Jose Barbero, Carlos Romao, and Wilfried Ranque should be familiar to you by now if you have been following the feature match coverage. Boston Tea Party are a trio of germans, Andre Delere, Rolf Ottovordemgentschenfelde (Rolf to his friends), and Rene Kraft. The international coalition certainly has more experience, but the Germans have shown that they know how to draft as well this weekend.
Boston Tea Party kicked off. Rather than look at each card that was picked by each player, we can just look at the matchups and see what the key cards are going to be in the games.
Wilfried Ranque versus Andre Delere
Both players are base green. Ranque has Red as a secondary color, and Andre has black. Traditionally large creatures are the best way to win a green mirror, and in this respect Wilfried has Venomspout Brackus, Kilnmouth Dragon, Wirewood Guardian, and Elvish Aberration. Andre has a few smaller creatures, since he went much heavier black than is usual, and with this in mind, Ranque picked up a couple of Extra Arms as he was missing all of the usual Onslaught removal spells.
On the other hand, some of Andre's black cards are going to be very good for him. He has a Twisted Abomination – there's not much that red-green can do about large regenerators. He has removal with Skinthinner and Aphetto Exterminator, and he can give his larger creatures fear with Dragon Shadow. Perhaps the best card from his point of view is a Call to the Grave. Surprisingly RBWW passed this through all three of their players and let Andre get his hands on it. He has enough Zombies to make it good, but not enough to make it ridiculous.
Prediction: Andre Delere wins
Carlos Romao versus Rolf Ottovordemgentschenfelde
Both players here are playing white blue. Rolf has the upper hand here with two Daru Stingers and enough soldiers to make them good. Carlos only has one Frozen Solid to stop them.
Prediction: Rolf Ottovordemgentschenfelde wins
Jose Barbero versus Rene Kraft
Jose has a black-green deck and Rene a black-red one. This ought to be in the black-greens favor, simply on the basis of it's larger creatures. This is no exception. They each have Cruel Revivals and Skinthinners, but Jose just has more creatures that have to be removed.
Rene has a Dirge which gives him some chance at least. Barbero should win though, he just has too many men that need to be removed. They both have a Twisted Abomination which neither can do anything about. Jose has a bomb rare – Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.
Prediction: Jose 'Barber of Seville' Barbero wins