It looks like Dr. Light, Master of Holograms will be the character to beat at Pro Circuit Indianapolis. No matter what risky strategy we come up with to defeat him, he stands out as the most consistent route to victory starting on turn 3. If we can't beat him, perhaps we can join him. Let's take a look at some of the delicious characters he can bring into play for free.

Since I try to avoid the most obvious strategies, we won’t talk about Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. Using Kyle Rayner is the safest way to build card advantage with Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, plus the Lantern can fetch exactly the kind of responses you need to win. Whether you discard Kyle Rayner before turn 3 or KO him to feed Emerald Dawn, you’ll be among the majority if your Dr. Light digs for that 2-drop.

The risky player within me demands an underdog strategy, so let’s look deeper into the card pool to find characters for Dr. Light to revive. Let's start at the beginning with Superman, Man of Steel. Since you can use both 1- and 2-cost characters to stock Dr. Light's free lunch ability, let's try Roy Harper ◊ Speedy on for size. Speedy is a very popular character at the moment. The growing strength of Soldiers of New Genesis and the obvious power of G'Nort and Arisia have turned many pro playtesting teams into archery experts. DC Modern Age has the most powerful 1-cost characters yet, and this little Titan thrives on neutralizing them. When you discard Speedy, perhaps after fetching him with The Ring Has Chosen, he can sit in your KO’d pile and wait to ambush any weenies that need to be removed. Dr. Light turns your KO’d pile into a toolbox.

Vykin is also a fascinating character in the DC Modern environment. With Green Lantern swarms here and Emerald Enemies weenies there, all you need to do is make sure you can keep the little New God unstunned. Lanterns in Love might be able to keep Vykin available so you can use his payment power, and Soldiers of New Genesis can fall in love quite easily. I absolutely adore Children of Forever, but that’s another topic of discussion. Vykin can paralyze an opponent's entire board in many Modern metagames, and Dr. Light, Master of Holograms can get you a deep discount by leaving out the resource points.

If the Soldiers of New Genesis “Blue Abuse” strategy gets any more popular in playtesting rooms, Gangbuster could show up in a few KO’d piles at Pro Circuit Indianapolis. Dr. Light can bring him into play on the cheap, allowing Gangbuster to start a two-for-one special on Army characters. Stranger things have happened.

We could go nuclear against GLEE with Atomic Skull. Riskiest of the bunch, this strategy is bananas in the DC Modern Age. Wacky, wonderful, and totally unexpected, Revenge Squad is looking to be the wild card at PC Indy. Atomic Skull could lead the way with the help of State of the Union, an ongoing plot twist that can prevent Breaking Ground from draining his power. It would be a hot lunch indeed if Dr. Light returned Atomic Skull over and over again.

My love for Darkseid's Elite is not blinding me, because Shaligo is actually pretty solid in this environment. We all wondered when it would be best to flip an opponent's resources so they could be used again, and now the time has come. Oa is at the heart of many DC Modern strategies, and the location has a fairly steep cost to flip. Shaligo versus Oa is like making your opponent eat ice cream too quickly, because it will cause giant headaches. If you have Dr. Light, Master of Holograms on the board and a copy of Shaligo in your KO’d pile, you’ll have free dessert against most Green Lantern–based decks.

Speaking of Green Lantern Corps, let's turn our attention to that set and see what other delicacies the good doctor can serve us.

We started the Superman, Man of Steel menu with a 1-cost character that’s worth his weight as a Dr. Light dish, and we can do the same with Green Lantern Corps. Anti-Green Lantern is tiny, but it’s also huge. I love risky paradoxes, so let's take a closer look at this one. If you need sheer size for beating your opponent down, Anti-Green Lantern works. If you want to laugh at an early Chopping Block or dare someone to attack while you’re holding a few copies of ¡Ole! in hand, Anti-Green Lantern works. Considering the drawback that Tattooed Man has, Anti-Green Lantern is actually the biggest beat stick that Dr. Light can bring back. On top of that, it can jump into the KO’d pile all by itself. That’s yummy.

Tattooed Man has been mentioned, and he joins Hector Hammond as the meat-lover's combination for Emerald Enemies. Once you’ve laid a resource on turn 5, Hector gets big. After Hector swings, Tattooed Man can use something to eat up the remaining resources and clean an opponent's plate. With Dr. Light, Master of Holograms delivering dishes of his own team's flavor, no team-ups are necessary. That’s what I call a pure protein shake. It won't last past turn 5 though, so get some beef before the match is over.

Tomar Tu and Black Hand can slow the game down to a sipping contest. If stall is your thing, look to have your Dr. Light cook with these two. Personally, I don't like games to go past turn 7, so you’re on your own with this strategy. I prefer to eat and run.

That brings me to the final ingredient to consider when Dr. Light is rummaging through your KO’d pile’s refrigerator. Saving the nastiest for last, I present to you the peppery little Dead-Eye. Using The Ring Has Chosen to fetch and discard this character while holding a Cosmic Conflict in hand is spicy stuff when Dr. Light, Master of Holograms is in the kitchen. I like to call this risky strategy "Thai Hot," in honor of my favorite red curry. Knowing that Dead-Eye will be available to serve again the next turn after he has knocked an opponent's Dr. Light out of the restaurant is fine dining indeed.

There you have it, all the delicious dining partners that Dr. Light can provide for free. Depending on your taste, each can satisfy your DC Modern hunger. I predict that we’ll get our fill at Pro Circuit Indianapolis, as Dr. Light seems to be headed toward the biggest single card appearance in PC history. Get ready to feast.

Rian Fike is also known as “stubarnes” in the VsRealms community. If you have a risky strategy that you would like him to cover, drop him a line at rianfike@hattch.com.