosak seemed pleased and recruited Red Star, opting for an L formation with Red Star in front, Tim Drake in the back, and Pantha supporting both. Two Savage Beatdowns and a Finishing Move later, it was Prosak’s Red Star against Boliver and Sentinel Mark II.

“Hey, I can play him this time! How lucky.” Prosak recruited Garth. Garrett recruited Nimrod and placed him in the corner of an L position between Mark II and Boliver. “Team attack of Garth and Red Star on Boliver.” Trask got smacked and Teen Titans Go! readied everything on Prosak’s side. Red Star took out the Mark II and Garth looked to punish Nimrod. He swung in, but was hit by a Nasty Surprise for the stun back.

With the initiative behind him and some momentum building, Garrett recruited Bastion and again pushed everything to the front row. Prosak recruited Koriand’r ◊ Starfire and braced for attack, again selecting and L position formation with Garth in front, Koriand’r in between, and Red Star out to the side. “Come and get ‘em,” Prosak invited Garrett with a sigh of contemplation.

Sentinel Mark II attacked into Red Star. “Five . . . six . . . ” Garrett counted off his Bastion pumps to the Mark II, and then flipped Total Anarchy. “Clever,” remarked Prosak. He Tamaran’d to try and save Red Star, but another Bastioning took him down. Nimrod took out Garth and Bastion took down Koriand’r. Garret had ensured that his Mark II would be in his KO’d pile for future Programming but kept his Bastion and Nimrod, while Prosak was left with nothing but Koriand’r.

Prosak didn’t have much going for him at this point. He didn’t have access to a Raven, so he went for Hawk, Dove, Pantha, and Arsenal. Both players formed up with all characters in the front row. “Hey, you’ve got the whole team, except for Garth,” remarked Garrett. “Are you missing a team member too?” Prosak was hopeful that Garrett wouldn’t hit Magneto. Garret just smiled. “Oh, you are so lucky!” maligned Prosak, as Garret recruited Magneto.

After a great deal of thought, Prosak announced an attack of Roy to Nimrod. It was legal, and he exhausted Dove, Hawk, and Pantha to pump him up. A Press the Attack readied Roy and he took a shot on Nimrod with his effect. Garrett pumped up Nimrod with Bastion’s effect to get him out of sniping range, but Prosak powered up Roy with Tamaran. Another Bastioning seemed to stymie him for a moment, but Prosak used another Press the Attack on Roy to ready him and then exhausted him for his own effect. “Nicely done, Adam.” Garrett turned Nimrod face down and Roy readied.

Prosak then launched a team attack against Magneto. Magneto stunned and Koriand’r stunned back. Press the Attack readied Roy yet again, and he attacked into Bastion. “Get ‘er done!” yelled Prosak. “Oh, she’s done,” replied Garrett, stunning Bastion. “Yes!” It was Garret’s Magneto versus Prosak’s Pantha, Koriand’r, Hawk, and Dove.

It was Garrett’s turn to possess the initiative, and he recruited a fresh Nimrod. Prosak had nothing to recruit though, and formed up with Hawk and Dove supporting Pantha and Koriand’r respectively. Magneto swung in, and Prosak looked at the table. After a brief moment’s consideration, he scooped.

Jack Garrett 2, Adam Prosak 0