Eugene Harvey is a player who needs no introduction. With multiple PC money finishes (including a Top 8 with his innovative X-Stall deck at PC SoCal) and the brains behind many of team TOGIT’s decks, Eugene has put his name on the map as one of the top players in the game. His opponent in the 5-1 bracket is no slouch himself. Ben Stoll, hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, already has three $10K finishes of fourth place or better. Both players are running GLEE; Harvey’s deck is a more off-curve variation with Shock Troops, while Stoll’s is more on-curve and willpower-centric, with Ch’p and Oa.

Stoll won the option and selected the even initiatives. Both players kept their initial four, and Harvey kicked off the action with Arisia, which Ben matched with one of his own. The characters double-stunned, and it was on turn 2.

Ben played Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, fetching a copy of Sweeping Up. He continued with the KO’ing plan, equipping a Chopping Block on Arisia. Eugene had the option of playing Olapet, but instead decided to play Roy Harper ◊ Speedy. Ben attacked Arisia with Kyle, but Eugene had Shock Troops. Ben flipped up Oa and The Ring Has Chosen out of his resource row, fetching Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, and used the Oa to pump Kyle. Not wanting to have Arisia hit by a Chopping Block, Eugene took the opportunity to use Speedy on Ben’s Arisia. Both Kyle and Arisia were stunned, and play went to turn 3.

Eugene had a Dr. Light of his own on the third turn, but instead recruited a boosted Olapet, who brought G’Nort along for the ride. Ben recruited Dr. Light and brought Arisia back from the KO’d pile. Eugene’s first attack was Arisia into Arisia, and Ben tried to blunt the attack with Helping Hands. Eugene had the power-up, and between the power-up and G’Nort, he was able to take Arisia down. Eugene then went for a risky attack, sending Olapet into Dr. Light. Olapet was a 4 ATK/4 DEF from G’Nort and Arisia, so a power-up would blunt the attack and stun Olapet. Since Stoll had to search out Dr. Light on the previous turn, the odds seemed pretty low that he would have another copy. However, Stoll did have the power-up, stunning Olapet while saving himself. Eugene’s last attack was G’Nort into Kyle Rayner. Ben thought for a long time, perhaps considering Sweeping Olapet Up, but elected not to, and both characters were stunned. Harvey lost G’Nort during recovery, while Ben lost Kyle.

On turn 4, Ben recruited Ch’p, who looked pretty threatening with Oa, and got Kyle Rayner back with Dr. Light, fetching a Chopping Block. Ben then flipped Birthing Chamber, drew a card, and equipped Kyle with the Block. Eugene played Dr. Light, getting back G’Nort, then flipped a Birthing Chamber of his own, drawing a card. Ben started combat with Kyle Rayner on G’Nort, and Harvey had a power-up to force the double stun. Ben then sent Arisia into Harvey’s Arisia, and Harvey had a Shock Troops. Ben had no play, and his Arisia went down. With Harvey no longer able to reinforce, Ben took the opportunity to hit Eugene hard, attacking Olapet with Ch’p and using Oa to push Ch’p up to 12 ATK. Eugene used his Olapet to enable a Sweeping Up, sending Kyle back to Ben’s hand. Eugene had no attacks of his own and lost Olapet during recovery.

On turn 5, Eugene played Kyle Rayner, fetching an Ole!, and brought Olapet back with Dr. Light. Now at the six character threshold, Eugene used his Birthing Chamber and discarded a Prison Planet. Digging furiously for characters, Eugene flipped another Birthing Chamber, KO’ing his first one, and drew two more cards. Eugene then played Major Disaster and Henry King Jr. ◊ Brainwave and equipped Chopping Block on G’Nort. Ben had Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps, and attempted to use his Birthing Chamber. Eugene tried to KO Arisia with Roy Harper ◊ Speedy to negate the effect, but Ben responded with a Dr. Light activation, returning Kyle Rayner, who searched out a Helping Hands. Now back to four characters when the Birthing Chamber resolved, Ben drew a card.

Eugene attacked Kyle with Major Disaster, and after a Helping Hands from Ben and an Ole! from Eugene, Kyle went down. Then, Eugene attacked Guy Gardner with Olapet. Eugene was under the impression that Olapet would get additional willpower (and therefore help from Arisia), but flipping the second Birthing Chamber had put Eugene back to only four resources. Eugene lacked any effects to get him out of this embarrassing attack, and Olapet was stunned while Gardner was unharmed. Eugene then sent Arisia and Kyle Rayner on a team attack into Gardner, which was successful, with Gardner and Arisia both stunned. Eugene then attacked Dr. Light with Brainwave and used Ole! to push him through, which worked, resulting in another double stun. Ben was then able to attack back with Ch’p into G’Nort, and used Oa to push through even more breakthrough. Eugene took the opportunity to Chop Gardner, although it looked like it was too late. Ben’s sixth turn of Tomar Tu, G’Nort and Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814 was enough to get the concession.

Ben Stoll wins, 1-0