Closing the Group semifinals stage with Group D games.
M12 vs Mirrodin
An high level matchup involving two of the best decks in BOTS, the blazing fast Affinity deck from Mirrodin, and the ultra-solid Rock deck from M12. Since M12's deck is technically built to shut down aggro opponents, it's easy to find a favorite here, but when considering decks with this quality, anything can happen. On with the game!
Game One
M12 wins the roll to start, but unfortunately has to take a mulligan, and to make things worse sees Mirrodin start the game with an excellent turn one Disciple of the Vault. On its side, M12 plays a Skinshifter and passes. Luckily, Mirrodin is not following up with aggressive creatures, and it only plays an Ornithopter plus Chromatic Sphere before passing. M12 considers the situation for a second, then turns the Skinshifter into a 4/4 and attacks for four damage before passing.
Mirrodin is now ready to get serious, as it draws and plays a Frogmite for 0 mana, followed by a Somber Hoverguard. Then, it attacks for one damage and passes. M12 draws and passes, still playing lands. Mirrodin draws and considers the situation. After thinking for a few seconds, decides that attacking is still the best option, and turns the Frogmite and the Somber Hoverguard sideways. M12 takes the damage from the frogmite, then turns the Skinshifter into a 2/2 with Flying and trades with the Hoverguard. Mirrodin then plays a Myr Enforcer and passes. End of turn, M12 throws a Naturalize at the Enforcer, then on its turn plays a Garruk, Primal Hunter to create a 3/3 token and passes. But the surprises aren't finished – end of turn, Mirrodin casts a Shrapnel Blast to kill Garruk!
Mirrodin's hand is now empty, but luckily it draws and plays a Myr Enforcer before passing. At this point, M12 has two Grave Titan in hand, but no black mana sources in play. Fortunately it draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, that fetches a Swamp and also strengthens up M12's defenses. But things are about to turn again, as Mirrodin draws an Atog! What a game so far. First, Mirrodin turns the Frogmite and the Enforcer to attack, and the two creatures on M12's side team up to kill the Enforcer. M12 takes two damage from the Frogmite and falls down to 14, then 13 for the damage from the dying Enforcer. The Enforcer brings the beast token to the grave with it, then Mirrodin plays the Atog and passes.
Luck smiles on M12 now, as it draws and plays a Gideon Jura, activating its +2 ability. Truly aggro's nemesis, Gideon Jura has kept popping up at the best moments thorughout the whole tournament for M12. Mirrodin is unfortunately forced to attack Gideon with all its creatures, but Mirrodin decides to save the Disciple of the Vault by playing a Shrapnel Blast on the Simulacrum, sacrificing the Ornithopter. Then, Mirrodin sacrifices the Chromatic Sphere and an artifact land to boost the Atog to 5/6, and along with the Frogmite and thr Disciple, that's enough to kill Gideon. Plus, M12 loses three more life points and it's now at 9.
M12 has drawn another Simulacrum, and plays it to fetch the second Swamp – on the coming turn, a Grave Titan will join the battle and possibly seal the game on M12's favor. Mirrodin draws a Thoughtcast, but it's short on mana and artifacts and can't really play it. So, for the moment it decides to pass. But then M12 plays the Grave Titan, and a Timely Reinforcements on the next turn. Mirrodin realizes that Gideon Jura won the game for M12, and there's nothing left to do. The Affinity deck concedes and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
M12 has again to take a mulligan, while Mirrodin keeps its starting hand and opens up with a turn one Ornithopter, followed by a turn two Frogmite. Meanwhile, M12 is only playing lands. On its third turn, Mirrodin attacks for two damage and then plays an Atog. M12 is ready to show that it has all the tools it needs to handle the opposition, playing a very timely Timely Reinforcements, and passing.
Mirrodin draws and plays a Bonesplitter, and decides to equip it to the Ornithopter, turning all its creatures to attack. M12 takes two damage from the Flying creatures, then assigns two Soldier to block the Frogmite and one to block the Atog. The Frogmite dies, then Mirrodin plays a second Atog and passes. M12 is at 22 life points, and has no creature on the board. On its turn, M12 plays a Solemn Simulacrum and passes.
Then Mirrodin gets lucky, drawing a Disciple of the Vault. Now, Mirrodin is sure that at least one Atog can get through and deal direct damage to M12. Unfortunately, with six artifacts in play, that's a total of 13 combat damage + six life points lost. Not enough to kill the opponent, and then Mirrodin would stand staring at an empty board. Still, M12 is probably going to drop some bomb soon, and then things might take a turn for the worse for Mirrodin. Better take advantage of the opening, then. Mirrodin turns the two Atog and the Ornithopter to attack. One Atog gets blocked by the Simulacrum, while the other one and the Ornithopter slips through to deal damage to M12. Mirrodin sacrifices a land for each Atog, killing the Simulacrum without losing any creature, while M12 loses a total of five life points from combat damage, plus two from the sacrificed lands and one from the dead Simulacrum. M12 is now at 14 life points. Mirrodin then passes.
M12 plays a Grave Titan and passes. At this point, Mirrodin must now rely on the Ornithopter to dish in some damage, and then deal the killing blow with the Disciple. Let's see how it turns out. On its coming turn, Mirrodin plays a Chromatic Sphere, and this means it finally has the blue mana to cast the Thoughtcast in its hand. Mirrodin then draws and plays a Seat of the Synod and a Pyrite Spellbomb. Now Mirrodin would need a Shrapnel Blast and might just take the game home. For now, Mirrodin attacks for two and passes. M12 is now at 11 life points.
M12 draws and attacks with the Titan. Mirrodin thinks for a few seconds, then decides to simply chump-block with an Atog. M12 then plays a Solemn Simulacrum, a Rampant Growth and finally passes.
Lucky! Mirrodin draws another Bonesplitter! The ornithopter gets equipped and turns into a 4/2, attacking for four damage. And from then, it's quickly over: the Pyrite Spellbomb deals two more damage, and with six remaining artifacts in play, the math is simple: Mirrodin wins game two!
Game three
Quite incredibly, M12 has to mulligan again, while Mirrodin is again off to a good start with a turn one Disciple of the Vault. M12 plays only a land on turn two, then Mirrodin on its second turn attacks for one and plays a Pyrite Spellbomb and a Frogmite. But M12 won't simply be trampled by its opponent, and enters the game with a Timely Reinforcement, then passes.
Mirrodin considers the situation, then plays a Somber Hoverguard and decides to attack with the Frogmite, that gets blocked by the opponents Soldier, trading for two of them. M12 loses one life points, then the Pyrite Spellbomb is activated for two damage to M12 and one more life point lost. M12 is now at 21 life points, and Mirrodin passes. M12 plays a land and passes. Mirrodin attacks with the Hoverguard, then plays a Thoughtcast, an Atog, and passes.
And here M12 is ready to show again just how annoying it can be for aggro decks, playing a Gideon Jura and activating its -2 ability to kill the Hoverguard. Then, M12 passes. Mirrodin knows it has to kill the planeswalker as quickly as possible, but with a single Soldier token standing, it won't be able to just attack it with the Atog. Luckily, it has a Shrapnel Blast in hand. Mirrodin would have preferred to throw it directly at M12, but there's not much choice here. So, Mirrodin first plays a Thoughtcast, then a Myr Enforcer, then finally the Shrapnel Blast sacrificing an artifact land to kill Gideon Jura. Then the Atog attacks and is chump-blocked by the Soldier token. M12 is now at 17 life points and has an empty board.
Empty, but not for much, as M12 taps six lands and plays a Grave Titan! The situation doesn't look exactly optimal for Mirrodin right now, but the Affinity deck still hasn't lose hope. For now, though, it just plays a second Atog and passes. M12 is ready to secure its position even more, by playing another Timely Reinforcements, and then passing. M12 is convinced that time is on its side.
Mirrodin draws and considers the situation. It has two Shrapnel Blast in hand. Considering that M12 is at 23 life points, that's not even remotely enough to win the game. On the other hand, they could be used to kill the Titan, but Mirrodin would still have to worry about an army of tokens then – and the number of artifacts to fuel the Atogs is not endless. Still, Mirrodin decides that it can't really wait forever, and turns all its creatures, except the Disciple, to attack.
One Atog is blocked by the Grave Titan, as M12 wants to use the Deathtouch to make sure it's killed. The second Atog is blocked by two Soldier tokens, while the Enforcer crashes on the two Zombie tokens. Mirrodin casts a Shrapnel Blast to make sure that the Titan is killed by the Atog, then sacrifices a land to keep the second Atog alive. The Enforcer trades for the Zombies. M12 is now at 21 life points, and Mirrodin passes.
And then M12 hits hard, again. The rock deck draws and plays a second Gideon Jura, activating the -2 ability to kill the remaining Atog. M12 smiles and passes. Mirrodin can remove the Gideon Jura with its remaining Shrapnel Blast, and in fact has no choice but to do so, even though it's clear that the inertia of the game is tilting in M12's favor. Still, the Blast is played to kill the planeswalker, then Mirrodin passes.
M12 shakes its head, as it didn't expect Mirrodin to have yet anothe copy of Shrapnel Blast, but the rock deck knows the game is taking a turn for the better after all. This turn, M12 draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, then attacks with the Soldier token for one damage and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Chromatic Sphere, then activates it to draw a card – a second Disciple of the Vault, that is played right away. Mirrodin then passes. M12 draws a Doom Blade – not very useful right now – then attacks with the Simulacrum, keeping the Soldier on the defensive, and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Bonesplitter, then passes.
And then M12 draws a Garruk, Primal Hunter, followed on the next turn by another Grave Titan. M12 refilles its hand with Garruk's -3 ability, and the game quickly reaches a conclusion. M12 wins game three!
Game Four
Mirrodin starts and makes the first play with a turn two Atog. On the other side, M12 plays a Skinshifter and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Disciple of the Vault, then attacks with the Atog (M12 takes the damage), and finally passes. M12 draws, plays a Timely Reinforcements (getting the three tokens and jumping up to 25 life points) and passes. As usual, things get awfully complicated for Mirrodin from the very beginning. The game has just begun, though.
Mirrodin plays a fourth land and then a Myr Enforcer, before turning the Atog to attack. M12 block with two Soldier tokens, forcing Mirrodin to sacrifice an artifact to kill them. M12 falls to 24 due to the Disciple of the Vault, and Mirrodin passes. Nothing to do for M12 this time around, that simply draws and passes.
Mirrodin attacks with the Atog and the Enforcer, and M12 decides to block the Atog with the Skinshifter (turning it into a 0/8), and letting the Enforcer in (falling doen to 20 life points). Mirrodin then plays a second Enforcer and passes. And then M12 gets nasty again, playing a Gideon Jura and activating its -2 ability to kill the Atog. Mirrodin curses, and M12 smiles and passes. Mirrodin wants the planeswalker dead, and turns both Enforcers to attack – M12 shrugs and puts Gideon in the graveyard. Then Mirrodin plays a third Myr Enforcer and passes. On its turn, M12 plays a second Skinshifter and passes.
This time, it's Mirrodin that is ready to surprise its opponent with an unexpected move. The Myr Enforcers are turned to attack, and M12 blocks all three of them with the last remaining Soldier token and the two Skinshifter, turned to 4/4... except Mirrodin plays two Shrapnel Blast (sacrificing two artifact lands) and kills both of them! With the Soldier token dying from combat damage, M12 now has zero creatures on the board, and the situation suddenly looks quite worrying.
M12 has two Grave Titan in hand, but unfortunately only one Swamp in play. So, for now it can only play a Garruk, Primal hunter, and spawn a 3/3 token before passing. Mirrodin plays a Bonesplitter and equips it to one of the Enforcers, then declares the attack: two Enforcers on Garruk, one (the one equipped with the Bonesplitter) on M12 itself. M12 blocks this last one with the Beast token, while Garruk gets slaughtered and M12 is once again sitting with an empty board. M12 really needs to draw a black mana source... but it only draws a Plains! The rock deck is forced to pass, and Mirrodin can attack for 14 damage, before playing a Thoughtcast and a Chromatic Sphere and passing. And then M12 draws a Swamp! Maybe a turn too late... but you never know. For now, M12 plays a Grave Titan and passes. Mirrodin plays a Thoughtcast, getting a Somber Hoverguard and a Frogmite in play, then sacrifice a Chromatic Sphere (M12 is now at three life points) and passes. M12 draws a Sunpetal Grove and gets a second Grave Titan in play, but can't block the Somber Hoverguard and will surely die in the coming turn. That's it, game over, Mirrodin wins game four!
Game Five
A strange game seems about to start, as M12 is forced to mulligan once, and Mirrodin twice. M12 plays a land and passes, while Mirrodin starts the game with a turn one Pyrite Spellbomb. Still more lands from M12, while Mirrodin plays a Frogmite and passes. Things seem to be shaping up fine for Mirrodin, that attacks for two and plays an Atog before passing. The Affinity deck is still stuck with two lands, but that might not be as much a problem as it seems, all things considered. Mirrodin then passes, and M12 gets ready to begin its game, playing a Solemn Simulacrum to fetch a Forest (that was so far missing), and passing.
Mirrodin draws and plays a Thoughtcast, hoping to draw a land... but it draws two Disciple of the Vault instead. For now, Mirrodin can't play any of them, deciding to attack with both its creatures instead. M12 decides to take the damage and falls down to 15. Mirrodin passes, and M12 draws and plays an Oblivion Ring, removing the Atog from the battlefield. M12 then plays a Skinshifter and passes.
Mirrodin draws another Thoughtcast and considers the situation. In hand it has two Myr Enforcer, two Disciple of the Vault, a Pyrite Spellbomb and the Thoughtcast. Only two lands in play: a Glimmervoid and a Seat of the Synod. Mirrodin could gamble with the Thoughtcast again, hoping to draw another land, but it might end up backfiring. For now, the best course of action seems to kill the Skinshifter with the Spellbomb already in play (as M12 has no mana open to transform the Skinshifter), then playing the Spellbomb in hand and passing.
But M12 is speeding up, and soon might be too late for Mirrodin. A Gideon Jura is played, activating its +2 ability, then M12 passes. Mirrodin draws... another Disciple of the Vault. Mirrodin decides to play the Thoughtcast... and it draws a Shrapnel Blast and a Chromatic Sphere! Incredible bad luck for the Affinity deck, that is now forced to attack with the Frogmite. M12 blocks with the Simulacrum, drawing one, and leaving Mirrodin in a really bad board position. Mirrodin is then forced to pass.
M12 turns Gideon into a 6/6 creature and attacks, then plays a second Solemn Simulacrum to fetch a second Swamp, then plays a Skinshifter and passes. Mirrodin finally draws a third land, but it's probably too late. For now, it plays a Chromatic Sphere, a Disciple of the Vault, and passes. M12 turns the Skinshifter into a 4/4, then attacks with it along with the Simulacrum and the animated Gideon Jura. This last one is chump-blocked by the Disciple, but Mirrodin still falls down to 8 life points, and as M12 plays a Grave Titan before passing, it's clear to everyone that the game is over. Mirrodin fought to the very end, but on the final game luck definitely wasn't shining on its side, and M12 got an easy win in the crucial moment. M12 advances to the group finals!
Magic 2012 3 - Mirrodin 2
Magic Origins vs Return to Ravnica
Two decks I really like face off in the last group semifinal. R2R features an old-school control deck, with counterspells, card advantage and mass removal, plus a couple of good finishers. Magic Origins features a highly synergic deck, creating an army of Thopters to overrun the opponent. While Origins is usually very good at dealing with control and slow deck, it might seriously suffer R2R's mass removal (in the form of Supreme Verdict, but also Detention Sphere to a lesser extent). Let's see how things turned out!
Game One
R2R wins the roll to start and opens the game with a turn two Frostburn Weird. Origins is only playing lands for now, so R2R on the following turn plays an Hallowed Fountain and attacks for three damage with the Weird, before passing. On its third turn, Origins is finally ready to make its first move: a Chief of the Foundry. R2R thinks for a couple of seconds, then again turns the Weird to attack. Origins decides not to block, taking four more damage and falling down to 13. R2R then plays an Izzet Guildgate and passes.
Origins turns the Chief to attack for two, then passes. R2R draws and again turns the Weird to attack, boosting it to a 3/2... and then Origins plays a Harbinger of the Tides to bounce it back to R2R's hand. R2R shrugs, plays it again, and passes. Origins plays a second Chief of the Foundry, then turns both its creatures to attack. R2R declares the Weird as blocker for the attacking Chief, and Origins casts a Turn to Frog to kill the annoying creature. R2R takes two damage from the Harbinger, and Origins passes.
It's time for R2R to bring the board back under control. After having played its sicth land, it casts a Chromatic Lantern and then a Supreme Verdict. Satisfied with the situation, R2R passes. Origins plays another Chief of the Foundry and passes. R2R plays a Sphinx's Revelation to draw four and gain four, and passes. Origins needs to make something happen, but at the moment the best it can do is again attacking for two and pass. Return to Ravnica, for now, decides to just play a Detention Sphere to remove the Chief, and passes. The game looks steadily under control for now, and the pressure is on Origins, that is ready to shake things up. End of turn, a Foundry of the Consuls is sacrificed to put two Thopter tokens into play. Then, on its turn, Origins casts yet another Chief of the Foundry and attacks for four damage. R2R now sits at 14 life points, while Origins is at 12.
R2R consdiers the situation and decides that it's time to get sserious. An Angel of Serenity is played, clearing the board once again. The situation is now serious for Origins, that needs to remove the Angel at all costs. So, a Turn to Frog is played, quickly followed by an Exquisite Firecraft, that it's now uncounterable! Origins gets the Chief back in hand, but all in all, that was still a 2 for 1 trade. Origins has two cards in hand, while R2R five. It's clear who has the advantage for now. End of turn, R2R casts an Izzet Charm to draw two, discarding a second Izzet Charm and a Chromatic Lantern. Then, Return to Ravnica draws and passes.
Origins draws and plays the Chief of the Foundry, but R2R is ready to answer with a Syncopate. Now, Origins has another Turn to Frog and Exquisite Firecraft in hand, and not much to do except passing again. R2R again draws and passes. Origins draws and plays a Foundry of the Consuls, then passes. End of turn, R2R casts a Sphinx's Revelation for seven! Then, on its turn, it casts an Angel of Serenity and a Frostburn Weird, and passes. End of turn, Origins create two tokens with the Foundry, then repeats the Turn to Frog + Exquisite Firecraft trick to remove the Angel, and passes.
But as R2R simply plays yet another Angel of Serenity, it's clear that Origins is out of options, and the Thopter deck concedes. R2R wins game one!
Game Two
Origins starts, but it's again R2R to make the first move with a turn two Frostburn Weird. This time, though, Origins is quick to answer with a Thopter Engineer, spawning a token and immediately turning it to attack for one damage. R2R remains unfortunately stuck at two lands, and passes. Origins tries to increase its advantage by casting a Thopter Spy Network, but R2R is ready to answer it with a Syncopate. Origins then attacks for one and passes. R2R finally draws and plays its third land, an Hallowed Fountain (taking two damage and falling down to 16), then casts a Chromatic Lantern and passes.
Origins knows it has to close the game as quickly as possible, and it's ready to increase the pressure with a Pia and Kiran Nalaar, turning all its tokens to attack for three damage. R2R is now at 13 life points. R2R draws and plays an Azorius Guildate, then considers the situation and decides to clear the board with a Supreme Verdict. Origins is definitely not happy about that, but the Thopter deck gets lucky as it draws and immediately plays an Hangarback Walker.
But R2R has an answer for that one, too: a Detention Sphere! Origins shakes its head, feeling powerless. Still, it's too early to give up. Origins plays a Chief of the Foundry and passes. R2R draws, then plays a Sphinx's Revelation for three, plays a land and passes. Origins draws and plays a second Chief of the Foundry, attacks for three damage (R2R is back at 13 life points), then passes.
As it did before, R2R is ready to solve all its problems by casting an Angel of Serenity... except this time Origins shows a Clash of Wills to counter it! Things are actually starting to look troublesome for R2R!
Origins draws and plays a land, then attacks for six damage and passes. And then R2R is ready to cast its second bomb of the game: a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. R2R then passes, and Origins keeps up its offensive, turning both its creatures to attack. R2R fears a trap, but with its life points falling so dangerously low, it doesn't really have many options, and decides to block. Origins, as expected, shows a Turn to Frog to turn the powerful dragon into an harmless 1/1! R2R has no Counterflux in hand, and with five mana open, Origins is out of reach from any other counterspell from R2R. Niv-Mizzet is then ungloriously killed, and R2R falls down to 4 life points. Luckily for R2R, Origins has no Exquisite Firecraft to close the game, and it passes. End of turn, R2R plays an Izzet Charm to draw two and discard two.
And there it goes, a Detention Sphere! R2R can stabilize the game again, removing the Chiefs, and passes. Origins draws... an Exquisite Firecraft! The spell is also uncounterable, so... game over? R2R taps all its remaining mana to cast a Sphinx's Revelation for two, and survive! R2R is not giving up yet! Origins is shaking its head bitterly, but for now can't do anything apart passing. R2R knows it's walking on a thin line here, and as it enters its turn, it has an hand of: Mountain, Supreme Verdict, Syncopate. It draws a Frostburn Weird, that is immediately played, then passes. Origins draws and plays an Evolving Wilds, fetching one more land from its deck, then passes.
And then R2R gets lucky again, drawing another Sphinx's Revelation. Casting it for seven it's enough to refill its hand and its life points, gaining R2R a huge advantage. And from there, unfortunately, it's quickly over for Origins. R2R wins game two!
Game Three
Origins starts and plays a quick Hangarback Walker on turn two. R2R wants to avoid its growth, and quickly dispatches it with an Izzet Charm. Origins gets a Thopter token out of it and uses it to attack for one in the coming turn, then passes. R2R plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Origins draws and checks: R2R has two mana opens. That could mean a Syncopate or another Izzet Charm. Origins has a Thopter Spy Network in hand, but as it has already lost one in the previous game, to a counterspell, decides for a safer approach: a Chief of the Foundry. Then attacks for two with the token, and passes. R2R plays an Azorius Guildgate and passes.
Origins draws, plays another land, and draws a deep breath, thinking. R2R lacks the double white to play a Supreme Verdict, and still has the mana open to counter a Thopter Spy Network. In the end, Origins decides to simply attack for four damage and passes, keeping the mana open for a Clash of Wills. R2R draws and plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Chief of the Foundry, and Origins counters it. R2R is now forced to pass, and the situation doesn't look good, especially because Origins can now play the Thopter Spy Network without having to worry about countermagic. Origins attacks (R2R is now at 9) and draws one. The clock is ticking for R2R.
R2R has now six mana available, but no double white for a Supreme Verdict. In the end, it decides to bet on a Sphinx's Revelation for three, drawing... two Izzet Charm and a Syncopate! Not exactly an unforgettable turn for R2R, that passes. Origins attacks for four and draws one, then passes. The Thopter deck is almost ready for checkmate, but not yet.
R2R incredibly draws another Syncopate. The control deck can only go all in and risk: an Izzet Charm is played to draw two and discard two: a Counterflux... and a Detention Sphere! Still no double white, but the Sphere can be used to remove the Chief... except Origins has another Clash of Wills available! And on the coming turn, it's game over: an all out attack plus Exquisite Firecraft is enough to seal the game. Origins wins game three!
Game Four
Game Four doesn't start well for Origins, that is forced to mulligan. The first play is from R2R, with a turn three Chromatic Lantern, while on the other side Origins plays a Thopter Engineer and attacks for one. R2R plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Origins attacks for two, then plays the only other threat in its hand: an Hangarback Walker for four mana. R2R is quick to show a Syncopate, though, and the Walker is exiled right away. Since Origins is now all tapped out, R2R grabs the chance and plays a Sphinx's Revelation for three on its turn, and passes. Origins can't do much more than attacking for two and passing. R2R plays a Frostburn Weird and passes.
Origins considers the situation, then attacks for one with the Thopter token and passes. End of turn, R2R plays an Izzet Charm to draw two and discard two. On its turn, R2R turns the Frostburn Weird to attack, and Origins decides to take the damage. R2R doesn't boost the creature's power, instead plays a second Frostburn Weird and passes. End of turn, Origins sacrifices a Foundry of the Consuls to put two more Thopter tokens in play. Then on its turn, Origins attacks for three damage and passes. R2R is now at 14 life points.
R2R is now ready to crush its opponent, playing a Detention Sphere to clear all the Thopter tokens. Origins checks its opponent's open mana... four... and plays a Clash of Will for five. But R2R smiles as it shows a Syncopate, countering the opponent's counter! R2R has now obtained a position of clear advantage, and passes. Origins draws and considers the situation, then passes.
R2R is ready to attack, and turns both the Weirds to attack. Origins plays an Harbinger of the Tides at instant speed to bounce back one of them, then declares the Harbinger as blocker for the second one. R2R boosts it up to 2/3, but Origins casts a Turn to Frog and makes sure the Weird is killed. R2R shrugs and plays a Supreme Verdict to clear the board, then passes.
Not much to do for Origins now, so it just draws and passes. R2R plays the Weird previously bounced by the Harbinger of Tides, then passes. Origins kills the Weird with an Exquisite Firecraft, then casts a freshly drawn Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and passes. Things might be looking good for Origins again, but R2R is quick to crush its opponent again, casting an Angel of Serenity and clearing the board. And from then, Origins never recovers, as the Angel starts dishing in damage. R2R grabs the victory on game four, and advances to the group finals!
All in all, a nice selection of aggro and control decks, including a couple of odd ones (Timespiral and M11). Also, decks from new and old sets alike are present and gunning for final victory. After these games, the winner of Group A will face the winner of Group C, while the winner of Group B will meet the winner of Group D.
I think he had the fourth land to play, and two or three turns to draw a fifth. Or he could have drawn another Burst Lightning or Punishing Fire. Those are decent odds I think.
Those aren't great odds to gamble on when there are better lines of play available. Since he had to wait to draw the 5th (i.e. 2-3 turns later at least), he didn't have to start burning yet. He could double Punishing Fire next turn and kicked Burst Lightning the turn after. His hand represents 2 turns of burn for 8 damage. He chose to cast it over 3 turns. He could have played Hookmaster this turn without slowing down his burn clock (not knowing about the Probe yet). There was no reason to start burning so early.
If Zendikar hadn't played the Punishing Fire, but rather a Hookmaster, he would have had to discard a burn spell to the kicked Probe, and that would have pushed him further away from winning.
First, he doesn't know about the Probe. Second, if Invasion durdled with something like kicked Probe at 8 life with almost no blockers left, he would have lost to creatures and the Fire wouldn't have mattered.
By attacking with creatures, Invasion would have forced to make a defensive play like casting a 2nd Ordered Migration. He would not be able to do durdly things like casting kicked Probe without dying to 2/2s. Stopping control from being able to spend a turn on durdly plays is a big way you stop them from stabilizing and advancing their gameplan.
Now, he didn't know that he was going to discard two, of course, he only chose a gambling strategy (win with burn) rather than a strategy requiring to apply constant pressure but deal no damage. In fact, playing the Hookmaster would have resulted most likely in a dead Skyfisher and a chump-blocked Guide.
Did I forget to explain this properly? Sorry. That's exactly what you want to happen. That's a win.
Hookmaster taps 1 bird. 3 birds block Skyfisher. Either the last bird chumps Guide or he takes 2 damage. 2-3 birds die and you have a 2/2 Guide and 2/2 Hookmaster left.
Invasion untaps with 1-2 untapped bird tokens (depends on whether he chumped). If he plays kicked Probe and ignores defense, Zendikar can discard land + Hookmaster and it's basically over. Each burn spell and unblocked attacker represents 2 damage. If you do the math, whether you burn the birds directly or let him chump block your creatures and EOT burn his face (and untap and cast the remaining burn), either way he loses. So Probe = Invasion loses.
Maybe Invasion will make that blunder, underestimating the potential burn, and Zendikar gets the free win. Maybe Invasion will realize he can't risk playing a no-impact spell like kicked Probe facing down two bears with 8 life and only 1 bird on defense. So he's probably casting a 2nd Ordered Migration that turn instead. Without Probe, Invasion can't dig into useful cards as fast and Zendikar gets to keep his cards.
After the 2nd Ordered Migration, Invasion is sitting at 6 untapped birds and 8 life. Zendikar untaps, plays the 4th land, and casts a 2nd Hookmaster tapping out another bird. 5 untapped birds left. Then another alpha strike. Invasion will probably send 2 birds at each attacking 2/2. If you trade off, opponent is down to only 3 birds (1 won't untap) and you still have a 2/2 and all your burn. Seems good. You could also cast Burst Lightning during combat to pick off a bird, saving a Hookmaster, but that may not be the best use of Burst if you still hope to draw the 5th land.
What's the point of attacking and trading off with the birds? Well, you're stopping him from doing game-advancing things like casting kicked Probe or Global Ruin. You're also stopping him from amassing an army of 10 birds (which won him the game). Instead, he just has 2 birds that he has to keep on defense against your 2/2. That means he can't generate a clock against you and you have much more time to draw into the 5th land or other burn to burn him to beat him. Most likely he's spending the next turn casting Ordered Migration #3 (if he even has it yet), not kicked Probe, and holding creatures on defense to try to survive the attacks.
Again, I think it would have made no difference in this specific case (as Invasion had two more Ordered Migration and a Tribal Fires coming) but from a theoretical point of view, I don't think that was a wrong choice - personal opinion, obviously.
The big difference is that he is no longer able to use the Ordered Migrations and Tribal Flames to generate offense. He has to expend them on defense to not die, which removes his clock and buys you more time to burn him out or find another way to win.
OTOH, going for the 3-turn burn ONLY wins if you luckdraw the 5th land (or more burn) and guarantees you a loss otherwise. It's a risky gamble that neglects valuable resources you have at your disposal (creatures). Anyway, that's a concrete explanation (for this specific game) for why it's usually better for the aggro deck to keep using creatures to apply pressure as long as possible. Use all the resources available. Even if you're just getting rid of birds, you're still getting ahead.
I was very happy to see rogue deck M11 get there with Destructive Force and the powerhouse of Apocalypse get through Darksteel.
I thought it was hilarious that Timespiral beat Urza's Saga in game 5 because Saga couldn't cast Time Spiral in time.
Antiquities vs M13 felt like cheating. Antiquities mulligans... then attacks with a 2/2 land and plays a 4-drop off Shops. Antiquities mulligans again... and plays a 6-drop on turn 2. Seems good!
I'm surprised Mirrodin lost to M12, but I guess it was close, many mulligans on both sides, and Mirrodin couldn't survive all the midrange card advantage and Gideon.
I'm not surprised to see R2R advance. It's a very strong control deck.
I'm looking forward to the finals! Thanks for keeping up with BOTS and posting. Exciting matches.
I think he had the fourth land to play, and two or three turns to draw a fifth. Or he could have drawn another Burst Lightning or Punishing Fire. Those are decent odds I think.
Those aren't great odds to gamble on when there are better lines of play available. Since he had to wait to draw the 5th (i.e. 2-3 turns later at least), he didn't have to start burning yet. He could double Punishing Fire next turn and kicked Burst Lightning the turn after. His hand represents 2 turns of burn for 8 damage. He chose to cast it over 3 turns. He could have played Hookmaster this turn without slowing down his burn clock (not knowing about the Probe yet). There was no reason to start burning so early.
If Zendikar hadn't played the Punishing Fire, but rather a Hookmaster, he would have had to discard a burn spell to the kicked Probe, and that would have pushed him further away from winning.
First, he doesn't know about the Probe. Second, if Invasion durdled with something like kicked Probe at 8 life with almost no blockers left, he would have lost to creatures and the Fire wouldn't have mattered.
By attacking with creatures, Invasion would have forced to make a defensive play like casting a 2nd Ordered Migration. He would not be able to do durdly things like casting kicked Probe without dying to 2/2s. Stopping control from being able to spend a turn on durdly plays is a big way you stop them from stabilizing and advancing their gameplan.
Now, he didn't know that he was going to discard two, of course, he only chose a gambling strategy (win with burn) rather than a strategy requiring to apply constant pressure but deal no damage. In fact, playing the Hookmaster would have resulted most likely in a dead Skyfisher and a chump-blocked Guide.
Did I forget to explain this properly? Sorry. That's exactly what you want to happen. That's a win.
Hookmaster taps 1 bird. 3 birds block Skyfisher. Either the last bird chumps Guide or he takes 2 damage. 2-3 birds die. You have a 2/2 Guide and 2/2 Hookmaster left.
Invasion untaps with 1-2 untapped bird tokens (depends on whether he chumped). If he plays kicked Probe and ignores defense, Zendikar can discard land + Hookmaster and it's basically over. Each burn spell and unblocked attacker represents 2 damage. If you do the math, whether you burn the birds directly or let him chump block your creatures and EOT burn his face (and untap and cast the remaining burn), either way he loses. So Probe = Invasion loses.
Maybe Invasion will make that blunder, underestimating the potential burn, and Zendikar gets the free win. More likely Invasion will realize he can't risk playing a no-impact spell like kicked Probe facing down two bears with 8 life and only 1 bird on defense. So he's probably casting a 2nd Ordered Migration that turn instead. Without Probe, Invasion can't dig into useful cards as fast and Zendikar gets to keep his cards.
After the 2nd Ordered Migration, Invasion is sitting at 6 untapped birds and 8 life. Zendikar untaps, plays the 4th land, and casts a 2nd Hookmaster tapping out another bird. 5 untapped birds left. Then another alpha strike. Invasion will probably send 2 birds at each attacking 2/2. If you trade off, opponent is down to only 3 birds (1 won't untap) and you still have a 2/2 and all your burn. Seems good. You could also cast Burst Lightning during combat to pick off a bird, saving a Hookmaster, but that may not be the best use of Burst if you still hope to draw the 5th land.
What's the point of attacking and trading off with the birds? Well, you're stopping him from doing game-advancing things like casting kicked Probe or Global Ruin. You're also stopping him from amassing an army of 10 birds. Instead, he just has 2 birds that he has to keep on defense against your 2/2. That means he can't generate a clock against you and you have much more time to draw into the 5th land or other burn to burn him to beat him. Most likely he's spending the next turn casting Ordered Migration #3 (if he even has it yet), not kicked Probe, and holding creatures on defense.
Again, I think it would have made no difference in this specific case (as Invasion had two more Ordered Migration and a Tribal Fires coming) but from a theoretical point of view, I don't think that was a wrong choice - personal opinion, obviously.
The big difference is that he is no longer able to use the Ordered Migrations and Tribal Flames to generate offense. He has to expend them on defense to not die, which removes his clock and buys you more time to burn him out or find another way to win.
OTOH, going for the 3-turn burn ONLY wins if you luckdraw the 5th land (or more burn) and guarantees you a loss otherwise. Why take the gamble when you have less risky lines of play?
I see your points, and we'll consider them for future games. All in all, though, much of it will be left to the person playing an aggro deck in the last remaining games. Still, thank you for your feedback, and hope you'll enjoy the final games
And here we go, the Group A finals! It was a long road for both decks, that started with relatively low expectations and proved their mettle kicking triple A decks out of the tournaments. For Invasion, the hardest obstacle was definitely the killer aggro from Zendikar, possibly the best deck in the whole tournament. But apart from being able to deal with top-notch aggro decks, Invasion also dispatched a powerful midrange deck like Innistrad, and the big red deck from Scars of Mirrodin. The road for Timespiral was possibly a little more easy, but dealing with decks like Eventide, Ravnica and Urza's Saga is not exactly what you'd call an easy task. Timespiral proved to be an extremely versatile deck, capable of changing its game plan from game to game, or even in the same game. Will it be this versatility the key to kill Invsion? Or will Invasion's lock give it the edge in this matchup? Let's see!
Game One
Timespiral wins the roll to start and opens the game with a turn two Prismatic Lens. On the other side, Invasion is only playing lands, and this allows Timespiral to gain an early advantage by playing an Avalanche Riders, destroying a land and attacking for two. Invasion fears that the opponent might start blinking the Riders, and decides to kill them right away with a Tribal Flames, before passing. Timespiral shrugs and decides to try and dish in as much damage as possible in the early game, casting a Lightning Angel and attacking for three. Invasion, again, just draws and passes.
Things seem to be getting very bad for Invasio now, as Timespiral plays a second Lightning Angel and launches a full scale flying offensive. Luckily, Invasion has an answer ready this time: a Tangle. Sure, it would have been better if the Angels actually tapped to attack, but anyway, Invasion can at least avoid taking damage. Timespiral's turn is over, and Invasion draws a Fact or Fiction. Invasion has two Ordered Migration in hand, but no Plains to cast it, then a second Tangle, and the Fact or Fiction. Invasion passes.
Timespiral attacks, and this time Invasion takes the damage, falling down to 9. Then Timespiral plays a second Prismatic Lens, suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate, and passes. End of turn, Invasion casts the Fact or Fiction, revaling: another Fact or Fiction, two Forests, a Swamp, and a Collective Restraint. At the moment, the most useful card would definitely be the defensive enchantment, so Timespiral puts it in a pile alone, and the other four cards in the second pile. Invasion picks up the Collective Restraint.
Invasion gets its fifth land in play, but it's unfortunately still lacking a Plains. The Collective Restraint is played, then Invasion passes. Timespiral knows a Riftwing Cloudskate is on its way, and until it comes, it probably won't be able to remove the Collective Restraint. So for now it just pays four mana to attack with an Angel, and passes. Invasion is now at 6 life points. Invasion gets its sixth land in play – still not a Plains – and passes.
Timespiral draws, suspends an Ancestral Vision, then pays 4 and attacks with the Angel, doing three more damage. The clock is ticking for Invasion, that draws and plays an Elfhame Sanctuary – that Plains is finally about to come, but will it be too late? The Riftwing Cloudskate joins the battlefield, bouncing the Collective Restraint, then Timespiral declares an all-out attack... only to see Invasion answer with a Tangle! Invasion has gained one more turn, but Timespiral will not just sit idly, and plays a Momentary Blink on the Cloudskate, bouncing the Elfhame Sanctuary. Satisfied with the situation, Timespiral passes.
Invasion draws and considers its hand: a Probe, a Collective Restraint, a Ghitu Fire, an Elfhame Sanctuary and two Ordered Migrations. Six lands in play, without any Plains. Sitting at three life points, a single Angel will be enough to kill Invasion. The only slim possibility for Invasion is casting the Probe and draw a Tangle, as no other strategy would allow the control deck to survive for one more turn. Invasion is then forced to cast the Probe, drawing a second Collective Restraint, a Harrow... and a Plains! Only too late. The game is over for Invasion, and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
Timespiral achieved an easy victory on the first game, and Invasion is eager to fight back. Unfortunately, though, the control deck is forced to start with a mulligan, and not much to do for its first three turns. On the other side, luckily, Timespiral is only playing lands for the moment. Again Invasion draws and passes on its fourth turn, but this time around, Timespiral is ready to make a move – and it's a move that's gonna hurt Invasion. An Avalanche Riders makes its apparition on the board, destroying Invasion's only Island and turning to attack for two! Timespiral then passes, but Invasion, to make things worse, is out of lands to play, and can only pass.
Timespiral ruthlessly increase its advantage, by Momentary Blink-ing the Riders instead of paying the Echo cost, and destroying one more land, before attacking for two damage. Invasion misses yet another land drop, and when Timespiral blinks again the Riders paying the spell's flashback cost, Invasion is down to one land and simply concedes. Timespiral is up 2-0 and seems ready to take this match by storm!
Game Three
Invasion starts, but again the first move is from Timespiral, suspensing a Riftwing Cloudskate on turn two. This time, though, Invasion seems organized to strike back, casting a Harrow followed by an Elfhame Sanctuary, aiming to quickly complete thr Domain. But Timespiral is stacking up resources for the midgame, by playing a Prismatic Lens and suspending a second Riftwing Cloudskate. Invasion fetches an Island with the Sanctuary, and now only needs a Mountain to complete the Domain. For the moment, it plays a kicked Probe, discarding a Rout and a Tangle, while Timespiral discards a Vesuvan Shapeshifter and a Bogardan Hellkite. Then Invasion passes. Timespiral just draws, plays a land and passes.
Invasion fetches a Mountain to complete its set of basic lands, then casts an Ordered Migration to get five Bird tokens, and passes. Timespiral gets its first Cloudskate in play, bouncing a land. Then it casts a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying the Cloudskate and bouncing a second land. Then the Cloudskate is turned to attack, and Invasion trades it with two tokens. Finally, Timespiral passes. Invasion plays one of the bounced lands, then casts a Tribal Flames to kill the Shapeshifter, and turns one Bird token to attack, and finally passes.
Timespiral gets the second suspended Cloudskate in play, bouncing one of the Bird tokens, then turns it to attacks for two damage (Invasion doesn't block). Then Timespiral plays another Riftwing Cloudskate from its hand, bouncing again a land, and passes. Invasion draws, plays a land and a Collective Restraint, then passes. Timespiral hasn't got much to do right now, apart from playing a Gemstone Mine and turning one of the Cloudskate to attack, trading for the two remaining Bird tokens. Invasion draws, plays a land and casts a Global Ruin, removing three lands from Timespiral's side of the board, then passes again.
Timespiral can't pay five mana to attack at the moment, so it casts another Prismatic Lens and passes. On the coming turn, it will be able to start attacking again. Invasion plays a second Elfhame Sanctuary and passes. Timespiral attacks for two damage and passes. Invasion is waiting to draw something good, but it only draws a third Elfhame Sanctuary. Invasion shrugs, plays it, and passes. Timespiral attacks again for two and passes. Invasion is now at 14.
Invasion draws a Forest, and decides it cannot wait any longer. Even if it's somewhat of a waste, it plays a Ghitu Fire to kill the Cloudskate, and passes. It just can't keep losing life points like that. Timespiral draws and plays an Avalanche Riders, destroying Invasion's only Plains, then passes. Invasion fetches two Plains and an Island with the three Elfhame Sacntuary, then passes. Timespiral pays the Echo cost for the Riders, then plays a third Prismatic Lens and passes.
Invasion plays a second Plains and decides to remove the Riders before Timespiral can pull off any trick with Momentary Blink, playing a Rout before passing. And then, incredibly... Timespiral draws another Avalanche Riders! The creature is immediately played, sniping again Invasion's Plains, then Timespiral passes. Invasion curses, but there's not much it can do. On its turn, the control deck draws and passes. Timespiral pays the Echo for the Riders, then plays a Calciform Pools and passes. End of turn, Invasion plays a Fact or Fiction, revealing a good set of two Forests, another Fact or Fiction, a Collective Restraint and an Ordered Migration. Timespiral puts a Forest on each pile, then the Ordered Migration on one side, and the Collective Restraint and the second Fact or Fiction on the other. Invasion thinks for a second, then picks up the Ordered Migration.
On its turn, Invasion plays the Ordered Migration and passes. Timespiral smiles as it plays a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying the Riders and destroying Invasion's last Plains – there are no more Plains at all in Invasion's deck now! Also, Timespiral suspend an Ancestral Vision and passes. Invasion needs to attack now, so all its Birds fly over to Timespiral, dealing five damage. Timespiral is now at 14, Invasion at 12. Invasion then passes. Timespiral only attacks for two this turn, then passes. Invasion again attacks for five, bringing its opponent down to 9 life points, and watches the Tribal Flames in its hand – next turn, it will be the last for Timespiral!
Or at least, that would be the plan. As Timespiral has charged up the Calciform Pools turn after turn, though, it reached the required mana needed to unleash... a Bogardan Hellkite! The big dragon torns the sky asunder, destroying all the opponent's Bird tokens! Terrible news for Invasion, that was so close... really so close! To make things worse, Invasion draws a Forest, and in hand it only has two Harrow and a Tribal Flames – no answer to the Hellkite! Invasion is forced to pass, and Timespiral can refill its hand with the Ancestral Vision, but it doesn't matter right now – Timespiral already has all the piecees to win. This turn, it attacks for five with the Hellkite, then plays another Avalanche Riders to destroy the opponent's only Swamp, before passing.
Invasion draws... a Global Ruin. Even by playing it, and fetching another Swamp from the deck, Timespiral wouls have plenty of mana with the Prismatic Lens to attack with the Hellkite and close the game, as Invasion stands with 5 life points. And that's it! Timespiral's versatility once again proved essential to securing the matchup, and Invasion is destroyed. Timespiral moves on to meet the winner of Group C in the overall semifinals!
Back to life! Had a few busy weeks, will keep posting updates regularly from this weekend
Apocalypse vs Oath of the Gatewatch
And here we go with the Group B finals. Apocalypse's Rock faces off with Oath's Eldrazi aggro. All things considered, Apocalypse should be the favorite here, as Oath has no real answer to Apocalypse resolving a Pernicious Deed, but should the powerful enchantment not show up, Oath could easily gain an early lead and consolidate it into an easy win. This is especially true as Apocalypse has few creatures, and only one (the Spectral Lynx) can be casted in the early game - but Oath can easily dispose it, even with its regenerative powers. So, a very open matchup. Let's see how it turned out!
Game 1
Oath wins the roll to start and opens the game with a Mirrorpool, followed by a Sea Gate Wreckage and an Eldrazi Mimic on turn two. On the other side, Apocalypse plays a Spectral Lynx and passes. Oath draws, plays a Swamp and turns the Mimic to attack. Apocalypse thinks for a second, then decides to take the damage. Oath then plays a Slaughter Drone and passes. Apocalypse draws, plays a land and passes.
Oath is now ready to press the advantage, playing a kicked Bearer of Silence to remove the annoying Lynx befoer attacking for four damage and takeing Apocalypse down to 14 life points. Oath then passes, and Apocalypse must find a suitable answer to the opponent's offensive. For now, that answer is a Death Grasp for two at the Mimic, allowing Apocalypse to get rid of a potentially very dangerous creature, and go back up at 16. Apocalypse then passes.
Oath has a Reality Smasher in hand, and that could really be a deadly blow to Apocalypse, but the Eldrazi deck only has four lands in play, and none in hand. So Oath draws... a Reaver Drone. Not good. Oath can only attack for four, play the Drone, and pass. Apocalypse draws, plays a fully kicked Necravolver, and passes.
That might pose a problem for Oath... if it didn't have two Spatial Contortion in hand! To make things even better, Oath just drew the fifth land it needed. For now, the two Contortions are played and the Necravolver killed, then Oath attacks for six and passes. Apocalypse is now at 6 life points and facing a very likely death in the coming turn.
For now, the rock deck decides to play a Death Grasp for four, killing the Bearer of Silence and jumping back up to 10 life points. But on its coming turn, Oath plays the Reality Smasher and attacks for 9, and Apocalypse finds itself at only 1 life point left! As it draws a Vindicate, with a Spiritmonger and two Penumbra Wurm in hand, there's nothing it can do to survive, and the first game goes to Oath!
Game Two
Apocalypse starts with a Plains, while on the other side, Oath gets a Mirrorpool in play. Apocalypse plays a Llanowar Wastes and passes. Oath is only drawing lands and finds itself short on creatures, so it decides to play a not-kicked Bearer of Silence to at least start applying some pressure. Apocalypse gets a second Llanowar Wastes in play, then casts a Phyrexian Arena, falling down to 18, and passes. Still lands drawn for Oath, that gets a second Mirrorpool in play, attacks for two and passes. Apocalypse draws two, plays a Forest, then a Pernicious Deed, and passes. Oath draws yet one more Swamp, but as it plays its fourth land it can at least cast a Though-Knot Seer. Apocalypse reveals a hand of a Spiritmonger, a Gerrard's Verdict, a Death Grasp, a Vindicate and a Plains. Oath thinks for a second, then decides to remove the Death Grasp. After attacking for two to bring the opponent down to 12, Oath passes.
Apocalypse just draws two, plays a land and passes. Now, Oath could play a Reality Smasher from its hand, but Apocalypse would simply clean the board with the Pernicious Deed. So, Oath simply attacks with its creatures already in play. Apocalypse pays four and kills both the opponent's creatures, also drawing one from the Seer. Oath then plays another Mirrorpool and passes.
Apocalypse plays a Spectral Lynx to have a blocker available, then a Gerrard's Verdict. Oath considers the situation, but in the end is forced to discard two lands and see its opponent bounce back to 15 life points. Apocalypse then passes, but end of turn Oath shows a Spatial Contortion to remove the Lynx. On its turn, Oath plays a Sea Gate Wreckage and then a Reality Smasher to attack for five. Apocalypse is back to ten life points, and then nine as it draws two from the Phyrexian Arena.
Apocalypse draws and immediately throws a Vindicate at the Smasher, discarding a second Verrard's Gerdict. Then, it casts a Pernicious Deed and passes. Due to damage from dual lands, Apoclaypse is now at 7 life points. Oath draws and plays an Eldrazi Mimic, then passes.
Apoclaypse draws two and falls down to 6, then to 4 as it casts a fully kicked Necravolver and then a Gerrard's Verdict to remove the last card from Oath's hand – an Oblivion Strike! This allows Oath to activate the Sea Gate Wreckage, though, and draw one... a Matter Reshaper. Then Apocalypse passes.
Oath draws a Swamp and considers the situation, finally deciding to play the Matter Reshaper to empty its hand and be able to activate the Wreckage again. Apocalypse draws two and it's now at three, but that won't last long, as Apocalypse turns the Necravolver to attack. Oath takes the damage (as Apocalypse could easily activate the Deed to kill the Mimic if needed, so Oath can't team its creatures and kill the Necravolver), and Apocalypse goes back to 8, then plays a Swamp and a Spiritmonger, before passing. End of turn, Oath activates the Sea Gate Wreckage to draw... a Sea Gate Wreckage! On its turn, Oath draws and plays a Matter Reshaper, then is forced to pass.
The game is clearly moving in Apocalypse's favor now, and it's probably only getting worse for Oath in the coming turns. Apocalypse turns the Necravolver and the Spiritmonger to attack, and Oath takes the six damage from the Spiritmonger, blocking the Necravolver with the two Matter Reshaper. Oath is now at 9 life points. The Sea Gate Wreckage is activated before the Reshaper dies, allowing Oath to draw a Reality Smasher, then the Reshapers reveal an Eldrazi Mimic and a Though-Knot Seer. Apocalypse then plays a second Spiritmonger and passes.
Oath draws a Bearer of Silence and considers the situation. Unfortunately, Apocalypse still has a Pernicious Deed in play, and it's now at 12 life points. Oath could theoretically unleash a storm of damage with the two Mimics and the Smasher... except Apocalypse would just activate the Deed and kill both the Mimics! Only the Smasher could actually attack, but there would be an untapped Spiritmonger to block it. For now, Oath plays the kicked Bearer of Silence, forcing Apoclaypse to sacrifice one Spiritmonger (obviously the tapped one), then passes.
Apocalypse draws and activates the Deed to clear Oath's side of the board, then turns the Spiritmonger to attack for six (Oath is now at 3), and finally, much to Oath's dismay, plays yet another Pernicious Deed from its hand! Apocalypse passes and Oath draws a Slaughter Drone. At this point, there's nothing Oath could do, as Apocalypse would simply be able to clear the board and win the game by attacking with the Spiritmonger on the upcoming turn. Game over for Oath, the two decks move on to game three.
Game Three
It's a good start for Oath, with a turn two Eldrazi Mimic followed by a second Mimic on turn three, the only problem being that Oath is stuck at two lands. On the other side, Apocalypse plays a Phyrexian Arena and passes. Oath gets its third land in play, plays a Slaughter Drone, then attacks to bring its opponent down to 14 and passes. Apocalypse draws two, falls to thirteen... and finds itself with nothing to play! Four lands, a Spiritmonger, a Penumbra Wurm, and a second Phyrexian Arena, that doesn't really seem like a brilliant idea like now. Apocalypse passes.
Now, if Oath draws its fourth land, it's going to cast a Thought-Knot Seer and attack for 10, possibly closing the game. Oath picks up the card... an Oblivion Strike! Not yet, then. Still, Oath attacks for six (Apocalypse is at 7 life points now), plays a second Slaughter Drone and passes.
On the other side, Apocalypse would really need to draw a Pernicious Deed, but it's only a second Spiritmonger and a Plains. Apocalypse is at 6 now, and Oath has four creatures. Apocalypse can only block one in the coming turn, and then it's relatively easy to determine that the game is over. Oath goes ahead 2-1 and the two decks move on to game four.
Game Four
Not a good start for Apocalypse, that has to take a mulligan, while accepting a six-cards hand with only two lands and the not unlikely chance of facing a mana-screw situation on a crucial game. On the other side, Oath starts good again with a turn one Mirrorpool followed by a turn two Swamp plus Slaughter Drone. Oath passes, and luckily for Apocalypse, it draws its third land, taking two damage from dual lands to cast a Phyrexian Arena. On the other side, Oath attacks for two and then plays a Matter Reshaper.
Apocalypse draws two and falls down to 15... and is shocked to discover it failed to draw a fourth land! This is a severe hit for Apocalypse. In the end, the Rock deck decides to try and gain some life points with a Gerrard's Verdict. Oath discards a Reaver Drone and a Swamp, and that's three life points, but since Apocalypse had to pay two to cast the spell, it's only a net +1 to get up to 16. Apocalypse passes, and Oath attacks for two before playing a Thought-Knot Seer, revealing a hand of Phyrexian Arena, Death Grasp, Vindicate, Necravolver and Penumbra Wurm. Oath thinks for a dew seconds, then decides to remove the Necravolver, that could both block Oath's creatures, and keep Apocalypse's life points steadily up. Then Oath passes.
Apocalypse draws two and falls to 10... and still no lands! A Pernicious Deed and a Spectral Lynx. Playing the Deed is not an option, as that would leave Apocalypse open and allow Oath to just attacks for 9 next turn and close the game. The only options are a Vindicate on the Seer, or a Spectral Lynx to block. In the end, Apocalypse pays two more life points and casts the Vindicate to kill the Thought-Knot Seer... still not drawing any lands! Apocalypse shakes its head and passes.
Oath draws, attacks for five, plays a second Slaughter Drone, and passes. Finally Apocalypse draws two lands, but it's probably too little too late. Even a Death Grasp won't be able to net Apocalypse enough life points. The rock deck gracefully concedes, and Oath advances to the overall semifinals! Great success for the Eldrazi deck, but well earned, as the aggro deck proved to be more consistent than its opponent, even against a deck that might be considered overall better. Oath was fast and steady, and the same unfortunately could not be said for Apocalypse. Congratulations to Oath of the Gatewatch!
Is there any hope for Magic 2011? On paper, not much. The land destruction deck has already exceeded all expectations by gaining access to its group's finals. Now it faces a metallic juggernaut of deck and destruction, capable of consistently putting out a turn 2 Triskelion or Tetravus in play, which is absolutely insane for BOTS. Still, when you get your chance in a lifetime, you have got to give it all... and M11 is going to do just that. It will be a fight to the death.
Game 1
Antiquities wins the roll to start, and decides to take a mulligan despite having three lands in hand. The gambe plays off, as the artifact deck manages to start game one with its powerhouse card: Mishra's Workshop. A Candelabra of Tawnos makes its appearance, too, then Antiquities passes. M11 is not particularly happy with the opponent's first turn, and it can only play a land and pass. On its side, Antiquities plays a Mishra's Factory, then a Clockwork Avian and finally passes. M11 adds a Mystifying Maze to the board and passes.
Antiquities is going all out, adding a Su-Chi to the board, and attacking for four damage, while M11 is failing to play any Forest and looks completely lost. As Antiquities adds a second Su-Chi to the board, and M11 has no real answer available, it's clear to everyone that the game is going to be over soon. M11 concedes, and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
The situation doesn't look much different, as Antiquities starts this game with a turn one Mishra's Workshop plus two (!) Candelabra of Tawnos, followed on turn two by a Tetravus. On the other side, M11 has only a Birds of Paradise in play, along with two Forests and a Mystifying Maze. Unfortunately, not much to do, yet. M11 passes, and Antiquities starts its third turn. A Strip Mine is played to destroy the Maze, then Antiquities attacks for four and plays an Onulet, before passing. End-of-turn, M11 kills the Onulet with a Lightning Bolt.
M11 sighs in relief as it draws a Cultivate, fetching a Mountain to put into play and another land in hand, that gets played immediately. Starting next turn, M11 will have the mana to react. But who knows what Antiquities will come up with? For now, it attacks for four more and plays a Su-Chi, before passing. M11 considers the situation, and throws a Fireball at the Tetravus, killing it, then passes.
Antiquities is still pushing the offensive, though, attacking for four (M11 is now at 8), and playing a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying. The artifact decks passes, and M11 knows it's on a clock. The ramp deck draws and plays a Sylvan Ranger, fetching and playing another Mountain, then plays a second Birds of Paradise and passes.
Antiquities draws and turns its creatures to attack. The Su-Chi is chump-blocked by the Ranger, while the Primal Clay is killed by a Lightning Bolt. Then Antiquities plays a Triskelion and considers the situation. M11 has five lands and the two birds, meaning it would be able to cast a Destructive Force in the coming turn. No need to risk. Antiquities removes two counters from the Triskelion and kills the two Birds of Paradise.
M11 draws and looks at the two Destructive Force in its hand, shaking its head. Still, it has a Fireball too, and that is casted to kill the Su-Chi. M11 then passes. Antiquities attacks for two, plays an Onulet and passes. M11 still has a couple of turns, but it would need something good now. It draws... a third Destructive Force! Not good, really not good. And as M11 draws a Forest in the coming turn, the game quickly reaches its conclusion. Will Antiquities totally crush its opponent, or can M11 make a comeback?
Game Three
Antiquities is forced to mulligan, and M11 gets a good hand and a good start with a turn one Birds of Paradise. Is the luck turning in M11's favor? Unfortunately, it seems not, as Antiquities once again gets a turn one Mishra's Workshop in play, folllowed by an Onulet. But M11 is determined not to let go. For now, the ramp deck plays a Cultivate and passes.
But M11 just plays a second Mishra's Workshop, followed by a Tetravus! Unbelievable! The artifact deck then attacks for two and passes. This time, though, M11 has an answer ready, throwing a Fireball for 4 at the flying artifact creature to kill it. M11 then passes. Antiquities doesn't play another land, instead attacks for two more (M11 is at 14) and plays a Clockwork Avian before passing.
And then M11 can finally smile for the first time in the match, tapping six to cast... a Primeval Titan! Has the comeback started? Antiquities draws and considers the situation. In the end, it decides to play a Mishra's Factory, then a Su-Chi, after having attacked for four with the Avian. M11 draws and plays a Mystifying Maze, and decides not to attack. The Onulet and the Su-Chi united can kill the Titan, and with the Maze blocking the Avian, M11 feels time is on its side. So it plays a Cultivate and passes.
Indeed, time is on M11's side, as Antiquities is only a Destructive Force away from losing the game. Luckily, it draws and plays a Tetravus, and with two Flying creatures, it might start putting pressure again on M11. Except M11 plays a second Mystifying Maze! Back to square one! A couple of turns passes without nothing significant happenining, then Antiquities gets a Primal Clay in play as a 2/2 with Flying. But it's all for nothing, as M11 finally draws and plays a Destructive Force. And that's it. Antiquities concedes, and the two decks move on to game four.
Game Four
Antiquities wants to close the match with thise game, starting with a turn one Mishra's Workshop followed by a Candelabra of Tawnos. On the other side, M11 is unfortunately forced to mulligan, but can at least start with a turn one Birds of Paradise to start ramping up mana. Turn two, Antiquities plays a Mishra's Factory and a Su-Chi, then passes. M11 plays a Mytifying Maze, then a second Birds of Paradise, and passes.
Antiquities plays an Urza's Mine and is ready to get serious. After attacking for four, it taps all its lands, then untaps the Workshop with the Candelabra and taps it again to produce a total of seven mana and play a second Su-Chi and an Onulet. Things don't look really good for M11 right now. Still, the ramp deck is not going down without a fight, and M11 taps all its mana to dispatch one of the Su-Chis with a Fireball.
Then it's Antiquities's turn again. After having played a second Mishra's Factory, the first one is animated and turned sideways along with the remaining Su-Chi and the Onulet. M11 takes 9 damage and falls down to 7. Antiquities feels victory is within its grasp, and smiles as it passes the turn.
But M11 is not done yet. A second Fireball flies towards the remaining Su-Chi, melting it and eliminating Antiquities's biggest threat so far. M11 then passes, and Antiquities only draws another Urza's Mine, that is played. Then, Antiquities turns its creatures to attack again.
And surprisingly, M11 still has some firepower to display, throwing a Lightning Bolt to the animated Factory and killing it, taking only 2 damage from the Onulet! Can M11 make a comeback in some way? Antiquities is starting to fear the worst. Still, it plays a Rocket Launcher and passes.
And then Lady Luck decides to smile on M11, as it draws and plays an Obstinate Baloth, jumping back at 9 life points, and more improtantly, having a blocker available to shut down, at least for now, Antiquities's offensive.
The artifact deck can't believe its own eyes, and more so as it draws a second, useless Mishra's Workshop! Nothing to do then, except passing the turn again. M11 draws and plays a Sylvan Ranger, and passes as well. Antiquities plays a third Urza's Mine from its hand, then a Primal Clay as 2/2 with Flying, and passes. The Clay can be countered by the Maze for now, so Antiquities needs to build up an army of flyers to deal the killing blow to its opponent. M11 draws and plays a Mountain, then passes. On the other side, Antiquities shakes its head as it draws and plays a second Candelabra of Tawnos, and passes. Only a Rootbound Crag for M11 in the coming turn, then finally the balance of power is broken as Antiquities draws and plays a Clockwork Avian. In the coming turn, the offensive will start again.
Only a Forest drawn for M11, that plays it and passes. Antiquities draws and plays another Onulet, then turns its Flying creatures to attack. The Clay is removed by the Maze, while the Avian is chump-blocked by a Birds of Paradise. M11 draws yet one more land, and shakes its head in frustration as it is again forced to pass.
Antiquities draws and plays an Urza's Power Plant, then again attacks with both creatures, and again the Clay is removed by the Maze and the Avian chump-blocked. And then finally, M11 draws a Destructive Force. Now, Antiquities could complete the Tron in the coming turn, and simply kill M11 with the Rocket Launcher. Not a risk M11 can take. The Destructive Force is played, wiping the board more or less clean. Then M11 passes.
Antiquities has one Mishra's Workshop left in play, and adds a second one from its hand, then plays a Tawnos's Coffin, just drawn this turn, and passes. M11 draws and plays a Forest, then Antiquities draws... a Triskelion! Game over? Not yet. M11 smiles as it draws and plays a Primeval Titan! What a game so far!
Antiquities cannot unfortunately activate the Coffin, for now, and it draws and plays a Strip Mine. The game is balanced again. Antiquities passes. And then it happens: M11 draws and plays an Inferno Titan! The Primeval Titan is then turned to attack, bringing Antiquities down to 15. What a turn of events! M11 draws and plays a Primeval Clay, but that won't really be enough, especially as M11 adds a second Primeval Titan to the board! Unbelievable! Antiquities watches in horror at this unexpected development, then realizes it's time to concede. The two decks move on to game five, and anything can happen now!
Game Five
Antiquities looked set for a comfortable win, just two games ago. Then M11 started an incredible comback. Can the ramp deck go all the way?
Surely, Antiquities gets once again its better start: a turn one Mishra's Workshop, this time along with an Onulet. M11 draws, plays a land and passes. On Antiquities's turn, as the Onulet is turned to attack, M11 taps its Mountain to cast a Lightning Bolt and kill the creature. Antiquities plays an Urza's Tower, then a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying, and passes. M11 plays a Forest, a Birds of Paradise, then passes as well.
Antiquities finds itself with nothing big to play, so it decides to at least try to slow down its opponent. A Strip Mine is played, then sacrificed to destroy the opponent's Mountain, then the Primal Clay is turned to attack for two. Finally, Antiquities plays a Candelabra of Tawnos and passes. M11 plays another Mountain, then passes. Again, not much to do for Antiquities either, as it attacks for two more, then plays an Urza's Mine, a Tawnos's Coffin and a second Candelabra of Tawnos. Then, the artifact deck passes. M11 is now at 16 life points.
M11 again draws and passes. Antiquities draws another Mishra's Workshop and shakes its head. Having already all the resources it needs in play, Antiquities decides to keep the lands in hand (in case of a Destructive Force), and turns the Primal Clay to attack – but M11 shows another Lightning Bolt to dispatch it.
All in all, the early game can be considered extremely successful for M11, as it managed to survive the early turns by losing just a few life points. Still, M11 needs to draw more lands. On the other side, Antiquities is short on threats. Whoever will be luckier with the draws is probably going to win the game – and fly to the overall semifinals.
M11 draws and plays a Mystifying Maze – a land, good enough. But things are definitely better for Antiquities, that draws and plays a Tetravus! On the other side, M11 draws and plays a Birds of Paradise, then passes. Antiquities plays the Urza's Mine it was keeping in hand to have three mana available and activate the Coffin to remove a Birds of Paradise, and hopefully prevent the opponent from activating the Maze one more turn. Then, the Tetravus is turned sideways to deal 4 damage (M11 is now at 12).
Luckily for M11, it draws another land – a Mountain. But instead of waiting to activate the Maze, M11 simply plays a Fireball for four to kill the Tetravus. M11 passes, and Antiquities tries to increase the pressure again, by playing a Su-Chi and a Mishra's Factory.
And then M11 draws and plays its sixth land, followed shortly by... a Primeval Titan! Bad news for Antiquities. Still, the situation is yet under control, as the Tawnos's Coffin is untapped and then activated again to remove the Titan. This allows Antiqutities to turn the Su-Chi to attack for four more... but M11 chump-blocks with the just returned Birds of Paradise! M11 is still at 12 life points, as Antiquities adds to the board a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying and passes.
But M11 has again the answers ready, as it plays a second Primeval Titan, and then a Lightning Bolt to kill the Primal Clay! Antiquities is stunned now, only waiting for the hit that will send it KO. A Rocket Launcher finds its way on Antiquitie's side of the board, but then M11 simply casts a Destructive Force, and basically seals the game, as the Titan starts attacking and refilling M11 with lands. In just a few turns, the game reaches its stunning conclusion.
Unbelievably, one of the strongest contenders in BOTS had to suffer an incredible comeback from 2-0 to 2-3, and all that from an outsider deck like M11. The land destruction deck once again proved its worth, perhaps doing even more than anyone would have though possible. M11 advances to the overall semifinals, where it will meet Timespiral, making this pairing the ultimate underdog faceoff.
Two strong control-ish decks face off in the Group D finals. On one side, M12's Rock deck, featuring powerhouse cards like Grave Titan, Oblivion Ring and Gideon Jura. On the other side, R2R's strong UWR old-style control deck, featuring a nice mix of counterspells, card draw and removal, coupled with two great finishers (including the amazing Angel of Serenity). While both are decks worthy of a BOTS final, when pitched against each other the clear favorite is R2R, since M12 has a strong anti-aggro focus. But we've seen predictions overthrown all too often by now. On with the games!
Game One
M12 wins the roll to start, but as expected no decks is off to a particular quick start. M12 plays a turn two Rampant Growth, then on turn three draws and plays a Skinshifter. R2R only draws and passes for now. M12 draws and plays itys fifth land, then considers the situation. R2R has the mana open to play a counterspell, and M12 has in hand a Gideon Jura, a Rampant Growth, a Timely Reinforcements and a land. In the end, the rock deck decides to push the offensive by turning the Skinshifter into a 4/4 and attacking, then plays the Rampant Growth and passes. R2R only draws and passes again.
M12 again attacks for four, then decides that it cannot wait idle for too much, and taps five to plays a Gideon Jura – R2R smiles and answers with a Counterflux. Still, R2R is now at 12 life points, and must find an answer for the annoying Skinshifter. That won't really take long, though, as R2R gets its fifth land in play, taps three for a Chromatic Lantern and then three more for a Detention Sphere. Then, it passes.
M12 doesn't look particularly worried, as it play an Oblivion Ring to remove the Sphere and get the Skinshifter back, before passing. So far, the rock deck has drawn lots of lands and put some pressure, but it needs to draw more threats if he wants to take out the opponent. Time is on R2R's side here.
R2R draws and considers the situation, then simply plays an Angel of Serenity to again remove the Skinshifter – and gain a definite advantage on the board. M12 draws another land, and finds itself with only a Timely Reinforcements to play. No life points to gain, but the three Soldier tokens might just be useful. M12 plays the spell, then passes.
R2R draws, plays an Izzet Guildgate, then decides to pass. M12 draws an Oblivion Ring and, without much choice, plays it targeting the Angel. R2R responds with an instant speed Izzet Charm, drawing two... another Izzet Charm, and an Angel of Serenity... then discards the Charm and a land. M12 gets back the Skinshifter and plays it again, then attacks for three with the tokens. R2R is now at 9 life points.
But R2R is quick to strike back, playing the Angel of Serenity to remove again the Skinshifter, and two tokens. R2R then passes. The game is heating up, as M12 draws and plays a Grave Titan, balancing the odds before passing. But that, unfortunately, proves to be only an illusion, as another Angel of Serenity hits the board for R2R, removing the Titan and both its tokens. The other Angel is then turned to attack for 5 damage, and R2R passes.
But the show is not over. M12 draws a third Oblivion Ring (!), removing once again an Angel, getting the Titan back and playing it right away. Also, the road is now open for the Soldier token to attack again and dish in one more damage. R2R is now at 8 life poins. The game is still very much open, though, as R2R plays a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, pinging M12 for one life point and drawing one in the process. R2R then passes.
Now, M12 could launch an all-out attack. R2R can easily block the two Zombie tokens, letting in 7 damage and falling down to one life point. On the following turn, R2R would be able to win by attacking and pinging with Niv-Mizzet. Despite having put up a good fight, all M12's efforts will be for nothing if it doesn't draw an answer here. And here it goes... M12 draws a Swamp! No luck. Victory on game one goes to R2R!
Game Two
Not a great start for M12 on game two, as the Rock deck is forced to take a mulligan, but on the bright side, it can start the game with a turn two Skinshifter, and that's not bad. On the other side, R2R answers with a turn two Frostburn Weird, then passes. Unfortunately for M12, it remains stuck at two mana, and for now can only turn the Skinshifter into a 4/4 with Trample and turn it to attack – R2R decides to take the damage. M12 then passes. R2R attacks for one damage with the Weird, then plays a tapped Steam Vents and a second Frostburn Weird, then passes again. Still no luck with lands for M12, that turns the Skinshifter to attack for four more damage, and passes. R2R plays another land, then turns its creatures to attack for a total of four damage (turning one of the Weirds into a 3/2), and passes.
And again no lands for M12. Still, the Skinshifter is again animated and turned to attack... except Return to Ravnica shows a Cyclonic Rift this time around, and the Skinshifter flies back to M12's hand, that has not enough mana open to cast it again and is forced to pass, and is also forced to discard a Garruk, Primal Hunter. Things are shaping up well for R2R, that plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain and attacks for 6 damage with the Weirds, before passing.
As M12 incredibly fails to draw a land yet again, it can only play the Skinshifter and pass, knowing well that it won't even have the mana to transform it in the coming turn. To make things worse, R2R just removes it with a Detention Sphere, before attacking for five more damage and take M12 down to 4 life points. The game could be over soon.
And it probably will be, as M12 is still struggling to draw a land, and adds another Skinshifter to the board. At this point, M12 can only block one creature from R2R, so one of the Weird will surely be able to deal combat damage to M12... and turning into a 4/1, that is going to be a killing blow! Not much M12 could have done this game around with that absurd mana screw, but now R2R is only one game away from winning Group D. Moving on to game three!
Game Three
M12 can start the game again with a turn two Skinshifter, but unfortunately, R2R has an Izzet Charm to show on its upcoming turn to remove right away the annoying creature before it can start transforming. On its third turn, M12 can't do much more than play a land and pass. The game slows down for a few turns, as M12 draws a couple of useless Timely Reinforcements, and R2R is happy to just stack up lands, until on turn five the control deck plays a Chromatic Lantern and passes. Needless to say, things are not shaping up all that well for M12.
M12 draws, plays its sixth land, and considers its hand: a land, two Timely Reinforcements, an Oblivion Ring and a Grave Titan. R2R has three mana open. M12 decides it can't risk having its only threat countered, and passes for now. R2R plays a tapped Izzet Guildgate and passes as well. Still nothing to do for both decks, as they simply play lands and pass. M12 draws and plays a Rampant Growth, and passes. End of its opponent's turn, R2R shows a Sphinx's Revelation for five – and M12 knows in its heart that this game is gone, as well.
R2R untaps its lands – eight – then adds the ninth one, tapping six to cast a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, before passing. M12 must now break its defensive strategy, tapping six to cast a Grave Titan – as feared, met with a Counterflux! But at least, this opens the way to an Oblivion Ring to remove the dangerous Niv-Mizzet. All its mana tapped, M12 now passes.
Still, R2R doesn't look particularly worried, as it just plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Oblivion Ring and get back its creature, before passing. M12 can at this point play a Timely Reinforcements to get six life points and three Soldier tokens, followed by a second Grave Titan – M12 looks up at R2R, that waves its hand saying “go on, I'm not going to counter that”. End of M12's turn, R2R uses six mana to ping M12 for three damage, and draw three. Then, it's ready to wreak havoc. First of all, an Angel of Serenity is played to remove the Grave Titan and the two Zombi tokens. Then, a second Detention Sphere is played to clear the board of the remaining Soldier tokens. Finally, R2R turns Niv-Mizzet to attack for five damage, before passing.
This last turn has utterly destroyed M12. The Rock deck draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, then a second Timely Reinforcements, but that's not gonna be enough to save it. As R2R keeps attacking and pinging with Niv-Mizzet, in fact, the game is over in just a couple of turns, with M12 only drawing a Forest in the meanwhile. R2R completely annihilates its opponent with a 3-0 victory to top group D and gain access to the overall semifinals!
And here we go with the first Semifinal, Group A winner vs Group C winner!
Timespiral vs Magic 2011
Clash of the underdogs. Both decks were remade from scratch for this BOTS, and both have performed astoundingly better than expected. Timespiral dealt with strong decks like Eventide and Urza's Saga on its way to winning Group A, capable of adapting to any opponent with the flexibility of its signature card, Momentary Blink. M11, on the other side, features a very clear game plan, based on mass land destruction (and it's the only deck in BOTS with this kind of strategy). After eliminating a powerhouse like Antiquities, it's hard to doubt its effectiveness. The stage is set for the clash of these two underdogs: the winner of this match might very well go all the way to final victory!
Game 1
M11 wins the roll to start, but turn one it's just land and pass for both decks. Turn two, M11 draws and plays a Birds of Paradise, while Timespiral simply plays a Calciform Pools and charges it with a counter, before passing as well. M11 plays a Cultivate and passes. Timespiral is somewhat worried at its opponent ramping up quickly, but at the moment it can't do much more than suspending a freshly drawn Ancestral Vision and pass.
And then ***** gets real, as M11 taps six mana to play a roaring Inferno Titan! Timespiral gets three damage, but M11 won't be able to smile for much, as the end of the turn sees a Temporal Isolation played by Timespiral to shackle the fearsome titan. And there's more bad news coming for M11, as Timespiral gets its fourth land in play and casts an Avalanche Riders, destroying an opponent's Mountain and attacking for two, before passing.
M11 feels a sense of frustration, but for the moment, it can still easily handle the situation. A Lightning Bolt flies to kill the Riders, then a Sylvan Ranger is played, and finally M11 passes. Timespiral plays a Terramorphic Expanse, then a Prismatic Lens, and finally passes. M11 gets its sixth land in play, and considers its situation: a Destructive Force, a Fireball and a Sylvan Ranger. Technically speaking, playing the Destructive Force wouldn't leave M11 in a terrible situation, as it could then play the Ranger and start rebuilding its mana base. Problem is, Timespiral has an Ancestral Vision resolving in a couple of turns. so the advantage could easily switch in its favor. For now, after having attacked for one with the Ranger, M11 decides to simply pass and hopes to draw another Titan soon. End of turn, Timespiral adds another counter on the Pools.
Then, M11 gets mean, playing a Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy the Inferno Titan, killing the Ranger, the Birds, and dealing one damage directly to M11, that is now at 17 life points. Timespiral is at 16. The turn ends, and M11 gets to draw only a Lightning Bolt. So it plays the Sylvan Ranger in its hand and passes, trying to gather up enough mana to kill the Shapeshifter with the Fireball. The Ancestral Vision resolves, and that's a load of bad news for M11. Timespiral taps one to suspend a second Ancestral Vision, then plays an Avalanche Riders and turns both the Riders and the Titan to attack. M11 falls down to 7 life points.
As M11 draws another Destructive Force, it knows it must deal with the Titan, and resorts to throw at it a Lightning Bolt, plus a Fireball for 4 damage, accepting a two for one trade to remain alive. But unfortunately, Timespiral casts a Temporary Blink on it, and just as that, the game is over. Timespiral wins game one.
Game Two
M11 starts, but it's Timespiral to play first with a turn two Prismatic Lens. On the other side, M11 taps three to play a Cultivate and passes. Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. M11 is ready to get serious, getting an Obstinate Baloth into play – the ramp deck wants to start putting pressure on its opponent as quickly as possible. End of turn, Timespiral puts a counter on the Pools, then plays a second Calciform Pools and passes. But M11 is attacking savagely this game, and after having dealt 4 damage with the Baloth, adds three more with an Inferno Titan – and suddenly, Timespiral is only one turn away from death! End of turn, Timespiral charges the two Pools and hopes to draw something good.
And it draws... an Avalanche Riders. Not exactly good, but it should at least allow Timespiral to survive one more turn. The creature is played, targeting a Rootbound Crag, then Timespiral passes. And then M11 shows a Fireball, and that's it. Game over for Timespiral, M11 evens out the match, and the two decks move on to game three.
Game Three
Not a bad start for Timespiral, that gets a Gemstone Mine into play, suspends an Ancestral Vision, and passes. On its second turn, Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools and removes a second counter from the Mine to suspend a Riftwing Cloudskate – so far, all is going well for Timespiral. On the other side, M11 plays a turn two Sylvan Ranger and passes. Timespiral plays a Mountain, then a Prismatic Lens and passes. M11 attacks for one, plays a Cultivate, and passes.
Timespiral adds a second Calciform Pools to the board, and with five mana available, can cast an Avalanche Riders without losing the last counter from the Mine. A Mountain is destroyed from the opponent's side of the board, then the Riders are turned to attack for two.
M11 draws and attacks for one, then throws a Lightning Bolt at the riders, before Timespiral can do any trick with it, finally playing a second Sylvan Ranger before passing. The suspended spells for Timespiral resolve, and the Cloudksate targets the only untapped land from M11, a Mountain, that taps it right away to cast another Lightning Bolt at the Cloudskate, killing it. But Timespiral has just begun, casting a second Prismatic Lens, and then another Avalanche Riders – M11 is now down to two lands! The Riders attacks for two, and Timespiral finally passes.
M11 plays a land, attacks for two, then passes. Timespiral draws, pays the Echo cost for the Riders, then turns them to attack for two, suspends an Ancestral Vision and passes. M11 attacks for two more damage, then plays an Obstinate Baloth (jumping up to 18 life points) and passes. Timespiral, for now, draws and passes. M11 plays one more land, then turns its creatures to attack. Timespiral smiles and taps all its lands (sacrificing the Gemstone Mine) to cast a Bogardan Hellkite, incinerating the Baloth and one Ranger, and blocking the other one. M11's board is now clean, and Timespiral's position looks very good. Especially as, once M11 passes, a second Avalanche Riders is played, and all of Timespiral's creatures are turned to attack for nine damage. Still stuck with less than six lands thanks to Timespiral's extensive land destruction, there's really nothing M11 can do on its turn, and the game is over. Timespiral wins game three.
Game Four
Things start out badly for M11, that has to take a mulligan, and only plays a Mountain on turn one. Timespiral plays a Terramorphic Expanse and fetches an Island. M11 adds a Mystifying Maze to the board and passes. Timespiral plays a Mountain and suspends an Ancestral Vision. And then M11's fears turn into reality, as it fails to draw a third land and remains stuck without being able to play anything. All to Timespiral's advantage, that for now only plays a Calciform Pools and passes. Still nothing to do for M11, that passes, with Timespiral chrging up the Pools.
And then the game truly begins, with Timespiral tapping four for an Avalanche Riders, destroying the opponent's only Mountain – that gets tapped in response to play a Lightning Bolt and kill the Riders. Still, Timespiral can pass the turn happily, knowing that it has slowed down even more its opponent.
Yet nothing for M11, and Timespiral plays a morphed down creatured, along with a second Calciform Pools, and passes. Finally, finally, M11 draws and plays a Forest, followed immaiedtaly by a Sylvan Ranger to fetch a second one. But Timespiral won't let its advantage slip by, especially with a refilled hand thanks to the Ancestral Vision. After attacking for two with the morphed creature, Timespiral plays a Riftwing Cloudskate to bounce the opponent's Forest, and passes. M11 plays again the Forest, discards a Primeval Titan, and passes. Timespiral attacks for four, then smiles sadistically as it Momentary Blink-s the Cloudskate to bounce again the opponent's Forest. Then, it passes.
M11 knows the game is lost, but it won't concede until the end. So, it attacks for one, plays again the Forest, and passes. Timespiral attacks for four more, then blinks again the Cloudskate to bounce a land, and passes. Still nothing for M11, that is effectively locked, and on the following turn, Timespiral attacks for four and shows a Disintegrate to end the game. And that's it. The superior flexibility of Timespiral proved too much for M11 to handle, and the Blink deck moves to the tournament final, a result completely unexpected at the beginning of the tournament. At this point, anything can happen.
Hello everyone. Been absent for a few weeks, but we're only a couple of steps away from wrapping this up, and I'm going to see it to completion. So, the second semifinal is up today, and I'll try to post the final very soon. Enjoy the game!
Oath of the Gatewatch vs Return to Ravnica
The second semifinal features the winners of Group B and Group D. While Return to Ravnica was since the first round a strong contender to be the final winner of its group, Oath's victory came a little as a surprise, perhaps showing that the deck had been underrated. Now, the Eldrazi deck has the chance to kick off one of the most feared control decks of the tournament, and gain access to the true final game of this Battle of the Sets. Will it be able to? Let's find out!
Game One
R2R wins the roll to start and opens the game with a tapped Steam Vents. On the other side, it's land and pass for Oath, and the same again for R2R. Then, on its second turn, Oath taps two and plays a Slaughter Drone. R2R allows it to resolve, but end of turn easily dispatches it with an Izzet Charm. Then, R2R again plays a land and passes. Oath plays a tapped Mirrorpool, then gets an Eldrazi Mimic into play, only to be met by a second Izzet Charm at the end of the turn. So far, R2R has managed to keep its opponent under control, and once again gets a land in play (a tapped Steam Vents) and passes.
Oath knows it must get its game going, or R2R will easily win in the long term. Still, for now it only adds an Eldrazi Mimic to the board. R2R has a Syncopate in hand, but Oath still has two untapped lands, and R2R only three (due to the tapped Steam Vents). So, the Mimic resolves, and this time sticks around, as R2R seems to be out of Charms. And even worse, R2R is also out of lands to play, remaining stuck at four. Definitely not good for R2R, that passes.
Oath taps four and plays a Thought-Knot Seer – but R2R is quick to show the Syncopate and counters it. So, Oath turns the Mimic to attack for two and passes – the Eldrazi deck has finally taken first blood. R2R plays an untapped Steam Vents, taking two damage, and passes.
Now, Oath considers the situation, and decides to go all in, tapping five to play a Reality Smasher, and crossing its tentacles... no counterspell from R2R! The Smasher resolves and turns the Mimic into a fearsome 5/5, allowing Oath to attack for a whopping 10 damage! R2R falls down to 6 life points, and suddenly the game is not under control anymore! Still, R2R plays an end of turn Sphinx's Revelation for two, and gets ready for a counterattack.
Unfortunately, even though R2R has a Supreme Verdict in hand, it lacks the required double white to cast it. So, for now it plays one more land and passes. R2R has another Sphinx's Revelation in hand, and that should allow the control deck to survive one more turn, and hopefully draw the second white mana source.
But that's not meant to be, as Oath draws another Reality Smasher, turning an army of monsters on R2R to deal fifteen (!) damage and close the game. Oath wins round one!
Game Two
Was R2R a little too complacent? Did it underestimate the opponent, taking the game too easy? R2R shakes its head: that is not going to happen again. Game two starts with both decks playing land, and the first play is a Slaughter Drone from Oath on turn two. R2R thinks for a second, then decides to let it stick, changing its strategy from game one. On its turn, the control deck plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Oath attacks for two, then plays a Matter Reshaper – and this time, R2R shows a Syncopate.
On its turn, R2R finds itself short on lands, and has to play an Izzet Charm to draw two, discarding a Cyclonic Rift and a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, then plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain. Meanwhile, Oath keeps up its relentless game: the Drone attacks for two, then the Eldrazi deck plays a Thought-Knot Seer. R2R reveals a hand of a Sphinx's Revelation, a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius and two Supreme Verdict. Oath thinks for a few seconds, then removes the Revelation. At the moment, R2R has only one white mana source – and if luck is still on Oath's favor, things are going to stay that way.
Instead, R2R draws and plays an Azorius Guildgate – unfortunately, it comes into play tapped, but this means R2R will be able to clean the board soon. For now, the control deck passes. Oath simply attacks for six (R2R is now at 10) and passes. R2R plays the first Supreme Verdict, draws one from the Seer, and passes. Now, Oath has a dangerous Reality Smasher in hand... but only four lands! Good news for R2R, as this means the Eldrazi deck can only play a Slaughter Drone before passing. R2R thinks about Detention Sphere-ing the Drone, but in the end decides to simply pass.
Oath draws... a Matter Reshaper. Not bad, but not good enough either. The Drone is turned to attack, meeting a Cyclonic Rift from R2R. Oath shrugs, then plays the Matter Reshaper and passes. Finally R2R draws and plays its sixth land, getting a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius in play, and then passing.
But the dragon won't stick for long, as R2R simply casts an Oblivion Strike and exiles it, allowing the Reshaper to strike for three damage (R2R is now at 7). Oath then passes, and R2R knows no mistakes will be allowed. For now, it plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Reshaper, then passes. But Oath has finally that fifth land available, and casts the Reality Smasher to attack for five and bring its opponent down to 2 life points. Things are getting complicated for R2R - very complicated. The control deck removes the Smasher with a Supreme Verdict, then passes.
At this point, Oath seems ready to close the game, as a Matter Reshaper and a Slaughter Drone enter the battlefield – but R2R is not done yet, as it casts an Angel of Serenity to stabilize the situation and keep itself alive.
But Oath is not giving up, either, playing a kicked Bearer of Silence to kill the Angel and getting its creatures back. And now, it's all in the draw. R2R draws... a Plains! And with only a Syncopate in hand, that's game over. Oath wins game two, and looks ready to snatch a somewhat unexpected victory to reach the finals!
Game Three
R2R is on the brink of disaster, and to make things worse, it also has to take a mulligan, opening the game with a turn one tapped Steam Vents. On the other side, Oath plays a Swamp and a Reaver Drone. R2R plays a Plains and passes, while on the other side Oath attacks for two more, then plays a second Swamp and an Eldrazi Mimic. Yet another Plains for R2R, that can't currently pay more than one red OR one blue mana, and has therefore very limited options – at the moment, only passing.
Luckily for R2R, Oath is blocked with only two mana, and after having attacked for four damage (R2R is now at 14), it plays a second Eldrazi Mimic and passes. R2R plays a third Plains (!), not exactly an optimal scenario, but good enough for now: the four mana are tapped to play a Supreme Verdict and clear the board! R2R can finally breathe in relief and pass. Oath is still stuck with two mana, cursing its bad luck before passing again. R2R plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain and passes. Still nothing for Oath, and this allows R2R to take the initiative with a Frostburn Weird, before passing.
Still no lands for Oath, that draws a Bearer of Silence, and decides to play it. R2R attacks for one damage (the Weird stays a 1/4), then plays a tapped Azorius Guildgate and passes. Oath shakes its head as it draws no lands – again! - and as the Bearer is killed by an end of turn Izzet Charm, Oath decides it's time to move on and concede.
Game Four
Oath gets to start and plays a tapped Mirrorpool on turn one, before passing. On the other side, R2R plays a tapped Izzet Guildate and passes. On its second turn, Oath plays an Eldrazi Mimic and passes. Only lands for R2R for now, and the control deck passes. Oath plays a Sea Gate Wreckage, then attacks for two before adding a Reaver Drone to the board, and finally passing. R2R plays a third land and finds itself unfortunately without any white mana source. Considering the Supreme Verdict and the two Detention Sphere in its hand, this is not good news. For now, the control deck passes. Eldrazi attacks for four (R2R is at 14), then plays a second Reaver Drone and passes. The pressure is growing – will R2R be able to react?
Still no white mana for the control deck, though, that again is forced to pass. As Oath attacks for six damage, things are now looking really grim. And then R2R draws a Frostburn Weird – should be enough to at least gain some time. R2R is confident the Weird will stick to the board, as it has a Counterflux available to cover it, and three untapped mana. But then Oath smiles and plays... a Bearer of Silence. As the additional cost is played, the Weird is killed, opening the way for Oath's creatures. R2R counters the creature anyway, but as it stands at 2 life points, there's probably not much it can do to survive.
And just a little too late, a Plains is drawn. A Detention Sphere now could clean the two Reaver Drones... but the remaining Eldrazi Mimic would be enough to close the game. And this is it. Oath wins the match quite easily, with some help from Lady Luck, and quite surprisingly flies to the finals. Will Timespiral be able to stop the Eldrazi threat?
So, I'm back with the finals. It's been a very long ride since I started, and I'm happy to wrap things up today. The project was born as a tribute to the old Battle of the Sets here on MTG Salvation, and I hope some of you might have enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the original one. I won't continue this in the future, as it is very time consuming, but if someone else liked this, and wants to keep it going, I'll definitely follow and provide support with decklists and such. Anyway, thank you for following this, and let's discover who won it all
And here we go, the final nobody expected. The Silver Bullet deck from Timespiral against the impressive Eldrazi aggro from Oath of the Gatewatch. Despite both being solid decks, there was certainly some luck involved in avoiding bad matchups, while some of the top tier decks ended up fighing against each other. Still, getting to the final is a huge achievement, but now, only one will get final victory. Let's find out who it's going to be!
Game One
Oath wins the roll to start and can pull off a good start: Swamp on turn one, then a Sea Gate Wreckage and an Eldrazi Mimic. On the other side, Timespiral suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. On turn three, Oath attacks for two damage, then plays a Slaughter Drone and passes. Timespiral plays a Terramorphix Expanse, fetching a Plains, then plays a Prismatic Lens and passes. Oath draws... and remains stuck at three lands. With nothing good to play, the aggro deck attacks for four before passing. Timespiral plays yet another Terramorphic Expanse, this time fetching an Island, then passes again.
Oath draws a Crumbling Vestige, but with a hand of three Spatial Contortion, one Oblivion Strike and one Bearer of Silence, it just has to wait for Timespiral to start playing creatures. So, for now it turns its creatures to attack again. This time, though, the Mimic is met by a Temporal Isolation, and only the Drone strikes for two damage (Timespiral is now at 12 life points). At this point, the Cloudskate enters the battlefield, bouncing up the Slaughter Drone, and it's immediately joined by an Avalanche Riders! Then, both creatures are turned to attack, and Oath has only one shot at casting a Spatial Contortion (as the Crumbling Vestige is still tapped). Now, Timespiral has a Plains and a Prismatic Lens open – enough to cast a Momentary Blink. Or enough to bluff one. All in all, Oath would like to remove the Raiders, but should Timespiral have the Blink, it could save the creature and destroy one more land on top of that. On the other hand, targeting the Cloudskate would mean that Timespiral would be forced to choose: either save the Cloudskate, and bounce a land, or blink the Raiders again to destroy one.
Oath thinks for a few more seconds, then throws the Contortion at the Cloudskate. Now it's Timespiral's turn to think, but only for a moment, as it casts a Temporary Blink to save the Cloudskate and bounce the Crumbling Vestige. The Raiders then strike for two damage, and Timespiral passes. Oath draws another Oblivion Strike, then plays again the Crumbling Vestige, but unfortunately, until this land is tapped, cannot produce colorless mana to fuel another Spatial Contortion. Still, the Slaughter Drone is played again, and Oath passes.
Timespiral decides a bit surprisingly to not pay the Echo cost for the Riders, but the reason becomes clear as a second Avalanche Riders is played to destroy the Crumbling Vestige! This is serious bad news for Oath. At this point, the Cloudskate is turned to attack for two, and Timespiral passes.
As Oath draws a Reality Smasher, is forced to face a very unpleasant situation. Firstly, the Drone is turned to attack for two damage (that Timespiral decides to take), then the Eldrazi decks decides to tap its two lands to cast the Bearer of Silence and at least add some pressure to the board. Oath passes, and again Timespiral decides to not pay the Echo for the Avalanche Riders. Instead, a Lightning Angel is played, and both Flying Creatures are turned to attack. Oath takes five damage and falls down to 11 life points.
This is a very important turn for Oath, that unfortunately draws a third Swamp! Not only the Spatial Contortions in its hand remains off-limits, it cannot even activate the Deathtouch ability of the Slaughter Drone. Cursing in frustration, the Eldrazi deck passes again. Timespiral smiles and casts a second Lightning Angel, fiercely punishing its opponent with 8 points of damage. As Oath is now at 3 life points, there's nothing it can do to recover the game, and is forced to concede. Timespiral wins game one!
Game Two
Oath starts the game quick, with a turn one Reaver Drone followed by a turn two Slaughter Drone (and a Sea Gate Wreckage). On the other side, Timespiral suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. Oath keeps increasing the pressure with a Matter Reshaper, and its attack for four damage brings Timespiral down to 14 life points.
Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools, then considers the situation, and decides to play a Disintegrate to remove the Matter Reshaper (without even triggering its ability). Still, Oath keeps adding creatures to the board with a Slaughter Drone. Also, a Mirrorpool is played tapped. Timespiral falls down to 10 life points this turn, and Oath passes.
Timespiral fetches a Plains with a Terramorphic Expanse, then taps three to play a morphed creatures (can only be a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, really), and passes. Oath smiles as it prepares to hit, and hit hard. It taps two, and then two more, to cast a Bearer of Silence! Timespiral's only creature is killed, opening the way for six more combat damage straight to Timespiral's face! With its opponent at 4 life points, Oath feels confident the game is in its pocket, but can Timespiral recover with some trick?
First of all, the Cloudskate enters the battlefield, bouncing back one Slaughter Drone, then a Vesuvan Shapeshifter is also played, face up, copying the Cloudskate and bouncing up the second Slaughter Drone. And this might just be enough, actually. Except Oath has a second Bearer of Silence in hand, and it plays it to force Timespiral to sacrifice one creature. At this point, with two creatures attacking and dealing potentially lethal damage, Timespiral is forced to block and lose its remaining creature, meanwhile falling at 2 life points. Oath still has the Reaver Drone and a Bearer of Silence in play.
Timespiral draws... a Mountain. And since the only creature in its hand is a Bogardan Hellkite, with nowhere near enough mana to play it, it's game over. Oath takes game two by storm, and the two decks move on to game three!
Game Three
Timespiral starts the game with a Calciform Pools followed by a Mountain, while on the other side Oath is starting quick again with a turn one Reaver Drone followed by a turn two Slaughter Drone (and Sea Gate Wreckage). After Oath has attacked for two damage with the Reaver Drone, the Eldrazi deck passes and Timespiral places a counter on the Pools. On its turn, Timespiral plays a Plains and a morphed-down creature. Oath adds a third land to the board, then casts a Spatial Contortion to kill the opponent's creature, then attacks for four more damage (Timespiral is now at 14).
But Timespiral is finally ready to fight back. After having played a second Calciform Pools, all lands are tapped to cast a Lightning Angel, that immediately attacks (Oath is at 16). Timespiral then passes. Oath doesn't stop attacking, though, and taps both its creatures. The Angel is assigned to block the Reaver Drone, while the Slaughter Drone strikes for two damage. Oath smiles as it casts a second Spatial Contortion, allowing the Reaver Drone to trade for the Angel. Timespiral falls down to 12, and Oath passes.
Timespiral draws, plays a second Mountain and a Prismatic Lens, then passes. Oath draws and turns the two Slaughter Drone to attack, but one of them is met by a Temporal Isolation – Timespiral falls down to 10. Then, Oath plays a Mirrorpool and a Reaver Drone, and passes. End of turn, Timespiral adds a counter on a Calciform Pools. On its turn, Tiemspiral plays a Lightning Angel and strikes for three damage (Oath is now at 13), then passes. Unfortunately for Timespiral, Oath just draws the card it needs: an Oblivion Strike! The Angel is removed, allowing Oath's creatures to dish in four more damage. Timespiral is now at 6, and things are not looking particularly good.
Timespiral needs to regain some control on the game, and taps all its lands plus the Lens (also removing the counter from the Pools) to cast a Riftwing Cloudskate and bounce back the Reaver Drone. Then, it passes. Oath thinks for a few seconds, then decides to sacrifice the Mirrorpool to create a copy of the Slaughter Drone, then attacks with the original one – Timespiral blocks with the Cloudskate and accepts the trade.
Timespiral draws an Ancestral Vision and immediately suspends it, betting on its own chances to survive the coming three turns. After that, an Avalanche Riders is played, destroying a Sea Gate Wreckage, and then Timespiral passes. Oath plays a tapped Crumbling Vestige, then the Reaver Drone, and finally turns the Slaughter Drone to attack – and trade for the Riders. Finally, Timespiral seems to have regained some measure of control on the game. On its turn, Timespiral casts a Disintegrate on the Reaver Drone, emptying its hand, then charges the Pools with two Counters and passes.
And then disaster strikes! Oath taps all its lands and plays a Reality Smasher, immediately turning it to attack for five damage – suddenly, Timespiral is at one life point! It's all in the draw now, and not much can save Timespiral. The drawn card is... a Riftwing Cloudskate! Even though it could be used to bounce the Smasher, the Eldrazi creature has haste, and in the coming turn, that would be game over! Oath wins game three and sees the final victory within grasp!
Game Four
Timespiral needs to win this game at all costs, or everything will be lost. After coming this far, neither contender is going to back down without giving 100%. So, Timespiral opens up with a Terramorphic Expanse, fetching a Mountain. On the other side, Oath plays a Swamp and passes. Timespiral plays a second Terramosphic Expanse, fetching an Island this time, and then passes. Oath adds a second Swamp to the board, then plays an Eldrazi Mimic and passes. Timespiral plays a Plains, then after thinking for a few seconds decides to kill the Mimic with a Disintegrate and suspend an Ancestral Vision.
It's Oath's turn again, that plays a third Swamp and then another Eldrazi Mimic, before passing. Timespiral is now on the offensive, though, as it plays a fourth land and an Avalanche Riders, destroying one Swamp and turning it to attack – Oath decides to take the damage.
And then, unfortunately, Oath remains stuck with two lands. So, it decides to play a Bearer of Silence, to gain some additional presence on the board, then turns the Mimic to attack for two. Then, the Eldrazi deck passes. A Momentary Blink at this point could very well be game over for Oath, but unfortunately for Timespiral, it doesn't have any. So, it pays the Echo cost for the Riders, plays a Mountain, attacks for two and passes. Luckily for Oath, it draws a Mirrorpool that is immediately played, then it attacks with its two creatures for four damage (Timespiral is at 14). If the Mirrorpool can stick until the next turn, things might yet take a turn for the better for Oath.
But it is not meant to be. After playing its sixth land, Timespiral casts a face-up Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy the Riders... and destroy the Mirrorpool! Real bad news for Oath, that also sees 4 more damage fly its way, and falls down to 12. Plus, Timespiral is getting its Ancestral Vision in the coming turn. Can Oath make a comeback?
Stuck at two lands, Oath plays yet another Bearer of Silence, then attacks for 4 damage, and passes. Timespiral pays the Echo cost for the Shapshifter, then draws four and a Terramorphic Expanse to fetch a seventh land. After having attacked for four (Oath is now at 8), Timespiral passes. Oath draws and plays another Swamp, then plays a third Bearer of Silence, and turns its creatures to attack. The Mimic is met with a Temporal Isolation, and Timespiral falls down to 6.
And this is as far as Oath can go. After having attacked for four more damage, Timespiral reveals a Disintegrate to kill its opponent and win game four. And now, only one remains. Who will be the champion?
Game Five
Oath starts the game, and makes the first play on turn two with a Slaughter Drone. On the other side, Timespiral plays a turn two Prismatic Lens and passes. Oath attacks for two, then plays a tapped Mirrorpool before adding a second Slaughter Drone to the board and passing. Still, Timespiral seems to be taking the upper hand as it taps for four mana to cast a Lightning Angel and attack for 3 damage. Unfortunately, though, the Angel it's not meant to stick around, as Oath disposes of it with an Oblivion Strike, removing the dangerous creature and striking for four more damage. Timespiral is now at 14 life points.
But Timespiral is not stopping, as it casts a second Prismatic Lens and then a second Lightning Angel, attacking again for three damage and bringing its opponent down to 14 life points as well. So far, so good. A very balanced game. But Oath is ready to answer the second Angel, too, casting a second Oblivion Strike! And with that, Timespiral takes four more damage and falls down to 10. How will Timespiral answer?
Quite interestingly, by playing a Mangara of Corondor, then fetching a second Island with a Terramorphic Expanse, and finally passing. Oath fears its opponent might have a Blink to combo with the Mangara, and decides to play a Thought-Knot Seer, revealing a hand of a Mountain and a Disintegrate. The damage spell is removed, then Oath attacks for four more damage, and Timespiral is now at 6 life points.
But Timespiral is now smiling, as it draws a Vesuvan Shapeshifter and plays it to copy the Thought-Knot Seer, looking at Oath's hand and removing a Matter Reshaper. Then Timespiral activates Mangara and exiles the opponent's Seer, drawing one: a Lightning Angel. Next turn, it'll be able to play it. For now, Timespiral passes.
Oath draws and plays a Crumbling Vestige, then turns its creatures to attack. Timespiral thinks for a moment, then blocks one of the Drones with the Shapeshifter. Oath activates the Deathtouch, killing the Shapeshifter and getting to draw one: a Reaver Drone. Also, Timespiral takes two damage from the other Drone and falls down to 4. The Reaver Drone is immediately played, and Oath activates a Sea Gate Wreckage to draw one (being emtpy-handed). It's just a Mirrorpool, though, so Oath passes.
Timespiral draws and suspends an Ancestral Vision, then plays a Lightning Angel and attacks for three, before passing. Oath plays the Mirrorpool, then attacks with both its creatures. Timespiral blocks the Reaver Drone and kills it, taking two damage from the Slaughter Drone and falling down to 2. Then, Oath plays an Eldrazi Mimic and activates the Wreckage, drawing an Oblivion Strike that might very well seal the game. For now, though, Oath passes.
And then Timespiral draws a land – game over! The Eldrazi swarms all over their opponent, getting their tentacles on the final victory! Congratulations to Oath of the Gatewatch, winner of this edition of Battle of the Sets!
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M12 vs Mirrodin
An high level matchup involving two of the best decks in BOTS, the blazing fast Affinity deck from Mirrodin, and the ultra-solid Rock deck from M12. Since M12's deck is technically built to shut down aggro opponents, it's easy to find a favorite here, but when considering decks with this quality, anything can happen. On with the game!
Game One
M12 wins the roll to start, but unfortunately has to take a mulligan, and to make things worse sees Mirrodin start the game with an excellent turn one Disciple of the Vault. On its side, M12 plays a Skinshifter and passes. Luckily, Mirrodin is not following up with aggressive creatures, and it only plays an Ornithopter plus Chromatic Sphere before passing. M12 considers the situation for a second, then turns the Skinshifter into a 4/4 and attacks for four damage before passing.
Mirrodin is now ready to get serious, as it draws and plays a Frogmite for 0 mana, followed by a Somber Hoverguard. Then, it attacks for one damage and passes. M12 draws and passes, still playing lands. Mirrodin draws and considers the situation. After thinking for a few seconds, decides that attacking is still the best option, and turns the Frogmite and the Somber Hoverguard sideways. M12 takes the damage from the frogmite, then turns the Skinshifter into a 2/2 with Flying and trades with the Hoverguard. Mirrodin then plays a Myr Enforcer and passes. End of turn, M12 throws a Naturalize at the Enforcer, then on its turn plays a Garruk, Primal Hunter to create a 3/3 token and passes. But the surprises aren't finished – end of turn, Mirrodin casts a Shrapnel Blast to kill Garruk!
Mirrodin's hand is now empty, but luckily it draws and plays a Myr Enforcer before passing. At this point, M12 has two Grave Titan in hand, but no black mana sources in play. Fortunately it draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, that fetches a Swamp and also strengthens up M12's defenses. But things are about to turn again, as Mirrodin draws an Atog! What a game so far. First, Mirrodin turns the Frogmite and the Enforcer to attack, and the two creatures on M12's side team up to kill the Enforcer. M12 takes two damage from the Frogmite and falls down to 14, then 13 for the damage from the dying Enforcer. The Enforcer brings the beast token to the grave with it, then Mirrodin plays the Atog and passes.
Luck smiles on M12 now, as it draws and plays a Gideon Jura, activating its +2 ability. Truly aggro's nemesis, Gideon Jura has kept popping up at the best moments thorughout the whole tournament for M12. Mirrodin is unfortunately forced to attack Gideon with all its creatures, but Mirrodin decides to save the Disciple of the Vault by playing a Shrapnel Blast on the Simulacrum, sacrificing the Ornithopter. Then, Mirrodin sacrifices the Chromatic Sphere and an artifact land to boost the Atog to 5/6, and along with the Frogmite and thr Disciple, that's enough to kill Gideon. Plus, M12 loses three more life points and it's now at 9.
M12 has drawn another Simulacrum, and plays it to fetch the second Swamp – on the coming turn, a Grave Titan will join the battle and possibly seal the game on M12's favor. Mirrodin draws a Thoughtcast, but it's short on mana and artifacts and can't really play it. So, for the moment it decides to pass. But then M12 plays the Grave Titan, and a Timely Reinforcements on the next turn. Mirrodin realizes that Gideon Jura won the game for M12, and there's nothing left to do. The Affinity deck concedes and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
M12 has again to take a mulligan, while Mirrodin keeps its starting hand and opens up with a turn one Ornithopter, followed by a turn two Frogmite. Meanwhile, M12 is only playing lands. On its third turn, Mirrodin attacks for two damage and then plays an Atog. M12 is ready to show that it has all the tools it needs to handle the opposition, playing a very timely Timely Reinforcements, and passing.
Mirrodin draws and plays a Bonesplitter, and decides to equip it to the Ornithopter, turning all its creatures to attack. M12 takes two damage from the Flying creatures, then assigns two Soldier to block the Frogmite and one to block the Atog. The Frogmite dies, then Mirrodin plays a second Atog and passes. M12 is at 22 life points, and has no creature on the board. On its turn, M12 plays a Solemn Simulacrum and passes.
Then Mirrodin gets lucky, drawing a Disciple of the Vault. Now, Mirrodin is sure that at least one Atog can get through and deal direct damage to M12. Unfortunately, with six artifacts in play, that's a total of 13 combat damage + six life points lost. Not enough to kill the opponent, and then Mirrodin would stand staring at an empty board. Still, M12 is probably going to drop some bomb soon, and then things might take a turn for the worse for Mirrodin. Better take advantage of the opening, then. Mirrodin turns the two Atog and the Ornithopter to attack. One Atog gets blocked by the Simulacrum, while the other one and the Ornithopter slips through to deal damage to M12. Mirrodin sacrifices a land for each Atog, killing the Simulacrum without losing any creature, while M12 loses a total of five life points from combat damage, plus two from the sacrificed lands and one from the dead Simulacrum. M12 is now at 14 life points. Mirrodin then passes.
M12 plays a Grave Titan and passes. At this point, Mirrodin must now rely on the Ornithopter to dish in some damage, and then deal the killing blow with the Disciple. Let's see how it turns out. On its coming turn, Mirrodin plays a Chromatic Sphere, and this means it finally has the blue mana to cast the Thoughtcast in its hand. Mirrodin then draws and plays a Seat of the Synod and a Pyrite Spellbomb. Now Mirrodin would need a Shrapnel Blast and might just take the game home. For now, Mirrodin attacks for two and passes. M12 is now at 11 life points.
M12 draws and attacks with the Titan. Mirrodin thinks for a few seconds, then decides to simply chump-block with an Atog. M12 then plays a Solemn Simulacrum, a Rampant Growth and finally passes.
Lucky! Mirrodin draws another Bonesplitter! The ornithopter gets equipped and turns into a 4/2, attacking for four damage. And from then, it's quickly over: the Pyrite Spellbomb deals two more damage, and with six remaining artifacts in play, the math is simple: Mirrodin wins game two!
Game three
Quite incredibly, M12 has to mulligan again, while Mirrodin is again off to a good start with a turn one Disciple of the Vault. M12 plays only a land on turn two, then Mirrodin on its second turn attacks for one and plays a Pyrite Spellbomb and a Frogmite. But M12 won't simply be trampled by its opponent, and enters the game with a Timely Reinforcement, then passes.
Mirrodin considers the situation, then plays a Somber Hoverguard and decides to attack with the Frogmite, that gets blocked by the opponents Soldier, trading for two of them. M12 loses one life points, then the Pyrite Spellbomb is activated for two damage to M12 and one more life point lost. M12 is now at 21 life points, and Mirrodin passes. M12 plays a land and passes. Mirrodin attacks with the Hoverguard, then plays a Thoughtcast, an Atog, and passes.
And here M12 is ready to show again just how annoying it can be for aggro decks, playing a Gideon Jura and activating its -2 ability to kill the Hoverguard. Then, M12 passes. Mirrodin knows it has to kill the planeswalker as quickly as possible, but with a single Soldier token standing, it won't be able to just attack it with the Atog. Luckily, it has a Shrapnel Blast in hand. Mirrodin would have preferred to throw it directly at M12, but there's not much choice here. So, Mirrodin first plays a Thoughtcast, then a Myr Enforcer, then finally the Shrapnel Blast sacrificing an artifact land to kill Gideon Jura. Then the Atog attacks and is chump-blocked by the Soldier token. M12 is now at 17 life points and has an empty board.
Empty, but not for much, as M12 taps six lands and plays a Grave Titan! The situation doesn't look exactly optimal for Mirrodin right now, but the Affinity deck still hasn't lose hope. For now, though, it just plays a second Atog and passes. M12 is ready to secure its position even more, by playing another Timely Reinforcements, and then passing. M12 is convinced that time is on its side.
Mirrodin draws and considers the situation. It has two Shrapnel Blast in hand. Considering that M12 is at 23 life points, that's not even remotely enough to win the game. On the other hand, they could be used to kill the Titan, but Mirrodin would still have to worry about an army of tokens then – and the number of artifacts to fuel the Atogs is not endless. Still, Mirrodin decides that it can't really wait forever, and turns all its creatures, except the Disciple, to attack.
One Atog is blocked by the Grave Titan, as M12 wants to use the Deathtouch to make sure it's killed. The second Atog is blocked by two Soldier tokens, while the Enforcer crashes on the two Zombie tokens. Mirrodin casts a Shrapnel Blast to make sure that the Titan is killed by the Atog, then sacrifices a land to keep the second Atog alive. The Enforcer trades for the Zombies. M12 is now at 21 life points, and Mirrodin passes.
And then M12 hits hard, again. The rock deck draws and plays a second Gideon Jura, activating the -2 ability to kill the remaining Atog. M12 smiles and passes. Mirrodin can remove the Gideon Jura with its remaining Shrapnel Blast, and in fact has no choice but to do so, even though it's clear that the inertia of the game is tilting in M12's favor. Still, the Blast is played to kill the planeswalker, then Mirrodin passes.
M12 shakes its head, as it didn't expect Mirrodin to have yet anothe copy of Shrapnel Blast, but the rock deck knows the game is taking a turn for the better after all. This turn, M12 draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, then attacks with the Soldier token for one damage and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Chromatic Sphere, then activates it to draw a card – a second Disciple of the Vault, that is played right away. Mirrodin then passes. M12 draws a Doom Blade – not very useful right now – then attacks with the Simulacrum, keeping the Soldier on the defensive, and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Bonesplitter, then passes.
And then M12 draws a Garruk, Primal Hunter, followed on the next turn by another Grave Titan. M12 refilles its hand with Garruk's -3 ability, and the game quickly reaches a conclusion. M12 wins game three!
Game Four
Mirrodin starts and makes the first play with a turn two Atog. On the other side, M12 plays a Skinshifter and passes. Mirrodin draws and plays a Disciple of the Vault, then attacks with the Atog (M12 takes the damage), and finally passes. M12 draws, plays a Timely Reinforcements (getting the three tokens and jumping up to 25 life points) and passes. As usual, things get awfully complicated for Mirrodin from the very beginning. The game has just begun, though.
Mirrodin plays a fourth land and then a Myr Enforcer, before turning the Atog to attack. M12 block with two Soldier tokens, forcing Mirrodin to sacrifice an artifact to kill them. M12 falls to 24 due to the Disciple of the Vault, and Mirrodin passes. Nothing to do for M12 this time around, that simply draws and passes.
Mirrodin attacks with the Atog and the Enforcer, and M12 decides to block the Atog with the Skinshifter (turning it into a 0/8), and letting the Enforcer in (falling doen to 20 life points). Mirrodin then plays a second Enforcer and passes. And then M12 gets nasty again, playing a Gideon Jura and activating its -2 ability to kill the Atog. Mirrodin curses, and M12 smiles and passes. Mirrodin wants the planeswalker dead, and turns both Enforcers to attack – M12 shrugs and puts Gideon in the graveyard. Then Mirrodin plays a third Myr Enforcer and passes. On its turn, M12 plays a second Skinshifter and passes.
This time, it's Mirrodin that is ready to surprise its opponent with an unexpected move. The Myr Enforcers are turned to attack, and M12 blocks all three of them with the last remaining Soldier token and the two Skinshifter, turned to 4/4... except Mirrodin plays two Shrapnel Blast (sacrificing two artifact lands) and kills both of them! With the Soldier token dying from combat damage, M12 now has zero creatures on the board, and the situation suddenly looks quite worrying.
M12 has two Grave Titan in hand, but unfortunately only one Swamp in play. So, for now it can only play a Garruk, Primal hunter, and spawn a 3/3 token before passing. Mirrodin plays a Bonesplitter and equips it to one of the Enforcers, then declares the attack: two Enforcers on Garruk, one (the one equipped with the Bonesplitter) on M12 itself. M12 blocks this last one with the Beast token, while Garruk gets slaughtered and M12 is once again sitting with an empty board. M12 really needs to draw a black mana source... but it only draws a Plains! The rock deck is forced to pass, and Mirrodin can attack for 14 damage, before playing a Thoughtcast and a Chromatic Sphere and passing. And then M12 draws a Swamp! Maybe a turn too late... but you never know. For now, M12 plays a Grave Titan and passes. Mirrodin plays a Thoughtcast, getting a Somber Hoverguard and a Frogmite in play, then sacrifice a Chromatic Sphere (M12 is now at three life points) and passes. M12 draws a Sunpetal Grove and gets a second Grave Titan in play, but can't block the Somber Hoverguard and will surely die in the coming turn. That's it, game over, Mirrodin wins game four!
Game Five
A strange game seems about to start, as M12 is forced to mulligan once, and Mirrodin twice. M12 plays a land and passes, while Mirrodin starts the game with a turn one Pyrite Spellbomb. Still more lands from M12, while Mirrodin plays a Frogmite and passes. Things seem to be shaping up fine for Mirrodin, that attacks for two and plays an Atog before passing. The Affinity deck is still stuck with two lands, but that might not be as much a problem as it seems, all things considered. Mirrodin then passes, and M12 gets ready to begin its game, playing a Solemn Simulacrum to fetch a Forest (that was so far missing), and passing.
Mirrodin draws and plays a Thoughtcast, hoping to draw a land... but it draws two Disciple of the Vault instead. For now, Mirrodin can't play any of them, deciding to attack with both its creatures instead. M12 decides to take the damage and falls down to 15. Mirrodin passes, and M12 draws and plays an Oblivion Ring, removing the Atog from the battlefield. M12 then plays a Skinshifter and passes.
Mirrodin draws another Thoughtcast and considers the situation. In hand it has two Myr Enforcer, two Disciple of the Vault, a Pyrite Spellbomb and the Thoughtcast. Only two lands in play: a Glimmervoid and a Seat of the Synod. Mirrodin could gamble with the Thoughtcast again, hoping to draw another land, but it might end up backfiring. For now, the best course of action seems to kill the Skinshifter with the Spellbomb already in play (as M12 has no mana open to transform the Skinshifter), then playing the Spellbomb in hand and passing.
But M12 is speeding up, and soon might be too late for Mirrodin. A Gideon Jura is played, activating its +2 ability, then M12 passes. Mirrodin draws... another Disciple of the Vault. Mirrodin decides to play the Thoughtcast... and it draws a Shrapnel Blast and a Chromatic Sphere! Incredible bad luck for the Affinity deck, that is now forced to attack with the Frogmite. M12 blocks with the Simulacrum, drawing one, and leaving Mirrodin in a really bad board position. Mirrodin is then forced to pass.
M12 turns Gideon into a 6/6 creature and attacks, then plays a second Solemn Simulacrum to fetch a second Swamp, then plays a Skinshifter and passes. Mirrodin finally draws a third land, but it's probably too late. For now, it plays a Chromatic Sphere, a Disciple of the Vault, and passes. M12 turns the Skinshifter into a 4/4, then attacks with it along with the Simulacrum and the animated Gideon Jura. This last one is chump-blocked by the Disciple, but Mirrodin still falls down to 8 life points, and as M12 plays a Grave Titan before passing, it's clear to everyone that the game is over. Mirrodin fought to the very end, but on the final game luck definitely wasn't shining on its side, and M12 got an easy win in the crucial moment. M12 advances to the group finals!
Magic 2012 3 - Mirrodin 2
Magic Origins vs Return to Ravnica
Two decks I really like face off in the last group semifinal. R2R features an old-school control deck, with counterspells, card advantage and mass removal, plus a couple of good finishers. Magic Origins features a highly synergic deck, creating an army of Thopters to overrun the opponent. While Origins is usually very good at dealing with control and slow deck, it might seriously suffer R2R's mass removal (in the form of Supreme Verdict, but also Detention Sphere to a lesser extent). Let's see how things turned out!
Game One
R2R wins the roll to start and opens the game with a turn two Frostburn Weird. Origins is only playing lands for now, so R2R on the following turn plays an Hallowed Fountain and attacks for three damage with the Weird, before passing. On its third turn, Origins is finally ready to make its first move: a Chief of the Foundry. R2R thinks for a couple of seconds, then again turns the Weird to attack. Origins decides not to block, taking four more damage and falling down to 13. R2R then plays an Izzet Guildgate and passes.
Origins turns the Chief to attack for two, then passes. R2R draws and again turns the Weird to attack, boosting it to a 3/2... and then Origins plays a Harbinger of the Tides to bounce it back to R2R's hand. R2R shrugs, plays it again, and passes. Origins plays a second Chief of the Foundry, then turns both its creatures to attack. R2R declares the Weird as blocker for the attacking Chief, and Origins casts a Turn to Frog to kill the annoying creature. R2R takes two damage from the Harbinger, and Origins passes.
It's time for R2R to bring the board back under control. After having played its sicth land, it casts a Chromatic Lantern and then a Supreme Verdict. Satisfied with the situation, R2R passes. Origins plays another Chief of the Foundry and passes. R2R plays a Sphinx's Revelation to draw four and gain four, and passes. Origins needs to make something happen, but at the moment the best it can do is again attacking for two and pass. Return to Ravnica, for now, decides to just play a Detention Sphere to remove the Chief, and passes. The game looks steadily under control for now, and the pressure is on Origins, that is ready to shake things up. End of turn, a Foundry of the Consuls is sacrificed to put two Thopter tokens into play. Then, on its turn, Origins casts yet another Chief of the Foundry and attacks for four damage. R2R now sits at 14 life points, while Origins is at 12.
R2R consdiers the situation and decides that it's time to get sserious. An Angel of Serenity is played, clearing the board once again. The situation is now serious for Origins, that needs to remove the Angel at all costs. So, a Turn to Frog is played, quickly followed by an Exquisite Firecraft, that it's now uncounterable! Origins gets the Chief back in hand, but all in all, that was still a 2 for 1 trade. Origins has two cards in hand, while R2R five. It's clear who has the advantage for now. End of turn, R2R casts an Izzet Charm to draw two, discarding a second Izzet Charm and a Chromatic Lantern. Then, Return to Ravnica draws and passes.
Origins draws and plays the Chief of the Foundry, but R2R is ready to answer with a Syncopate. Now, Origins has another Turn to Frog and Exquisite Firecraft in hand, and not much to do except passing again. R2R again draws and passes. Origins draws and plays a Foundry of the Consuls, then passes. End of turn, R2R casts a Sphinx's Revelation for seven! Then, on its turn, it casts an Angel of Serenity and a Frostburn Weird, and passes. End of turn, Origins create two tokens with the Foundry, then repeats the Turn to Frog + Exquisite Firecraft trick to remove the Angel, and passes.
But as R2R simply plays yet another Angel of Serenity, it's clear that Origins is out of options, and the Thopter deck concedes. R2R wins game one!
Game Two
Origins starts, but it's again R2R to make the first move with a turn two Frostburn Weird. This time, though, Origins is quick to answer with a Thopter Engineer, spawning a token and immediately turning it to attack for one damage. R2R remains unfortunately stuck at two lands, and passes. Origins tries to increase its advantage by casting a Thopter Spy Network, but R2R is ready to answer it with a Syncopate. Origins then attacks for one and passes. R2R finally draws and plays its third land, an Hallowed Fountain (taking two damage and falling down to 16), then casts a Chromatic Lantern and passes.
Origins knows it has to close the game as quickly as possible, and it's ready to increase the pressure with a Pia and Kiran Nalaar, turning all its tokens to attack for three damage. R2R is now at 13 life points. R2R draws and plays an Azorius Guildate, then considers the situation and decides to clear the board with a Supreme Verdict. Origins is definitely not happy about that, but the Thopter deck gets lucky as it draws and immediately plays an Hangarback Walker.
But R2R has an answer for that one, too: a Detention Sphere! Origins shakes its head, feeling powerless. Still, it's too early to give up. Origins plays a Chief of the Foundry and passes. R2R draws, then plays a Sphinx's Revelation for three, plays a land and passes. Origins draws and plays a second Chief of the Foundry, attacks for three damage (R2R is back at 13 life points), then passes.
As it did before, R2R is ready to solve all its problems by casting an Angel of Serenity... except this time Origins shows a Clash of Wills to counter it! Things are actually starting to look troublesome for R2R!
Origins draws and plays a land, then attacks for six damage and passes. And then R2R is ready to cast its second bomb of the game: a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. R2R then passes, and Origins keeps up its offensive, turning both its creatures to attack. R2R fears a trap, but with its life points falling so dangerously low, it doesn't really have many options, and decides to block. Origins, as expected, shows a Turn to Frog to turn the powerful dragon into an harmless 1/1! R2R has no Counterflux in hand, and with five mana open, Origins is out of reach from any other counterspell from R2R. Niv-Mizzet is then ungloriously killed, and R2R falls down to 4 life points. Luckily for R2R, Origins has no Exquisite Firecraft to close the game, and it passes. End of turn, R2R plays an Izzet Charm to draw two and discard two.
And there it goes, a Detention Sphere! R2R can stabilize the game again, removing the Chiefs, and passes. Origins draws... an Exquisite Firecraft! The spell is also uncounterable, so... game over? R2R taps all its remaining mana to cast a Sphinx's Revelation for two, and survive! R2R is not giving up yet! Origins is shaking its head bitterly, but for now can't do anything apart passing. R2R knows it's walking on a thin line here, and as it enters its turn, it has an hand of: Mountain, Supreme Verdict, Syncopate. It draws a Frostburn Weird, that is immediately played, then passes. Origins draws and plays an Evolving Wilds, fetching one more land from its deck, then passes.
And then R2R gets lucky again, drawing another Sphinx's Revelation. Casting it for seven it's enough to refill its hand and its life points, gaining R2R a huge advantage. And from there, unfortunately, it's quickly over for Origins. R2R wins game two!
Game Three
Origins starts and plays a quick Hangarback Walker on turn two. R2R wants to avoid its growth, and quickly dispatches it with an Izzet Charm. Origins gets a Thopter token out of it and uses it to attack for one in the coming turn, then passes. R2R plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Origins draws and checks: R2R has two mana opens. That could mean a Syncopate or another Izzet Charm. Origins has a Thopter Spy Network in hand, but as it has already lost one in the previous game, to a counterspell, decides for a safer approach: a Chief of the Foundry. Then attacks for two with the token, and passes. R2R plays an Azorius Guildgate and passes.
Origins draws, plays another land, and draws a deep breath, thinking. R2R lacks the double white to play a Supreme Verdict, and still has the mana open to counter a Thopter Spy Network. In the end, Origins decides to simply attack for four damage and passes, keeping the mana open for a Clash of Wills. R2R draws and plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Chief of the Foundry, and Origins counters it. R2R is now forced to pass, and the situation doesn't look good, especially because Origins can now play the Thopter Spy Network without having to worry about countermagic. Origins attacks (R2R is now at 9) and draws one. The clock is ticking for R2R.
R2R has now six mana available, but no double white for a Supreme Verdict. In the end, it decides to bet on a Sphinx's Revelation for three, drawing... two Izzet Charm and a Syncopate! Not exactly an unforgettable turn for R2R, that passes. Origins attacks for four and draws one, then passes. The Thopter deck is almost ready for checkmate, but not yet.
R2R incredibly draws another Syncopate. The control deck can only go all in and risk: an Izzet Charm is played to draw two and discard two: a Counterflux... and a Detention Sphere! Still no double white, but the Sphere can be used to remove the Chief... except Origins has another Clash of Wills available! And on the coming turn, it's game over: an all out attack plus Exquisite Firecraft is enough to seal the game. Origins wins game three!
Game Four
Game Four doesn't start well for Origins, that is forced to mulligan. The first play is from R2R, with a turn three Chromatic Lantern, while on the other side Origins plays a Thopter Engineer and attacks for one. R2R plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Origins attacks for two, then plays the only other threat in its hand: an Hangarback Walker for four mana. R2R is quick to show a Syncopate, though, and the Walker is exiled right away. Since Origins is now all tapped out, R2R grabs the chance and plays a Sphinx's Revelation for three on its turn, and passes. Origins can't do much more than attacking for two and passing. R2R plays a Frostburn Weird and passes.
Origins considers the situation, then attacks for one with the Thopter token and passes. End of turn, R2R plays an Izzet Charm to draw two and discard two. On its turn, R2R turns the Frostburn Weird to attack, and Origins decides to take the damage. R2R doesn't boost the creature's power, instead plays a second Frostburn Weird and passes. End of turn, Origins sacrifices a Foundry of the Consuls to put two more Thopter tokens in play. Then on its turn, Origins attacks for three damage and passes. R2R is now at 14 life points.
R2R is now ready to crush its opponent, playing a Detention Sphere to clear all the Thopter tokens. Origins checks its opponent's open mana... four... and plays a Clash of Will for five. But R2R smiles as it shows a Syncopate, countering the opponent's counter! R2R has now obtained a position of clear advantage, and passes. Origins draws and considers the situation, then passes.
R2R is ready to attack, and turns both the Weirds to attack. Origins plays an Harbinger of the Tides at instant speed to bounce back one of them, then declares the Harbinger as blocker for the second one. R2R boosts it up to 2/3, but Origins casts a Turn to Frog and makes sure the Weird is killed. R2R shrugs and plays a Supreme Verdict to clear the board, then passes.
Not much to do for Origins now, so it just draws and passes. R2R plays the Weird previously bounced by the Harbinger of Tides, then passes. Origins kills the Weird with an Exquisite Firecraft, then casts a freshly drawn Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and passes. Things might be looking good for Origins again, but R2R is quick to crush its opponent again, casting an Angel of Serenity and clearing the board. And from then, Origins never recovers, as the Angel starts dishing in damage. R2R grabs the victory on game four, and advances to the group finals!
Magic Origins 1 - Return to Ravnica 3
All in all, a nice selection of aggro and control decks, including a couple of odd ones (Timespiral and M11). Also, decks from new and old sets alike are present and gunning for final victory. After these games, the winner of Group A will face the winner of Group C, while the winner of Group B will meet the winner of Group D.
Group A
Invasion vs Timespiral
Group B
Apocalypse vs Oath of the Gatewatch
Group C
Magic 2011 vs Antiquities
Group D
Magic 2012 vs Return to Ravnica
Those aren't great odds to gamble on when there are better lines of play available. Since he had to wait to draw the 5th (i.e. 2-3 turns later at least), he didn't have to start burning yet. He could double Punishing Fire next turn and kicked Burst Lightning the turn after. His hand represents 2 turns of burn for 8 damage. He chose to cast it over 3 turns. He could have played Hookmaster this turn without slowing down his burn clock (not knowing about the Probe yet). There was no reason to start burning so early.
First, he doesn't know about the Probe. Second, if Invasion durdled with something like kicked Probe at 8 life with almost no blockers left, he would have lost to creatures and the Fire wouldn't have mattered.
By attacking with creatures, Invasion would have forced to make a defensive play like casting a 2nd Ordered Migration. He would not be able to do durdly things like casting kicked Probe without dying to 2/2s. Stopping control from being able to spend a turn on durdly plays is a big way you stop them from stabilizing and advancing their gameplan.
Did I forget to explain this properly? Sorry. That's exactly what you want to happen. That's a win.
Hookmaster taps 1 bird. 3 birds block Skyfisher. Either the last bird chumps Guide or he takes 2 damage. 2-3 birds die and you have a 2/2 Guide and 2/2 Hookmaster left.
Invasion untaps with 1-2 untapped bird tokens (depends on whether he chumped). If he plays kicked Probe and ignores defense, Zendikar can discard land + Hookmaster and it's basically over. Each burn spell and unblocked attacker represents 2 damage. If you do the math, whether you burn the birds directly or let him chump block your creatures and EOT burn his face (and untap and cast the remaining burn), either way he loses. So Probe = Invasion loses.
Maybe Invasion will make that blunder, underestimating the potential burn, and Zendikar gets the free win. Maybe Invasion will realize he can't risk playing a no-impact spell like kicked Probe facing down two bears with 8 life and only 1 bird on defense. So he's probably casting a 2nd Ordered Migration that turn instead. Without Probe, Invasion can't dig into useful cards as fast and Zendikar gets to keep his cards.
After the 2nd Ordered Migration, Invasion is sitting at 6 untapped birds and 8 life. Zendikar untaps, plays the 4th land, and casts a 2nd Hookmaster tapping out another bird. 5 untapped birds left. Then another alpha strike. Invasion will probably send 2 birds at each attacking 2/2. If you trade off, opponent is down to only 3 birds (1 won't untap) and you still have a 2/2 and all your burn. Seems good. You could also cast Burst Lightning during combat to pick off a bird, saving a Hookmaster, but that may not be the best use of Burst if you still hope to draw the 5th land.
What's the point of attacking and trading off with the birds? Well, you're stopping him from doing game-advancing things like casting kicked Probe or Global Ruin. You're also stopping him from amassing an army of 10 birds (which won him the game). Instead, he just has 2 birds that he has to keep on defense against your 2/2. That means he can't generate a clock against you and you have much more time to draw into the 5th land or other burn to burn him to beat him. Most likely he's spending the next turn casting Ordered Migration #3 (if he even has it yet), not kicked Probe, and holding creatures on defense to try to survive the attacks.
The big difference is that he is no longer able to use the Ordered Migrations and Tribal Flames to generate offense. He has to expend them on defense to not die, which removes his clock and buys you more time to burn him out or find another way to win.
OTOH, going for the 3-turn burn ONLY wins if you luckdraw the 5th land (or more burn) and guarantees you a loss otherwise. It's a risky gamble that neglects valuable resources you have at your disposal (creatures). Anyway, that's a concrete explanation (for this specific game) for why it's usually better for the aggro deck to keep using creatures to apply pressure as long as possible. Use all the resources available. Even if you're just getting rid of birds, you're still getting ahead.
I was very happy to see rogue deck M11 get there with Destructive Force and the powerhouse of Apocalypse get through Darksteel.
I thought it was hilarious that Timespiral beat Urza's Saga in game 5 because Saga couldn't cast Time Spiral in time.
Antiquities vs M13 felt like cheating. Antiquities mulligans... then attacks with a 2/2 land and plays a 4-drop off Shops. Antiquities mulligans again... and plays a 6-drop on turn 2. Seems good!
I'm surprised Mirrodin lost to M12, but I guess it was close, many mulligans on both sides, and Mirrodin couldn't survive all the midrange card advantage and Gideon.
I'm not surprised to see R2R advance. It's a very strong control deck.
I'm looking forward to the finals! Thanks for keeping up with BOTS and posting. Exciting matches.
I see your points, and we'll consider them for future games. All in all, though, much of it will be left to the person playing an aggro deck in the last remaining games. Still, thank you for your feedback, and hope you'll enjoy the final games
Invasion vs Timespiral
And here we go, the Group A finals! It was a long road for both decks, that started with relatively low expectations and proved their mettle kicking triple A decks out of the tournaments. For Invasion, the hardest obstacle was definitely the killer aggro from Zendikar, possibly the best deck in the whole tournament. But apart from being able to deal with top-notch aggro decks, Invasion also dispatched a powerful midrange deck like Innistrad, and the big red deck from Scars of Mirrodin. The road for Timespiral was possibly a little more easy, but dealing with decks like Eventide, Ravnica and Urza's Saga is not exactly what you'd call an easy task. Timespiral proved to be an extremely versatile deck, capable of changing its game plan from game to game, or even in the same game. Will it be this versatility the key to kill Invsion? Or will Invasion's lock give it the edge in this matchup? Let's see!
Game One
Timespiral wins the roll to start and opens the game with a turn two Prismatic Lens. On the other side, Invasion is only playing lands, and this allows Timespiral to gain an early advantage by playing an Avalanche Riders, destroying a land and attacking for two. Invasion fears that the opponent might start blinking the Riders, and decides to kill them right away with a Tribal Flames, before passing. Timespiral shrugs and decides to try and dish in as much damage as possible in the early game, casting a Lightning Angel and attacking for three. Invasion, again, just draws and passes.
Things seem to be getting very bad for Invasio now, as Timespiral plays a second Lightning Angel and launches a full scale flying offensive. Luckily, Invasion has an answer ready this time: a Tangle. Sure, it would have been better if the Angels actually tapped to attack, but anyway, Invasion can at least avoid taking damage. Timespiral's turn is over, and Invasion draws a Fact or Fiction. Invasion has two Ordered Migration in hand, but no Plains to cast it, then a second Tangle, and the Fact or Fiction. Invasion passes.
Timespiral attacks, and this time Invasion takes the damage, falling down to 9. Then Timespiral plays a second Prismatic Lens, suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate, and passes. End of turn, Invasion casts the Fact or Fiction, revaling: another Fact or Fiction, two Forests, a Swamp, and a Collective Restraint. At the moment, the most useful card would definitely be the defensive enchantment, so Timespiral puts it in a pile alone, and the other four cards in the second pile. Invasion picks up the Collective Restraint.
Invasion gets its fifth land in play, but it's unfortunately still lacking a Plains. The Collective Restraint is played, then Invasion passes. Timespiral knows a Riftwing Cloudskate is on its way, and until it comes, it probably won't be able to remove the Collective Restraint. So for now it just pays four mana to attack with an Angel, and passes. Invasion is now at 6 life points. Invasion gets its sixth land in play – still not a Plains – and passes.
Timespiral draws, suspends an Ancestral Vision, then pays 4 and attacks with the Angel, doing three more damage. The clock is ticking for Invasion, that draws and plays an Elfhame Sanctuary – that Plains is finally about to come, but will it be too late? The Riftwing Cloudskate joins the battlefield, bouncing the Collective Restraint, then Timespiral declares an all-out attack... only to see Invasion answer with a Tangle! Invasion has gained one more turn, but Timespiral will not just sit idly, and plays a Momentary Blink on the Cloudskate, bouncing the Elfhame Sanctuary. Satisfied with the situation, Timespiral passes.
Invasion draws and considers its hand: a Probe, a Collective Restraint, a Ghitu Fire, an Elfhame Sanctuary and two Ordered Migrations. Six lands in play, without any Plains. Sitting at three life points, a single Angel will be enough to kill Invasion. The only slim possibility for Invasion is casting the Probe and draw a Tangle, as no other strategy would allow the control deck to survive for one more turn. Invasion is then forced to cast the Probe, drawing a second Collective Restraint, a Harrow... and a Plains! Only too late. The game is over for Invasion, and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
Timespiral achieved an easy victory on the first game, and Invasion is eager to fight back. Unfortunately, though, the control deck is forced to start with a mulligan, and not much to do for its first three turns. On the other side, luckily, Timespiral is only playing lands for the moment. Again Invasion draws and passes on its fourth turn, but this time around, Timespiral is ready to make a move – and it's a move that's gonna hurt Invasion. An Avalanche Riders makes its apparition on the board, destroying Invasion's only Island and turning to attack for two! Timespiral then passes, but Invasion, to make things worse, is out of lands to play, and can only pass.
Timespiral ruthlessly increase its advantage, by Momentary Blink-ing the Riders instead of paying the Echo cost, and destroying one more land, before attacking for two damage. Invasion misses yet another land drop, and when Timespiral blinks again the Riders paying the spell's flashback cost, Invasion is down to one land and simply concedes. Timespiral is up 2-0 and seems ready to take this match by storm!
Game Three
Invasion starts, but again the first move is from Timespiral, suspensing a Riftwing Cloudskate on turn two. This time, though, Invasion seems organized to strike back, casting a Harrow followed by an Elfhame Sanctuary, aiming to quickly complete thr Domain. But Timespiral is stacking up resources for the midgame, by playing a Prismatic Lens and suspending a second Riftwing Cloudskate. Invasion fetches an Island with the Sanctuary, and now only needs a Mountain to complete the Domain. For the moment, it plays a kicked Probe, discarding a Rout and a Tangle, while Timespiral discards a Vesuvan Shapeshifter and a Bogardan Hellkite. Then Invasion passes. Timespiral just draws, plays a land and passes.
Invasion fetches a Mountain to complete its set of basic lands, then casts an Ordered Migration to get five Bird tokens, and passes. Timespiral gets its first Cloudskate in play, bouncing a land. Then it casts a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying the Cloudskate and bouncing a second land. Then the Cloudskate is turned to attack, and Invasion trades it with two tokens. Finally, Timespiral passes. Invasion plays one of the bounced lands, then casts a Tribal Flames to kill the Shapeshifter, and turns one Bird token to attack, and finally passes.
Timespiral gets the second suspended Cloudskate in play, bouncing one of the Bird tokens, then turns it to attacks for two damage (Invasion doesn't block). Then Timespiral plays another Riftwing Cloudskate from its hand, bouncing again a land, and passes. Invasion draws, plays a land and a Collective Restraint, then passes. Timespiral hasn't got much to do right now, apart from playing a Gemstone Mine and turning one of the Cloudskate to attack, trading for the two remaining Bird tokens. Invasion draws, plays a land and casts a Global Ruin, removing three lands from Timespiral's side of the board, then passes again.
Timespiral can't pay five mana to attack at the moment, so it casts another Prismatic Lens and passes. On the coming turn, it will be able to start attacking again. Invasion plays a second Elfhame Sanctuary and passes. Timespiral attacks for two damage and passes. Invasion is waiting to draw something good, but it only draws a third Elfhame Sanctuary. Invasion shrugs, plays it, and passes. Timespiral attacks again for two and passes. Invasion is now at 14.
Invasion draws a Forest, and decides it cannot wait any longer. Even if it's somewhat of a waste, it plays a Ghitu Fire to kill the Cloudskate, and passes. It just can't keep losing life points like that. Timespiral draws and plays an Avalanche Riders, destroying Invasion's only Plains, then passes. Invasion fetches two Plains and an Island with the three Elfhame Sacntuary, then passes. Timespiral pays the Echo cost for the Riders, then plays a third Prismatic Lens and passes.
Invasion plays a second Plains and decides to remove the Riders before Timespiral can pull off any trick with Momentary Blink, playing a Rout before passing. And then, incredibly... Timespiral draws another Avalanche Riders! The creature is immediately played, sniping again Invasion's Plains, then Timespiral passes. Invasion curses, but there's not much it can do. On its turn, the control deck draws and passes. Timespiral pays the Echo for the Riders, then plays a Calciform Pools and passes. End of turn, Invasion plays a Fact or Fiction, revealing a good set of two Forests, another Fact or Fiction, a Collective Restraint and an Ordered Migration. Timespiral puts a Forest on each pile, then the Ordered Migration on one side, and the Collective Restraint and the second Fact or Fiction on the other. Invasion thinks for a second, then picks up the Ordered Migration.
On its turn, Invasion plays the Ordered Migration and passes. Timespiral smiles as it plays a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying the Riders and destroying Invasion's last Plains – there are no more Plains at all in Invasion's deck now! Also, Timespiral suspend an Ancestral Vision and passes. Invasion needs to attack now, so all its Birds fly over to Timespiral, dealing five damage. Timespiral is now at 14, Invasion at 12. Invasion then passes. Timespiral only attacks for two this turn, then passes. Invasion again attacks for five, bringing its opponent down to 9 life points, and watches the Tribal Flames in its hand – next turn, it will be the last for Timespiral!
Or at least, that would be the plan. As Timespiral has charged up the Calciform Pools turn after turn, though, it reached the required mana needed to unleash... a Bogardan Hellkite! The big dragon torns the sky asunder, destroying all the opponent's Bird tokens! Terrible news for Invasion, that was so close... really so close! To make things worse, Invasion draws a Forest, and in hand it only has two Harrow and a Tribal Flames – no answer to the Hellkite! Invasion is forced to pass, and Timespiral can refill its hand with the Ancestral Vision, but it doesn't matter right now – Timespiral already has all the piecees to win. This turn, it attacks for five with the Hellkite, then plays another Avalanche Riders to destroy the opponent's only Swamp, before passing.
Invasion draws... a Global Ruin. Even by playing it, and fetching another Swamp from the deck, Timespiral wouls have plenty of mana with the Prismatic Lens to attack with the Hellkite and close the game, as Invasion stands with 5 life points. And that's it! Timespiral's versatility once again proved essential to securing the matchup, and Invasion is destroyed. Timespiral moves on to meet the winner of Group C in the overall semifinals!
Invasion 0 - Timespiral 3
And here we go with the Group B finals. Apocalypse's Rock faces off with Oath's Eldrazi aggro. All things considered, Apocalypse should be the favorite here, as Oath has no real answer to Apocalypse resolving a Pernicious Deed, but should the powerful enchantment not show up, Oath could easily gain an early lead and consolidate it into an easy win. This is especially true as Apocalypse has few creatures, and only one (the Spectral Lynx) can be casted in the early game - but Oath can easily dispose it, even with its regenerative powers. So, a very open matchup. Let's see how it turned out!
Game 1
Oath wins the roll to start and opens the game with a Mirrorpool, followed by a Sea Gate Wreckage and an Eldrazi Mimic on turn two. On the other side, Apocalypse plays a Spectral Lynx and passes. Oath draws, plays a Swamp and turns the Mimic to attack. Apocalypse thinks for a second, then decides to take the damage. Oath then plays a Slaughter Drone and passes. Apocalypse draws, plays a land and passes.
Oath is now ready to press the advantage, playing a kicked Bearer of Silence to remove the annoying Lynx befoer attacking for four damage and takeing Apocalypse down to 14 life points. Oath then passes, and Apocalypse must find a suitable answer to the opponent's offensive. For now, that answer is a Death Grasp for two at the Mimic, allowing Apocalypse to get rid of a potentially very dangerous creature, and go back up at 16. Apocalypse then passes.
Oath has a Reality Smasher in hand, and that could really be a deadly blow to Apocalypse, but the Eldrazi deck only has four lands in play, and none in hand. So Oath draws... a Reaver Drone. Not good. Oath can only attack for four, play the Drone, and pass. Apocalypse draws, plays a fully kicked Necravolver, and passes.
That might pose a problem for Oath... if it didn't have two Spatial Contortion in hand! To make things even better, Oath just drew the fifth land it needed. For now, the two Contortions are played and the Necravolver killed, then Oath attacks for six and passes. Apocalypse is now at 6 life points and facing a very likely death in the coming turn.
For now, the rock deck decides to play a Death Grasp for four, killing the Bearer of Silence and jumping back up to 10 life points. But on its coming turn, Oath plays the Reality Smasher and attacks for 9, and Apocalypse finds itself at only 1 life point left! As it draws a Vindicate, with a Spiritmonger and two Penumbra Wurm in hand, there's nothing it can do to survive, and the first game goes to Oath!
Game Two
Apocalypse starts with a Plains, while on the other side, Oath gets a Mirrorpool in play. Apocalypse plays a Llanowar Wastes and passes. Oath is only drawing lands and finds itself short on creatures, so it decides to play a not-kicked Bearer of Silence to at least start applying some pressure. Apocalypse gets a second Llanowar Wastes in play, then casts a Phyrexian Arena, falling down to 18, and passes. Still lands drawn for Oath, that gets a second Mirrorpool in play, attacks for two and passes. Apocalypse draws two, plays a Forest, then a Pernicious Deed, and passes. Oath draws yet one more Swamp, but as it plays its fourth land it can at least cast a Though-Knot Seer. Apocalypse reveals a hand of a Spiritmonger, a Gerrard's Verdict, a Death Grasp, a Vindicate and a Plains. Oath thinks for a second, then decides to remove the Death Grasp. After attacking for two to bring the opponent down to 12, Oath passes.
Apocalypse just draws two, plays a land and passes. Now, Oath could play a Reality Smasher from its hand, but Apocalypse would simply clean the board with the Pernicious Deed. So, Oath simply attacks with its creatures already in play. Apocalypse pays four and kills both the opponent's creatures, also drawing one from the Seer. Oath then plays another Mirrorpool and passes.
Apocalypse plays a Spectral Lynx to have a blocker available, then a Gerrard's Verdict. Oath considers the situation, but in the end is forced to discard two lands and see its opponent bounce back to 15 life points. Apocalypse then passes, but end of turn Oath shows a Spatial Contortion to remove the Lynx. On its turn, Oath plays a Sea Gate Wreckage and then a Reality Smasher to attack for five. Apocalypse is back to ten life points, and then nine as it draws two from the Phyrexian Arena.
Apocalypse draws and immediately throws a Vindicate at the Smasher, discarding a second Verrard's Gerdict. Then, it casts a Pernicious Deed and passes. Due to damage from dual lands, Apoclaypse is now at 7 life points. Oath draws and plays an Eldrazi Mimic, then passes.
Apoclaypse draws two and falls down to 6, then to 4 as it casts a fully kicked Necravolver and then a Gerrard's Verdict to remove the last card from Oath's hand – an Oblivion Strike! This allows Oath to activate the Sea Gate Wreckage, though, and draw one... a Matter Reshaper. Then Apocalypse passes.
Oath draws a Swamp and considers the situation, finally deciding to play the Matter Reshaper to empty its hand and be able to activate the Wreckage again. Apocalypse draws two and it's now at three, but that won't last long, as Apocalypse turns the Necravolver to attack. Oath takes the damage (as Apocalypse could easily activate the Deed to kill the Mimic if needed, so Oath can't team its creatures and kill the Necravolver), and Apocalypse goes back to 8, then plays a Swamp and a Spiritmonger, before passing. End of turn, Oath activates the Sea Gate Wreckage to draw... a Sea Gate Wreckage! On its turn, Oath draws and plays a Matter Reshaper, then is forced to pass.
The game is clearly moving in Apocalypse's favor now, and it's probably only getting worse for Oath in the coming turns. Apocalypse turns the Necravolver and the Spiritmonger to attack, and Oath takes the six damage from the Spiritmonger, blocking the Necravolver with the two Matter Reshaper. Oath is now at 9 life points. The Sea Gate Wreckage is activated before the Reshaper dies, allowing Oath to draw a Reality Smasher, then the Reshapers reveal an Eldrazi Mimic and a Though-Knot Seer. Apocalypse then plays a second Spiritmonger and passes.
Oath draws a Bearer of Silence and considers the situation. Unfortunately, Apocalypse still has a Pernicious Deed in play, and it's now at 12 life points. Oath could theoretically unleash a storm of damage with the two Mimics and the Smasher... except Apocalypse would just activate the Deed and kill both the Mimics! Only the Smasher could actually attack, but there would be an untapped Spiritmonger to block it. For now, Oath plays the kicked Bearer of Silence, forcing Apoclaypse to sacrifice one Spiritmonger (obviously the tapped one), then passes.
Apocalypse draws and activates the Deed to clear Oath's side of the board, then turns the Spiritmonger to attack for six (Oath is now at 3), and finally, much to Oath's dismay, plays yet another Pernicious Deed from its hand! Apocalypse passes and Oath draws a Slaughter Drone. At this point, there's nothing Oath could do, as Apocalypse would simply be able to clear the board and win the game by attacking with the Spiritmonger on the upcoming turn. Game over for Oath, the two decks move on to game three.
Game Three
It's a good start for Oath, with a turn two Eldrazi Mimic followed by a second Mimic on turn three, the only problem being that Oath is stuck at two lands. On the other side, Apocalypse plays a Phyrexian Arena and passes. Oath gets its third land in play, plays a Slaughter Drone, then attacks to bring its opponent down to 14 and passes. Apocalypse draws two, falls to thirteen... and finds itself with nothing to play! Four lands, a Spiritmonger, a Penumbra Wurm, and a second Phyrexian Arena, that doesn't really seem like a brilliant idea like now. Apocalypse passes.
Now, if Oath draws its fourth land, it's going to cast a Thought-Knot Seer and attack for 10, possibly closing the game. Oath picks up the card... an Oblivion Strike! Not yet, then. Still, Oath attacks for six (Apocalypse is at 7 life points now), plays a second Slaughter Drone and passes.
On the other side, Apocalypse would really need to draw a Pernicious Deed, but it's only a second Spiritmonger and a Plains. Apocalypse is at 6 now, and Oath has four creatures. Apocalypse can only block one in the coming turn, and then it's relatively easy to determine that the game is over. Oath goes ahead 2-1 and the two decks move on to game four.
Game Four
Not a good start for Apocalypse, that has to take a mulligan, while accepting a six-cards hand with only two lands and the not unlikely chance of facing a mana-screw situation on a crucial game. On the other side, Oath starts good again with a turn one Mirrorpool followed by a turn two Swamp plus Slaughter Drone. Oath passes, and luckily for Apocalypse, it draws its third land, taking two damage from dual lands to cast a Phyrexian Arena. On the other side, Oath attacks for two and then plays a Matter Reshaper.
Apocalypse draws two and falls down to 15... and is shocked to discover it failed to draw a fourth land! This is a severe hit for Apocalypse. In the end, the Rock deck decides to try and gain some life points with a Gerrard's Verdict. Oath discards a Reaver Drone and a Swamp, and that's three life points, but since Apocalypse had to pay two to cast the spell, it's only a net +1 to get up to 16. Apocalypse passes, and Oath attacks for two before playing a Thought-Knot Seer, revealing a hand of Phyrexian Arena, Death Grasp, Vindicate, Necravolver and Penumbra Wurm. Oath thinks for a dew seconds, then decides to remove the Necravolver, that could both block Oath's creatures, and keep Apocalypse's life points steadily up. Then Oath passes.
Apocalypse draws two and falls to 10... and still no lands! A Pernicious Deed and a Spectral Lynx. Playing the Deed is not an option, as that would leave Apocalypse open and allow Oath to just attacks for 9 next turn and close the game. The only options are a Vindicate on the Seer, or a Spectral Lynx to block. In the end, Apocalypse pays two more life points and casts the Vindicate to kill the Thought-Knot Seer... still not drawing any lands! Apocalypse shakes its head and passes.
Oath draws, attacks for five, plays a second Slaughter Drone, and passes. Finally Apocalypse draws two lands, but it's probably too little too late. Even a Death Grasp won't be able to net Apocalypse enough life points. The rock deck gracefully concedes, and Oath advances to the overall semifinals! Great success for the Eldrazi deck, but well earned, as the aggro deck proved to be more consistent than its opponent, even against a deck that might be considered overall better. Oath was fast and steady, and the same unfortunately could not be said for Apocalypse. Congratulations to Oath of the Gatewatch!
Apocalypse 1 - Oath of the Gatewatch 3
Is there any hope for Magic 2011? On paper, not much. The land destruction deck has already exceeded all expectations by gaining access to its group's finals. Now it faces a metallic juggernaut of deck and destruction, capable of consistently putting out a turn 2 Triskelion or Tetravus in play, which is absolutely insane for BOTS. Still, when you get your chance in a lifetime, you have got to give it all... and M11 is going to do just that. It will be a fight to the death.
Game 1
Antiquities wins the roll to start, and decides to take a mulligan despite having three lands in hand. The gambe plays off, as the artifact deck manages to start game one with its powerhouse card: Mishra's Workshop. A Candelabra of Tawnos makes its appearance, too, then Antiquities passes. M11 is not particularly happy with the opponent's first turn, and it can only play a land and pass. On its side, Antiquities plays a Mishra's Factory, then a Clockwork Avian and finally passes. M11 adds a Mystifying Maze to the board and passes.
Antiquities is going all out, adding a Su-Chi to the board, and attacking for four damage, while M11 is failing to play any Forest and looks completely lost. As Antiquities adds a second Su-Chi to the board, and M11 has no real answer available, it's clear to everyone that the game is going to be over soon. M11 concedes, and the two decks move on to game two.
Game Two
The situation doesn't look much different, as Antiquities starts this game with a turn one Mishra's Workshop plus two (!) Candelabra of Tawnos, followed on turn two by a Tetravus. On the other side, M11 has only a Birds of Paradise in play, along with two Forests and a Mystifying Maze. Unfortunately, not much to do, yet. M11 passes, and Antiquities starts its third turn. A Strip Mine is played to destroy the Maze, then Antiquities attacks for four and plays an Onulet, before passing. End-of-turn, M11 kills the Onulet with a Lightning Bolt.
M11 sighs in relief as it draws a Cultivate, fetching a Mountain to put into play and another land in hand, that gets played immediately. Starting next turn, M11 will have the mana to react. But who knows what Antiquities will come up with? For now, it attacks for four more and plays a Su-Chi, before passing. M11 considers the situation, and throws a Fireball at the Tetravus, killing it, then passes.
Antiquities is still pushing the offensive, though, attacking for four (M11 is now at 8), and playing a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying. The artifact decks passes, and M11 knows it's on a clock. The ramp deck draws and plays a Sylvan Ranger, fetching and playing another Mountain, then plays a second Birds of Paradise and passes.
Antiquities draws and turns its creatures to attack. The Su-Chi is chump-blocked by the Ranger, while the Primal Clay is killed by a Lightning Bolt. Then Antiquities plays a Triskelion and considers the situation. M11 has five lands and the two birds, meaning it would be able to cast a Destructive Force in the coming turn. No need to risk. Antiquities removes two counters from the Triskelion and kills the two Birds of Paradise.
M11 draws and looks at the two Destructive Force in its hand, shaking its head. Still, it has a Fireball too, and that is casted to kill the Su-Chi. M11 then passes. Antiquities attacks for two, plays an Onulet and passes. M11 still has a couple of turns, but it would need something good now. It draws... a third Destructive Force! Not good, really not good. And as M11 draws a Forest in the coming turn, the game quickly reaches its conclusion. Will Antiquities totally crush its opponent, or can M11 make a comeback?
Game Three
Antiquities is forced to mulligan, and M11 gets a good hand and a good start with a turn one Birds of Paradise. Is the luck turning in M11's favor? Unfortunately, it seems not, as Antiquities once again gets a turn one Mishra's Workshop in play, folllowed by an Onulet. But M11 is determined not to let go. For now, the ramp deck plays a Cultivate and passes.
But M11 just plays a second Mishra's Workshop, followed by a Tetravus! Unbelievable! The artifact deck then attacks for two and passes. This time, though, M11 has an answer ready, throwing a Fireball for 4 at the flying artifact creature to kill it. M11 then passes. Antiquities doesn't play another land, instead attacks for two more (M11 is at 14) and plays a Clockwork Avian before passing.
And then M11 can finally smile for the first time in the match, tapping six to cast... a Primeval Titan! Has the comeback started? Antiquities draws and considers the situation. In the end, it decides to play a Mishra's Factory, then a Su-Chi, after having attacked for four with the Avian. M11 draws and plays a Mystifying Maze, and decides not to attack. The Onulet and the Su-Chi united can kill the Titan, and with the Maze blocking the Avian, M11 feels time is on its side. So it plays a Cultivate and passes.
Indeed, time is on M11's side, as Antiquities is only a Destructive Force away from losing the game. Luckily, it draws and plays a Tetravus, and with two Flying creatures, it might start putting pressure again on M11. Except M11 plays a second Mystifying Maze! Back to square one! A couple of turns passes without nothing significant happenining, then Antiquities gets a Primal Clay in play as a 2/2 with Flying. But it's all for nothing, as M11 finally draws and plays a Destructive Force. And that's it. Antiquities concedes, and the two decks move on to game four.
Game Four
Antiquities wants to close the match with thise game, starting with a turn one Mishra's Workshop followed by a Candelabra of Tawnos. On the other side, M11 is unfortunately forced to mulligan, but can at least start with a turn one Birds of Paradise to start ramping up mana. Turn two, Antiquities plays a Mishra's Factory and a Su-Chi, then passes. M11 plays a Mytifying Maze, then a second Birds of Paradise, and passes.
Antiquities plays an Urza's Mine and is ready to get serious. After attacking for four, it taps all its lands, then untaps the Workshop with the Candelabra and taps it again to produce a total of seven mana and play a second Su-Chi and an Onulet. Things don't look really good for M11 right now. Still, the ramp deck is not going down without a fight, and M11 taps all its mana to dispatch one of the Su-Chis with a Fireball.
Then it's Antiquities's turn again. After having played a second Mishra's Factory, the first one is animated and turned sideways along with the remaining Su-Chi and the Onulet. M11 takes 9 damage and falls down to 7. Antiquities feels victory is within its grasp, and smiles as it passes the turn.
But M11 is not done yet. A second Fireball flies towards the remaining Su-Chi, melting it and eliminating Antiquities's biggest threat so far. M11 then passes, and Antiquities only draws another Urza's Mine, that is played. Then, Antiquities turns its creatures to attack again.
And surprisingly, M11 still has some firepower to display, throwing a Lightning Bolt to the animated Factory and killing it, taking only 2 damage from the Onulet! Can M11 make a comeback in some way? Antiquities is starting to fear the worst. Still, it plays a Rocket Launcher and passes.
And then Lady Luck decides to smile on M11, as it draws and plays an Obstinate Baloth, jumping back at 9 life points, and more improtantly, having a blocker available to shut down, at least for now, Antiquities's offensive.
The artifact deck can't believe its own eyes, and more so as it draws a second, useless Mishra's Workshop! Nothing to do then, except passing the turn again. M11 draws and plays a Sylvan Ranger, and passes as well. Antiquities plays a third Urza's Mine from its hand, then a Primal Clay as 2/2 with Flying, and passes. The Clay can be countered by the Maze for now, so Antiquities needs to build up an army of flyers to deal the killing blow to its opponent. M11 draws and plays a Mountain, then passes. On the other side, Antiquities shakes its head as it draws and plays a second Candelabra of Tawnos, and passes. Only a Rootbound Crag for M11 in the coming turn, then finally the balance of power is broken as Antiquities draws and plays a Clockwork Avian. In the coming turn, the offensive will start again.
Only a Forest drawn for M11, that plays it and passes. Antiquities draws and plays another Onulet, then turns its Flying creatures to attack. The Clay is removed by the Maze, while the Avian is chump-blocked by a Birds of Paradise. M11 draws yet one more land, and shakes its head in frustration as it is again forced to pass.
Antiquities draws and plays an Urza's Power Plant, then again attacks with both creatures, and again the Clay is removed by the Maze and the Avian chump-blocked. And then finally, M11 draws a Destructive Force. Now, Antiquities could complete the Tron in the coming turn, and simply kill M11 with the Rocket Launcher. Not a risk M11 can take. The Destructive Force is played, wiping the board more or less clean. Then M11 passes.
Antiquities has one Mishra's Workshop left in play, and adds a second one from its hand, then plays a Tawnos's Coffin, just drawn this turn, and passes. M11 draws and plays a Forest, then Antiquities draws... a Triskelion! Game over? Not yet. M11 smiles as it draws and plays a Primeval Titan! What a game so far!
Antiquities cannot unfortunately activate the Coffin, for now, and it draws and plays a Strip Mine. The game is balanced again. Antiquities passes. And then it happens: M11 draws and plays an Inferno Titan! The Primeval Titan is then turned to attack, bringing Antiquities down to 15. What a turn of events! M11 draws and plays a Primeval Clay, but that won't really be enough, especially as M11 adds a second Primeval Titan to the board! Unbelievable! Antiquities watches in horror at this unexpected development, then realizes it's time to concede. The two decks move on to game five, and anything can happen now!
Game Five
Antiquities looked set for a comfortable win, just two games ago. Then M11 started an incredible comback. Can the ramp deck go all the way?
Surely, Antiquities gets once again its better start: a turn one Mishra's Workshop, this time along with an Onulet. M11 draws, plays a land and passes. On Antiquities's turn, as the Onulet is turned to attack, M11 taps its Mountain to cast a Lightning Bolt and kill the creature. Antiquities plays an Urza's Tower, then a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying, and passes. M11 plays a Forest, a Birds of Paradise, then passes as well.
Antiquities finds itself with nothing big to play, so it decides to at least try to slow down its opponent. A Strip Mine is played, then sacrificed to destroy the opponent's Mountain, then the Primal Clay is turned to attack for two. Finally, Antiquities plays a Candelabra of Tawnos and passes. M11 plays another Mountain, then passes. Again, not much to do for Antiquities either, as it attacks for two more, then plays an Urza's Mine, a Tawnos's Coffin and a second Candelabra of Tawnos. Then, the artifact deck passes. M11 is now at 16 life points.
M11 again draws and passes. Antiquities draws another Mishra's Workshop and shakes its head. Having already all the resources it needs in play, Antiquities decides to keep the lands in hand (in case of a Destructive Force), and turns the Primal Clay to attack – but M11 shows another Lightning Bolt to dispatch it.
All in all, the early game can be considered extremely successful for M11, as it managed to survive the early turns by losing just a few life points. Still, M11 needs to draw more lands. On the other side, Antiquities is short on threats. Whoever will be luckier with the draws is probably going to win the game – and fly to the overall semifinals.
M11 draws and plays a Mystifying Maze – a land, good enough. But things are definitely better for Antiquities, that draws and plays a Tetravus! On the other side, M11 draws and plays a Birds of Paradise, then passes. Antiquities plays the Urza's Mine it was keeping in hand to have three mana available and activate the Coffin to remove a Birds of Paradise, and hopefully prevent the opponent from activating the Maze one more turn. Then, the Tetravus is turned sideways to deal 4 damage (M11 is now at 12).
Luckily for M11, it draws another land – a Mountain. But instead of waiting to activate the Maze, M11 simply plays a Fireball for four to kill the Tetravus. M11 passes, and Antiquities tries to increase the pressure again, by playing a Su-Chi and a Mishra's Factory.
And then M11 draws and plays its sixth land, followed shortly by... a Primeval Titan! Bad news for Antiquities. Still, the situation is yet under control, as the Tawnos's Coffin is untapped and then activated again to remove the Titan. This allows Antiqutities to turn the Su-Chi to attack for four more... but M11 chump-blocks with the just returned Birds of Paradise! M11 is still at 12 life points, as Antiquities adds to the board a Primal Clay as a 2/2 with Flying and passes.
But M11 has again the answers ready, as it plays a second Primeval Titan, and then a Lightning Bolt to kill the Primal Clay! Antiquities is stunned now, only waiting for the hit that will send it KO. A Rocket Launcher finds its way on Antiquitie's side of the board, but then M11 simply casts a Destructive Force, and basically seals the game, as the Titan starts attacking and refilling M11 with lands. In just a few turns, the game reaches its stunning conclusion.
Unbelievably, one of the strongest contenders in BOTS had to suffer an incredible comeback from 2-0 to 2-3, and all that from an outsider deck like M11. The land destruction deck once again proved its worth, perhaps doing even more than anyone would have though possible. M11 advances to the overall semifinals, where it will meet Timespiral, making this pairing the ultimate underdog faceoff.
Magic 2011 3 - Antiquities 2
Magic 2012 vs Return to Ravnica
Two strong control-ish decks face off in the Group D finals. On one side, M12's Rock deck, featuring powerhouse cards like Grave Titan, Oblivion Ring and Gideon Jura. On the other side, R2R's strong UWR old-style control deck, featuring a nice mix of counterspells, card draw and removal, coupled with two great finishers (including the amazing Angel of Serenity). While both are decks worthy of a BOTS final, when pitched against each other the clear favorite is R2R, since M12 has a strong anti-aggro focus. But we've seen predictions overthrown all too often by now. On with the games!
Game One
M12 wins the roll to start, but as expected no decks is off to a particular quick start. M12 plays a turn two Rampant Growth, then on turn three draws and plays a Skinshifter. R2R only draws and passes for now. M12 draws and plays itys fifth land, then considers the situation. R2R has the mana open to play a counterspell, and M12 has in hand a Gideon Jura, a Rampant Growth, a Timely Reinforcements and a land. In the end, the rock deck decides to push the offensive by turning the Skinshifter into a 4/4 and attacking, then plays the Rampant Growth and passes. R2R only draws and passes again.
M12 again attacks for four, then decides that it cannot wait idle for too much, and taps five to plays a Gideon Jura – R2R smiles and answers with a Counterflux. Still, R2R is now at 12 life points, and must find an answer for the annoying Skinshifter. That won't really take long, though, as R2R gets its fifth land in play, taps three for a Chromatic Lantern and then three more for a Detention Sphere. Then, it passes.
M12 doesn't look particularly worried, as it play an Oblivion Ring to remove the Sphere and get the Skinshifter back, before passing. So far, the rock deck has drawn lots of lands and put some pressure, but it needs to draw more threats if he wants to take out the opponent. Time is on R2R's side here.
R2R draws and considers the situation, then simply plays an Angel of Serenity to again remove the Skinshifter – and gain a definite advantage on the board. M12 draws another land, and finds itself with only a Timely Reinforcements to play. No life points to gain, but the three Soldier tokens might just be useful. M12 plays the spell, then passes.
R2R draws, plays an Izzet Guildgate, then decides to pass. M12 draws an Oblivion Ring and, without much choice, plays it targeting the Angel. R2R responds with an instant speed Izzet Charm, drawing two... another Izzet Charm, and an Angel of Serenity... then discards the Charm and a land. M12 gets back the Skinshifter and plays it again, then attacks for three with the tokens. R2R is now at 9 life points.
But R2R is quick to strike back, playing the Angel of Serenity to remove again the Skinshifter, and two tokens. R2R then passes. The game is heating up, as M12 draws and plays a Grave Titan, balancing the odds before passing. But that, unfortunately, proves to be only an illusion, as another Angel of Serenity hits the board for R2R, removing the Titan and both its tokens. The other Angel is then turned to attack for 5 damage, and R2R passes.
But the show is not over. M12 draws a third Oblivion Ring (!), removing once again an Angel, getting the Titan back and playing it right away. Also, the road is now open for the Soldier token to attack again and dish in one more damage. R2R is now at 8 life poins. The game is still very much open, though, as R2R plays a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, pinging M12 for one life point and drawing one in the process. R2R then passes.
Now, M12 could launch an all-out attack. R2R can easily block the two Zombie tokens, letting in 7 damage and falling down to one life point. On the following turn, R2R would be able to win by attacking and pinging with Niv-Mizzet. Despite having put up a good fight, all M12's efforts will be for nothing if it doesn't draw an answer here. And here it goes... M12 draws a Swamp! No luck. Victory on game one goes to R2R!
Game Two
Not a great start for M12 on game two, as the Rock deck is forced to take a mulligan, but on the bright side, it can start the game with a turn two Skinshifter, and that's not bad. On the other side, R2R answers with a turn two Frostburn Weird, then passes. Unfortunately for M12, it remains stuck at two mana, and for now can only turn the Skinshifter into a 4/4 with Trample and turn it to attack – R2R decides to take the damage. M12 then passes. R2R attacks for one damage with the Weird, then plays a tapped Steam Vents and a second Frostburn Weird, then passes again. Still no luck with lands for M12, that turns the Skinshifter to attack for four more damage, and passes. R2R plays another land, then turns its creatures to attack for a total of four damage (turning one of the Weirds into a 3/2), and passes.
And again no lands for M12. Still, the Skinshifter is again animated and turned to attack... except Return to Ravnica shows a Cyclonic Rift this time around, and the Skinshifter flies back to M12's hand, that has not enough mana open to cast it again and is forced to pass, and is also forced to discard a Garruk, Primal Hunter. Things are shaping up well for R2R, that plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain and attacks for 6 damage with the Weirds, before passing.
As M12 incredibly fails to draw a land yet again, it can only play the Skinshifter and pass, knowing well that it won't even have the mana to transform it in the coming turn. To make things worse, R2R just removes it with a Detention Sphere, before attacking for five more damage and take M12 down to 4 life points. The game could be over soon.
And it probably will be, as M12 is still struggling to draw a land, and adds another Skinshifter to the board. At this point, M12 can only block one creature from R2R, so one of the Weird will surely be able to deal combat damage to M12... and turning into a 4/1, that is going to be a killing blow! Not much M12 could have done this game around with that absurd mana screw, but now R2R is only one game away from winning Group D. Moving on to game three!
Game Three
M12 can start the game again with a turn two Skinshifter, but unfortunately, R2R has an Izzet Charm to show on its upcoming turn to remove right away the annoying creature before it can start transforming. On its third turn, M12 can't do much more than play a land and pass. The game slows down for a few turns, as M12 draws a couple of useless Timely Reinforcements, and R2R is happy to just stack up lands, until on turn five the control deck plays a Chromatic Lantern and passes. Needless to say, things are not shaping up all that well for M12.
M12 draws, plays its sixth land, and considers its hand: a land, two Timely Reinforcements, an Oblivion Ring and a Grave Titan. R2R has three mana open. M12 decides it can't risk having its only threat countered, and passes for now. R2R plays a tapped Izzet Guildgate and passes as well. Still nothing to do for both decks, as they simply play lands and pass. M12 draws and plays a Rampant Growth, and passes. End of its opponent's turn, R2R shows a Sphinx's Revelation for five – and M12 knows in its heart that this game is gone, as well.
R2R untaps its lands – eight – then adds the ninth one, tapping six to cast a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, before passing. M12 must now break its defensive strategy, tapping six to cast a Grave Titan – as feared, met with a Counterflux! But at least, this opens the way to an Oblivion Ring to remove the dangerous Niv-Mizzet. All its mana tapped, M12 now passes.
Still, R2R doesn't look particularly worried, as it just plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Oblivion Ring and get back its creature, before passing. M12 can at this point play a Timely Reinforcements to get six life points and three Soldier tokens, followed by a second Grave Titan – M12 looks up at R2R, that waves its hand saying “go on, I'm not going to counter that”. End of M12's turn, R2R uses six mana to ping M12 for three damage, and draw three. Then, it's ready to wreak havoc. First of all, an Angel of Serenity is played to remove the Grave Titan and the two Zombi tokens. Then, a second Detention Sphere is played to clear the board of the remaining Soldier tokens. Finally, R2R turns Niv-Mizzet to attack for five damage, before passing.
This last turn has utterly destroyed M12. The Rock deck draws and plays a Solemn Simulacrum, then a second Timely Reinforcements, but that's not gonna be enough to save it. As R2R keeps attacking and pinging with Niv-Mizzet, in fact, the game is over in just a couple of turns, with M12 only drawing a Forest in the meanwhile. R2R completely annihilates its opponent with a 3-0 victory to top group D and gain access to the overall semifinals!
Magic 2012 0 - Return to Ravnica 3
Timespiral vs Magic 2011
Clash of the underdogs. Both decks were remade from scratch for this BOTS, and both have performed astoundingly better than expected. Timespiral dealt with strong decks like Eventide and Urza's Saga on its way to winning Group A, capable of adapting to any opponent with the flexibility of its signature card, Momentary Blink. M11, on the other side, features a very clear game plan, based on mass land destruction (and it's the only deck in BOTS with this kind of strategy). After eliminating a powerhouse like Antiquities, it's hard to doubt its effectiveness. The stage is set for the clash of these two underdogs: the winner of this match might very well go all the way to final victory!
Game 1
M11 wins the roll to start, but turn one it's just land and pass for both decks. Turn two, M11 draws and plays a Birds of Paradise, while Timespiral simply plays a Calciform Pools and charges it with a counter, before passing as well. M11 plays a Cultivate and passes. Timespiral is somewhat worried at its opponent ramping up quickly, but at the moment it can't do much more than suspending a freshly drawn Ancestral Vision and pass.
And then ***** gets real, as M11 taps six mana to play a roaring Inferno Titan! Timespiral gets three damage, but M11 won't be able to smile for much, as the end of the turn sees a Temporal Isolation played by Timespiral to shackle the fearsome titan. And there's more bad news coming for M11, as Timespiral gets its fourth land in play and casts an Avalanche Riders, destroying an opponent's Mountain and attacking for two, before passing.
M11 feels a sense of frustration, but for the moment, it can still easily handle the situation. A Lightning Bolt flies to kill the Riders, then a Sylvan Ranger is played, and finally M11 passes. Timespiral plays a Terramorphic Expanse, then a Prismatic Lens, and finally passes. M11 gets its sixth land in play, and considers its situation: a Destructive Force, a Fireball and a Sylvan Ranger. Technically speaking, playing the Destructive Force wouldn't leave M11 in a terrible situation, as it could then play the Ranger and start rebuilding its mana base. Problem is, Timespiral has an Ancestral Vision resolving in a couple of turns. so the advantage could easily switch in its favor. For now, after having attacked for one with the Ranger, M11 decides to simply pass and hopes to draw another Titan soon. End of turn, Timespiral adds another counter on the Pools.
Then, M11 gets mean, playing a Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy the Inferno Titan, killing the Ranger, the Birds, and dealing one damage directly to M11, that is now at 17 life points. Timespiral is at 16. The turn ends, and M11 gets to draw only a Lightning Bolt. So it plays the Sylvan Ranger in its hand and passes, trying to gather up enough mana to kill the Shapeshifter with the Fireball. The Ancestral Vision resolves, and that's a load of bad news for M11. Timespiral taps one to suspend a second Ancestral Vision, then plays an Avalanche Riders and turns both the Riders and the Titan to attack. M11 falls down to 7 life points.
As M11 draws another Destructive Force, it knows it must deal with the Titan, and resorts to throw at it a Lightning Bolt, plus a Fireball for 4 damage, accepting a two for one trade to remain alive. But unfortunately, Timespiral casts a Temporary Blink on it, and just as that, the game is over. Timespiral wins game one.
Game Two
M11 starts, but it's Timespiral to play first with a turn two Prismatic Lens. On the other side, M11 taps three to play a Cultivate and passes. Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. M11 is ready to get serious, getting an Obstinate Baloth into play – the ramp deck wants to start putting pressure on its opponent as quickly as possible. End of turn, Timespiral puts a counter on the Pools, then plays a second Calciform Pools and passes. But M11 is attacking savagely this game, and after having dealt 4 damage with the Baloth, adds three more with an Inferno Titan – and suddenly, Timespiral is only one turn away from death! End of turn, Timespiral charges the two Pools and hopes to draw something good.
And it draws... an Avalanche Riders. Not exactly good, but it should at least allow Timespiral to survive one more turn. The creature is played, targeting a Rootbound Crag, then Timespiral passes. And then M11 shows a Fireball, and that's it. Game over for Timespiral, M11 evens out the match, and the two decks move on to game three.
Game Three
Not a bad start for Timespiral, that gets a Gemstone Mine into play, suspends an Ancestral Vision, and passes. On its second turn, Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools and removes a second counter from the Mine to suspend a Riftwing Cloudskate – so far, all is going well for Timespiral. On the other side, M11 plays a turn two Sylvan Ranger and passes. Timespiral plays a Mountain, then a Prismatic Lens and passes. M11 attacks for one, plays a Cultivate, and passes.
Timespiral adds a second Calciform Pools to the board, and with five mana available, can cast an Avalanche Riders without losing the last counter from the Mine. A Mountain is destroyed from the opponent's side of the board, then the Riders are turned to attack for two.
M11 draws and attacks for one, then throws a Lightning Bolt at the riders, before Timespiral can do any trick with it, finally playing a second Sylvan Ranger before passing. The suspended spells for Timespiral resolve, and the Cloudksate targets the only untapped land from M11, a Mountain, that taps it right away to cast another Lightning Bolt at the Cloudskate, killing it. But Timespiral has just begun, casting a second Prismatic Lens, and then another Avalanche Riders – M11 is now down to two lands! The Riders attacks for two, and Timespiral finally passes.
M11 plays a land, attacks for two, then passes. Timespiral draws, pays the Echo cost for the Riders, then turns them to attack for two, suspends an Ancestral Vision and passes. M11 attacks for two more damage, then plays an Obstinate Baloth (jumping up to 18 life points) and passes. Timespiral, for now, draws and passes. M11 plays one more land, then turns its creatures to attack. Timespiral smiles and taps all its lands (sacrificing the Gemstone Mine) to cast a Bogardan Hellkite, incinerating the Baloth and one Ranger, and blocking the other one. M11's board is now clean, and Timespiral's position looks very good. Especially as, once M11 passes, a second Avalanche Riders is played, and all of Timespiral's creatures are turned to attack for nine damage. Still stuck with less than six lands thanks to Timespiral's extensive land destruction, there's really nothing M11 can do on its turn, and the game is over. Timespiral wins game three.
Game Four
Things start out badly for M11, that has to take a mulligan, and only plays a Mountain on turn one. Timespiral plays a Terramorphic Expanse and fetches an Island. M11 adds a Mystifying Maze to the board and passes. Timespiral plays a Mountain and suspends an Ancestral Vision. And then M11's fears turn into reality, as it fails to draw a third land and remains stuck without being able to play anything. All to Timespiral's advantage, that for now only plays a Calciform Pools and passes. Still nothing to do for M11, that passes, with Timespiral chrging up the Pools.
And then the game truly begins, with Timespiral tapping four for an Avalanche Riders, destroying the opponent's only Mountain – that gets tapped in response to play a Lightning Bolt and kill the Riders. Still, Timespiral can pass the turn happily, knowing that it has slowed down even more its opponent.
Yet nothing for M11, and Timespiral plays a morphed down creatured, along with a second Calciform Pools, and passes. Finally, finally, M11 draws and plays a Forest, followed immaiedtaly by a Sylvan Ranger to fetch a second one. But Timespiral won't let its advantage slip by, especially with a refilled hand thanks to the Ancestral Vision. After attacking for two with the morphed creature, Timespiral plays a Riftwing Cloudskate to bounce the opponent's Forest, and passes. M11 plays again the Forest, discards a Primeval Titan, and passes. Timespiral attacks for four, then smiles sadistically as it Momentary Blink-s the Cloudskate to bounce again the opponent's Forest. Then, it passes.
M11 knows the game is lost, but it won't concede until the end. So, it attacks for one, plays again the Forest, and passes. Timespiral attacks for four more, then blinks again the Cloudskate to bounce a land, and passes. Still nothing for M11, that is effectively locked, and on the following turn, Timespiral attacks for four and shows a Disintegrate to end the game. And that's it. The superior flexibility of Timespiral proved too much for M11 to handle, and the Blink deck moves to the tournament final, a result completely unexpected at the beginning of the tournament. At this point, anything can happen.
Timespiral 3 - Magic2011 1
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
I'll look into it, thank you!
The second semifinal features the winners of Group B and Group D. While Return to Ravnica was since the first round a strong contender to be the final winner of its group, Oath's victory came a little as a surprise, perhaps showing that the deck had been underrated. Now, the Eldrazi deck has the chance to kick off one of the most feared control decks of the tournament, and gain access to the true final game of this Battle of the Sets. Will it be able to? Let's find out!
Game One
R2R wins the roll to start and opens the game with a tapped Steam Vents. On the other side, it's land and pass for Oath, and the same again for R2R. Then, on its second turn, Oath taps two and plays a Slaughter Drone. R2R allows it to resolve, but end of turn easily dispatches it with an Izzet Charm. Then, R2R again plays a land and passes. Oath plays a tapped Mirrorpool, then gets an Eldrazi Mimic into play, only to be met by a second Izzet Charm at the end of the turn. So far, R2R has managed to keep its opponent under control, and once again gets a land in play (a tapped Steam Vents) and passes.
Oath knows it must get its game going, or R2R will easily win in the long term. Still, for now it only adds an Eldrazi Mimic to the board. R2R has a Syncopate in hand, but Oath still has two untapped lands, and R2R only three (due to the tapped Steam Vents). So, the Mimic resolves, and this time sticks around, as R2R seems to be out of Charms. And even worse, R2R is also out of lands to play, remaining stuck at four. Definitely not good for R2R, that passes.
Oath taps four and plays a Thought-Knot Seer – but R2R is quick to show the Syncopate and counters it. So, Oath turns the Mimic to attack for two and passes – the Eldrazi deck has finally taken first blood. R2R plays an untapped Steam Vents, taking two damage, and passes.
Now, Oath considers the situation, and decides to go all in, tapping five to play a Reality Smasher, and crossing its tentacles... no counterspell from R2R! The Smasher resolves and turns the Mimic into a fearsome 5/5, allowing Oath to attack for a whopping 10 damage! R2R falls down to 6 life points, and suddenly the game is not under control anymore! Still, R2R plays an end of turn Sphinx's Revelation for two, and gets ready for a counterattack.
Unfortunately, even though R2R has a Supreme Verdict in hand, it lacks the required double white to cast it. So, for now it plays one more land and passes. R2R has another Sphinx's Revelation in hand, and that should allow the control deck to survive one more turn, and hopefully draw the second white mana source.
But that's not meant to be, as Oath draws another Reality Smasher, turning an army of monsters on R2R to deal fifteen (!) damage and close the game. Oath wins round one!
Game Two
Was R2R a little too complacent? Did it underestimate the opponent, taking the game too easy? R2R shakes its head: that is not going to happen again. Game two starts with both decks playing land, and the first play is a Slaughter Drone from Oath on turn two. R2R thinks for a second, then decides to let it stick, changing its strategy from game one. On its turn, the control deck plays a tapped Steam Vents and passes. Oath attacks for two, then plays a Matter Reshaper – and this time, R2R shows a Syncopate.
On its turn, R2R finds itself short on lands, and has to play an Izzet Charm to draw two, discarding a Cyclonic Rift and a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, then plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain. Meanwhile, Oath keeps up its relentless game: the Drone attacks for two, then the Eldrazi deck plays a Thought-Knot Seer. R2R reveals a hand of a Sphinx's Revelation, a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius and two Supreme Verdict. Oath thinks for a few seconds, then removes the Revelation. At the moment, R2R has only one white mana source – and if luck is still on Oath's favor, things are going to stay that way.
Instead, R2R draws and plays an Azorius Guildgate – unfortunately, it comes into play tapped, but this means R2R will be able to clean the board soon. For now, the control deck passes. Oath simply attacks for six (R2R is now at 10) and passes. R2R plays the first Supreme Verdict, draws one from the Seer, and passes. Now, Oath has a dangerous Reality Smasher in hand... but only four lands! Good news for R2R, as this means the Eldrazi deck can only play a Slaughter Drone before passing. R2R thinks about Detention Sphere-ing the Drone, but in the end decides to simply pass.
Oath draws... a Matter Reshaper. Not bad, but not good enough either. The Drone is turned to attack, meeting a Cyclonic Rift from R2R. Oath shrugs, then plays the Matter Reshaper and passes. Finally R2R draws and plays its sixth land, getting a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius in play, and then passing.
But the dragon won't stick for long, as R2R simply casts an Oblivion Strike and exiles it, allowing the Reshaper to strike for three damage (R2R is now at 7). Oath then passes, and R2R knows no mistakes will be allowed. For now, it plays a Detention Sphere to remove the Reshaper, then passes. But Oath has finally that fifth land available, and casts the Reality Smasher to attack for five and bring its opponent down to 2 life points. Things are getting complicated for R2R - very complicated. The control deck removes the Smasher with a Supreme Verdict, then passes.
At this point, Oath seems ready to close the game, as a Matter Reshaper and a Slaughter Drone enter the battlefield – but R2R is not done yet, as it casts an Angel of Serenity to stabilize the situation and keep itself alive.
But Oath is not giving up, either, playing a kicked Bearer of Silence to kill the Angel and getting its creatures back. And now, it's all in the draw. R2R draws... a Plains! And with only a Syncopate in hand, that's game over. Oath wins game two, and looks ready to snatch a somewhat unexpected victory to reach the finals!
Game Three
R2R is on the brink of disaster, and to make things worse, it also has to take a mulligan, opening the game with a turn one tapped Steam Vents. On the other side, Oath plays a Swamp and a Reaver Drone. R2R plays a Plains and passes, while on the other side Oath attacks for two more, then plays a second Swamp and an Eldrazi Mimic. Yet another Plains for R2R, that can't currently pay more than one red OR one blue mana, and has therefore very limited options – at the moment, only passing.
Luckily for R2R, Oath is blocked with only two mana, and after having attacked for four damage (R2R is now at 14), it plays a second Eldrazi Mimic and passes. R2R plays a third Plains (!), not exactly an optimal scenario, but good enough for now: the four mana are tapped to play a Supreme Verdict and clear the board! R2R can finally breathe in relief and pass. Oath is still stuck with two mana, cursing its bad luck before passing again. R2R plays a tapped Hallowed Fountain and passes. Still nothing for Oath, and this allows R2R to take the initiative with a Frostburn Weird, before passing.
Still no lands for Oath, that draws a Bearer of Silence, and decides to play it. R2R attacks for one damage (the Weird stays a 1/4), then plays a tapped Azorius Guildgate and passes. Oath shakes its head as it draws no lands – again! - and as the Bearer is killed by an end of turn Izzet Charm, Oath decides it's time to move on and concede.
Game Four
Oath gets to start and plays a tapped Mirrorpool on turn one, before passing. On the other side, R2R plays a tapped Izzet Guildate and passes. On its second turn, Oath plays an Eldrazi Mimic and passes. Only lands for R2R for now, and the control deck passes. Oath plays a Sea Gate Wreckage, then attacks for two before adding a Reaver Drone to the board, and finally passing. R2R plays a third land and finds itself unfortunately without any white mana source. Considering the Supreme Verdict and the two Detention Sphere in its hand, this is not good news. For now, the control deck passes. Eldrazi attacks for four (R2R is at 14), then plays a second Reaver Drone and passes. The pressure is growing – will R2R be able to react?
Still no white mana for the control deck, though, that again is forced to pass. As Oath attacks for six damage, things are now looking really grim. And then R2R draws a Frostburn Weird – should be enough to at least gain some time. R2R is confident the Weird will stick to the board, as it has a Counterflux available to cover it, and three untapped mana. But then Oath smiles and plays... a Bearer of Silence. As the additional cost is played, the Weird is killed, opening the way for Oath's creatures. R2R counters the creature anyway, but as it stands at 2 life points, there's probably not much it can do to survive.
And just a little too late, a Plains is drawn. A Detention Sphere now could clean the two Reaver Drones... but the remaining Eldrazi Mimic would be enough to close the game. And this is it. Oath wins the match quite easily, with some help from Lady Luck, and quite surprisingly flies to the finals. Will Timespiral be able to stop the Eldrazi threat?
Oath of the Gatewatch 3 - Return to Ravnica 1
And here we go, the final nobody expected. The Silver Bullet deck from Timespiral against the impressive Eldrazi aggro from Oath of the Gatewatch. Despite both being solid decks, there was certainly some luck involved in avoiding bad matchups, while some of the top tier decks ended up fighing against each other. Still, getting to the final is a huge achievement, but now, only one will get final victory. Let's find out who it's going to be!
Game One
Oath wins the roll to start and can pull off a good start: Swamp on turn one, then a Sea Gate Wreckage and an Eldrazi Mimic. On the other side, Timespiral suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. On turn three, Oath attacks for two damage, then plays a Slaughter Drone and passes. Timespiral plays a Terramorphix Expanse, fetching a Plains, then plays a Prismatic Lens and passes. Oath draws... and remains stuck at three lands. With nothing good to play, the aggro deck attacks for four before passing. Timespiral plays yet another Terramorphic Expanse, this time fetching an Island, then passes again.
Oath draws a Crumbling Vestige, but with a hand of three Spatial Contortion, one Oblivion Strike and one Bearer of Silence, it just has to wait for Timespiral to start playing creatures. So, for now it turns its creatures to attack again. This time, though, the Mimic is met by a Temporal Isolation, and only the Drone strikes for two damage (Timespiral is now at 12 life points). At this point, the Cloudskate enters the battlefield, bouncing up the Slaughter Drone, and it's immediately joined by an Avalanche Riders! Then, both creatures are turned to attack, and Oath has only one shot at casting a Spatial Contortion (as the Crumbling Vestige is still tapped). Now, Timespiral has a Plains and a Prismatic Lens open – enough to cast a Momentary Blink. Or enough to bluff one. All in all, Oath would like to remove the Raiders, but should Timespiral have the Blink, it could save the creature and destroy one more land on top of that. On the other hand, targeting the Cloudskate would mean that Timespiral would be forced to choose: either save the Cloudskate, and bounce a land, or blink the Raiders again to destroy one.
Oath thinks for a few more seconds, then throws the Contortion at the Cloudskate. Now it's Timespiral's turn to think, but only for a moment, as it casts a Temporary Blink to save the Cloudskate and bounce the Crumbling Vestige. The Raiders then strike for two damage, and Timespiral passes. Oath draws another Oblivion Strike, then plays again the Crumbling Vestige, but unfortunately, until this land is tapped, cannot produce colorless mana to fuel another Spatial Contortion. Still, the Slaughter Drone is played again, and Oath passes.
Timespiral decides a bit surprisingly to not pay the Echo cost for the Riders, but the reason becomes clear as a second Avalanche Riders is played to destroy the Crumbling Vestige! This is serious bad news for Oath. At this point, the Cloudskate is turned to attack for two, and Timespiral passes.
As Oath draws a Reality Smasher, is forced to face a very unpleasant situation. Firstly, the Drone is turned to attack for two damage (that Timespiral decides to take), then the Eldrazi decks decides to tap its two lands to cast the Bearer of Silence and at least add some pressure to the board. Oath passes, and again Timespiral decides to not pay the Echo for the Avalanche Riders. Instead, a Lightning Angel is played, and both Flying Creatures are turned to attack. Oath takes five damage and falls down to 11 life points.
This is a very important turn for Oath, that unfortunately draws a third Swamp! Not only the Spatial Contortions in its hand remains off-limits, it cannot even activate the Deathtouch ability of the Slaughter Drone. Cursing in frustration, the Eldrazi deck passes again. Timespiral smiles and casts a second Lightning Angel, fiercely punishing its opponent with 8 points of damage. As Oath is now at 3 life points, there's nothing it can do to recover the game, and is forced to concede. Timespiral wins game one!
Game Two
Oath starts the game quick, with a turn one Reaver Drone followed by a turn two Slaughter Drone (and a Sea Gate Wreckage). On the other side, Timespiral suspends a Riftwing Cloudskate and passes. Oath keeps increasing the pressure with a Matter Reshaper, and its attack for four damage brings Timespiral down to 14 life points.
Timespiral plays a Calciform Pools, then considers the situation, and decides to play a Disintegrate to remove the Matter Reshaper (without even triggering its ability). Still, Oath keeps adding creatures to the board with a Slaughter Drone. Also, a Mirrorpool is played tapped. Timespiral falls down to 10 life points this turn, and Oath passes.
Timespiral fetches a Plains with a Terramorphic Expanse, then taps three to play a morphed creatures (can only be a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, really), and passes. Oath smiles as it prepares to hit, and hit hard. It taps two, and then two more, to cast a Bearer of Silence! Timespiral's only creature is killed, opening the way for six more combat damage straight to Timespiral's face! With its opponent at 4 life points, Oath feels confident the game is in its pocket, but can Timespiral recover with some trick?
First of all, the Cloudskate enters the battlefield, bouncing back one Slaughter Drone, then a Vesuvan Shapeshifter is also played, face up, copying the Cloudskate and bouncing up the second Slaughter Drone. And this might just be enough, actually. Except Oath has a second Bearer of Silence in hand, and it plays it to force Timespiral to sacrifice one creature. At this point, with two creatures attacking and dealing potentially lethal damage, Timespiral is forced to block and lose its remaining creature, meanwhile falling at 2 life points. Oath still has the Reaver Drone and a Bearer of Silence in play.
Timespiral draws... a Mountain. And since the only creature in its hand is a Bogardan Hellkite, with nowhere near enough mana to play it, it's game over. Oath takes game two by storm, and the two decks move on to game three!
Game Three
Timespiral starts the game with a Calciform Pools followed by a Mountain, while on the other side Oath is starting quick again with a turn one Reaver Drone followed by a turn two Slaughter Drone (and Sea Gate Wreckage). After Oath has attacked for two damage with the Reaver Drone, the Eldrazi deck passes and Timespiral places a counter on the Pools. On its turn, Timespiral plays a Plains and a morphed-down creature. Oath adds a third land to the board, then casts a Spatial Contortion to kill the opponent's creature, then attacks for four more damage (Timespiral is now at 14).
But Timespiral is finally ready to fight back. After having played a second Calciform Pools, all lands are tapped to cast a Lightning Angel, that immediately attacks (Oath is at 16). Timespiral then passes. Oath doesn't stop attacking, though, and taps both its creatures. The Angel is assigned to block the Reaver Drone, while the Slaughter Drone strikes for two damage. Oath smiles as it casts a second Spatial Contortion, allowing the Reaver Drone to trade for the Angel. Timespiral falls down to 12, and Oath passes.
Timespiral draws, plays a second Mountain and a Prismatic Lens, then passes. Oath draws and turns the two Slaughter Drone to attack, but one of them is met by a Temporal Isolation – Timespiral falls down to 10. Then, Oath plays a Mirrorpool and a Reaver Drone, and passes. End of turn, Timespiral adds a counter on a Calciform Pools. On its turn, Tiemspiral plays a Lightning Angel and strikes for three damage (Oath is now at 13), then passes. Unfortunately for Timespiral, Oath just draws the card it needs: an Oblivion Strike! The Angel is removed, allowing Oath's creatures to dish in four more damage. Timespiral is now at 6, and things are not looking particularly good.
Timespiral needs to regain some control on the game, and taps all its lands plus the Lens (also removing the counter from the Pools) to cast a Riftwing Cloudskate and bounce back the Reaver Drone. Then, it passes. Oath thinks for a few seconds, then decides to sacrifice the Mirrorpool to create a copy of the Slaughter Drone, then attacks with the original one – Timespiral blocks with the Cloudskate and accepts the trade.
Timespiral draws an Ancestral Vision and immediately suspends it, betting on its own chances to survive the coming three turns. After that, an Avalanche Riders is played, destroying a Sea Gate Wreckage, and then Timespiral passes. Oath plays a tapped Crumbling Vestige, then the Reaver Drone, and finally turns the Slaughter Drone to attack – and trade for the Riders. Finally, Timespiral seems to have regained some measure of control on the game. On its turn, Timespiral casts a Disintegrate on the Reaver Drone, emptying its hand, then charges the Pools with two Counters and passes.
And then disaster strikes! Oath taps all its lands and plays a Reality Smasher, immediately turning it to attack for five damage – suddenly, Timespiral is at one life point! It's all in the draw now, and not much can save Timespiral. The drawn card is... a Riftwing Cloudskate! Even though it could be used to bounce the Smasher, the Eldrazi creature has haste, and in the coming turn, that would be game over! Oath wins game three and sees the final victory within grasp!
Game Four
Timespiral needs to win this game at all costs, or everything will be lost. After coming this far, neither contender is going to back down without giving 100%. So, Timespiral opens up with a Terramorphic Expanse, fetching a Mountain. On the other side, Oath plays a Swamp and passes. Timespiral plays a second Terramosphic Expanse, fetching an Island this time, and then passes. Oath adds a second Swamp to the board, then plays an Eldrazi Mimic and passes. Timespiral plays a Plains, then after thinking for a few seconds decides to kill the Mimic with a Disintegrate and suspend an Ancestral Vision.
It's Oath's turn again, that plays a third Swamp and then another Eldrazi Mimic, before passing. Timespiral is now on the offensive, though, as it plays a fourth land and an Avalanche Riders, destroying one Swamp and turning it to attack – Oath decides to take the damage.
And then, unfortunately, Oath remains stuck with two lands. So, it decides to play a Bearer of Silence, to gain some additional presence on the board, then turns the Mimic to attack for two. Then, the Eldrazi deck passes. A Momentary Blink at this point could very well be game over for Oath, but unfortunately for Timespiral, it doesn't have any. So, it pays the Echo cost for the Riders, plays a Mountain, attacks for two and passes. Luckily for Oath, it draws a Mirrorpool that is immediately played, then it attacks with its two creatures for four damage (Timespiral is at 14). If the Mirrorpool can stick until the next turn, things might yet take a turn for the better for Oath.
But it is not meant to be. After playing its sixth land, Timespiral casts a face-up Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy the Riders... and destroy the Mirrorpool! Real bad news for Oath, that also sees 4 more damage fly its way, and falls down to 12. Plus, Timespiral is getting its Ancestral Vision in the coming turn. Can Oath make a comeback?
Stuck at two lands, Oath plays yet another Bearer of Silence, then attacks for 4 damage, and passes. Timespiral pays the Echo cost for the Shapshifter, then draws four and a Terramorphic Expanse to fetch a seventh land. After having attacked for four (Oath is now at 8), Timespiral passes. Oath draws and plays another Swamp, then plays a third Bearer of Silence, and turns its creatures to attack. The Mimic is met with a Temporal Isolation, and Timespiral falls down to 6.
And this is as far as Oath can go. After having attacked for four more damage, Timespiral reveals a Disintegrate to kill its opponent and win game four. And now, only one remains. Who will be the champion?
Game Five
Oath starts the game, and makes the first play on turn two with a Slaughter Drone. On the other side, Timespiral plays a turn two Prismatic Lens and passes. Oath attacks for two, then plays a tapped Mirrorpool before adding a second Slaughter Drone to the board and passing. Still, Timespiral seems to be taking the upper hand as it taps for four mana to cast a Lightning Angel and attack for 3 damage. Unfortunately, though, the Angel it's not meant to stick around, as Oath disposes of it with an Oblivion Strike, removing the dangerous creature and striking for four more damage. Timespiral is now at 14 life points.
But Timespiral is not stopping, as it casts a second Prismatic Lens and then a second Lightning Angel, attacking again for three damage and bringing its opponent down to 14 life points as well. So far, so good. A very balanced game. But Oath is ready to answer the second Angel, too, casting a second Oblivion Strike! And with that, Timespiral takes four more damage and falls down to 10. How will Timespiral answer?
Quite interestingly, by playing a Mangara of Corondor, then fetching a second Island with a Terramorphic Expanse, and finally passing. Oath fears its opponent might have a Blink to combo with the Mangara, and decides to play a Thought-Knot Seer, revealing a hand of a Mountain and a Disintegrate. The damage spell is removed, then Oath attacks for four more damage, and Timespiral is now at 6 life points.
But Timespiral is now smiling, as it draws a Vesuvan Shapeshifter and plays it to copy the Thought-Knot Seer, looking at Oath's hand and removing a Matter Reshaper. Then Timespiral activates Mangara and exiles the opponent's Seer, drawing one: a Lightning Angel. Next turn, it'll be able to play it. For now, Timespiral passes.
Oath draws and plays a Crumbling Vestige, then turns its creatures to attack. Timespiral thinks for a moment, then blocks one of the Drones with the Shapeshifter. Oath activates the Deathtouch, killing the Shapeshifter and getting to draw one: a Reaver Drone. Also, Timespiral takes two damage from the other Drone and falls down to 4. The Reaver Drone is immediately played, and Oath activates a Sea Gate Wreckage to draw one (being emtpy-handed). It's just a Mirrorpool, though, so Oath passes.
Timespiral draws and suspends an Ancestral Vision, then plays a Lightning Angel and attacks for three, before passing. Oath plays the Mirrorpool, then attacks with both its creatures. Timespiral blocks the Reaver Drone and kills it, taking two damage from the Slaughter Drone and falling down to 2. Then, Oath plays an Eldrazi Mimic and activates the Wreckage, drawing an Oblivion Strike that might very well seal the game. For now, though, Oath passes.
And then Timespiral draws a land – game over! The Eldrazi swarms all over their opponent, getting their tentacles on the final victory! Congratulations to Oath of the Gatewatch, winner of this edition of Battle of the Sets!