On turn 1, Paul had the initiative and led off with Shadow Creatures, who got to attack uncontested. For turn 2, Hans had Tomar Tu with Light Armor. Tomar Tu looked pretty good as a racer against the hidden team of Sottosanti, which grew with Harlequin coming onside.

Tomar got his beat on, going straight for his opponent’s face before Paul’s Manhunter 2-drop got to stun the Green Lantern of Xudar, land of people who look like chickens. Shadow Creatures then went for the face.

Turn 3 was all gas for Paul, as he teamed-up with Millennium, played two more Shadow Creatures, and used Birthing Chamber to draw a card. He made it four Shadow Creatures in total on his side and passed.

“Nice one,” remarked Hans with a flick of his long mane of hair.

Höh too had a team-up in the form of Hard-Traveling Heroes, and he got his big card advantage play from Dr Light, Master of Holograms. He discarded Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern to flip Oa, and then he immediately put the little fellow into play using Light’s ability, netting himself a Chopping Block for his trouble.

“Have fun,” suggested Hans.

“Oh, I will,” replied Sottosanti as he swung with all four of his Shadow Creatures into Tomar Tu, who was protecting Kyle Rayner. With the armored up 2-drop out of the way, Harlequin attacked into Kyle, and with a power-up, it looked good for the stun. Prison Planet made it a mutual trade, and that was all the action for the turn. Hans lead in endurance with 41 to Paul’s 39. The German looked in solid board position, with Dr. Light and Tomar Tu in play along with a bevy of useful resources face up.

His resources were added to on turn 4 with Willworld, which netted Höh a little card advantage in the face of Harlequin, who might have wanted to worsen the German’s hand.

Kyle Rayner returned to play with some help from Dr. Light, and the Last Green Lantern fetched a copy of Light Armor. He was joined by Ch’P, who duly put on the powerful equipment. The squirrel was a colossal threat, and both Oa and Prison Planet were active.

 Ch’P hid behind Tomar Tu, while Kyle hung out behind his creator, Dr. Light. Paul played Manhunter Science to improve his hand a little, and then he used The Ring Has Chosen to find Kiman, the devilish poster boy of Kiman Stall.

With a flick of his hair and a raise of his eyebrows, Hans continued his assault on his opponent’s endurance total. Kyle attempted to attack Paul, to which he responded with the flipping of Qward. Paul used the location’s ability with two of his smaller characters to reduce Kyle’s DEF to 0, allowing Kiman to use his ability to stun him. There were no such tricks to stop  Ch’P though, who with Oa’s help, smashed in for 17, taking the endurance totals down to 39-21 in Höh’s favor. Kiman then used his activated ability to make Tomar Tu’s DEF 0, and the Green Lantern was stunned by Qward.

With the initiative on turn 5, Paul used a second The Ring Has Chosen to find Grandmaster, the Manhunter character who would be able to turn his team into a terrifying visible threat. For Hans, his recruit was a boosted Olapet, who fetched Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave. The Ring Has Chosen then found Major Disaster, and Dr. Light returned Hector Hammond to play. With five resources, both Hector and Olapet were looking pretty big for an off-curve set of drops.

Grandmaster made Sottosanti’s team visible, and then Harlequin attacked into Tomar Tu, hoping to clear a path to the real big gun at the table,  Ch’P. A pair of Shadow Creatures then went in for  Ch’P, who exhausted to Brainwave’s ability for some damage before the squirrel went down. Another copy of Shadow Creatures attacked Major Disaster, who got rid of Qward but was otherwise helpless. Kiman attacked through Brainwave, and Grandmaster through Olapet.

All of a sudden, from being way behind, the endurance totals were 11-9 in Paul Sottosanti’s favor. That was before Hector Hammond had the chance to attack back. With Oa and Prison Planet’s help, Hammond took Sottosanti down to 1, but Hans just didn’t have a way to do the final point.

The game went on to what had to be the final turn. Sottosanti was at 1 endurance with Harlequin, Grandmaster, and Kiman in play, while Höh had  Ch’P, Dr. Light, and Hector Hammond, as well as a slightly healthier 9 endurance.

It was turn 6, but time had already been called, as the game had been going at a pretty staid pace. Each player had earned a slow play warning. In the battle of Hans Slow-achim Slöw vs. Paul Slow-tosanti, it was unclear who was slower, but Hans looked to have a fair chance at winning the game with the initiative.

Dr. Light returned Kyle Rayner to play, and another copy of Light Armor came with him. For the “real” recruits of the turn, it was Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps and The Shark—certainly not your typical comedy duo, and indeed, Paul was not laughing. Harlequin exhausted for a Millennium played from hand, as Paul was digging for victory. His recruits were slightly smaller than his opponent’s though. He started with three copies of Shadow Creatures, which allowed for a full-power Birthing Chamber activation. Two of them then exhausted to Manhunter Science, and a Hard-Traveling Heroes from hand netted Sottosanti another card. If the object of the game were to have a grip full of cards, then Paul would have been the clear winner, but alas, this was not the case. He played another copy of Millennium from hand, followed by The Ring Has Chosen, to get yet another copy of Shadow Creatures.

With his board dwarfed in size if not in numbers by his opponent’s, Paul passed. Hans, with a flick of his hair, attacked into Kiman with Guy Gardner. Kiman was hidden behind Grandmaster with nobody to reinforce him. This did not last, as Grandmaster brought the ready Shadow Creatures Paul had recruited into the visible area. One was used to prevent breakthrough. Kiman then fought back by giving Kyle Rayner -3 DEF before succumbing. On -3 to 4 endurance, Paul was in very bad shape. Kyle Rayner attacked into a Shadow Creatures sitting at an apex, exposing two characters to being attacked for big breakthrough.

 Ch’P attacked into Grandmaster, and with Oa, the squirrel took Paul down to -17 endurance. With no characters left to attack back, Paul was forced to extend his hand.

Hans Joachim Höh wins!