After four short rounds in the Highlander event at GP
Melbourne we had only one final round to determine who our winner would be for
the largest Highlander event of the year so far.
Both our winner from the last game (Paul Mitchell) and the
new challenger (Brandon Owen) were coming into this round undefeated. A win
here would secure the tournament and all the bragging rights until MASTERS
which is coming up over the Queen’s birthday weekend.
Brandon had brought his own version of Dimir Control to the
tournament now it was time to face the final boss in the form of Paul’s Blue
Moon deck.
After words were exchanged and die were rolled, it was Brandon that elected to be on the play.
Fortunately for his opponent he had to take a
mulligan down to six in the face of his opponent’s seven. Brandon starts the game
off with a Flooded Strand signalling a slower more controlling start.
Paul of the other hand looked to put himself first in the long game by
suspending an Ancestral Vision on turn one and following it up with a Sensei’s
Divining Top and a Ponder on turn two against Brandon only other play of a tapped
Faerie Conclave.
With things looking bleak for Brandon so early he tried to stay
in the game with an Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver which due to Pauls aggressive
stance in the early game resolved. Ashiok exiled the Force of Will on top of
Paul’s library as well as the Izzet
Charm and a land. No creatures yet but Ashiok was out of burn range for now
which means that he had some more time to play with. Time he may have had time
but Paul was about to start pressuring him on a different angle.
The very next turn Paul cast a Back to Basics locking down
all of Brandon's lands apart from a single Island. Without the lands he was
expecting, Brandon activated Ashiok before casting a Preordain which found a
Thoughtseize which was cast off another non-basic keeping three lands
permanently tapped down. The Thoughtseize did take a very scary Grim
Lavamancer but leaving behind the equally scary cards in the form of
Stormbreath Dragon, Crypic Command, and Mana Leak. At this point it looked like
Ashiok would need to get there before Paul reached the mana for his dragon
which was only two land drops away.
Even more devastating for Brandon was his opponents Ancestral
Recall off the top (along with the Visions on a single counter). Ashiok did
manage to hit a Vendilion Clique giving him an out the following turn to the
Stormbreath Dragon which was most likely going to come down and ruin any
chances he had of turning this game around. He used the final trick up his
sleeve to Stifle the cast trigger on the Ancestral Visions which resolved
meaning that Paul missed an all important land drop that turn.
Paul saw that the Vendilion clique was a threat to his
victory and so cast his Cryptic command in the main phase to bounce the Ashiok,
clearing that problem, and drawing a card. Ashiok came down the next turn at the
cost of another permanently tapped land but it did not manage to find another
creature and could only exile Dack Fayden and two other spells. Still digging
through his deck, Paul once again bounced the Planeswalker, this time with a
kicked into the Roil and ended his turn with two untapped Islands signpoasting
the Mana Leak which had been revealed earlier in the match to Brandon's Thoughtseize.
Brandon could do nothing the following turn and could only
watch helplessly as Paul cast the Stormbreath Dragon, which went on to deal
damage for two turns before he would find some resistance. When Paul wen to
cast the Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Paul cast his own Mana Drain which was in turn
targeted by a Mana Leak and Brandon conceded that he could not win that game and
both players went to their sideboards.
Brandon went on to concede that he had made an error earlier in
the match by not fetching due to his opponents Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth playing
right into the Back to Basics which was on the field at the time. Laugher is
heard coming from the judge down at the other end of the table exclaiming that
he had “dodged a bullet” by being on break when the Judge call regarding
Humility vs Opalescence had been made. That particular call had been tweeted
out from the official Magic Judges Twitter account not once but twice.
— Magic Judges (@MagicJudges) March 4, 2016
(PJ) Seriously... The best! Why isn't 7pt highlander a pro tour format? #gpmelb pic.twitter.com/ShPyJ4z93h— Magic Judges (@MagicJudges) March 4, 2016
Both players took this time
to quieten down and make the last few changes to their boards.
Good luck is called and play begun for the second game of
the final match of the tournament.
In a mirror of the first game, Brandon elected to be on the
play but chose to mulligan to six in the face of Paul’s keep of seven.
Obtaining perfect information from his opponent, Brandon casts a Gitaxian Probe
revealing:
Logic Knot
Fiery Confluence
Ancestral Vision
Desolate Lighthouse
3 Mana Lands
Fiery Confluence
Ancestral Vision
Desolate Lighthouse
3 Mana Lands
After racing me to see who could write the contents of the
hand faster, Brandon played a Creeping Tar Pit and passed the turn.
Looking to set up his long game, Paul suspended the
Ancestral visions before passing the turn back. Brandon looking to press his
advantage cast the Hymn to Tourach forcing the discard of a Scalding Tarn and a
Desolate Lighthouse. Unfortunately Brandon has no follow up play and both players
play land god for a couple of turns. I got a sneak peek into Pauls hand at this
point to see a Counterspell which spelled bad news for Brandon.
The players fought over the Ancestral Visions with the
Brandon's Negate being hit by a Mana Leak and the Visions resolved. Unfortunately
for Paul he missed a land drop and sensing weakness in his opponents’ defences
Brandon goes to cast the Trinket mage in his hand to get a Sensei’s Divining Top.
His opponent tried to cast Ancestral targeting himself but this time his draw
three would not resolve as Brandon's freshly drawn Mana Leak sends it to the
Graveyard. Paul did manage to bolt the Trinket mage at the end of the turn to
keep the beard clear.
Smelling an opening due to his opponent being tapped out due to the combined casting of Trinket
Mage, Sensei’s Dinining Top and Mana Leak Paul cast his Vedalken Shackles which
very effectively shut down combat as Paul would be able to take either the
Faerie Conclave or the Creeping Tar Pit should either attack.
Trying to find
an answer to this new problem, Brandon stumbled for a couple of turns which was enough for Glen Elenda, Archmage to join the battlefield for Paul, despite Brandon's return counterspell.
Now armed with a 1 mana counterspell for non-creature spells, Paul looked to be
moving into a rather comfortable lead.
Cephalid Colosseum was activated to try and find an answer
but only a Tropical Island and a Deathrite Shaman were forthcoming. As Paul was
tapped down and his Shackles no longer a threat the Creeping Tar Pit was able
to swing for some free damage.
Paul cast a Ponder at the start of his turn and went into
the tank. He seemed to really struggle to find the correct line and was
thinking for quite some time. He elected to keep the three cards on top and had
three cards left in his hand after the raw. Glen Elendra swung in for a little
damage and he passed the turn. On his opponent’s draw step, however, he cast a
Vendilion Clique. The Clique resolved but the duress-like effect was stifled.
Pithing Needle came down and Paul once again seemed top struggle with his
various options. With the obvious choice of using the Glen Elendra staring him
in the face we well as the cards he had access to in his hand he once again
tanked for a few seconds. In the end he elected to allow the Pithing Needle to
resolve. The Needle named the Shackles.
Paul however was playing tricky and cast Fiery Confluence on
his next turn to destroy the Needle and between the Vendilion Clique and the
Glen Enendra Brandon was reduced to a mere 5 life points.
Brandon did nothing on his turn but popped the top and
attempted to cast a Heroes Downfall on the Clique when he was attacked but the
spell was Remanded and he was forced to concede.
Both players agreed that it would have been an uphill battle
for Brandon and that the Back to Basics in Game one had been backbreaking.
Both
players desideboarded quietly and the lights went out on the Friday Highlander at
GP Melbourne
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