The crowd in the SUB had mostly emptied out as we were down to our final two Standard competitors. Emile Paul was brandishing his Goblin-oriented variant of Red Deck Wins, and had made the finals after dispatching Bant Allies and UW Control. Sitting across the table was Michael Smith, who was playing what he referred to as "Old Jund," referencing the fact that he was playing the pre-M11 build, playing cards like Broodmate Dragon and Siege-Gang Commander, which have been dropped for newer options by some players. Mike had defeated Esper Control and Naya Aggro to reach the finals. Both players shuffled up their decks and prepared for battle.
However, there was an immediate turn of events, as Mike mulliganed to 6 and then 5. While shuffling before drawing his 5-card hand, he realized a critical mistake: he had failed to sideboard properly following a casual game he had been playing to pass time before the finals, which left his deck with only 47 cards (and his sideboard with 28). As the Tournament Organizer and Head Judge for the event, I had to intervene. The required penalty for this infraction is a game loss, which Emile requested I enforce. Therefore, I did so, and the first game was over before any games had been played.
I should mention that although the game loss could've been avoided if requested by both players, but in that case, the correct enforcement following this scenario would have been a forced mulligan to 4, so odds are the result should have been the same. I would've preferred this course of action instead of having to give out the game loss, but rules are a part of the game and this does happen sometimes.
Emile Paul 1, Michael Smith 0
Game 2 was played without sideboards, as sideboarding only occurs after an actual game has been played. The second game started much more smoothly, with both players keeping their opening 7. Having "lost" the previous game, Mike played first and opened with a Savage Lands. There was no action until turn 2, where Emile cast a Goblin Guide and a Quest for Pure Flame, but the Guide met a quick demise from Mike's Terminate.
Mike took the offensive on his third turn, casting the hated discard spell Blightning, forcing Emile to discard Hellspark Elemental and Burst Lightning (17-20). Emile responded by Lightning Bolting Mike directly and then unearthing Hellspark Elemental to deal a total of 6 damage (17-14). There was no action until Mike cast a second Blightning, which got Mountain and earned him a Burst Lightning to the face in response (14-12), but did empty out Emile's hand. Emile looked like the underdog here, needing to pull 12 damage from topdeck mode.
He got his first 3 in the form of Hellspark Elemental (14-9), though he missed the potential 4th counter on his Quest. Mike played a land and passed, appearing to be low on gas at this point. Emile topdecked a Goblin Arsonist and unearthed his Hellspark. However, the hasty Elemental met his end at the hands of a Bituminous Blast, which cascaded into Sprouting Thrinax.
Mike then made a big play, casting his "Old Jund" favorite, Broodmate Dragon, and passing. Emile suicided his Arsonist into the Thrinax to deal Mike 1 point of damage and get his Quest online (14-8). However, Mike cast a Blightning (11-8), and Emile had to respond by bolting Mike and using his quest (11-2). Unfortunately for him, Mike had 11 power on the table with his 2 dragons and his Thrinax, and we were going to game 3 (0-2).
Emile Paul 1, Michael Smith 1
Game 3 was a return to mulligan-land, as Mike went down to 6, then 5, and then 4. Could he stand a chance with just 4 cards in hand? Emile opened again with Quest for Pure Flame, which was followed by Goblin Arsonist as Mike continued playing tapped lands. A second Arsonist joined the team, and the first one poked through for the first damage of the game (20-19), then both hit the next turn (20-17). Mike finally cast something, playing a Bloodbraid Elf and cascading into a Staggershock, taking out one Arsonist, who got the last word in after dying with a ping (20-16). At the end of the turn, Emile fired a Lightning Bolt at Mike (20-13), and then traded his other Arsonist for the Bloodbraid Elf. He fired directly at Mike with a Forked Bolt (20-11) and passed with an empty field. Could Mike actually make the improbable comeback?
He went to work, hitting Emile with the Staggershock rebound (18-11) and a Blightning (15-11), as Emile discarded two Earthquakes. However, Emile ripped Hell's Thunder off the top, and swung with his Quest activated, putting Mike in Bolt range (15-3). Mike cast a second Blightning, hitting Emile's Quenchable Fire (12-3), emptying Emile's hand and leaving him with just 3 Mountains, which was not enough to unearth Hell's Thunder. Emile slowly revealed the top card of his library...sure enough, it was a Lightning Bolt, making him the Standard winner (12-0).
Emile Paul 2, Michael Smith 1
They each won 3 M11 boosters, with Emile also taking the promo Birds of Paradise. However, both understanding the unfortunate circumstance of the game loss at the beginning of the match, they decided to play a bonus game, each with a pack on the line.
The 3rd actual game began with Emile on the mulligan train this time around, as he went down to 6 and then 5. He still opened well with a hasty Goblin Guide (20-18), followed by a Quest for Pure Flame and an Arsonist, plus another hit from Goblin Guide (20-16). Mike fought back with a Blightning (17-16), forcing Emile to discard Earthquake and Quenchable Fire. Emile swung back with his two creatures (17-13), but Mike then laid down a good blocker in Sprouting Thrinax. Mike then went on the offensive with his Raging Ravine, which was chumped by the Arsonist (17-12). Ravine got in for good next time (12-12), and all Emile could fight back with was a Shock from a Forked Bolt (12-10). He was clearly running out of gas.
Sprouting Thrinax crashed in next turn (9-10), and was replaced on the blocking front by a second Thrinax. Emile put down a Goblin Guide to block, but it had to chump one of the attacking Thrinaxes (6-10). Emile put in a last-ditch Staggershock (6-8), but after the rebound (6-6), he pulled a useless Mountain off the top and fell to Mike's army on the next turn (0-6), costing him one of his prize packs, as he was on the losing end of the wager.
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