Battle of the Sets V - Reports & Results

[Legend]

Here you will find the match reports and results for Battle of the Sets V.

This is also the place to comment directly on the matches.  After the 1st round is over, it will be time for the next round of predictions - use the companion thread for that.

If you need decklists and the divisions, those are in the companion thread as well.

I will be posting match results right here, while reports will appear in additions below as the matches are played.


PLAY-IN MATCH:

The Dark d. Homelands, 3-1


DIVISION 1:

#1 Mirrodin d. #8 The Dark, 3-1
#4 Scourge d. #5 Prophecy, 3-1

#2 Odyssey d. #7 Nemesis, 3-1
#6 Legions d. #3 Urza's Destiny, 3-2

#1 Mirrodin d. #4 Scourge, 3-1
#2 Odyssey d. #6 Legions, 3-2

#1 Mirrodin d. #2 Odyssey, 3-0

Mirrodin wins Division 1!


DIVISION 2:

#1 Onslaught d. #8 Stronghold, 3-0
#5 Champions of Kamigawa d. #4 Legends, 3-1

#2 Torment d. #7 Visions, 3-0
#6 Urza's Legacy d. #3 Arabian Nights, 3-2


#1 Onslaught d. #5 Champions of Kamigawa, 3-1
#2 Torment d. #6 Urza's Legacy, 3-0

#2 Torment d. #1 Onslaught, 3-1

Torment wins Division 2!


DIVISION 3:

#1 Tempest d. #8 Weatherlight, 3-1
#4 Urza's Saga d. #5 Exodus, 3-0

#2 Apocalypse d. #7 Mirage, 3-1
#3 Fifth Dawn d. #6 Alliances, 3-2*

#1 Tempest d. #4 Urza's Saga, 3-0
#2 Apocalypse d. #3 Fifth Dawn, 3-1

#2 Apocalypse d. #1 Tempest, 3-0

Apocalypse wins Division 3!


*0-2 comeback (only 5th ever)


DIVISION 4:

#1 Antiquities d. #8 Fallen Empires, 3-0
#5 Invasion d. #4 Ice Age, 3-1

#7 Planeshift d. #2 Darksteel, 3-2
#3 Mercadian Masques d. #6 Judgment, 3-1

#1 Antiquities d. #5 Invasion, 3-0
#3 Mercadian Masques d. #7 Planeshift, 3-0

#1 Antiquities d. #3 Mercadian Masques, 3-0

Antiquities wins Division 4!


FINAL FOUR:

#2 Torment d. #1 Mirrodin, 3-1
#2 Apocalypse d. #1 Antiquities, 3-1


FINALS:

#2 Torment d. #2 Apocalypse, 3-2


Torment wins Battle of the Sets V!

[Legend]

A day of upsets to kick off the tournament - six matches (not counting the play-in match) have been played,  and the lower seed has already prevailed five times!!!  A look at the mayhem resulting in the ouster of five higher seeds thus far:


But first.....



Play-in match: THE DARK (Alfred)  trounces HOMELANDS (Legend), 3-1


The fifth Battle of the Sets tournament kicked off with the match we've all been waiting for - the epic confrontation between Magic's two weak sisters. Speaking of sisters, Sisters of the Flame was among the assortment of abysmal cards you could observe on either side of the table in this stinkfest. However, despite the fact that both decks are bad, there are clearly different degrees of bad. The Dark, for example, may be classified as merely pathetic. Homelands, on the other hand, falls more along the lines of outright unacceptable - it just has no realistic chance of ever winning a match against any sort of opponent. So the Dark, with its 'superior' card quality (including Maze of Ith, which just ruins Eron the Relentless's party) was poised to win its first ever match - although beating Homelands is nothing to brag about - you'd be more within your rights to boast about pummeling a girl scout and stealing her cookies.


So anyway, yes, The Dark emerged triumphant after easily taking the first two games and outclassing Homelands in every way - without Ball Lightning causing even a single point of damage. Homelands got the third game when The Dark double mulliganed, but when Homelands double mulliganed to start the third game, any hopes of a comeback were dashed , as The Dark high-stepped to victory.  Congratulations to The Dark - the victor of this spectacular tussle of titans.  Show him what he's won .....
a date with former champion and buzz-saw Mirrodin!!!!




DIVISION 1 ACTION:


#6 LEGIONS (Alfred) bounces #3 URZA's DESTINY (Legend), 3-2

For the first time ever, Urza's Destiny is going home without even winning a round, suffering defeat at the hands of the feisty Legions Goblin deck.
Legions got off to a great start, going first and coming up with three Gempalms in the first game to clear the board repeatedly, opening the way for a horde of Goblins to take the win.  Destiny bounced back with a quick Masticore powered by a Dynamo and a few Forests that resulted in a machine-gun massacre of several Goblins.  Five attacks from the big cat into an empty board and it was over. However, Legions came right back again with a stunning game three win. Opening Goblin Grappler, Skirk Drill Sergeant, Legions was met by a turn two Rofellos from Destiny.  On its third turn, though, Legions blew the doors off Destiny, with the Grappler provoking the Rofellos and killing them both. Meanwhile, the Drill Sergeant's ability activated - revealing Goblin Goon!!!  Suddenly, Legions had a gigantic 6/6 in play on turn three, while Destiny continued to stumble around, not able to mount much more than a turn three Elder as the Goblin swarm continued to grow. The game came to a shocking and brutal end soon afterwards.  Destiny got right back into things with its own crushing series of plays in the fourth game.  A turn three Patterned-up Heart Warden put Legions in an intolerable situation, as a Thorn Elemental soon joined the party for Destiny.  A Masticore followed, and it was on to a fifth and deciding game.

Again, Destiny had an early Patterned Warden, which brought a Thorn Elemental into the arena, but Legions still had notions of victory, even when Destiny followed with a Masticore soon afterwards. Already with several small goblins in play, Legions viciously clawed its way back into things by uncorking a Clickslither, which took down the Thorn Elemental and caused two points of trample damage thanks to the saccing of three Goblins, while the Masticore took down a Morph creature.  This left the board as Masticore (with not enough mana to kill Slither) and Clickslither, with the life totals 20-13 in favor of Legions. Destiny could only pay the upkeep, play a land, and pass the turn. Legions added a Goblin Goon. Letting the Masticore die (with another one in hand and a Silverback), Destiny played a sixth land and added a Silverback. The Goon hit for 6 the following turn when the Silverback declined the block with no regen mana available. This dropped Destiny to 7, but it had a Thran Dynamo and a Masticore the following turn with mana left up for a Silverback regeneration. The game had swung in Destiny's favor.  Only one card in Legion's stack could save it now - Clicklslither.  Amazingly, another Clickslither came right off the top!  A sudden reversal of fortunes - Destiny was now in  a very awkward position!  The resulting combat left Goon dead to Silverback, but both Clickslithers alive after the one blocked by Masticore became 5/5 thanks to the dying Goon. The attack dropped Destiny to 3 life and also robbed it of its Masticore, which could not regenerate from its run-in with the 5/5 Clickslither. With only Plow Under and an unhelpful Pattern in hand, Destiny needed help on the draw to aid the giant ape, but none was forthcoming, and what moments earlier had seemed to be a promising situation for Destiny had crumbled into a disaster.  Legions pulls the upset and dismisses Destiny!




DIVISION 2:


#5 CH. OF KAMIGAWA (Alfred) outlasts #4 LEGENDS (Legend), 3-1


In easily the longest match of the day, and perhaps the longest match in Battle of the Sets history, Kamigawa emerged from this intricate and mindbending struggle with a succesful debut! This match is not as simple as it looks - at first glance, it would appear that Greater Realm on the table is game over for Kamigawa, shutting down Glacial Ray, Horobi, and Kokusho.  But this is not the case. In order to ensure victory, Legends must get both Greater Realm and Land's Edge on the table - with enough mana to guard against the Land's Edge and enough lands drawn to actually kill COK.  Otherwise, Legends can still lose to decking (without Land's Edge), its own Land's Edge combined with Glacial Rays/Kokusho life loss (without Greater Realm in play), or simply to Kamigawa's unchecked damage sources (again, without Greater Realm in play).
Meanwhile, Swallowing Plague on Kokusho can buy Kamigawa needed time to find more Extractions and other stuff, and lower Legend's life total into danger even with Greater Realm in play.  Additionally, Firestorm Phoenix can be dealt with by removing it from play, then Distressing it.
Thunder Spirt cannot be Rend Fleshed (who would have thought the non-Spirit thing would come up!?), but can be killed with several other removal spells.  
 
So in short, reaching a position of dominance proved difficult against the tricky Kamigawa deck, which constantly had Legends off balance.  In order to win, Legends had to navigate through a minefield of Cranial Extractions, Distresses, and an assortment of other tricks - which it failed to do.


Game one starts off poorly for COK when Legends plays first and drops a turn two Greater Realm. However, at this point, Legends has no Land Tax, no red mana, and no Land's Edge, so COK has a chance. Legends drops a Thunder Spirit, but COK does far better when it uncorks a Cranial Extraction on turn four, relieving Legends of all three Land's Edges!  Thunder Spirt begins to hit, but another Cranial Extraction removes all of Legends's Pyrotechnics!  At the time, Legends had two Phoenixes in hand, but removing the Technics proved to be the correct choice for COK. Legends then found a Land Tax, but the Thunder Spirit got COK no lower than 16.  COK followed by removing a Phoenix with Distress. Legends was in serious trouble at this point, and would have to somehow deal 16 damage with a combination of Chain Lightnings, remaining Thunder Spirits, and remaining Phoenixes. Not very promising.  The second Phoenix got two more hits in, though, dropping COK to 10 before a Hideous Laughter temporarily ended the remaining Phoenix threat.  Meanwhile, though, COK had considerably more lands in play than Legends, allowing Legends to Tax every turn to thin out the deck and increase the chances of drawing Chain Lightnings.  Legends was able to keep doing this because it had no reason to play any further lands. Sure enough, Legends's first Chain showed up, reducing COK to 7.  Phoenix swoops down once again, but Rend Flesh plus a third Extraction finally ended any hopes of a Phoenix rally for Legends.  It was pretty much down to those Chain Lightnings for Legends - which had to hope against all hope that Kokusho didn't show up, which coupled with Swallowing Plague would put COK out of burn range.  Meanwhile, a rogue Thunder Spirit died to Hideous Laughter, but Legends had found another Chain Lightning, dropping COK to 4.  Its was now purely a race between Legends's Chains and COK's life gain - COK was merely trying to deck Legends, which had a pair of Chain Lightnings remaining in a thinned out deck of approximately 20-25 cards.  The game of Russian Roulette continued, as Legends found Chain #3 to reduce COK to a precarious 1 life. However, a decision came up for Legends before it could find the final Chain Lightning.  With about twenty cards remaining in its Library in which the final Chain Lightning resided, Legends had to weigh the threat of a Kokusho (none of which had been drawn yet) in its plans. It was decision time when Legends drew another Thunder Spirit. Play it, and COK had to have an answer with one of the two cards in its hand or else die. But playing it also risked a Swallowing Plague.  In the end, Legends played for the Thunder Spirit, not willing to sit around waiting for Kokusho, which COK had a better chance of getting than Legends did its final Chain Lightning.  COK had Glacial Ray in hand, along with a useless Rend Flesh, so the Spirit would have been dealt with anyway, but of all cards, Swallowing Plague came off the top - dashing any Legends hopes in one fell swoop!  As it turned out, Kokusho was the very next card after Plague! That final Chain Lightning recalcitrantly hid in Legends's deck, mocking the set like a misbehaving child.  COK wins a tight and tense first game.

The second game started with another turn two Greater Realm for Legends, as COK had no Distress to seize the advantage. The Distress mockingly showed up a turn later, removing a Phoenix. Legends got on the board with a Spirit, and followed with another.  COK did not have a Hideous Laughter, but amazingly, played a Horobi that goes unanswered by Legends for a long period of time.  The game turned into a prolonged staring match between the Spirits and Horobi. Both sides soon realized what the game would come down to - a topdecking race between Land's Edge and Cranial Extraction. Meanwhile, another Phoenix was taken by a Distress.  Things improved somewhat for COK when a Hideous Laughter sent both Spirits to heaven. Amazingly, Horobi had managed to hold off the Spirits long enough to give COK a chance, while Legends just could not find a targeted spell to kill Horobi.  The following turn, Kokusho joined the board for COK, but Legends was fine with its Realm in play.  Still, the issue was COK looking for one out of four Extractions and Legends looking for one out of three Edges.  The odds favored COK - until Land Tax showed up for Legends, which had held lands for just such an eventuality (and for Edge).

The odds continue to swing in favor of Legends after several turns of deck thinning increased the chances of finding an Edge before an Extraction showed up.  Still, as turn after agonizing turn went by, neither deck seemed willing to cough up its respective game winning spell.  Legends could only manage a Chain Lightning for a long period of time, while COK found a second Kokusho and played it for a twenty point life swing, pushing the life totals to 25 for COK, and 10 for Legends  Still, this swing changed nothing - the race between Extraction and Edge was still very much the key. The deck thinning continued turn after turn, but still no Edge.  A Pyrotechnics killed Horobi and chiseled COK down to 22, but it was not what Legends wanted.  Meanwhile, COK continued to experience the same frustration. It just needed a lone Extraction.  But no Extraction was forthcoming. Finally, after what seemed like one hundred turns of topdecking, Legends won the race, finding Land's Edge! Game over? Not quite. COK had quietly been amassing lands in its hand over the many turns, and Legends, at 10 life, had to balance several considerations.  First, it had to make sure it had enough land in play to protect itself from the symmetrical effect of Land's Edge.  There was a very real risk that COK could still win with a combination of lands and Glacial Rays if Legends  let its guard down.  Also, Legends had to balance this consideration by making sure it could still draw enough land to inflict the necessary 22 damage (along with some burn) if it continued to play more land for Realm (quite a bit of land had already been discarded, both voluntarily and involuntarily).  In the end, Legends settled on ten lands in play, good for five Realm activations....which would barely be enough. More turns went by, with Legends drawing a mix of some more land and useless cards like Moat, while COK tried to build up the perfect hand to pull out the impossible game.  Legends threw some lands at COK, reducing it to 14.  Legends tossed a Chain Lightning at COK. The life totals were now 11-10 in favor of COK.  Then, a Cranial Extraction showed up for COK, removing the remaining three Pyrotechnics.  It was now becoming clear that Legends would probably lose this game if COK could find its last Kokusho before Legends found more land with which to win.  Horobi appeared, but Legends removed it with a Spirit Link (reasoning that Horobi would occupy two mana from Legends every turn it lived, so kill it with a one time one mana investment).  Could COK take advantage of Legends only having four Realm activations for the next turn? No, not quite. So the topdecking continued.  Legends had four lands in hand.  It needed either two lands or one Chain Lightning before Kokusho arrived.  Conveniently, Chain Lightning came up a couple of turns after Horobi's death, and another marathon game ended with the series tied 1-1.  COK's next card? Kokusho!

As so often happens in these sorts of matches with razor-thin margins of victory, one moment or one slight difference in a board position or hand can prove to be the pivotal difference in a tight series. The third game of this match presented one such moment.  Legends was unable to get a Greater Realm into play before they were all extracted, but did manage a Land's Edge.  Eventually, the game developed into the following situation:
Legends with Land's Edge and seven lands in hand - with COK at 15 life! At 14 life, with COK having Kokusho on the board, it was clear that Legends needed another land, or a burn spell right away. But it could only draw a Moat.  Still, though, Legends would get one more chance to draw that land - or would it? Kamigawa attacked with Kokusho, then threw a Glacial Ray and four lands at Legends for the win! An abrupt and startling end to a game Legends seemed to have within its grasp. Even worse for Legends, a crippling 1-2 deficit.

Having narrowly escaped with a game three win, COK engineered the only blowout of the entire series with a devastating opening that left Legends doubled over and gasping for air. Legends played first and opened with Land Tax, but had no turn twp Greater Realm. COK then unleashed Distress (taking Land's Edge), Distress (taking Technics), and Cranial Extraction (taking Greater Realms). Some more handkill from Waking Nightmare also added to the problem for Legends. COK was methodically undressing its opponent, leaving it naked and helpless. Legend's only hope now was to draw another Land's Edge, but this was just not going to happen, as COK proceeded to deal with its foe in the way it knows best - Kokusho. The mighty Evening Star closed out the match with the remaining Edges nowhere to be found, even as Land Tax thinned the deck and provided fuel for a kill. Still, Legends, with one final Chain Lightning (reducing COK to 10 life after an earlier Chain and Technics), and with seven lands in hand, had one last chance to snatch victory away from COK and draw the Edge the turn before Kokusho would swing in for the win.  This did not happen, though, and COK had emerged with a grueling 3-1 win in its debut.

Champions of Kamigawa advances after a tremendous match with Legends!






#6 URZA'S LEGACY (Alfred) defeats ARABIAN NIGHTS (Legend), 3-2


In yet another outstanding match featuring more flying 1/1's than you can shake a stick at, Arabian Nights proved unable to avenge its Battle of the Sets I loss to Legacy.  Arabian looked great in the first and fourth games with early Libraries (double Library in the first game), snowing Legacy down under an avalanche of Djinns and Efreets in both games.  However, Legacy managed to take the other three games, including a tense game five through a combination of its own speed draws and some Arabian stumbles.  Legacy once again proved that it is a solid, well-rounded aggro deck, mixing up fast flyers, creature pump, bounce, and well-timed countering to take the match over an opponent with more powerful individual cards.

In game five, Arabian looked to be down for the count right away. Legacy responded to a turn one Flying Men from Arabian with a turn two Rancored Cloud of Faeries. However, unbeknownst to Legacy yet, Arabian was in serious trouble, with only two other lands - both Cities of Brass!  Snap cleared away the Flying Men for a turn, and The Faeries hit for three.  Then came the play that ultimately put Arabian too far behind inboard position and the damage race to pull this one out. Arabian played its second City and went for a turn three Oubliette that would have turned things around by taking out the Faeries and the Rancor (Oubliette going 2-1 on a creature and Rancor had already happened several times in the match), but Legacy had the clutch Miscalculation, leaving Arabian with an empty board and 15 life, soon to be 12, with which to work. Arabian came back with two Flying Men, one of which was Miscalced. Arabian dropped to 11 from some more pain. Then, Legacy Snapped the other Men, and the resulting attack dropped Arabian to a truly precarious 8 life, with only the Island and two Cities still as its lands.  A second Island, along with a third Flying Men and an Erg Raiders, hit the table the following turn, but Legacy had an eot Simian Grunts. On the resulting attack, Raiders chumped Simian, while Flying Men took down the Faeries, with two trample damage  going through to drop Arabian to 5.  With a fifth land and an Erhnam, Arabian was able to cast the Djinn taking only one more pain, dropping to 4.  

Amazingly, though, the game seemed to be slipping away from Legacy. Out of threats, it could only pass the turn back, and Legacy's situation did not improve when a second Erhnam joined the team, dropping Arabian to 3. However, with Legacy still at twenty and the threat of Might of Oaks for the win, Arabian thought better of an attack and passed it back one more time. Legacy could only pass back again.  Arabian then Unstably Mutated an Erhnam and attacked for seven.  Grunts chumped, while Arabian added an Old Man of the Sea.  Now Arabian clearly had the upper hand, and Legacy desperately needed a flyer on its next draw phase, or else it would lose, because if the Old Man of the Sea was allowed one more turn to overcome its summoning sickness, it would simply steal any of Legacy's small flyers before Rancor could be enchanted on it to put it out of Old Man Range.  Legacy was about to suffer a second straight bitter defeat in the first round, having exited last year one turn from a game five victory over Saga when Saga pulled a rabbit out of its hat with a Claws of Gix at the last possible moment.  But then, it happened - Cloud of Faeries on the draw! Rancor immediately enchanted the Faeries, and in a moment, Arabian had gone from certain victory to desperation! It now needed either a flyer or an Oubliette to extend the game, as Legacy had exactly the three flying damage on the table it needed to survive. Arabian could win with two more attacks, but it needed help to get that chance. The draw yielded - an Island.....meaning Legacy would survive to live at least one more round, as Arabian had only a Juzam remaining in its hand.  For Arabian, a bitter and shocking loss that it will have to think about for several months. For Legacy, a triumphant upset in sensational first round filled with 'em!

Final game five damage tally for Arabian:

City of Brass:  6
Cloud of Faeries: 14


Legacy into the second round!




DIVISION 4 ACTION:


#5 INVASION (Legend) eliminates #4 ICE AGE (Alfred), 3-1


There can now be no question which set is the most cursed of all.  With this defeat, Ice Age has lost in the first round in all five Battle of the Sets tournaments, by counts of 2-3, 2-3, 2-3, 1-3, and 1-3, to five different opponents no less. Its had its chances, coming painfully close to advancing on several occasions, but the moment never came.  Something always goes wrong for Ice Age, and it happened here yet again. This one may be perhaps the most crushing, since Ice Age, after trying out and failing with several different builds previously, finally had a deck widely considered as a serious contender to at least do a little damage in the tournament.

But Invasion had other ideas, coming out just a little too fast for Ice Age to handle in the first two games, with early swarms of Shivan Zombies, Ravenous Rats, Plague Spitters backed up by Skizzik and Blazing Specter pressuring the Necrodeck's life total. Ice Age did manage to get Haups off in one of those games, but Invasion had held back enough lands to recover quickly and finish things off with Ghitu Fire. Meanwhile, Ice Age's deck wouldn't cooperate, even with Necro, just not able to get the right combinations of cards in the right situations.

Ice Age came up with a gutty comeback in the third game, pulling a Necro right off the top at the moment it absolutely had to have it, facing down a rampaging Blazing Specter and Shivan Zombie.  Ice Age had gone from nothing to total control in one draw step, and was able to win this one with Haups/Z-Orb backed by plenty of removal and Foul Familiars.  Now, it seemed as though Invasion had let a golden opportunity to put its opponent away slip right through its fingers.

Again, Invasion had a major early advantage in the fourth game. An early Plague Spitter reduced Ice Age to 15 before dying, and Invasion followed that up with Ravenous Rats and Shivan Zombie while Ice Age could still not find a Necro or a Consult.  But Necro again came right off the top, and Ice Age sucked five new cards out of its library and dropped to 10.  Blazing Specter joined Invasion's side, and the ensuing attack reduced Ice Age to 5.  Teetering on the brink of elimination, Ice Age made one last attempt at survival with a desperation Jokulhaups. With a Z-Orb in play, Ice Age shot back up to 17, and now game five seemed inevitable with the dramatic turnaround. Three more cards from Necro dropped Ice Age to 14, but with no lands in play for the moment.  Invasion played an Urborg Volcano and passed. Ice Age countered with Ritual + Familiar and fell to 12 after more Necroing.  Invasion then played a Ravenous Rats, which chumped the next Familiar attack, putting Ice Age at 11, with still no game-clinching Abyssal Specter in sight. Ice Age could only play a second land and pass. The Spitter became an Incinerate victim, dropping Invasion to 16 and Ice Age to 10. Ice Age played a third land and again passed without Necroing. Invasion could manage only an Urborg Volcano and passed it back to Ice Age, which replayed the Familiar and passed with no Necro action.  Now, if Invasion had a Blazing Specter, Ice Age would be in a world of trouble if it did not have an Incinerate, with Abyssal Specter pulling a disappearing act. Indeed - Invasion did have the Blazing Specter, reducing Ice Age to 8 and stripping a Jokulhaups.  Familiar made it 13 to 8, while more Necroing dropped Ice Age to 6. Invasion then uncorked an unkicked Skizzik, and Ice Age was forced to use a freshly picked up Incinerate to take down Skizzik, taking 2 damage and dropping to 4.  With no Z-Orb still and out of options on its following turn, Ice Age Consulted for its last Incinerate. Facing down the prospect of dying immediately if the burn spell was in the top six cards, Ice Age dodged that bullet and found the Incinerate, killing the Blazing.  But even having made it through this deadly game of Russian Roulette, Ice Age still had a long way to go.  Foul Familiar reduced Invasion to 10, but Ice Age had nothing else and was totally at the mercy of Invasion's draw, needing Invasion to draw lands for several turns in order to make it.  But Invasion had been holding a Void for a while now, and when Void for three was announced, Ice Age's hopes were effectively ended unless it could find a miracle with its two remaining Necro cards. At 3 life, Ice Age Necroed for two, but found nothing and was forced to resign in disgust once again.

Invasion ousts star-crossed Ice Age, 3-1



#7 PLANESHIFT (Legend) stuns #2 DARKSTEEL, 3-2


Another candidate for best match of the day, as Planeshift escaped the fate of Ice Age/Judgment, and the ranks of the winless, finally winning a match and ending the frustration of repeated early exits, in comeback fashion no less.  Darksteel took the first game easily, savaging its opponent with several Arcbound creatures. Planeshift could find neither a fourth land nor a Mountain, and went down hard. However, in taking the second game, Planeshift established the winning formula for the match, keep Darksteel off balance and under just enough pressure to prevent Darksteel from getting into a position to finish the game off with burn.  An armada of Lava Zombies and FTK's turned the trick here.  Darksteel came right back with a win in game three, though, running wild with a hot artifact creature start and plenty of burn to close things.  But Planeshift mounted a rally in the fourth game, with a Maggot Carrier/Nightscape opening on the first two turns. The Nightscape would later die in a trade with an Arcbound Worker. Darksteel had a Drooling Ogre, but Planeshift dropped a Lava Zombie, returning Maggot Carrier.  Darksteel played a second Drooling Ogre, then allowed Planeshift's Lava Zombie attack on the next turn to go unblocked, dropping Darksteel to 14. Planeshift played a Phyrexian Scuta (dropping to 16), messing with Darksteel's plans of a counterattack. Fireball took down the Lava Zombie, and a brief standoff seemed possible between the Ogres and the Scuta, but a Lord of the Undead came down to make Scuta 6/6. Darksteel declined the double block and fell to 8, then 7 when the Maggot Carrier (2/2) hit the table. Darksteel then put forth one final bid to take the game, surprising Planeshift with two Oxiddas.  But the Oxiddas merely traded with the 2/2 carrier and the Lord of the Undead.  When Planeshift added another Scuta on the following turn, Darksteel was in chump block mode, and could not get back on its feet, even with a late Pulse of the Forge, as Planeshift finished things with a Magma Burst and the two Scutas.

The deciding game started quietly with both Darksteel and Planeshift playing Mountains and passing. Darksteel had the first play of the game with an Arcbound Slith. Planeshift made a Familiar and passed. It went down to a Fireball, and the Slith swung into the breach, becoming a 2/2. An Arcbound Worker also hit the board. Planeshift was on the defensive, but at least managed a Lord of the Undead. Darksteel really put Planeshift in a tough position when it added a Juggernaut the following turn - Planeshift would certainly lose if it could not produce and FTK on its fourth turn (fortunately two were in hand). The Slith and Worker both attacked. Aware that if the Lord traded with the Slith, Juggernaut would become a 7/5 and out of FTK range, Planeshift blocked the Worker instead, dropping to 17, then eliminating the Juggernaut next turn with FTK #1 and dropping Darksteel to 18 with the Lord. Fireball took down FTK, and the Slith went in for three damage, becoming a 4/4.  But out came FTK #2, joining the Lord of the Undead and killing the Slith. Lord dropped Darksteel to 16, but Darksteel had the Flamebreak to stabilize the board, dropping to 13, and leaving Planeshift at a somewhat dangerous 11 life.  Arcbound Slith followed the conflagration, while Planeshift used its six mana for Familiar + Lava Zombie + replay Familiar.  Oxidda Golem teamed up with Slith on the following Darksteel attack, with Lava Zombie trading with Oxidda and Familiar with Slith.  The board was again clear, and Darksteel passed with no other plays and no cards in hand to Planeshift's two.  Planeshift then played a pair of Thunderscape Battlemages, hardly ideal, but pressure against an emtpy board nonetheless.  Fortunately for Darksteel, it came up with a Juggernaut to even things. The 'Naut killed both Battlemages when they blocked, again clearing the board in this wild back and forth barnburner.

Now it was just a matter of who could get a threat to stick first.  The winner of this sweepstakes proved to be Planeshift, which drew a Scuta right after the exchange between the 'Naut and Battlemages, dropping to 8.  Darksteel could only draw and play a land, and the Scuta evened things at 8. But Darksteel was not dead yet, pulling another Juggernaut off the top! There was clearly one card that Planeshift would love to draw at this moment more than ay other - Magma Burst.

Well, it was finally Planeshift's time to win, because sure enough, it turned the magic trick, drawing the Magma Burst! With the kickered Burst targeting the 'Naut and Darksteel, the Scuta was cleared for victory, crunching in for a gory final five points of damage, at last putting Planeshift in the winner's circle.  

An outstanding back and forth match comes to and end - with Planeshift scoring the big-time upset!




#3 MERCADIAN MASQUES (Legend) dismisses #6 JUDGMENT (Alfred), 3-1


So much for the prediction that just about everyone had here. Despite the fact that Masques had beaten Judgment in the first round last time, 3-1, many felt that Judgment could turn this one around with its large creatures. Not the case, as Masques again proved why it is an underrated force to be reckoned with. Judgment did get hopes up with a win in game one, but things fell apart from there, with Masques rallying like a champ in three straight after that.

Masques proved just a little bit too tricky for one-dimensional Judgment,
Reverent Mantra and Cho-Manno's Blessings, whether providing protection for Masques creatures, or messing up Elephant Guide, caused constant headaches for Judgment.  But the real culprits was once again Judgment's total lack of creature removal, allowing Masques to search up endless chump blockers with Sergeants and Lieutenants, as well as game-winning Gliders, which Judgment had no answer for, aside from Glory.  With its irritating bag of tricks and chain of rebels, Masques was able to win some fairly close races against its less versatile opponent. In the final three games, Masques would constantly get Gliders on the offensive while gumming up the ground with a variety of blockers and tricks - essentially sucker punching Judgment while holding its hands behind its back like a bully.

Its unlikely any forecasters will make the same mistake should these two meet again - Masques has now served notice that Judgment is on the fairly long list of opponents that are rebel property.

[Matt]

Legions d. Destiny (3-1) Goblin Grappler and Gempalm will take down Rofellos, leaving Destiny mana stricken. Watch out for "masticore, go. EOT Gempalm it while you don't have regeneration mana."

#6 LEGIONS (Alfred) bounces #3 URZA's DESTINY (Legend), 3-2

Legions got off to a great start, going first and coming up with three Gempalms... to clear away...a Masticore

The attack dropped Destiny to 3 and also robbed it of its Masticore, which could not regenerate from its run-in with the 5/5 Clickslither.

Champions d. Legends (3-2) It's all about Extraction naming Moat or possibly Realm. Waking Nightmare might so some damage too. Not as close as 3-2 suggests.

#5 CH. OF KAMIGAWA (Alfred) outlasts #4 LEGENDS (Legend), 3-1

Darksteel d. Planeshift (3-2) Almost too close to call. Look for Pulse of the Forge and Flametongue Kavu to be key cards.

#7 Planeshift d. #2 Darksteel, 3-2

I'm wondering how close these last two were.

[Alfred]

Matt, Before you get too headstrong you must remember that:

a) Gempalm was never used against a masticore.
b) Moat is completely useless against CoK.
c) The most important spells in this matchup were flamebreak and phyrexian scuta (possibly the arcbound creatures).

And to answer your question of the planeshift/darksteel contest, it was extremely tight. All 5 games were total races. I believe darksteel failed to win because planeshift never allowed the game state to progress to the point where darksteel's burn would be effective.

[Legend]

Matt wrote:

ROUND ZERO
Homelands d. The Dark (3-1)
At some point in this match a topdecked Ball Lightning will fail to win because of an active Anaba Shaman.  

Yes, I wouldn't get too headstrong. You missed an easy one there. However, if we must be competitive about the picks so far, I'll post how everyone is doing so far in a little while.  Plus, despite getting some picks right, you also wrote stuff like:

Matt wrote:

Champions d. Legends (3-2) It's all about Extraction naming Moat or possibly Realm. Waking Nightmare might so some damage too. Not as close as 3-2 suggests.

I'm not sure why you thought Moat was relevant in this matchup, especially when Realm is clearly one of the key cards for Legends along with Land's Edge. COK has only 6 creatures, all of which fly. Yet you correctly picked the winner of the match,

Matt wrote:

Torment d. Visions (3-0) Mutilate is going to slaughter their entire team. They also can't deal with The Champ (TM).    

Again, your rationale hear is odd, as the Torment list has never had Mutilate in it. Yet your pick (as will both Alfred's and mine) in this matchup will prove correct. You have established a very odd pattern thus far of picking winners at a respectable rate despite, to put it generously, some baffling reasoning behind the selections.
There are a few other examples of this too. Weird. I'm interested in seeing how long this trend continues.

[Legend]

MATT:

Winner picked correctly:   3/7
Winner & games picked exactly: 0/7


ALFRED:

Winner picked correctly:  2/7
Winner & games picked exactly: 1/7


LEGEND:

Winner picked correctly: 3/7
Winner & games picked exactly: 2/7


We're all pretty close in our predictions right now. These numbers demonstrate that its been a pretty unpredictable tournament thus far.

[Legend]

All match reports now updated above.

[Matt]

My explanations:

Homelands vs Dark: I just didn't care enough to really pay attention here.
Torment: I assumed it would be running Mutiltae. Let this be a lesson to us all about making hasty assumptions.
CHK: I'm still very unfamiliar with the set.

I tested the DS vs. PS matchup. It's very close, using the given decklists. DS has a very rough time against the multiple FTK draw. I've taken the liberty of working on an improved DS deck. I'm confident that it's a stronger deck than the one in this tournament, but I'll withhold it until I am absolutely sure. It's much better against PS, that's for sure.

[Legend]

MAJOR UPDATE:


DIVISION 1:

#1 MIRRODIN (Legend) eliminates #8 THE DARK (Alfred), 3-1

The Dark actually manages to get a game here, which is more than could have reasonably been expected. In game two, Mirrodin was stuck with just a Glimmervoid, and could manage only a Disciple and a Welding Jar for most of the game.  When The Dark came up with a Fissure on the Glimmervoid, the game was sealed.  Sadly, this story did not have a happy ending for the underdog, as Mirrodin wailed on the weakling with a vengeance in the final two games.


#1 MIRRODIN (Legend) bounces #4 SCOURGE (Alfred), 3-1

After Scourge was able to develop against a fairly slow Mirrodin game one start, Daru Warchief, Noble Templar, and a couple of Decrees were more than enough to produce the concession, as Atog/Disciple fell just a few points short of lethal.  In the next three games, though, Mirrodin easily overpowered the white control deck. In game four, Scourge managed to get two Dawn Elementals AKA bananas wearing goggles AKA very poorly illustrated white creatures into play, but Mirrodin just worked around it, recklessly throwing Bonesplittered Frogmite, Myr Enforcer, and Somber Hoverguard into combat against the Elementals, lowering Scourge into Shrapnel Blast/Pyrite  range to finish off the match.


#2 ODYSSEY (Legend) defeats #7 NEMESIS (Alfred), 3-1

Some felt that Nemesis was primed to score the upset here, but it never materialized, as Odyssey dropped only game two on the way to a pretty comfortable victory. One of the main culprits was Nemesis’s mana problems, most notably in the third game, in which Odyssey could not find a single source of blue mana for a number of turns to start the game.  But Nemesis could not capitalize, itself stalled on a single Forest.  Odyssey, given so much time to recover and develop, eventually reached an unassailable position and Nemesis was forced to concede.  Odyssey controlled the final game completely, drawing several Innocent Bloods and Ghastly Demises to hold off Nemesis early on and clear the board for Standstills. A gang of Togs and Infiltrators were finally able to mop things up.


#2 ODYSSEY (Legend) defeats #6 LEGIONS (Alfred), 3-2

Legions led this series 2-1 after winning a surprising game three that Odyssey seemed to have under control, but Odyssey got things going in the last two games, removing and bouncing early creatures, blocking with Psychatog, and Persuading Goblin Goons.  A Persuaded Goblin Goon in the deciding game persuaded Legions to concede, and Odyssey was moving on to the Division finals to face Mirrodin.



#1 MIRRODIN (Legend) eliminates #2 ODYSSEY (Alfred), 3-0

In a showdown between Atog and his more accomplished cousin Dr. Teeth, Odyssey had no chance against the ridiculous speed of Mirrodin.  Although the good doctor tried his best to fight back against Mirrodin’s team of superstars, it was in vain. Shadowmage Infiltrators could only stand by uselessly against Ornithopters, Frogmites, and Myr Enforcers, and even with Odyssey enjoying a wide margin in the card advantage area, there was simply no way it could handle so many fast creatures and cheap burn. The highlight of the match came in the last game, when Atog finally squared off against Psychatog in head to head combat! Blocking Dr. Teeth won the battle, growing larger than his attacking cousin, the original grinning resource muncher, but Atog’s team won the war on the following turn with a finishing Shrapnel Blast.





DIVISION 2:

#1 ONSLAUGHT (Legend) crushes #8 STRONGHOLD (Alfred), 3-0

Onslaught has now won all nine games against Stronghold in their three meetings.


#1 ONSLAUGHT (Legend) knocks out #5 CHAMPIONS OF KAMIGAWA (Alfred), 3-1

This match comes down to Onslaught’s two potential threats: (1) Lightning Rift and (2) Astral Slide PLUS Exalted Angel.  If Onslaught could get either one of these two threats onto the table three times in the match, it would almost certainly be able to advance to the division finals.  Even one Lightning Rift would probably too fast for COK to race, so turn two Rift or any Rift before COK could get off Cranial Extraction would probably be game.  Similarly, Exalted Angel with Astral Slide to protect it would also most likely result in victory, since the Slide can protect Angel from COK’s assortment of removal spells and clear away any blocking attempts from Kokusho.

Onslaught did not have a turn two Rift to start the match, but quickly found one with some cycling, and was able to machine-gun COK to death before it could mount a comeback with Kokusho.  Onslaught again had an early Rift in the second game, but COK was nevertheless able to steal this one, Extracting the remaining Rifts and then racing with two Kokushos and Glacial Ray, even with an Astral Slide in play.  Onslaught took the third game with a turn two Lightning Rift followed by another a couple of turns later.  However, Onslaught was a bit land light and was not able to finish off COK right away. As a result, COK was able to make a bid to race with Kokusho, but ultimately the Rifts were just too fast for the Evening Star.  With its back to the wall in the fourth game, COK played first, and had the first spell of the game, a turn three Waking Nightmare, knocking out Shock and Secluded Steppe. Onslaught came back with an Astral Slide.  Meanwhile, Onslaught held THREE Exalted Angels in hand! With Slide in play, Onslaught had the keys to victory all set to go, but had to hold its breath when COK went for a turn four Cranial Extraction, correctly naming Lightning Rift.  But when the Exalted Angels were revealed to COK, its misfortune was revealed to all. The Rifts were removed, but the threat from the Angels now presented a clear and present danger for COK.  Onslaught, though, needed some cheap cyclers, which it lacked.  But the precious Angels were just as at risk in hand as in play, so Onslaught had to start playing the Angels.  The first face-down hit play, only to be targeted for death with a Rend Flesh.  Then Onslaught topdecked an Akroma’s Blessing - perfect Slide protection for the next face-down! The second morphed Angel came down, and when COK attempted a Swallowing Plague the following turn, the Blessing protected the Angel via Slide.  Thanks to this absurdly good timing, Onslaught now had a face-up Angel ready to go on its next turn.  The Angel began to go to work, moving the life totals to 24-16 in Onslaught’s favor.  The other Angel joined in, coming into play face-down.  Onslaught was looking good, except it lacked more cyclers, so both Angels were still vulnerable.  Another Rend Flesh took down the face-up Angel, although the other one flipped over next turn and began to attack - but still no cyclers for Onslaught.  The window of opportunity continued for COK to find an answer, but as the turns went by, COK drew unhelpful card after unhelpful card, including a Horobi, which died immediately to a Shock.  If only COK could kill this third Angel, Onslaught would be left with only one Angel somewhere in its library and almost no hope of victory.  But COK’s deck was not cooperating.  By the time the life totals had become 32 to 8 in favor of Onslaught, COK had still found nothing. Then, COK’s hopes all but slipped away when Onslaught finally found a cycler (Secluded Steppe), then attacked to make it 36 to 4.  A Hideous Laughter from COK delayed the inevitable on the next attack, making it 38 to 2, but COK was unable to come up with a miracle and died the next turn with a Rend Flesh as its next card (which would have been too late anyway because of the Steppe).


#2 TORMENT (Legend) eliminates #7 VISIONS (Alfred), 3-0

Nothing to see here, folks, keep moving……


#2 TORMENT (Legend) eliminates #7 URZA’S LEGACY (Alfred), 3-0

….Keep moving, keep moving…..


#2 TORMENT (Legend) douses #1 ONSLAUGHT (Alfred), 3-1

Torment was able to capture the Division 2 championship against Onslaught thanks to two cards, and two cards alone - Laquatus’s Champion and Mind Sludge, with perhaps a supporting nod to a couple of well-timed Rancid Earths.  Whereas Torment had demolished its first two opponents with contributions from every single card in the deck, nothing else mattered besides Champion and Sludge.  Onslaught has no answer to the regenerating Champion besides buying time by Sliding it, and eventually, Onslaught can hit a pocket of no cyclers, or worse still, all the cyclers find their way to the graveyard courtesy of a big Mind Sludge before the Champion(s) hit. The first game was a perfect example of Torment’s formula for victory, with a crushing six point Mind Sludge knocking out Renewed Faith, two Plains, an Exalted Angel, Starstorm, and Shock. Left with nothing, Onslaught was easy prey for a Champion. Onslaught did manage to end the possibility of a sweep with a game two win on the strength of early Lightning Rifts, but the third game was another ugly Champion massacre. Onslaught did seem ready to force a fifth game, though, with a rogue Exalted Angel on the rampage in game four.  Onslaught played a turn three face-down Angel, and the gambit payed off when Torment failed to remove it. The black set did however have a Rancid Earth on Onslaught’s only Mountain, delaying the flip for another turn. But Onslaught simply played another Mountain, attacked and passed.  A Mesmeric Fiend saw Astral Slide, but it was apparent that Onslaught had delayed the Slide only to try and cycle further into its deck, perhaps for land. The Fiend took Slide, but Onslaught had Shock in hand and simply got the Slide right back.  A Plains the following turn allowed the Angel to flip, putting the life totals at 24-14 Onslaught.  Things got a little more interesting when Mind Sludge next turn knocked out four cards (Mountain, Astral Slide, Blessing, Starstorm), but Onslaught was able to hold onto a second Astral Slide, which came down on Onslaught’s next turn.  Onslaught now had an Angel with protection, but seemed to be out of cyclers after the crippling Sludge.  Nevertheless, Torment still seemed to have no answer for the Angel, and the life totals became 28-10.  Then, the unbelievable happened. Faceless Butcher kidnapped the Angel, and Onslaught could do nothing about it!  Still, with a big life total edge, Onslaught had time on its side - or maybe not. Laquatus’s Champion tends to cut down life totals very rapidly, and when Champion joined Butcher on Torment’s next round, the life totals were suddenly only 20-10 in favor of Onslaught, now facing a three turn clock.  After another attack made it 12-10, a Mind Sludge revealed that Onslaught held a Plains and a Shock, which made it 12-8.  The misfortune for Onslaught continued, as it could only come up with two non-cycling lands on its next two draws. The Champion and Butcher came in for one final attack, and Torment had returned to the Final Four for the second time in three tournaments!


DIVISION 3:


#1 TEMPEST (Alfred) clubs #8 WEATHERLIGHT (Legend), 3-1

Weatherlight stole the second game when Tempest couldn’t find the combo in time to stop an early horde of bad creatures, but the other three games went according to form, as the lock came down and Serenities were either hiding, countered, or Capsized.


#4 URZA’S SAGA (Alfred) bounces #5 EXODUS (Legend), 3-0

Time Spiral and Smokestack were far too much for Exodus to handle, while Claws of Gix protected against any hopes of racing. Large Processor tokens were also witnessed here.


#2 APOCALYPSE (Legend) extinguishes #7 MIRAGE (Alfred), 3-1

In game one, with no other answer to Wildfire Emissary, Apocalypse was forced to cast Desolation Angel, leaving only Phyrexian Arena, the Angel, and the Emissary on the board. However, Apocalypse could not attack with the Angel, and as the two creatures continued to stare at each other, it was only a matter of time before Mirage came up with a game-winning Incinerate.  In the second game, Mirage appeared headed for a 2-0 lead, beating down with the durable pro-white Emissary, but at almost the last possible moment, Spiritmonger came off the top for Apocalypse and turned the match completely around. This bought Apocalypse enough time to find a couple of Death Grasps off an Arena to move out of burn range and even the series.  After that close call, Apocalypse had little trouble in the next two games, peeling apart Mirage with Gerrard’s Verdict and smashing with Mongers.


#3 FIFTH DAWN (Legend) rallies past #6 ALLIANCES (Alfred), 3-2, in the best match of the tournament!!!!

In only the fifth ever 0-2 comeback in Battle of the Sets history, Fifth Dawn staged a dramatic rally to stun Alliances.  Easily the best match of the tournament thus far, this epic confrontation surely ranks among the greatest matches of all time, with some of the most unbelievable individual games every contested.  Not only did this meeting result in the spectacular comeback of Fifth Dawn rising from the dead, but each game featured incredible back and forth action, as well as amazing topdeck after amazing topdeck on both sides.  Even in defeat, Alliances valiantly struggled to the end, always seeming to have the answer it needed to stay in each game.  But Fifth Dawn was just barely good enough to escape into the second round.  Strangely, of the five 0-2 comebacks that have now occurred, Alliances has been the victim on three of those occasions.

Game one came down to a topdecking battle after countless creatures, artifacts, and lands had hit the graveyard via assorted combat and removal.  The game then settled into a long lull, as both decks became mana flooded.  Occasionaly, one deck would come up with a threat, but the other would immediately find an answer. Alliances snapped out of its funk first, though, as a Deadly Insect went unopposed for the win, with Bringers nowhere in sight for Fifth Dawn.

Fifth Dawn suffered from the opposite problem in game two, stalling on two lands, then falling hopelessly behind when a couple of Pillages put Alliances in the driver’s seat.  An early  Joiner Adept also did not last very long, and a Balduvian Horde/Insect duo came down before Fifth Dawn could make any sort of reasonable attempt to get back into it. Now it was comeback time for Fifth Dawn - the task was clear - either win three games in a row or go home with a bitter early exit from Battle of the Sets V.

The third game started off with turn two Joiner Adept for Fifth Dawn, which lived to be complimented by a Pentad Prism. The Joiner hit for two, but the Prism went down to Primitive Justice. The Prism was replaced immediately, and Joiner knocked Alliances down to 16. The second Prism was also destroyed, while the Joiner continued its determined march to victory, inspiring the whole Fifth Dawn team with another hit. Finally, Alliances established a board presence with a Balduvian Horde, discarding Yavimaya Ants.  Now Fifth Dawn was in some trouble, as lacking the fifth land it so desperately needed to cast a Bringer, could only play another Joiner Adept and hope for the best. Alliances did not remove the Joiners, but its attack put Fifth Dawn on 15, while a Deadly Insect joined the Horde. Mercifully, a Forest was on the draw, allowing Fifth Dawn to cast a Bringer of the Blue Dawn. In the ensuing combat on Alliances’s turn, Horde traded with the Bringer, while an Adept traded with Insect. Elvish Ranger replaced the two fallen Alliances combatants, but it fell to Engineered Explosives as the remaining Adept made it 15-12 in favor of Alliances. The Adept hit again and was joined by the 5/5 flying Skyreach Manta.  Alliances came up with a Death Spark to deal with the Joiner, however the Manta hit Alliances down to 5.

But Alliances would not drop this game so easily, as it topdecked Pillage to knock the Manta out of the skies! Fifth Dawn could only manage another Pentad Prism, and suddenly, the game was a topdecking contest.  Although Alliances had a comfortable ten point life advantage, an Insect, Horde, or Ants could wipe that out in the bat of an eyelash. However, Alliances found none of those cards on its next draw, and finally Fifth Dawn got some luck in the topdeck wars with a Bringer of the Green Dawn before the game could get away. Match status: 2-1 Alliances, and Fifth Dawn must still navigate through the maze of Pillages, Justices, Nesises, and bone-crunching creatures.

Game four, which would evolve into a wild shootout, started off with a Mountain for Alliances. Fifth Dawn played an Island and Bauble before passing back. Alliances added another Mountain, while Fifth Dawn dropped a Plains.  Alliances played a Forest as its third land, and Pillage targeted the Plains, but Fifth Dawn searched out a Forest in response, then played another Forest and got back the Plains with an Eternal Witness. Its helpful to keep track of what lands Fifth Dawn had in play at all times to monitor the sunburst situation, so:  Fifth Dawn ended its third turn with 2 Forest and 1 Island in play, with 1 Plains in hand.

Meanwhile, another Pillage chopped down a Forest, but Alliances did not have a fourth land. Fifth Dawn’s turn once again, on which it added a freshly drawn Swamp to the Forest and Island. Fifth Dawn land situation: 1 Island, 1 Forest, 1 Swamp in play, 1 Plains in hand. Witness hit for two to drop Alliances to 18, and the turn was back to Alliances, which still did not have another land, but rather a third Pillage for Fifth Dawn’s remaining Forest, definitely complicating things for the sunburst deck.  

On Fifth Dawn’s next turn, it played the Plains and attacked for two more with the Witness.  Alliances dropped to 16, while Fifth Dawn now had 1 Plains, 1 Island, and 1 Swamp in play to Alliances's 2 Mountains and 1 Forest. Alliances again failed to draw a fourth land, but did Death Spark the Witness. Back to Fifth Dawn, which topdecked another Forest for its fourth land.  Fifth Dawn had 1 Swamp, 1 Plains, 1 Island, and 1 Forest in play, just a Mountain shy of its domain. Alliances got the turn back, but still couldn’t find another land, passing again. Fifth Dawn drew another Forest, allowing it to play a 4/4 Manta with 2 Forests, 1 Swamp, 1 Plains, and 1 Island. Primitive Justice pulverized the Manta on Alliances’s subsequent turn, but still no fourth land for Alliances.  Fifth Dawn played a newly drawn Island and another Witness to get back the Manta. Fifth Dawn land count: 2 Forest, 2 Island, 1 Swamp, 1 Plains. Back to Alliances, which used an eot Death Spark to whack another short-lived Witness before it could testify. Call the FBI - we need the witness protection program! Make it look like an accident . . . make it look like an accident……

…. anyway, back to the action… Alliances finally found its fourth land on the next draw, a Forest, unleashing a Yavimaya Ants. Fifth Dawn replayed the 4/4 Manta, which traded in the next combat with the Ants, dropping Fifth Dawn to 14, while Alliances used another Death Spark in response to Ants dying to get the Spark back next upkeep, leaving Fifth Dawn at 13.  Fifth Dawn then played a Pentad Prism and used it to summon Bringer of the Blue Dawn. Alliances retrieved its Death Spark during upkeep, and that plus a Pyrokinesis (removing another Death Spark) killed the Bringer before it could get out of hand.  But Fifth Dawn kept up the pressure with another Eternal Witness, bringing the Bringer back to hand.  The third Death Spark was still under the Ants, allowing Alliances to bring it back on the next upkeep. Alliances then came up with its fourth Pillage, taking out a Plains on Fifth Dawn’s side and delaying the Bringer arrival.  Fifth Dawn land situation: 2 Forest, 2 Island, 1 Swamp.

Witness swung to bring Alliances down to 14, while Fifth Dawn added a Joiner Adept as Death Spark fodder. The Adept died to the Spark, and Alliances added a gang of Barbarians, discarding Deadly Insect. The momentum seemed to be back on Alliances's side, but Fifth Dawn played a 3/3 Manta, all it could manage with 2 Islands, 2 Forests, and 1 Swamp for land.  Alliances then uncorked another Yavimaya Ants to go in with the Horde. Eternal Witness and Manta traded with the Horde, while the Ants cut Fifth Dawn down to 8.  Fifth Dawn played another 3/3 Manta, which traded with Ants on the ensuing attack, putting Fifth Dawn within 6 points of elimination.  Alliances was also able to get a Death Spark back from under Deadly Insect.  However, Alliances had nothing else, and life-point wise, this would be as close as it would get to winning the series, as next turn, Fifth Dawn topdecked Channel the Suns to finally cast the Bringer of the Blue Dawn that had earlier been brought back to hand with Eternal Witness!  But Alliances just wouldn’t give up, drawing and playing Deadly Insect.  However, Fifth dawn would now be drawing two extra cards per turn, and when another Joiner Adept and yet another Eternal Witness showed up to return Skyreach Manta to hand, things were slipping away for Alliances. Fifth Dawn also added a newly drawn Forest, leaving it with 2 Islands, 3 Forests, and 1 Swamp for land.

Fifth Dawn declined to attack, and it was back to Alliances, with Death Spark killing Joiner.  But wait…there’s more!!! Alliances drew another Balduvian Horde (discarding Forest to cast it), and it joined the Insect to leave the door ajar still! The turn went back to Fifth Dawn, which, among its three newly drawn cards, found a critical Channel the Suns, leading to another Bringer of the Blue Dawn…but still Alliances refused to lose, topdecking another Yavimaya Ants! Things were getting surreal in this series, as these decks were standing toe to toe and battling for every inch. Alliances now launched a triple attack - Ants, Insect, and Horde.  Fifth Dawn was obliged to block all of them, Witness trading with Insect, and the Bringers trading with the other two.  But finally, finally, after fighting for so long, Alliances was out of gas, while Fifth Dawn had two Mantas in hand even after all that. One 3/3 Manta was summoned. Alliances then drew nothing. Fifth Dawn drew, stung Alliances down to 11 and passed, refusing to drop the second Manta for fear of Primitive Justice. Alliances again drew nothing, while another Manta sting dropped Alliances to 8.  Elvish Ranger made an appearance, but died to Engineered Explosives, and Manta hit again to make it 6-5 Fifth Dawn, which also adds a Joiner Adept, putting lethal damage on the table.  But wait - it was STILL not over…Alliances drew a Tactics, killing the Joiner, and buying it one more turn as it dropped to 2 life.  The next draw.....nothing - and we were headed to game five.

The deciding game started badly for Alliances before a single land was even played, as it was compelled to double-mulligan with not a single land in the first two hands.  The third hand was acceptable, but Alliances was starting three cards down. In a matchup where every card can mean the difference between winning and losing, this would ultimately prove fatal, especially when Fifth Dawn came out with a very strong hand.  But Alliances would not go quietly, not by any means. Alliances started with a Mountain, while Fifth Dawn had Mountain, Bauble. Alliances had a Forest and a Primitive Justice for the Bauble. Fifth Dawn added a Forest and an ominous Pentad Prism. Would a Bringer be far behind?  Amazingly, despite the mulligan, Alliances produced another Mountain, allowing it to Pillage Fifth Dawn’s Forest.  Fifth Dawn added another Forest, though, now having 1 Forest, 1 Mountain, and Pentad Prism in play. Joiner Adept was added to this collection of mana producers, and Alliances was up again. No fourth land, but a Death Spark for Joiner.  Fifth Dawn layed a Plains, and sure enough, had Alliance’s worst nightmare - Bringer of the Green Dawn - which had pulled a disappearing act for most of the series.  Fifth Dawn now had 1 Plains, 1 Mountain, and 1 Forest for land.

Alliances needed a Pyrokinesis, another red card, and either a Tactics or a Death Spark to take down the monster. Instead, it had a fourth land and a Forest for a Yavimaya Ants, dropping Fifth Dawn to 15.  Meanwhile, Fifth Dawn was all but uncorking the champagne, as a Beast token entered from limbo, and another Joiner Adept made an appearance, along with a Swamp. Fifth Dawn land: 1 Forest, 1 Plains, 1 Mountain, 1 Swamp.

Bringer tied the score at 15 before Alliances got the turn back. The Ants traded with the beast token, and Fifth Dawn fell to a healthy 13. In response, Alliances Death Sparked the Joiner, making the Spark retrievable.  Alliances had the Nesis in hand as its only card, but needed a red card ASAP. Fifth Dawn got the turn back, and another Beast replaced the dead one from limbo. FD added a Mountain, leaving it with 1 Forest, 1 Plains, 2 Mountains, and 1 Swamp, just shy of a domain. Bringer mauled Alliances down to 10, but Alliances was not ready to go just yet. On Alliances's upkeep, it returned Death Spark to hand, then topdecked Guerilla Tactics, removing the Tactics from the game to fuel Nesis, which along with Spark killed the Bringer.  Alliances was left with no cards in hand and nothing on the board, while Fifth Dawn had the remaining Beast token.  Advantage Fifth Dawn, but at least Alliances was still breathing, albeit on life support. Gritty Alliances wouldn’t go away, but Fifth Dawn was just one push away from the win. The Beast token gored Alliances, now at 7, and Fifth Dawn added a Forest. Fifth Dawn land: 2 Forests, 2 Mountains, 1 Swamp, 1 Plains.  It was Alliances’s turn again, and the draw provided an Elvish Ranger. But this momentary glimmer of hope for Alliances ended abruptly when Fifth Dawn drew its next card, then played an Island to complete its domain and summon another Bringer of the Green Dawn! Alliances found nothing on its next draw, and it was all but over. A second Beast joined the gang, while a conservative plan of attack for Fifth Dawn caused the original Beast token to trade with the Ranger.  Another Joiner Adept also hit the board, leaving Fifth Dawn with a Bringer, a Beast token, and a Joiner, while Alliances had nothing. Nothing could save Alliances, but it valiantly played on, drawing another Elvish Ranger.  However, the brave Ranger did not even get the chance to sacrifice itself for the cause, as an Engineered Explosives cleared the path for one final attack from the Bringer, Beast token, and Joiner.

And so, one of the finest matches in the annals of all Battle of the Sets tournaments had finally come to an end. This one will go down in history as one of the most exciting back and forth battles ever waged. Tales of the bravery and determination displayed on both sides will fill the minds of young children down through the ages.

Fifth Dawn stages the remarkable comeback and advances to face Apocalypse!






#1 TEMPEST (Legend) dumps #4 URZA’S SAGA (Alfred), 3-0

An easy win for Tempest, as Smokestacks and Time Spirals were repeatedly countered.


#2 APOCALYPSE (Legend) handles # 3 FIFTH DAWN (Alfred), 3-1

In another back and forth match for Fifth Dawn, it posted a very respectable showing against a really tough opponent, taking the second game before Apocalypse stormed to victory in the final two games. Ultimately, Apocalypse just had too much card advantage, too much removal, and too much Spiritmonger, with two of the monsters beating down to finish off the match.


#2 APOCALYPSE (Legend) leads #1 TEMPEST (Alfred), 1-0

(Match in progress, suspended until tournament resumes next week)

In the first game, Apocalypse overwhelmed Tempest with the card advantage of two Arenas, and now stands only two game wins away from the division title.


DIVISION 4:


#1 ANTIQUITIES smashes #8 FALLEN EMPIRES, 3-0

Fallen Empires put up some minor resistance, but Antiquities had far too much muscle for a lightweight to handle, swatting Fallen Empires out of the way like an irritated Grizzly in the face of bees futilely defending their honey. The first game was a horror show for Fallen Empires, with Antiquities playing first and opening Workshop, Onulet. Ebon Stronghold, go, just doesn’t cut it against Antiquities. Another Workshop on turn two led to a Triskelion, and floundering Fallen Empires, dizzied from this ridiculous start, wisely conceded in short order. Fallen Empires seemed to have a chance in the second game against its Workshopless foe, but Antiquities found its Urzatron (with Candelabra) in a midgame situation and blew away two creatures with a Rocket Launcher, then threw down a Tetravus. The underrated Candelabra again aided the Urzatron combo in the third game, as Antiquities had the holy trinity in its opening hand. With Candelabra and the trinity, Antiquities barfed all over Fallen Empires with a sudden blast of Triskelion and Clockwork Avian in one crushing turn to eliminate Fallen Empires and take the match. The title defense begins with a very convincing win against an opponent Antiquities is supposed to take care of.

[Alfred]

With Candelabra and the trinity, Antiquities barfed all over Fallen Empires with a sudden blast of Triskelion and Clockwork Avian in one crushing turn to eliminate Fallen Empires and take the match.

LOL!

[Legend]

OK, a couple of things. First, here are the matches that still need to be played or completed.


FINAL FOUR MATCH #1: Mirrodin (D-1 champ) vs. Torment (D-2 Champ)


DIVISION 3 FINALS: #2 Apocalypse leads #1 Tempest, 1-0 (match
                               suspended until play resumes)

DIVISION 4 SEMIFINALS: #1 Antiquities vs. #5 Invasion
                                      #3 Mercadian Masques vs. #7 Planeshift

DIVISION 4 FINALS:  Winner of Antiquities/Invasion vs. Winner of
                                Masques/Planeshift

FINAL FOUR MATCH #2: Apocalypse/Tempest winner vs.
                                    Antiquities/Masques/Planeshift/Invasion

THE FINALS: Final Four Match #1 Winner vs. Final Four Match #2 Winner
                                   


The tournament will be on a break this week, and perhaps for two weeks., but will resume within a reasonable period of time, at which point the remaining matches will be played, and a champion for Battle of the Sets V will be crowned.



Now, here's a look at how the first round predictions of myself, Alfred, and Matt turned out.



MATT

Winner picked correctly: 12/17

Winner & games picked exactly: 2/17


ALFRED:

Winner picked correctly: 11/17

Winner & games picked exactly: 5/17


LEGEND:

Winner picked correctly: 12/17

Winner & games picked exactly: 6/17



As for other predictions, let's see who has their picks still alive:



MATT:

You correctly had Mirrodin winning Division 1, and you did have Onslaught vs. Torment in the division 2 finals, although you had Onslaught moving on to face Mirrodin, while Torment in fact beat Onslaught. You had Apocalypse taking Division 3, and that is looking like a very good bet right now. You also had Antiquities winning Division 4, which I think will still happen, but remains to be seen. For a finals matchup, you had Onslaught vs. Apocalypse (at least I infer thats what you meant from your kingmaker remarks), with Apocalypse winning the whole thing. Onslaught is out, however I'd say your pick of Apocalypse for winner has a fair chance of coming true, but there are some complications. Lets assume that Apocalypse finishes off Tempest and advances to the semifinals, where we would expect it to face Antiquities.  That is a 50/50 matchup. Then, were Apoc to advance to the finals, it would have to pray for Torment to lose to Mirrodin (that is also a 50/50 matchup, as Mirrodin barely beat Torment 3-2 in the semifinals of BOTS III, rallying from 1-2 down), because Apoc has no chance against Torment, which swept Apocalypse the only time they met (in BOTS II). Not that Mirrodin would be a walk in the park, but at least Apoc has Pernicious Deed for that matchup. BTW, earlier you said that "OS can easily take MR, and AQ with marginally less ease" If you meant that Onslaught has a favorable matchup against Mirrodin, I don't know because they've never played before. On paper it would appear that way, but Mirrodin is capable of beating any opponent with the right hand. However, I'm unclear whether you were indicating that Onslaught had a slightly favorable matchup against Antiquities or whether it is even. If you were trying to say that it is a 50/50 matchup, I can see that. But I would definitely not agree that Onslaught has an advantage in that matchup. If anything, Antiquities would have to be given a 55/45 or 60/40 edge because it beat Onslaught in the finals for the championship last time. On the positive side, you accurately stated that Torment was a dangerous #2 seed and that Alliances was one of the underrated decks. Alliances looked very good in defeat against Fifth Dawn.

Anyway, overall you have had good results thus far, although as we have already discussed, your reasoning has left something to be desired.  Nevertheless, good contributions, and solid predictions.



ALFRED:

Well, you had Scourge winning Division 1. Yikes. True, Mirrodin is an aggro deck - but no ordinary aggro deck, the kind Scourge beats so easily. As we saw, Scourge went down hard against Mirrodin. As for Division 2, you had Onslaught - a fine pick (hey, I also had that pick, and Matt did as well), but in retrospect, I don't know how we all missed Torment here. Torment had no chance of losing its first two matches, and both on paper and in reality it had the advantage against Onslaught. I definitely should have seen this one coming because I had once tested this matchup out, with Torment enjoying a slight edge in those games.
No shame for you in missing that one. In Division 3, you had Apocalypse, as we all did. Thats looking real good right about now. Divison 4 - Antiquities - again, I think that will also prove correct. For your winner, you also had Apocalypse - again, as my earlier comments indicate, Apoc has a fine chance of pulling it off it can take care of its own business and then get a little luck. As for your pick of underrated deck, Prophecy was a good choice, but it just had an absolutely horrid matchup against Scourge, and had no chance to shine. Also, I know you had high hopes for Ice Age, but give it time. I think its only a matter of time before Ice Age finally wins a match with this Haups deck. Its pretty good.



LEGEND:

Overall I am pleased with my picks so far, with one notable exception. I had Mirrodin taking Division 1 and advancing to the finals with a win over Onslaught. However, Onslaught did not win Division 2, which I had it winning over Torment. Again, I don't know how I missed this one, because I knew that Torment had the matchup against Onslaught, and if I predicted they would meet (which I did, and they did meet), why would I pick Onslaught to win the division? That was a bad pick that Alfred, Matt, and myself all made. All three of us made that pick of Onslaught winning Division 2 over Torment, despite the fact that all of us clearly realized that Torment has not only been a very dangerous and powerful deck in the past, but that it remained a deadly force for this tournament capable of winning the whole thing - something it could very well do at this point.  Meanwhile, over in Division 3, I have Apocalypse winning that Division, which again, looks like it will  come to pass.  I have Antiquities winning Division 4, which looks probable, and Antiquities beating Apocalypse in the Final Four - which will be a tremendous showdown if it in fact does happen. Those two played maybe the greatest matchup in BOTS history when they met in the first tournament, with Apocalypse barely winning, 3-2.  But now Antiquites is slightly better than it was back then, having replaced Jalum Tomes with Onulets for more speed, a change obviously for the better, with Antiquities now in the process of defending its title. A 50/50 matchup without a doubt. Maybe Antiquities will win the coin toss this time ;) . On the other side, I had Mirrodin beating Onslaught to get into the finals (a gut pick based solely on the raw speed of Mirrodin, as Onslaught may actually have had the paper advantage in that matchup were it to happen),  but now with Torment there instead of Onslaught, I wonder. Mirrodin barely beat Torment last time, and Torment is on a roll, but no reason to deviate from my pick at this point. I'll stick with Mirrodin to again barely get past powerhouse Torment and punch a ticket to the finals, although I acknowledge that Mirrodin/Torment is probably a 50/50 matchup. As for the finals, if my two finals picks, Mirrodin and Antiquities, do meet for the title, I'll stick with my pre-tournament pick of Antiquities winning a classic, 3-2, to become the first repeat champion.  Of course, we could very easily end up with Torment vs. Apocalypse, or some other combination, in which case different picks would obviously be in order. We'll see.  The excitement and unpredictability is what makes this tournament so great.

That's all for now. Again, I'll be back when the tournament resumes in a week or two.

[Legend]

All match reports have now been edited and cleaned up. Check back for more match reports and commentary when things start up again whenever.

[Legend]

The tournament finally resumed last night, and we are just about down to the finals, with Apocalypse having returned to the championship match, and Torment on the doorstep.  Here's how it happened:



DIVISION 3 FINALS: #2 Apocalypse (Legend) d. #1 Tempest (Alfred), 3-0

In the first of what would be several rematches between old rivals last night, Apocalypse once again asserted its dominance over Tempest.  When these two met way back in Battle of the Sets I, Apocalypse rallied for three straight wins to take the match 3-1.  This time, it was not even that close, as Apocalypse just had too much removal, too varied an offense, and more than enough card advantage to overwhelm Tempest.  The key card for Apocalypse is Phyrexian Arena, as Apoc can flood Tempest with must-counters once the Arena is in play.  Tempest pretty much has only one way to win: a Capsize lock, which is extraordinarily difficult to set up in this matchup. Making matters even worse is that Phyrexian Arena and painlands have essentially no drawback against damageless Tempest.

In the end, Arena only got going in the first game, yet Tempest could still not contain its versatile foe. The only question was how Apocalypse would win each game.  Would it be a couple of early Lynxes backed up by removal? A long struggle ending with a large Death Grasp? A rogue Spiritmonger?  The answer proved to be a little bit of each. Game one was an Arena game. Game two demonstrated how Apocalypse can overwhelm Tempest with must-deal-withs, as Tempest could not capitalize on a slow Apocalypse start, even with a buybacked Capsize. Tempest was then forced to face down Lynx, Monger, and Arena with the buybacked Capsize each turn, unable to deal with all of these threats before an eight-point Death Grasp finally finished it off.  The  final game saw Tempest struggling with its mana before falling quickly to Lynxes on turns two and three backed up by removal, with a Spiritmonger joining in for good measure.  Apocalypse wins Division 3!


Now the Final Four was almost set, with Mirrodin vs. Torment on one side, and Apocalypse waiting for an opponent from Divison 4, where defending champion Antiquities was putting together a remarkable streak of destruction and intimidation.  Would Antiquities ever lose a game?


DIVISION 3 SEMIS: #1 Antiquities (Legend) d. #5 Invasion (Alfred), 3-0

End of the line for Invasion in mere minutes, as Antiquities stretched its match win streak to seven, and its game wins streak, dating back to last tournament's finals, to nine. The mighty artifact set was now within striking distance of records in both categories. Both records are held by Tempest, which won eight consecutive matches (five straight to take the title in BOTS II, followed by a bye and then three straight before losing in the BOTS III finals to Mirrodin), and fourteen consecutive games on the way to the BOTS II title (losing only third game of the finals to Masques, one game from perfection).

As for this match, not much to say, as Antiquities just muscled a pretty good Invasion deck to the side with sudden bursts of powerful artifact creatures from Workshops and the Urza trinity along with gut-busting Strip Mines. Already a horrendous underdog, it certainly did not help Invasion that its four Addles served as total dead weight in this matchup.  But when you go up against Antiquities with Shivan Zombies, Ravenous Rats, and Plague Spitters, thats like bringing a knife to a gunfight.


DIVISION 3 SEMIS:  #3 Mercadian Masques (Alfred) d. #7 Planeshift (Legend), 3-0

Planeshift finally got its first match win in this tournament, so anything further would just be an unexpected bonus.  However, that was not going to happen against Masques, which is perhaps the most blatant matchup deck in the entire field.  Masques feasts on most mono-color and black/red beatdown type decks, and Planeshift fits well within this category.  Masques features both pro-red and pro-black Gliders, Cho-Manno's Blessing, Reverent Mantra, and worst of all, Story Circle.  A fast drubbing here, as Masques moved on to face Antiquities for the first time.


DIVISION 3 FINALS: #1 Antiquities (Legend) d. #3 Mercadian Masques (Alfred), 3-0


Antiquities has the huge matchup advantage on paper, but Masques would seem to have a chance of stealing a game, as it at least has Disenchants to back up a potential early rebel horde.  Hopefully for Masques, it could also delay just long enough with Rishadan Ports.  However, Masques has one problem in this matchup that presented it with basically no chance of victory - Masques is a color hosing matchup deck, and against a colorless deck, Masques finds an opponent in Antiquities that is 100% immune to the Masques brand of venom.  This leaves Masques with eleven utterly useless cards - four Blessing, four Mantras, and three Story Circles.

Unfortunately for Masques, or any opponent who would dare oppose Antiquities, it was not only showing itself to be punishing and explosive, but had been getting and continued to get all the breaks it needed.  When a great champion gets on a roll like this, thats what happens. Masques's only hope was that Antiquities would revert to its weaknesses that have prevented it from winning on other occasions - its propensity to occasionally beat itself, an inclination which, aside from last tournament, has often arisen at inopportune moments. However, that would have to wait at least one more match.

Masques played first to open the contest and was off to a promising start with Sergeant and Volunteers, while Antiquities managed only an innocuous opening of Urza's Tower, Candelabra, Urza's Mine....innocuous that is, as long as Urza's Power Plant didn't show up.....meanwhile, Masques added a Port and another Sergeant, while an attack knocked Antiquities down to 16. On upkeep, Tower was tapped, but Antiquities, with its unreal streak of excellent draws continuing to hold, DID have the Power Plant, allowing it to spit out a Clockwork Avian with help from the Candelabra.  In one moment, the futility of Masques's task was revealed with Antiquities not only using the Candelabra to undermine Port in this particular instance, but making it clear that this would happen again, and again, and again. Avian died to a Disenchant, though, and the next attack put Antiq at 12.  However, Antiquities layed down another Urza's Tower,
and generated sixteen mana!!! Out came another Avian, Rocket Launcher, and Tawnos's Coffin, with one of the Sergeants sucked into the tomb. Masques drew, found a fourth land, then conceded in the face of a hopeless situation.

Masques was again off to a promising start with a turn one Sergeant in game two, and had no land trouble even after a Strip Mine hit the first Plains. A Port then came down to tap Urza's Tower, and Antiquities added another one. Antiquities followed the Tower with a Power Plant but had nothing else, while Masques searched up a Steadfast Guard, then attacked Antiquities down to 15 and added a second Port.  Now with a little pressure on the table, Masques could also hold Antiquities with its hands tied behind its back...but Antiquities drew a Workshop and dropped a Rocket Launcher.  Still, Masques was in control, and the next attack made it 12 life for Antiquities, while the Ports tapped down Workshop and a Tower.  Antiquities found another Power Plant, obviously preferring Urza's Mine, and used the Launcher to kill Sergeant.  Antiquities found no more land and could not play any of its spells, and with Antiquities at 8 life, Masques added a second Guard while still having enough mana up for two Portings.  Antiquities found another Workshop, and played Tetravus. Masques was ready with the Disenchant, and the Guards made it 4 life for Antiquities.  Both Shops were tapped on the next upkeep, but Antiquities did manage a last-ditch effort at staying alive in the game with a 3/3 Primal Clay. The Clay blocked a Guard, while Antiquities fell to a dicey 2 life.  Masques's relentlessly kept up the pressure with a Nightwind Glider, and Antiquities needed a fifth non-Workshop land to cast an Avian in its hand to block the Glider. Again, good fortune held for the champ and it found a Mishra's Factory. Out came the Glider, and a demoralized Masques was losing its grip on the win. It did have a Thermal Glider to join the other rebels, though, and again, Antiquities needed an answer. It did have a second Avian, and it was back to Masques, which desperately needed a Disenchant. No, but at least a third Glider was waiting in the wings. Antiquities was again one step away from defeat. Then came the backbreaker - a third Workshop on the next draw! Yes, the worst-case scenario for Masques - Triskelion, which shot down all three brave Gliders.  Masques's chance to make a series of it had slipped away, and it was on to the third game to at least try and stop Antiquities's insane winning streak. After all, Masques did know a thing or two about stopping long winning streaks, having ended Tempest's fourteen game winning streak in the BOTS II finals.

Alas, even that last scrap of dignity was not to be for the rebel alliance, as Antiquities overcame two early Ports in the third game thanks to the Workshop + Candelabra tandem. A Tetravus was Disenchanted, but the onslaught continued with an Avian and Primal Clay. With Antiquities's arsenal of death fully operational and a subpar draw from Masques, a concession ended the series and gave Antiquities its second straight division title.  Entering the Final Four, Antiquities now had the chance to become the first-ever repeat champion, but it would have to do so against its old nemesis, Apocalypse.


FINAL FOUR: #2 Apocalypse (Alfred) d. #1 Antiquities (Legend), 3-1

Antiquities arrived in its second consecutive final four having tied the all-time record for consecutive match wins (8), a mark now shared with Tempest, and only two short of tying the record for most consecutive game wins (14), a mark also held by Tempest.  Antiquities has been on a brutal rampage, destroying all who dare oppose it in a variety of bone-crunching ways. In fact, ever since Antiquities was down 0-2 to Scourge in last tournament's quarterfinals, it has amassed an amazing 18-2 games record.  Total games record over the last two tournaments combined: 24-7. Antiquities has become a buzz-saw.  However, it was about to face its old arch-nemesis, Apocalypse.

All Battle of the Sets aficionados remember it: one of the greatest matches in tournament history, way back in Battle of the Sets I - the epic confrontation between Apocalypse, at the time favored to win the whole thing, and a dangerous, feared Antiquities deck.  Apocalypse barely escaped that match, eking out a victory in the decisive fifth game after Antiquities had taken the second and fourth games.  Apocalypse went on to defeat Onslaught in the finals and become the inaugural Battle of the Sets champion.  Since then, however, the paths of the two great foes have diverged. Apocalypse has been strangely dormant.  In BOTS II, Apoc was swept by Torment in round two after a bye. Next time out, a 3-2 loss to Darksteel in round two once again.  And last time? A stunning 3-1 upset loss to Nemesis in round one! However, Apocalypse seems to have taken its rightful place among the true elite once again with a 3-1 win over Mirage, a 3-1 win over Fifth Dawn, and a convincing 3-0 sweep of Tempest.  Some would still argue that Apocalypse is the best all-around deck in the field. After the bitter disappointment of coming so far and not quite winning it all, Antiquities suffered more heartbreak in the quarterfinals against Arabian Nights in BOTS II when it blew a 2-1 series lead, denying it a semifinal matchup with eventual champion Tempest.  Then a second-round sweep at the hands of Torment ensured that the artifact set would have to wait at least one more tournament to get a chance at the whole enchilada.  Finally, in BOTS IV, Antiquities broke through, grinding through several difficult matchups and staging a couple of remarkable comebacks. The bitter disappointments of tournaments past only made the taste of winning all the more sweet.  Now Antiquities has moved closer to its goal of becoming the first ever repeat champion. Apocalypse … Antiquities….what would happen?

Antiquities won the die roll, 4-2, and had just the kind of opening it would need to beat its rival. Turn one Workshop, Turn two Workshop = Tetravus. Spectral Lynx appeared for Apocalypse, while Antiquities converted the Tetravus into three 1/1 Tetravites plus the original on its upkeep, and added Mishra’s Factory + a 2/2 flying Primal Clay.  The attack knocked Apocalypse to 16.  Lynx attacked and Apocalypse added Pernicious Deed, but was still badly on the defensive, just where Antiquities needed it to stay, as Apocalypse would certainly win any game in which it could stabilize at a reasonable life total. The Tetravites and Clay attacked to put Apocalypse at 10, and Antiquities sealed the game by adding another Tetravus and another Factory! Apocalypse was able to Deed on Antiquities’s next attack, removing the three Tetravite tokens, the Clay, and the Spectral Lynx, but fell to 5 life from the remaining 1/1 Tetravus and the new 4/4. Vindicate took out the new Tetravus, but Antiquities had the 1/1 Tetravus and the two Factories for the win.

Antiquities was now flying as high as can be, having registered 10 straight game wins to start the tournament, and 13 straight game wins overall, now just one shy of the record.  But this would be the high-water mark for the defending champion, as the buzz-saw was itself about to get buzzed. In a startling turn of events, Apocalypse proved that it definitely has the upper hand in this rivalry, at least for now, even as it appears to be a 50/50 matchup.

The second game was a perfect example of why Apocalypse can stand up to this bully. Antiquities will probably beat any opponent with its insane draws. Antiquities will probably beat almost any opponent with its good draws. Antiquities struggles when it does not draw Workshop or the Urza trinity, but can sometimes pull it out anyway.  It is the last two categories where Apocalypse takes advantage unlike most opponents. It has a robust combination of disruption, removal, and high land density to battle Antiquities as long as it can gain some kind of foothold at the start of the game. Gerrard’s Verdict is a major headache, while Vindicate can take out Workshop, ruin the trinity, or remove a threat. Once Apocalypse gets established with a bit of mana on the table, Deed comes online, while Monger and Desolation Angel stand ready to take over. Clearly, the draw Antiquities had in game one was absurd, but barring that, Antiquities will find a determined and ready opponent with an array of stifling options at its disposal - and should Antiquities bring a mediocre or bad draw to the table, Apocalypse will pounce unmercifully. Antiquities needs at least three strong draws to win this match.

Apocalypse opened with a Plains, which was promptly Stripped. A second Plains was Stripped in an effort to shut off Verdict and Vindicate (twelve white sources in the deck), but to no avail, as Apocalypse mockingly played a Caves of Koilos. The other rationale for using the two Strips right away is to buy a couple of extra turns to find a Workshop (which Antiq did not have yet) by essentially keeping the game on turn one. So the plan of shutting down the white mana went by the boards, but as Apocalypse would soon discover, the Workshop rationale had worked.  Additionally, the Strips would also lead to a several extra points of painland damage that Apoc would otherwise not have taken, although it would prove far from enough to make a difference. Antiquities finally stopped the land destruction and dropped Factory + Candelabra on its third turn, delaying the Workshop it had just drawn for one more turn, lacking anything to cast off it as the only land. Apocalypse had Gerrard’s Verdict the following turn, dropping to 19, then going back up to 22 when Antiquities discarded an Urza’s Power Plant and Primal Clay. Antiquities layed the Workshop next turn, leading to a Su-Chi. Apocalypse Vindicated the Workshop, crippling Antiquities for the low price of three mana and one damage. Antiquities added Urza’s Power Plant, and attacked with Factory and Chi, dropping Apocalypse to 15.  But another Vindicate took out Chi, dropping Apocalypse to 14, while Antiquities sunk the mana into Factory to avoid mana burn. Antiquities played a Tower on its next turn, and the Factory attacked again to leave Apocalypse at 12.  Antiquities dropped a Pernicious Deed and passed, dropping to 11 off a Wastes.  Meanwhile, Antiquities found another Urza land, but not the Mine it was looking for. It was another Tower, which allowed Su-Chi #2 to hit the table.  Apocalypse popped the Deed, taking out the Candelabra and the Chi. Once this happened, both sides knew this game was effectively over, because Apocalypse had been steadily playing lands despite the Strip Mines, and would reach seven mana next turn. It had become fairly obvious over the course of the last several turns that the Desolation Angel arrival was imminent, and when Apocalypse played its seventh land, a Swamp, on the following turn, the Antiquities concession was not far behind as the Angel swooped down.

Antiquities never threatened to take either of the final two games, failing to find Workshops and suffering badly from some crippling Vindicates on what lands it did manage to draw. It had to happen at some point - Antiquities had enjoyed ridiculous good luck during its glorious run - which always seems to go along with success. But the breaks finally ran out, and Antiquities finally ran into an opponent who would not be intimidated by the knockout artist, an opponent who would bravely stand its ground, calmly look Antiquities in the eye, and beat it. Both games quickly degenerated into prison rapes administered by Mr. S. Monger, and Apocalypse had earned a second richly deserved trip to the finals, where it would face the winner of Mirrodin/Torment.

At this point, Apocalypse had to be pulling for Mirrodin to duplicate its feat of two tournaments ago, when it rallied past Torment in the Final Four from a 1-2 deficit to steal the finals slot, going on to beat Tempest 3-1 for the title. Apocalypse has the tools to beat Mirrodin, most obviously Pernicious Deed, and would be favored in that matchup. However, should Torment prevail, Apocalypse’s hopes of a second championship would be seriously damaged, for as mentioned earlier, Torment swept Apocalypse in their only meeting. Laquatus’s Champion, Mind Sludge, and Chainer's Edict all proved immensely problematic for Apocalypse last time. Anything can happen at any time, but Apocalypse’s rooting interest was clear as the other semifinal match got underway. Were Torment to join Apocalypse in the finals, this would mark the second straight Battle of the Sets featuring two #2 seeds in the finals, with Antiquities and Onslaught both making the trip last time as #2 seeds (both were #1 seeds this time).



FINAL FOUR: #2 Torment (Legend) d. #1 Mirrodin (Alfred), 3-1

Tempest and Antiquities have already failed to win their rematches with Apocalypse, in the midst of its tour through old foes. This Final Four match features another meeting between decks that have met once before. Would Torment be able to avoid the fate of Tempest and Antiquities?

Last time these two met, Mirrodin pulled the rug out from under Torment just one agonizing win from the finals, and now Torment was once again stood on the doorstep of destiny. Its about time Torment gets the attention it deserves.  Having come so close before, with a previous Final Four and quarterfinal appearance under its belt already, Torment was looking to take the step up from the ranks of the merely great decks to the hallowed ranks of the champions. Torment may have been overlooked at the start of the tournament, but it has now stepped out of the shadows and claimed the undivided attention of all.  The massive power of this mono-black monster commands fear and respect throughout the land, sending shivers down the spines of its opponents.

Ask any of Torment’s opponents thus far and they’ll all tell you the same thing “Nothing I could do, I ran into a buzz-saw.â€?  Yes, Torment has been a buzz-saw in this tournament, absolutely annihilating Visions and Urza’s Legacy in sweeps, then putting away Onslaught rather soundly.
Now only Mirrodin stood between Torment and the finals.  If Torment could weather Mirrodin’s early assault with Chainer’s Edicts, Fiends, and even sacrificial Shades, it would be able to take over with Butchers and Champions. Edicts would be especially critical. Mirrodin may be extremely fast, but Torment has already demonstrated that it has the capabilities to weather the early assault and then stabilize with control of the board.  It was time for revenge. Big time.

GAME 1:

Torment won the die roll 8-4 and played first with the usual Swamp, go.  Mirrodin had an explosive start: Great Furnace, Ornithopter, Bonesplitter, Tooth of Chiss-Goria, and Frogmite. But Torment would set the tone for the rest of the match over the next few turns, starting with a Chainer’s Edict, keeping the board position from getting totally out of hand as Mirrodin selected its Ornithoper for the sacrifice.  Mirrodin hit for five with the Splittered + Toothed Frogmite and added another one, along with a second Bonesplitter.  Torment hung in with a second Edict, leaving just a lone Frogmite.  That Frogmite hit for seven more next turn, leaving Torment at 8.  However, Torment drew the critical fourth Swamp it needed and played a Faceless Butcher, leaving Mirrodin with plenty of creature enhancers, but no creatures.  Mirrodin came back with a Myr Enforcer. Meanwhile, Torment played a Shade, leaving two black open to trade with the Enforcer.  Mirrodin double-Splittered up the Enforcer to make it lethal, thereby obliging the trade on Torment’s part.  However, this left Mirrodin unable to cast the Atog in hand, which was sucked under a Mesmeric Fiend next turn. Mirrodin was left with essentially nothing after that. Torment also added a new Shade and attacked with Butcher to put Mirrodin on 18. Mirrodin found nothing on its next draw, and the game was all but salted away when Torment dropped a Cabal Coffers, which facilitated a Champion arrival.  Mirrodin packed it in when it found nothing of consequence on the next draw. A bad sign for the Affinity deck - a strong hand resulting in a loss nonetheless.


GAME 2:

Mirrodin opened with a Vault and a Disciple in the second game, then a Seat of the Synod, Bonesplitter, and equip Disciple, putting Torment at 17. Torment had an Edict and it was back to Mirrodin.  The Affinity deck spit out a Great Furnace, Pyrite Spellbomb, another Bonesplitter, and a Myr Enforcer. But it too died to a Chainers Edict.  Ornithoper and Tooth joined Mirrodin's board next turn, and the Spellbomb was popped for a card. Torment had a Faceless Butcher for the Thopter, but Mirrodin took it back with a Shrapnel Blast.  The Thopter picked up a pair of axes and a Tooth, hitting for five, which left Torment at 12.  Poor Mirrodin - Torment had a third Chainer’s ready to go.  Exit Thopter.  Enter Nantuko Shade. Mirrodin, creatureless, could only play Welding Jar and pass it back.  Torment drew and played a fifth Swamp, and the Shade hit for five, droping Mirrodin to 13 from the 7/6.  Mirrodin drew a Seat of the Synod. Shade hit again, leaving Mirrodin at 6.  Mirrodin made a final bid for survival with a Spellbomb, killing the Shade - but Torment drew a sixth Swamp next turn, which meant a game-ending six-point life loss from Laquatus’s Champion.


GAME 3:

Needing to win three straight games, Mirrodin came up with its best opening of the tournament at the best possible time.

Turn one: Great Furnace, Pyrite Spellbomb, Ornithopter
Turn two: Glimmervoid, Bonesplitter on Ornithoper, attack for two
Torment: Nantuko Shade
Turn three: Seat of the Synod, two Somber Hoverguards, attack for two more, kill Shade with Spellbomb
Torment: Chainer’s Edict removes Ornithopter
Turn four: Atog and Frogmite, hit for eight with the Hoverguards
Torment: concede



GAME 4:

Its pretty much impossible to sweep Mirrodin, because more likely than not it will just get an unstoppable hand somewhere along the line.  But Torment still had the match under control. Mirrodin opened Vault + Disciple, while Torment had a Fiend, taking Atog and revealing a not-so- great hand for Mirrodin, which could only play a Furnace and pass it back. Torment Rancid Earthed the Furnace, attacked with Fiend, and played a Shambling Swarm. Mirrodin drew a Seat of the Synod and played Somber Hoverguard. Torment then put the match away with a Mind Sludge, knocking out 2 Shrapnel Blasts, Glimmervoid, and Myr Enforcer. After this crippling blow, all that was left was a race that Torment could easily win. Mirrodin hit with the Hoverguard to drop Torment to 16 and added a freshly drawn Frogmite, while Torment Rancid Earthed the Seat, dropping to 15 from the Disciple. Shade and Coffers augmented Torment's position. Mirrodin topdecked a Tooth and crashed for four with the Hoverguard, putting Mirrodin in the lead at 15-11. Torment attacked with Swarm and Shade. Frogmite chumped the Shade, and it was still 12-11 Mirrodin for a fleeting moment.  Then Torment tapped the Coffers and three remaining Swamps (two others had been used to pump Shade) to summon Laquatus’s Champion. Hoverguard cut Torment’s life lead to 7-6, and Mirrodin added a second Disciple.  Both Disciples died for the cause next turn, blocking Shade and Champion. This trade left Mirrodin with a Hoverguard that could deal four damage, but with no cards in hand and no red mana in play there was no hope of a miracle Shrapnel Blast. With no escape from the terrifying evil of Torment, Mirrodin graciously conceded, setting up a final match between Torment and Apocalypse.

Torment defeats Mirrodin, 3-1, advancing to the finals!

[Legend]

THE FINALS:


#2 Torment (Legend) d. #2 Apocalypse (Alfred), 3-2


In the first Battle of the Sets finals to go the full five games, Torment emerged victorious from a bone-shattering confrontation with Apocalypse! Torment was favored to handle Apocalypse comfortably, but the former champ had other ideas, valiantly standing up to the mono-black menace in a wild war of attrition waged upon hands, lands, and creatures.  The outcome of this titanic battle remained in doubt until Torment finally put the match and the title away with a huge Mind Sludge in the decisive game. A classic!

Torment had finally broken through to the finals with wins over Visions (3-0), Urza’s Legacy (3-0), Onslaught (3-1), and Mirrodin (3-1).  Apocalypse, on the other hand, reached its second finals with wins over Mirage (3-1), Fifth Dawn (3-1), Tempest (3-0), and Antiquities (3-1), joining Onslaught and Tempest as the only two-time finalists.

Would buzz-saw Torment chop another adversary into firewood, or would steady Apocalypse find a way to pull a surprise?


GAME 1:

The match started off with an improbable series of die rolls - both decks rolled 10, then rolled 10’s a second time! Finally, Apocalypse won the third roll, 4-2. Both decks opened with Swamps. Apocalypse, though, had no turn two play besides another Swamp, allowing Torment to get the upper hand with a Mesmeric Fiend. Torment immediately saw what the trouble was for Apocalypse: a couple of Gerrard’s Verdicts, Death Grasp, Vindicate, and Pernicious Deed, but no white mana.  Under the Fiend went one of the Verdicts. Apocalypse desperately needed either a Plains or Caves of Koilos, and mercifully found a Plains on its next draw. Verdict knocked out Shambling Swarm and Nantuko Shade. Torment could manage only a third Swamp and a Fiend attack on its third turn. Apocalypse did not have a fourth land, but was able to Grasp the Fiend, getting the second Verdict back and restoring itself to 20 life.  Torment played a fourth Swamp and passed again, now just one more Swamp away from a killer Mind Sludge. With Chainer’s Edict, Champion, Sludge and Swamp in hand, Torment had a tough decision on Apocalypse’s next turn. Apocalypse layed a fourth land (Caves of Koilos) and played the second Verdict. Torment needed to get the Sludge off next turn.  The Chainer’s Edict would definitely be discarded - but Champion or Swamp? Torment elected to lose the Champion and keep the Swamp, not wanting to leave that necessary fifth Swamp to the chance of topdecking.  A painful choice to drop a nigh-invincible win condition into the graveyard, but the Sludge was a must.  As it turned out, the next draw for Torment was a Swamp. Torment Sludged, and it was a bad one (for Apocalypse, that is), knocking out Spiritmonger, Pernicious Deed, and two Death Grasps.  Apocalypse drew and played a Swamp, passing the turn back to Torment.  With a sixth Swamp as its only card in hand, Torment drew… LAQUATUS’S CHAMPION!  Apocalypse could only watch Torment’s good fortune with a mixture of horror and envy, and now had a one turn window in which to draw either a Vindicate or Death Grasp to remove the menace before the regeneration shield would be up. The draw....Llanowar Wastes.  Champion smashed Apocalypse down to 8 life.  Still no help arrived for Apocalypse on its next draw (Desolation Angel - not only did Apocalypse have merely six lands, but Angel would not have helped anyway against Champ) and the Champion mauled Apocalypse down to 2 life. A newly drawn Mesmeric Fiend revealed the unhelpful Angel, and Apocalypse conceded after its next draw phase.



GAME 2:

Apocalypse played a turn two Verdict, nailing two Coffers and gaining six life in the process (going up to 24, as the Verdict caused two pain damage from Caves and Llanowar Wastes). Torment played a second Swamp, but Apocalypse had a Vindicate to reduce Torment’s board position to just a lone Swamp. Apocalypse fell to 22, now with all pain lands in play (two Caves and Wastes) but it mattered not. Torment replaced the Swamp with a new one, also blown up by a Vindicate. Torment had yet another Swamp, but was in bad trouble. Apocalypse made things even worse with another Verdict, knocking out a Butcher and an Edict, and then added a Forest and a Spectral Lynx, dropping to 17. Torment took care of the Lynx with another Edict and added a third Swamp.  But Apocalypse summoned a Spiritmonger next turn. Torment had a Fiend, but no fourth land, settling for a Death Grasp under the Fiend.  Monger bashed Torment to 14, and a third Vindicate set Torment back to two Swamps. Torment was determined to go kicking and screaming, though, finding another Chainer’s on top of its deck to kill the Monger. However, the resistance ended when Apocalypse found another Monger while Torment still flailed around in search of a third land.


GAME 3:

Turn two Nantuko Shade from Torment was the first spell of the game, while Apocalypse countered with Spectral Lynx.  Shade went unblocked, and Torment reduced Apocalypse’s options with a Rancid Earth on Caves of Koilos (Plains being the other land). Apocalypse could manage only another Plains after that, and conceded soon afterwards with Shade and Swarm beating down.  This was a brutal matchup between two brutal decks - any stumble was punished severely, with no hope of recovery.  Keep up or die.


GAME 4:

Would a finals finally go the distance? Thanks to a strong effort from Apocalypse in the fourth game, the answer was yes. Apocalypse started off with Spectral Lynx, while Torment had Mesmeric fiend, taking Vindicate.  The Vindicate went right back to Apocalypse, though, thanks to a Death Grasp. Lynx attacked Torment to 18.  Torment Rancid Earthed a Caves of Koilos, but Apocalypse retaliated by Vindicating a Swamp. Torment did not have a third Swamp, only a Cabal Coffers and another Fiend, taking a Desolation Angel. Lynx clawed Torment down to 14, while a Verdict knocked out Champion and Swarm. Torment cast Shade and passed. Lynx hit again. Shade and Fiend attacked, making it 13-12 in favor of Apocalypse (five on attack plus two earlier from Fiend), but no third Swamp showed for Torment. Then Apocalypse played a Pernicious Deed and popped it for two, regenerating the Lynx after it had attacked. Torment found a third Swamp, good enough to Butcher the Lynx. Now Apocalypse had the Angel back in hand, but needed a seventh land. If Torment could just catch a brief window of opportunity…but Apocalypse made no mistake, found a Plains, and closed out the game with the Desolation Angel, leaving Torment with only Butcher in play.


GAME 5:

It all came down to one game for the title. Finer theater you will not find.  Higher drama there is not. Thus far, the finals had provided heart-stopping, pulsating action, and no one had gone out for a hot dog or soda the entire time. No one dared miss even a moment of the action. All wondered who would emerge from this junkyard-dog struggle with the title. Torment or Apocalypse? In mere minutes, we would have a champion. In the most important single game in Battle of the Sets history, Torment would have the all-important advantage of playing first.

Torment was first on the board with a Nantuko Shade, while Apocalypse played Plains, Swamp, and Spectral Lynx. Torment showed a third Swamp, then attacked with Shade. Apocalypse blocked the Shade, but Torment declined to pump the Shade and instead opted for the trade in order to Rancid Earth the Plains. That proved to be a killer, as Apocalypse never found another white source, managing only a Forest on its next turn to join the Swamp.  Torment played a fourth Swamp and passed it back to Apocalypse. Could Apocalypse take advantage of this momentary window? No - Apocalypse did not even have a second black source, and could do no better than another Forest and an innocuous Pernicious Deed. Then Torment played its fifth land and put the game out of reach. Yes, it was the worst-case scenario for Apocalypse - Torment unloaded a backbreaking Mind Sludge, liquidating Phyrexian Arena, Death Grasp, Spiritmonger, Vindicate, and Pernicious Deed, effectively clinching the title! Now it was only a matter of how Torment would win. Laquatus’s Champion was summoned on Torment’s next turn, entering play with two black mana to spare thanks to a Coffers. The Champ reduced Apocalypse to 8 on its first attack, and Torment summoned a Nantuko Shade, pouring it on.  The remaining Deed killed the Shade on the next attack and momentarily halted the Champ, but Torment added another Shade. There was no way out now. Apocalypse looked at its next draw and offered the concession to the new Battle of the Sets champion!

Torment defeats Apocalypse in a sensational final match, 3-2!

Congratulations to Torment, Battle of the Sets V Champion!


TORMENT’S road to the title:


R1: Visions, 3-0
R2: Urza’s Legacy, 3-0
R3: Onslaught, 3-1
R4: Mirrodin, 3-1
R5: Apocalypse, 3-2

[Legend]

Thanks again to all who have enjoyed the latest Battle of the Sets tournament.

Special thanks once again to Alfred. Excellent job, and I appreciate your help.

Look here for Battle of the Sets VI sometime next year!

[Alfred]

Torment, eh? It definately proved it's worth this tournament. Torment definately has the removal to get through the early rounds, which are predominantly aggro decks, while having the bombs to deal with the later control matchups. Mind sludge is just unfair. The Apoc/Torment matchup almost came down to the coin flip, because most of the games came down to who could vindicate/rancid earth the other players land first. All in all, it was a great event.

[Legend]

I agree about the land destruction and the importance of going first in the Torment/Apocalypse matchup. This was an advantage that Torment stole from Apocalypse even after Apocalypse won the die roll.

As the report indicates, Apocalypse won the die roll 4-2 prior to game one - but Torment broke serve by winning that game despite going second. This ultimately led to Torment playing first in the fifth game, because it led the match 1-0, then 2-1, which meant Torment got to go first after each Apocalypse win. All it took was that one breakthrough in the first game to give Torment the crucial upper hand.

[Machinus]

Where can I read the decklists for the sets?

Great tournament, again. Very enjoyable.

[Legend]

Thanks.


For the decklists, you could just scroll down to the Battle of the Sets V pre-tournament thread, but here is the URL:


http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19712