I'm lucky I made it here. When coverage coordinator Toby Wachter told me to “go cover Barnes,” I thought he meant I was supposed to interview Gary Wise.

The two men who were at this table are here because of skill, not luck. Alex Shvartsman, having drafted what he described as “probably the best MK deck I've ever had,” put those lofty expectations to the test in round 16 against Michael Barnes. Both players need three more wins in order to be virtually assured of a Top 8, and I'm sure that each competitor would like nothing better than to start chipping away at that total as soon as possible.

Barnes won the roll and took the odd initiative, but in the early turns of the game, that was about all he'd win. The mulligan-fresh Shvartsman opened with Dagger, Child of Light, insuring that he could get Midnight Sons any time he wanted, and then added Caretaker before Barnes had so much as caught his breath. Ahead 50-44 and leaning on the initiative pedal with both feet, the store-owner led with Elektra, Elektra Natchios, revealing Iron Fist, a chilling vision of things to come.

The pressure was on Barnes to make a play, and he did—the man didn't make it all the way to round 16 by just sitting back and plucking the banjo. He had Orphan, but Alex smashed in with Elektra and used Caretaker to make the carnage a sure thing.

It was 47-36 Shvartsman (and with, it should be noted, Caretaker in the unfamiliar role of all-star), when Barnes went into his initiative on turn 4 with a chance to turn things around. Barnes made La Nuit, continuing his trend of high-DEF X-Statix men, but Shvartsman fired back with Bullseye, Deadly Marksman. He had no plot twist to discard when the turn opened, but the crafty veteran returned Dagger and went to find the Midnight Sons he had mulliganned away back in the pre-Caretaker days. With that slick play, Shvartsman was able to avoid missing his 4-drop completely, which would have taken all of the pressure off of the dangerous Barnes. With his turn 4 play trumped handily by the consensus “best 4-drop in the set,” Barnes went into the think tank.

When he emerged, Barnes sent both of his men into Bullseye, then powered up La Nuit to keep the stun-back headed down the curve. Shvartsman, content to trade stuns and clear the rapidly cluttering board, retorted with a 10/3, Caretaker-boosted Elektra . . . but Barnes had Dead Weight waiting, KO'ing everyone but La Nuit and making his 4-drop a 6/13. The play prevented 5 endurance loss, but Barnes would have ended his turn with just La Nuit in any case, so he may have used Dead Weight too early. Life totals were 40-33 for Shvartsman going into turn 5. (They would have been 40-28 without the Dead Weight.)

Shvartsman fired out with his 5-drop Punisher, still hitting his curve. Barnes had a 5-drop Vivisector to match, but with Bullseye waiting to attack up the curve, it was a meager play, and Barnes knew it. The wolfman hid behind La Nuit, and Punisher wasted no time in crashing into Barnes's 4-drop (with help from MVP Caretaker). Vivisector reinforced. Bullseye went up the curve to make wolf-kebabs, and Shvartsman was well in control with character advantage and a 13-point endurance edge.

Barnes's body language was negative going into turn 6. He was in trouble, and appeared to have few options. After some deep thought, he laid a resource and under-dropped with Dead Girl, while Shvartsman got utterly disgusting and played Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man. It looked like the end, especially since Shvartsman's resource row was filled with high-octane gas. For Barnes to take the match after being outdropped that badly, he would need more than perfect draws—intervention from a higher power, perhaps.

Barnes went through the motions and sent Dead Girl into Punisher, then played Day of the Dead, pumping up Dead Girl's attack for the mutual stun, which he then paid 10 endurance to avoid. With the path clear, Vivisector whacked Caretaker for 10, bringing endurance totals to 19-13.

Then, the moment of truth. Shvartsman's Spidey went after Dead Girl with a Head Shot for backup, and she was sacrificed to X-Statix HQ, gaining Barnes 5 endurance and resetting the attack. Barnes only had Vivisector left, so the haughty hairball was the target of the next Spidey assault, and though Barnes tried to pump up his last character for a mutual stun, Shvartsman had Bring the Pain to drop him into the negatives for a match win.

The two shook hands, and Shvartsman offered Barnes some encouragement. “Only three more.”

Barnes knew just what he meant. He still needed three, and the look in his eyes told me that he wasn't anywhere close to giving up.

Winner: Alex Shvartsman