Game 1
Keegan: Obuun | Ryan: Sygg | Sean: Zur | Alex: Humans
We have finally reached the conclusion of the third quarter of play, and we come in with a hot leaderboard. Alex was totally out of contention (losing 3 months of games will do that), and Sean would need a clean sweep to clinch the win. But Ryan and Keegan were locked at 10 points a piece, so we were slated for a true showdown of the titans.
The first game we saw no new faces, but Alex had rolled up the humans who had recently gotten some upgrades and a partner pairing at the helm. He revealed a Shandy, which Sean also partook in. Sean also took a free mulligan. Keegan rolled highest for turns, and he was on the play.
The game started out pretty standard around the board. Sean spent his time and mana setting up for Zur, which also meant he got some nice voltron pieces setup. Keegan was hitting some ramp and working on getting Obuun up and running. Ryan spent his time getting Sygg out, along with Deeproot Waters, Rally the Ranks and Quicksilver Fountain. He also got a Reflections of Littjara out, but unfortunately he had a low creature count due to a pitched Merrow Reejerey to a Force of Will to counter a T2 Overburden. Fuckin’ Zur. Sean also stuck Sygg into the moon, confirmed Zur hates the disabled.
On the other hand, Alex was not really doing a whole lot. He got a Knight of the White Orchid out to ramp him due to him being last in the turn order, and curved out on a Thalia, Heretic Cathar which helped slow down his opponents, especially Obuun with those non basics he needs. I also want to note that the Quicksilver Fountain from Ryan added high levels of anxiety around the table, even to Sean which was finding some tough time on mana. It was very cool to see as the decks builder.
The game really came to a moment of shock after Sean got a Strionic Resonator and setup the Rest in Peace + Web of Inertia lock on the table. He was sitting at a low health total due to targeting from the table, but was looking like he was about to start grinding the table into oblivion. Alex’s deck decided that it had other plans for the game. It gave him a T8 Cleansing Nova off the top, which wiped out Sean’s entire board almost, and Alex beat into him with a Fumiko, the Lowblood and his other creatures.
The game also saw Ryan and Keegan trading blows to make sure the other didn’t win, but that left them at a low life total. With Fumiko out their shields were also often down, and for some reason no one wanted to beat into Alex. Granted he had an extremely low creature count and was dirdling, but his creatures were tapped each turn after an attack and saw no action. This allowed Alex to snap off a Call the Coppercoats at Ryan’s end step a couple turns after killing Sean. he Strived for one, which netted him 10 1/1 tokens. With both of their shields down, Alex was able to kill Ryan with 10 1/1s and the Knight, Thalia, and a Fumiko at +13/+13.
It was truly a sneaky win from Alex, but showcased the beatdown Fumiko can provide, and the power/synergy with Thalia to keep opponents creatures tapped.
Game 2
Keegan: Locust God | Ryan: Korvold | Sean: Walls (Nat 20) | Alex: Zur
Sean unfortunately was out of winning the cup after losing the first game, so the two titans of the league were still dead locked at 10 points a peace. Sean’s nat 20 roll saw him debating between Walls and Zacama, but eventually chose walls. Alex got his favorite commander again, and spoiler alert, played it terribly. Keegan took both a Shandy and a free mulligan. Sean had the first turn.
To be honest, this game was such a boring ass one for me, and it was entirely my fault. I had so many misplays with Zur, and he just drug the game to a crawl. I spent a Mystical Tutor to get a Replenish after Keegan got out a Psychic Corrosion. Then he got the RiP + Web lockout, exiling his graveyard. He did that the whole game, and no one swung any creatures, which meant the game stalled until they could kill Alex. I won’t even go into it, but he stated to Sean ‘Kill me or I will bounce your entire board next turn‘.
Besides the ending though, the game had some seriously cool plays. Sean chose to transmute Drift of Phantasms for an Aura Shards instead of a High Alert. Even as the owner of the deck, and the threats on board, I cannot decide if I would have done the same. In the end, he found the High Alert, but we will get there later. Ryan was also able to get out a Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire, which thanks to Alex not understanding the card and letting it live, removed commanders and key pieces multiple times. First time I got to see that card hit, stick, and bang before. Was not disappointed.
The game came down to a single turn cycle. It was just Sean and Keegan left, and Keegan was able to snap off a Seagate Restoration for 7, which milled Sean for 14, plus an additional 6 off of 3 Skullclamps. Instant 1/5 of the library gone. Keegan passed with his legion of locusts up, plus his god. Now Sean had out a Panharmonicon and a Guardian Project out, which meant each defender was a forced 4 card draw off Arcades. Sean had out a Doorkeeper, and after a single defender found the High Alert. After checking exile and graveyard, he realized his Axebane Guardian was still in his deck. So he dropped another defender or two and found it. He played it then equipped some Swiftfoot Boots to it. Paired with High Alert, he had infinite mana off of the Guardian (9 defenders on board) and was able to mill Keegans deck out.
This woulda gave him the win, but Sean had a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in the 99 of the God, which made him mill proof. So that was off the table. Sean decided to draw more cards, and eventually found both a Crashing Drawbridge and a Shalai, Voice of Plenty. This meant he could have gotten them in, equipped the boots to the bridge and gave everyone haste. Then he could have infinitely pumped his board with the Axebane plus Shalai’s activated ability. Unfortunately Sean missed this line, and Keegan won with a mill on the next turn.
This my friends, clinched the league for Keegan:
Game 3
Keegan: Torens | Sean: Alela | Alex: Obuun
Everyone may be confused at the fact Keegan won on the second game, but this is due to Ryan needing to depart to help his wife out. She recently had ACL surgery, so the Addicts hope she has a swift and safe recovery. But this meant Ryan had to withdraw from the last game, leaving Keegan with the win after the second game. Many analysts believe this quarter win should have an asterisk after their name, but who am I to say.
The final game of the cup though saw three heaters at the table, and two were very fast and ones goal was to make everyone slow.
Honestly, this game was a blur. Alex mucked up a T3 Obscuring Haze, literally casting it in his main phase. He thought this was Rites of Flourishing, but you know. Torens had a very turbo start, curving out very fast. He found an early Doubling Season, which was swiftly removed, plus lots of Sean’s stuff, with a Paraselene from Alex. Of course he missed the lifegain though, as is tradition.
Sean eventually got out a Bitterblossom and an Authority of the Consuls (anyone else know this had ‘the’ in the name??), but was a bit too late. A fast snap Path to Exile from Keegan kept Alela off the field due to mana costs. Alex was able to get out 8 plant tokens with an Avenger of Zendikar, but died the next turn to a Craterhoof for 3, courtesy of Hamza, Guardian of Arashin giving creatures affinity for +1/+1 counters. If Alex had his free fog he could have cast it, and paid for the Spelltithe Enforcer. This left him with a Scapeshift for about 8, but truly this did not matter. Cause Keegan had a Settle the Wreckage and the mana open, which would have been a blow out. Who built that deck??
Keegan took the second game, netting 4 points on the night. This gave him the win on the quarter, and a 1 point lead overall on Ryan.