Guildmage Remix - Shards/Conflux Draft

Kind of a late arriving crowd. Our official meeting time has never changed in the twelve years we have been getting together, 7:00 p.m. That's the official time, but dudes usually start showing up at 6:30 or so. This week, the only shadow in the Guildhall doorway by that time is Thomas Peek. Thomas is here mostly as a favor to his friend Wes Blanchard, who left a box of cards at the Conflux prerelease. Luckily, the tournament staff recovered that box of cards and it has been sitting safely in my garage ever since. After arriving to pick up the cards at around 6:45 p.m., Thomas says he won't be able to stick around for the draft.

Eric Jones is in Tokyo this week for the Pro Tour, but he's the only Guildmage qualified so I expect to see the rest of the regulars. We've had full draft tables the past few Tuesdays, too.

At almost straight up 7:00 p.m., in walk Caleb Senbayrak and Brent Kaskel. I haven't seen either of these blokes in pretty much six months. They immediately ask the worst question ever, “Where is everybody?” Next, Brent hits me up for cards. He says that Taylor Webb, who lives with Brent these days, is leaving for Tokyo in the morning and has no cards for his deck. What does he need, I ask. Everything, Kaskel tells me. Taylor actually does not know for sure what deck he is playing yet.

Brian Heine arrives a few minutes after seven, with Michael Ferri in tow. Brian comes into my association by way of Hunter Burton, who used to drag him around to every Magic tournament back when Brian was in high school. Since then, Brian has graduated, started college and played in a Japanese Pro Tour; not in that order. Lately, Brian has been picking up Mike on his way to my house on Tuesdays. Ferri lives in Grapevine, the next suburban outpost over. Ferri recently moved back to the Folks' house after working, going to college and playing a lot of Magic in Austin. Ferri first popped up on my personal Magic radar when he was the less attractive half of the Analynn Bustamante/Michael Ferri teamup. The two are still friends, as I understand it.

Mark Hendrickson shows up next, fresh off a nasty second place finish at a sixty person PTQ last Saturday in Wichita, Kansas. While 184 players battled through a grueling eight Swiss rounds five hours southwest of Dallas in San Antonio, Mark traveled with me, Paul Telkamp and Eric Jones five hours due north in Wichita. I ran the tournament and head judged as the other three played. Mark played great, he has a really good grasp of Extended right now. His tweaked up green/black/white control deck, also played by Telkamp, put he and Telkamp both in the top eight. The field was very good for their deck, with eleven Elf decks and nine Affinity decks. Unfortunately for Mark and for Paul, there was an Elf player who just could not seem to lose. The player, from Kansas City, was named Boss. Boss got Mark in two straight in the finals after also taking down Telkamp in the semi finals. Luckily for Mark, there's another PTQ this Saturday, just an hour west in Fort Worth. Another Aussiefox production, another tournament run with quality management and highly skilled judging by yours truly.

Arthur Morris and Chris Block show up next, perfectly filling out our eight man draft table. Both have been showing up for a few weeks straight. I'm not sure what has brought Arthur back around to Magic. He was one of the Shotokan guys five or six years ago that got really good at Magic, he won Regionals one year, and he's been a good player ever since. Chris Block is a level II judge who can also play competitively but is a better judge than player. No disrespect to his play skills, it's just that he's a really good judge, there is no doubt that he has put more of his time and brain power into knowing the rules and tournament policies of Magic than into building tournament competitive decks.

Last, but not least, is Taylor Webb. Like his homies Brent and Caleb, Taylor hasn't been in the Guildhall for about six months. Taylor has a college class on Tuesday nights, which is a shock because I didn't know that he was into fancy book learning at all. Taylor drove down from Denton a couple of hours after the first draft began, mostly to find cards before his Wednesday morning trip to Tokyo. Taylor admits that he also has not drafted with Conflux much yet, and so he is pleased to be able to play in our second draft of the night, another full eight man table.

Eight Man Booster Draft

Strangely, we manage to run two full eight man drafts. Almost the only time this happens is the first week or two after a new set is released.

The first draft gets started around 7:30 p.m. Starting with myself, the seating continues clockwise as follows, Arthur, Mike, Brian, Chris, Mark, Brent and Caleb.

Here's how my draft went. In lieu of a broken rare or uncommon of any kind, I began my draft with Druid of the Anima. A strange choice, even when settling for a first pick common? Perhaps. The players on my immediate right are Caleb and then Brent. These guys are usually not taking the obvious route for their decks. Obviously, I love to play Naya in Shards drafts, its my most comfortable shard by far. My next pick is Rakeclaw Gargantuan followed by Bloodpyre Elemental and a second Druid of the Anima. Next, I get a Hissing Iguanar, followed by what seems like LATE removal in the form of Resounding Silence. Since Conflux arrived, I usually all five colors in my deck, so I figure Resounding Silence COULD get the supercharged cycle treatment. Only two more of the cards from my first Shards pack get into my deck, a Yoked Plowbeast and a Jungle Weaver. My second Shards pack is also bomb free, but I hardly ever complain about taking a Knight of the Skyward Eye. Next I get another Druid of the Anima, the third for my deck, followed by Qasali Ambusher. When I have Forests and Plains in my deck, I find it hard to ignore the Ambusher. Next comes another Hissing Iguanar followed by a couple of nice fatties, Rakeclaw Gargantuan (second one in the deck) and Mosstodon. The last Shards card that makes the cut is a late pick Excommunicate. I am definitely worried about my deck's lack of removal spells. I get no love from the Conflux pack I opened, in fact I can't even remember what I ended up taking, but it didn't make the deck. I got a Nacatl Hunt-Pride with my second pick, and a good-but-not-exciting Aven Trailblazer with my third. Fourth pick was a Knotvine Mystic and fifth was a much-needed piece of removal, a Drag Down that would be the second black card in my deck. Three of the last four Conflux cards that made it to my deck solve my mana problems nicely. I get an Armillary Sphere in the back half of the booster, followed by Exploding Borders and Sylvan Bounty. I get a Wandering Goblins somewhere in the second half of the packs as well, a card I am really warming up to in any draft deck that can get achieve all five colors for domain.

I win my first round match against Brent 2-0. It's obvious he hasn't seen much Conflux and I think he and Caleb fought over colors the same way they more or less playfully fight over everything else in their friendship. In round two, I lose 0-2 to Mike Ferri for reasons that will become abundantly clear when you see his draft deck below and that results of a best of seven games series that I played with the two decks later that I have detailed at the very end of this entry. In round three I beat Brian 2-0. The first game was a squeaker, Brian didn't get land in game two going first. I play Caleb in the semi finals of the first draft. I can't remember much about his deck, except that he had a lot better red spells than I did. In fact, he and Brent, drafting in front of me, each drafted more red cards that I had in my dedicated Naya deck. I win the match 2-0, but both games are pretty long and drawn out.

Booster Draft Number Two

The second draft gets started around 11:20 p.m. Starting with myself, the seating continues clockwise as follows; Arthur, Mike, Brent, Brian, Mark, Chris and Taylor.

My memory of the second draft is sketchier. I wanted to try to be a little more open minded for the second draft and not get locked in to Naya right off the bat. My choices in my first pack are Magma Spray and Bloodpyre Elemental, I picked the cheap instant. My second pick was between Wild Nacatl and the Naya triple land. Never mind the fact that I wanted to be open to non-Naya stuff, I pick the Nacatl because if I play it, I want actual Mountains and Plains in my deck. The mana fixing in Conflux has changed how I approach the mana fixers in Shards. Where I once picked the uncommon Shards lands extremely high even if I was only using two of the three colors, I now prefer to play basic lands and things that help me get them in play like Panoramas, landcyclers and the holy grail of domain draft, Armillary Sphere. Looking at the passed cards for my third pick, I see that Taylor and Chris have given me Cruel Ultimatum. I have been paying a lot of attention to Mark Hendrickson's drafts lately, and it really seems like Conflux has improved black to the point where Grixis just might be the new Naya. I take the Ultimatum as a pretty good clue the players to my immediate right are not going that direction. The next pick is another good clue as I pick up Grixis Charm. My deck ends up pretty good, with double Screecher, double blue/black/white artifact creature with lifelink and double Sedraxis Alchemist (Manowar much?) along with an Excommunicate, an Unsummon and a surprisingly important Brackwater Elemental holding down the ground quite a few times. This deck did need seventeen land, a sum which did not include a Forest but which did include two Plains.

In the second draft, I lost my first round match to Taylor after winning the first game. I probably would have won the second game except for his amazing rare 1/6 flying wall that allowed him to gain big chunks of life every turn. He literally gained sixty points of life with it in game two. I win 2-0 against Brian Heine in round two, the first game due to the Ultimatum. In round three I play Arthur and defeat his rather messy deck 2-0. In the semi finals I beat Mark 2-0. Taylor beat his roommate Brent in the other semi final match.

Eight Man Booster Draft Finals Decks

Here are the two decks from the finals of the first eight man booster draft:

Mike Ferri
Island x5
Swamp x5
Mountain x4
Plains x1
Esper Panorama x2
Path of Exile
Grixis Illusionist
Dregscape Zombie
Blister Beetle
Parasitic Strix x2
Grixis Charm x3
Pestilent Kathari
Oblivion Ring
Vithian Stinger
Brackwater Elemental
Grixis Battlemage
Resounding Wave
Sanctum Gargoyle
Fatestitcher
Sphinx Summoner
Vectis Agents
Covenant of Minds
Skeletal Kathari
Steelclad Serpent
Bull Cerodon

Jeff Zandi
Forest x6
Plains x4
Mountain x4
Island x1
Swamp x1
Druid of the Anima x3
Knight of the Skyward Eye
Armillary Sphere
Aven Trailblazer
Hissing Iguanar x2
Drag Down
Excommunicate
Knotvine Mystic
Wandering Goblins
Qasali Ambusher
Resounding Silence
Exploding Borders
Rakeclaw Gargantuan x2
Mosstodon
Bloodpyre Elemental
Blood Tyrant
Nacatl Hunt-Pride
Sylvan Bounty
Yoked Plowbeast
Jungle Weaver

Tuesday Night Draft Format

Drafts at the weekly Guildmage meetings work like this: we play three Swiss rounds cutting to a top eight. We play one more match to determine the top two finishers, who split the rares and foils from the draft any way they want to. Lately, most guys agree to just flip the prize cards face down and take turns drawing for highest casting cost. If we have seven or eight players, we play three rounds of Swiss. If we have nine, ten or eleven players we play four rounds of Swiss. If we have six or twelve players we draw random teams for three-versus-three team draft following regular team draft conventions.

In our weekly drafts, we have a policy of not playing out the finals. There are a couple of reasons. First, after three rounds of Swiss and one round of top four playoffs, it’s nice to save a little time by not playing a finals, especially when doing so makes it able for us to have a second draft. Also, by having the finalists split the booty, the rares and foils from the draft, two players are assured of getting some prizes for their hard work.

Counting Down to Six Hundred

The Texas Guildmages are counting down to their six hundredth weekly team meeting. I am proud to report that our weekly game, going on since Fall 1996, is the longest running Magic game that I am aware of. In seven more weeks we will have a big party to celebrate number 600. In the meantime, I will enjoy sharing some of the stats and funny trivia from the years.

Today, I would like to share the full 33 man lifetime roster of the Texas Guildmages. After each player’s name is the year he was added to the team. The original seven members became a part of the team all at one time, so our numbers were assigned alphabetically. These dudes may not be household names in Pro Tour history, but all of the players listed, except for two, have played in at least one Pro Tour event, and most of us have quite a few more than that. Blake Miller recently became a level one DCI judge, and his play skills have put him tantalizingly close to the Pro Tour. David Mitchell did most of his Magical domination before the Pro Tour started, winning more power nine jewelry than I’ve had hot meals, and that’s a lot.

1. Cortney Cunningham, 1996
2. Minh Huynh, 1996
3. James Jenkins, 1996
4. Scot Martin, 1996
5. James Murphy, 1996
6. James Stroud, 1996
7. Jeff Zandi, 1996
8. David Williams, 1997
9. Tim Stoltzfus, 1998
10. Bryan Sammon, 1998
11. David Mitchell, 1998
12. Robert Lawing, 1998
13. Bil Payne, 1999
14. Matt Duncan, 1999
15. Robbie Howell, 2000
16. Jonathan Pechon, 2000
17. Zach Karthauser, 2000
18. Chad Jones, 2000
19. Bryan Lyons, 2001
20. Skye Thomsen, 2001
21. Jeremy Simmons, 2003
22. Brent Kaskel, 2003
23. Neil Reeves, 2003
24. Angie Rae Riley, 2005
25. Trent Boneau, 2006
26. Mark Hendrickson, 2006
27. Hunter Burton, 2006
28. Jon Toone, 2006
29. Steven Bruce, 2006
30. Mark Dean, 2006
31. Blake Miller, 2006
32. Paul Telkamp, 2008
33. Eric Jones, 2009

I made up a simple mnemonic for remembering all thirty-three Guildmages’ first names in a row: Can Men Jump So Jingle-Jangle Jealously Down To Brave Devotion? Randomly Brilliant Magicians; Road-Jumping, Zebra-Chasing… Big Skills! Justice Brings No Average Talent! Mere Humans Just Survive. My Bunch Pushes Excellence!

Jeff Zandi
Texas Guildmages
Level II DCI Judge
Zanman on Magic Online
jeffzandi@hotmail.com

Texas Guildmage meeting #593, Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Roll Call (in order of arrival)
Jeff Zandi Guildage #7, 593rd meeting.
Thomas Peek, guest, 1st meeting in a row, 3rd overall.
Caleb Senbayrak, guest, 1st meeting in a row, 72nd overall.
Brent Kaskel, Guildmage # , 1st meeting in a row, 101st overall.
Mark Hendrickson, Guildmage #26, 2nd meeting in a row, 143rd overall.
Brian Heine, guest, 4th meeting in a row, 37th overall.
Michael Ferri, guest, 1st meeting in a row, 8th overall.
Arthur Morris, guest, 4th meeting in a row, 32nd overall.
Chris Block, guest, 4th meeting in a row, 17th overall.
Taylor Webb, guest, 1st meeting in a row, 10th overall.

Meeting ran from 6:45pm to 2:32am

Play-By-Play of a match between the decks in the 8 man finals

GAME ONE
T1 Zanman keeps Plains, Forest x2, Mountain, Knotvine Mystic, Blood Tyrant and Excommunicate. Plays Mountain.
T1 Mike keeps Mountain x2, Swamp, Island, Grixis Charm, Oblivion Ring, Sphinx Summoner. Draws Vithian Stinger, plays Mountain.
T2 Zanman draws Yoked Plowbeast, plays Forest.
T2 Mike draws Pestilent Kathari, plays Island.
T3 Zanman draws Hissing Iguanar, plays Plains, Knotvine Mystic.
T3 Mike draws Vectis Agents, plays Swamp, plays Vithian Stinger.
T4 Zanman draws and plays Plains, activates Knotvine Mystic, plays Excommunicate targeting Vithian Stinger, plays Hissing Iguanar.
T4 Mike draws and plays Vithian Stinger, plays Mountain.
T5 Zanman draws and plays Swamp, attacks with Iguanar (20-17), activates Knotvine Mystic, plays Yoked Plowbeast.
T5 Mike draws Grixis Charm, activates Stinger targeting Iguanar, plays Pestilent Kathari.
T6 Zanman draws Druid of the Anima, plays Forest, attacks with Knotvine Mystic (20-15).
T6 Mike draws and plays Esper Panorama, plays Sphinx Summoner searching his library and putting Sanctum Gargoyle into his hand.
T7 Zanman draws and plays Bloodpyre Elemental, sacrifices Elemental dealing four damage to Pestilent Kathari, attacks with Plowbeast (20-10).
T7 Mike draws Blister Beetle, plays Grixis Charm targeting Plowbeast, deals one damage to Plowbeast with Stinger.
T8 Zanman draws and cycles Sylvan Bounty putting an Island in his hand from his library, plays Island, activates Knotvine Mystic, plays Blood Tyrant.
T8 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Grixis Charm targeting Blood Tyrant, shoots Tyrant with Stinger.
T9 Zanman draws and plays Jungle Weaver, at end of turn Mike sacrifices Esper Panorama searching his library and putting a Plains into play.
T9 Mike draws Bull Cerodon, plays Blister Beetle giving Mystic -1/-1 until end of turn, shoots Mystic with Stinger, plays Oblivion Ring removing Jungle Weaver, attacks with Summoner (17-10).
T10 Zanman draws and plays Forest.
T10 Mike draws and plays Swamp, plays Bull Cerodon, attacks with Bull Cerodon, Summoner and Beetle (8-10).
T11 Zanman draws Resounding Silence, at end of turn Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (7-10).
T11 Mike draws and plays Island, attacks with Summoner, Bull Cerodon and Beetle, Zanman cycles Resounding Silence removing Cerodon and Summoner from the game (6-10) and drawing Druid of the Anima, Mike plays Vectis Agents.
T12 Zanman draws Plains, plays two Druid of the Anima, at end of turn Mike shoots a Druid with Stinger.
T12 Mike draws Parasitic Strix, shoots Druid with Stinger, attacks with Beetle and Agents (1-10), plays Parasitic Strix making Zanman lose two life.
MIKE WINS GAME ONE ON TURN 12, LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME TWO
T1 Zanman keeps Forest x2, Plains, Swamp, Aven Trailblazer, Resounding Silence and Druid of the Anima. Plays Forest.
T1 Mike keeps Island, Mountain, Swamp, Grixis Charm x2, Vectis Agents and Grixis Battlemage. Draws Sphinx Summoner, plays Mountain.
T2 Zanman draws and plays Mountain, plays Druid of the Anima.
T2 Mike draws Mountain, plays Swamp.
T3 Zanman draws Bloodpyre Elemental, plays Plains, attacks with Druid (20-19), plays Aven Trailblazer.
T3 Mike draws Sanctum Gargoyle, plays Island, plays Grixis Charm targeting Aven Trailblazer.
T4 Zanman draws Sylvan Bounty, plays Swamp, attacks with Druid (20-18).
T4 Mike draws Skeletal Kathari, plays Mountain, Grixis Battlemage, at end of turn Zanman cycles Sylvan Bounty searching for an Island and puts it into his hand.
T5 Zanman draws and plays Armillary Sphere, plays Island.
T5 Mike draws Bull Cerodon, activates Battlemage drawing Parasitic Strix and discarding Vectis Agents, plays Parasitic Strix (18-20), and end of turn Zanman sacrifices Armillary Sphere searching for and putting Plains and Mountain into his hand.
T6 Zanman draws Blood Tyrant, plays Mountain, plays Blood Tyrant.
T6 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Skeletal Kathari.
T7 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant causes both players to lose one life (17-19) and putting two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Druid of the Anima, attacks with Tyrant (17-12), plays Plains.
T7 Mike draws Resounding Wave, attacks with Kathari and Strix, Zanman cycles Resounding Silence removing Kathari and Strix from the game and drawing Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T8 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant causes both players to lose one life (16-11) and putting two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Excommunicate, attacks with Tyrant, Mike plays Resounding Wave targeting Blood Tyrant, Zanman plays Forest, Druid of the Anima, Blood Tyrant, at end of turn Mike activates Battlemage drawing and discarding Dregscape Zombie.
T8 Mike draws Grixis Charm, plays Sphinx Summoner searching for and putting Parasitic Strix into his hand from his library.
T9 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant causes both players to lose one life (15-10) and putting two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Hissing Iguanar, attacks with Blood Tyrant and both Druids, Druid blocked by Battlemage and Druid blocked by Summoner (15-4), plays Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T9 Mike draws and plays Esper Panorama, plays Parasitic Strix (13-6).
T10 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant causes both players to lose one life (12-5) and putting two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Knight of the Skyward Eye, plays Excommunicate targeting Sphinx Summoner, attacks with Gargantuan and Tyrant, Tyrant blocked by Strix, Mike plays Grixis Charm giving Gargantuan -4/-4 until end of turn, Zanman plays Hissing Iguanar, plays Knight of the Skyward Eye.
T10 Mike draws and plays Sphinx Summoner searching his library and putting Steelclad Serpent into his hand.
T11 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant causes both players to lose one life (11-4) and putting two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Jungle Weaver, plays Bloodpyre Elemental, sacrifices Elemental targeting Summoner, Iguanar triggers twice targeting Mike (11-2), attacks with Tyrant (11- -9).
ZANMAN WINS GAME TWO ON TURN 11, TIES SERIES 1-1.

GAME THREE
T1 Mike keeps Mountain x2, Swamp, Island, Oblivion Ring, Dregscape Zombie, Parasitic Strix. Plays Swamp.
T1 Zanman keeps Forest x4, Rakeclaw Gargantuan, Drag Down and Wandering Goblins. Draws and plays Mountain.
T2 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Dregscape Zombie.
T2 Zanman draws and plays Plains.
T3 Mike draws Grixis Battlemage, plays Mountain, plays Parasitic Strix (18-22), attacks with Zombie (16-22).
T3 Zanman draws Jungle Weaver, plays Forest, Wandering Goblins.
T4 Mike draws Skeletal Kathari, plays Island, attacks with Strix (14-22), plays Grixis Battlemage.
T4 Zanman draws and plays Plains.
T5 Mike draws and plays Esper Panorama, attacks with Strix (12-22), plays Skeletal Kathari.
T5 Zanman draws and plays Aven Trailblazer, plays Forest.
T6 Mike draws Brackwater Elemental, attacks with Strix and Kathari, Kathari blocked by Trailblazer, with combat damage on the stack, Mike sacrifices Dregscape Zombie regenerating Kathari (10-22), plays Mountain, plays Brackwater Elemental.
T6 Zanman draws Blood Tyrant, plays Forest, plays Rakeclaw Gargantuan, at end of turn Mike sacrifices Esper Panorama searching out a Plains from his library.
T7 Mike draws Vithian Stinger, attacks with Kathari and Strix (5-22), plays Vithian Stinger.
T7 Zanman draws and plays Swamp, attacks with Gargantuan blocked by Grixis Battlemage, Zanman activates Gargantuan giving it first strike.
T8 Mike draws Blister Beetle, attacks with Kathari and Strix, Zanman plays Drag Down targeting Kathari (3-22), plays Blister Beetle targeting Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T8 Zanman draws Sylvan Bounty, plays Forest, Jungle Weaver, at end of turn Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (2-22).
T9 Mike draws and plays Mountain, plays Oblivion Ring removing Jungle Weaver from the game, attacks with Strix (0-22).
MIKE WINS GAME THREE, LEADS SERIES 2-1.

GAME FOUR
T1 Zanman keeps Mountain x2, Plains, Forest, Swamp, Hissing Iguanar, Wandering Goblins, plays Mountain.
T1 Mike keeps Mountain x2, Island, Swamp, Pestilent Kathari, Resounding Wave and Parasitic Strix. Draws Brackwater Elemental, plays Mountain.
T2 Zanman draws Yoked Plowbeast, plays Forest.
T2 Mike draws Grixis Battlemage, plays Swamp, at end of turn Zanman cycles Yoked Plowbeast drawing Exploding Borders.
T3 Zanman draws Qasali Ambusher, plays Plains, plays Hissing Iguanar.
T3 Mike draws Mountain, plays Island, plays Grixis Battlemage.
T4 Zanman draws Forest, plays Swamp, attacks with Iguanar blocked by Battlemage, when creatures go to the graveyard Iguanar triggers targeting Mike (20-19), Zanman plays Exploding Borders putting an Island into play and dealing five damage to Mike (20-14).
T4 Mike draws Blister Beetle, plays Mountain, plays Pestilent Kathari.
T5 Zanman draws Plains, plays Forest, plays Wandering Goblins.
T5 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Parasitic Strix (18-21).
T6 Zanman draws and plays Plains, attacks with Goblins blocked by Kathari.
T6 Mike draws Skeletal Kathari, plays Mountain, attacks with Strix, Zanman plays Qasali Ambusher, blocks Strix, with combat damage on the stack Mike plays Resounding Wave returning Strix to his hand, plays Blister Beetle giving Ambusher -1/-1 until end of turn.
T7 Zanman draws and plays Bloodpyre Elemental, plays Mountain.
T7 Mike draws and plays Swamp, attacks with Beetle (17-21), plays Brackwater Elemental, plays Parasitic Strix (15-23).
T8 Zanman draws and plays Aven Trailblazer, sacrifices Elemental targeting Brackwater Elemental.
T8 Mike draws Bull Cerodon, plays Skeletal Kathari.
T9 Zanman draws and plays Knotvine Mystic.
T9 Mike draws Oblivion Ring.
T10 Zanman draws Forest.
T10 Mike draws and plays Island.
T11 Zanman draws and plays Blood Tyrant.
T11 Mike draws and plays Parasitic Strix (13-25).
T12 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (12-24) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Resounding Silence, plays Forest.
T12 Mike draws and plays Vectis Agents.
T13 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (11-23) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws and plays Plains, attacks with Blood Tyrant (11-14).
T13 Mike draws and plays Swamp, activates Agents’ ability, attacks with Agents (9-14).
T14 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (8-13) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws and plays Mountain, attacks with Tyrant blocked by Skeletal Kathari, Mike sacrifices Blister Beetle regenerating Kathari.
T14 Mike draws and plays Vithian Stinger, activates Agents, attacks with Agents, Zanman cycles Resounding Silence removing Vectis Agents from the game and drawing Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T15 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (7-12) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws and plays Druid of the Anima, plays Rakeclaw Gargantuan, attacks with Tyrant blocked by Strix.
T15 Mike draws Grixis Charm.
T16 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (6-11) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Jungle Weaver, attacks with Tyrant and Gargantuan, Tyrant blocked by Strix, Mike plays Grixis Charm targeting Gargantuan, Zanman plays Jungle Weaver, at end of turn Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (5-11).
T16 Mike draws and plays Covenant of Minds revealing Dregscape Zombie, Sphinx Summoner and Mountain, Zanman lets Mike put those cards in his hand, Mike plays Mountain, plays Sphinx Summoner putting Sanctum Gargoyle into his hand.
T17 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (4-10) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Forest, attacks with Jungle Weaver and Blood Tyrant blocked by Sphinx Summoner, Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (3-5).
T17 Mike draws and plays Esper Panorama, plays Dregscape Zombie, plays Brackwater Elemental from his graveyard with unearth, attacks with Elemental blocked by Trailblazer, at end of turn Brackwater Elemental is removed from the game.
T18 at the beginning of Zanman’s turn, Blood Tyrant makes each player lose one life (2-4) and puts two +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant, Zanman draws Nacatl Hunt-Pride, attacks with Tyrant, Mystic, Trailblazer, Weaver and Druid, Weaver blocked by Stinger, Tyrant blocked by Kathari and Mystic blocked by Zombie, with combat damage on the stack, Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (1-4) and sacrifices Stinger to regenerate Kathari (1-1), at end of turn Mike sacrifices Panorama putting a Plains into play.
T18 Mike draws Fatestitcher, returns Vithian Stinger to play with unearth, shoots Zanman with Stinger (0-1).
MIKE WINS GAME FOUR ON TURN 18, LEADS SERIES 3-1.

GAME FIVE
T1 Zanman keeps Mountain, Plains, Aven Trailblazer, Excommunicate, Exploding Borders, Hissing Iguanar and Nacatl Hunt-Pride. Plays Mountain.
T1 Mike keeps Swamp x2, Mountain, Brackwater Elemental, Parasitic Strix, Resounding Wave. Draws Skeletal Kathari, plays Swamp.
T2 Zanman draws Rakeclaw Gargantuan, plays Plains.
T2 Mike draws Grixis Illusionist, plays Mountain.
T3 Zanman draws and plays Mountain, plays Hissing Iguanar.
T3 Mike draws Parasitic Strix, plays Swamp, Grixis Battlemage.
T4 Zanman draws Sylvan Bounty, plays Excommunicate targeting Battlemage, attacks with Iguanar (20-17).
T4 Mike draws and plays Grixis Battlemage.
T5 Zanman draws and plays Forest, attacks with Iguanar blocked by Battlemage (20-16), plays Aven Trailblazer.
T5 Mike draws Sanctum Gargoyle.
T6 Zanman draws and plays Island, attacks with Trailblazer (20-14), plays Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T6 Mike draws and plays Island.
T7 Zanman draws Druid of the Anima, attacks with Gargantuan and Trailblazer, Mike plays Resounding Wave returning Gargantuan to Zanman’s hand (20-12), plays Rakeclaw Gargantuan.
T7 Mike draws and plays Mountain, plays Skeletal Kathari.
T8 Zanman draws Drag Down, cycles Sylvan Bounty searching for a Swamp from his library, plays Swamp, attacks with Gargantuan and Trailblazer (20-5).
T8 Mike draws Grixis Charm, attacks with Kathari (17-5).
T9 Zanman draws and plays Forest, plays Exploding Borders putting a Mountain into play and dealing five damage to Mike (17-0).
ZANMAN WINS GAME FIVE ON TURN 9, TRAILS SERIES 2-3.

GAME SIX
T1 Mike keeps Esper Panorama x2, Mountain, Plains, Sanctum Gargoyle, Grixis Charm and Vectis Agents. Plays Mountain.
T1 Zanman keeps Forest x2, Blood Tyrant, Hissing Iguanar, Excommunicate, Yoked Plowbeast, Nacatl Hunt-Pride. Draws and plays Plains.
T2 Mike draws Vithian Stinger, plays Esper Panorama.
T2 Zanman draws Plains, plays Forest, at end of turn Mike sacrifices Panorama searching his library and putting a Swamp into play.
T3 Mike draws Fatestitcher, plays Esper Panorama, at end of turn Zanman cycles Yoked Plowbeast drawing Knight of the Skyward Eye.
T3 Zanman draws and plays Forest, plays Knight of the Skyward Eye, at end of turn Mike sacrifices Panorama searching his library and putting an Island into play.
T4 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Fatestitcher.
T4 Zanman draws Forest, plays Plains, plays Excommunicate targeting Fatestitcher, attacks with Knight (20-18).
T5 Mike draws and plays Fatestitcher, plays Plains.
T5 Zanman draws and plays Plains, attacks with Knight, pumps Knight (20-13).
T6 Mike draws and plays Island, plays Vectis Agents.
T6 Zanman draws Druid of the Anima, declares attack, Mike taps Knight with Fatestitcher, Zanman plays Forest, plays Nacatl Hunt-Pride.
T7 Mike draws and plays Island, activates Agents’ ability, attacks with Agents (18-13).
T7 Zanman draws and plays Forest, declares attack, Mike taps Hunt-Pride with Fatestitcher, Zanman attacks with Knight, pumps Knight, in response to pumping the Knight, Mike plays Grixis Charm giving Knight -4/-4 and destroying it, Zanman plays Druid of the Anima.
T8 Mike draws Grixis Charm, attacks with Vectis Agents (14-13), plays Vithian Stinger.
T8 Zanman draws and plays Armillary Sphere, sacrifices Sphere searching his library for an Island and a Swamp, plays Swamp, declares attack, Mike taps Hunt-Pride with Fatestitcher, Zanman attacks with Druid (14-12).
T9 Mike draws and plays Swamp, attacks with Agents (10-12), shoots Druid with Stinger.
T9 Zanman draws Resounding Silence, plays Island, Mike taps Hunt-Pride with Fatestitcher.
T10 Mike draws and plays Island, attacks with Agents, Zanman cycles Resounding Silence removing Agents from the game and drawing Jungle Weaver.
T10 Zanman draws Drag Down, Mike taps Hunt-Pride with Fatestitcher, plays Jungle Weaver, at end of turn Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (9-12).
T11 Mike draws and plays Mountain, at end of turn Zanman plays Drag Down targeting Fatestitcher.
T11 Zanman draws Aven Trailblazer, attacks with Hunt-Pride and Weaver, Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (8-12), Mike plays Grixis Charm targeting Hunt-Pride (8-7), Zanman plays Aven Trailblazer.
T12 Mike draws and plays Sphinx Summoner searching his library and putting Parasitic Strix into his hand, plays Parasitic Strix (6-9).
T12 Zanman draws and plays Mountain, attacks with Trailblazer (6-7), plays Blood Tyrant, at end of turn Mike shoots Zanman with Stinger (5-7).
T13 Mike draws Blister Beetle, attacks with Strix blocked by Blood Tyrant, Mike shoots Blood Tyrant with Stinger, returns Fatestitcher from the graveyard using unearth, taps Fatestitcher to untap Stinger, shoots Blood Tyrant with Stinger, plays Blister Beetle giving Blood Tyrant -1/-1 until end of turn, plays Sanctum Gargoyle returning Parasitic Strix to his hand, plays Parasitic Strix (3-9), attacks with Sphinx Summoner (0-9).
MIKE WINS GAME SIX ON TURN 13, WINS SERIES 4-2.