Going into Europe’s first $10K event, there are a lot of questions on the minds of 
many players. Let’s look at some of those issues.
Though some players imported Web of Spider-Man product upon its North American release, most players got their first chance to pick up the cards eight days ago upon its UK release. The metagame musings are two-fold. First, will cards that build on previous championship-level decks, like Insignificant Threat, Next Generation Technology, and Pier 4 be deciding factors for the day? Will such things even see play?
The second Web of Spider-Man-related metagame question is the viability of decks that are made entirely possible by the newly released cards. Decks like Sinister Syndicate and Spider-Friends variants, as well as Curve Sentinel and Aerial Supremacy, are dependent on a large quantity of characters, plot twists, locations, and to a lesser extent equipments, from the new set. With most players having access to the cards only recently, will anyone at all be playing possibly winning decks like Spider-Friends Evasion and Syndicate Rush?
If those decks do not make an impact, which of the previous archetypes will take the top honors? Common Enemy is highly accessible, which might make it especially visible in this event, but the same could almost be said for The New Brotherhood, Big Brotherhood, and other decks that have been tested to their limits. Teen Titans or Brave and the Bold seem like top picks for North Americans, with influential players like Wess Victory abusing Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal to death and claiming victory after victory with cries of Teen Titans Go! Or will something new emerge from the minds of the European players?
The popularity of complementary plot twists is a hotly debated issue as well. The domination of TNB months ago, and then the following success of Big Brotherhood, made Overload a near-staple in most areas for several months. However, with Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans, and Doom Control being so popular in many metagames and the PT circuit, Overload has fallen off the radar of many top-notch players. People just aren’t crossing that deadly line of double the printed attack much any more. Will Overload see as much play here as it did at Origins earlier this year, or even at Gen Con Indy?
The same can be asked for Savage Beatdown—is it a great, high-utility card or a hackneyed, telegraphed, dated dead-money hallmark? The opinions of European players, as reflected in their decklists, should provide an interesting answer. More interesting though, will be the opinion of those who crack the Top 8.
The presence of Have a Blast! will be an interesting factor too. DC Origins cards have been somewhat scarce in some areas of Europe compared to the presence of Marvel Origins, so Have a Blast! may not see as much play in the Gen Con UK metagame as it did in Gen Con Indy. Besides that, some players debate the importance of Have a Blast! anyway. Depending on how many players run Have a Blast!, certain decks may have serious advantages over others.
Finally, and on a different note, the actual play style that will prove dominant will set the tone for European premier events to come. Traditionally, European players are generally seen as a somewhat more conservative group than the Americans and the Japanese. Not only will play styles influence deck selections, but they’ll also influence the issues of pacing and tempo—which can severely affect decks that don’t actively control the pace of the game as well as others, such as Brave and the Bold and Big Brotherhood.
The answers to these questions will prove to be highly important to future European premier events as well as European contributions to Gen Con SoCal, and their documentation will be valuable to players worldwide.