 "I like to attack," said Williams, discussing his amazing Goblins deck. "And no other deck attacks. And you know, I thought I would do well against Tinker, but I'm 2-2 against it."
The first game might not matter that much, since he has nine cards full of hate to bring in against Tinker after sideboarding - Rack and Ruin, Naturalize, Damping Matrix - but unfortunately for David, Amiel isn't playing Tinker. He's playing....
...ah, but that would be telling. You'll see in a moment.
Game 1:
Amiel let out a yelp when he got his cards. "Good?" Williams smirked.
Tenenbaum led with a first-turn Polluted Delta, a card rarely seen today; Williams had a much bustier start with Karplusan Forest, Mox Diamond (discarding City of Brass), Goblin Recruiter.
"Are you going to kill me on turn 2?" he asked.
"Yes," Williams replied. "That's the plan."
Williams showed off what his deck was supposed to do, putting an angry boatload of pure aggro on top of his deck: Four Goblin Piledrivers, two Goblin Warchiefs, two Goblin Ringleaders, and a Skirk Prospector. As long as he had the mana - and he did - he could cast a steady stream of Goblins every turn, refueling with Ringleader when he had to.
"Of course!" Tenenbaum said.
Williams laid down a Goblin Warchief, and sent into the red zone...
"Wait, wait, wait!" yelped Tenenbaum, waving his arms in a frantic attempt to get Williams' attention."Force Spike! It's my draw! Don't go!"
Williams looked vaguely surprised. In a format that's becomingly increasingly dependent on speed over disruption, the idea of actually counterspelling something instead of trying to race it seemed, well.... Kind of quaint.
The Warchief was countered, and the Ringleader that came down the next turn got Mana Leaked.
Tenenbaum drew and pumped the fist. He Counterspelled the next Goblin -"Jesus!" said Williams,"Where's my stack!" - but the Goblin Piledriver went through. "Who plays Counterspell in this format?" he asked.
The Goblin Piledriver charged into the red zone and met Fire / Ice. Williams laid another Piledriver and a Goblin Sledder, making future Gobbos Fire-proof.
Tenenbaum passed the turn, and Williams thought: He's playing a U/R deck; what does he have in his hand? Well, it was another Fire, and the Goblin Prospector bravely sacrificed itself to save the Sledder.
"It's not broken, it's not too strong," Williams said to Randy Buehler, motioning to his pair of Piledrivers. "It's just very good. It's like the heartbeat of Goblins."
 Tenenbaum played Erratic Explosion on the Piledriver, and Williams laughed. "Oh, so that's what you're playing!" he laughed, realizing that if he was playing the old tech of attacking, Amiel had gone with the even more ancient tech of last year's Draco Explosion, which involved setting up a Draco on top of the library before Erratic Explosioning the opponent for sixteen. A fine idea in the older Extended, where decks had time to set up for position, but in today's hyperfueled Extended?
"I'm dead anyway," said Tenenbaum, answering the question.
"This is what Extended should be about," Williams gloated."Attacks, and turns, and attacks...."
"Six," said Tenenbaum. "I'm kind of dead."
"Yeah, right," Williams scoffed. "Shock, Draco, Explosion...." He said mockingly tracing possible futures.
"I need to find a plan," said Tenenbaum. He peered at the Goblins. "I'm dead. But.... Baf!" he said, placing another Explosion on top of the third Piledriver.
"I'm sure you got me," said Williams. "I'm not gonna fall for your tricks. He tapped out for another Goblin Ringleader, then opted not to start sacrificing goblins to a Skirk Prospector in order to cast more Goblins. Amiel was down to two.
There were, despite Williams' protests, no tricks. Amiel scooped.
Williams 1 - Tenenbaum 0
Amiel sided out an Intuition and a Cunning Wish for three Grindstones, which could be brutal after a big set-up.
Williams considered his options, but had to consider what to play against Draco-Explosion. He considered putting in the Damping Matrixes, then decided against it; he took out a Goblin Sharpshooter and a Siege-Gang Commander for a pair of Naturalizes.
Game 2:
"So is there a lot of testing behind that?" Williams asked, curious about this antiquated build in a sea of Tinker and Mirrodin-fueled builds. Tenenbaum shrugged wanly; the deck looked like it had been dredged up straight from last season; like Billy Pilgrim, Amiel's deck had become unstuck in time, transported forward a full year into a Mirrodin-legal environment and passing straight by all the Scourge or Legions cards.
"What about Tinker?" Williams probed.
"Depends on the build," said Tenenbaum. "There are some good matches, some bad...."
Amiel was fine with his initial grip, but Williams mulliganed down to six. Amiel's island was met by a Skirk Prospector, which zipped into the red zone; Williams cast a Piledriver, which surprisingly went through. Williams attacked for four, bringing Amiel down to fifteen, then attempted a pair of Mogg Fanatics; Amiel Accumulated Knowledge, bringing up wistful memories of old Psychatog builds, and then Force Spiked the second Mogg. He laid a Scroll Rack on his turn.
Williams attacked with three Goblins, knocking Tenenbaum down to eight. He had two Naturalizes in the grip, but did he want to waste them on a Rack? He let Tenenbaum Rack for five before Naturalizing it at the end of the turn. Tenenbaum Accumulated Knowledged for three.
"I have a problem here," said Tenenbaum, looking at his land. He had to lay and crack a Bloodstained Mire to get one. He cast Erratic Explosion, thinking hard about what to hit, and opted to play it conservatively, tackling the Skirk Prospector in order to rob Williams of potentially larger plays; despite the furious hordes of Goblins offered up thus far, Williams was locked in at two land.
His Explosion turned up a Brainstorm, offing the Prospector. "Yes!" he said, quietly triumphant. "I'm a pro, you know."
The next attack gnawed his life down to two.
"I'm just attacking into a wall," David Williams said. "I hope to kill him before he goes off. There's no actual interaction."
"He killed a guy," Randy Buehler pointed out helpfully.
"I stack my deck with Draco," said Tenenbaum, setting it up. "...But I don't have Explosion."
When two old guys collide, the younger guy still wins.
Williams 2 - Tenenbaum 0
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