Coming into the Top 8, we have two competitors with significant success at the $10K level. Hans has three previous Top 8s and two wins, while Richard’s three Top 8s are a 1/2/3 split. They last met at $10K London, where both were playing Curve Sentinels. Richard was the victor. Today, Richard has switched to Fantastic Fun, the Fantastic Four combo deck that he was beaten with in his home town. If one of these two wins the whole event, they will actually be in a prime position to win $10,000 purely from $10,000 events.

Having beaten sentinels with his deck for a large portion of the previous day, Richard appears to have a matchup advantage, but if history has proved anything, it is that betting against Hans is a risky proposition.

Richard said that he was playing the deck because it was more fun, but Hans seems to think that he actually just didn’t fancy trying to get “lucky” in the mirror against him again.

The match between England and Germany is on. I have been told not to mention the war. Instead, I will point to the September 2002 World Cup Qualifier where England beat Germany five goals to one.

Hans won the roll and chose the odd initiative.

Hans mulliganed a hand he wasn’t happy with and Richard chose to do the same.

His new grip appeared much better, as he had the Boliver Trask necessary to ensure that he hit his curve all the way up. He fetched a Sentinel Mark V and passed. Richard did not have a recruit, somewhat surprising in a deck replete with small characters. Boliver Trask saw his chance and happily nipped in. First blood to the German.

On turn 2, Richard recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, flipped up an Antarctic Research Base, recruited a Personal Force Field to his little lady, drew a card, and passed. To this Hans simply responded by recruiting a Hounds of Ahab.

Richard had no attacks, and it turned out that his character was large enough that the German didn’t, either.

On turn 3, Hans had a Sentinel Mark II, curving out perfectly. Richard’s deck had less interest in curving and first flipped a Baxter Building and activated it. He hit a copy of The Pogo Plane and placed A Child Named Valeria on the bottom of his deck. Thing, Ben Grimm then came to say hello and got some Unstable Molecules to wear. The Englishman drew another card, set up both characters front and center, and passed.
Sentinel Mark II opted to attack Invisible Woman, and Hans passed without effects. Invisible Woman lost her invisibility counter, and Hans decided he had no further attacks once again. Invisible Woman then attacked and stunned Boliver Trask, leaving Thing to attack and stun Sentinel Mark II.

“That is how it’s supposed to go,” remarked Hans with a wry smile.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” quipped back a cheery Edbury.

Chained to the draw, Richard activated Baxter Building, missing any equipment. He then recruited Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and activated him. Hans had to think long and hard about the merits of using his Sentinel Mark II to negate the ability, and eventually decided that it was worth it, discarding Bastion and telegraphing that he had another.

Edbury then spent a third resource point on The Pogo Plane and discarded a second copy of Antarctic Research Base to fetch the single Pier 4 in his deck. It appeared that next turn he would have ample opportunity to make considerable numbers of equips.

He then sacrificed Unstable Molecules on Thing, Ben Grimm and spent his final resource point on Advanced Hardware for his little beater.

Mr. Fantastic hid behind Thing, while Invisible Woman stayed in the front ready for a fight. Who says that boys are better than girls?

Hans chose to recruit Sentinel Mark V and put him in front of his Sentinel Mark II. When asked how many cards he had in hand, he responded, “Not as many as you,” with a chuckle. When the robots’ effects require a discard and the Four can draw cards with their abilities, it is pretty easy to feel overpowered.

Edbury team attacked Sentinel Mark V, who received a power-up so that he could stun Thing, Ben Grimm. Edbury had A Child Named Valeria, though, so the stun was not mutual. Hounds of Ahab just sat back.

Baxter Building missed for Edbury, sending a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards and Signal Flare to the bottom of his deck. Mr. Fantastic was allowed to have another go and hit one of two copies of Flamethrower (the foil one), eliciting a “good choice” from Hoeh. Antarctic Research Base and A Child Named Valeria joined it on the bottom.

Hans had the initiative and chose to boost out a Sentinel Mark V, forming an L shape with Sentinel Mark II at the apex.

Richard’s recruit step was a little more complicated. He flipped Pier 4. Then, Invisible Woman got herself some Advanced Hardware. While most of the hardware in the deck is advanced, apparently the gun is the one that is best suited to be given the title. Who knew?

She-Thing joined the party, and she even brought a Flamethrower with her. It turns out that it is only when opponents have equipment that she doesn’t like it. At the moment, the Englishman clearly had the equipment advantage. Girly Thing stood in front of her (marginally) more masculine counterpart, while the now exhausted Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards protected his lady.

The unboosted Sentinel Mark V attacked Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl, who shot Hans with her gun. She-Thing appeared to like that idea and showed off a little with her Flamethrower. Not to be too far outdone by the girls, Thing, Ben Grimm followed suit with an Advanced Hardware activation. Cosmic Radiation then let all four characters ready.

Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards had the choice of only The Pogo Plane to put into Edbury’s hand, with which he seemed sanguine. After two more Advanced Hardware activations, there was a second Cosmic Radiation.

Mr. Fantastic then fetched a Fantasticar over an Unstable Molecules, and Invisible Woman shot just one more time before being stunned by the Sentinel Mark V who could barely remember being in an attack. The life totals reached 48–20 in the Englishman’s favor, which really didn’t seem very fair. When Thing was attacked by the bigger Sentinel Mark V, there was yet another Advanced Hardware activation before he was stunned. Sentinel Mark II then attempted to emulate the success of his friends by attacking She-Thing and playing Overload on her. She went straight to the KO’d pile as her Flamethrower blew up, and the robot readied. It tried its luck against Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, who had the power-up necessary to ensure a mutual stun but nothing more saucy up his stretchy sleeves. It’s pretty hard to hide things of any real significance in a skintight lycra costume.

All of a sudden, Hoeh’s Hounds of Ahab seemed highly relevant with an empty board on the English side of the field. They lunched down on Invisible woman. After the dust settled, only Thing, Ben Grimm was left for Edbury.

When, on turn 6, Baxter Building revealed a Cosmic Radiation and A Child Named Valeria, Hoeh seemed pretty pleased, but it was still not looking great for him. Mr. Fantastic, Stretch came out and was given The Pogo Plane to fly. It was immediately used to fetch a copy of Antarctic Research Base, conveniently shuffling the powerful plot twists back from the bottom of his deck. Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl was then recruited. Fantasticar went on Thing, Ben Grimm, and Invisible Woman got herself The Pogo Plane. With all these means of transport, they still just stayed right where they were on the board, with Stretch behind Invisible Woman and Thing out to one side in the front row.

Hans of course had the Bastion for his side of the board, but he still had quite a complicated turn to concern himself with, as being on only 14 endurance to his opponent’s 37, he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

Bastion was the only one brave enough to stand on the front with a cowardly Sentinel Mark V behind him, unboosted and unloved.

Richard: “So, I can I attack then?”
Hans: “You can try.”

Clearly, the German was confident in the ability of his 6-drop to keep him safe. When Edbury played A Child Named Valeria, though, things looked a little dicier for him. Thing, Ben Grimm attacked the cowardly smaller Sentinel Mark V, and when both players passed, the robot was punished for hiding with a stun and Hoeh went to 10.

Mr. Fantastic then attacked Sentinel Mark II. As the only character on Edbury’s side of the board that could be stunned, this was likely to be the fight where Hans might fight back. He had the Nasty Surprise for his little robot, and two Bastion pumps for it. Edbury responded with an old-fashioned power-up, and the German was forced to think again. All the thinking in the world wasn’t saving the machine, though, and it stunned without taking down Edbury’s powerful 5-drop.

There were no more attacks from Edbury, and the counterattack began from the German. Bastion attacked Thing, Ben Grimm, and Edbury went into “the tank.” He paid 2 endurance to move Thing’s Advanced Hardware to Stretch, then KO’d the Fantasticar on him targeting Bastion. Finally, he moved The Pogo Plane over to Thing, Ben Grimm. All of a sudden, he was reinforced and Richard took a massive 0. When Hounds of Ahab attacked Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, she lost her counter. Finally, Edbury moved the Hardware to his girl, who then shot Hoeh.

Chained to the draw, Richard activated Baxter Building, getting another The Pogo Plane.

Hoeh recruited Magneto, Master of Magnetism and set him up in front of an unboosted Sentinel Mark V, while Bastion stood in front of the bigger one.

Edbury then activated Invisible Woman with her Advanced Hardware, moved it to Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, activated him to burn some more, and re-recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. This elicited a hair swish from Hoeh. With so much hair, it should probably have its own feature match reporter to really do justice to how spectacular it is.

Invisible Woman activated to burn Hans some more after Stretch gave her his gun. The Pogo Plane came into play, and in an uncharacteristic mistake from the Englishman, the uniqueness rule meant that the one already on Thing, Ben Grimm went to the KO’d pile.

With his endurance total at 27 and Hans at -5, he suggested that “I might well lose now,” as Magneto’s aura impressed on the Englishman’s mood.

Han’s hair got pushed to the back seat (actually, it hung down significantly on the back of the seat) as he considered his attacks.

The boosted Sentinel Mark V declared an attack on Thing, Ben Grimm, Well, technically it was Hans, as his robots have no free will, but I’m sure you understand. Edbury spent 2 endurance to give Thing a gun and activated him to do 3 more endurance loss, and then both players passed. Edbury took 7.

Hounds of Ahab attacked Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl and was met by two power-ups from the Englishman.

“It seems like a bit of a joke that you will be winning a power-up fight with me on turn 7 when I have a Bastion in play,” quipped Hoeh, clearly not amazingly happy with the situation he found himself in.

He flipped a lot of characters in his resource row and extended his hand, indicating it was time for game two.

Richard Edbury wins game one.

At this point, both players, the table judge, and the feature match reporter rushed to the restroom. I am proud to announce that I won that race relatively easily. Upon return, most of the spectators had gone, too, presumably also to the restroom. I think we all know who the real winner there was.

Hoeh again chose to take the odds and again mulliganed. Richard seemed happy with his grip and chose to keep.

Hans’s first recruit was Boliver Trask for Hounds of Ahab, while Richard had Wyatt Wingfoot. They got into a little fight in which there were no clear winners—only losers. The players went down to 49 endurance each.

On turn 2, Richard put Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards straight in the back row and passed. Hans recruited his newly fetched Hounds of Ahab. They went and picked on Wyatt, who was duly stunned

Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards then activated revealing Flamethrower, Signal Flare, Ant Man, Scott Lang and Unstable Molecules, the last of which was deigned fit to go into the Englishman’s hand.

On turn 3, Hans recruited Sentinel Mark II, to which the Englishman responded with a Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards activation that acquired Edbury a shiny new copy of The Pogo Plane to work with. Another went to the bottom of his deck.

In his recruit, he flipped Antarctic Research Base and played Thing, Ben Grimm with Unstable Molecules, drawing himself a card.

Wyatt Wingfoot positioned himself at the apex of an L-shaped formation behind Thing, Ben Grimm.

Sentinel Mark II attacked Wyatt and became stunned. Boliver and Hounds then attacked Mr. Fantastic, stunning him at the expense of a stun back on the doggies.

On turn 4, Mr Fantastic, Reed Richards activated, and Hans was again forced to ponder the merits of early damage from a Mark II attacking and having pumps for Bastion over just slowing down the insane card drawing of the Fantastic Fun deck. He decided that it was fine, and Reed took Unstable Molecules, while A Child Named Valeria, Salvage, and another Research Base went to the bottom. Thinking Outside the Box was flipped, and all of a sudden, Richard knew what he was going to be drawing.

He recruited Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, an Unstable Molecules for Thing, a Personal Force Field for Mr. F, and a War Wagon on Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl. He then KO’d the Molecules on Thing to make space for a Fantasticar for him to drive. Mr. Fantastic again hid behind his lady in her War Wagon. We know who wears the tight lycra pants in that relationship.

Hans just shrugged and recruited a Sentinel Mark V, then set up Sentinel Mark II behind Boliver Trask and next to the bigger machine.

Thing flew over in his car to attack Sentinel Mark II. Hans had a Cover Fire and two power-ups to prevent the stun, and the two bounced off each other (presumably with some sort of a clang). This was the end of Edbury’s attacks, and he passed to the German.

The same Sentinel Mark II hit right back with an attack on Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl. Edbury decided that the robot couldn’t attack what it couldn’t see and removed her invisibility counter. Sentinel Mark V then chose to attack (and indeed Savagely Beat Down with Savage Beatdown) Thing, Ben Grimm. Edbury responded by getting Thing to throw his Fantasticar at Boliver Trask, but he was still losing that fight.

Finally, Hounds of Ahab attacked Invisible Woman, who used her War Wagon to get rid of Boliver Trask.

Thing went to the KO’d pile, and it was on to turn 5.

Chained to the draw, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards again went looking. He revealed a Personal Force Field, Antarctic Research Base, A Child Named Valeria, and a Flamethrower. Given that Edbury had the Thinking Outside the Box, there was not too much thinking for him to worry about here, and he took the Personal Force Field.

Edbury then drew two cards. He already knew what they were, and I’d imagine that Hans had a fair idea, too.

Hans recruited Nimrod, who stood in front of Sentinel Mark II.

Richard recruited Human Torch, Hotshot, which got the big thumbs up from the German. He then gave the fiery fellow a Personal Force Field and drew a card. Mr. F stood in the front row protecting Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, and Human Torch, Hotshot joined her.

Nimrod declared an attack on Human Torch, Hotshot, who activated in response. The burning man’s light was extinguished for the turn, and the life totals went to 40–28 in the German’s favor. In response to Sentinel Mark V’s attack on Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl, Edbury played A Child Named Valeria, meaning that the best Hans could do with most of his characters was more breakthrough, which he duly did.

He then played Finishing Move using Hounds of Ahab on Human Torch, Hotshot.

On turn 6, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards was again activated with the draw on the chain, revealing Baxter Building, Pier 4, Frankie Raye, and Unstable Molecules. Molecules went to Edbury’s hand, while the remainder was put on the bottom of the deck, ready to be drawn thanks to Thinking Outside the Box.

Edbury placed a resource and immediately revealed it to be Pier 4. He then went on to recruit Mr. Fantastic, Stretch, replacing the smaller version of the gray-templed hero. He was equipped with Unstable Molecules only briefly, as it was KO’d to make space for bigger and better things.

The Englishman then showed a Salvage from his resource row, which was used to bring back a Personal Force Field. This was given to Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl. Mr. Fantastic, meanwhile, was equipped with Advanced Hardware. Frankie Raye came out for the final resource point and was given The Pogo Plane and a Flamethrower.

Is it just me, or should a character who is already on fire be allowed to wield a flamethrower? I call shenanigans.

The setup was all girls out front, while Mr. Fantastic remained in the support row behind his woman.

On turn 6, all Hans had was a boosted Sentinel Mark V, which must have come as something of a relief for the Englishman. While the matchup is generally favorable for the equipment deck, Bastion is a big man who is hard to ignore.

The two larger characters set up in front, with Nimrod protecting an unboosted Sentinel Mark V and its big brother protecting a Sentinel Mark II.

At the start of his attack step, Edbury played A Child Named Valeria,. Hans responded with Overload on Frankie Raye. He used the Flamethrower on Frankie Raye to do 5 points to Hans's head (luckily not igniting his hair), and then Frankie exploded, going to the KO’d pile along with her weapon. A fiery woman carrying explosive weapons is not a good plan. I called it.

Mr. Fantastic attacked Sentinel Mark V, who had a Nasty Surprise for him, and he became stunned along with his adversary. There were no real attacks for Hans to make back, as Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl had an impenetrable defense.

Hans was first to recruit, and he generated 7 resource points before blowing two copies of Genosha. In spite of this, though, Magneto, Master of Magnetism decided he didn’t want to play, and Hans was forced to recruit the rather underwhelming collection of a Sentinel Mark V and a Sentinel Mark II. When their master is away, these robots get to run wild.

Unsurprisingly, Edbury didn’t have a 7-drop, either. He paid 4 endurance to flip Salvage face down and activated a fresh Baxter Building. This put A Child Named Valeria on the bottom.

Mr. Fantastic got some Unstable Molecules, and then Richard played A Child Named Valeria. This made it safe for him to bring out She-Thing with a Flamethrower. He activated Salvage to get back a Personal Force Field and gave that to She-Thing, as well. Mr. Fantastic and She-Thing set up in the front row, while Invisible Woman held back behind the large 5-drop.

Hans declared a team-attack with Nimrod and Sentinel Mark II on Mr. Fantastic, who fired off a volley with his Advanced Hardware before becoming stunned. The rest of Edbury’s men were reinforced and protected by A Child Named Valeria, though, making further attacks impossible.

She-Thing used her Flamethrower, and when Invisible Woman tried to use her War Wagon’s ability, it was negated by Sentinel Mark II.

Baxter Building put a potentially crucial Cosmic Radiation on the bottom of Edbury’s deck right before the draw phase. Apparently, this just wasn’t good enough, though, as he then played a Signal Flare before the draw. He fetched a Franklin Richards and then drew his cards. With eight resources, the first play from Edbury was A Child Named Valeria.

He then brought out Franklin Richards, Thing, Ben Grimm, and Ant Man, Scott Lang. Mr. Fantastic stood behind She-Thing, Ant-Man behind Franklin Richards, and Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl behind Thing, Ben Grimm. For Hans, it was again not the greatest turn as characters with a cost of greater than 5 refused to fight the good fight. A boosted Sentinel Mark V hit play, and Hans flicked back his hair. Two Mark IIs hid behind the two largest characters Hans had, while there was a column specifically devoted to unboosted copies of Sentinel Mark V. She-Thing declared an attack on one of these, and the attack was stymied by an Acrobatic Dodge. Mr. Fantastic declared an attack on the same Mark V and used Ant Man, Scott Lang such that the robot lost reinforcement. A Cover Fire again forced the bounce. Mr. Fantastic, Stretch used his ability to move She-Thing’s Flamethrower over to Thing, Ben Grimm, who again went for the unreinforced robot. Whatever this machine had done to Edbury, he clearly didn’t like it. However, as there was another Cover Fire, this attack also resulted in no stuns. There were no more attacks from Edbury, and with the endurance totals at 16–2 in Hans’s favor, it did not look good for the Englishman. Time had been called moments earlier, and a three-turn decider is hardly ideal when playing for lots of money.

Nimrod attacked Franklin Richards, who duly ducked away underneath Edbury’s deck. The much maligned Sentinel Mark V then attacked Ant Man, Scott Lang, who was reinforced. The other Sentinel Mark V then declared an attack on Ant Man. Edbury played a Cosmic Radiation and again reinforced with Invisible Woman, the Invisible Girl. Nimrod declared an attack on Thing, Ben Grimm, who activated to burn the German just a little bit more. Mr. Fantastic followed suit, putting the endurance totals at 8 endurance to 2 in favor of Hoeh. Another Cosmic Radiation was then played. Invisible Woman made her third reinforcement of the turn, and Nimrod lost his repair counter.

The boosted Sentinel Mark V attacked Thing, Ben Grimm and ran into a brick wall, getting stunned with no stun back.

The turn ended with Hans winning, and the game went to sudden death.

Richard Edbury chose to have the odd initiative and was happy with his initial four. Hoeh mulliganed for the third time.

The Englishman had a Baxter Building (which missed) and an Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl that got a set of Unstable Molecules. Hans meanwhile hit his 1-drop, and Boliver Trask came out to play.

“Fetch a 4-drop,” suggested Edbury. I suggested that Edbury talk to the Hans, because the face was not listening. He instead picked a Sentinel Mark II.

When Invisible Woman attacked, the endurance advantage went to Richard.

Hans had the Hounds on turn 2, curving nicely. Richard’s Baxter Building whiffed, hitting two copies of A Child Named Valeria and then not recruiting!

Hans attacked with Hounds of Ahab, and Richard Edbury decided to be a bit of a superstar and power up. This feature match reporter couldn’t help but let out a little squeak. Hounds stunned, and then the one-woman army stunned Boliver Trask on the attacks back.

On turn 3, with the initiative, Richard sacrificed the Unstable Molecules so that he could recruit an Advanced Hardware. He burned Hans for 3, then played Cosmic Radiation, burned once more, played Cosmic Radiation, and did a little more burn. He then took the mickey by recruiting a new Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, who got The Pogo Plane. This was enough to elicit the scoop from a very unlucky German.

Richard Edbury wins, 2–1.