“I'm happy that it's Curve Sentinels. I'm not happy that it's Hans Joachim Höh.”

 

Michael Barnes is one of the wild cards of this Pro Circuit. His Xavier's Dream deck is a refreshing change from the standard and has been smashing robots left, right, and center all weekend. Hans Joachim Höh needs little introduction. He has won more money playing Sentinels before this weekend than any other player in the game. His record includes two $10K championships and many more $10K Top 8 finishes. I have dubbed him as the best Sentinels player in the world and haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise. If anyone can overcome the matchup disadvantage of Sentinels against Xavier's Dream, it is Höh.

 

Michael won the die roll and elected to take the even initiative in Game 1. Both players decided to mulligan. For Hans, there were few plays that could break up Barnes's combo, so it was crucial to get off to a strong start.

 

A strong start is exactly what he had, with Boliver Trask fetching Hounds of Ahab on turn 1. Barnes recruited GCPD Officer and passed. Both characters hit each other a little, and then it was on to turn 2.

 

The American's recruits were Alfred Pennyworth and Longshot. The now-familiar Hounds of Ahab came out for Höh. With the initiative, Barnes passed on any attacks.

 

When Boliver attacked Longshot, the mutant activated to look for Avalon Space Station and GCPD Officer. This is what he found: Beast, Bat-Signal, Xavier's Dream, Xavier's Dream.

 

Hounds of Ahab attacked Alfred, and all Barnes could do was reinforce to keep down the damage. Alfred and Boliver recovered, and it was on to turn 3.

 

Hans had Sentinel Mark II on turn 3, eliciting an Alfred activation in response to fetch Fizzle for Michael. With the Sentinel Mark II on the board, Hans had every potential to shut down Barnes's search engine, so if he didn't already have much of his combo, he could have trouble getting there before being beaten down.

 

Barnes played Bat-Signal, exhausting GCPD Officer to fetch Lacuna, the team-up fetching girl. He recruited her and Alfred Pennyworth, setting up with the officer protecting the new girl.

 

Hans had much to consider. What did the activation of Longshot naming Avalon Space Station telegraph about the elements of the Xavier's Dream combo already in his opponent's grip?

 

Boliver attacked Alfred and achieved a double-stun. Barnes looked sanguine about his butler getting beaten, not letting any tells out on which characters he deemed to be the most valuable. Hounds of Ahab attacked and stunned GCPD Officer for Hans. Finally, Sentinel Mark II attacked Lacuna. She activated in response, replacing a Xavier's Dream with Marvel Team-Up. When you consider how two copies of the Dream had been revealed already by Longshot, this was a strong telegraph that the fourth copy was in the resource row as well. The attack resolved, and during the recovery phase, Hans flipped Micro-Sentinels, leaving Lacuna as Michael's only character.

 

On turn 4, Barnes set a resource and recruited Longshot first. He attempted to activate him but was wary of Sentinel Mark II. He was right to be wary, as Hans countered with the robot. With no further recruits, Barnes appeared to be in trouble. Hans looked slightly weak as well, replacing Boliver Trask to fetch and recruit a second copy of Sentinel Mark II rather than recruiting a 4-drop. It's possible that Höh felt that having greater potential to counter powerful abilities was more important than having a larger body in this match, though it seems unlikely.

 

Barnes passed on his attacks, and Boliver came back at Barnes's Longshot, getting the double-stun. He had no further attacks. At the end of the turn, Lacuna fell to Micro-Sentinels.

 

On turn 5, Hans went back on curve with Nimrod, answering the question about his thoughts on the virtue of swarming out in this matchup. Michael, on the other hand, had a few saucier plays. First, he flipped Xavier's Dream and Total Anarchy. These two cards would allow him to ensure that at least he would never have any stunned characters when the Dream checked its win condition. He then recruited GCPD Officer and flipped Marvel Team-Up. With both characters in the back row, he passed.

 

The race was now on. Could the German produce enough damage in the next two turns to win the game? Three turns wouldn't be fast enough, because when Xavier's Dream gets three counters, it wins the game before endurance totals are checked. With no way of removing ongoing plot twists, Hans would have to go aggro or consider Overloading his large drops to ensure a stunned character. When your only large character has a repair counter, that isn't easy to do. Barnes's Fizzle was also less than helpful.

 

Sentinel Mark II attacked GCPD Officer, and Longshot attempted to activate in response. Hans countered with his other Sentinel Mark II, and then the Officer Bat-Signalled before KO'ing. Nimrod attacked through the mutant, and the rest of the German's team went to the face. Xavier's Dream got a counter.

 

On turn 6, Michael Barnes passed without a recruit. Hans had no chance of playing Nasty Surprise on his opponent's characters to stun his own. That didn't matter though. When Höh brought out Bastion, he could clearly attack for enough. In the face of the scary 6-drop, Barnes scooped.

 

Hans Joachim Höh wins Game 1.

 

“You lost your first game to Sentinels this tournament?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Let's see if we can make it another,” said Höh with his trademark cheeky smile.

 

Barnes chose to take the even initiative once more, and this time, both players kept their opening hands. Höh's hand must have been pretty good, but it didn't have Boliver Trask on turn 1. Michael had the GCPD Officer and attacked for about the only damage he has done all tournament. Much like Ghandi, he wins without attacking. On turn 2, Barnes played Bat-Signal for Alfred Pennyworth. He recruited the butler and Longshot. He teamed up immediately, getting a smile from Höh, who only had Hounds of Ahab.

 

Longshot activated, naming Avalon Space Station and GCPD Officer. He hit in spectacular fashion, with two copies of GCPD Officer and one copy each of Avalon Space Station and A Death in the Family. Hans attacked into Longshot, and Barnes remained just ahead on endurance totals.

 

On turn 3, Hans had no recruit, and Longshot hit again when he called Fizzle and GCPD Officer. Fizzle, GCPD Officer, Longshot, and Beast showed up. Hans jokingly checked Barnes's cards for marks and cursed his luck.

 

Barnes activated Alfred to fetch Total Anarchy. Hounds of Ahab attacked and stunned Alfred, and at the end of the turn, Barnes flipped Total Anarchy.

 

On turn 4, Barnes played a resource and used Alfred to fetch Pleasant Distraction. He then recruited Beast and Alfred and immediately flipped Xavier's Dream, netting a thumbs-up from Höh.

 

“I don't think I'm winning this one.”

 

All Höh had that turn was Sentinel Mark II, and it looked suspiciously like the score would be 1-1 soon. The Sentinel Mark II was hit by Pleasant Distraction, and Barnes passed. Hounds of Ahab attacked a GCPD Officer, who was reinforced and KO'd to Total Anarchy. In the recovery step, Xavier's Dream got its first counter, and Longshot and GCPD Officer got a counter each from Micro-Sentinels.

 

On turn 5, Höh recruited Nimrod and passed. After attempting to activate Longshot and having it countered, Barnes passed also. Attacks from Hans did minimal amounts of damage as Barnes reinforced everyone. He fetched Alfred with Bat-Signal using GCPD Officer. With 38 endurance to his opponent's 47 and two counters on Xavier's Dream following the discard of Alfred to it, Michael Barnes was sitting pretty.

 

He passed on his recruits on turn 6, while Hans brought out Bastion, which would have a hard time winning the game for him when his opponent could win before life totals were checked for the turn. An Overload on his own character would be the only hope, and with Barnes holding a copy of Fizzle, that seemed unlikely. Even if Hans did manage to stun one of his own characters, Barnes may well have had A Death in the Family to ensure that his opponent didn't sneak the victory.

 

Höh attacked with Bastion on GCPD Officer and played Nasty Surprise on his opponent's character. This was his best chance at having a character stunned, and it relied heavily on pushing through Fizzle. He played a third copy of that card, declaring it a very good card in the matchup. Barnes then played Flame Trap to stun his own character.

 

“You're not allowed to foil my plans! I want to win with the bad cards!” declared Höh.

 

“You just said that it was a good card,” retorted Barnes, feeling pretty good about his position.

 

At the start of the recovery phase, Barnes discarded Dazzler to Xavier's Dream, which brought the score in games to 1-1.

 

For the deciding game, it was up to Höh to choose what initiative he wanted, and he tried to get a read on his opponent as to which would be favorable. Eventually, he settled on the odd initiative, which had served him well in Game 1.

 

Overload, Bastion, Micro-Sentinels, and Sentinel Mark II met Hans in his first four, causing him much deliberation. Eventually, he shipped them back, no doubt hoping to see Boliver.

 

He wasn't forthcoming, and Höh had no recruits on turn 1, while Barnes had Alfred Pennyworth.

 

Turn 2 brought GCPD Officer for Barnes, allowing Alfred to zip off to fetch Total Anarchy. Michael replayed Alfred and passed. Hans had Hounds of Ahab. When Barnes passed without attacks, the dark doggies ran into Alfred, who was reinforced. While Höh's deck was the beatdown, he wasn't doing very much of it.

 

With his third resource, Hans had only a second copy of Hounds of Ahab. For Barnes, this meant he could get away with another safe activation of Alfred. The butler fetched Xavier's Dream, the win condition of the combo deck that amusingly eschews pacifism by ensuring that all of its characters die. He re-recruited Alfred and brought out Longshot to stand next to him. A Marvel Team-Up flipped up, and suddenly, the comic book crossover was alive. What would a mutant Alfred Pennyworth look like? I'm not sure. I'd like to think he would have tentacles. That would be cool.

 

Hounds of Ahab attacked Longshot, and he activated in response. Hans responded to this by playing Nasty Surprise and Overload on him, but the effect still resolved. Barnes named Fizzle and GCPD Officer. When two cops, a Fizzle, and a Bat-Signal showed up, Höh rolled his eyes. It was going to be a tough game. The Hounds of Ahab readied as there was now no defender, and then they attacked GCPD Officer. He exhausted to a Bat-Signal, fetching another character for Barnes. About the only positive things about the turn for Hans was that he stunned his opponent's entire board and Micro-Sentinels would ensure that Barnes would only have a GCPD Officer going into turn 4. Make no mistake though, the German was on the ropes. Barnes flipped up Total Anarchy and drew for turn 4.

 

The turn 4 recruits for Barnes were GCPD Officer and Beast, who made Xavier's Dream cost a little less so it was playable at this point. The combo was set. Höh had Sentinel Mark II, but it was just too late. Barnes had no attacks, and those from the German seemed a little unlikely to win the game for him now. Hounds of Ahab attacked into GCPD Officer, who was reinforced by another copy. Sentinel Mark II ran through Beast, and the second copy of Hounds of Ahab attacked and KO'd the last GCPD Officer. At the end of the turn, Barnes had no characters left, but with 40 endurance and a counter on Xavier's Dream, things looked pretty good for the American.

 

Turn 5 brought a boosted Sentinel Mark V from Höh, who was racing to deal a full 40 points of endurance loss. His team rushed in for 17, and at the end of the turn, Michael put a second counter on Xavier's Dream. A Bastion and some clever Overloading would be Höh's only hope.

 

The scary 6-drop arrived, but the flowery-shirted Barnes barely flinched. At the start of his combat step, Barnes played Pleasant Distraction on Sentinel Mark V. Any pumps that Höh used to put the robot in Overload range would not be ones that could kill his opponent.

 

In his attack step, Höh flipped up Genosha and drew two cards with it. He liked it so much that he did it again.

 

Everyone attacked for the German into Barnes's empty board, and a Savage Beatdown plus four Bastion pumps put the American at -6 endurance. None of this mattered though, as there were no clever Overload tricks from the German, and when Barnes discarded a character to Xavier's Dream, all Hans could do was extend his hand.

 

Michael Barnes wins 2-1 and goes forward to the semifinals. The Dream continues!