After eight rounds of Swiss, things are getting very exciting. There are four people on 7-1 who are pretty much guaranteed to make the Top 8, and eight people on 6-2 who have to win to be in. Joe and Florent are two of them, and to turn on the pressure a bit more, they’re playing for their first ever Vs. System premier Top 8. Both have played Vs. off and on, but never really seriously—although Florent attended the Pro Circuit in Amsterdam a while ago. A win here would mean a lot for both of them.

Florent is running the Fantastic Four combo deck and chose the odd initiative. Joe is playing Teen Titans. He showed it with an Optitron, fetching the deck’s mainstay Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective. True to style, he followed Robin up with a Hank Hall ◊ Hawk fetching Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. while Florent finally blinked and recruited a Thing, Ben Grimm with Unstable Molecules. USS Argus gave Joe some extra cards to look at, and he agonized over his decision a long time before finally taking a Teen Titans Go!. Terra rounded out his curve. Florent was digging for action with a Baxter Building that whiffed and then a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, to which Joe responded by stunning Thing with his Terra. Mr. Fantastic hopped onto The Pogo Plane before hiding behind the stunned Thing. Hank and Tim went after him, and Mr. Fantastic didn’t live up to his name, flipping 4 non-equipment cards before getting stunned and eventually KO’d.

Baxter Building finally hit, yielding a Fantasticar. Florent rebuilt with Mr. Fantastic, Stretch. Joe again responded to the recruit by stunning Thing with his Terra. Fantasticar went onto Monsieur Fantastique, and Florent could only watch Garth ◊ Tempest make his scheduled appearance. Mr. Fantastic went after Robin, but the little Tim that could refused to die—Dawn Granger stepped in front, courtesy of Heroic Sacrifice. Garth and Hank then stunned Mr. Fantastic, and Florent was forced to lose his Thing.

Red Star and Roy Harper ◊ Speedy put even more pressure on Florent, who had to come up with something good to turn the tide. Instead, he passed. This got his Mr. Fantastic stunned, again taking some extra collateral damage, and allowing Joe’s remaining forces to Press The Attack and finish the defenseless Florent off.

Joe Thomassin wins, and makes Top 8!