It’s one of the classic battles of Golden Age—Common Enemy against Curve Sentinels. Gregory Bezard, from France, stormed through the $10K with his Curve Sentinels deck, somehow surviving the urge to use JGM’s lovechild Juggernaut. He’s sticking to Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

The German, Sebastian Mueller, didn’t bring any new tricks to Common Enemy, but he’s one of the favorites today. The star of the show is clearly Dean Shonle’s Fantastic Four deck, the winner of $10K London that both Dean and Richard Edbury are playing in this Top 8. But . . . and this is a big “but” right here . . . the English feel that Sebastian Mueller’s deck is the only deck in the Top 8 that might stop it. But first, Sebastian Mueller will have to go through Gregory Bezard’s Sentinels.

Mueller is quite happy to make the $10K Top 8 because his ride to PC Amsterdam had a last minute problem and could only arrive in time for the $10K. He isn’t too mad, though, because he’s a much bigger fan of Golden Age than Modern Age.

The first game started with two mulligans. They had to make due with their second hands, neither of which was brilliant. Mueller dropped a turn 1 Boris, but then nobody moved until Bezard found a turn 3 Sentinel Mark II. The German answered with She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters.

Gregory went for the throat. His Mark II went after She-Hulk, and he revealed Total Anarchy. That could have hurt Mueller, but the German had Have A Blast! ready. That allowed him to keep his green machine. He revealed Common Enemy and got ready to go into “broken” mode.

On turn 4, he played Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, getting two uses out of Signal Flare. Bezard answered with the usual Sentinel Mark V. She-Hulk brought Mark II down, and Dr. Doom went after Mark V. The Frenchman used Nasty Surprise to force the trade.

Nimrod, Mutant Hunter joined the fray, and the German answered with the big rock himself, Thing, Heavy Hitter. Bezard went after Boris, and Sebastian used it to get Mystical Paralysis. That limited Bezard’s attack plans for this turn.

The German flipped Latverian Embassy and sent Thing into Nimrod. Gregory wasn’t out of tricks, and he played Ka-Boom! on the Embassy and used Nasty Surprise to force the trade, costing Mueller his Dr. Doom at the end of the turn.

Signal Flare brought another Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius, and Sebastian added Boris to the mix. Down to five resources on his sixth turn, Gregory was forced to miss his curve and play Sentinel Mark V with boost.

Dr. Doom went after the boosted Mark V, and Mueller announced, “Let’s try this again . . . Latverian Embassy.” Bezard smiled and asked, “That’s the last one, right?”

Thing crushed Nimrod like a mechanical bug, and Bezard used Savage Beatdown from his resource row to plow his remaining Mark V through Thing. Again, Mueller lost Doom, but he got two Sentinels off the table.

Turn 7 (remember that they lost a resource early on) rolled along, and Bezard again missed his mark. He was forced to play another Nimrod. Mueller smiled and whispered, “No Bastion? That makes this a lot easier.”

He Signal Flared for Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom and played it. Bezard laughed and declined to attack, which is never a good sign, unless you are playing Dean Shonle’s deck, obviously. Sebastian Mueller showed no similar mercy and sent his crew in. He had both board and endurance total advantage.

On turn 8, Mueller had the initiative. He started with yet another Signal Flare and dropped Mr. Fantastic, Scientific Genius, giving it Kevlar Body Armor. Finally, Gregory Bezard got some respect out of his deck. He busted out a foil Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

That forced Sebastian to actually pause and think before attacking. It still didn’t take him long. Thing and Dr. Doom ganged up on Magneto. Down went both bad guys, and Sebastian Mueller dropped the elbow—Betrayal.

Gregory popped Genosha and used Reconstruction Program to defend his remaining Sentinel Mark V, but Mueller had all answers. He revealed another It’s Clobberin’ Time. That gave Sebastian the win.

“No Bastion on turn 6 hurts,” said Bezard. Sebastian quickly replied, “Sure, but it was still a very close game.” They shuffled up while discussing the game. Bezard revealed that he also had Bastion in hand when he played Magneto, but decided to drop the mutant because of the rest of his hand.

They both kept their hands for the second game, and Mueller announced he had the “old man.” Boris came out and was quickly followed by She-Thing, Sharon Ventura. Finally, Bezard blinked with Sentinel Mark II, giving Mueller a chance to show he knew all his chain tricks.

He revealed Doomstadt and used Boris before Mark II came into play. Then came Medusa. “I only have one in my deck and I keep drawing it. But I like it,” the smiling German explained.

The French used the Nasty Surprise/Overload trick to stun Medusa, and brought She-Thing down as well. Unfazed, Sebastian did his usual turn 4 trick of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius getting a “free” Signal Flare. Across the table, a seriously less flashy Sentinel Mark V joined Bezard’s army.

Doom opened his Latverian Embassy (locking Nasty Surprise and Overload) and went after Mark V. Two power-ups later, they were both still alive. Mark V struck back, and Gregory flipped Total Anarchy. That sent Medusa away, and Mueller used Reign of Terror to even things out.

This time, Bezard was all about hitting the curve, so he had Nimrod on turn 5 while Mueller settled for Robot Destroyer. Nimrod barely had time to settle in before Gregory sent it in to slap Dr. Doom around. Mark V traded with Robot Destroyer.

The initiative swung back to Sebastian. He dropped a smoking hot Hulk, New Fantastic Four and commented, “Well, not so lucky this time,” when Bezard made his drop once again with Bastion. They traded blows, costing Mueller’s Dr. Doom and Bezard’s Mark V. The French was now in control of the game.

He had the initiative on turn 7 with Bastion and Nimrod on the table. Magneto, Master of Magnetism joined them. Mueller was down to only Hulk, so he needed some help. He used Faces of Doom to get it in the crafty shape of Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius.

He dropped it, getting another “free” Signal Flare and then getting the Big B himself, Boris. As usual, the overworked Boris did all the dirty work, running off to fetch Betrayal before returning through another Signal Flare. “The old man is amazing,” noted the smiling Mueller.

All this trickery made Gregory Bezard sit back and review his plan. Betrayal took away his Nimrod, and Magneto brought down Hulk. Bastion tried to swing into Dr. Doom, but again Boris came to the rescue, fetching Mystical Paralysis.

Mueller was now at 7 and Bezard at 16, but Mueller had the initiative. He Signal Flared for Silver Surfer. Gregory stared at his hand for a couple of minutes and finally announced, “I won’t play anyone.”

Silver Surfer dove in after Bastion. Mueller quipped, “Here’s your chance to beat me, Gregory.” The French didn’t do anything. Down went Bastion. Mueller played Unmasked and sent Dr. Doom in with multiple copies of It’s Clobberin’ Time!. Bezard was so shocked that he started to extend his hand, even though it was not over yet.

Somehow, he broke out of his trance and figured out that he still had a chance. He reviewed the table and got ready for the final turn. He was at 3 and Mueller at 7. The French dropped another Bastion, and the best Mueller could do was give Kevlar Body Armor to Dr. Doom.

“Just that?” asked Gregory. Sebastian shrugged and stole the initiative with Silver Surfer. The silver wonder dove in to get Bastion, and Bezard used Cover Fire and several discarded characters to save it.

Sebastian stared at his table and shook his head. He had run out of gas, was at 0 endurance, and was facing Magneto, Bastion, and Nimrod. He couldn’t win this game.

They moved on to game three while discussing the finer details of their games so far, especially the options they had. They had a lot of time to do it, since they had to wait for the end of the first game of the Edbury/Hoeh quarterfinals.

When they were finally allowed to proceed, Bezard had turn 1 Boliver Trask, turn 2 Hounds of Ahab, and turn 3 Sentinel Mark II. Apparently, it was his turn to lay down some early beats.

The German now had to find a way out of the dreaded Hounds lock. He dropped She-Hulk, and Bezard sent his whole crew into it, revealing Total Anarchy. Luckily for Mueller, he had Have a Blast!. “No!” sighed Gregory.

Turn 4 meant Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius this time, “only” getting two cards out of Common Enemy. Bezard again hit his curve with Sentinel Mark V. Mueller’s posse came in, stunning two characters. Bezard’s Mark V brought down She-Hulk before the usual Reign of Terror got the Hounds off the table.

Mueller had survived the early rush. The French again made his perfect drop with Nimrod, and Mueller got all tricky with Mystical Paralysis on Nimrod and Faces Of Doom to get another 4-drop Dr. Doom to flip it back down again. He used his remaining resource point for the always useful and extremely overworked Boris.

Tired of all these shenanigans, Gregory Bezard sent his crew in. Savage Beatdown helped Mark V drive through Dr. Doom and his Doomstadt, and Mark II traded with She-Hulk. As usual, Boris ran away and brought out Betrayal.

Dr. Doom welcomed Hulk, New Fantastic Four, and Bezard added Bastion to Nimrod and Sentinel Mark V. Mueller shook his head and sent Hulk into Nimrod. A flurry of effects later, Bezard managed to force the trade.

The German kept Dr. Doom back and used it to play Mystical Paralysis on Bastion. That left only Mark V to take down Dr. Doom. Savage Beatdown helped him finish the carnage.

Again, the German was down to a single character—Hulk. Across the table, Gregory kept his whole army. Things were not looking good for Sebastian Mueller on the decisive game.

Bezard agonized about playing Magneto, Master of Magnetism because of Mueller’s Betrayal. In the end, he decided it was worth it. Sadly for the German, he seemed to be in big trouble. He played Tech Upgrade and Mr. Fantastic, Scientific Genius to get two Kevlar Body Armors on the table.

He was forced to watch as Bezard popped Genosha and sent in his metal horde. Bastion took a swing at Mr. Fantastic, basically getting the Kevlar Body Armor. Then Magneto took another swing at Mr. Fantastic, leaving it stunned. The remaining Sentinels ganged up on Hulk, blowing yet another Armor.

They reached eight resources and Mueller brought down Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria with quite a juicy KO’d pile. Gregory decided he didn’t need any more resources or characters. The fight broke out.

Betrayal got Mark V and Dr. Doom came after Bastion, returning Mystical Paralysis. Bezard was ready for it with Cover Fire and a couple of Reconstruction Programs, despite an It’s Clobberin’ Time!

“Now that . . . it’s too much for me,” lamented Sebastian. Both characters survived, and Bezard got the chance to strike back. Bastion stunned Hulk, leaving Sebastian at 1. Bezard laughed. “I can’t believe it. You are at 1,” he commented.

So Mueller got another turn, 12 endurance points behind, to come up with a miracle. Gregory had the initiative and dropped Sentinel Mark V. Mueller Signal Flared for help in the form of Silver Surfer.

The German stole the initiative and sent Dr. Doom into Bastion, getting Betrayal back. He played it, and Bezard cunningly chose to stun his Nimrod, taking out the repair counter to avoid the damage.

Bastion got stunned after giving Magneto one counter, dropping the French to 7. Silver Surfer drove into Magneto, and Bezard powered him up once. That brought Magneto one pump away from trading.

Gregory Bezard didn’t have it.

If Bezard had drawn another Sentinel, he could have pumped Magneto one more time before losing Bastion to make the trade. Instead, only his character got stunned, dropping him to -1 with Mueller at 1.

It was that close—2 endurance points, one missing Sentinel. “That’s the best Vs. game I have ever been in. Very, very close,” beamed Sebastian Mueller.