In the penultimate round of the tournament, there are so many of my friends playing for Top 8 that it is inevitable that somebody won't make it. Both Josh Wiitanen and Vidi Wijaya needed two wins to get through, and both seemed confident in the quality of their decks. One would stand and one would fall at this hurdle. Vidi already has Pro Circuit Top 8s, but each of the pair is good enough that he could seriously compete for the big money on Sunday.

Josh had a mulligan, but followed it up on the initiative with his favorite play in Avengers Draft: turn 1 Basilisk. For Vidi, it was Ape X with no search, and there was a mutual stun on the attacks.

“Josh, you're so masterful,” said Wiitanen to himself, following his draw.

Vidi recruited Erik Josten ◊ Atlas, while Josh revealed that he had drawn into Shape, creating quite the aggressive start. In the ensuing attacks, Vidi lost his Ape and enough endurance to take him to 43, compared to 48 for Wiitanen.

A Hibernaculum found Nighthawk for Wiitanen on turn 3, and he played Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight along with an Airskimmer on Shape. Meanwhile, Vidi put his counter on Atlas and recruited Helmut Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo, Tactician, who tactically hid behind Atlas. This didn't do a whole lot of good, as Basilisk flew into the 3-drop with some help from Heroes in Reserve, which Josh followed up with Shape running right over Atlas. Vidi was on just 31 to Josh's 47. Wijaya lost his 3-drop that wasn't readying anyway, and it was on to turn 4.

With the initiative, Vidi played Jolt and a Thunder Jet for his increasingly large Atlas. Josh's recruit was Blue Eagle, who could potentially be very powerful, though while Josh still had one card in hand, it was average at best. If Josh could get rid of that last card, then Vidi's board could well get wrecked. Atlas traded with Shape, in the battle of the growing characters. Jolt then took down Black Knight to take Wiitanen to 39 to Vidi's 29.

On the swing back, Josh showed that his last card was another Hibernaculum, which he used to get a power-up. He attacked to kill Jolt and then faced the tough decision of who to recover going into turn 5. Pym Laboratories brought back Black Knight, and Shape ultimately hit the KO'd pile. Vidi was on just 19, and with the initiative, it was possible that Josh could take it down on turn 5, given how dominating his board of three characters was to his opponent's single Atlas.

The turn 5 recruit from Wiitanen was She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell, who, while not quite Nuke, could still beat for hefty amounts. Vidi's recruits were Melter, Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight, and Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi. He even had Unfair Advantage to allow his Mimi to burn Josh a little. Having shown only that single plot twist over the course of the entire game, it looked pretty clear that Vidi's draw was far from the best. He confided that he had made a mistake in not playing Thunder Jet earlier in order to take down Basilisk to ensure a better board position. He scooped up his cards in the face of Wiitanen's attacks and showed that the Unfair Advantage was his only plot twist for the entire game.

Un. Fair.

Josh Wiitanen wins, and is one win off Top 8!