"Mikey is my favorite non-Your Move Games Magic player," said Dougherty.

"Really?" Mikey P replied, brightening.

"Yeah. It's true. Also my favorite non-YMG Titan player - though he beats me too much at that game," Dougherty mused, knowing that Michael had also won a whopping forty cents off of him the last time they had clashed at Backgammon.

Always prepared, Pustilnik had a game of Titan stashed away in his backpack just in case he had to drop -"And I may be playing it," he said with a nervous grin, knowing that a loss here would mean that he had to win out in order to make Day Two.

Neither player was in the best position, and it must have been particularly irksome for Rob Dougherty, the patriarch of Your Move Games. Last year at Pro Tour: Houston, YMG had dominated the format, catapulting three of their members into the final three - but alas, their start to this Pro Tour has stuttered, with most of the YMG members hovering at a respectable-but-not-awe-inspiring 3-2.

"We definitely had some deck leaks," said Dougherty."The deck everyone was gonna play got leaked, and we didn't do that well because of it."

Dougherty was 3-2 himself, and playing for the win. He only had two more losses before he'd be out of the running for Day Two, and obviously he hoped for far better than that.

They got deckchecked, and Mike asked whether they wanted to roll to go first,"Assuming we don't get disqualified," said Pustilnik.

"I find that when they order it," Dougherty said, giving some post-deckcheck advice to Pustilnik,"It works better if you riffle first and then you pile. Of course, we'll shuffle enough after this that it won't matter, but..."

Game 1:
Both players started with a pair of matched mulligans. Rob kept his, leading off with a Tree of Tales, following up with a Llanowar Wastes and laying down a Hermit Druid.

"You're not playing what I thought you were," said Pustilnik. Mikey looked at his Island and a Bloodstained Mire, and did nothing. Then Rob dumped his entire deck into his graveyard with the Druid, informing Pustilnik that he ran absolutely no basic lands. He handed Pustilnik his deck so that Mikey P could double-check him.

"Putrid Imp?" Mikey exclaimed, giggling."Oh, in multiples! I'm sorry! But indeed," he admitted,"You had no basic land in there."

Dougherty then Reanimated, targeting the Sutured Ghoul in his graveyard, and Pustilnik conceded.

Total match time: 1.5 turns, about three minutes and thirty seconds - maybe two minutes if you don't count Mike's bemused shuffle through Rob's deck.

Dougherty 1 - Pustilnik 0

"Extended is so dumb," said Dougherty, as he reached for his sideboard - a sentiment echoed by a number of top-level pros today, including Kai Budde.

"It's not about whether Putrid Imp is good or not," said Dougherty."It's about the look on your opponent's face when you beat them with it."

They shuffled up and both kept; Mikey led with his second Bloodstained Mire of the match, imprinting an Upheaval on Chrome Mox and passing the turn. Dougherty matched it with a Chrome Mox of his own, imprinting Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and laying a Tree of Tales and - you guessed it - a Hermit Druid.

Mike cracked the Mire and fetched a mountain."Mr. Hermit Druid and Mr. Dougherty, you're both Fired," he said. Rob smiled and tried to recover with an Exhume on the Druid, but Mike had a Circular Logic and two cards in the grumper. But Dougherty leapt back into the fray with his second Hermit Druid.

"Would you believe?" he asked, an impish grin on his face.

(Worse writers would make a joke about an impish grin and a Putrid Imp, ha ha ha. But here at StarCityGames, we only allow the best of jokes. Carry on.)

"Resolves," Mike allowed, but he Pyroclasmed it away on his next turn. Dougherty noted that Mike had gone down to one card, and cheerfully Exhumed his own Hermit Druid, bringing a Druid into play for the fourth time in three turns.

Mikey, deciding it was time to give up the battle of the Hermit Druid, instead moved into the next phase; laying Psychatog with three mana open. Dougherty considered; now, if he dumped his deck into his graveyard, a single Counterspell could turn his reanimating plans into a humiliating death by decking.

He thought about it, and then went for it anyway, handing the deck over to Mike for the second time in the match.

"How many cards in your graveyard?" he asked.

"Still four," said Pustilnik, chuckling and popping a sugary pumpkin into his mouth.

"No cards in hand, right?" said Rob, sacrificing the Hermit Druid to a useless Cabal Therapy, and then Exhumed his Sutured Ghoul in order to create a 21/21 scary thing, brought Dragon Breath onto it, and attacked for twenty-one.

Mike blocked it with the Tog."Sorry, 'Tog," he whispered, blunting some of the damage by removing his graveyard from the game. It took off a pathetic four damage, reducing Mike to a single life.

Dougherty then cast a Krosan Reclamation, targeting two Reanimates."Will you shuffle those?" Mike joked.

"So what do you have left for flashback?" Mike asked."You have a Ray of Revelation, a Therapy, and no creatures at all."

He drew his card - a Chrome Mox - and conceded.

Dougherty 2 - Pustilnik 0

"There were a lot of dying Hermits there," said Dougherty.

"I probably should have brought in all three Engineered Plagues," Pustilnik said.