MTG Salvation

This match-up started out rather awkwardly, with both deck losing once due to bad draws. Admittedly, the very first game would have been quite hard to win for me, facing Kitchen Finks and Birds of Paradise on turn 1 (courtesy of Black Lotus), with a Spectral Procession ready to cast turn 2 (thanks to the BoP). This means it came down to game 3, and luckily this was a properly exciting cube game. Mono-green started out better, until suddenly Mirror Entity hit the table. That is one sick card in a token deck. I went down fighting, but down I went.

WG Tokens vs Mono-Green AggroRamp: 2-1

Two of my decks faced eachother in this match, the result of winning 3 out of 4 matches in the first round. Hicham piloted the blue control deck. The first game, the control deck started out great with a first turn Bitterblossom off of a Mox Jet. The blink deck managed to put some early pressure with a Mogg War Marshal (echo was paid) followed by Ajani Goldmane, making the goblins wolfsize, and Time Walking for another attack. The blue deck was taking damage from the 'blossom obviously so was already below 10 life when I went for the kill with Siege-Gang Commander. Unfortunately, the Commander was stolen with Gilded Drake, and the Drake was stolen with Sower of Temptation. Bummer. At this point we each found ourselves in the position of not being to be able to mass-attack without getting killed on the counterstrike, except that he had his faeries that I could block only one at a time with my Celestial Colonnade, and I did not find my Lightning Bolt for the kill. A great game. Game 2, the control deck started out more slowly, just playing some manlands and passing the turn. Blink started out with a first turn Kor Skyfisher (thanks to the Mox Pearl that seems to come stapled to it) and followed up with a Sword of Feast and Famine. Maybe not the most scary sword to face, but scary enough and control hates to discard. Turn 3 saw Ajani Vengeant hit the scene, who went to work on tapping down his Creeping Tar Pit. The blue deck tried to weaken Ajani by attacking with an animated Faerie Conclave, but this time I did have the Lightning Bolt. A short while later the one-sided Armageddon from Ajani's ultimate started to loom large. Luckily for him, Ludevic's Test Subject comes up, and is again immediately a huge threat. He takes out Ajani before his ultimate could happen, but is then put back into his egg with Flickerwisp - I know, strange flavor but I was happy enough to be able to play it (the second stunt of the day for the 'wisp). The control deck has its back against the wall now, finds no amazing out and dies soon after. I'm not sure if I remember it quite correctly, but I think the blink deck just had a great aggro start in the deciding game and overwhelmed the control deck. Anyhow, this was a great match that ended:

Ub Aggro-Control vs RWu Blink: 1-2

The first elimination match (we play double elimination). The first game saw the tempo deck play Kira, Great Glass-Spinner turn 2 off of a Mox Emerald and attempted to (virtually) win the game the next turn by blowing up all lands with an Armageddon. I was out of luck though, Hicham calmly cycles Complicate, countering the Armageddon and drawing a card. Soon after, the superior card quality in the control deck just blows me away. Game 2 saw me playing Library of Alexandria turn 3 and skipping a single turn to get to that 7th card. I drew plenty of cards and managed to do a good bit of damage, but I was simply outclassed on card quality and couldn't exert enough pressure to bring the control deck in trouble. A convincing win for the control deck, and a first elimination.

UB Control vs UW Tempo: 2-0

An unfortunate match-up for Hicham, who saw two of his decks face off to avoid elimination. It did turn out a fine match. The first game saw the Wildfire deck score a textbook control vs aggro win: some accelerators, controlling damage with some burn, then take over with top-end power houses. The black deck drew ok but was just outclassed. The second game was the reverse, with the mono-black deck showing how to overwhelm a control deck, with lost of early pressure mixed with some disruption to take the second game in style. The deciding game saw the mono-black aggro deck prevail with another nicely executed aggro game, helped out some by Dark Confidant (which was killed once but drew a couple cards after coming with Necromancy). The control deck did its best, wiping the board with Crater Hellion, but he was already low with life and dropped Graveborn Muse, meanwhile holding a mean Snuff Out to kill the Hellion right after his second installment was paid, which meant game, set and match. The awesome Innistrad block 1-drops have really done some nice work this match, and Oona's Prowler also got through for a lot of damage. A deserved win for this fine deck; Wildfire is eliminated.

Rbw Wildfire vs Mono-Black Aggro-Disruption: 1-2

The results of round 2 mean that the final will be played between WG Tokens and RWu Blink, a rather unexpected outcome.