Even though he’s from Texas, Neil Reeves is a member of the Indiana-based Team Middlepair NoStick. Reeves ranked twentieth at PC: NY, and he wants to make a surge this weekend to recover the glory of the Top 8 he scored at PC Indy last year.

Dave is the lone East Coaster left on Team Realmworx, leading a voracious and near-rabid pack of Vs. Realms wolves. And even though he’s surrounded by strong PC performers, his forte has generally been in the $10Ks. He’s on a roll today and is looking to make my dark horse picks for the PC a reality.

Dave won the roll and chose the odd initiative. He kept his hand, and Neil mulliganed.

Turn 1

Dave played Shadow Creatures, while Neil played G’Nort. Dave passed his attack, and G’Nort attacked directly. Dave flipped Qward and exhausted Shadow Creatures to use the location’s effect on G’Nort. When the dust settled, the endurance totals were 49 to 49.

Turn 2

Neil used The Ring Has Chosen to get a Shadow Creatures of his own, discarding Lanterns in Love. He then played the Shadow Creatures. Dave responded with two copies of Shadow Creatures in a little Shadow one-upmanship.

Neil sent his Shadow Creatures and G’Nort directly into Dave’s endurance total. Neil then used Emerald Dawn, KO’ing his Shadow Creatures for Kreon.

Dave passed on attacks, electing to use Qward again instead.

Turn 3

It was Dave’s turn to use Emerald Dawn, dumping a copy of Shadow Creatures for a Kreon to be played. He proudly commented that the Kreon was his 61^st card.

“I’m the only one on my team who’s playing Kreon.”

Neil played his own copy of Kreon in front of G’Nort. Dave then sent his Kreon into Neil’s G’Nort, followed by both players passing their attacks. The endurance totals were 46 to 42 in favor of Spears.

Turn 4

Neil used The Ring Has Chosen to get Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He discarded Kiman and then played a copy of Shadow Creatures and the Dr. Light. Next, he flipped and used Birthing Chamber, discarding Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern.

Dave played Kiman and sat back to wait for a barrage that never came. Neil passed his attack. Dave then sent Kiman into Dr. Light for a double stun. After that, Dave’s Kreon attacked G’Nort.

Neil flipped and used Qward on Dave’s Shadow Creatures. Come recovery, it was Spears at 41 and Reeves at 34, with Neil recovering Dr. Light.

Turn 5

Dave recruited Shadow Creatures, Shadow Creatures, and yet another Shadow Creatures, all hidden and in the front row. He then flipped and used Birthing Chamber, discarding another copy of Shadow Creatures.

Neil used Dr. Light’s ability to dig up a fallen G’Nort. He flipped Hard-Traveling Heroes for a draw and then played The Ring Has Chosen for Katma Tui, who was recruited. “That was probably the wrong decision,” Neil quipped as he discarded Dr. Light. He then activated Birthing Chamber, dropping another copy of the card. Katma Tui was placed in front of G’Nort, and Kreon was in front of Dr. Light.

Neil then exhausted Katma Tui and Shadow Creatures for Katma Tui’s ability to gain 5 endurance. With no attacks coming from either end, it was Spears at 41 and Reeves at 39 endurance.

Turn 6

Neil used his Birthing Chamber, discarding Qward. He then used Dr. Light for the previously discarded Kyle Rayner, who got a Chopping Block. The Block was played on Katma Tui. He then recruited Evil Star.

Next, Dave used his Birthing Chamber, discarding Shadow Creatures. He then used The Ring Has Chosen to grab Element Man, discarding a copy of Birthing Chamber.

His recruits for the turn were Shadow Creatures and Element Man.

Neil sent Evil Star against Kreon and then passed. Dave moved Element Man and a Shadow Creatures to his visible area, dumping his face-up The Ring Has Chosen and Emerald Dawn for new resources.

Dave then went for the bonzai, sending his Element Man into Kreon, but Neil flipped Helping Hand for a DEF pump. Attack failed, thank you, try again.

Dave went for the gut shot, teaming up all of his Shadow Creatures against Kreon. Neil Chopping Blocked Dave’s Kreon and then exhausted his own Kreon, G’Nort, and Kyle to gain 5 endurance through Katma Tui. The result was a net gain of 2 endurance for Neil. Dave then flipped Sector 2814, and after a gain of 4 endurance, it was Spears at 34 and Reeves at 41.

Turn 7

Dave used his Birthing Chamber, discarding Shadow Creatures. He recruited Two-Face, Split Personality. Neil then used hisBirthing Chamber (It’s dejà vu all over again!) and discarded Olapet. Next, he discarded Hard-Traveling Heroes for a draw. He played Olapet with boost to get a copy of Shadow Creatures, recruiting it and two other copies.

Neil used Kreon’s ability to replace Dave’s Sector 2814. He then exhausted each of his Shadow Creatures plus all of his other characters, splitting them between Qward and a single use of Katma Tui’s effect. That reduced the DEF of several of Dave’s characters, namely his Shadow Creatures. On top of that, Neil gained 5 endurance.

Dave decided that he might as well put those Shadow Creatures to good use since they would stun anyhow. He sent his visible Shadow Creatures into G’Nort for the double stun. He then powered Kiman’s ability against Neil’s Kreon for a DEF drop, sending Element Man in to attack the weakened Kreon. Then came the Two-Face slaughtering service, targeting a victimized Dr. Light. The other three Shadow Creatures teamed up on Olapet, making the endurance totals 32 to 19 in favor of Spears. Dave proceeded to flip an Anti-Matter Cannon that was topdecked from the replaced Sector 2814!

Dave moved two copies of Shadow Creatures to his visible area to replace two face-down resources (both were characters). Neil recovered Kreon, KO’ing Dr. Light, G’Nort, and Olapet.

Turn 8

A time announcement from judge Paul Ross meant that the last turn would be turn 9—an advantage for Dave, who had the odd initiative. Neil groaned, “What a blowout!” He knew it was do or die. He had to gain some severe advantage here.

Neil used his Chamber and discarded Kiman. He then played Sinestro, Enemy of the Corps and G’Nort. Dave responded by using his Chamber, discarding another copy and then replacing the spent Chamber by exhausting Shadow Creatures to use his Cannon.

Neil placed Sinestro in front of Kyle, Evil Star in front of Kreon, and Katma Tui in front of G’Nort. He also had four copies of Shadow Creatures in his hidden area.

Dave used The Ring Has Chosen to get Evil Star, discarding Kiman. He played Krona and a copy of Shadow Creatures. He put Two-Face, Element Man, three visible copies of Shadow Creatures, and Krona in the support row. He also had three copies of Shadow Creatures in the front row of the hidden area, with Kiman behind one of them.

Dave banished Katma Tui with Krona, causing her to lose her Chopping Block. Neil attacked, sending a Shadow Creatures into one of Dave’s Shadow Creatures. Dave reinforced.

Neil then sent another copy of Shadow Creatures into one of Dave’s. After that, the battle was repeated again, with two more copies clashing. Neil had two copies of Shadow Creatures left in the hidden area. He hesitated, saying, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do here. I’ve got no clue. I’m drawing straws here.”

In the end, it was Sinestro swinging into Element Man. Dave flipped Helping Hand for a DEF pump to 20 total DEF. With Sinestro’s ATK at 18, Neil flipped Qward, exhausting both remaining Shadow Creatures to drop Element Man’s DEF by 2. Dave played another Helping Hand from his hand for another boost to 24 DEF. Neil couldn’t pump Sinestro anymore, so he used Evil Star, KO’ing all five of his Shadow Creatures to KO Dave’s Element Man. That readied Sinestro, who didn’t have a defender to attack. The endurance totals were Spears with 22 and Reeves with 19.

Neil, with the game on the line, sent Sinestro into Two-Face, but Dave had Men of Steel in hand. To end a gut-wrenchingly tense game, Neil scooped, as he knew Dave had a turn 9 coming and two 7-drops waiting to exact revenge.