By pure coincidence, the top four tables in round 4 all happened to feature matches involving exactly one Curve Sentinels deck. Here were the matchups for tables one through four:

Table 1: Rob Leander vs. Mark Slack

The two top-ranked players went head to head in a clash of the big-name Titans, and Rob Leander emerged smelling like a rose. Teched against Curve Sentinels with Betrayal, Rob used a blazing mixture of reserved play and flat-out aggression to dictate the game’s tempo. His constant gear-changing meant that when he needed the Tamarans and Savage Beatdowns, he had them—one moment he was aggro and the next he was playing to save cards, and Slack had a difficult time controlling him as a result.

Key factors for the win: Betrayal, off-balancing play style (and some poor topdecking on Slack’s part).

Table 2: David Bauer (Total Anarchy) vs. Jason Hager (Shimmercops redux)

David Bauer took his fourth game with Curve Sentinels, overpowering Jason Hager’s remarkable redux of Shimmercops. The key factor in Bauer’s win was Total Anarchy, a card not often seen in Curve, but one perfectly suited to the deck. It’s definitely a piece of tech to watch out for in the near future.

Table 3: Dusty Hostutler vs. Loren Nolen

Dusty managed to beat out Loren’s Curve Sentinels build. His answer to how he pulled out the win? “Red Star and Tim Drake with boost. A lot of it.” Being able to make good use of unstunnable team attacks is definitely a good way to win in any matchup, and a great use of the Titans that is often viewed as second-string.

Key factors for the win: Red Star and Tim Drake.

Table 4: Jason Green vs. Taylor Yelton

Taylor Yelton’s Curve Sentinel build took the game from Jason Green, in large part because of his inclusion of four Overloads and four Nasty Surprises. Allowing himself unparalleled stun-back potential, he also used the two cards in combination while attacking to blow away defenders. Yelton was happy to display the synergy the cards provided, and he accredited it to Team Misunderstood’s ingenuity, of which Jason Green is a member.

Key Factors for the win: Nasty Surprise/Overload synergy and insane pumps on turn 8 from Bastion.

Three of the four matchups we reviewed this round were won by tech. The round was a great example of good players not just taking their decks to the limit in terms of play, but also innovating existing decks via application of their raw skill. Curve Sentinels is a massive force in many areas right now, and though Titans is still the deck to beat, it seems that innovation will decide the future of many local metagames.