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Despite his "playing Oath and feeling dirty about it," Team Power of Cheese member Rocky McCumbee has piloted his build into the Top 4. Now he has but one final hurdle: Jay Coffman's Trinistax deck. The two sat down, exchanged pleasantries, and shuffled up. Rocky won the die roll and elected to play (horrors).

Game 1:
The Oath of Druids deck managed a Brainstorm and passed - but Jay's opener was much better as he played a first-turn Trinisphere off of Mishra's Workshop. But Rocky turned the tables, using a Wasteland on the artifact-powering land and leaving Jay with no mana sources in play. He looked at a grip containing two Juggernauts, Seal of Cleansing, Triskelion, Strip Mine, and Karn, Silver Golem and pondered. Having no play, he passed to Rocky who made another land and said go, biding his time until he could drop the Forbidden Orchard/Oath of Druids combo waiting in his hand.

Jay opted to Strip Mine Rocky's land to slow his development, hoping that he would draw something to use under the Trinisphere before Rocky would... But was not to be, as Rocky played the combo two turns later and Oathed himself up Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Spirit of the Night while Jay sat helplessly, discarding creatures into his graveyard after not drawing any mana. He died locked under his own Trinisphere.

1-0 Rocky

Rocky's sideboard:
+4 Energy Flux
+2 Hurkyl's Recall

-4 Mana Leak
-2 Misdirection

Jay's sideboard:
+2 Chalice of the Void
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Disenchant
+1 Engineered Plague

-3 Goblin Welder
-2 Crucible of Worlds
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
-1 Time Walk

Game 2:
Jay had to mulligan a rather nasty hand of two Gemstone Mines, Juggernaut, two Trinispheres, Smokestack, and City of Brass. It just wasn't fast enough to play with, and he went down to six while Rocky looked on. Jay then drew another six, but they were no good either - a hand of Karn, Silver Golem, Triskelion, Smokestack, Mox Emerald, and two lands does not a winner make. Rocky nodded as Jay went down to five and elected to keep.

Thankfully, he could not have drawn a better five-card hand, as it yielded Strip Mine, Mox Ruby, Goblin Welder, Mishra's Workshop, and Memory Jar.

Rocky looked at his initial seven and, after some thinking, opted to go down to six. His opening seven was a high-risk/high-reward type of hand, containing three Counterspells, Black Lotus, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm, and Intuition. If he could draw any kind of mana source from Brainstorm, it looked pretty good... But Rocky decided that he couldn't risk such a hand on the draw and sent it back. He parlayed into a hand with two Force of Wills, Gaea's Blessing, Polluted Delta, Strip Mine, and Brainstorm and chose to run it.

Jay opened by laying Strip Mine and passing the turn, while Rocky chose to open with Brainstorm. The Stax deck exploded on the second turn, as Jay drew a Mox Jet and played it, along with Mishra's Workshop. He tapped for five mana and attempted Memory Jar, which Rocky immediately Forced, removing another Force of Will to do so. Jay then happily played Mox Ruby and Goblin Welder, to which Rocky frowned and said, "Nice bait."

That Goblin was bad news for the Oath deck, as Rocky could see Jay hatching evil schemes behind his stoic demeanor. Rocky attempted to at least stunt Jay's mana by using a Strip Mine on his Mishra's Workshop - but the damage was already done. Goblin Welder put on his mask and began to bring Memory Jar back into play on each turn, until eventually Jay amassed a mighty board containing Trinisphere, Smokestack, and, finally, a Juggernaut. The Oath player put up a little resistance during this time, Forcing both an Engineered Plague and Jay's first attempt at a Trinisphere, but eventually the never-ending tide of land destruction was too much. Rocky succumbed to four turns of Juggernaut beats and steeled himself for game three.

1-1

Game 3:
Rocky opted to remove an Impulse for a Platinum Angel for game three, a move he later termed as "desperation." Jay had no changes and began to pile away.

The Oath deck's initial seven was once again almost runnable, as Rocky peeked at two Accumulated Knowledges, Counterspell, Brainstorm, Energy Flux, Hurkyl's Recall, and an Island.

He later said it was the toughest decision he had to make all day... but Rocky opted to send this grip back. He said that he felt naked without either a first-turn Oath of Druids or Force of Will and chose not to risk it against Jay's potential turn 1 Goblin Welder or Trinisphere, both of which he called "extremely bad news." Rocky kept a six-piece of Oath of Druids, Wasteland, Island, Energy Flux, Brainstorm, and Forbidden Orchard.

Jay looked at Mox Emerald, Triskelion, Goblin Welder, Trinisphere, Juggernaut, Smokestack, and Duplicant and was similarly dismayed. He mulliganed to a six of Mox Emerald, Trinisphere, Mishra's Workshop, Wasteland, City of Brass, and Gemstone Mine, which was more palatable.

Rocky went for the first-turn Brainstorm, looking for a Force of Will to complement his hot grip but came up nil. He passed, and Jay predictably made his turn 1 Trinisphere. Rocky had no answer. Visions of game one were dancing in his head as Rocky used a Wasteland on Jay's Mishra's Workshop. The two exchanged land drops for the next turn - but Jay's were far superior, consisting of another Mishra's Workshop and another Wasteland (to complement the one in his starting hand) immediately after, keeping Rocky off of the three mana he needed to cast the Oath of Druids in his hand. He also added Goblin Welder to the team and then drew this third three-mana land of the game and went for Smokestack.

Rocky had a one-turn window; with two lands in play, he desperately needed to draw a third to cast Oath before Jay's Smokestack acquired a soot counter. He peeled his next (and possibly last) card slowly... but it was not meant to be. Locked at two land for the remainder of the match, Rocky could only look on helplessly as Jay used Stupid Welder Tricks for a few turns, eventually culminating in a Demonic Tutor for a Juggernaut. The 5/3 smashed Rocky four times and took the match for Trinistax.

2-1 Jay