Eugene Harvey and Sammy Gilly both sat undefeated at 7-0, two of the last undefeated competitors at the PC. By this point in the coverage, Eugene needs no introduction—he is the man behind the X-Men deck that is surprised the tournament. Sammy is no unknown either, with a $10K third place finish (Chicago) and 27th at the first PC in Indianapolis to his name, and he has so far guided the consensus best deck in the format, Common Enemy, to a perfect record.

Sammy had the option and took the evens. Eugene kept his four, while Sammy sent his back. Nothing of note happened until the third turn, which featured a Wolverine, Logan from Eugene and a She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters from Sammy. The two characters stunned each other. Sammy began the fourth turn by using a Signal Flare to fetch Wolverine, New Fantastic Four while Eugene had one of his deck’s signature characters: Rogue, Power Absorption. Sammy sent his Wolverine into Rogue, trading the two. Neither player had another attack.

Eugene’s deck continued to click on the fifth turn when he recruited Professor X, Charles Xavier, causing Sammy to discard a Flame Trap, while Sammy had a Ghost Rider. Eugene sent Rogue into Wolverine, once again trading. Then Eugene went for a team attack of Wolverine and Xavier on Ghost Rider, which Sammy allowed. Inside the team attack, Sammy used two Savage Beatdowns on Wolverine and then Overloaded him. Fortunately for Eugene, he had another Professor X in his hand, so he got to trade his Professor for Ghost Rider. Eugene then used Children of the Atom during recovery to keep Rogue around, so both players lost their Wolverines.

Sammy finally had a decent drop on the sixth turn with Hulk, while Eugene missed a step for the first time in the game, having only a Sunfire to add to his board. At the beginning of combat, Eugene had Rogue take Professor X’s ability. Sammy began by having Ghost Rider attack Rogue, and Eugene responded to this by using Rogue and Professor X to make Sammy discard the two remaining cards in his hand: a Darkoth and a Flying Kick, which he used on Hulk. Eugene had an Acrobatic Dodge to save Rogue. Sammy then sent his 20 ATK Hulk into Sunfire, stunning him and causing an additional 13 points of breakthrough.

Eugene was unable to make any play at all on his seventh turn, while Sammy ripped Thing, Heavy Hitter. Eugene had a Pleasant Distraction for Hulk, then attacked Ghost Rider with his Sunfire and powered up Sunfire. Eugene then team attacked with Rogue and Professor X on Thing, with the Professor and Thing trading. Sammy had no attacks, and Eugene flipped and used X-Corporation during recovery, discarding Rogue. On the eighth turn, Sammy drew two cards, laid a resource, and played nothing. Eugene, meanwhile, recruited Jean Grey, Phoenix Force Sammy tried to attack, but Eugene made him discard his last card, then copied Dark Phoenix with Rogue and used Rogue to return all characters to their owners’ hands. Eugene, with the initiative on turn 9, dropped down Onslaught on an empty board. Sammy played Boris, flipped up a Doomstadt to enable him, and then used Boris to fetch Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. With Doom on the chain, Sammy used a Mystical Paralysis on Onslaught and turned the Paralysis back down. Unable to attack, Eugene simply stunned all Doom characters (in this case, just the Doctor) and used X-Corporation.

With the initiative on the tenth turn, Sammy recruited Hulk. Eugene played down Jean Grey once again and put her in the back behind Onslaught. Sammy began by using Mystical Paralysis on Jean Grey, and fearing a lethal Savage Beatdown/Flying Kick, Eugene decided to again bounce the board. Eugene used X-Corporation at the end of turn when time was called, meaning turn 11 would be the last. Eugene again played Onslaught. Sammy had Silver Surfer and another Boris, this time fetching It’s Clobberin’ Time!. Sammy then took the initiative with the Surfer, and between the Clobberin’ Time and Savage Beatdown in his hand, was able to cause enough breakthrough damage to win the game on endurance totals.

Sammy wins, and at 8-0 is the last undefeated player in the tournament.