Coming into crunch time, the action on the top tables was reaching a boiling point. In the penultimate Swiss round, several players could tie down a Top 8 berth with a win, whereas many others at two losses would be fighting to keep the dream alive.

Table 1 saw $10K Brisbane Top 8 competitor Adrian Capilitan face off against Sydney stalwart Kenny Tan. In this matchup of Common Enemy vs. Curve Sentinels, recruitment followed a typical path with Kenny's early game able to overwhelm Adrian in the early to mid game. Adrian held off until turn 8 with triple Betrayal, but with Bastion pumping Dr Doom, Lord of Latveria, Kenny was gracious enough to add two Savage Beatdowns before taking it all back with the ubiquitous Overload. He was then free to swing directly for the win.

Table 2 featured the now familiar match up of battling Dr Lights, with Brisbanite Chris Kwan dismantling VsParadise.com co-owner Paul van der Werk in the mirror. Crucially, Chris was able to establish Black Cat, Master Thief on the second turn, effectively locking Paul out of his combo until turn 5. Chris—who only picked up the deck this morning after his fellow Queenslander and dual $10K Top 8 player Early Nguyen claimed the deck gave him a headache—was able to go off on his fifth turn initiative, as Paul had failed to draw Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius.

Table 3 featured the lauded Green Lantern/Emerald Enemies deck played by the New Zealand contingent, represented in this match by James White. His opponent was Peter Allan, who was playing a Dr. Light variant. A poor draw from Peter, yielding no Doom characters, was easily swept aside by James. He was able to abuse Dr Light, Master of Holograms in conjunction with Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern and Tomar Re, Green Lantern of Xudar to procure all of the Breaking Grounds he could ever want. With the win, James was able to secure a Top 8 spot, joining Kenny.