Nick Montaquila

"I’m really excited about trying to win the die roll," Chris Woltereck joked with his opponent as they sat down for the last match of the StarCityGames.com Open-Indianapolis. The crowd laughed, and Nick was quick to point out he had only managed to win a die roll once during regulation play. Variance returned in his favor, as he defeated Woltereck to earn the right to play first.

Nick had a Goblin Lackey on his first turn while Chris cast Manabond. The enchantment allowed him to dump Mishra's Factory, Wasteland, and Rishadan Port to the table, discarding a Life from the Loam too. The Factory meant Chris could hold his opponent's Lackey back provided Nick didn't have any removal spells. He did have one, however, a Wasteland that allowed him to connect with the Lackey and plop Siege-Gang Commander onto the battlefield.

Woltereck dredge his Life from the Loam, and put three lands onto the battlefield. Rishadan Port allowed him to tie up Nick's singleton Mountain, meaning Montaquila couldn't use his Siege-Gang's ability to blow up Mishra's Factory if it were activated. The Goblin player turned his team sideways and lost Goblin Lackey to a block, though he did manage to knock his opponent to 12.

Opting to dredge Life from the Loam, Chris flipped up a Tolaria West. He promptly returned that land to his hand, transmuted it and found The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. That land cost Nick most of his creatures, forcing him to tap mana to pay for each. Instead he opted to keep Siege-Gang Commander, and cast Goblin Lackey but was falling behind to his opponent's powerful board presence.

"This is not a good Game 1 for me, I don't think." Nick said, wryly.

The Life from the Loam/Manabond engine kicked into high gear for Chris Woltereck, who began grossly expanding his real estate. Nick tried to get the occasional damage in with Siege-Gang Commander, sacrificing the cheap Goblins he could cast, but the 2/2 died to Barbarian Ring after a time. The turns continued in that fashion, Nick limping on while Chris methodically locked out every avenue in which Nick could possibly affect him. Eventually, with dozens of mana on the table, Chris revealed a Mindslaver for a Life from the Loam dredge. Looking at Woltereck's Academy Ruins on the table, Nick conceded; he was doomed to be Mindslaver locked forever.

Chris Woltereck

Chris Woltereck 1, Nick Montaquila 0

"I think I split a sleeve," Chris Woltereck mentioned as he was shuffling for the second game.

"You want to split? Sure!" Nick Montaquila replied, misunderstanding his opponent. Down a game in an unfavorable matchup, a split of the prize money clearly benefited Nick.

Benefitting from going first, the aggressive Goblin deck played by Nick Montaquila didn't exactly put up much of a fuss on the first turn as he played Mountain and said go. Chris Woltereck's controlling 43 Land deck was happy to make up the difference, dropping Exploration and Mox Diamond on the first turn. That enabled an extra land drop, which enabled Life from the Loam (though Chris opted not to cast it), and all of it together but Woltereck very far ahead 90 second in to the second game.

Two Tranquil Thickets allowed Chris to turbo through his deck as he cycled and returned them for more cycling with Life from the Loam. Montaquila cast his first creature, a Goblin Chieftain, and got in for 2, but his offensive effort was just not strong enough. Chris put himself further and further ahead on lands while his opponent continued to offer only minimal pressure. Turn after turn Woltereck's board increased with powerful spell-acting lands like Maze of Ith, Mishra's Factory, and Barbarian Ring. Nate, drawing just one card a turn, found every move he made stymied by his opponent's massive amount of resources.

A Goblin Ringleader for Nick netted him two free Goblins, but he was losing too many of them each turn to Barbarian Ring to attack with them profitably. He had to bash through the Ring, Maze of Ith, and MIshra's Factory to have a prayer of connection. Nick didn't have the time. Chris dredged his Mindslaver and found a Tolaria West. That allowed him to fetch up an Academy Ruins, and with a boatload of mana on the battlefield, he had more than enough to set up a Mindslaver lock. Nick was down to no outs, and found his improbable run with Goblins at the StarCityGames.com Open-Indianapolis at an end.

Chris Woltereck 2, Nick Montaquila 0