“My God . . .” said Bulk Lao, frowning at Little’s opening Qwardian Council Hall. “I am already at a serious disadvantage here.”

Play went extremely quickly in the early turns, with Weaponers of Qward, Abin Sur, and Dr. Polaris for Lao and Shadow Creatures, Owlman, and Space Bears for Nick. Owlman went barreling into Abin Sur and the Council Hall plus a couple of discards kept him from harm, while the Bears took down Dr. Polaris, and the Shadow Creatures kept plugging away at Lao’s endurance total one point at a time. After turn 4 the endurance totals were 40–30 in favor of Little. Solomon Grundy for Lao evened the endurance totals in a hurry, as Abin Sur traded with Light Brigade, and Mr. Want Pants Too put the smack down on the Space Bears.

Turn 6 marked the entrance of St’nlli for Little and a mirror image on Lao’s side of the board. Owlman and the Shadow Creatures whacked Lao’s “Stanley,” but only at the cost of the only six-drop left in Little’s hand and two Cosmic Conflicts. As Little said, he hadn’t put Lao on Pest Control. The end of the turn left Lao with Weaponers and Grundy, while Little had Owlman, Shadow Creatures, and St’nlli. Little also had the lead in endurance totals, which stood at 16–5, but Bulk now had the initiative.

Lao’s recruits for turn 7 were a boosted Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps and Brik, while Little’s side of the table only gained an Ultraman. Brik attacked Shadow Creatures, Guy Gardner smashed Ultraman, Owlman got Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe and Solomon Grungies smashed for 12 with help from Qwardian Pincer. Little had just enough action to attack back for the win, but Lao had a Catcher’s Mitt to reinforce Solomon and that gave him game 1.

Lao 1 – Little 0

About this point Anthony Justice handed Loren Nolan his second loss of the weekend and earned a spot in the finals.

The early part of game 2 squared Gnaxos off against Brik and then Yokal on Dr. Polaris, giving Little an early lead of 46-41. Lao flipped up Book of Oa on turn 4, giving him some strong draw filtering, but those draws needed to overcome another early Qwardian Council Hall from Nick. Lao attacked Frostbite into Gnaxos on turn 4, but Kiman made sure the two characters traded stuns. Little got crafty, moving Yokal in from the hidden area before Dr. Polaris could smash face. Lao eventually decided trading again was the right play, making the endurance now 37–34 for Little.

Little intentionally underdropped on turn 5, recruiting Dr. Ub’x to battle Lao’s Element Man. The evil squirrel went straight to Lao’s dome, as did the rest of Little’s team. Bulk beat Yokal down with the power of elements and then went straight to Nick’s nug with Frostbite, making the combat in these turns look more like Fantastic Fun decks burning each other out than draft decks. Lao took the initiative on turn 6, bringing out Sinestro, Lantern in Exile. Little answered with St’nlli, leaving just the Super-Qwardian visible and hiding his weenies. Lao tried to Banish St’nlli, but Little responded by moving Yokal in, which forced Lao to use Sinestro to move Yokal back out. Lao then flipped up Golden Death and Qwardian Pincer to attack Little to -1.

“Two can play at this game. Out of my house!” said Little, banishing Sinestro from whence he came. Nick then tried to attack Lao directly, but Bulk moved Element Man and Frostbite back to the visible area. Little then conducted his attacks properly, used the Council Hall to pump Kiman over Frostbite, played around Lao’s Catcher’s Mitt—and won the game -1 to -2. Oof.

Lao 1 – Little 1

Lao took the odds for game 3 and was once again dismayed when Little flipped Qwardian Council Hall for the third game in a row on turn 2. Little was the first underdrop, this time recruiting Harlequin on turn 3 while Lao brought Dr. Polaris out to play again. Lao’s men went to the face, but Dead-Eye took down the Doc on the return beats. Bulk paused for his recruit step on turn 5, causing Little to observe “The five-resource man decisions . . . GG or Element Man? Gee Gizzle . . .” Element Man was deemed correct, and found himself squaring off against Light Brigade after Nick’s recruit step. The boys attacked each other directly that turn, and when all was said and done, the endurance totals were 18 for Little and 20 for Lao.

Little paused to stretch for a moment after recruiting Superwoman, while Lao threw Sinestro down next to Abin Sur. Little then unloaded on Bulk, demolishing him with a series of Council Hall power-ups and attack plot twists that left Lao in far too great a hole to fix the endurance race on the swing back. Nick Little is off to the finals!

After the match, Lao confessed some frustration with his own play, particularly in game 2. He had made a couple of mistakes that likely would have changed the result of that game, and not given Little a chance to demolish him in game 3.

Little 2 – Lao 1