Michael Barnes and his Xavier's Dream deck officially tore up the Constructed format this weekend. After Day 1, he was on top of the standings with an 11-1 record, and once he survived the Draft day to make it into the Top 8 at seventh seed, it was time to let the smashings begin anew. His first victim in the Top 8 was German robot mastermind Hans Joachim Höh, taking Herr Höh down in 3 games to push through to the semifinals.

 

Adam Bernstein is a surprise name to see here in the semifinals. He's another of the six Curve Sentinels players who made it to the Top 8, and he dispatched one of the best players in the world (Vidianto Wijaya) in the quarterfinals in a tense three-game match that went right down to the wire. Bernstein won that match by 1 endurance point after Wijaya made a mistake, and he now finds himself facing down a man who had yet to drop a game to a Curve Sentinels deck coming into the elimination rounds.

 

Barnes opted not to attack on turn 2, saying, “I'm not going to win by attacking, so I'll just avoid that formality.” The board for turn 3 was two early GCPD Officers and Alfred Pennyworth for Barnes, and a Sentinel Mark II for Bernstein. Micro-Sentinels on turn 4 after a Mark V attack sent the cops packing, and suddenly Barnes was struggling for men to fill his roster. Adam brought forth Nimrod the Flamboyant Mutant Hunter on turn 5, hitting his curve for three consecutive turns after missing Boliver Trask and the Hounds of Ahab on the first two. Alfred played gopher before Barnes's build, grabbing Bat-Signal from his deck and then Signaling that it was time for another Humble Manservant to enter Barnes's hand. After the turn 5 attacks, it was 49-37 in favor of Bernstein.

 

Turn 6 marked the start of Barnes's combo—about two turns later than when he'd have liked—but suddenly Longshot and two Cops were in play, Marvel Team-up was in full effect, Xavier's Dream settled over the land, and Total Anarchy reigned. Bernstein recruited Bastion to his squad on turn 6 and laid the wood, dropping Barnes to 29. Magneto, Master of Magnetism showed up at the party right on time, as well, making a turn 7 entrance and giving Bernstein a curve of five robots to Barnes's three Cops. Barnes looked at the board and concluded that, even in Anarchy, the evil robots remained supreme . . . at least for game 1.

 

Barnes's lack of an X-Men character spelled his demise that game, since his combo required at least one around to go off.

 

Bernstein 1 - Barnes 0

 

Both players tossed back their openers for game 2. Bernstein recruited Boliver to the cause on turn 1, causing Barnes to say, “I was afraid that might happen.” Barnes brought forth Longshot, activating him after the attack and saying, “Total Anarchy and GCPD Officer,” but whiffing, dropping both players to 49. The GCPD entered the game for Barnes on turn 2 and immediately used the Bat-Signal to tell Alfred it was time to come out and play. Bernstein played his trump and recruited Hounds of Ahab to the fray, but then missed his turn 3-drop, causing Barnes to perk up a bit as a window of opportunity opened. The turn 3 attacks wiped out a Cop, but Barnes used another Bat-Signal to put Beast in his hand, and turn 4 gave him the combo. Barnes dropped to -7 on turn 6, but it didn't matter because the combo was in full effect and gave him the win at the end of his recovery phase.

 

As the Curve deck currently exists, it has to kill Barnes on turn 5 or Xavier's Dream will take it home . . . provided the combo goes into effect on time.

 

Bernstein 1 - Barnes 1

 

Bernstein's game 3 started just like game 2, with Boliver Trask for Hounds of Ahab. Barnes changed it up a bit by recruiting Alfred on turn 1, then a Cop and Alfred again on turn 2, but not before using the butler to search out Total Anarchy from his deck. Bernstein had the Mark II this game to complicate Barnes's plans. Barnes used Alfred, but Bernstein prevented the effect with his Mark II, discarding a second one.

 

“Here I was hoping you didn't have one in your hand, and you had two.”

 

Michael's play slowed considerably this game, perhaps indicating that he would need some good draws or unimpeded tutoring of plot twists with Alfred to get the combo online in time not to die. Micro-Sentinels at the end of the attack phase proved to be a wrecking ball, sending Longshot, Alfred, and a cop to the discard pile. Bernstein kept the pressure on, hitting his curve with a Mark V and using his Hounds to wipe Alfred from existence. At the end of turn 5, Barnes flipped over the Dream, adding a counter to it and dropping to 16 in the process. Before Bernstein's attack, two Pleasant Distractions shut down a Mark V and a fresh Bastion, giving Bernstein 13 able-bodied ATK on the board. Fizzle discarding Alfred wiped out a Savage Beatdown from Adam, but Mojoverse and a Reconstruction Program gave the attacking team 2 more ATK, pushing the margin to 1 more point of endurance for Barnes. Sadly, Bernstein was out of gas, leaving Barnes with 1 endurance point and holding on by a fingernail.

 

Michael went to the recovery step, paused for a second, and threw his hand on the board, revealing three plot twists and nothing else. Barnes then congratulated Bernstein on yet another win by a razor thin margin and shook Adam's hand, admitting he was beaten because he lacked the one extra character necessary to activate Xavier's Dream and finish the job.

 

Adam was clearly relieved to pull it out.

 

“I needed one more character, If I had the extra character in my hand, it's game.”

 

Bernstein 2 - Barnes 1