Feature Match - Quarterfinals: Joe Hammond vs. Hunter Garrett

After finishing 9th in the Swiss, I had the choice of either getting angry and sulking in a corner or taking it in stride and doing feature matches of the top 8. Though the first option was quite appealing, I decided that the second was probably in the best interest of everyone else, so enjoy these feature match reports!

This featured quarterfinal match involved two players quite familiar with making top 8's: Joe Hammond and Hunter Garrett. Though both players were playing quite different decks - Joe with GB Scapeshift and Hunter with mono-blue artifact ramp - both decks actually operated on similar principles, trying to generate extra mana to cast large spells earlier than normal. After both players shuffled up their decks, Joe won the die roll and opted to go first. Both players kept their opening seven.

Joe opened the game with Llanowar Elves into Elvish Archdruid, while Hunter only had an Etherium Sculptor by the end of the second turn. Joe was content to attack with both of his creatures (20-16) and pass the turn. Hunter spent his third turn casting a Grand Architect and attacking back with his now 2/3 Sculptor (18-16). Joe again attacked with both of his 2/2 Elves, and one was inconsequentially blocked by the 1/3 Architect (18-14).

Hunter then took the offensive, using his Grand Architect to make enough mana for a Steel Hellkite, and then sending his Etherium Sculptor into the red zone again (16-14). Joe made his first play since turn 2, but made it count, tapping 8 mana to cast a Genesis Wave with X equal to 5. He revealed all relevant targets: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Archdruid, Ob Nixilis the Fallen, Acidic Slime, and a Forest. Ob Nixilis' landfall trigger dealt 3 damage (16-11), and once Acidic Slime took down the Hellkite, the field looked squarely in Joe's favor.

However, Hunter fought back, using his mana accelerators to cast a second Etherium Sculptor, a Master Transmuter, and a Wurmcoil Engine all on the same turn, still keeping two Islands untapped to represent a counterspell. Joe untapped, played a land (16-8), and then cast a potentially lethal Scapeshift. Hunter did have a counterspell in the form of Mana Leak, but Joe simply allowed it to resolve, finally tapping down all of Hunter's mana, and cast a second copy of Scapeshift, which allowed 6 more Ob Nixilis landfall triggers, which were more than enough to take the first game.

Joe Hammond 1, Hunter Garrett 0

Hunter elected to play first in game 2 after both players did some sideboarding. Joe kept his starting hand, while Hunter had to take one mulligan before keeping his six-card hand. Hunter started off with a Ponder, while Joe summoned the first permanent of the game with a Joraga Treespeaker. Both players accelerated their mana on the next turn, as Hunter cast Everflowing Chalice for 1 and Joe leveled his Treespeaker and cast Overgrown Battlement. Hunter spent his third turn casting a Grand Architect, but missed his third land drop.

To try to reduce Hunter's mana-production even more, Joe cast an Acidic Slime to destroy one of Hunter's Islands. Fortunately for Hunter, he drew a replacement Island immediately, and used it to cast a second Grand Architect, but did not attack because of the 2/2 deathtouch creature on the opposite side of the field. Joe was happy to attack with said Slime, doing the first damage of the game (20-18), and leveled his Treespeaker to 4.

Hunter then took advantage of his Grand Architects, using them to cast a Steel Hellkite. Joe sent the Slime into the red zone again (20-16) and then cast another Genesis Wave for 5. However, the results this time were much less exciting, as he found 2 lands, 2 Birds of Paradise, and a Gaea's Revenge whose mana cost was too large to play. He used one Bird to chump the Steel Hellkite on the following turn, while Hunter cast a second Chalice, this one kicked twice.

Joe gave himself access to even more mana, leveling his Treespeaker to 5 and casting a Llanowar Elves. Acidic Slime yet again got through (20-14), but Joe had nothing to do with his excess of mana and had to pass the turn back. Hunter cast a Wurmcoil Engine and forced the other Birds to block Steel Hellkite. Joe got in once again with Slime (20-12), but had nothing to add to his board but another Llanowar Elves.

Hunter turned his artifacts blue and attacked with both, dealing 7 with the Hellkite and gaining 8 with his Wurmcoil (13-20), destroying all of Joe's one-cost permanents. After Joe blanked on another draw, Hunter's artifacts got in again (6-28), destroying the rest of Joe's field. Joe looked at his top card and conceded.

Joe Hammond 1, Hunter Garrett 1

Joe chose to play first in the rubber game, and Hunter had to mulligan to 6 again. Joe led with Birds of Paradise, while Hunter started again with Ponder. Each player again spent their second turn ramping - Joe with an Overgrown Battlement and Hunter with an Etherium Sculptor. The Sculptor, however, was short-lived, as it was taken out by Acidic Slime. Hunter fought back with a Grand Architect, and after Joe spent his turn attacking with Slime (20-18), Hunter was able to cast a fourth turn Wurmcoil Engine.

Joe cast an Elvish Archdruid but then passed, obviously having no immediate answer to the Engine. Hunter traded it for the Slime (20-24), making two 3/3's upon his Wurmcoil's destruction. Joe attempted to cast Nature's Claim on the Deathtouch token at the end of Hunter's turn, but it met a Mana Leak from the blue mage. Joe had no further action on his turn, and Hunter sent Grand Architect and both Wurm tokens into battle on his next turn. Archdruid trivially blocked the Architect, while Overgrown Battlement bit the dust from the lifelink Wurm after Hunter turned them both blue (16-28).

Joe again had no action and this time was hit by both tokens after they were turned blue (8-32). Hunter added an Etherium Sculptor to his field and looked to be well ahead. Joe cast a Genesis Wave for just 3, and it producted two Llanowar Elves to block while he tried to come up with a solution. One Elf chumped a token (4-36), but Hunter played a second Wurmcoil Engine, leaving Joe a turn away from defeat.

However, Avenger of Zendikar came to save the day after fighting through a Mana Leak with Autumn's Veil, and suddenly there were four Plant tokens entering the fight. Two tokens and Birds of Paradise chumped on the following turn (4-42), and Hunter added even more to his field with a Steel Hellkite and a once-kicked Chalice.

Joe was again on the brink, but his topdeck was Nature's Claim, stopping the Hellkite before it could finish him off (4-46). Joe also cast an Ob Nixilis, hoping to somehow set up a Scapeshift to get himself back in the game. He would need it soon, as his remaining plant tokens chumped the blue Wurmcoil Engine and deathtouch wurm on the following turn (4-53). Joe cast Gaea's Revenge, which stayed back on defense.

Hunter mounted one last assault to try to finish the game, casting another Architect and attacking with Wurmcoil and both of his tokens, which forced Avenger of Zendikar, Ob Nixilis, and Gaea's Revenge all to block (4-61). Joe looked at his top card, sighed as he showed his opponent the one-turn-too-late Scapeshift, and extended his hand.

Hunter Garrett 2, Joe Hammond 1

Hunter advanced to face Jordan Arnold in the semifinals, whose mono-red Elementals deck defeated Dane Newton's Master Transmuter deck in the adjacent quarterfinal.