Both John Kreinbring and Noah Senzel have become regular fixtures of the FITSSFF Magic community, and both have gone about it in the same way, primarily playing green and white on the way to most of their successes. Each of them put together a solid day in the Swiss rounds to go 3-1-1 and reach the top 8 - John playing a mono-white Aura brew and Noah playing a green/white aggro deck centered around tokens. John won the roll and kept his opening seven, while Noah was not satisfied with his opening hand and mulliganed down to 6.
John opened on Emeria, the Sky Ruin, an innocuous play this early but something that could become quite relevant should the game go long. He also had the first spell of the game with a turn 2 Kazandu Blademaster. Noah spent his second turn summoning a creature from the same region of Zendikar: the fragile but powerful Kazandu Tuskcaller. John drew first blood with an attack from the Blademaster (20-18) and then summoned an Umbra Mystic, while Noah had no play but to level his Tuskcaller to 1.
John pushed on the offensive, casting Hyena Umbra on his Umbra Mystic and attacking with both (20-13). Noah again was satisfied to level his Tuskcaller, but this time he got a 3/3 Elephant out of it, as his Tuskcaller had reached level 2. John attacked with his Umbra Mystic, and Noah blocked with his Elephant, effectively trading it for the Hyena Umbra, as its Totem Armor ability prevented the Mystic from being destroyed. John then cast a Totem-Guide Hartebeest, searching up a potentially threatening Armored Ascension.
Noah tried to gain some advantage on the land front, casting Oracle of Mul Daya, which succeeded as he found a Forest on the top of his library. He then used the Tuskcaller to make another Elephant and passed the turn. John then cast his Armored Ascension on the Blademaster, giving it +4/+4 and flying thanks to the four Plains he controlled, and attacked with both of his creatures. Noah blocked the Hartebeest with his Elephant, but still took 8 damage between the Blademaster and Umbra Mystic (20-5). He found no help on top of his library and promptly conceded.
John Kreinbring 1, Noah Senzel 0
In the second game, both players switched play and mulligan, as Noah chose to play first and kept his starting seven, while John had to mulligan to six. Noah started off with a first turn Llanowar Elf, and it hit the red zone on turn two (19-20), while a Stirring Wildwood joined Noah's Forest in the land zone. Noah continued to apply pressure while John had no turn 2 plays, casting an Oracle of Mul Daya and finding a second Stirring Wildwood on top of his library.
John continued to play lands and pass, and Noah kept the beats coming with his Oracle and Llanowar Elf (16-20). He added three 1/1 Soldier tokens to his field by casting Elspeth Tirel and using her -2 ability. John finally had a play on turn 4 that made it quite clear while he hadn't played any creatures yet: a Day of Judgment, clearing Noah's field except for his planeswalker.
Noah rebuilt his field on the following turn, casting a Kazandu Tuskcaller and leveling it to 1 as well as sacrificing Elspeth to make three more Soldiers. John's retort was a Totem-Guide Hartebeest, which fetched a Celestial Mantle from John's library. However, Noah had an answer in the form of Journey to Nowhere, and swung in with his team of 1/1's (12-20).
John went back to work with a Kor Spiritdancer, which he immediately enchanted with Nimbus Wings and Hyena Umbra, making the Spiritdancer a fearsome creature and drawing a card off of each Aura. Noah leveled his Tuskcaller to 2 and used it to make a 3/3 Elephant, then he answered the Nimbus Wings with a Naturalize, bringing the Spiritdancer back to Earth.
However, the Spiritdancer was determined to evade Noah's blockers, and it immediately took to the skies again courtesy of an Armored Ascension, suddenly taking out over half of Noah's life total (12-9). Noah knew he had to act to find a solution quickly or his tournament would be over. He carefully counted up his mana and creatures, did some math, and then went all in. He had just enough mana to animate both of his Stirring Wildwoods and attack with them, the Elephant, and the three Soldiers to represent exactly twelve damage. John had no answers and they were on to the rubber game.
John Kreinbring 1, Noah Senzel 1
The mulligan pendulum swung back for game 3, as John played first and kept seven while Noah went down to six. John led with Emeria, the Sky Ruin while Noah had a first turn Birds of Paradise. John's first creature was a Serra Ascendant, passing back to Noah. Noah used his mana acceleration to cast a second-turn Beastmaster Ascension, and passed the turn back.
John cast Nimbus Wings on his Serra Ascendant and sent his flying lifelinker into the red zone (22-18). Noah had no play on the following turn but to attack for zero with his Birds, putting a counter on Beastmaster Ascension. John swung in with his Serra Ascendant again, but Noah had a Naturalize waiting for the Nimbus Wings, so he cut the incoming damage in half (23-17).
The field appeared to be heavily undeveloped, but things soon turned from benign to ominous as Noah cast Conqueror's Pledge, making six 1/1 Soldier tokens and suddenly threatening a swift resolution of his quest enchantment. John needed a Day of Judgment or way to remove the Beastmaster Ascension, and after deciding to take no action on his turn, it seemed like he had neither. Noah attacked, hoping this was the case, and found out that John had no answer to his creatures or his enchantment. His seven attacking creatures (6 tokens plus Birds) activated the Ascension, and Noah's army of now-6/6's moved him on to the semifinals.
Noah Senzel 2, John Kreinbring 1
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