The players shuffled each other's decks in the silence that only an overcrowded table can generate. Eric Taylor - a.k.a. EDT, theorist, dinosaur, the Official Hippie of the Pro Tour - pulled out his dice and rolled a six, which was answered with Matt Rubin's eleven. He wished his opponent good luck, then declared he was going first.

He then proceeded to mulligan down to six, saying,"It was very weird."

He drew six cards, and didn't give them twenty seconds of thought before they were thrown back on top of his library, and the cards were given a particularly hard shuffle. Matt asked Eric as he shuffled,"How far are you from here?"

"Fifteen minutes, maybe."

There was some discussion over the number of times Matt Rubin had Parised. Eric looked over at me and asked how many times Matt had mulliganed;"Twice," I responded, and Matt stared at Eric as if he was slightly out of his mind. Eric gave it a moment's thought, and then admitted he probably just was losing his mind. Matt opened with the ever-popular"Mountain, Skirk Prospector," while Eric dropped a Grand Coliseum.

The Prospector hit for one - but Ben had no turn 2 play. He did, however, cast a turn 3 Goblin Warchief that swung in for three damage with his companion, Mister I-Show-Up-In-Every Game, Skirk Prospector. Eric untapped his land and considered, briefly, perhaps the thought of throwing an Eternal dragon before he was to draw his next card.

Matt laid down his third land and then gave the game a moment of thought. He asked Eric the number of cards in hand, then continued to stare into the artwork of his three mountains - or mayhap, the cards in his hand. After a seemingly endless time spent in thought, Rubin threw down a Siege-Gang Commander using the Skirk Prospector's lifeblood as mana, and Eric was soon reduced to nine. He landcycled at the end of Matt's turn, then untapped a large number of lands.

Starstorm for two revoked the promise of his swiftly-approaching demise, apparently throwing Matt into reverse... Until a Clickslither was slammed into play on the next turn. Now Eric was at six from the Clickslither's vengeful attack - but he was up a turn, at least. He dropped a land and then passed the stage back to Rubin.

Rubin offered his opponent the a Goblin Warchief to the face, which prompted EDT to slam down another Starstorm, leaving the goblin slaughtered as the Goblin arrived on the battlefield. Now Eric was facing a swift demise, the Warchief promising him a sure death. Until it met Wing Shards... And suddenly, Rubin was out of gas.

Well, he did mulligan to five!

Eric untapped and dropped a Lightning Rift, which Rubin could only match with a mountain. A second Eternal Dragon was cycled, and now Rubin's blood had been spilt on the fields of battle. Eric cycled Vengeance at the end of Rubin's turn, slowly closing the life gap.

Rubin drew, then said"go" in a sullen voice. Eric responded with a cycled Decree of Justice, which left three soldiers on his side of the field. To make matters worse, Eric opened his turn by hard-casting a Renewed Faith. His life slightly restored - or should we say renewed? - Eric decided to send two of the soldiers in, with one left behind to block.

Rubin cycled, looking for gas, but found only Eric's calm gaze as he failed to activate Lightning Rift. The cruel Goblin Warchief hit the table and Eric stared at it with a peaceful look in his eyes, then sent his lone soldier to face the Warchief in battle. The soldier didn't make it back home.

The soldiers were joined by a valiant Silver Knight, and Rubin's situation looked increasingly dire. As Rubin tapped his man, Eric asked him with mirth in his voice,"Insurrection?" Rubin smirked, but instead added the potent Siege-Gang Commander to his field. Eric allowed the Commander to see play - then as Commander's"comes into play" effect was on the stack, Eric gingerly blasted it with a cycled Rift.

Rubin then called over a judge, and asked if Eric can actually blast it before the tokens came into play. The judge confirmed how the stack works, to Rubin's evident vexation. Eric only calmly asked,"May I draw my cycling card now?" and Rubin responded with,"I'm not sure if I should sack it now, or is the cycling finished first? I guess it's not all that relevant."

The Siege-Gang Commander got hurled at a token - and then Akroma, Angel of Wrath joined the battlefield. Trapped in the dire straits that the mightiest Angel frequently brings to Goblins, Rubin conceded the game as he revealed a land full of hand.

Matt Rubin did a flawless job of hiding the eleven lands he drew, quipped one of the guys in the crowd. Matt commented:"Eric, you play real slow. I thought you were one of the faster players."

Eric responded:"I'm old and senile."

Given that he didn't remember how many times his opponent mulliganed, there may be a grain of truth in that...

Game 2
The players drew their hands and a mountain - incredibly without Skirk Prospector - led the charge. Eric passed after laying a Coliseum, and the first goblin poked out its face - a lone Goblin Piledriver. Eric threw down a cycling land, and on Matt's turn the Piledriver poked for one point of damage before another Piledriver joined Matt's team.

Unfortunately for the Goblins, who were looking to headlock Eric, the endlessly-valiant Silver Knight showed up on his master's side of the table to shut down their cruel ambitions. But Matt wasn't to be outdone and matched that Knight with a Vortex, leaving the Goblins back to eye the Knight unhappily.

The Knight, on the other hand, smashed into Matt's face with finesse. Matt commented, with a sparkle in his eye, that someone was hiding Starstorm. When the Goblins made their charge at Eric the stars rained down on them, knocking them from the field of play before Rubin passed his turn.

The game spiraled into a burning Vortex as the players laid land after land, their life totals dropping all the while. It wasn't an entirely symmetrical effect, however, as Eric's pet Knight repeatedly gashed great chunks out of Matt's vulnerable life total. Matt tried a Siege-Gang Commander, but a cycled Gempalm Incinerator made short work of it. Eric considered his options at the end of Matt's turn, his hand bolstered by some choicely cycled cards.

He untapped, dropped a land, and then counted his mana. There was a long pause as he considered passing, leaving the Silver Knight back to defend him from the Goblin tokens. One more and he could throw down Akroma - if he had it in his hand.

Rubin untapped his land and slammed a freshly-dropped Clickslither home. Eric responded by cycling another Incinerator, burning a poor Goblin token to cinders without mercy. A judge then requested a confirmation of the life totals - which prompted a discussion, as their scorepads did not quite match up. Eric removed the Vortex with a Wipe Clean, then topdecked his eighth land, which led to an Akroma, Angel of Wrath, which made short work of Matt Rubin.

After the game Eric commented about Matt's vicious start despite his mulligan, saying,"You came out so fast. Who does that after mulliganing to five? You almost gave me a heart attack!"

I looked over at Eric and asked him if was happy with Slide today. He gave me a look."It's not Slide. It's just white with red control. No Slides." He noted. I nodded, feeling like an idiot, then ask him again if he's happy with it, Astral Slide or not.

"No, I'm not happy with it. I'm not undefeated." I looked over at Matt Rubin, grimacing at the frustrated look in his eyes.

"I'm not going to ask you, since you mulliganed down to five...."

"I almost had him though!" Rubin exploded."He was almost dead, then I drew land after land in a row."

Listening in on the conversation, Rubin discussed the virtues of Goblin Goon versus the Clickslither he used. He noted that Goblin Goon has a tendency to bounce uselessly off Dawn Elementals or Silver Knights when facing Mono White Control or Slide, and in the mirror match it's fifty-fifty.

His friend gave him a look, confused by how the Goon could be"fifty-fifty."

"50% chance that it attacks or doesn't attack." I asked him about his feelings on it, and he responded:"I'm betting that people who make the top eight with Goblins won't have Goon in their deck; they'll have Clickslither. The good decks are running Clickslither, it's just so good with Siege-Gang Commander."