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Me: Oh, man, is this the sixty-card Gifts Belcher mirror?
Andy: I think there might be a one-card difference.

We have two of the top New England players matching off at 1-1, which means that whoever loses this match ends up joining me at the coverage table.

Game 1:
Ben started off by winning the die roll and neither players took mulligans. Ben led off with Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, go. Andy had a strong start with Library of Alexandria (which he tapped to draw a card) and then a Lotus Petal of his own which he used to cast Duress, which took a Force of Will.

Andy, after looking through Ben's hand: "See? You've got the Strip!"

Ben played that Strip Mine, but used it for mana to cast his Time Walk. On the Time Walk turn, he took out Andy's Library and played out a Mana Vault. Without the Library forcing him to keep his hand full, Andy dumped out Tolarian Academy, Mana Crypt, Mox Pearl, and then fired off a Fact or Fiction.

The splits were Ancestral Recall/Mox Ruby and Mana Severance/Underground Sea/Flooded Strand... and Andy took the Mana Severance pile. Kowal plucked out Probasco's Severance on his turn with a Duress, but Andy revealed the Goblin Charbelcher and Recoup. Andy won the flip on his Crypt and reloaded with a Thirst for Knowledge.

Ben said, "If you show me a single Counterspell, we can move to game two."

Andy flashed him two Mana Drains and it was on to the second game.

Probasco 1 - Kowal 0

Kowal:
+2 Blue Elemental Blast
+3 Red Elemental Blast
-2 Goblin Welder
-1 Gifts Ungiven
-1 Chain of Vapor
-1 Pentavus

Probasco:
+2 Red Elemental Blast
+1 Pyroblast
+1 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Goblin Charbelcher
-1 Mana Severance
-1 Pentavus
-1 Echoing Truth

Ben: I can almost taste the Saviors prerelease flights!
JP: You mean, "The feature match coverage."
Ben: Man, I'm so not used to writing these instead of playing in them.

Game 2:
Kowal led off game two with Underground Sea and both a Black Lotus and its Petal. Andy had a Petal of his own and played a Volcanic Island. Ben first Brainstormed on his turn and then played out a Snow-Covered Island (which is insane with Gifts Ungiven!) and an Ancestral Recall.

Andy tried to Drain the Recall, Ben Red Elemental Blasted the Drain, Andy Force of Willed the Blast... and Ben plopped a nice fat Drain onto the top of the stack, and Andy had no answer.

Andy had no play on his turn. Kowal played a Mox Pearl and then used his Drain mana to cast Mana Severance to remove all of his lands from the game. Probasco played and broke a Polluted Delta to find an Island on his turn and went for Thirst of Knowledge - but Kowal had the Force.

Ben had no play on his turn. Andy played a Duress on his turn, taking a Recoup. The two of them played draw-go for a few turns, until at the end of Andy's turn, Kowal played a Brainstorm and then a Mystical Tutor for Tinker. Ben resolved the Tinker on his turn for Belcher. Andy used Recoup to flashback Duress, but there was nothing to save him and he scooped.

Probasco 1 - Kowal 1

Game 3:
Both players started off game three with a Library on turn one and a Snow-Covered Island (which they played after drawing with their respective Libraries) and a Mox on turn 2.

On his third turn, Kowal played a Mox Ruby to break the symmetry. Andy played an end of turn Thirst, which he forced through by Forcing Kowal's Force. Probasco Deltaed out a Sea on his turn and then Duressed Kowal, taking a Brainstorm.

Kowal played Tolarian Academy on his turn, and then neither player did anything for he next few turns until Andy played an Academy of his own to kill both of them with the Legend rule. Because of the timing, Kowal never got an opportunity to tap the Academy before it died, which gave Andy an opening to resolve a Gifts Ungiven. Ben gave him Time Walk and Thirst for Knowledge and put Yawgmoth's Will and Ancestral Recall into the graveyard. Ben's Library of Alexandria finally got back online on his turn and he drew a card with it before playing a Volcanic Island. Probasco played a pair of Thirsts on his turn to get his Library working as well.

Ben drew his Library card and then took advantage of Andy's tapped-out position to cast Mana Severance and remove all of the remaining lands in his deck from the game. Andy cast Time Walk on his turn, which triggered a massive counter war. Kowal Drained, Andy REBed, Kowal Forced, and Andy won with a REB. Then, on his Time Walk turn, he played Gifts Ungiven, which resolved against the tapped-out Kowal. Kowal gave him Goblin Welder and Duress and dumped Tinker and Recoup.

"Welder is so much worse than I thought at first," Andy said. "Now I Gifts for him so I don't have to draw him."

Another turn or two of draw-go commenced before Andy cast his Welder, which set up a complicated stack that went something like this:

Ben: "Thirst for Knowledge."
Andy: "Thirst for Knowledge."
Ben: "Mana Drain the Thirst."
Andy: "Pyroblast the Mana Drain."
Andy's Thirst of Knowledge resolves
Andy: "Force of Will your Thirst of Knowledge."

After all of that, Ben untapped and unceremoniously Blue Elemental Blasted the Goblin Welder. Andy played yet another Thirst a few turns later, which he resolved by Draining Kowal's Drain. He then untapped, cast Mindslaver, and then Demonic Tutor. Kowal tried to Force the Tutor, which Andy Drained. He used the mana during his second main phase to activate the Mindslaver.

Kowal's draw was a Thirst for Knowledge, which Andy played for him thanks to the Mindslaver. It drew Kowal into a Tinker. Andy played Yawgmoth's Will on his turn, and with Goblin Welder, Time Walk, and plenty of artifacts in his graveyard, Kowal scooped. Andy would just Slave him a second time, making him cast Tinker for Goblin Charbelcher, and then Slave him a third time in order to activate the Charbelcher.

JP: "Wait a sec - is that actually your only way to win?"
Andy: "Yeah, pretty much. This setup also only works if he hasn't sided out his combo either. If he does, I guess I have to kill with Welder beats, and I only have two Welders."
Kowal: "Eh, forget Feature Match coverage. There's a graduation party or something here. I figure I should be able to sneak into that since I have a button-down shirt. Free food!"