LIVE COVERAGE: Superstars Standard $5k!
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June 13, 2009 | 
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Early Bird Flight Recap
Metagame Breakdown
5c Bloodbraid Aggro: 7
Faeries: 5
Elves: 5
B/R Aggro: 4
Kithkin: 4
Classic 5c Control: 3
Jund Aggro: 3
Cascade LD: 3
R/W Boat Brew: 2
Cruel Faeries: 1
Warp World: 1
G/R Aggro: 1
Esper Control: 1
Budget Naya Tokens: 1
TOTAL: 41
As the breakdown shows, for this smaller Friday Night flight the main contenders post-GP Seattle are no surprise. 5c Bloodbraid Aggro as Chapin and other pros played in Seattle is the top shower, while Elves (Enjoying increased play from the LCQ at PT: Honolulu), Faeries, B/R Aggro and Kithkin all fought for remaining popularity. The Cascade LD deck which was a surprise hit at Seattle, netting multiple players Day 2 appearances, has shown up with multiple pilots bringing Rain of Tears to the table. Notably no Swans have appeared in the metagame and it's possible that these new cascade decks have simply outmoded it until the hate and Faeries players go back into hiding.
No true rogue decks showed up in the first flight, but underrated archetypes like Warp World and the Esper Sphinx Control deck had their pilots despite the smaller turnout. As it stands it looks as if we'll have a varied metagame for tomorrow with all the major players showing up. Almost. No B/W Tokens have shown up and this isn't much of a surprise for the Bay Area metagame. Other than a brief resurgence when Luis-Scott Vargas came in 2nd at Kyoto with the deck, people don't like bringing their Bitterblossoms out to play without Cryptic Command and Mistbind Clique backing them up.
Tomorrow will be the true showing of how the metagame has changed post-Seattle and I'll be bringing you the updates all weekend long!
Main Flight Feature Matches-
Round 1: Merlin Catterall-Davis (5c Bloodbraid) vs. Stephen Bailey (Kithkin)
Game 1: Merlin wins the die roll and starts off with a mulligan and a Vivid Grove., followed up by a Sygg, River Cutthroat. Meanwhile Bailey lays turn 2 Wizened Cenn. A land and a pass happen quickly for Davis as Sygg is stymied from attack. A 2nd Cenn and Mutavault join the field for Bailey and an attack sends Bailey to 17.
Davis stops the Kithkin swarm from getting out of hand with a Maelstrom Pulse and Sygg cracks for one. Having lost his main pumpers, Stephen follows up with a Heath and Spectral Procession. A 5th land hits play for Merlin and he can easily produce any quantity of mana, including Cryptic Command. He swings once with Sygg, putting Bailey at 18 and passes. Ajani Goldmane does in fact eat a Cryptic Command which draws a card and the Procession Tokens swing in, taking Merlin to 14. His follow-up plays a 6th land, swings for 1 with Sygg and ships the turn back. Stephen now with 2 Mutavault, Heath and Mire, swings with his 3 tokens, going to 11 and declines to play anything.
Davis again goes land-go on his turn, leaving the Sygg at home. Bailey untaps and lays a Windbrisk Heights, following up with another Spectral Procession attack taking Davis to 8, declining to swing with either Vault. A Knight of Meadowgrain then hits the field, but is wiped away with the tokens on end-step thanks to Jund Charm. Now facing a mostly clear board, Merlin resolves a mainphase Tidings and takes his land count to 8, while Sygg stays back to defend against any potential Mutavault attacks.
A Cloudgoat Ranger is stopped by Soul Manipulation, but the follow-up Figure of Destiny from Bailey sticks, with one white land left untapped. On Merlin's mainphase though, Bituminous blasts the FOD before any real pump action can occur, cascading into Putrid Leech. The Leech doesn't last long as it dies to Path to Exile and a Mountain is fetched from Davis's deck. An attack from Sygg leaves Bailey at 16, while leaving 4 mana open. A Mutavault swings in and takes Merlin to 5 life.
Unphased, Merlin untaps, lays a land and leaves open 10 mana, with the Sygg to block. Once again Stephen comes in with one Muta which gets blocked, but wins combat via Zealous Per. The follow-up turn,. Davis lays a Sygg and Putrid Leech to add to his barren field. Meanwhile Bailey lays another Figure of Destiny, white 4 white mana open. Unfortunately the Figure doesn't last long as a Bloodbraid Elf cascades into Pulse. The following attack (Elf, Leech and Sygg) takes Bailey to 11 life. A card is drawn from Sygg and Merlin's only follow-up is a Spectral Procession.
Facing down a veritable army, a Boggart Ram-Gang hits the table as well and everyone, but Sygg comes racking in fon over. Bailey now has to figure out what, if anything he wants to block utilitzing his Mutavaults and Procession tokens. A Muatavult is activated to block, which prompts a response from Merlin. Putrid Leech grows and a Jund Charm in Pyroclasm mode then comes down, clearing all blockers from the board, as well as his own Bloodbraid Elf and strikes for 7 with his surviving attackers. With no board left to speak of and his draw step yielding nothing, Stephen scoops his cards and Bloodbraid is victorious for G1.
Merlin Catterall-Davis 1-0
G2: Bailey began the same way Merlin did in the first, with a mulligan to six. Unfortunately for Bailey, another mulligan is deemed necessary and he drops to a precarious 5 cards. Against the removal heavy 5c Blood deck, this could very easily be over before it starts. An unexciting keep and Rustic Clachan – Figure, starts the game. Merlin once again has a land-go with Vivid Grove. Bailey pumps the Figure and cracks for 2 dropping Merlin to 18. A Sygg is laid, but stays out of the way of a now 4/4 Figure bringing Merlin to 14. 2 Vivids and a Pool litter Davis' field as he cracks back for one with Sygg. Meanwhile Bailey follows with another swing for 4 and Davis has already lost half his life, while a Paladin En-Vec joins the Kithkin field. Davis untaps and lays a 2nd Reflecting Pool, leaving him with 2 Vivids, 2 Pools and a Sygg on board, a Maelstrom Pulse takes care of the Figure and the turn is shipped back.
Stephen untaps, swings with the Pro Paladin hitting Merlin to 8. He has 4 cards in hand, 2 Heath and a Clachan in play with 4 cards. Merlin swings with Sygg and passes without laying a 5th land. Bailey uses the opportunity to swing for 2 and laid a Mutavault. Davis attempted to Jund Charm pump his Sygg on end-step, but is met with a Path to Exile. He fetches a Forest out of his deck and untapped, drew and passed. He now has his 5th land and nothing else. Bailey untaps and quickly swings with his paladin to take Merlin to 4. An end-step Cryptic bounces the Paladin and finds Merlin a 6th land (Another Vivid) on his draw. A Finks hits play, netting him two life and back to a precarious six life, but meets its end from a 2nd Path, this time fetching a Mountain for the 5c deck.
Bailey untaps, plays Wizened Cenn and then swings with Mutavault, taking Merlin to 3. Merlin draws and lays a Putrid leech on the table with 5 cards left in hand. Bailey now has a nearly full grip of cards since he has not drawn any land after the Mutavault a few turns ago. He carefully considers his options and simply replayed Paladin En-Vec and passed back.
An end-step Bituminous Blast from Davis destroys the Cenn and cascades into Bloodbraid Elf which in turn cascades into Kitchen Finks sending Merlin to 5 life. In one turn the board position has completely flipped back toward Davis, now with a potential blocker for Paladin and no longer being in easy striking range of a single creature. He untaps and casts Cruel Ultimatum, bringing him back to 10 life and securing his position. Bailey unfortunately makes an error in forgetting to activate his Mutavault to be sacrificed to Cruel before saying ‘ok' and the Pally is sacrificed. An Alpha strike for 8 damage along with the loss of life from Cruel brings Bailey to near-death. When his draw-step yields nothing of use, he scoops them up.
Merlin Catterall-Davis wins 2-0.
Round 2: Luis Scott-Vargas (Faeries) vs. Ricky Sidher (Faeries)
For round two, we have one of the biggest names in Magic versus one of the best tournament locals in the Bay Area in the Faeries mirror. This looks to be quite the match at a glance; Ricky wins the die roll and elects to keep, however Luis starts the match with a mulligan to 5.
G1: A turn 2 Bitterblossom is the first action coming from Ricky, while Luis is stuck on a single Swamp for his first 3 turns. LSV asks to see the counter when Ricky plays the 4th land, a Cryptic Command is shown and scoops occur.
Well that was fast, a four turn game that didn't include Swans of Bryn Argoll. A mulligan to 5 and lack of mana in the Faeries mirror will do that.
Ricky 1-0
G2: Once again, Luis started the game with the mulligan of a 1-lander, rather happily keeps his 6 card hand full of spells and land. A turn 1 Swamp – Thoughtseize comes out, revealing Ricky's hand of Plumeveil x2, Cryptic, Sower, Secluded Glen and Mutavault, while a Bitterblossom hits the graveyard. After that, land go is the play of the day as both reach 3 land and end-step action occurs. Scion of Oona from LSV, while Sidher takes the opportunity to end-step one of his Plumeveil. LSV's 4th turn comes and Terror's the Plumeveil, allowing for a quick poke with Scion. Ricky lays another Plumeveil, Mutavault begins attacking LSV for 2, followed by a Thoughtseize a turn later.
With only 4 mana, Luis doesn't have many options here and a 2nd Scion comes from LSV in response and he shows 2 Broken Ambitions, so one goes off to the grave. Ricky follows up with a main-phase Scion, since LSV is now tapped down to only one mana. Vargas simply plays draw-go, while Ricky keeps attacking with his now 3/3 Mutavault. A 2nd Thoughseize from Ricky reveals a Warhammer and Broken and the Broken Ambitions is taken away. LSV attempts to cast the Warhammer, but it meets Spellstutter Sprite and another Mutavault swing takes LSV to 9.
The next attack step quickly comes for Sidher who comes in with Sprite and Mutavault. Luis' has his own Spellstutter Sprite and blocks the offending one. Ricky's dies without issue, since 2 Scion are still superior to just one. LSV can get no pressure though since the 2nd Plumeveil prevents any real attacking and Sidher adds to his army with a Sower of Temptation (which ability fizzled due to double Scion). Mutavault is still cracking away through, taking Luis to 6. LSV draws and ships the turn back with his three blockers, but a Cryptic Command later, with LSV lacking a counter means death for the pro.
Between the three mulligans and lack of spells to cast, the match was over in less than 15 minutes.
Ricky Sidher wins 2-0
Round 3: Teng Chi Lim (Swans) vs. Leo Garver (Elves)
Teng wins the die roll and Leo starts off with a mulligan to six.
Game 1: A pair of Vivid Crag leads for Teng and Garver comes out with a Noble Hierarch off Llanowar Wastes 1st turn, going to 19, followed by a Thoughtseize and eats 3 pain damage for his troubles and gets to see 2x Bloodbraid Elf, Deny Reality, Rugged Prairie, Karpulsan Forest and Treetop Village, taking the Deny and revealing his opponent to be Swans. A 2nd Llanowar Wastes hits the table and down comes Vanquisher showing a Chameleon Colossus.
Teng lays a 3rd Vivid, passes and gets knocked to 16 by a Vanquisher attack, Leo plays a CC to keep the pressure on Swans to combo out soon or just die to the giant Gumby. A turn 4 Bloodbraid Elf from Teng cascades into Seismic Assault and he's forced to decide if he wants to kill the CC before it has the mana to pump. The Bloody Elf swings in for 3, taking Leo to 13 and ultimately Lim blows up the CC, pitching 2 land. His only cards left in hand are the Karp. Forest and second Bloodbraid Elf.
Leo responds calmly with a Wilt-Leaf Liege, sending Vanquisher in again for 5 damage, sending Teng to 11. Needing blockers quickly Chi plays the 2nd Elf and cascades into his 2nd Assault, revealing only a single Swans and keeping the combo dream alive. His board is now 2 Blood Elf, 2 Assault, 3 Vivids (all counters, 2 Crag) and a Rugged Prarire, Teng kills the Liege with his last 2 land in hand and bashes with both elves and takes Leo to 7.
A Maelstrom Pulse takes out both Assault and a Putrid Leech comes down, but in doing so takes a pain, dropping to six. However it doesn't matter as a 2nd Pulse blows up both Elves on defense and Leo bashes for 5, taking Teng to six. His draw step is of no help and he scoops in the face of lethal.
Leo 1-0
Game 2: This time it's Chi who is forced to mulligan down, this time all the way to five. The way Teng decided the second mulligan was a rather humorous affair, he rolled three dice to figure out if he was going to mulligan.
His answer? Snake eyes + One.
That seems like as strong a sign as you could expect to get from inanimate objects. Leo also saw the sign to mull, but rather from divining it from dice, his opener was all land. He keeps at a healthy six though.
Once again, Teng plays land-go for his first 2 turns, while Garver lays Hierarch and Vanquisher, bashing for only one from a Exalted Hierarch. This time, Teng's 3rd turn action comes in the form of a Countryside Crusher instead of an Assault, but it doesn't stop Leo from attacking with the larger Vanquisher and dropped Teng to 15. An Nameless Inversion KO's the Crusher before activation, but Teng comes back with another one and his 4th land.
Leo lays Chameleon Colossus and bashes for another 4 sending Chi tumbling to 11 and passes. Teng hits 3 lands off Crusher which reveals another Crusher. The 6/6 Crusher comes in and eats a Hierarch, while the 2nd one sits idly by. At this point Leo still have the creature advantage, but how long remains to be seen, since one good activation can turn both of Teng's Crushers gigantic. CC comes in by itself and takes Teng to 7; while Elves follow-up is a Kitchen Finks, raising Garver to 22.
Teng untaps and rips another 3 lands off the top, revealing Swans as his draw, in comes the 9/9 Crusher
Leo chumps with Finks and goes to 24, while Chi plays his Swans and ships the turn. Leo now has to decide how much to attempt to get in for. Sole Chameleon Colossus is the answer and Teng blocks with Swans. Garver pumps the Colossus and draws 8 cards from the encounter, but only has the land he played for the turn to do anything with, which results in a Gilt-Leaf Palace and a Llanowar Elf. His Vanquisher sitting back and will most certainly be killed in a counterattack by Teng.
Chi finally gets a whiff on his crushers, only revealing one land, before hitting Primal Command. Still the giants are 7/7 and 10/10 respectively. Teng comes back over with the 7/7 which trades with the Vanquisher. A subsequent Thoughtseize reveals Teng's hand as Primal, Deny Reality and Bituminous Blast, but without the 5th land, all sit idly by doing nothing to help the increasingly bleak situation for their owner. Blast hits the bin, but it'll take a huge stroke of luck for Chi to get back in the game. Another Vanquisher and Finks hits the table for Teng and his Crusher reveals a Bloodbraid Elf off the top. He subsequently throws it down and hits his 4th and final Crusher on the cascade.
Another Vanquisher comes down on Garver's side, joined by a Wilt-Leaf Liege, all those extra cards drawn off Swans going to good use. He attacks with only one Vanquisher and Teng chumps with the small Crusher. Desperately looking for an answer, his Crusher reveal does not help as a 2nd Swans joins his brethren. Leo sizes up the board for his attack, activates Treetop Village and attacks with the entirety of his board. Treetop Village, 2x Vanquisher, CC, 2x Finks (one with a Persist counter), Liege and a Llanowar Elf. There's no way for Teng to stop every relevant attacker and he scoops in the face of the Elvish horde.
Leo Garver wins 2-0
Round 4: Josh Utter-Leyton (Faeries) vs. Tony Zhang (Black-Red Aggro)
Both of these players are 3-0 so far, who will keep their winning streak alive and who will be banished to the loser's bracket? Josh Utter-Leyton, more famously known as Wrapter on Magic Online had a disappointing GP result in Seattle, but today the Fae overlords seem to be treating him more kindly.
Tony won the die roll and nobody mulled (for a change), so let's begin!
Game 1: Tony begins the game with a turn 1 Figure off Auntie's Hovel, followed by a piump and Mogg fanatic (leyton n18), while Leyton responds with Island and Mutavault. Hellspark Elemntal hits play and swings in with the team, Spellstutter comes down to trade with the Fanatic and Josh goes to 12. Zhang missed his 3rd land drop and attacks with his Figure for 2, while playing a 2nd Fanatic. A 2nd Sprite eats it on the stack and Utter-Leyton hits his crucial 4th land drop with a Sunken Ruins, turning on Cryptic Command. (Josh's land at this point is Sunken Ruins, Swamp, Island, Mutavault) and gets in for 1 with Sprite.
Tony ponders his options, but is bottlenecked by lack of lands, he attempts to swing for 2 with the Figure and is forced to try and Terminate the Mutavault before blockers. A Scion of Oona stops the Terminate and Josh takes 2, dropping to 8. On the opposing attack step, Scion and Sprite bashed for 3, taking Zheng to 14 thanks to Sulfurous Springs pings. Zhang finally hits his 3rd land on turn 5 and comes in with Figure. Yet another Sprite hits play for Josh and he activates his Mutavault and double blocks the 2/2 Figure.
Zhang elects not to pump the Figure, assigned one damage to Vault and Sprite (take that M10 rules!), following that up with a Volcanic Fallout, clearing the board and dropping Leyton to six, while Zhang goes to eleven. Josh draws, lays a tapped Glen and passes it back, waiting for the opportunity to do something. A 4th Sprite comes from Josh's hand and counters a Fanatic. Hellspark becomes unearthed and takes Josh down to 3 life. Ghitu Encampment joins the fun and he ships the turn, only for it to immediately go back to Zheng, at which point a 2nd Hellspark hits the table and Josh scoops.
Tony Zhang 1-0
Game 2: Both players are content with their openers and land-go is the name of the game. Of course that's short lived as a turn 2 Bitterblossom and turn 2 Hellspark Elemental are played by their respective hosts. Leyton drops to 16 and misses his land drop, sitting on Mutavault and Glen. Hellspark is Unearthed and eats a Terror. Blossom drops Leyton to 15 and he pokes at Zhang for 1, dropping him to 19. A 2nd muta hits play for Utter-Leyton.
The follow-up for Tony is Anathemanacer, but Leyton has the Sprite to counter it, keeping the damage limited to his own Blossom. With 4 1/1 Fae on the board and 2 Mutavault, Leyton has a sizeable army and starts attacking. Two tokens, Sprite and a Mutavault comes in to make this a close race, Zhang has the spray for the vault, but is met with a Negate.
Tony replays a Mogg Fanatic and Josh untaps, draws and cracks back over with 4 flying jerks., taking Tony to 10./ A Sprite + 4 Faerie tokens come in on the next attack and Zhang is out of options. He has to Terminate a Spellstutter Sprite just to try and slow the clock by a turn. Mogg Fanatic comes over and is blocked, being thrown at Leyton's head, taking him to 11. Blossom drops him to 10. A Volcanic Fallout from Tony annihilates the next attack and drops Josh to 8. Despite this, Leyton is stoic, he still has a full grip and life to pay to Blossom. An end-step Plumeveil prevents any haste shenanigans from occurring as Tony only has 7 lands in play and the Anathemanacer in the grave. Josh attempts to crack with Mutavault, but it's met with another Magma Spray and there's no counter or Scion to save it this time.
Tony's life continues to drop from 6 to 4 to just a single life point remaining, while he uses an Unearthed Anathemancer to drop Josh to 3. He has one turn left to finish Josh he'll be destroyed by the Fae. Now comes the moment of truth, as Tony presents Anathemanacer as his final threat and asks to see a counter. Josh's response is simply to shrug and lose to the last Mancer.
Tony Zhang wins 2-0
Round 5: Walter Shatford (5c Planeswalker) vs. Alexander Hemedinger (Grixis Control)
Walter won the die roll and we're off!
Game 1: Walter starts with two Vivids (creek and Crag), while his opponent comes out with Island and Cascade Bluffs. The first real play of the game comes from Walter laying down Jace Beleren and giving it +2 with the Howling Mine ability. A Cascade Bluffs hits play for Alexander and he discards a Siege-Gang Commander at the end of his turn. Walter draws for himself off Jace and lays let another Vivid. Meanwhile Hemedinger just plays a 4th land and does nothing.
Exciting, huh?
Walter activates the Howling Mine ability again, getting Jace up to 6 counters and discards a Path to Exile. A 5th land hits the board for Alexander and he discards a Sulfurous Springs. Shatford once again +2 Jace and discards a land on his discard phase. Both players have 6 lands in play and Alexander plays an ‘action spell' in Mind Stone. Jace goes up to the full 10 counters from another +2 and again Walter dumps a land.
A hardcast Mulldrifter comes down in the first creature played by either player and draws even more cards for Hemedinger. The suspense is killing me here. Copies of Mulldrifter and Siege-Gang Commander hit the grave on the discard step. Both players now have 7 land in play and full grips. Ajani Vengeant is cast from Walter and a Broken Ambitions meets it, but it's only for 2 to drain some mana away from Walter. Another +2 on Jace and a Helix on Mulldrifter fill out the rest of the turn.
Jace has 14 counters and AV keeps going up +1 by keeping Mind Stone tapped. On Walter's end-step, Alexander played Makeshift Mannequin targeting one of his many discarded Siege-Gangs. Walter let it resolve only to attempt to Volcanic Fallout the Goblins away. In response to that, he sacrificed two Goblins to kill the Vengeant and deal 2 to Walter, taking him to 21.
A Broodmate Dragon comes down from Hemedinger and actually makes it into play, despite the copious amounts of cards floating around. Down came a Wrath of God to deal with the Dragons, which is met with a Cryptic Command, which is stopped by a Broken Ambitions; revealing a Double Negative for Walter and land for Alexander. Oh, and he drew it off Jace, sending him to 13 and for-sure having a counter in hand.
A Cruel Ultimatum by Alexander marks a big deal for Walter, since he only has 4 mana reminaing to deal with it and his opponent is showing 3 open himself, representing Broken Ambitions. Considering his full grip, Walter lets it go, discarding Jace, Ajani and a land. Meanwhile Alexander gets back a Broodmate Dragon and replenishes his hand. Moving to his end-step, he dumps a Terminate and Mind Stone in the bin. Walter starts counting cards to see if he can Jace Ultimate and possibly deck him in a reasonable time frame.
The Jace Ultimate hits and takes away 20 cards from Hemedinger's library, leaving him with only 8 cards remaining and Jace still active with 3 counters remianing. An Obelisk of Alara comes down, which gets hit for a Broken Ambitions for 2, which Walter can easily pay, but forces him down to only 2 open mana. A Broodmate Dragon comes down from Hemedinger and Walter lets it go, gaining 5 life on end-step to go back to 19 from the Cruel.
A Path strikes down the real Dragon and a Jace +2 accelerates the clock Alexander's library has imposed on him. Ajani Vengeant comes down and a counter fight starts. Cryptic Command goes after Ajani and is met with a Broken Ambitions for 2 which not only gets Ajani down, but Walter wins the clash, milling away another 4 cards from his library. After his natural draw step, he's left with only 1 remaining card and no way to win the game in time.
Walter Shatford 1-0
Game 2: Alexander starts on the play this game and actually hits his action spell (Mind Stone) on turn 2. A second Mind Stone joins the first. Walter lays 3 producing lands in a row. A turn 4 Siege-Gang Commander is the first real spell and eats a Broken Ambitions for 2 from Walter. Notably Alexander missed his land drop on turn 3, leaving him with only 5 mana, two of which is colorless. Walter takes the opportunity to lay Ajani and tap down the Vivid Creek on the opposing side of the board, leaving him with precious few blue sources. Regardless he evokes a Mulldrifter and continues. Walter, draws, puts a counter on Ajani and moves on. Draw-go is the response from Alexander, but a critical spell war commences. Cryptic Command was played to bounce a land and keep Alexander off Banefire or Cruel Ultimatum mana, but was met with another Cryptic from Hemedinger.
Walter's plan was becoming clear as he had 6 counters on Ajani and was going to counter any spell that could stop the Vengeant from casting Armageddon. Anathamancer ate a Double Negative, but still got into play via Makeshift Mannequin. 4 non-basics meant Ajani would drop to 2 counters and Walter would have to go with a new plan. A Path targets the Anathemancer, which fizzles, but takes care of the Mancer. A follow-up Thought Hemorrhage takes care of the entire bunch. That poor Vivid Creek continues to sit tapped in the corner thanks to Ajani.
Alexander comes back with a Mulldrifter and Mind Stone and ships the turn back, with no mana open for a counter fight. Walter drew, laid land and helix'd away the Drifter, continuing to stalemate the game.
At this point Hemedinger has a huge mana advantage though, even with Ajani tapping one down, he has 11 mana sources in play to walters six. It pays off when a SGC gets Cryptic'd, but a Broodmate resolves. The happiness is short-lived though as Wrath cleans the board and Alexander's hand is so devoid of action he starts sacrificing multiple Mind Stone's. Jace comes down and draws a card for Walter and Ajani keeps Pool tapped, before shipping the turn. Alexander continues to draw-go, occassionly mixing playing a land in there.
Shatford draws another card off Jace and ships the turn. An end-step Mannequin is met by Double Negative and land-go is again the name of the game. Walter continues to build counters on his Ajani and decides to up on his Jace to keep him alive. He nearly taps out for an Obelisk of Alara as a test spell, saving a W for Condemn and it gets eaten by Negate. This also allows Makeshift Mannequin to come down on a Broodmate Dragon on end-step and actually resolve an attack.
Walter's lifetotal continued to dwindle over time as Goblin tokens and pings from Shivan Reef and Adakar Wastes took their toll on Walter, reducing him from above 20 just four or five turns early to 13 life. So burn-esque cards like Cruel Ultimatum and SGC were quickly becoming legitimate finishing threats for him to deal with .
Hemedinger sent in his Broodmate and divided its attack between Walter and Ajani Vengeant, Condemn took care of the dragon going after the Planeswalker. Alexander resolved an SGC though and immediately sacrifices two Goblins to knock Ajani down to 1 counter. Ajani changes his attention to keeping the Dragon token tapped. SGC and his remaining token come in and hit Walter down to 18 and finish Ajani off. Walter draws a card off Jace, reducing him to one and then lays Volcanic Fallout down to finish the SGC off. He throws a token at Walter's dome and then sends the commander to the grave. A fresh Ajani comes down for Walter and is met by Cryptic Command, but a Broken Ambitions is at the ready to defend it. Unfortunately for Walter, that's the last thing he gets to do, a Banefire finishes him off from 9 life.
Match is tied 1-1
Game 3: With only 6:30 left in the round, I doubt this game will finish, but regardless both players carry on. Walter starts the game with a mulligan and then land-go begins anew. Until turn 3 when Shatford remains on only two land, but does have a Broken Ambitions to stop an evoked Mulldrifter with. A few turns later Mystic Gate allows him to cast Jace, but it lands directly in the graveyard. Alexander, now with 5 lands, had already evoked another Mulldrifter and had Broken Ambitions at the ready for Jace. On turn six a Broodmate Dragon hits play and even though the better half ate a Path to Exile, a turn 7 Cruel Ultimatum finishes the game, creating an insurmountable advantage and Walter makes the sporting move and scoops.
Alexander Hemedinger wins 2-1
Round 6: Matt Nass (Cascade LD) versus Teng Chi Lim (Swans)
Both of these players are 4-1 and a win here would guarentee them a slot on Sunday. For Teng this is not a match he wanted to see, since Cascade LD is essentially pre-boarded agianst Swans, but this match is also heavily lobsided for whoever wins the die roll, so we’ll see if that’s the case here.
G1: Teng wins the die roll and begins as Swans does, Treetop Village, Ghitu Encampment and Fire-Lit Thicket into a Seismic Assault. And Nass started as LD does in Standard, turn 3 Fulminator Mage blowing up Treetop Village and then a 2nd Fulms to blow up Ghitu Encampment. Chi gets another Treetop Village out and it gets hit by Deny Reality which then cascades into Rain of Tears and blows up Reflecting Pool, leaving Teng with one land left in play.
Regardless, Matt Nass can't do much except Primal into Enlisted Wurm, which should die. Of course Nass is a giant sack and cascades into Cryptic Command which beats Seismic Assault. Teng scoops.
Matt Nass 1-0
Game 2: Both decks play draw-go for a bit and turn 3 Fulminator Mage blows up Vivid Grove. This time though it's Teng who blows up Nass's land and slows him down severely. A Countryside Crusher comes down and quickly becomes an 8/8 due to revealing and Nass's own LD. Nass drops to 12, but has a Boomerang for what would've been a 2nd lethal swing.
A Rain of Tears and Deny Reality later, Matt is running out of land and out of options against a Swans and Countryside Crusher. His draw step yields him nothing and he scoops.
Match tied 1-1
Game 3: Sadly for Teng, his LD blow-out of Nass was not meant to happen as a turn 3 Grixis Charm bouncing a Vivid, forced him to discard Swans and fall far behind on the race to 4 mana. turn 4 Fulms, turn 5 double Boomerang . Turn 6 Primal Command for Enlisted Worm. Turn 7 Worm into an LD spell, and this match is over. A few more turns go by, but Chi can't get past the 2 land mark and he succumbs to Worm beats.
Matt Nass wins 2-1
Round 7: Ricky Sidher (Faeries) versus Merlin Catterwall-Davis (5c Bloodbraid)
This is a bubble match between both of these tournament locals, win and in. Davis wins the die roll in what should prove to be an exciting match.
Game 1: Turn 1 Vivid Grove is met by turn 1 Thoughtseize from Ricky he sees 2x Leech, Blast, Pulse, Cryptic and a Vivid Creek. One of the Leeches is discarded and the 2nd Vivid comes down. Thankfully for Merlin, a Pool is drawn and he's able to cast Maelstrom Pulse and Putrid Leech without losing Vivid counters. A turn 2 Bitterblossom gets hit by Pulse. a Turn 3 Leech is broken ambitioned. A 4th land and Boggart Ram-Gang comes down and runs into Broken #2.
A little draw-go takes place for Davis while Sidher plays the better version of land-go. A 3rd Putrid leech gets taken down by Cryptic Command, drawing Ricky a card. The fourth and final Putrid Leech comes down and runs smack into another Cryptic Command from Ricky. A turn nine Bitterblossom resolves and is the first perm to last in play. An end-step Bituminous Blast tries takes out a token and cascades into Soul Manipulation which wants to Raise Dead a Boggart Ram-Gang. This won't stand though as Scion of Oona hits play and stops the Blast, although Ram-Gang still came back to Merlin's hand.
Ram-Gang comes down and knocks Ricky to 14. Blossom takes him to 13 and Ricky swings in with a Fae token, Mutavault and Scion for 6, taking Davis to 14.
Board update: Ricky has BB, 8 land *(2 muta), scion and 2 fae token in play.
Merlin has 5 Vivids (all with 2 counters still), Pool and Forest and Boggart Ram-Gang in play.
Ram-Gang comes swinging in and gets blocked by Mutavault, before damage, Merlin attempts to Blast Scion, cascading into Anthamancer. Mancer hits Ricky for 5, but a 2nd Scion saves the Mutavault and it takes out the Ram-Gang. A follow-up Sygg is countered by Broken Ambitions and Davis is left tapped out with only Mancer in play. Blossom takes Ricky to 8 and Mancer gets stoled by Sower of Temptation. With 2 Scion out and Mutavault, Ricky swings with the team.
2x 1/1 Fae token, 2x Scion and a Mutavault = 14 damage. Game over for Merlin.
Ricky Sidher 1-0
Game 2: The action started off on turn 4 after each player went land-go developing mana. The first spell played was Bloodbraid Elf which cascades into Volcanic Fallout, subsequently sent to the bottom of the library. Elf was not meant to be though and didn't make it into play, Broken Ambitions saw to that. A Putrid Leech hit play and then the turn was shipped to Ricky. His turn was much more exciting with bitterblossom and Deathmark on the Leech.
Blossoms died pretty quickly to a Maelstrom Pulse, not having the chance to do much good before going away. When Davis hit 7 mana, he cast a Tidings. Sidher used the opportunity to slide Mistbind Clique into play by activating his Mutavault and having it eaten. Davis got his cards, buyt now had to deal with the 4/4 flyer. Ricky swung in for 4 and passed. The next turn Bloodbraid Elf came down and snagged a Sygg which was countered by Spellstutter Sprite, while the Elf was countered by Flashfreeze a Pulse took care of the Clique though, leaving just the Sprite and Vault remaining in play as threats. Davis is at 15.
A second Mistbind clique took care of Davis's upkeep, trading in the 1/1 Sprite for the new 4/4 beatstick. Mutavault and Clique knocked Merlin down to nine. Davis came back with another Pulse to take care of the Mistbind and added a Leech and Kitchen Finks to his army. Ricky took a shot on Peppersmoke drawing him a Broken Ambitions or Flashfreeze, but it was not meant to be. A poke from Sprite took Davis to 10 and Sidher played the first of his Sower of Temptations in hand to steal the Leech. The Leech's traitiorous nature was short-lived as Davis has a Blast into Finks. Nabbing him 2 life to go back to 12 along with his Leech's return.
The second Sower hit play and re-stole Leech on Ricky's turn, but that didn't stop Merlin from swinging with both finks and a freshly played Ram-Gang. Ricky dropped to 9 from the beats + Leech pump. The Leech and Ram-Gang both died, but he had a persisted Finks, normal Kitchen Finks and Sygg, River Cutthroat on the table now.
Ricky was evil though and lander a 3rd Sower, stealing a clean Finks. Unfortunately for Sidher, there was a Cryptic Command keeping him from preventing a ton of damage coming his way. Mutavault blocking Sygg, kept him alive at one life, but without some insane topdecks, this game was going to be over in the next turn. Before ever seeing his draw for the turn a fallout finished the game out.
Match is tied 1-1
Game 3: The action started off with a Conclave and Ruins for Ricky, while a Vivid and some Pools took up Merlin's early game. An end step Sprite came down and banged for one, while Merlin came out with a Ram-Gang on his turn 3, taking Ricky to 17. he would have none of it though as he bashed back with the flying miscreant for one, taking Davis to 18. A 2nd Ram-Gang made it into play and forced a mid-combat Mistbind Clique to come down and smash one of Ram-Gang, dropping to 14.
When Davis came back for his next attack with Ram-Gang though, he was ready. A Mistbind came down in an attempt to save his 1/1 Clique and tap Merlin out for a Time Walk of his turn. Of course, if he has a Blast, it could be disastrous. As if on cue, the Blast came down and cascaded into Cryptic Command, drawing him a card and bouncing away Faerie Conclave from Sidher's side. Ricky lost both Cliques in the assault and Davis hadn't even lost a card doing it.
Sprite came back over to take Merlin to 17 and was soon joined by a Sower of Temptation which stole the Ram-Gang away, albeit temporarily as Davis again had a removal spell at the ready and blew the Sower up with Maelstrom Pulse. A Sygg came down as well to make the Ram-Gang even more obnoxious. A Sprite attack later a third Mistbind came down and took care of all of Davis's lands for the turn. However he had to hold back due to the possibility of additional haste creatures. This proved prudent a few moments later, when a Boggart Ram-Gang hit the table and got taken out by Flashfreeze. A Pulse got taken out by Sprite powered by Mutavault, but even after all that a Putrid Leech hit the field. Ram-Gang swung in and made the Clique a 1/1 while dying gloriously.
Sidher now had to try and get back in the damage race. He activated Conclave and swung in with his Spellstutter as well, taking Davis to 13. Merlin swung in with Putrid Leech and Ricky chumped with the 1/1 Clique, getting a fresh 1/1 in his 2nd Sprite. The two sprites teamed up to hit for 11. Plumeveil came down to stop a Putrid Leech counterattack, but it was eaten by Cryptic Command before hitting play. With his Leech through to Ricky, he pumped to get in extra damage and draw off Sygg trigger. Merlin dropped to 9 and Ricky dropped to 10 respectively.
Ricky activated his Conclave and attempted to swing in, but was blown out by Volcanic Fallout. Putrid Leech and Sygg survived, of course, but Sidher was left high and dry. On the following alpha strike, Ricky attempted to stave off death with a manland, but another Bituminous blast dashed that hope.
Merlin Catterall-Davis wins 2-1 and makes the t16 cut-off!
Metagame Breakdown of Main Flight
5c Bloodbraid Aggro: 14
Faeries: 7
Elves: 6
Swans: 5
Doran: 5
B/W Tokens: 5
5cc: 4
G/W Aggro: 3
Naya: 3
Cascade LD: 3
B/R Aggro: 3
Bant: 2
Reveillark: 2
B/W Kithkin: 2
Grixis Control: 1
Other: 5
Total: 70 out of 74 decks.
Unfortunately some peple took their decklists out of the pool before I could read them, but thankfully the vast majority remain intact. As you can see, 5c Bloodbraid absolutely dominated this flight, doubling the closest contenders in numbers. It’s easy to see why though, this deck combines all of the ‘best cards’ in the format in a very synergistic and powerful package. After that, the old mainstays of Faeries, Elves, B/W Tokens were the follow-up in numbers. The GP: Seattle win of Doran had an impact, with Doran actually showing up in the metagame in some number, while the beatdown of Swans apparently didn’t dismay some from showing up and rolling Swans with anyway.
Tomorrow we’ll have a more complete picture of what succeeded in the metagame, rather than just what was popular, but from my view on the floor 5c Bloodbraid was not overhyped and Elves were doing very successfully. The cascade decks on a whole were making an impact the whole way through, specially suited to this format where a number of X-2′s made the top 16 cut, allowing them to take a loss here or there to hate without being knocked out.
Last Chance Flight Metagame Breakdown
Faeries: 6
5c Bloodbraid Aggro: 5
B/R Aggro: 5
B/W Tokens: 3
Elves: 3
Doran: 3
Kithkin: 3
W/G Aggro: 2
5cc: 2
Reveillark: 1
Jund Aggro: 1
Cascade LD: 1
Other: 5
Bonus LCQ Feature Match!
Round 3 of the LCQ – Eric Levine (5c Blood )versus Ellis Edmunds (RDW)
Game 1: Ellis lays turn 1 Figure which grows and smacks Eric IN THE FACE for 2, sending him to 18; a Fanatic joins the team. Levine lays a turn 2 Putrid Leech to stem the bleeding, since obviously 3 damage a turn is too much for him. Levine blocks FOD and pumps the Leech, which earns it an Incinerate death. Levine is actually trying to play magic though and casts Jund Charm in Pyroclasm mode to clear the board and drops to 16 from a Fanatic ping.
Ram-Gang comes down and slams for three, taking Levine to 13. Eric comes right back with a hasted dude of his own in Bloodbraid Elf, cascading into Sygg and smashing for 3 to draw a card. Ram-Gang comes back over, dropping Levine to 10 and then Anathemancer deals 4 on top of that. Levine carefully ponders his options and comes in with his Bloodbraid Elf, which trades with the Mancer. Maelstrom Pulse follows and blows up the Ram-Gang, leaving Sygg as the lone survivor on board.
Edmunds has an Incinerate in hand and 5 mana in play, at this point simply biding his time to try and dodge a possible Cryptic Command. Eric taps down three to bash with a Ram-Gang of his own and drops Ellis to 14, while netting a card. A Volcanic Fallout on end-step brings Eric down to just four life, while Ellis sits at a lofty twelve. He lays a Figure down with 4 open mana and ships it back to Eric. Levine being the crafty sack of a judge that he is, proceeds to cast Bitimionus Blast on the Figure, cascading into Putrid Leech and cracking Ellis for 4, dropping him down to eight.
Ellis draws a 6th land to join his Incinerate and lays it on the table. Eric untaps, draws and comes in with the team, hitting for lethal with a Putrid leech activation, backed by Cryptic Command to stop the would-be death Incinerate.
Eric Levine 1-0
Game 2: Both players play land-go for the first 2 turns, on the third turn Ellis activates and comes in with Ghitu Encampment for a massive two damage. Levine surprisingly is the aggressor this time around, playing his turn 3 Ram-Gang and getting in for 3. An Anathemanacer and Mogg Fanatic come down for Edmunds and Levine's life drops, but only in the increment of a Shock.
Edmunds: 17 Levine: 16
Levine comes back over with another Ram-Gang attack, dropping Edmunds to 14 and follows that up with a sick looking Vivid Grove, ship the turn. A Celestial Purge takes care of the Anathemancer, but Fanatic strikes through dropping Eric to 15. Anathemanacer for Eric this time strikes for three (sad commentary on type 2 that it deals as much damage to a 2-color deck as RDW's do to a 5-color deck) and Ram-Gang comes in. Ghitu attempts to block, but eats a second Celestial Purge, so the Ram-Gang gets in, dropping Ellis to 8.
Edmunds has no plays on his turn, but still has 5 mana untapped to try and deal with Eric's follow-up attack with Anathemanacer and Ram-Gang. Magma Spray takes care of the Mancer and Edmunds drops to 5. Red’s counter-attack begins and ends with a 2nd Anathemancer getting taken down by a Cryptic Command, drawing a card for the esteemed judge. Ram-Gang comes and once Eric laid a follow-up Kitchen Finks, Ellis showed his hand of all land and scooped them up.
Eric Levine wins (wait, is this right? Wow, it is.) 2-0
Top 8 Matches to come!
Quarter-Finals: Tony Zhang (B/R Aggro) versus Steve Hines (G/B Elves)
Red Burn vs. Elves, the match that has lasted throughout time, will burn continue to fry turn 1 Llanowar Elves or will the little green men have their day?
Game 1: Zhang is forced to start a card down from a 1-land hand. A turn 1 Figure comes down for Tony which is met in turn by a Llanowar Elf from Steve. A bash for 2 comes through, but more importantly is a Magma Spray blowing away the turn 1 elf. After some careful consideration, Hines doesn't play a turn 2 creature and instead kills FOD away with an Inversion. Tony comes back with a Hellspark, striking Steve to 15.
Hines comes back laying a Mutavault and Civic Wayfinder fetching a Forest. Surprisingly Zhang chooses to do nothing on his 4th turn, including playing a land. Noble Hierarch joins the assault to pump Wayfinder, but a Fallout ends both of them. A follow-up Finks sets the totals at Tony – 16, Steve – 15. An Unearth'd Hellspark changes that to 16 to 12. A finks and Mutavault beating later swings the life totals back in favor of Hines.
The lack of land doesn't slow Zheng down as he plays a Fanatic, which meets a 2nd Inversion. An incinerate teams with the dying Fanatic to blow away Finks and Steve goes back to 14. The pings from Sulfurous Springs is starting to add up though, so far he's taken 3 just from that. His board doesn't show much in the way of usefulness either.
Board:
Steve: Civic Wayfinder, 6x land, including one Muta (3 cards)
Tony: 3 lands (3 cards)
Vault comes over and smacks for another chunk of two, dropping Tony to 8. A fourth ping and a Terminate take care of Civic Wayfinder when it comes in for an attack, but Putrid Leech comes down as a much more impressive threat.
With still 3 land on the board, the turn is shipped yet again by Tony with no play being made. Leech bashes for 2 and drops Zheng to six, then an oddity, an incinerate forces the Leech to pump post-combat, but that's it. Incinerate becomes shock and Tony drops to 12. The next turn a Flame Javelin takes care of the leech for good, but Mutavault beats just keep beating away at red's life total. When the draw step yields no answer to the bleak situation, Zheng concedes.
Steve Hines 1-0
Game 2: Zheng elects to play, as all red players do and we're off to the races. Zheng keeps a very burn heavy hand, with his only creature threat being a Anathemancer. It could prove to be a wise decision though as Hines takes a mulligan in a match that plays like a war of attrition.
Land-Go is the order of the day for both players, with the first action being the turn 3 Mancer, dealing a Shock to Steve and his 2 Treetop Village. A Kitchen Finks resets the life-totals and prompts a Magma Spray from Tony, followed by an attack back down to 18. A fourth land prompts a Wilt-Leaf Liege, but two of the lands being Swamps resets that play and instead Anathemancer eats a Pulse from Hines and the turn is shipped.
With Zheng idling, Steve takes the opportunity to cast Primal Command on an empty board, going up to 25 life and finding a Chameleon Colossus. A 6th land brings Zheng ever closer to a Unearth on Mancer, but it seems slightly less threatening than the 4/4 pumping monster. Of course a Flame Javelin takes care of the beast and on cue; Mancer gets Unearthed, deals 4 and swings for 2, bringing Steve back down to 19. It's like the game never really started!
The previously mentioned Wilt-Leaf Liege finally makes an appearance and a Treetop Village swings over for 4, marking the first damage Tony has taken this game. A few pings for green reduce the life-total of Hines to 16. A Ghitu Encampment hits, but the red player can't be overly pleased with 8 lands in his top 14. Terminate takes down the Liege when it comes with Treetop to bash again and Zheng drops to 13. A finks comes down and keeps him very high on the life count.
A Fanatic comes down, but hardly seems intimidating. Finks and Treetop come in again and Ghitu Encampment comes out to block, but gets struck down by Inversion. Hellspark tries to get Steve within Banefire range, but 11 life is still a long way to go and another attack from Village and Finks send Zheng to 4. At this point there's little that can save the red deck, there are simply too many hard-to-kill men on the table. Zheng Unearth's the Hellspark to come in for three and a Ram-Gang comes down as a blocker with 3 mana open representing Fallout or Flame Javelin. Another Inverison blows the Goblin away though and leaves Tony wide-open for the green creature swarm to finish the job.
Steve Hines wins 2-0
Semi-Finals: Steve Hines (Elves) vs. David Mintz (Doran)
Game 1: Mintz wins the die roll and both keep their opener. A turn 1 Llanowar Wastes pings Mintz for the first damage of the match to lay Treetop Harbinger, finding a Murmuring Bosk. Steve's first play of the game comes on his 2nd turn, playing a Putrid Leech. A second Bosk comes down on turn 3, tapped, revealing that David had no Treefolk in his hand. It also meant his land base was rather painful, taking 2 to lay a Knotvine Paladin. The pain was amplified when Leech came over and cracked for 4, sending David to 13, while a Finks hit play raising Steve back to a full 20.
A second Llanowar Wastes joined his pair of Bosk' and he took yet another point of damage to play Wilt-Leaf Liege, which paid off when he got to strike for 6 damage and drop Mintz to 14. A Leech attack smacks Mintz to 8 and he drops a 2nd Leech down along with a Vanquisher. David topdecks the Maelstrom Pulse though and blows away both Leeches as well as destroying the Vanquisher with path to exile. However he took another 2 pain from his lands in the process and dropped to 6 life. With him tapped out, a Profane Command could end the game here.
In comes a 5/5 Knotvine Paladin and the Wilt-Leaf Liege, Hines chooses to take the 9 points of damage and drop to 3. On Hines turn a Wayfinder fetches a Swamp, but rather than playing that, down came a Treetop Village. Mintz still clearly had the advantage on the board, but the potential for a Nameless Inversion made him pause before sending all his men into the red zone. Finks blocked the Paladin and Wayfinder stepped in front of the Liege, but the Harbinger being a 1/4 meant that David could Inversion it into a lethal 4/1 attacker. Steve had no answer and was killed by an unlikely tree.
David Mintz 1-0
Game 2: This game, both players went down to 5 cards, both being stuck with a notable lack of cards that produce mana in their openers. As expected the action wasn't coming on turn 1, Treetop Village for Elves meets Bosk from Doran. A turn 2 Putrid Leech from Steve (dropping to 19 from Llanowar Wastes) was answered by a Knotvine Paladin from David and the two squared off. Leech and Treetop Village came over, dropping Mintz to 13 and sending Hines down to 16 from Leech activation and a ping.
A Dauntless Escort came down and Paladin went in for 3, making the totals 13 a piece.
Board Update:
David – Bosk, 2x wooded bastion, Knotvine, Escort
Steve – Treetop Village, Llanowar Wastes, Twilight mire and Putrid Leech
David laid a Noble hierarch (taking another ping) and swung in with leech for 5, taking Mintz to 8 and Hines falling to 10. Mintz dropped to 7 from a Wastes ping and cast Maelstrom Pulse to destroy the Leech, but failing to attack with either man into the waiting Treetop Village on Hines board. A Vanquisher (hardcast) and Mutavault came down and the turn was passed.
A basic Forest and another ping (6) marked the first appearance of Doran, The Siege Tower. Another ping from Bosk for black casts Thoughtseize and drops David to 3, while nabbing the last card from Elves: Infest. A topdecked Putrid Leech comes down and the two armies continue to glare at one another from their respective sides.
Real action started when a ripped Maelstrom Pulse targeted Doran and forced Escort to sacrifice himself to save the Doran. Another land didn't help David much, hoping his Doran and single card in hand would be scary enough to prevent any large-scale carnage. Vanquisher came over for Hines and Doran traded off with him. The draw-step and card in hand proved to only be land and that was the end for Mintz.
Match tied 1-1
Game 3: David is on the play this game and both players keep their openersa with a relieved sigh of relief after the last game. Turn 1 Murmuring Bosk revealing Doran and playing Noble Hierarch previed he turn 2 beast. A wren's run Vanquisher hit the table for Hines to prevent the beast from attacking, showing a Nameless Inversion to his Doran opponent.
Mintz missed his land drop, but was still able to play a Dauntless Escort to protect his Doran for the time being, allowing him to swing in for 6 with an exalted doran, taking Hines to 14. The previously revealed Inversion takes care of the Escort and the turn is shipped back. Two more Noble Hierarch dropped down from David's hand and he Pathed away the defending Vanquisher, allowing Doran to come in for a massive 8 damage and putting Steve to 6 life.
In an attempt to rebuild his creature base, two Leech came down for Hines to try and defend his life-total. Regardless, Doran swung in for 8 and Steve answered it with a double block trade, reducing him to 2 and having them all die. A Kitchen Finks came from Mintz leaving him with 3 Hierarch and a Finks on board. A Wilt-Leaf Liege from Steve tried to stabilize the board, but a Behemoth Sledge put an end to the game.
David Mintz wins 2-1
Championship Match: David Mintz (Doran) versus Arthur Halavais (Faeries)
So here we are, 3 flights and 2 days later, we have our Finals match and it's a repeat of the GP: Seattle. Will Doran succeed once again? Well we're about to find out.
Game 1: On the play Mintz lays a Bosk, revealing a preview of his turn 2, Doran and a Noble Hierarch slides into play. This is met with a Secluded Glen by Arthur, which is clearly unphased. Down comes the turn 2 big man, with Mintz taking a ping for his troubles. The ubiquitous turn 2 Bitterblossom hits on the Fae side, but the happiness is short lived when a Wilt-Leaf Liege hits and Doran comes in for a whopping 8 points of damage, taking Arthur to 12 (soon to be 11). Facing a veritable army, Faeries is already on its back foot, with only 3 mana open and a Fae token to stop the multitude of green monsters.
David has already taken 3 from his lands so far and lays a Dauntless Escort down, which is responded to by a Terror on the Liege. Doran swings in and is obviously chumped by the Fae token. Halavais drops to 10 from Blossom, lays another Island (joining another, Mutavault and Glen) and simply passes the turn.
David moves into his attack step and swings with the Escort and Doran, the Escort eats an Agony Warp and the Doran is once again stymied by a token. Knotvine Paladin and Treefolk Harbinger come down, the latter fetching another Treefolk Harbinger. This allows him to keep his options open by playing 1 mana 3/3's while having a back-up in case his Doran is somehow destroyed.
The turn is shipped and Fae 5th land hits, with Jace cast and drawing a card for Halavais. The second Harbinger comes and repeats the actions of it's cousin, finding another Harbinger and generally being tree-like. An alpha-strike comes in from Mintz, Paladin (3/3), Harbinger and Doran all come in. Mutavault is activated to try and block, but eats an Inversion and Arthur scoops in the face of overwhelming force.
David Mintz 1-0
Game 2: Both players are content with their opening seven and engage in a pleasant exchange of ideas. And by that I mean David cast Thoughtseize on turn 1, dropping to 17 and seeing, Flashfreeze, Scion, Sprite, 2x Island and Sunken Ruins, taking the Freeze. Gaddock Teeg comes down, earning David another ping for his troubles (Llanowar Wastes are not fun) and an end-step Spirte comes down, followed by a main-phase Scion of Oona from Arthur, prompting a strike for 2 from Sprite.
Wooded Bastion helps fix the mana a bit and allows for a turn 3 Doran, Teeg cracks for 2, reducing Arthur to 18 and Mintz to 13. Using his slight life-advatnage, Arthur comes back over for 3 more, taking David to 10. Doran comes back over, striking for 5 and dropping Halavais to 13. On the 2nd mainphase, Zealous Persecution makes an appearance, clearing the Faeries from the field. A Harbinger comes down and nabs a Murmuring Bosk for Mintz, could we see Cloudthresher or Chameleon Colossus shortly?
All Arthur can do is attempt to race at this point, swinging in with Conclave and dropping Mintz to 8. Dauntless Escort comes down on the Doran side and an Agony Warp can't stop the bleeding. There's simply nothing Fae can do against so many large threats and he scooped.
David Mintz 2-0 (finals is best 3 of 5, did not know this)
Game 3: Both players keep at seven and just like last game, a lone tapped Glen starts the game for Arthur. Once again, Mintz has a turn 1 play of Noble Hierarch, this time off a basic Forest so no free pain damage in this game. His follow-up is a Treefolk Harbinger, with Hierarch open just in case of Broken Ambitions. The tree whisks a Bosk to the top of David's deck and ends his turn.
Halavais plays a 2nd Secluded Glen and reveals a Mistbind Clique, which isn't quite as scary with 0 fae in play. A turn 3 Doran from Mintz is hit by Flashfreeze and he's forced to settle with a bash for one from harbinger (exalted). A 4th land from Arthur means he has the open mana to Flashfreeze both of Mintz's Knotvine Paladin's when played. A Mutavault lands on Arthur's side, finally giving him something to use with Clique. David counters with a Treefolk Harbinger finding the deck's namesake and following that up with a Wilt-Leaf Liege. A Cryptic Command takes down the Liege, drawing a card for it's owner and again Mintz is stopped and settles for another ping, dropping him to 17.
Arthur plays the ‘I hope to god you don't blow me out' card by casting Mistbind on Mintz's upkeep with only Mutavault to champion. David doesn't have it though and he successfully gets his Time Walk and stops the pings. A thoughtseize drops Halavais to 15 and reveals a Pulse on Doran across from him, with the Pulse being taken. A second Mistbind Clique shuts down Mintz's next turn and leaves a surprise just in case he kills the clique. A second Thoughtseize from Arthur's subsequent turn steals Doran.
Mutavault is activated and Scion of Oona drops, the Vault and Clique combine to deal 8 to Mintz, dropping him to 7 life. Mintz has no play and ships the turn, Halavais comes back over with the same force (now with added one point from Scion action!) and drops Mintz to one. His draw step is useless and he concedes.
2-1 in favor of Mintz
Before game 4 there was a brief interruption where there was a disagreement about how many cards was in Arthur Halavais' sideboard. When he presented it turns out that he had given out a 64 card deck, our esteemed Head Judge Riki Hayashi came over and after some chatter, presented the bad news to Arthur. Deck – Decklist mismatch which results in a game loss.
David Mintz wins the Superstars 5K with Doran!
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Matthew says: June 13, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
This report was *simply* great LOL
Enzo says: June 14, 2009 @ 9:31 am
YEAH! GO MERLIN!
Vio says: June 14, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Awesome recap of Alexander Hemedinger’s fight. He’s a good friend of mine and to see his fight recorded makes it that much better.
Jess says: June 14, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
Sweet game, Dave. You rock!!
Jim says: June 14, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
wow sideboard error arthur ftl…
lewk says: June 15, 2009 @ 4:57 am
Will decklists be posted?
frm says: June 17, 2009 @ 4:55 am
Has anyone have the cascade ld list? i can’t find it nowhere on the net
Frank says: June 19, 2009 @ 6:48 am
Great report with the right amount of detail. Nice work and a fun read!