by Collin Jackson
The final feature match for Saturday was between two players on the very fringe of top 8: Franco Biasotti (7-4-0) of Buenos Aires versus Rodrigo Castro (6-4-1) of Rio de Janeiro. Franco, playing Angry Hermit, had a good shot at top 8 if he won. Rodrigo, with a Replenish deck, was more uncertain about his chances, but he would try to win anyway.
As the first game began Rodrigo fought to secure a stable mana base, while Franco bombarded him with Avalanche Riders and Plow Under. When Franco played Blastoderm, Rodrigo began to get concerned about his life total, so he tutored for an Energy Field.
Luckily for Rodrigo, Franco had just run out of land destruction spells, and the Energy Field was the only thing that kept Rodrigo from losing for about eight turns. Meanwhile, Franco used Skyshroud Poacher to bring out all four Deranged Hermits from his deck, and sixteen enormous Squirrel tokens assured a quick death for Rodrigo if a card ever hit his graveyard.
Eventually, Rodrigo was so frightened by the huge army Franco had amassed that he decided to take matters into his own hands. When Franco tapped Rodrigo's island with Rishadan Port during upkeep, Rodrigo responded with Mystical Tutor. He only had three other lands and an Attunement in play, but he decided to search for Wrath of God and then use Attunement to get a fourth land.
He drew the Wrath during his draw step, then returned Attunement to his hand. Sucking in his breath as he drew, he looked and saw: three white cards. No land. The Energy Field had left play because of the Mystical Tutor, and on the next turn Rodrigo took eighty points to the head from massive Squirrel beatdown.
Game two was a testament to the true power of Masticore. Rodrigo agonized for a long time trying to get his combo together, but finally decided to let the broken lion do the job. Franco was unable to protect himself and all of his creatures were quickly cleared away. Masticore came in for the win and Rodrigo took the second game.
The third game went quickly as Franco used Creeping Mold, Rishadan Port, and Plow Under to cut off Rodrigo's mana. Unable to play the Wrath of God in his hand, Rodrigo soon fell victim to a rampaging Blastoderm. Franco Biasotti won the match 2-1 amidst the cheers of his companions. But despite his win, the unfortunate Argentine lost out on tiebreakers and ended up in 9th place.