Round 7 saw some intense matchups, with a lot of tricky plays and heavy chaining.

Table 1: Kenneth Choi vs. Jacob Hershberger

What first appeared to be a Curve Sentinels mirror match turned into something far more complicated. Choi took the lead in the mid-game as he stuck his 5-drop, recruiting Nimrod, while Hershberger was forced to recruit a second Sentinel Mark V, this one with boost. The game would get weird on the next turn though, as Choi would appear to miss his drop and recruit Daredevil while Hershberger recruited Bastion and began putting pressure on him. It took until turn 7 for the truth to become clear. As Hershberger recruited Magneto, Master of Magnetism, Choi recruited Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man. Flipping a copy of World’s Finest he seemed ready to go off, but a timing error involving the activation of Spider-Man’s effect unfortunately cost him the turn and the game. Still, sitting at table 1 and with an excellent sense of the mathematics involved in his deck, Choi gave spectators something to think about.

Table 2: Job Figueroa vs. Donald Nolan

From the beginning of the game, Donald Nolan’s Brotherhood characters were swarmed by Job Figueroa’s Titans and Gotham Knights. He clung to survival with a series of pumps and clever applications of Insignificant Threat, but even a massive series of stat modifiers on turn 8 fuelled by two copies of Avalon Space Station couldn’t save him. Figueroa played tightly, aggressively, and forced Nolan onto the defensive. It allowed him to score the win.

Table 3: Milton J. Figueroa vs. Christopher Conn

Another Figueroa was seated at table 3 next to Job, and Milton J. Figueroa was also playing The Brave and The Bold. Milton got off to a rough start, recruiting Alfred but missing his drops until the fourth turn. His opponent was playing Curve Sentinels, and Conn looked to capitalize as much as possible on the opening Figueroa’s deck gave him. Despite the disadvantage, Figueroa surged back in the late turns to take the win.

Table 4: David De Michele vs. Emmanuel Divens

Divens was playing a Common Enemy build, running a generous spread of equipment with Mr. Fantastic, Stretch on turn 5 to get them into play and abuse them. David De Michele was playing Titans, and despite his attempts at aggression, the game was relatively even until turn 6. Michele managed to play Finishing Move on the one character that was giving him serious trouble—Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom, whose Power Compressor was putting a serious damper on Michele’s bag of Titans tricks. The game was still very close from that point onwards, but turn six was definitely the pivotal moment that allowed Michele to take the game on turn 8. With Foiled keeping Divens from dropping Silver Surfer, and a key Not So Fast saving Garth from a double Savage Beatdown and an Overload, Michele won one of the closest games of the day.

Round 7 showcased some of the best players at the event, and all four matches were even ones. The Brave and The Bold continued to be a top contender, but the purple hordes of Curve Sentinels began encroaching on the top tables. With Kenneth Choi’s Sentinel/Spider-Friends deck leading the way though, hope was definitely bright for a very unique Top 8.