52 players from five nationalities squared off at the first European mainland $10K tournament for the Vs. System.

Here’s a breakdown of the decks that were played there.

8 Big Brotherhood
6 Curve Sentinels
6 Common Enemy
5 Teen Titans
5 Fantastic Four
4 Mutant Nation
4 Spider-Friends
3 New Brotherhood
2 X-Men

The sudden influx of Curve Sentinels decks was not surprising, as this event came hot on the heels of their successful showing by Dave Spears at the Wizard World Texas $10K event. Only one Swarm Sentinel player showed up, indicating that Curve Sentinels is definitely the player’s choice.

After eight intense rounds, the field was thinned down to eight players representing four different nationalities at the final tables.

In one of the semifinal matches, a traditional matchup was played between two of Common Enemy’s strongest proponents in Europe. Sam Gomersall and Richard Edbury played the exact same decks. The fact that these two UK powerhouses also playtest together made sure that this was purely a game of who got what first. In all of their games, Silver Surfer ended up deciding the result. Sam Gomersall took the seat in the finals.

In the other semifinal match, Italy was up against Austria’s last hope for a home victory, as Matteo Paolucci from Ancona in Italy and Simon Horvath from Vienna faced off. Matteo’s Fantastic Four took a swift victory over Simon’s Curve Sentinels by 2-0, with both games going only to turn 7.

In the end, it came to a showdown that most football fans (soccer, for those U.S. readers) would call a classic—England vs. Italy was on the schedule.

And it was definitely a classic. Never have so many drops been missed in a match. In game one, Gomersall missed drops on turns 1, 2, and 3, and on turn 4 could only play She-Thing, while Paolucci missed drops on turns 1 and 4. These setbacks were something that Gomersall never recovered from, and thereby Italy took game one.

Game two started off in the same pattern, but this time it was Paolucci who missed drops on turns 1 and 2, and then only played Luke Cage on turn 3. Gomersall missed drops on turns 1 and 2 as well but picked up his curve on turn 3, only to miss again on turn 4 and get no farther than Boris. However, this Boris ended up getting out Common Enemy, setting Gomersall up to finish the game to his advantage. The match was tied at one game apiece.

Game three finally showed the strengths of both players’ decks, and was certainly the most entertaining to watch. In the end, Paolucci came out ahead, and took home his first $10K victory.

Italy vs. England, 2-1. That’s a score that won’t surprise a single soccer fan.