Round 5: Andrew Stokinger vs. Jason Stowe

Andrew Stokinger is best known as a webmaster of a popular but controversial Magic humor site, which we cannot mention by name on The Sideboard. His site is infamous for telling Magic players they are, um, not good, but Stokinger may have to work hard to prove he does not fit the description, as he is currently at a 2-2 record. Stokinger is playing the same Squirrel Prison version as his girlfriend Melissa Detora (see round 1 feature match), facing off against Jason Stowe's Trenches deck.

Game 1

Stowe managed to remain in control throughout the early game, countering or burning through Stokinger's creatures. He got Goblin Trenches out with seven lands in play, but ran out of counterspells, and was unable to prevent Stokinger from casting a pair of Squirrel Nests. While Stowe could generate more creatures in the short term, Stokinger did not have to sacrifice any lands in order to make two Squirrels per turn, giving him a significant advantage.

Stowe cast a number of burn spells and sacrificed a number of lands to stave off the onslaught of the Squirrels, but he simply could not deal with Squirrel Nest before sideboarding. Opposition allowed Stokinger to keep his opponent's mana tapped and he eventually made enough tokens to attack for the kill.

Game 2

Each of the two players was missing a color early in the game – Stokinger out of blue, holding a handful of blue spells, and Stowe out of red. Stokinger had some pressure in form of a Wild Mongrel. Stowe won a counter battle over the Static Orb Stokinger tried to cast, and another over his own Fact or Fiction, gaining a significant advantage in the game. He cast Wrath of God and Absorbed a Merfolk Looter, to completely stabilize the game at sixteen life points.

Having done that, Stowe finally drew a source of red mana. With Stokinger tapped out of blue, he tapped out to cast both Goblin Trenches and Teferi's Moat, naming green. Static Orb slowed Stowe down, but did not stop him entirely, with a pair of Goblin Soldiers able to attack every other turn or so. Stokinger lost yet another counter war over his Flametongue Kavu, Absorbs sending Stowe's life total back up to eighteen life points.

A complicated but rather boring interplay lasted over the next ten minutes or so. Forced to operate under Static Orb, neither player could do very much. Both occasionally made guys, countered each other's card advantage mechanisms, but did not really hurt each other. Eventually, Lowe went for it at the end of Stokinger's turn. He left only three mana untapped to make twelve more Soldiers, but would get only one attack out of them under the Orb. The attack brought Stokinger down to six life points.

Stokinger kept digging deeper into his library, presumably to try and find Rushing River. Only his Wild Mongrel could attack so far, and only if he was willing to pitch a card a turn to change its colors. Not a good idea, as Stowe could turn any one of his lands into two blockers.

Stokinger was down to cards in his library – apparently both Oppositions, but was unable to find one previously. He was able to force Opposition into play, but could not kill his opponent quickly enough. Down to zero cards in his library, Stokinger attacked – but could not come even close to dealing enough damage for the win. This ended the match in a draw, with each player taking one game.

Final Result: Stokinger 1 – Stowe 1