Dave Spears sat down with a big smile on his face for his first Pro Circuit Top 8. He declared, “I am so honored to be playing you.”
His opponent, Rob Dougherty, returned the compliment as they shuffled up. This was the first Top 8 for each player, so there was a lot of excitement buzzing across the table. Both Rob and Dave are owners of their own game stores—Rob with his chain of Your Move Games stores, which started in Rhode Island, and Dave with Mindgames in Florence, Alabama.
Rob pulled out a YMG die and immediately rolled a 6, electing to take the even initiatives. The matchup was quite an interesting one, with Dave’s Qward Control faring generally well against GLEE, but Rob’s build with multiple copies of Major Force could prove to be stiffer competition than most.
Dave busted out a foil Shadow Creatures on turn 1 and got to attack uncontested. That the card was a foil was not a huge surprise, since all of Dave’s cards tend to be that way. The bling on his cards was beautifully matched by the twinkle in his cheeky smile as he nipped in.
Turn 2 saw Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern fetch some Light Armor (which he immediately put on), as compared to a single Shadow Creatures on Dave’s side. Kyle cracked back and took Dave down to 45 endurance to his opponent’s 49.
On turn 3, Dave naturally had a single Shadow Creatures. He played The Ring Has Chosen to fetch another copy (discarding Anti-Monitor) in order to enable the Birthing Chamber that lay in his resource row.
Rob’s recruits looked like they were ideal against Dave’s deck. Roy Harper ◊ Speedy would be very strong against Shadow Creatures, while Major Disaster was likely to be able to deal with such powerful locations as the Birthing Chamber in play and Qward, which so often caused an opponent’s demise. The only issue could be the potential to lose cards in hand if both characters got used to too great an extent.
One of the Shadow Creatures got shot down by Speedy before the remaining three went into Kyle Rayner, forcing the use of Shock Troops from Dougherty. Kyle then had the opportunity to swing back, making the endurance totals 39 to 49 in Rob’s favor. Given the different strategies of the two decks, it was always likely that Rob would get an early lead in the endurance race. The big issue was if (and when) Dave could take control of the game. Major Disaster elected to attack rather than taking out Dave’s Birthing Chamber, and it was on to turn 4.
Lacking Dr. Light, Master of Holograms again, Dougherty instead elected to go for a boosted Olapet to find Arisia. His choice of 1-drop was a little unusual, given that Dave’s deck was largely hidden, making her ability more or less blank. But it soon became clear why he’d gone that way, as he recruited G’Nort and Speedy again. Before Dave had a chance to recruit, Speedy activated to shoot another Shadow Creatures down, effectively negating the Birthing Chamber without the need for Major Disaster to concern himself with it. Rob had a Chamber of his own, and he drew Speedy back with it before passing.
Dave’s recruit was a little more straightforward, with just the devilish visage of Kiman coming into play. With nothing in his visible area, Dave was forced to allow Rob to declare direct attacks. Olapet bashed through without incident, but Kiman got his groove on with both abilities to stun Kyle Rayner, who was Dougherty’s biggest present threat. G’Nort plinked in for a point, while Major Disaster thought better of attacking, as with Kiman out, a Qward at any time could be painful.
One of Spears’s Shadow Creatures traded with G’Nort in a fight, while the other one exhausted to get rid of Rob’s Birthing Chamber with an Anti-Matter Cannon. Here was a location that the Major didn’t approve of, and before recovery, the 2-drop took it out of play.
Going into turn 5, Rob had Kyle, Olapet, and the Major, while Dave was down to just two Shadow Creatures and Kiman. Dave recruited Element Man, and Rob tried to use Major Disaster to replace Birthing Chamber, only to have it pointed out that the Major’s willpower was not great enough to get rid of the resource. Dave smiled and used his Birthing Chamber in order to draw a card.
Rob then played The Ring Has Chosen to fetch Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, discarding Arisia. Roy the boy then came out to play, and he dispatched a Shadow Creatures. A Birthing Chamber then allowed Rob to bring him back. Arisia was also brought back, though in this instance, Dr. Light was used to get her into play.
Kiman tried to attack Speedy, but he jumped out of the way to KO the final remaining Shadow Creatures. The Ring Has Chosen fetched Fiero, and Dave again surveyed his opponent’s board.
“That’s quite a lineup you have there.”
“Thank you, sir.
Kiman attacked and stunned Dr. Light, while Element Man took down Major Force. When Rob tried to attack back to the face, Element Man again got in the game, diving into the visible area to act as a big wall against the throng on the other side of the board. In the face of the crazed-looking character, Rob didn’t fancy his chances. He passed and let Major Disaster hit the KO’d pile. The endurance totals were 33 to 31 in Rob’s favor, but it was starting to look like Dave was taking control of the game.
With the initiative, Rob recruited Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps with boost, and then he returned G’Nort to play with Dr. Light. For Spears, it was Fiero and two Shadow Creatures, all hanging out in the hidden area.
At the start of the combat step, Rob played No Man Escapes the Manhunters, targeting Kiman in order to bring him out of hiding and leave him open to dangerous attacks. Never one to be pushed around, Dave moved Kiman, along with Fiero, into the visible area. They were in a line with Element Man in the center. Element Man’s ability also let Dave replace a Birthing Chamber that was exhausted and use a second one that was waiting in his resource row. Olapet then attacked with a terrifyingly high ATK thanks to Arisia, G’Nort, and Guy. That forced a reinforcement from Element Man.
Guy Gardner then attacked into Fiero, who burned Rob for a little before being pumped by two copies of Men of Steel. The remainder of Rob’s team then went for Element Man, ensuring the stun. Dave had no attacks, but he did flip Sector 2814 to gain 3 endurance before turn 7. The endurance totals were 27 to 25, and as the game went on, things were looking pretty good for Spears.
On turn 7, he activated Birthing Chamber and recruited a big bad wall in the form of Krona. That was enough to get the concession from Dougherty, whose best turns were already gone.
Dave Spears wins game 1.
Rob again elected to take evens, and each player elected to keep, with Rob looking especially pleased with his hand.
Dave had a turn 1 Shadow Creatures, surprisingly enough, while Rob was firing with Willworld and G’Nort. After a bit of a fight, it was on to turn 2.
With the initiative, Rob’s Willworld activation was pretty spicy, getting him Major Disaster and Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave. The latter got discarded, but the former, the Major, quickly entered play. Dave had just two more Shadow Creatures.
Rob’s hot draw evidenced itself again when he flipped Hard-Traveling Heroes to team-up. He attacked in for 4 with his team. Dave, meanwhile, was forced to stay on the back foot.
On turn 3, Spears played Emerald Dawn to fetch his 3-drop, Kreon, whose big numbers on the back end seemed the thing to have in the face of a quick assault from Dougherty. For Rob, it was Dr. Light, who got to return Arisia.
One of Dave’s Shadow Creatures attacked into G’Nort, to which Rob responded with a Birthing Chamber activation and a power-up. With twenty copies of Shadow Creatures in his deck, it was a safe bet that Dave had the power-up, and he showed it, forcing the mutual stun. Kreon then took the fight to Major Disaster, who was powered-up once The Ring Has Chosen had found Rob a second copy. Finally, Shadow Creatures attacked Arisia with another power-up, allowing for a one-way stun. It looked like it was Dave Spears who was the beatdown for a change.
At the start of turn 4, Dave made a little magical gesture toward his deck before drawing, hoping to see something good. Rob’s recruits were guaranteed to be good with some help from The Ring Has Chosen, which fetched Rot Lop Fan. Rot Lop could potentially be the scourge of a deck featuring as many hidden characters as Dave’s. Spears began whistling a strangely mournful tune that sounded rather like “I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends,” as he watched Arisia come back into play via Dr. Light—in spite of the fact that he’d done so well to KO her last turn. He gingerly placed Kiman into play and set up his hidden characters (two Shadow Creatures and Kiman) in a line in the back row, with Kiman at one end.
Rot Lop used his ability three times to allow himself, Major Disaster, and Arisia to attack hidden characters for the turn. Rot Lop then attacked Kiman. Dave reinforced, and there was a mutual trade after Kiman gave Major Force -3 DEF for the turn. Arisia then attacked the one ready Shadow Creatures, hoping for a one-way stun thanks to G’Nort. A Helping Hand and a power-up from Dave showed that he had the same idea. Rob played ¡Olé!, which met a Men of Steel from Dave. The battle went on as Rob pressed in with a second ¡Olé!. There was no such drama in Major Disaster’s battle with a copy of Shadow Creatures, which resulted in a mutual stun. Kreon avenged the rest of his team by attacking G’Nort, and it was on to turn 5.
With Kreon and Kiman to his opponent’s Rot Lop Fan and Dr. Light, Dave’s position was looking reasonable enough, as he would normally be facing a much larger swarm. He was also ahead on endurance, at 34 to 30. Dave replaced a resource with Kreon and then played Emerald Dawn, KO’ing his 3-drop to find Element Man, who he played in the hidden area.
Rob, meanwhile, played Olapet with boost to fetch G’Nort, the little dog that could. He then played Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who fetched an ¡Olé!. Both players were pretty low on cards in hand, with each holding just two. Dave flashed me his with a little smile. Two-Face, Split Personality and Evil Star aren’t good in the superhero sense, but they were definitely looking good for Dave. Rob activated Dr. Light to return Arisia and used Birthing Chamber for the full two cards.
Dave then attacked Kiman into Dr. Light, stunning him, while Element Man went for Arisia, eliciting a reinforcement using G’Nort. If Rob were looking to stun Element Man, he would likely have to pay quite a bit of endurance, as the character was still hidden. He paid 4 and team attacked in with Olapet and Kyle, and with the help of two copies of Shock Troops, it was looking good for the stun. Dave moved his team out into the open to replace a few resources, and then his 5-drop went down. The endurance totals were at 18 to 17 in Rob’s favor, and things were looking pretty tight.
With the initiative, Rob used Willworld and found himself Hector Hammond and Major Disaster, both of whom went straight to the KO’d pile. He drew a card with Birthing Chamber and brought back Hector with Dr. Light. The only other recruits were Arisia and The Shark for Rob, while Dave had a legitimate “Fatty Boom Boom” by comparison, in the form of Evil Star.
The Shark and Hector Hammond attacked into Evil Star with a grand total of 16 ATK thanks to a whole mess of face-up resources, Arisia, and G’Nort. Evil Star used his ability to KO The Shark, but when Rob showed ¡Olé!, that was enough to elicit Dave’s scoop.
Rob Dougherty wins game 2, making the overall score 1-1.
Dave chose to take odds, and the deciding game was on. Each player had a mulligan, and the game was well and truly on when a Qwardian Watchdog came out on turn 1, to Dougherty’s G’Nort. Looking at the big dog, the little one didn’t feel like attacking, so it was on to turn 2.
Willworld got Olapet for Dougherty, but it put a Birthing Chamber on the bottom, so all in all, Spears was fairly confident. Rob recruited Kyle Rayner and fetched some Light Armor for him, and then he passed. For Spears, it was a couple of Shadow Creatures, who were in hiding as they watched the big dog fight Kyle. After the combat step, Dave revealed Sector 2814 to go ahead in the endurance totals, which were at 49 to 48.
On turn 3, Dave had Kreon to take the place of the now-hidden Qwardian Watchdog, and then he passed to Rob. Rob’s Willworld hit in formidable fashion, showing both Dr. Light and Major Disaster. Both eventually made it into play, though the Major did so via the KO’d pile.
Kreon attack G’Nort, in response to which, Rob used Birthing Chamber, but he was unable to stop the stun. Dave then passed, and Rob used Major Disaster to replace Sector 2814, discarding another copy of Willworld. Rob had no attacks, so he passed, only to see the Qward that had replaced the Sector. Dave used his two Shadow Creatures before the recovery step to get another cheeky stun in with Qward, and it was on to turn 4.
Rob used The Ring Has Chosen at the start of the turn to find Rot Lop Fan. He was hoping to do what he had done last game, blunting Spears’s defensive tricks by whittling down his hidden board. His Willworld whiffed, and he recruited Rot Lop and returned G’Nort with Dr. Light.
Dave elected to use Emerald Dawn to find Malvolio, KO’ing a Shadow Creatures to do so. At the start of the combat step, Major Disaster got rid of Qward. In response to that, Rot Lop Fan was given -2 DEF thanks to Dave’s hidden team. Rot Lop attacked Kreon, and Dave played The Ring Has Chosen to fetch Element Man for the next turn. Kreon used his ability to replace Rob’s Willworld before succumbing in the fight. Rob paid 2 endurance to let Kyle Rayner attack a Shadow Creatures, stunning it and doing a bit of breakthrough.
After Rob passed, Dave’s only action was for Malvolio to beat up on G’Nort.
On turn 5, Dave’s only recruit was a quick Element Man and a pass.
Rob had a new Willworld with which to improve his draw, and he returned Hector Hammond with Dr. Light before activating Birthing Chamber. He then boosted out Olapet to fetch The Shark, and he played him along with Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave and Arisia, making his board rather crowded.
Malvolio attacked into G’Nort, which met a reinforcement, leaving Arisia all out on her own. Element Man capitalized on that, smashing her for 8, after which Kreon attacked Brainwave, which met with a response of Olapet doing some burn with Brainwave’s ability.
Element Man and Qwardian Watchdog moved to the visible area, and Dave passed.
Hard-Traveling Heroes teamed-up Rob’s horde, and he launched a team attack with Hector Hammond and The Shark into Element Man for exactly 10 to get the stun. Rot Lop Fan then attacked Kreon for a total of 5 endurance loss, and Malvolio was taken down with some help from Prison Planet. That resource was quickly replaced by Spears with Anti-Matter Cannon.
Before the end of the turn, Rob played Chopping Block from hand to KO Element Man, and it was on to turn 6. Time was called at the start of the turn, and at 21 to 21, things were pretty tense. There would be two more turns left in the game. Would it be possible for Dave to do that amount of endurance loss?
After improving on his natural draws a little with Willworld and Birthing Chamber, Rob recruited Tomar Tu, Dr. Polaris and Arisia. Dr. Light was also activated to make his side of the board pretty huge.
Dave simply recruited a pretty flashy looking extended art Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar, the latest Hobby League prize.
The Shark, Tomar Tu, and Rot Lop Fan ganged up on Spears’s latest recruit, and their combined colossal ATK was easily enough to bring him down. Dr. Polaris and Kyle Rayner then went for Malvolio with a combined ATK easily great enough to stun him. The endurance totals teetered at 14 to 11 in Rob’s favor, and things were bleak for Dave. Olapet attacked Kreon, stunning him, and the rest of the guys were enough to finish it up.
Rob Dougherty wins the quarterfinal match!