Sundholm took his seat, and casually asked Reeves, “You play with Gabe and those guys, right?” Reeves confirmed. “That’s a good crew. How are they doing? I know you are doing well!” Sundholm was his normal very kind self.

“How large is your group? Cause you’re IG, right?” Sundholm is always full of conversational questions.

“Nah, not quite. I dunno, there’s about six of us. I mean, I’m from Texas and they’re from Indiana.”

Sundholm won the roll and opted for odd initiatives. “I’ll ship this hand.” Reeves held his. “Game on” declared Sundholm.

He laid a resource and recruited Salakk. Reeves recruited Shadow Creatures, Sundholm attacked, and it was 49-50.

“What do I do here . . .” mused Reeves. “I should show you my hand for some help, cause I really don’t know. Geeze Louise, I’m sorry.” Reeves seemed a touch embarrassed at his delay in play—it was early on in the game.

“That’s fine, just be careful of the time. I have no problem with people taking time if they need to,” Sundholm replied. Reeves settled on using Emerald Dawn to bring up Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. He lost his Shadow Creatures, but fetched Helping Hands.

Sundholm recruited Major Disaster, gave Salakk a Light Armor, and passed. Rayner attacked Salakk, leaving the totals at 49 to 46, and that was the turn.

Dr. Light, Master of Holograms came down on Sundholm’s side of the table next. He formed up in an L, protecting Salakk with Major Disaster, and Reeves brought up a Dr. Light of his own. He activated him to bring up Shadow Creatures, had Rayner use Light as a human shield, and passed.

The Major attacked Dr. Light, and in response Reeves flipped Hard-Traveling Heroes to draw a card. Sundholm flipped Trial by Sword but Reeves had his Helping Hand. Sundholm flipped another Trial by Sword, and Reeves dropped a Helping Hand from his (ironically enough) hand. Disaster bounced off of Light, an example of angry futility in motion.

Dr. Light attacked Kyle Rayner, but Reeves used The Ring Has Chosen to fetch a copy of Kiman before letting Rayner stun. It was 43-49, and Sundholm sent Salakk into Dr. Light for the double-stun, leaving the endurance totals at 40-48. Reeves lost Kyle Rayner, Salakk and Dr. Light were recovered, and play moved to turn 4.

Reeves had control of the initiative and, after playing a resource, made the classic move of bringing Rayner back with Dr. Light. He then recruited the Kiman he had searched for earlier. Sundholm recruited Rot Lop Fan: “Your friend and mine!” he said with a gleeful smile.

“He’s no friend of mine!” balked Reeves, knowing what Rot Lop Fan could do to his strategy.

“He’s in here out of respect for that deck,” said Sundholm. “That’s why we play him.”

Shadow Creatures attacked Salakk, and Reeves powered up. This time it was Sundholm’s turn to use Helping Hand, and the Creatures stunned while Salakk remained upright and ready for battle. Kiman then swung into Disaster for the stun, and Kyle Rayner took down Salakk in a double stun.

Sundholm’s Rot Lop Fan smashed Dr. Light, opening Reeves up to a direct attack from Dr. Light. It was 28 to 41, with FTN’s headline player in the lead. By the end of the turn, it was Salakk, Dr. Light, and Rot Lop Fan facing down Dr. Light’s doppelganger and Kiman. Sundholm had the initiative on the next turn to boot.

He played a resource for turn 5, recruited Tomar Tu and G’Nort, and then spent his last 2 points on Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern. He fetched a Light Armor and gave it to Tomar Tu, who promptly guarded G’Nort. “He’ll defend his little buddy . . . ‘Hi little buddy! Hi!’” Sundholm wiggled his cards in pantomime.

“Hands, Trials, Light Armors . . . huh.” Reeves was intrigued.

Dr. Light brought back Major Disaster to complete a three-by-two formation, and Sundholm passed the build.

Reeves needed a miracle. He activated Dr. Light to bring back Rayner, used The Ring Has Chosen to fetch G’Nort, and then recruited the puppy, a Shadow Creatures, and Kreon. He formed up with G’Nort behind Dr. Light with all three Green Lanterns in row across his back rank.

Sundholm announced the intent to attack with Tomar Tu into G’Nort. Reeves responded before the attack was declared legal, using Kiman’s effect to bring Tomar’s defense down by 3. He then paid the 1 endurance to stun Tomar Tu, keeping G’Nort safe. It was a very smart move that might have saved the turn for him. With the score being where it was, he needed to keep the game going for another turn.

Salakk attacked G’Nort next, but Reeves flipped Qward, and moments later, Salakk was stunned while Reeves was left with nothing but Kyle Rayner exhausted. Rot Lop Fan attacked G’Nort and Rayner reinforced. Both Kyles then clashed and Reeves flipped Helping Hand to bounce the attack. Sundholm paid 2 endurance to ring Rot Lop Fan’s bell, and attacked the Shadow Creatures to take them down—all in all, with time almost run out, it was a solid turn of damage control for Reeves.

22 to 36 for Sundholm.

Reeves played a resource, recruited Evil Star, and then activated Dr. Light to bring back Kyle Rayner. Rayner brought the lovin’, retrieving a copy of Lanterns in Love for Reeves—he’d already seen all his copies of Helping Hand.

At this point it was Sundholm’s build, and he made an unfortunate mistake. Already controlling a copy of Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, he attempted to Dr. Light for another. Reeves spoke up before it could become a major problem, but the end result was that the play was legal despite being useless, and Dr. Light exhausted without bringing back a character. Time was called at this point.

Kyle Rayner attacked Tomar Tu. Reeves needed to both do a great deal of endurance damage and neutralize Sundholm so he couldn’t swing back, while all Sundholm needed to do was reinforce and wait a turn without drawing horribly. Tomar went down, but Reeves would have his work cut out for him. He sent Kreon after G’Nort and Sundholm opted not to reinforce with Salakk. It was 30 to 20, in Sundholm’s favor.

Dr. Light took down Kyole Rayner and Salakk now reinforced. Reeves had nothing left to attack with aside from G’Nort and Evil Star, so Evil Star shot Salakk for a whopping total of 12 endurance loss – it was now 16 to 20 with Reeves leading!

Sundholm sent Rot Lop Fan into G’Nort, and Reeves went down to 13 endurance. By the end of the turn, Sundholm had Dr. Light, Tomar Tu, Major Disaster, and Rot Lop Fan to Reeves’s Evil Star, Dr. Light, G’Nort, Kreon, and Kiman. Reeves now had a far stronger field presence, but Sundholm would control the initiative on turn 7! All he needed was the search capability that had eluded him for the entire match.

“I’m going to opt not to lay a resource,” announced Sundholm. So much for the hope for a search card. “This time I can actually play this guy.” He recruited Kyle Rayner, and used his effect to get a Helping Hand. Dr. Light brought up G’Nort, and that was it for Sundholm.

Reeves laid down a resource, recruited Sinestro, Enemy of the Corps, and then used Dr. Light to bring back Kyle Rayner. Kyle got him a Breaking Ground, and Reeves formed up with Evil Star, Sinestro, and Dr. Light protecting G’Nort, Kyle Rayner, and Kreon respectively.

“You drew quite poorly the past two turns,” observed Reeves.

“Ohhh yeah,” admitted Sundholm, for whom such an admission in a losing situation is rare.

“You totally had it, and then drew nothing.” Sundholm nodded his head in agreement. He’s not one to cop out over luck, but even he knew it was an obvious case of poor draws.

Still, he fought on.

Sundholm’s Kyle Rayner attacked Reeves’s, but a final Helping Hand kept Reeves’s safe while Sundholm’s stunned. Tomar Tu attempted to attack G’Nort, but Kiman again activated, and a single point of endurance sealed Tomar’s fate. At that point, Sundholm offered Reeves the handshake. A commanding early and mid-game fall to Fortune’s ever-turning wheel and unfortunate luck! Neil Reeves steals the win!