Both players rolled a die to see who would have which initiative, and Tim won the roll. “Evens,” he announced, as both players continued to shuffle their decks. They made small talk about how they started out their day. “Did you start out 7-0? I started out 7-0,” Kyle said, as they began to draw their opening hands. Kyle announced he was keeping, and Tim decided to mulligan.

Both players drew for turn 1, and Kyle lead off with a resource followed by a Hope recruit. Tim laid a resource and had no recruit, so he passed to Kyle’s attack step. Hope attacked Tim directly for 2, and Tim found himself in the hole early.

Turn 2 came around, and Tim lead off with a resource and then a Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant in the front row. Kyle played a resource and recruited Beetle, Armorsmith, discarding Coach to search for a character card with cost 2 or less. Tim attacked with Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant into Hope, and both players traded stuns, with Tim coming out the better with breakthrough. Play moved to recovery and then to the next turn.

At the start of turn 3, Kyle set a resource and flipped Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row. He discarded Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern and searched for Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. He recruited Dr. Light and used his activated power to bring Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern into play from his KO’d pile. Kyle Rayner’s effect triggered, and Kyle Dembinski searched his deck for a Breaking Ground. Tim flipped and activated The Science Spire, returning Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant to his hand; he drew two cards and then discarded two cards for the effect. Tim recruited Ahmed Samsarra in the visible area and formed with him in the support row. He stared at his board for a few seconds and then passed to Kyle’s attack step. Kyle passed with no attacks, and Tim attacked with Ahmed into Hope with no extra effects. Hope stunned for 5 breakthrough, followed by 1 more point of damage. With that, Kyle recovered his Hope, and both players moved to turn 4.

“My initiative,” Tim said, as he eyed his hand and figured out his play for the turn. Tim played a resource and flipped Enemy of My Enemy from his resource row, discarding Connie Webb for the cost. Tim searched out a copy of Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 and then recruited Bizarro into his front row. He formed with Ahmed protecting Bizarro and passed to Kyle’s build. Kyle laid a resource and recruited Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose. He then KO’d off his face-up Enemy of My Enemy and Beetle for Poison Ivy’s effect and searched for a copy of X-Corp: Amsterdam. Kyle activated Dr. Light, and in response, Tim flipped and activated Phantom Zone, targeting Beetle, Armorsmith. Kyle responded with Breaking Ground, and Tim then responded by replacing Phantom Zone to target Coach. Kyle responded by flipping Slaughter Swamp and activated it discarding a Hope for the extra payment to target Beetle. The chain went to resolution, and Beetle went back to Kyle’s hand while the other effects resolved with no effect. Kyle passed, and both players entered the combat phase with Tim’s initiative. Tim debated over his choices for his attack. He ended up choosing to attack with Ahmed into Hope, and Kyle took 6 endurance loss. Bizarro attacked into Dr. Light, both players passed with no effects, and the attack resolved. Tim passed followed closely in suit by Kyle. Both players moved to recovery and to the next turn.

Kyle played a resource face down and asked “How many cards do you have?” as he eyed his hand even longer contemplating his play for the turn. “I’ve got eight cards in my hand.” Kyle continued to think over what play to make as he randomly sighed and mumbled, “My mind is so dead . . . I just can’t think.”

Kyle decided to recruit Archangel, Angel into his front row and chose not to discard to look for an X-Corp. Kyle then flipped a face-down X-Corp: Amsterdam and activated it to search for a Justice League of Arkham. He flipped it, saying “Arkham and Masters.” Kyle followed up by recruiting a Hope into his front row, and then followed that with Yellowjacket boosted in his support row. He searched his deck for a character for Yellowjacket’s boost and pulled Beetle, Armorsmith to his hand. Kyle then played Enemy of My Enemy discarding Beetle, Armorsmith as the cost and searched his deck for a copy of Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, recruiting him into the front row. Kyle then used Poison Ivy’s effect to KO Kyle Rayner and search for a Birthing Chamber, which he placed into his support row. He followed up with a Dr. Light activation, bringing back Kyle Rayner and using his effect to search for a Hard Sound Construct, placing the card in his hand. Kyle then activated Birthing Chamber to draw two cards and discarded a copy of Slaughter Swamp. Kyle formed with Hope, Dr. Light, Archangel, Angel, and Poison Ivy in the front row and placed Kyle Rayner, Yellowjacket, Beetle, and Deadshot in the support row.

Kyle passed to Tim’s build, and Tim set a resource and flipped Brother I Satellite and searched for a copy of Maxwell Lord, Black King from his deck. Tim activated Ahmed Samsarra and KO’d off Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin from his resource row to search for Checkmate Safe House, which he played face down in his resource row. Tim then recruited Maxwell Lord, Black King and formed with Maxwell Lord in the front row protecting Bizarro. Ahmed was adjacent to Bizarro on the right.

Kyle looked over his board and contemplated his attacks for the turn. Tim flipped Checkmate Safe House and then activated The Science Spire to bounce Ahmed back to his hand and draw three cards, Tim discarded three cards from his hand as Kyle continued to contemplate his move. Kyle flipped UN Building to team-up Arkham Inmates, X-Men, and Secret Society. Kyle then declared a team attack with a few of his smaller characters into Maxwell Lord, and Tim responded before the attack was legal with a Mikado and Mosha from his hand on Hope. Kyle KO’d Hope to flip Justice League of Arkham face down and made his own team attack illegal in the process. Kyle passed to Tim’s attack step, and Tim contemplated what his best move would be. Tim announced Bizarro into Kyle Rayner and passed with no effects. Kyle looked at his resources and tried to figure out if there was any way for him to stop the endurance loss. He decided to flip Justice League of Arkham and teamed-up Masters of Evil and Green Lantern. Tim, in response, used Lord’s power, discarding a location card targeting Kyle Rayner. The attack resolved, and Kyle took the brunt of the force from the attack. Maxwell Lord then attacked into Poison Ivy ,and Kyle stunned her with a look of disgust. They moved to the recovery phase, and Kyle chose Poison Ivy over Kyle Rayner and then moved on to the next turn.

It was Tim’s initiative on turn 6. Tim laid a resource, and Kyle followed up with two Justice League of Arkhams from his to force Tim to discard two cards. Kyle used Hope twice more to turn Justice League of Arkham face down in his resource row and took the last remaining cards from Tim’s hand. Tim recruited Genis-Vell ◊ Photon from his resource row into the support row and passed. Kyle activated Birthing Chamber and drew two cards, discarding a copy of Archangel, Angel. Kyle then used Enemy of My Enemy, discarding Beetle, and searched for a copy of Evil Star. Kyle recruited Evil Star to his front row and then activated Dr. Light to bring Hope back into play from his KO’d pile. Kyle used X-Corp: Amsterdam and searched his deck for another Justice League of Arkham, keeping it face-down in his resource row. Kyle then KO’d everyone he controlled except Hope and Evil Star to Evil Star’s effect to KO Genis-Vell ◊ Photon. Tim took 6 endurance loss from the effect, and Kyle used Hope to turn Justice League of Arkham face down and passed. As soon as he passed Tim showed Kyle a copy of Brother Eye from his hand, and Kyle went ahead and scooped giving Tim the win.

Winner: Tim Batow