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Raphael Levy is playing the new version of Trix - Mana Belcher. His opponent is playing the surprising Japanese"Twiddle" deck, which is based on Mind's Desire - yet is just as deadly as Worlds' Mind's Desire decks were before the bannings.

Game 1:
Levy won the die roll and led with an island, then passed the turn. Tsuyoshi led with a Chrome Mox and was about to drop the card to be imprinted - but Levy decided to interfere with that through a Force Spike. Tsuyoshi gave a solid frown and passed the turn without a land laid. Levy dropped a Rishadan Port and then a Grim Monolith; Tsuyoshi drew his card and dropped a Tendrils of Agony into the graveyard.

Levy cast Mana Severance, stripped all the land out of his deck, then threw down a Goblin Charbelcher that comboed his opponent out on turn 3.

Levy 1 - Tsuyoshi 0

Game 2:
Tsuyoshi led and looked over his hand slowly. He kept. So did Levy.

Tsuyoshi first dropped an Ancient Tomb then played a Grim Monolith off of it. Levy drew, and considered his hand; he started with a City of Traitors, tapped the City for a Grim Monolith. He tapped the Monolith for the three, cast a Voltaic Key and untapped the Monolith with the key, tapped the monolith for three more mana. A Goblin Charbelcher made its way into play.

Tsuyoshi untapped and dropped a Seat of Synod, tapping Seat and Grim Monolith for Tinker. He searched out a Gilded Lotus as the Monolith was sacrificed with one colorless floating in the pool. He then cast a Twiddle, targeting the Lotus, and followed that up with a Brainstorm. After a brief flip through his hand, he tapped the Gilded Lotus for a Mind's Desire with four stormed copies that followed it onto the stack.

Mind's Desire revealed five cards - Meditate, Trade Secrets, and Tinker, with Seat of Synod and Ancient Tomb representing the useless land contingent. Tsuyoshi cast the Tinker with the Seat of Synod transmuted into a second Gilded Lotus, then cast Meditate. A moment later he tapped the first Lotus for three white mana and then used an Energy Burst to untap his Gilded Lotus. With two white mana in his pool and two untapped Loti, he cast Mystical Tutor and dropped the Tendrils of Agony on top of his library. A moment later, he used Trade Secrets to dig up the Tendrils, then fed the remaining Lotus' mana into his pool to fire off the Tendrils of Agony for more than enough to finish Levy off.

After the game, Levy asked Tsuyoshi how many games he had won on turn 2. Tsuyoshi raised his hand and showed five fingers, then gave Levy a quiet smile.

Levy 1 - Tsuyoshi 1

Game 3:
Game three kicked off with two mulligans for Tsuyoshi. Levy's hand was fine, and he led the game with an ancient tomb for a Talisman of Dominance. Tsuyoshi drew his card and frowned at his hand, then laid a Saprazzan Skerry. At the end of the turn, Levy considered the untap, then paused and went for a Mystical Tutor. He turned over his top card and his face dropped as he saw that a Mana Severance was already on the top of library.

He untapped, drew the Severance, and Levy took about ten minutes to consider his options. Levy played a Grim Monolith and Tinkered away the Monolith to find a Goblin Charbelcher.

Tsuyoshi took his last turn with a Thirst for Knowledge, which found him nothing. He laughed and then scooped up his cards.

Levy 2 - Tsuyoshi 1