In this matchup was RangerDan, playing an Extended adaptation of the "Fellowship of the Rings" deck, a Naya-colored planeswalker deck popularized at Pro Tour: Berlin in 2008. The deck uses the somewhat-unheralded Rings of Brighthearth to gain card advantage by effectively being able to use every planeswalker ability twice each time it's activated. Sitting across from him was defending Extended champion Nikita, playing a modified version of the mono-black Vampires deck that won him the Extended event in the spring. However, he was at the risk of completely missing the Top 8 this time around, as both players were sitting at 1-1 and the loser would be eliminated from the tournament.
Dan won the roll, and both players shuffled up and laid out their opening hands. Dan chose to play first and kept his opening 7, but Nikita had to ship it back, though he did settle for his hand of 6. After land-go by both players, Dan played the first spell of the game, casting Fertile Ground on his Jungle Shrine, setting up easy access to his Naya colors from the get-go. Nikita played a second Swamp and cast the game's first creature - a Kalastria Highborn. Dan responded by casting Oblivion Ring on the 2/2 Vampire, but Nikita followed it up with a Vampire Nighthawk.
Dan spent his next turn first casting his deck's namesake - Rings of Brighthearth. He then played Grove of the Burnwillows and used it to cast Lightning Bolt, taking out the Nighthawk but giving Nikita an extra life point (20-21). Nikita then cast Sign in Blood (20-19) to find some mome threats. He settled on a second Kalastria Highborn and shipped the turn. Dan got to work by casting his first planeswalker of the game, Sarkhan Vol, and used his first ability to put Vol to 5 loyalty. Nikita hit Vol for 2 with the Highborn, sending it to 3 loyalty, but had no further plays. Dan was content to use Vol's first ability and pass the turn, but when Nikita's Highborn attacked again, he cast Volcanic Fallout to deal with the 2/2 and deal each player 2 damage (18-17). Nikita did have mana open to use the Highborn's ability, draining 2 life from Dan (16-19). Postcombat, Nikita cast Vampire Hexmage and sacrificed it to kill Sarkhan Vol.
Dan was running out of gas, and did nothing on the following turn. Nikita elected to go for pressure over value, casting an unkicked Gatekeeper of Malakir. Fortunately for Dan, he peeled Elspeth, Knight-Errant off the top of his library and made two soldier tokens using Rings of Brighthearth. Nikita responded immediately with two Disfigures to kill both tokens, and hit Elspeth for 2 with his Gatekeeper. Dan wasn't done with his planeswalkers, however, casting Garruk Wildspeaker essentially for free, as he untapped four lands and then made two more Soldiers, threatening a particularly scary double Overrun the next turn. Nikita had a blank next turn, and Dan went for it, casting Kitchen Finks (18-19) and then giving both soldiers an Angelic Blessings and two Overruns, making them each 10/10 trampling flyers! But Nikita had the trump card, casting his singleton Consume the Meek and clearing the creatures out except for a persisted Finks (20-19).
Nikita then took his next turn, cast Sign in Blood (20-17), and found another Hexmage to deal with Elspeth. Dan was suddenly in trouble, as he drew an irrelevant second Rings of Brighthearth and got his Finks Smothered. Nikita then bashed with his Nighthawk (18-19) and played a Guul Draz Assassin, leveling it twice. Dan topdecked a Naya Charm to kill the Assassin, but had no answer to the Nighthawk. A second Nighthawk joined the team for Nikita, and the first one swung in again (16-21). Dan drew a Birds of Paradise to chump one the next turn (14-25), but the game was getting out of hand. The Nighthawks sent Dan to 10, 6, and then 2, and after finding no help on top of his library, Dan conceded.
Nikita Nikolayev 1, Dan Hooghkirk 0
Both players made some minor sideboard adjustments, and drew hands for the next game. Again Dan was able to keep his 7, but Nikita went down to 6. Dan led with a Plains, while Nikita played a Swamp and cast Duress. To his surprise, he saw his spell get countered by a well-timed Mana Tithe, which probably saved one of his planeswalkers. This turned out to be a critical play, as Nikita had kept a one-lander almost exclusively for the turn 1 Duress. This gave Dan time to build, as he cast Fertile Ground and Rings of Brighthearth while Nikita had to discard Consuming Vapors.
Dan jumped further ahead by casting Garruk and Elspeth on the same turn using Fertile Ground and Rings of Brighthearth shenanigans, making just one soldier as he didn't have the mana to make two. Nikita Disfigured it at end of turn and then finally drew his second land, casting and sacrificing Vampire Hexmage to kill Elspeth. Dan pressed onward, however, using Garruk to get enough mana to cast Chandra Nalaar and ping Nikita twice (20-18). However, Chandra also fell victim to a Vampire Hexmage.
Dan used Garruk and Rings of Brighthearth to make 2 3/3 Beast tokens and passed the turn. Nikita hit his third land and went deep into the think-tank, finally settling on a Vampire Nighthawk. This may not have been the optimal play, as Dan used his untapped Mountain to hit it with a Lightning Bolt at the end of the turn. Dan then made two more beasts and swung with the ones he already had out (20-12). All Nikita could summon was another Nighthawk, and things began to look grim for him. Dan attacked with all 4 tokens, one of which traded with the Nighthawk (20-5). He then put Garruk back to 4 loyalty, threatening the lethal double Overrun next turn. Nikita looked at his top card, surveyed the field for a minute, and then scooped up his cards, flashing me the Consume the Meek he didn't have enough mana to cast.
Dan Hooghkirk 1, Nikita Nikolayev 1
The rubber game found the mulligans reversed, as Dan went to 6 but Nikita was able to keep his 7. Nikita led with a Duress again, which was resolved this time, as he was playing first, and he forced Dan to discard Chandra Nalaar. Dan shot a Lightning Bolt directly at Nikita (20-17) and passed the turn. Surprisingly, Nikita again only had one land, and had to discard a Sign in Blood. However, Dan only had three lands, and there was no action for a little while. Dan then found an Arid Mesa, using it (19-17) to fetch a Mountain and cast Garruk using Green off a Brushland (18-17) and untapping two lands. He used Garruk to untap two lands, giving him double white pain to cast Elspeth (16-17) and make a soldier token.
Nikita finally got a land and cast Vampire Hexmage, destroying Elspeth. Dan used Garruk to make a token and swung with his Soldier (16-16). Nikita found another Swamp to cast Vampire Nighthawk the next turn, but it met an Oblivion Ring, and the tokens got in again (16-12), with Garruk going up to 5 loyalty. Nikita played a kicked Gatekeeper of Malakir, dealing with the Soldier, but Dan had Volcanic Fallout to kill the Gatekeeper (14-10), and his beast token got in for 3 more damage (14-7) next turn. Dan made a second beast and still had Garruk at 4 counters, threatening Overrun next turn. Nikita found a fourth land and cast another Vampire Nighthawk, which Dan Mana Tithed to force Nikita to tap out. The reasoning for this became evident when Dan cast Sarkhan Vol. Nikita looked at the board, did some math, and conceded upon realizing that his life would be reduced to zero upon a combination of Garruk's Overrun and either of Sarkhan Vol's first two abilities.
Dan Hooghkirk 2, Nikita Nikolayev 1
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