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CMT Kitchener Coverage

Round 1: Ben Fanjoy (Sneak Show) vs. Maksym Gryn (RUG Delver)

Maksym is a frequent PTQ veteran who played in PT Nagoya in 2011. Ben Fanjoy made the Top 50 of a Grand Prix once, but is more known for winning Power tournaments in his local area.
Game 1

Ben won the roll and elected to go first. His first hand was a keep and Maksym was also satisfied, so they started the match. Fanjoy led with an Ancient Tomb and a Lotus Petal, cracking the petal to cast a Ponder.

Maksym: “Seems like a Show and Tell deck”

His 3 cards weren’t good enough so he shuffled while Maksym pumped his fists. Maksym quickly untapped and wastelanded the ancient tomb to restrict Ben’s mana development. Ben untapped and cast another Ponder. This time the cards were good enough to keep on top. Maksym started his pressure by playing his Tropical Island and then casting a Nimble Mongoose. Ben untapped and played yet another ponder, again liking what he saw. After attacking, Maksym casts the 4th ponder of the game and after some quick debate, kept all 3 cards on top and played another Tropical Island.

Ben untapped and pressed the issue by playing his signature card Sneak Attack, which Maksym dazed, and Ben responded with a Force of Will only to be met with a Spell Pierce. Maksym untapped and cast another Nimble Mongoose, and quickly gave them threshold by using a fork bolt and lightning bolt to lower Ben’s lifetotal, putting Ben quickly under a lot of pressure. After some unsuccessful draw steps, Ben scooped up his cards.

Maksym 1 – Ben 0

During sideboarding, the players discussed the matchup and how bad their keeps were in game 1.

Ben: “I’m not mulling 3 ponders”

After wishing each other better luck in game 2, Ben chose to play first again.

Game 2

After some quick keeps, Ben started off with an island and the 5th Ponder of the match. The cards were no good and the deck was given a quick shuffle. Maksym replied in kind, by playing a Tropical Island and his own Ponder. Ben untapped and cast a Lotus Petal and played an island, ramping up for a future turn. Maksym filled his graveyard for future Tarmogoyfs and Mongeese with an end of turn Thought Scour. Maksym played a 1/1 Delver of Secrets, and attempted a Brainstorm on his upkeep to assist the Delver in its transformation. Ben attempted to Spell Pierce it, which Maksym paid for.

Delver flipped by revealing a Lightning Bolt. Ben tried to send the Delver away by playing a Red Elemental Blast, which Maksym was more than happy to counter with a Force of Will. Ben attempted a Show and Tell which was quickly Force of Willed. Maksym then landed a Tarmogoyf and Ben scooped up his cards when Maksym showed him the Lightning Bolts he held in his hand.

Maksym 2 – Ben 0

Round 2: Lam Phan (UR Landstill) vs. Mike Watson (RUG Delver)

Lam is a well known Eternal format master in the GTA and created Canadian Threshold with David Caplan, the precursor to the popular RUG Delver deck. His opponent, Mike Watson has been playing for 9 years and considers Legacy to be his favorite format. Both players come into this match, having won their first round.

Game 1

Mike won the dice roll and chose to play. Mike’s 7 card hand was unacceptable so he went down to 6. Lam confidently kept his 7 card hand. Mike kept his 6 card hand and cracked a Scalding Tarn for a Tropical Island which he used to cast a 1/1 Delver of Secrets. Lam passively dropped a Faerie Conclave into play and passed to Mike who missed on the first Delver trigger.

After an attack and a land from Mike, Lam played a Wasteland and a Ratchet Bomb to try and keep the field clear long enough for his land heavy control deck to win. Mike cast an end of turn Brainstorm, which allowed him to flip Delver into its Insectile Abberation form. Lam quickly destroyed it with the Ratchet Bomb. Ponder from Mike, helped him sculpt a game plan which started with the Nimble Mongoose he cast after. After some land drops and a Brainstorm from Lam, Mike played his Scalding Tarn which allowed him to achieve Threshold and make the Mongoose into a bigger threat. The Mongoose continued to attack for 3, while Lam played Draw Go. After missing some more land drops, Lam was forced to discard a Standstill.

Lam played a Snapcaster Mage which was Spell Snared, he responded to it with a Counterspell which was Spell Pierced. All the while, the mongoose continued to hit for 3 until Lam played a Mishra’s factory and a Standstill to presumably hold the Mongoose at bay. Lam had stabilized but was at a precarious 1 life. After destroying Mike’s two red sources with Wasteland and trading his Factory with the Mongoose, it looked like Lam was well on his way to making a comeback. To prevent this from happening, Mike cast a Mongoose into the Standstill which he forced onto the battlefield by Spell Piercing the Brainstorm that Lam cast to try and find an answer. Mike cast a pre-combat Delver of Secrets and declined to attack with his new Mongoose to try and bottleneck Lam’s mana which consisted of 3 Faerie Conclaves, an Island, a Mountain, and a Volcanic Island. As Delver tends to do, it didn’t stay a 1/1 long as it flipped on Mike’s upkeep when he revealed a Fire/Ice and Lam was quick to try and dispatch the Insectile Aberration with a Lightning Bolt, though he had to pay for a Spell Pierce to do so. This was all a ploy however as Mike cast a Daze on the Bolt which left Lam without the mana to activate his Conclave and the game was finally over.

Mike Watson 1 – Lam Phan 0

The players shuffled quickly and in silence for game 2.

Game 2

Lam elected to play first, and there would be no mulligans this game as both players were satisfied with their hands. Lam started off the action by casting a Relic of Progenitus off an Island. Mike played a Brainstorm at the end of Lam’s second turn. He untapped and surprisingly used a Wasteland on Lam’s Wasteland which Lam was more than happy to oblige with by Wastelanding Mike’s lone Volcanic Island. Mike played a Nimble Mongoose off a Tropical Island the next turn but his graveyard was empty as Lam was relentless with the Relic, which was preventing any cards from staying in the graveyard. Lam played a back up Relic to ensure that Mike’s graveyard would not be full anytime soon. Mike cast a Tarmogoyf and Lam swept the board with a Pyroclasm by removing cards in his graveyard to allow the Pyroclasm to deal lethal to the Goyf.

The game went from bad to worse for Mike, his Brainstorm was Red Elemental Blasted and Lam cast a Crucible of the Worlds to put Mike under a Wasteland lock. Mike cast a Scavenging Ooze but this was just bounced to his hand with Jace the Mind Sculptor. Lam started fatesealing his opponent each turn, preventing Mike from hitting any of his land drops. Lam requested his opponent concede and go to game 3 so that they would have time to finish the match and Mike obliged seeing the impossible game state.

Mike Watson 1 – Lam Phan 1

Game 3

Both players kept their hands and Mike played a Tropical Island, which he returned to his hand with a Daze when Lam cast a Relic of Progenitus. Mike’s attempted to fetch with his Scalding Tarn but it was Stifled by his opponent. Lam stifled his Flooded Strand and in Mike’s excitement he slammed down a Red Elemental Blast despite not having Red mana available. He played a Brainstorm looking for an answer but didn’t find anything. Lam brainstormed into a Wasteland which he used to remove Mike’s last land and started attacking for two with a Mishra’s Factory. However this wasn’t for long as Mike topdecked a Wasteland which he used to remove it. Once Mike started missing land drops he started to discard a card at the end of every turn.

Lam cast a Snapcaster Mage to flashback his Brainstorm and put the nail in the coffin by playing a Jace the Mind Sculptor to prevent Mike from ever drawing any lands. It didn’t take long for Jace to get to its ultimate.

Mike Watson 1 – Lam Phan 2

Round 3: Daniel Fournier (Dredge) vs. Razvan Trufasiu (Jund Loam)

Daniel made the top 8 of CMT Halifax last year and is a self proclaimed Top 16 PTQ master. Razvan had previously won the Ontario Vintage Championship and made Day 2 of Grand Prix Indianapolis, a legacy Grand Prix. Both players came into this round with a 2-0 record. Daniel won the dice roll and chose to play.

Game 1

Daniel cast a Putrid Imp off a Gemstone Mine indicating that he is probably playing Dredge. Razvan played a Mox Diamond and a Grim Lavamancer off his Taiga. On his upkeep, Daniel discarded Golgari Thug so he could start to dredge and fill his graveyard. He then pitched his Golgari Thug to Putrid Imp before casting Careful Study, which didn’t hi much. Digging deeper into his deck with a Faithless Looting he was unable to find any Dredgers past his initial Golgari Thug. Dejectedly he passed it back to Razvan who was happy to take his second turn.

After some cycling for the turn, Razvan finished off the Putrid Imp with the Grim Lavamancer to prevent any more shenanigans. After dredging Golgari Thug, Daniel was able to hit a Golgari Grave Troll and Stinkweed Imp, allowing him to breakthrough for 1 and dredge through most of his deck. This in turn gave him 3 Narcomoebas and all 4 Bridge from Below. When Daniel went for the flashback on Cabal Therapy, Razvan pulled the trigger by Lightning Bolting his Grim Lavamancer and removing all of Daniel’s Bridges from the graveyard. Daniel used Dread Return to bring back Flayer of the Hatebound and dome Razvan for 4 life. After he drew, Razvan saw the writing on the wall and conceded to save time.

Daniel Fournier 1 – Razvan Trufasiu 0

Game 2

Razvan elected to start the second game of the match and was quick to keep while Daniel decided to mulligan to 6. A Mox Diamond and a fetch enabled a turn 1 Scavenging Ooze for Razvan which seemed amazing in this matchup. Daniel attempted to buy some time with an end of turn Chain of Vapor which sent the Ooze back to where it came from. However, he was unable to go off and Razvan was able to use Ooze to remove the Grave Troll from Daniel’s graveyard. Using Lion’s Eye Diamond in conjunction with 2 Cephalid Coliseum’s, Daniel was able to set off a combo turn which allowed him to hit multiple dredgers and fill his graveyard.

Daniel used the flashback on Cabal Therapy to sacrifice his Putrid Imp and make 2 zombie tokens. After naming Seismic Assault, Razvan revealed his hand of Maelstrom Pulse, Devastating Dreams, Lightning Bolt, and Mox Diamond. Untapping, Razvan wasted Daniel’s only source of mana before adding another green mana source and used the Ooze to remove the largest threats in Daniel’s graveyard. Pointing out that he could do math, Razvan showed that he could do the final 9 damage to Daniel in the last turn so Daniel scooped up his graveyard so that they could go to game 3.

Daniel Fournier 1 – Razvan Trufasiu 1

Game 3

Daniel chose to go first for the final game. Both players kept their hands and Razvan quickly put a Leyline of the Void in play. Razvan played an Engineered Explosives on 0, after Daniel passed with just a land. As expected, Daniel had the Chain of Vapor to send the Leyline of the Void back to Razvan’s hand. Daniel untapped and used 2 Careful Studies to fill his graveyard and add 2 Narcomoebas to his board. He then used Cabal Therapy to knock Scavenging Ooze out of Razvan’s hand. From this point it was academic and it wasn’t long until Daniel filled his graveyard, used Dread Return to bring back Flayer of the Hatebound and finished Razvan off.

Round 4: Lucas Siow (UB Reanimator) vs. Joy Boushra (Stax)

Lucas is a well known Canadian player who recently won a WMCQ and will be representing Canada in the next Worlds Championship. Joy recently started playing during Mirrodin Besieged and enjoys making decks that beat Tier 1 decks. Both players come into this round with a 2-1 record, so they will need to win out to ensure a spot in the top 8. After deciding to use a coin to determine who went first, Lucas came out ahead.

Game 1

Lucas snap kept his hand while Joy felt he could do better with six cards. Lucas lead off with a Careful Study to put a Blazing Archon in his graveyard, while Joy played a Chalice on 1 to prevent any future Entombing and Reanimating shenanigans. Unfortunately for Joy, Lucas had the Exhume to get the Archon onto the field to pressure Joy. Joy played a Tangle Wire to buy some time. After being hit once with the Archon, Joy was able to find a Maze of Ith which would keep the Archon at bay.

Trinisphere and Smokestack came down to help continue keeping the board locked down. A Sundial of the Infinite for Joy threatened to lock Lucas out of the game, but Lucas had the Force of Will to prevent this from happening. When Precursor Golem landed, Lucas scooped up his cards.

Lucas Siow 0 – Joy Boushra 1

Lucas: “That Chalice was so brutal. It’s unbeatable.”

Game 2

Lucas again decided to play first and hoped his fortune would be better this time. Like déjàvu, Lucas kept his opener while Joy went to 6 looking for a better hand. Unfortunately for Joy, this hand wasn’t any better and he was forced to mulligan down to 5 cards. Lucas led off with Swamp and an Entomb for Tidespout Tyrant while Joy played a lonely Ghost Quarter. Exhume on Tidespout Tyrant made it very difficult for Joy. Four attacks later and we were on to game 3.

Game 3

Joy went first, and got to finally keep a 7 card hand. City of Traitors go from Joy, was matched with an Underground Sea and a Ponder from Lucas. Joy imploded his City of Traitors by playing another and then a Trinisphere which resolved.

Lucas had his own City of Traitors which enabled an Entomb for Tidespout Tyrant, which he did after his opponent cast a Crucible of the Worlds. On the next turn, Lucas used Echoing Truth to bounce the Trinisphere after his opponent had cast an Ensnaring Bridge. The Trinisphere came down the next turn. After some land drops from both sides, Lodestone Golem was attempted by Joy, Lucas cast a Lim-Dul’s vault and went digging for a way out of this board state.

Lucas cast Exhume returning Tidespout Tyrant to the battlefield. Joy attacked with his Lodestone Golem into the Tidespout Tyrant and Lucas declined the trade. After combat, Joy cast a backup Ensnaring Bridge to keep the fatties from attacking him. Lucas cast brainstorm at the end of Joy’s turn to bounce the Trinisphere. Lucas then untapped and cast Show and Tell bouncing the Lodestone Golem and putting Griselbrand in play while Joy chose to put the Golem back in play. Upon finding out that Joy had 5 cards in hand, Lucas sent his Tidespout Tyrant into the red zone.
Joy cast a Sundial of the Infinite, Mox Diamond, and a Trinisphere on his turn to try and lower his hand size to make his Ensnaring Bridges more effective. Lucas then untapped and used 3 mana to ponder and bounce one Ensnaring Bridge and then used his remaining 3 mana to cast a 2nd ponder and bounce the last Ensnaring Bridge. Lucas then attacked with both his creatures and put Joy at 3 and himself at 15.

Joy attacked with his Lodestone Golem to put Lucas at 15, played an Ensnaring Bridge and a Maze of Ith on his turn and passed back hoping to survive. It was all for naught as Lucas had a Brainstorm to bounce the Bridge and force in the last 5 damage.

Lucas Siow 2 – 1 Joy Boushra

Round 5: Christian Ladouceur (RUG Delver) vs. Aaron Dos Remedios (Elves)

Christian, of Team Mage Killers, has been playing for 15 years, but has just come off a lifetime ban a few weeks ago for “over slander”. Aaron on the other hand finished 10th at Grand Prix Toronto in 2011 and has gone to a Pro Tour in his hayday. Both players came into this round having an undefeated 3-0-1 record. Aaron won the dice roll and chose to play first.
Game 1

Both players keep their opening hands and Aaron leads off with Misty Rainforest into Forest and Fyndhorn Elves. This is matched by Christian’s Volcanic Island and Delver of Secrets. Aaron casts Glimpse on turn 2, which Christian casts Force of Will (exiling Brainstorm) on.

Aaron then casts Nettle Sentinel and attacks for 1 with his elf before passing the turn. Lightning Bolt takes out the Nettle Sentinel and Delver attacks for 1. Aaron casts a Priest of Titania allowing him to ramp his mana. Meanwhile, Delver flips for Christian when he flips Life from the Loam on his upkeep. Aaron dumps 2 Heritage Druids into play to race the Delver, but Christian counters one of them with a Force of Will. Christian attacks Aaron down to 11 and wastelands his Dryad Arbor. Aaron topdecks a Green Sun’s Zenith which he casts X = 2 and gets an Elvish Visionary.

He then attacks with his team to put Christian at 11. Christian attacks Aaron down to 8 and casts another Delver. A Regal Force from Aaron draws him 5 cards which leads to Christian lamenting “I guess I need to rip Lightning bolt like a boss to win huh?”

Unfortunately for Christian, he flips his Delver but gets a Spell Pierce leaving himself 2 damage away from winning and Aaron takes game 1.

Aaron Dos Remedios 1 – Christian Ladouceur 0

Game 2

Christian chose to play first in game 2. Both players kept their hands and Christian led off with a Delver off a Volcanic Island. This play is matched by Aaron’s Misty Rainforest into Forest into Llanowar Elves. On Christian’s turn, the Delver flips as he reveals a Surgical Extraction. After attacking Aaron down to 16, Christian plays a Nimble Mongoose. Aaron plays a Heritage Druid and a Fyndhorn Elves and taps all 3 of his elves to cast a Crop Rotation for Gaea’s Cradle. Christian takes this opportunity to cast a Submerge targeting Heritage Druid. With the 2 remaining mana Aaron casts a Fyndhorn Elf and taps the Cradle to cast a Green Sun’s Zenith which is Spell Pierced. Christian wastelands the Gaea’s Cradle and attacks for another 3 damage in the air. Aaron casts a Mirror Entity to gain some traction but Christian has the Lightning Bolt to deal with that threat.

Christian pays 2 life to surgical extract Mirror Entity and sees the Regal Force in Aaron’s hand. Aaron sends with his team to put Christian at 14 and then casts a Heritage Druid. Christian attacks with his team and uses Chain Lightning to finish Aaron off.

Aaron Dos Remedios 1 – Christian Ladouceur 1

Game 3

Aaron chooses to play first for the decisive game in the match. Both players kept their hand, and Aaron led off with Forest into Llanowar Elves. For the first time in the match, Christian didn’t have a play on turn 1. A Fyndhorn Elves and a Wirewood Symbiote let Aaron get maximum value from his Gaea’s Cradle. After Aaron used Wirewood Symbiote to bounce his Fyndhorn Elf, Christian bolted the Symbiote, and then cast Green Sun’s Zenith for 2, and got a Scavenging Ooze. Christian used Chain Lightning on the Ooze and Aaron responded by removing the Symbiote in his graveyard to gain 1 life. Aaron untapped and played some 1/1 creatures, with another Symbiote falling to a Chain Lightning.

An Ooze from Christian helped him stabilize the board as he found more green sources. He didn’t leave it back long, as he chose to eat 2 creatures in the graveyard to gain 2 life and attack for 4. The Quirion Ranger that Aaron topdecked was submerged and Christian then played a Nimble Mongoose with Threshold and a Tarmogoyf.

It didn’t look too good for Aaron who had 1 card in hand. Aaron attacked with 3 of his creatures to put Christian at 8 life and played a Dryad Arbor to help his Fyndhorn Elves block. Christian attacked to put his opponent at 1 life after Aaron blocked with Dryad Arbor and used Quirion Ranger to save it. After combat, Christian cast a Delver of Secrets. It only took one more turn for Aaron to lose to the overwhelming onslaught.

Aaron Dos Remedios 1 – Christian Ladouceur 2

Round 6: Lucas Siow (UB Reanimator) vs. Daniel Fournier (Dredge)

Both of these players are returning to the feature match this round. They are currently at 4-1 and need a win this round so that they may be able to draw into the top 8 in the next round.
Game 1

Lucas won the dice roll and elected to go first. Both players kept and Lucas led with a Careful Study off an Underground Sea, pitching Griselbrand and Exhume. A Putrid Imp from Daniel met a Force of Will to prevent Daniel discarding a creature to bring into play. Lucas then untapped and cast a Reanimate to bring Griselbrand into play. Lucas used the ability to go down to 2 life and draw 7 cards to tighten his grip on the game.

Daniel started looking to fill his graveyard but it was going to take some time, especially since Lucas was countering his draw spells. Two attacks with Griselbrand let Lucas sculpt the near perfect hand. Lucas used Animate Dead on Elesh Norn to prevent any Narcomoebas from stopping his fun and this was too much for Daniel to overcome.

Lucas Siow 1 – Daniel Fournier 0

Daniel Fournier: “I understand why people are so mad about Griselbrand now”

Game 2

Daniel chose to go first for game 2 and debated keeping his hand because it contained a Leyline of the Void in it. In the end he mulliganed his hand, and Lucas followed suit. Both players kept on 6 cards and Daniel led off with a Careful Study pitching 2 non-dredge cards. Lucas played a Lotus Petal and an Underground Sea, and then cast an Entomb for Elesh Norn and reanimated it…all on his turn 1! Daniel scoops after his second careful study fails to find him anything of relevance.
Lucas Siow 2 – Daniel Fournier 0

Round 7: Olivier Hamel (UW Counter-Top) vs. Hugo Lee (RUG Delver)

Olivier is a relatively new Montreal player who started during New Phyrexia, while Hugo is a Toronto based player who focuses on Eternal formats and has been playing for 10 years. Both players need to win this round in order to make the top 8. Olivier won the dice roll and chose to play first.

Game 1

Olivier was unhappy with his first hand and sent it back for a better six. Hugo kept after some contemplation. He was happy with his six and the game started. Both players started with fetch lands, and Hugo cracked his Misty Rainforest for a Tropical Island. He used his tropical island to cast a Delver of Secrets, while Olivier slammed a Counterbalance into play off an Underground Sea and a Tundra. At the beginning of his upkeep, Hugo attempted a Brainstorm to flip his Delver, but Olivier showed him the Enlightened Tutor on top to stop that via Counterbalance. However, Delver wasn’t about to be denied, and Hugo naturally flipped his Delver by revealing a Brainstorm on top of this deck.

After attacking for 3 in the air, Hugo used wasteland to take out Olivier’s tundra. Olivier played an ancient den and passed while Hugo untapped and played ponder, to which Olivier responded to with an Enlightened Tutor, which Hugo cast a Brainstorm in response to. Fortunately for Hugo, Counterbalance revealed a Chrome Mox allowing him to brainstorm successfully. Hugo let Enlightened Tutor resolve, and Olivier went for Sensei’s Divining Top. This resulted in Ponder being countered by Counterbalance. Olivier then went for the stranglehold in this game by casting his sensei’s divining top by tapping his Academy Ruins.

At 9 life, Olivier was running out of time to find a Swords to Plowshares for the Delver. Hugo cast a lightning bolt targeting Olivier and Hugo found another Enlightened Tutor on top of his deck to counter it. This opened a window for Hugo to resolve a Tarmogoyf, and Olivier tapped his top to play an Enlightened Tutor for Ensnaring Bridge to hold both creatures at bay.

After some draw go and counter wars that ensued to keep Olivier’s card count low, Olivier found another Enlightened Tutor to go grab Sensei’s Divining Top and sculpt his hand. Olivier’s Tezzeret met a Daze, but he was just happy to keep making land drops. A Sword of the Meek from Olivier resulted in a counterwar, which Olivier was really happy to initiate as he had an Academy Ruins on the board, and it would come back once he found a Thopter Foundry. Once he found the foundry, it was academic.

Olivier Hamel 1 – Hugo Lee 0

Game 2

Hugo elected to play first. Both players kept their hand and Hugo led off with a Tropical Island, Tormod’s Crypt and a Nimble Mongoose. On his second turn he cast a Scavenging Ooze to put some serious pressure on Olivier’s graveyard. Olivier used his Seat of the Synod and Vault of the Whispers to power out a Thopter Foundry. After attacking Olivier down to 16, Hugo played his second Mongoose.

Hugo crashed in with the team next turn, and Olivier sacrificed his Thopter Foundry to gain 1 life and trade with a Nimble Mongoose, putting Olivier at 14. Olivier played a Counterbalance and Hugo forced him to pay 2 which Olivier was happy to oblige with. On his turn, Hugo dropped Olivier to 11 with his team. A Marsh Flats reduced Olivier’s life to 10 and allowed him to find a basic plains.

He then played another Thopter Foundry, to create some more speedbumps. Once Hugo attacked, Olivier sacrificed his Foundry to make a 1/1 token, and chumpblocked the Scavenging Ooze and fell to 6. Olivier cast an Ensnaring Bridge on his turn, to which Hugo responded with a Brainstorm which Olivier let resolve.

By sacrificing Tormod Crypt targeting his opponent, Hugo was able to reduce the size of his Tarmogoyf, and then used Ooze to eat 2 cards types to make the Tarmogoyf a 2/3. When he went to attack however, Terminus was played from the top of the deck via Sensei’s Divining Top, and Hugo responded to it with a Spell Pierce. Olivier responded to this by casting Force of Will pitching Counterbalance instead of activating the one he had on his field, as he had Sensei’s Divining Top on the top.

Time was called and as Olivier had won game 1, this match ended in his favor.

Olivier Hamel 1 – Hugo Lee 0

Quarterfinals: Lam Phan (UR Landstill) vs. David Goldfarb (Affinity)

Lam got the option as he was 1st on the standings after the swiss. He elected to play first.

Game 1

Lam Phan didn’t like his first hand so he went down to 6. David kept his 7 card hand. David exploded out of the gates with a turn 1 Inkmoth Nexus, Signal Pest, and proceeded to play 3 Memnite. Lam Phan meanwhile played a Faerie Conclave and then a Mishra’s Factory.

David opted to activate his Nexus and send all his men sideways and dropped Lam to 14 life and 2 poison. His post combat Frogmite was Force of Willed. Lam missed his land for the turn and passed back to David who made the same attack losing a Memnite in the process dropping Lam to 9 Life, and post combat David cast another Frogmite which also met a Force of Will.

David attacked with his team minus the nexus, and Lam fetched out a volcanic island to drop to 7 life, and ate the Signal Pest with the Faerie Conclave dropping to a paltry 3 life. Tezzeret came down post combat with the aid of a Mox Opal and used its +1 ability. On his next turn, David activated the ultimate of Tezzeret which was stifled, and then attacked with Memnites and Nexus which dropped Lam to 2 life and 3 poison. After combat he played 2 more guys and after his draw step Lam conceded.

Lam Phan 0 – David Goldfarb 1

Game 2

Lam chose to go first for game 2, and played a Scalding Tarn. David, played a Seat of Synod on his turn and cast 2 Memnites, but when he attempted his Springleaf Drum, Lam was ready with the Spell Pierce. Lam untapped and did some deliberation before casting Pyroclasm off his freshly played Mishra’s factory. David attempted a Frogmite on turn 3, and once it resolved, he cast another.

Cranial Plating from David was a bigger threat, and once it resolved it created an 8/2 Frogmite. Lam took 8 damage but then untapped and cast a second Pyroclasm to sweep the board. As additional insurance, Lam cast a Ratchet Bomb to eventually keep the Plating in check. David drew and passed the turn. Lam tried a Jace the Mind Sculptor but it was Spell Pierced. Through attacks with Mishra’s factories, David’s life total was quickly dwindling. He attempted to play a Signal Pest and a Cranial Plating and they resolved. Once David attacked with the Signal Pest, Lam revealed why he was so calm by casting Lightning Bolt on it.

Once Lam played Standstill with 4 man lands against David’s 3 lands and cranial plating, it was pretty obvious who had control of the game. It only took one more attack for David to scoop up his cards.

Lam Phan 1 – David Goldfarb 1

Game 3

Finally David would get to go on the play for the first time in the match. Would this be the deciding factor? It would take some time to find out, as David had to send back his hand while Lam kept his initial seven.

David started off with a Vault of Whispers and paid two life for a Vault Skirge. He attacked unabated and cast another Vault Skirge and a Memnite. David attacked again with the team after Lam just played another land and dropped Lam to 16. David used his Spell Pierce guard to cast Thoughtcast and Lam had the Spell Pierce. Lam untapped and used his Pyroclasm and David didn’t have his untapped blue source available to Spell Pierce it. With an empty board, David cast Etched Champion and it met a Force of Will.

When David attacked with his Inkmoth Nexus, Lam was happy to trade it for his Faerie Conclave. Lam tapped out to Pyroclasm the Signal Pest and then played Standstill which met the Spell Pierce that David had held from the start of the game. Force of Will made sure the Standstill hit play and the players played draw-go while swinging with their man lands into each other. David was sending his Inkmoth Nexus to hopefully poison Lam, while Lam sent 3 power worth of Mishra’s factories to whittle down David’s life total. Eventually David was forced to break the Standstill for a Cranial Plating and Lam landed a Jace, putting him firmly in the driver’s seat.

When Lam attacked with a Mishra’s Factory, David had a Dispatch ready to send it away. Lam used the brainstorm on Jace to sculpt a better hand and played a Crucible to allow him to recur his mana sources in the future. Lam was happy to trade his Mishra’s Factory for a Frogmite, and David just replaced his Frogmite with one fresh from the top of his deck. Lam just had all the answers, he had the counterspells for the creatures and when he didn’t he had the removal. It didn’t take long for Lam to win from there.

Lam Phan 2 – David Goldfarb 1

Semifinals: Lam Phan (UR Landstill) vs. Christian Ladouceur (RUG Delver)

Lam got the option as he was the higher seed after the swiss. Once again he chose to go first.

Game 1

Lam didn’t like his first hand so he went down to 6. Christian was content with his 7. Lam cracked his Scalding Tarn for an island and passed the turn, clearly playing around Stifle. Christian responded in kind, by cracking his Misty Rainforest for a Tropical Island and then playing a Delver of Secrets. Delver flipped on turn 1 when Christian revealed a Stifle. Ponder from Christian met a Spell Pierce from Lam, but this was Dazed by Christian. Lam continued to miss land drops and fell to 13 after a Delver attack. Christian played out 2 Nimble Mongeese as Lam continued to miss land drops. Lam topdecked a Mishra’s factory and played a Ratchet Bomb.

Christian allowed this and then played a Brainstorm to sculpt his hand. Thought Scour met a Force of Will from Lam which was Forced back pitching Stifle, allowing the Thought Scour to resolve and give Christian’s Mongeese threshold. As a last ditch effort, Lam popped the Ratchet Bomb on 0 to kill the Insectile Abberation, but Christian had another Stifle to send us to game 2.

Lam Phan 0 – Christian Ladouceur 1

Game 2

Once again Lam chose to go first, with both players keeping their hands. Scalding Tarn from Lam got him an island. Both players continued to play draw go, while Lam was careful to initially only fetch out basic lands. Christian played a turn 2 Delver, which resolved and Lam played a Ratchet Bomb to persuade his opponent not to flip it. After Christian played a second Delver, Lam ticked up Ratchet Bomb to 1 and Christian had the Stifle to prevent the board from clearing when Lam pulled the trigger on it.

Lam used a Red Elemental Blast to stop the Stifle, but Christian had the Force of Will. He continued to reduce the board by using one of his bolts to remove one of the Delvers before Christian could untap. After this, he played a Relic of Progenitus to hedge against any future graveyard shenanigans. As expected, the remaining Delver flipped on the next turn without assistance and Christian played a Ponder to refill his hand.

Delver continued to hit Lam down to a precarious 11 life, and then he wastelanded Lam’s Factory. Lam continued to play lands as the Delver continued to beat down on his life total. Lam was all the way down to 2 life, would he have an answer? Lam played a Brainstorm to go find one. Lam found one in Red Elemental Blast and played it to destroy the Insectile Aberration. Christian responded by using his Wasteland on the Faerie Conclave and after it resolved, he played a Brainstorm to go find a counterspell.

He found one in Force of Will, and used it only to have it Forced back by Lam who went down to 1 life. Lam’s last card was a Standstill which was Spell Pierced, he had 2 lands but couldn’t afford to crack his fetch land. Luckily, he topdecked a Jace and continued to Brainstorm , while Christian’s next couple draws were Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Red Elemental Blast, unlucky as he didn’t have a red mana source. All the while, Jace was using its +0 ability to help Lam sculpt his hand. Eventually, Christian drew a Scalding Tarn and cracked it instantly to find a red source. Lam had the Stifle. One turn later, Christian drew a Volcanic Island and attempted a Lightning Bolt. Lam conceded.

Lam Phan 0 – Christian Ladouceur 2

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