BIOGRAPHY page 3
However, all this too was revealed to be part of the Grandmaster's ongoing plans. Death's exile of the Grandmaster somehow extended to his fellow Elders (presumably through their shared link to the Power Primordial). As a result, the Grandmaster's "loss" had ensured he and his brotherhood were now effectively immortal, having been cast out of the realm of the dead indefinitely. The Elders of the Universe then moved on to the next stage of their plotting, which was to eliminate Galactus himself. As the oldest non-abstract beings in the universe, the Elders had become perturbed after learning of Galactus' origins, a once mortal being from the previous universe who survived into the next one as a cosmic abstract outside the pull of life and death. The Elders felt their role in the universe was being challenged by Galactus’ existence. They planned to destroy Galactus, which would in turn destroy the entire universe because of his unique place in it. Thanks to their exile from the realm of Death, the Elders intended to survive into the newly reborn universe that followed, each occupying the same status in that universe which Galactus had in the current one.
The Grandmaster and his brother Elder, the Astronomer, crafted a wide-reaching scheme influencing a number of different players. They required the six Soul Gems (lost since Thanos attempted to wipe out all stars in the universe) in order to use against Galactus. This led the Elders to influence events during the recently renewed Kree-Skrull War, while also constantly diverting the Silver Surfer, who continued to dog their plans. Having acquired five of the six gems, they tricked the Surfer into a confrontation with the Kree Supreme Intelligence, who was using the 
last Soul Gem to moderate the racist undertones of the Blue and Pink Kree making up its collective unconsciousness. This led the Silver Surfer into stealing the Soul Gem from the Intelligence to save himself, destroying its sanity and therefore removing the Kree as a viable threat to the Elders. They then kidnapped the Surfer's lovers Mantis and Shalla-Bal to barter for the sixth gem and he reluctantly accepted their offer. [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #4-9]
With their collection complete, Grandmaster and the Elders lured Galactus to the Cone Nebula. They used the power of the Soul Gems to siphon Galactus’ energy, redistributing it through six planets connected to their device. The Planet-Eater was snared in their trap, but the Silver Surfer and Galactus’ current Herald, Nova, prevented the assassination by causing the nearby sun to go nova, disrupting the Elders' planetary batteries. A black hole was created in the aftermath, drawing the Soul Gems and three of the Elders into its maw. Galactus saved his Heralds and several Elders, including Grandmaster, Collector, Gardener, Runner and Champion. As punishment for their trespasses, Galactus converted the Elders into energy and consumed their bio-forces as he did planets. Grandmaster and the others served as a light meal for the hungry Galactus. [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #9-10]
The Grandmaster's pact with Death extended even to these conditions, however, and the five Elders reconstituted inside Galactus. They were able to cause the equivalent of terminal indigestion inside the Planet-Eater, sending him into life threatening spasms. This led Galactus to 
send Silver Surfer, Reed and Sue Richards into the black hole to retrieve the Soul Gems as a mechanism for removing the Elders from his gullet. In the mystical realm they discovered on the far side of the black hole, the remaining Elders (Astronomer, Trader and Possessor) had formed an alliance with the In-Betweener, another cosmic abstract potentially capable of killing Galactus for them.
The In-Betweener and the Elders returned with the Soul Gems, but the In-Betweener found his powers could not work directly on Galactus, for the In-Betweener commanded the opposite extremes of all forces, yet Galactus was the absence of opposites in their entirety. The In-Betweener chose to simply cast Galactus and his ship into the black hole and seize control of Galactus’ universe for himself. He summoned Death to kill the three Elders who opposed him and exiled Galactus’ ship without thought to Grandmaster and the other Elders still inside him. In the mystic realm, however, the Silver Surfer evoked Master Order and Lord Chaos, co-creators of the In-Betweener. To chastise their unruly subject, Order and Chaos forced the Grandmaster and other Elders out of Galactus before sending the Planet-Eater back to defeat the In-Betweener.
In the midst of all these complicated maneuverings between abstract forces, the plot by the Elders of the Universe was nearly forgotten. The Grandmaster and the other Elders decided they owed the In-Betweener nothing after he betrayed and killed their brothers and so they quietly waited on 
the sidelines. Furthermore, they were able to retrieve the five Soul Gems not in the In-Betweener's possession, dividing them among the surviving Elders. The In-Betweener was defeated and returned to his masters in part thanks to the Elders' manipulation of the Soul Gems on behalf of Galactus and so the two parties parted without any further violence between them... this day. [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #17-19]
Time passed and Thanos of Titan discovered the secret of the Soul Gems, that each gem actually commanded one facet of existence itself and rechristened them the Infinity Gems. He began systematically working his way through the In-Betweener and the Elders of the Universe to claim the Gems for himself. The Grandmaster became aware of his quest and monitored Thanos while also providing strategies and assistance to his fellow Elders. Still, one by one they fell until Thanos had claimed five of the Infinity Gems, leaving only the Grandmaster.
The Grandmaster prepared to defend his gem in his traditional manner: challenging Thanos to a game. He secured his gem inside a force field with multiple layers of security, designed to teleport the gem to some random point in the universe if the security was breached or his life signs were 
terminated. He then placed his gem up against Thanos’ five gems in a wager to win them all. Grandmaster challenged Thanos to simulated combat on a mental plane of existence using one of his devices. A killshot by either of their virtual battlesuits would secure victory. Thanos accepted and the two competitors had their minds projected into the virtual landscape. This one instance, however, Grandmaster was willing to cheat at his game in order to win and had rigged Thanos’ blasters to backfire in the simulation. Thanos outcheated the Grandmaster, however, by never showing up in the first place. The Thanos who battled the Grandmaster was a perfect robotic doppelganger, distracting the Elder so that Thanos could approach and destroy the virtual projector. The Grandmaster's mind was lost with the virtual landscape as it collapsed around him, but leaving his life-signs intact so Thanos could retrieve the final gem. [Thanos Quest #1-2]
This setback did not (in fact, could not) prove fatal to the Grandmaster. He eventually resurfaced wagering on some of the Runner's races. [Quasar (1st series) #58] The Infinity Gems passed through several hands while the Grandmaster was recovering, until the alien vampire Rune tried to steal them from Warlock's Infinity Watch, casting the gems back into his home the Ultraverse in the attempt. The Grandmaster maintained a mental link with the Mind Gem he once possessed and followed it into this new universe. He encountered the Eternal Sersi, possessed by a mysterious force that also sought the gems and learned of the existence of a seventh gem.
Loki of Asgard had preceded Grandmaster into the Ultraverse and secured the Infinity Gems before him. The Grandmaster approached Loki and challenged him to a game. For the chance to reclaim his Mind Gem, he wagered the knowledge and location of the seventh gem. Loki agreed 
and pitted the local heroes UltraForce against Grandmaster's traditional champions, the Avengers drawn from their home reality. As the competitors declared the stakes, the Grandmaster said he was the Master of All Games and played to win, while Loki declared himself the Master of Deceit and played not to lose.
Each group of champions was presented a set of convenient lies and half-truths to press them into fighting with each other when they met. When Captain America met UltraForce's founder Hardcase, however, he knew better than to allow Loki and Grandmaster to manipulate them. After a short skirmish, he lay down his shield to convince Hardcase he was no threat and the two agreed to work together. Black Widow and Crystal were pitted against Siren and Topaz in a cosmic tag team mud-wrestling match. The Widow was incapacitated, but Crystal eventually used her elemental power over their stage to defeat the UltraForce, prompting the referee to declare the two Avengers the winners.
Iron Man and Prototype were deprived of their armors for the next bout and accidentally stumbled across the wrong suits. Jimmy Ruiz beat Tony Stark by unleashing all the Iron Man armor's power in one blast, but accidentally trapped himself in the powerless suit as a result. Starfox and Contrary did little fighting, as their comparable pleasure principle powers merely led to a passionate makeout session. Ghoul used his reanimatory powers to battle Vision in a graveyard, although the sight of his former teammates from the Exiles resurrected as zombies unsettled him greatly. Thor was equally unsettled when he went all out in battle with Prime, only to discover his opponent was the young teenager Kevin Green after beating him senseless.
The Grandmaster declared victory, claiming Thor, Crystal and Black Widow as wins for his side against Loki's victors Ghoul and Prototype, with the last two matches inconclusive. Sly Loki reminded Grandmaster of the terms of his wager, however, and pointed out that for the majority of 
the matches, Loki “did not lose,” making him the victor. The Grandmaster conceded the point, but only because he had a side pot going on with Nemesis, sentience of the seventh Ego Gem. Through Grandmaster's power, Nemesis was able to approach Loki without his advance notice, seizing control of the six other Infinity Gems to reconstitute herself. Grandmaster made a quick departure, congratulating Loki on his “victory.” [Avengers/UltraForce #1]
More than just a gambler, The Grandmaster also acted as arbiter and referee of games if the stakes and challenge were intriguing enough for him. He oversaw the "Dead Man's Hand,” an ultimate stakes card game where the winner received the chance to enter the realm of the dead and bring someone back alive with them. Players like Genis-Vell, his Kymellian expatriate friend Steckey and Thanos himself made the game more than worthwhile for Grandmaster's attentions. [Captain Marvel (3rd series) #5-6, (4th series) #14]