This is the “bubble” match. On the last round of the day, one of these two players will be advancing to Day 2, to draft for nine rounds, while the other will miss out at the final cut.

 

Mike had to mulligan, while Florent was happy with his initial grip. Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl for Florent was the play, while Michael J had Boliver Trask, fetching Sentinel Mark II. The Invisible Woman got in a fight with Boliver, and they proved to be evenly matched.

 

Turn 2 brought Hounds of Ahab for Flores, which is typically a very powerful play for the Curve Sentinels deck. In this instance, though, it looked unlikely that a Hounds lock would occur, with a She-Thing coming from Frenchman Jeudon. The Fantastic Four have large enough bodies that the natural size of Sentinels, which often allows them to dominate the beatdown matches, is no longer an issue. For Flores to win most fights, it would require tricks.

 

Flores passed without attacks, and when Jeudon came in for a fight with She-Thing, on Boliver Trask, a Nasty Surprise proved to be exactly the trick that the New York native needed.

 

Turn 3 brought Thing, Ben Grimm for Florent, while Mike had Sentinel Mark II. With each of his characters technically outclassed in terms of size, the early game was very much the European's. Thing, Ben Grimm attacked Sentinel Mark II, and Mike used Search and Destroy (stunning Hounds of Ahab) to ensure that Florent's Thing would get stunned one way or another. Florent revealed the following cards to be in his hand.

 

 

She-Thing and Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl attacked into Sentinel Mark II and each player had a character stunned, though for Flores it was a 3-drop to Jeudon's 2.

 

Mike's perfect curve continued with Sentinel Mark V, and all of his characters lined up in the front row, ready for a fight. Jeudon showed that he had top-decked a 4-drop in the shape of Human Torch, Hotshot. While he was representing a virtual curve build of Fantastic Four thus far, there was definite potential for Jeudon to have a bit of Fantastic Fun very soon with all the equips he could potentially drop on the next turn, when Stretch would be available.

 

Flores chose to team attack Hotshot with Sentinel Mark II and Boliver Trask. He was burned for his trouble, but successfully took down the 4-drop. Sentinel Mark V then attacked Thing, who was reinforced and stunned in short order.

 

On turn 5 Florent's deck exploded, as Mr. Fantastic, Stretch entered the fray and he flipped up an Antarctic Research Base. First, a Fantasticar went on Human Torch, an Advanced Hardware on Mr. Fantastic, and a second car on Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. Michael simply went for Nimrod, who stood threateningly front and center with his repair counter. Now that Fantasticar was in play, ensuring that all of the Frenchman's characters had flight, the importance of a strong formation was lessened slightly, but not so much that it wasn't worth some thought from Flores. In the end, he went for the “big guys in front” box formation.

 

Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl flew in to attack Boliver Trask who was hiding behind Sentinel Mark V. A Nasty Surprise from Flores was a vain effort to keep the Frenchman's one drop from owning his own, but was thwarted by A Child Named Valeria. Mike settled for reinforcing to minimise the pain.

 

The 12 ATK/12 DEF Mr. Fantastic, Stretch barrelled into Sentinel Mark V without incident, and Hotshot attempted to do a number on Sentinel Mark II, only to be met with two power-ups, Reconstruction Program, and a further pump. All of a sudden, the attack was a trade, and Flores still had Nimrod to attack back with. Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl was the focus of this offence, which was stopped when Florent chose to remove her invisibility counter.

 

Turn 6 was not a good one for Flores. Without Bastion, he generated resource points and activated Genosha, fishing for his drop. He immediately drew Magneto, Master of Magnetism, but it looked increasingly likely that he would not have the opportunity to play it. He popped a second Genosha and was still without the dangerous 6-drop. A boosted Sentinel Mark V and a Boliver Trask for another was as good as it got for the New Yorker.

 

For Jeudon, Hulk was the chosen play, and with the cards on the board he was an 18 ATK/14 DEF flyer. The flight was unlikely to matter given Flores's aggressive front line setup, but still, you do not want to mess with the Hulk.

 

The first play for Flores in his attack step was to Overload Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, meeting a nifty move from Mr. Fantastic, Stretch that put the Hulk in a car that is just too small for him, giving Invisible Woman, The Invisible GirlAdvanced Hardware for just long enough for her to get a shot off, then taking it back to hold himself.

 

A boosted Sentinel Mark V attacked into Hotshot, who went for a little bit of burnination in response. When the dust settled, Flores sat on 15 to his opponent's 18. Nimrod took a swing at Hulk, with some help from Savage Beatdown. Hulk was powered up, and Flores chose to work for a bit more damage, with a second Savage Beatdown on his Nimrod. He tried to bait what would be an ineffectual Overload from the Frenchman, but Florent was not biting.

 

Boliver Trask and Sentinel Mark V tried to make it a board sweep with a team attack and two power-ups by virtue of Reconstruction Program, for just enough. On the attacks back, Florent went for Boliver with Mr. Fantastic, with a Signal Flare to fetch the final powerup he needed to reach Day 2.

 

Florent Jeudon wins. Mike Flores loses.