This match features two of the top players in the tournament right now. Kyle Kreuger hasn’t had a whole lot of high-level success, but he does have a Top 10 finish at $10K Seattle to his name. David Brucker is a member of the contingent of European players threatening to take over the game. You can read more about David in his interview from earlier.
Kyle won the roll and decided to take the odds. Kyle and David began the match in true mirror match fashion by both playing G’Nort. Turn 2 saw David play a Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern and fetch a Light Armor, which he promptly put on G’Nort. Kyle sadly had no play. David sent his Kyle Rayner into G’Nort. G’Nort got a little Trial By Fire and ended up trading with the bigger Lantern. With the opposition out of the way, the heavily-armored G’Nort went straight for Kyle’s face.
Kyle started to get back on the right track on turn 3, when he played The Ring Has Chosen and got a Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He discarded a Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern of his own, which he ended up getting back with the Dr. Light. Kyle’s Kyle (I love saying that) got a Light Armor, which he ended up just putting on himself. David recruited a Dr. Light of his own and returned his Roy Harper ◊ Speedy to play. Kyle’s Kyle (Ha!) attacked Speedy to force David to use it on G’Nort. The now freed-up Kyle Rayner went running into David’s G’Nort instead.
Turn 4, David got to team his guys up with Hard-Traveling Heroes and then play a few guys. Actually, Olapet, The Shark, and Arisia to be exact. That doesn’t even count the Tomar Tu that made it into play thanks to the good doctor’s influence. Kyle got to play a few men of his own on this turn. First, he played Salakk. Then, he used The Ring Has Chosen to go get an Olapet, which he boosted to go get Arisia. Every time someone plays The Ring Has Chosen, it becomes a game of Six Degrees.
After using Dr. Light to get a G’Nort out of his bin, Kyle passed and let David attack. David made the obligatory first attack on G’Nort, and after a slew of blue cards, G’Nort ended up being big enough to stun Arisia and stay alive as well. Tomar Tu finished the job and crushed G‘Nort. Thanks to his guys being bigger than his opponent’s now, David was able to attack down the line and end up with his only other stunned character being The Shark. David was now ahead on endurance by a score of 32 - 43.
Turn 5, Kyle led off with Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps. He also got back an Olapet with his Dr. Light. David played a Roy Harper ◊ Speedy again and immediately used it to kill off Kyle’s Arisia. He then continued his turn by boosting an Olapet to snag himself a Salakk. At this point, David had so many guys on the table that he was having difficulty keeping track of them. He ended up playing a Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, despite the fact that he already had another one. When this was pointed out, he simply smiled and said, “Oh. I already have another one. I’m sorry, I have too many guys.” He finished by grabbing a Light Brigade and using a Dr. Light to get back his Hector Hammond.
Kyle began attacking by sending his Olapet into David’s Arisia. After that, he got some hot Kyle on Kyle action. He ended by smashing his Guy Gardner into David’s Olapet. Before he let his Olapet die, though, David used it and Tomar Tu to play the Light Brigade into his front row. After the attack, Kyle took the endurance lead 30-28. “Alright! I got the lead,” Kyle joked trying to lighten the impending disaster. David had himself a little chuckle, but then it became all business again.
David sent his Light Brigade into Kyle’s Dr. Light. As good as the Doctor is, he’s apparently not as strong as an entire brigade of light. His Shark then crushed Kyle’s Olapet, and then his HH ran into Kyle’s GG. After G’Nort faced him, Kyle asked David, “You have the Sinestro, don’t you?” When David flashed it to him, Kyle conceded.
David Brucker wins.