One for All

Winners: Nether Shadow(#1), Mishra's Factory (#2), Ornithopter (#3), and Strip Mine (#4)

Even though BYE got to play four matches, he continued his lifetime losing streak.

Winner: Maze of Ith (#5)

Because Maze of Ith was the lower seed, it got to play first. This would prove to be key as Maze of Ith was able to keep Ichorid from doing any damage as it always had more Mazes out than the Ichorid deck had Ichorids. This meant that the Ichorid deck lost to decking a turn before the Maze of Ith deck.

Winner: Basking Rootwalla (#27)

The Contagion deck has the ability to create thirty eight –2/-1 counters. (Contagion can only be played nineteen times as each use costs 1 life.) The Basking Rootwalla deck can put out fifty-three threats before decking itself. This means the little green guys outrun the mean looking cat.

Winner: Elvish Spirit Guide (#7)

The Elvish Spirit deck wins before the Cephalid Coliseum deck even gets to threshold.

Winner: Barbarian Ring (#25)

The Force of Will deck has real problems against a deck that never plays a spell.

Winner: Legacy Weapon (#24)

This was one of the more snooze-inducing matches. Neither deck did anything, but Legacy Weapon's ability kept it from being decked.

Winner: Phyrexian Walker (#10)

In one of the odder match-ups, the Phyrexian Walker deck holds off the Vine Dryad deck (The former can make 0/3 creatures faster than the other can make 1/3) allowing it to deck itself first.

Winner: Stalking Stones (#11)

The Unmask deck really wanted to meet the Nether Spirit deck as it is the only deck in the competition that it can beat. In the end, the Unmask deck couldn't force enough discards to keep the Stalking Stones deck from getting the necessary six lands into play.

Winner: Wasteland (#12)

The match-up of the land hosers came down to decking as neither deck has a win condition. Since Rishadan Port drew first, it was the first to get decked.

Winner: Nether Spirit (#20)

The Serra Avatar can only win by decking. The Nether Spirit deck has a more aggressive win condition and thus handily won.

Winner: Faerie Conclave (#14)

Here's the Crux of the match:

Turn 4: The Faerie Conclave deck makes a 2/1 faerie. The Cave-In deck is forced to spend two cards to destroy it as the deck cannot draw once it's taken damage. The Cave-In deck now has five cards.

Turn 5: The Faerie Conclave deck makes another 2/1 faerie. The Cav-In deck is again forced to destroy it. The Cave-In deck is down to four cards (remember it drew a card).

Turn 6: Same thing. Cave-In down to three cards.

Turn 7: Same thing. Cave-In down to two cards.

Turn 8: Same thing. Cave-In down to one card.

Turn 9: The Cave-In deck has run out of answers and the Faerie Conclave decks deals the all important first blood.

Winner: Forbidding Watchtower (#15)

This is probably the most interesting match-up in the first round as two of the "man-lands" face off against each other. The Forbidding Watchtower deck as the lower seed merely needs to hold off the Treetop Village deck to win by decking. The Treetop Village deck has a higher power (3 vs. 1) but the Forbidding Watchtower deck has the highest toughness (5 vs. 3). The key to this match-up though is seeding because by playing first, the Forbidding Watchtower deck is able to always have an available blocker when an animated Treetop Village attacks. Interestingly, if the Treetop Village had been playing, it would have been able to get in three points of damage every third turn as it would have been able to create an extra creature a turn ahead of the Fobidding Watchtower deck. But alas, it didn't play first and the Forbidding Watchtower deck wins.

Winner: Ghitu Encampment (#16)

This match plays out very similarly to the last one, but with one twist. The 2/1 first strikers of the Ghitu Encampment can hold off the 1/1 regenerators of the Spawning Pool allowing the Ghitu Encampment deck to win by decking just like the Forbidding Watchtower deck. But unlike that match-up, the Ghitu Encampment deck can, by going first, get two damage in every third turn. Since the Spawning Pool cannot win this race (trading 1 life for 2), it ultimately loses even if the Ghitu Encampment deck gets aggressive.

Round 2 – Top 16

Here's the top 16 brackets:

Winner: Nether Shadow (#1)

The key to this match-up is two-fold. First, the Nether Shadow deck, once it gets going, creates a 1/1 every turn while the Ghitu Encampment deck creates a 2/1 first striker every third turn. Add to this the problem that the Nether Shadows keep returning even if they're killed and the Nether Shadow deck just overwhelms the Ghitu Encampment deck.

Winner: Mishra's Factory (#2)

This is another case of two creature decks coming face to face and the faster one overrunning the slower one. In this case, it isn't close. The Mishra's Factory deck deals 9 damage before the Forbidding Watchtower deck can even block.

Winner: Faerie Conclave (#14)

The Ornithopter deck is greatly hampered in this match-up by its inability to win. It does a valiant job of trying to stall the game out, but as an Ornithopter is lost in each combat, it is only a matter of time before the Faerie Conclave deck breaks through.

Winner: Strip Mine (#4)

This is a match-up of a master and its disciple. And as we all know, the master always wins. This is another one of those matches where seeding matters. Thus, it seems only apropos that Strip Mine, by being the older card (and thus drawing second), wins the match through decking.

Winner: Elvish Spirit Guide (#10)

The Phyrexian Walker deck can actually win this match-up. If it draws second. But it doesn't. Thus, although it stops all invading Spirit Guides, it cannot keep from being decked.

Winner: Basking Rootwalla (#27)

The Stalking Stones deck cannot have an untapped 3/3 in play until turn 7. The problem is at that point the deck has already taken 15 damage and is staring down six 1/1 Rootwallas. Once again, the fast little 1/1 creatures win the match.

Winner: Maze of Ith (#15)

The Maze of Ith deck is the best spoiler deck. Even so, it can only win against a deck that kills with creatures and only if it draws second. Well, for the second time in the tournament, it got that match-up.

Winner: Barbarian Ring (#25)

The Legacy Weapon deck cannot beat a deck capable of beating it with damage. While the Barbarian Ring deck is not the most efficient or speediest at doing this, it gets the job done.

Round 3 – Top 8 (Quarter Finals)

Here's the bracket for the Quarter Finals:

Winner: Nether Shadow (#1)

This match-up has a lovely early game as both sides spend their beginning turns discarding cards. The Nether Shadow has two huge advantages. First, it's much faster than the Barbarian Ring deck. And second, the Barbarian Ring deck has no permanent answer for the ever-growing horde of Nether Shadows. Also, the self-inflicted damage from activating the Barbarian Rings doesn't help.

Winner: Mishra's Factory (#2)

The Mishra's Factory deck is fast. The Elvish Spirit Guide deck is slow. It isn't pretty.

Winner: Strip Mine (#4)

Somehow Strip Mine managed a Bye and a match-up against two non-basic land decks. Combined with its low seed, the Strip Mine deck wins for the third straight match (by decking, the only way it can win) and somehow sneaks into the top four.

Winner: Basking Rootwalla (#27)

This match-up boils down to two factors. Which deck creates creatures faster? And which deck has the fastest goldfish kill? The answer in both cases is the Basking Rootwalla deck. The Faerie Conclave deck gets a 2/1 flier every third turn. The Basking Rootwalla gets a 1/1 every turn. Three 1/1s trump one 2/1 even if it does fly.

Round Four – Top 4 (Semi-Finals)

Here's the bracket for the Semi Finals:

Winner: Nether Shadow

The Strip Mine deck finally meets a real deck and gets its clocked cleaned.

Winner: Mishra's Factory (#2)

The Basking Rootwalla deck is fast but no matter whether it plays or draws, it's always a turn behind the Mishra's Factory deck. In addition, the Mishra's Factory's ability to chose which Assembly Factory to pump up gives it very useful flexibility.

Round Five – Top 2 (Finals)

Ironically, the top two decks were actually seeded #1 and #2. But are they in the correct order? This is by far the most interesting match-up of the tournament.

Let me walk you through this one before I announce the winner: (Note I'm abbreviate NS for Nether Shadow and MF for Mishra's Factory.)

NS Turn 1: Do nothing. [NS 20 Life, MF 20 Life]

MF Turn 1: Play MF.

NS Turn 2: At end of turn, discard NS.

MF Turn 2: Play a second MF. Use it to activate first MF and attack for 2. [NS 18, MF 20]

NS Turn 3: At end of turn, discard NS.

MF Turn 3: Play a third MF. Use it to activate a MF, pump it with the other MF and then attack for 3. [NS 15, MF 20]

NS Turn 4: At end of turn, discard NS.

MF Turn 4: Play a fourth MF. Use it and another MF to activate the other two and then attack for 4. [NS 11, MF 20]

NS Turn 5: At end of turn, discard NS.

MF Turn 5: Play a fifth MF. Use two of them to activate two other MF. Pump one of them with the fifth MF. Attack with a 2/2 and a 3/3 to deal 5 damage. [NS 6, MF 20]

NS Turn 6: At the beginning of the turn, put a 1/1 NS into play from the bottom of the graveyard. At end of turn, discard a NS.

MF Turn 6: Play a sixth MF. Use three MF to activate the other three MF. Attack with three 2/2s. One is blocked by a NS. Your MF deal 4 damage. [NS 2, MF 20]

NS Turn 7: At the beginning of the turn, put two 1/1 NS into play from the bottom of the graveyard. At end of turn, discard a NS.

MF Turn 7: Play a seventh MF. Use three MF to activate three other MF. Attack with three 2/2s. Pump up the one not blocked by a NS. Your MF deals 3 damage. [NS –1, MF 20] MF deck wins.

Winner:Mishra's Factory(#2)

In the end, the deck with the fastest goldfish kill does indeed prove to be the strongest deck.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my little detour this week into a slightly different area of R&D-think. Let me know if you enjoyed this type of column so I'll have some idea whether I should do others like it in the future.

Join me next week when I share with you the personal Mirrodin design diary that I never kept.

Until then, may your Unmask deck get the Nether Spirit match-up.

Mark Rosewater