Round 10 saw an exciting pairing between two decks that were generating a lot of buzz this weekend. While we have already devoted plenty of space to Matthew Meyers and his all-Superman deck, Edison Soto has slipped quietly under the radar with his Gotham Knights/New Gods concoction.

Edison took the odd initiative and led off with Alfred Pennyworth. Matthew came up with Gangbuster on his second turn while Edison passed with no play. Turn three saw Edison tuck Huntress behind the butler. Matt weighed his options and announced, “You get the big one.” He discarded another Gangbuster and put Linda Danvers ◊ Supergirl behind his original Gangbuster.

Alfred fetched a Royal Decree and Huntress tracked down Gangbuster to work him over. Linda Danvers could not attack, because none of Edison’s characters were big enough to get on that ride.

Meyers had Superman, Clark Kent for the fourth turn, and he ducked behind Gangbuster while Danvers chilled in the support row. Edison recruited Big Bear and Alfred and flipped up Royal Decree. He left Alfred and Huntress in the support row with Big Bear in front of the manservant. Meyers sent Superman after Huntress, and then flipped up Super Speed, but Edison had the Fizzle. Big Bear got a shot in at Gangbuster.

Edison played his fifth resource and flipped up The Source, naming Super Speed. He looked at his hand, containing two copies of 3-drop Superman, one 8-drop Superman, and Kara Zor-El ◊ Supergirl. Matthew attempted to play Man of Tomorrow, but Edison had another Fizzle at the ready thanks to Alfred. Batman, Caped Crusader came down on turn 5.

Matthew had no attack and passed to Edison. Big Bear came after Gangbuster and Matthew used both Savage Beatdown and Overload in an attempt to stun Big Bear, but Edison flipped up Detective Work. Edison was able to stun the entire opposing team with only Huntress flipping down on his side.

Kara Zor-El ◊ Supergirl came to save Matthew and stood in front of Superman, Clark Kent. Edison recruited Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing and put everyone but Huntress up front. Kara came after Batman, and he exhausted to Bat-Signal up an Orion. Clark came after Huntress and she stunned. Edison sent Dick after Kara and after a power-up, Matthew only lost 2 endurance thanks to her ability. Big Bear went after Clark and Soto used a power-up, but Meyers had the Overload.  The endurance totals were 24 to 22 in favor of Soto.

Superman, False Son on Soto’s side of the table was met by Eradicator on Meyer’s. He safely nestled all three characters in the support row. Batman went after Superman, but Meyers protected him with Cover Fire. They bounced. Superman, False Son then went after Kara Zor-El. She stunned and Meyers lost 11 endurance. Edison did his math and tried to figure out how to best send Nightwing over, finally choosing to go after Superman, Clark Kent. Edison flipped a Savage Beatdown and Matt was forced to reinforce with Eradicator.

Turn 8 was a crowd pleaser—literally—when Matt played Superman, Man of Steel and Edison played Orion, Dog of War. “Oooh, new 8-drops in a feature match,” gasped one member of the peanut gallery.

Matt’s Eradicator went after Dick Grayson and Edison used Orion’s ability to remove the soul of Krypton from the attack. Matt sent his Man of Steel after Edison’s False Son, putting the endurance totals at 11 to 7 in Edison’s favor. Kara Zor-El went after Batman, and Edison pitched a Barbara Gordon to reinforce him. The endurance totals went to 6 to 7 in Matt’s favor.

The initiative swung around to Edison, and he used the Exchange to find a power-up for Dick Grayson. Matt pitched a card to Man of Steel’s ability and made Kara Zor-El invulnerable. He lost 2 endurance, and the score going into the final turn was 6 to 5 in Edison's favor.

Edison played both Big Barda and Big Bear on turn 10. Matthew could only boost out a Cir-El ◊ Supergirl and replenish his cosmic counters all the way around.

Big Bear and Big Barda came after Eradicator. Edison paid half his endurance to pump Big Barda. Because Eradicator was protecting Kara Zor-El, there was no breakthrough endurance loss, and Edison fell to zero when his Big Bear was stunned. Superman, False Son came after Kara and caused five breakthrough endurance loss after Matt discarded to use Man of Steel’s ability to make her invulnerable. Dick Grayson came after Cir-El ◊ Supergirl, and Matt went down to -8 endurance.

Matthew checked to see that there was nothing he could do to stop Orion from removing his Man of Steel from any attack, but there was not. He sighed and extended his hand. “That was one of the best matches I have ever played.”

Matt urged Soto to finish strong in the final round. It looked like only one player with three losses could make it into the Top 8, and Meyer was hoping for any edge. “Win this next one, keep my breakers good, and we’ll bring these two new decks to the Top 8.”