The Battle of the Tiny Titans was how I billed this to the players. Both of them glared at me for making vague short jokes, but in truth I was complementing their play skills. Stoll has two $10K Top 8s to his name, and Edwards is both the inventor of a host of notable combo decks and a runner-up finisher at Pro Circuit and $10K events.

Stoll won the die roll and chose to take the odd initiative. Tomar Tu was the first and only recruit on turn 2, getting in there to beat Edwards for 3. Guy Gardner, Warrior marked Stoll’s turn 3 recruit, but Edwards had the oh-so-saucy Dr. Light, Master of Holograms recruit step. He followed him with The Ring Has Chosen for Dead-Eye, discarding him and then immediately putting the Anti-Matter assassin into play. “Yeah, that seems pretty hot with Dr. Light,” noted Stoll. Tomar Tu mashed Dead-Eye, KO’ing them both, and then Guy roughed up the Doc. This made the endurance totals 45–38 in Stoll’s favor.

Edwards brought Frostbite into the fold on turn 4, bringing Dead-Eye back into his hidden area so that he had a chance to maul Guy’s piddly 3 DEF. Stoll recruited Ch’P. Frostbite traded with Ch’P, Dead-Eye traded KO’s with Guy Gardner, and suddenly Edwards looked to have a commanding board presence, even though he was 5 points of endurance behind Stoll.

Stoll under-dropped for turn 5, recruiting a Dr. Light of his own to go along with Black Hand and a returned Tomar Tu. He added a Chopping Block to Black Hand, but was somewhat dismayed when Edwards threw down Solomon Grundy as his 5-drop—a very large presence when you’ve effectively whiffed on turn 5. Ch’P attacked Solomon and stunned him with help from a construct Uppercut, but Lanterns in Love foiled an attempt to Chop Grundy. The door was now wide open for Edwards to wreck house, especially with Two-Face chilling in his hand for use two turns down the road.

“Awesome, I’m terrible. I probably wouldn’t have made that mistake if I’d formed my guys right . . . ”

Edwards called up Manhunter Lantern for his 6-drop, while Stoll played the worst Sinestro (though there isn’t really a bad one) in Sinestro, Lantern in Exile and formed them up as shown in the photo. The Manhunter demolished Tomar Tu, and Solomon Grundy crushed Black Hand beneath his boot. Edwards team attacked the rest of his squad into Sinestro, but not before Stoll moved the Manhunter to the hidden area. The stuns resolved, and the fact that Dead-Eye was part of the attack meant that he effectively traded Dead-Eye for a 6-drop—good beats. When the dust settled, the endurance totals were 17–16, still favoring Stoll. A problem then arose when the players realized belatedly that Dead-Eye can’t team attack. Whoops. Since play was already well past the point where you could take things back, Edwards received a warning and Stoll received a kick in the butt from his own foot, but the board state did not change.

Decisions, decisions for Edwards on turn 7. Stoll recruited Alan Scott on his turn, while Edwards had to choose from Two-Face and Krona—a pair that creates unpleasant situations for opponents everywhere. Since Stoll had the initiative, Krona was the correct choice. The anti-matter creator moved Alan Scott directly to the hidden area in the combat phase without passing go or collecting his $200. Damsel in Distress moved the Manhunter Lantern back into play, and Alan Scott mowed him down. Ch’P attacked Frostbite, taking her down after In Remembrance and Qwardian Pincer. That was all Stoll had, though, and Edwards mopped up on the return. After the match, both players said that the Dead-Eye play probably wouldn’t have mattered. Edwards apologized profusely for his moronity—an apology Stoll accepted.

Edwards 1 – Stoll 0