These two players were jockeying for top position all day yesterday during the Constructed portion of the event. The Draft portion of the event has not treated them as kindly, and now, the two players find themselves battling for one of the remaining Top 8 berths.

Matthew Tatar was not pleased to see a laptop get opened tableside. “I am 0-3 in feature matches so far . . . 0-4 if you go lifetime.”

One of the things that has really become apparent after a day of Spider-Man drafting is how crucial the coin flip became with the introduction of one-game matches. Odd initiative is essential to success in a format where the best cards have recruit costs of 1, 3, 5, and 7.

Tatar won the coin flip and gleefully announced, “I’ll take odds.”

Both players pushed four cards to the bottom. Tatar opened with Rocket Racer and got in for 1. Eugene had no turn 1 or 2 play, and things looked bad early when Tatar got to attack for 5, thanks to a curved out Solo.

Spiderman, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was the turn 3 play on both sides of the table, although Harvey left his in the back row. Tatar announced that he would be sending his whole team after Spider-Man. He flipped up Daily Bugle, and also flipped up Twist of Fate to find Daredevil. When Spidey got smoked, the twist was flipped down to search another day. “I feel like I’m playing Doom over here,” smirked Tatar.

Harvey manufactured a factory standard Sentinel Mark V and put it behind his Spider-Man. Tatar activated his Twist of Fate and found a 6-drop, but could only play Hornet this turn. His arrangement was such that Solo was in front of Rocket Racer, while Hornet was off to one side in front and Spidey was off to the other in the support row. Harvey sent Spider-Man after Solo, and Tatar took his first endurance loss of the game.

Harvey sent his Mark V to do what robots do, and Tatar flipped up Alley-Oop! and Grounded to save Spidey . . . but Harvey had a Mojoverse. Harvey did lose 3 points, however, thanks to Hornet’s ability.

Tatar played Daredevil. Eugene agonized over his turn, which made Tatar believe that the TOGIT player was going to miss his 5-drop. Eugene assured him that he had something in store, and when Harvey played Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, Matt could only boo.

Spider-Man and Hornet got to take a stun-free shot at Harvey’s web slinger. After it stunned, Tatar paid endurance to flip down the Daily Bugle, and sent Rocket Racer and Daredevil after Green Goblin, flipping up the Bugle accordingly. Harvey’s Goblin was stunned, as was Tatar’s Rocket Racer. Harvey sent his Sentinel in to smite the Hornet, and when the turn was over, the score was 36 to 30 in favor of Tatar.

Turn 6 saw Vulture and Scorpion hit play for Eugene. Kaine came down for the chatty Tatar, who tried to determine his plan for formation out loud. He left Rocket Racer behind Kaine and everyone else up front—Green Goblin was very much on his mind.

Harvey announced his attacks, sending Vulture into Rocket Racer. When the attack was legal, Harvey flipped up two Hired Goons to make Vulture a 6 ATK/1 DEF for a huge endurance swing, thanks to the endurance gain from Vulture’s breakthrough. Green Goblin went after Daredevil and took a quick trip through the Mojoverse to get there. Tatar took 7. Scorpion went to sting Kaine, and was successful. The Mark V flew over for the Spider-Man, and Harvey flipped up Surrounded to make it 9 ATK/9 DEF. Tatar powered up and took 6. Harvey also flipped up Sadistic Choice, and Tatar pitched two cards. Time was called while this was all going on, and the next turn would be the final one of the Swiss rounds. The score was 29 to 10 in Harvey’s favor.

Tatar made his two cards back at the beginning of turn 7 by playing Ezekiel, who stood up front alongside Kaine. Harvey had to decide between a boosted Puma or a Green Goblin, Altered Ego. He opted for the former. He set up for the most critical turn of his entire tournament with Puma in front of Scorpion, and the Sentinel and Green Goblin flanking MacDonald Gargan in the support row.

Tatar toyed with running his team through the Mark V before realizing that the Sentinel was reinforced all on its own. He tried to fight his way through the Scorpion, but the Green Goblin reinforced and Tatar would have to console himself with roughly $4,000 and a Top 16 finish.

Eugene Harvey, on the other hand, would advance to the Top 8 along with two other teammates. They’re all playing the deck he designed less than three weeks ago when he first saw the cards from the sets that followed Marvel Origins.