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Both players traveled about 250 kilometers (hah!) to reach this destination. Despite impressive and respectable records, they are quite clearly disappointed to be paired up with each other so early in the Top 8.
Having traveled together, both players are well informed of what each others' lists look like. Peter is playing the French build of Gifts Ungiven control, and Rich is playing a self-designed control deck featuring Mishra's Workshop in conjunction with Mana Drain to accelerate out Crucible of Worlds, Nevinyrral's Disk, and Chalice of the Void.
"Yeah, take that!" Rich laughs as he rolls a six. Peter matches it. Peter nabs another six and opts to play.
Peter leads with a basic island, which Rich easily bests with a Library that comes in tapped. Rich plays a pair of moxes and announces Demonic Tutor, fetching Strip Mine. Peter plays a second Island and passes without any action.
Rich starts milking his Library overtime, and burns his Strip Mine to kill one of Peter's Islands. Peter plays yet another land, go (an Underground Sea this time) which Rich matches with a Polluted Delta.
Another land, go for Peter, as he enters turn 4 without having cast a spell yet. Rich digs up an Island with his fetchland, and draws with Library in to end of turn Thirst for Knowledge, discarding Volcanic Island and Island. Rich untaps and drops a Mox Ruby to join his Jet and Emerald, and then plays a Chalice of the Void for zero. Rich continues applying pressure to Peter's manabase with a Wasteland, and passes back.
Peter applies the pressure right back with - another land, go. Rich casts Time Walk after drawing with Library, which Peter considers doing something about and ends up declining, still without having played a single spell over the course of this game. Land, go. Bob Kochis, eat your heart out.
Rich announces an end step Ancestral Recall, which resolves (of course). Rich untaps and drops a Chalice of the Void with a single counter, to which Peter responds with a Brainstorm, breaking his own imaginary Standstill. Chalice resolves, and Rich follows it up with a discard step dropping Fact or Fiction. Peter misses his land drop, but he's still saying go without casting spells. Rich tries to Wasteland Peter's last nonbasic, but Peter responds with Fact or Fiction, meeting a Mana Leak.
Draw, go.
Peter tries an end of turn Cunning Wish, which meets another Mana Leak.
Draw, go.
Rich draws some cards.
Land, go.
Peter doesn't do that so much.
At long last, Rich tries for a Crucible of Worlds, which meets Peter's Mana Drain. Rich Mana Drains back, leaving Peter with Force of Will removing Gifts Ungiven. Rich draws a Mana Leak with Library of Alexandria, leaving the stack clear and a Crucible in the remaining dust.
Peter draws for the turn, and scoops it up to a developing hard lock with no outs in sight.
Richard Mattiuzzo 1 - Peter O 0
Rich boards out two Disks for a pair of Engineered Explosives, while Peter boards in a pair of Rack and Ruins, a Rebuild, two Engineered Explosives, and a Boseiju for a Gifts Ungiven, Mystical Tutor, a pair of Phyrexian Furnaces, a Cunning Wish, and Vampiric Tutor.
Peter keeps his seven, and Rich elects instead to take a hand of six.
Peter's land, go this game is substantially better, as it happens to say "Alexandria" on it. Rich leads with a first turn Mishra's Workshop, Crucible of Worlds, passing the turn back to Peter. Peter draws with Library and casts Duress, taking Mana Leak and leaving Rich with Mana Drain, Engineered Explosives, and Mox Jet. "Oooh, ooh, how do you like that, Buddy Buds?" Rich muses as he finds a Wasteland from his deck to remove the opposing Library from existence. A Brainstorm in response yields no hot Teferi's Response action, and the Library gets shipped to the bin. Peter takes his turn to drop some acceleration, and drops an Engineered Explosives for 3 to blow up Rich's Crucible of Worlds.
"How do you like that?" Rich laughs again, this time finding a second Crucible from his topdeck. Rich starts talking his way through whether or not playing his Explosives at one would be correct, and ends up deciding to, risking Peter having a Rack and Ruin in his hand. Peter drops a third Island, shipping the turn back with no such action.
Peter casts Gifts Ungiven on Rich's end step, which resolves after a short counter war. Gifts yields Black Lotus and Gifts Ungiven for Peter, putting Ancestral Recall and Tinker in his graveyard for later. A second Gifts Ungiven, off his Mana Drain mana, fetches out Yawgmoth's Will, Recoup, Mox Ruby, and Time Walk. Rich gives Peter Recoup and Time Walk. Peter plays his Black Lotus and breaks it for Recoup, to cast Tinker from his graveyard. Peter casts Time Walk, and attacks with his fresh Colossus. He flashes a Mana Drain and Rich scoops.
1-1
Rich elects to keep his seven, but Peter's seven are apparently too bad for words.
Rich starts off strong with another first turn Crucible of Worlds fueled by Mishra's Workshop, and Peter follows with a, you guessed it, land, go.
A Duress a turn later from Peter takes Demonic Tutor from Rich's hand, leaving Thirst for Knowledge, Tolarian Academy, Volcanic Island, and Wasteland.
Peter's next turn involves casting Time Walk, and then playing a tapped Boseiju when it resolves. Untapping, Peter casts Rebuild, and then casts another Duress, which gets Force of Willed pitching Thirst for Knowledge.
Rich takes his turn to re-play his Crucible, and Wastelands the offending Boseiju. Unfazed, Peter casts Fact or Fiction, flipping over Mana Drain, Force of Will, Engineered Explosives, Volcanic Island, and Library of Alexandria. Peter takes the pile of Engineered Explosives, Mana Drain, and Library of Alexandria. Rich plays a Wasteland, kills a Volcanic Island with it, and passes back.
Rich attempts to play a Chalice of the Void with three counters, which hits play without a fuss. Peter plays an Engineered Explosives for zero, and proceeds to drop a Tolarian Academy to cast Skeletal Scrying for four, removing Boseiju, Fact or Fiction, Volcanic Island, and Force of Will. Rich puts up no fight, and instead opts to burn his turn Wastelanding Peter's Academy. Peter cycles his Library of Alexandria, and blows up his Explosives on Rich's end step.
A counter war ensues over Peter's end step Thirst for Knowledge the following turn, which Peter succeeds in resolving. A fresh Duress from Peter reveals that Rich has nothing left but a handful of lands. After drawing a ridiculous amount of cards to Mattiuzzo's complete lack of resistance, Peter decides it's time to Tinker for Darksteel Colossus. Mattiuzo cycles a Time Walk, and attempts to cast his own Tinker.
"Which counter are you going to use?" Rich asks. Peter merely laughs and puts a Mana Drain on the table.
The Mana Drain mana goes to good use, allowing Peter to cast Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus, which he busts to Recoup Time Walk, and swing for 22 damage.
Peter Olszewski 2 - Richard Mattiuzzo 1
