The first confrontation occurred in Stuart Bloom's comic book store, when Cooper discovered that his arch-enemy was participating in the Mystic Warlords Of Ka'a card tournament. After discovering this, he immediately, much to Rajesh Koothrappali's delight, signed up to form a team with Koothrappali, who had been asking for his assistance, Cooper's eidetic memory and known habit of anticipating the outcome of a game being a decisive advantage to win the prize, $500.