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We've got an all-Canadian final here. Both players have hard to classify decks: Peter is running Gifts Belcher, but without the Goblin Charbelcher/Mana Severance combo, while Ugo has Control Slaver, but is running Gifts Ungiven in it. Ugo won the die roll and as usual, chose to play. Both players decided to keep their opening seven. Ugo lead off with a Polluted Delta, which he immediately broke for an Underground Sea. He then played a Mox Ruby and Mana Crypt and cast Fact or Fiction. Both players Forced, and the FoF revealed Gifts Ungiven, Black Lotus, Brainstorm, Ancestral Recall, and Volcanic Island. Peter split them Gifts/Volcanic/Lotus and Ancestral/Brainstorm. Ugo took the big pile and played the Lotus. Peter played Underground Sea and Duress as his first play, taking the Vampiric. Rivard won the roll on his Mana Crypt and played the Volcanic Island. In his second mainphase, he went for Gifts Ungiven, which resolved. Ugo searched for Strip Mine, Crucible of Worlds, Demonic Tutor, and Mystical Tutor. Peter gave him the Mystical and Strip. Peter played a mainphase Brainstorm and an Island.
At the end of Peter's turn, Ugo played his Mystical Tutor for Yawgmoth's Will. Rivard lost the flip this time on the Mana Crypt. In his second mainphse, Ugo sacrificed the Black Lotus to cast Yawgmoth's Will, which resolved. Ugo replayed the Lotus, Demonic Tutor, Tolarian Academy (off of the Demonic Tutor), Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Brainstorm, Crucible, and then passed the turn. Peter played Mystical Tutor at the end of Ugo's turn for Ancestral Recall, but it was predictably Mana Drain'ed. Ugo won the flip on his Mana Crypt again and started his Crucible/Strip Mine lock. He then Tinker'ed away his Mana Crypt for Mindslaver. Between Mindslaver and the Crucible lock, Peter conceded.
Ugo 1-0
Peter: -1 Burning Wish, -1 Mystical Tutor, -1 Gifts Ungiven, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Phyrexian Furnace, -1 Gifts Ungiven, +2 Red Elemental Blast, +1 Rack and Ruin, +2 Engineered Explosives, +1 Mind Twist, +1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Ugo: -1 Brainstorm, -1 Goblin Welder, +1 Red Elemental Blast, +1 Pyroblast
Ugo took a mulligan Peter started off with a turn 1 Library of Alexandria. Ugo had a decent enough six card hand, because he lead of with Volcanic Island, Ancestral Recall, Mox Sapphire. Peter drew a card from his LoA and played a Volcanic of his own. Rivard played an Island and then cast Time Walk. He played a Tolarian Academy on his Time Walk turn and cast Gifts Ungiven. Ugo chose Mystical Tutor, Black Lotus, Strip Mine, and Crucible of Worlds. Peter gave him Mystical and Strip. Peter drew an LoA card during his upkeep and played an Island. He had eight cards in hand at the end of the turn, so he discarded Skeletal Crying. Rivard cast Mystical Tutor during his own upkeep, which Peter Mana Drain'ed. He followed up with a mainphase Thirst for Knowledge, which Peter also countered, this time with Force of Will. Ugo ended his turn by Strip Mining Peter's Library.
Peter played Tolarian Academy on his turn, using the Legend Rule to kill Ugo's. Ugo played Lightning Greaves on his turn, which Peter needed to read. Twice. After a little bit of draw-go, Rivard cast Demonic Tutor. Peter played Black Lotus, sacrificing it to cast Duress, taking Mana Drain. With the coast clear, Peter cast Yawgmoth's Will, replaying Tolarian Academy, Black Lotus, Duress (taking Vampiric Tutor), and finally Skeletal Crying for 3 cards. The finished his turn with a Thirst for Knowledge out of his hand. Ugo hard cast his Mindslaver, but couldn't activate it. Peter punished him for this with Rack and Ruin on the Slaver and the Greaves.
A few turns later, Ugo played a Goblin Welder, which was countered through a lengthy Force of Will war. Peter cast Gifts Ungiven on his turn, finding Tinker, Mana Drain, Time Walk, and Ancestral Recall. Ugo gave him Walk and Drain. Peter played Recoup on his Tinker and then Tinker'ed away his Mox Emerald to find Dark steel Colossus. Rivard dug for answers with a mainphase Thirst for Knowledge. Peter attacked Ugo and then flashed back Recoup on his Time Walk for the concession.
Match tied 1-1
Ugo: -1 Brainstorm, +1 Goblin Welder
Peter: -1 Mind Twist, -1 Boseiju, +1 Gifts Ungiven, +1 Rack and Ruin
Peter took a mulligan in game three. Rivard started out with Underground Sea, Black Lotus, and Ancestral Recall, which he forced through with Force of Will. Peter's first turn consisted of Volcanic Island an Ancestral of his own, which was Mana Drained (Ugo took a point of burn because he sacrificed his Lotus). He played an Island and used the Drain mana to cast Thirst for Knowledge, discarding Mox Ruby. Olszewski (I'm going to attempt to spell his last name this time) played a mainphase Brainstorm to try to find a land. It did net him a Black Lotus and Polluted Delta. Rivard played Time Walk (Peter fetched in response for an Underground Sea) but didn't do anything on his extra turn. Peter cast Duress and Ugo cast Vampiric Tutor in response. Duress revealed Goblin Welder, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Mana Drain (discarded), Gifts Ungiven, and Fact or Fiction.
Both players did nothing of note on their next couple turns. Eventually, Peter used Recoup to flashback Duress, this time plucking out Gifts Ungiven. Rivard drew and cast a Fact or Fiction a few turns later, revealing Mystical Tutor, Crucible of Worlds, Mana Crypt, Force of Will, and Mindslaver. Peter made the piles as Mystical/Crypt/Slaver and Crucible/Force. Ugo took the smaller pile. Peter did nothing on his turn. Ugo went for Crucible of Worlds, which resolved. His follow-up of Goblin Welder was responded to with a Rack and Ruin for the Crucible and a Mox, Ugo's only other artifact, but still resolved as well.
Neither player had a play for the next few turns until Peter played a Time Walk, although he merely played another land on his extra turn. Ugo played a Sol Ring, which allowed him to use his Goblin Welder. Peter had another Rack and Ruin to attempt to take out the Sol Ring and his own Mox Emerald. A lengthy counterwar ensued, which Ugo won, allowing him to bring back his Mindslaver. The only card in Peter's hand was Gifts Ungiven, which he cast EOT, taking a long time to try to figure out what setup will keep Ugo from brutalizing him during the Mindslaver turn. He eventually went with Sol Ring, Tolarian Academy, Island, and Mox Pearl. Rivard gave him the Island and Pearl. Peter drew a Red Elemental Blast, so really all Ugo had the option of doing was flashing back the Recoup on something and passing the turn.
Again, some more turns of nothing important ensued, which was good because the battery died on the laptop I was working on, and I needed to switch over to another computer. Ugo played another Welder eventually. Peter tried for a Duress, which he fought through a counter war. He was forced to take Echoing Truth (showing Platinum Angel as the only other card in hand.) Ugo eventually drew another Mox, which let him bring back the Mindslaver again. He used the Mindslaver to force Peter to cast Brainstorm (putting back Duress and Mox Ruby), Vampiric Tutor (for Yawgmoth's Will), Thirst for Knowledge (discarding the Will and Demonic Tutor) and then tapping him out. Back on his own turn, Ugo played out Lightning Greaves, which I hope he will finally Weld out into his Platinum Angel so that we can go home. We might have to wait though, because Peter's play of Engineered Explosives with one counter took out the pair of Welders. Before they died, one of them turned the Greaves back into Mindslaver. But that didn't matter, because Ugo finally found his Yawgmoth's Will for the concession.
Linard takes the match 2-1 and becomes the latest StarCityGames.com Power 9 champ!
