Hayward began the game with control of the initiative, and with no turn 1 play, he immediately took a 1-point ping from Hope. Play passed to turn 2, and Reeves recruited Beetle, Armorsmith. He discarded Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose to dig for Archangel, Angel with Beetle’s effect and pushed Beetle to the attack row. Hayward flipped Straight to the Grave to search his deck for Mr. Mxyzptlk, bounced him to his hand, and passed. Reeves hit him with Beetle and Hope before concluding the turn.
Another Straight to the Grave fetched Ahmed Samsarra to Hayward’s KO’d pile, and a freshly-flipped Slaughter Swamp brought him to Hayward’s hand. The Swamp was paid for by Mxyzptlk, who then hopped back into Hayward’s hand. He recruited Samsarra to his hidden area, gave him Amulet of Nabu, and passed.
Reeves quickly played a third resource and recruited Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. Dr. Light activated to bring up the all-important Poison Ivy, and Reeves formed up with Hope, Light, and Ivy in the front row, with Ivy protecting Beetle. Hayward was giving Reeves an opportunity for big early game offense of the type that his “Killing Joke” deck usually doesn’t dish out, and Reeves wasn’t going to let his window of opportunity pass. Hayward had no attacks, and Ivy, Beetle, and Hope all piled into Hayward, dropping him to 35 endurance.
Before the end of the turn, Hayward ditched his Straight to the Grave to search his deck for Checkmate Safe House, which he played as a resource. Reeves used Straight to the Grave to send Deadshot, Floyd Lawton to his KO’d pile, and Ivy gave Beetle a kiss goodbye to trade the Straight to the Grave for a copy of X-Corp: Amsterdam.
Reeves opened turn 4 by playing a resource and asking Hayward how many cards he had in his hand. Hayward counted them out on the table: “Eight.” Rough beats for Reeves—his opponent would have enough padding to deal with his discard power. Hayward was walking a dangerous line. If he committed too many cards to the field, he’d be vulnerable to the flurry of discards that Reeves could unleash with Justice League of Arkham; but if he left himself too open, Reeves wouldn’t even need the resource lock Killing Joke aims to create—he’d just rush Hayward and walk all over him.
As a result, Reeves had to keep the pressure up. He activated Dr. Light to bring up Deadshot, recruited Archangel, and then blew X-Corp: Amsterdam (drawn naturally), to bring out Justice League of Arkham. Hayward discarded Mr. Mxyzptlk. A second Amsterdam flipped (grabbing Justice League of Arkham), and Reeves teamed-up with X-Men and Revenge Squad in the process.
A third Amsterdam got Reeves yet another Justice League of Arkham, but instead of flipping it, he first activated an Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row. He discarded Yellowjacket, Rita Demara to pay for Enemy’s cost and searched out Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. He recruited Kyle, used Kyle’s effect to search out Breaking Ground, and then flipped his third Justice League of Arkham to team Arkham with Secret Society. Hayward discarded Sensei, and Reeves used Archangel to fetch a fourth X-Corp: Amsterdam. He KO’d it to dig for his fourth and final Justice League of Arkham and flipped that to team Arkham and Green Lantern while forcing the discard of another Ahmed Samsarra. He then used two Hopes to force another two discards!
“You finally managed to annoy me,” said Hayward as Reeves formed up, protecting Ivy with Deadshot and hiding Kyle behind Dr. Light.
Play finally passed to Hayward, who used Enemy of My Enemy and Mr. Mxyzptlk to find and then recruit Fatality. He flipped Dr. Fate’s Tower, brought out Cloak of Nabu, and then swapped the Amulet of Nabu to Fatality. The Cloak went to Ahmed, and play passed briefly to Reeves, who had no attacks.
Hayward sent Fatality to attack and KO Dr. Light. The attack knocked Reeves down to 42. Rayner exhausted for Breaking Ground, replacing Hayward’s Slaughter Swamp, and play progressed to turn 5.
Hayward used Ahmed Samsarra to KO Mikado and Mosha, searching for another Slaughter Swamp! He activated it to fetch back Johnny Quick, one of the discards Reeves had forced earlier. He discarded Sarge Steel to pay the Swamp’s cost and then recruited Quick to the visible area to protect Fatality.
Reeves played and flipped Hard Sound Construct, bringing back Beetle from the KO’d pile. With Beetle’s effect, he searched out Mr. Mxyzptlk. The Construct was discarded for Slaughter Swamp, thanks to Ivy, which then got Reeves back his Dr. Light. He recruited Light, recruited another Hope, and put everything in his back row except for Dr. Light (who protected Poison Ivy).
Johnny Quick attacked Dr. Light, and Hayward flipped Advance Recon. He then flipped Brother Eye, teamed-up with Checkmate Safe House, and gave Quick an ATK boost with Brother Eye. Reeves KO’d Hope to turn down Justice League of Arkham, flipped it to team-up with Emerald Enemies, and then reinforced with Ivy. The successive attacks from Quick and Fatality wiped Reeves, though, taking out every character but Kyle Rayner. Time was called once both players had passed in the recovery phase, and Hayward controlled Ahmed Samsarra, Fatality, and Johnny Quick to Reeves’s lone Kyle Rayner. Only one turn remained, and Reeves was in an impossible position.
He shuffled his hand a bit, trying to figure out if there was any way that he could tie or win the game; at 22 to 32, he was behind by 10 endurance. He played a sixth resource, returned Mr. Mxyzptlk to his hand, and flipped Straight to the Grave to send Evil Star to his KO’d pile. He then traded Mr. Mxyzptlk for it via Slaughter Swamp and recruited Evil Star to his attack row to protect Kyle Rayner.
Ahmed Samsarra traded Hayward’s freshest resource, Mr. Mxyzptlk, for a location, and Reeves had had enough; he scooped, seeing absolutely no way to win.
Shaun Hayward moves on with an x-1 record, while Neil Reeves suffers a bitter defeat due to time!