Round 5 feature match!

Richard Bland writes...

Round 5 Feature Match: Daniel Royde vs. Peter Dun

Daniel and Pete suffer the annoyance of having to play a friend in the elimination bracket. Pete is at 4-0-1 and hoping to qualify for Austin after narrowly missing out on making the Nationals team with the UW lark deck he is playing today. Daniel is playing his Time Sieve combo deck and is at 4-1, so a loss would likely eliminate him.

Daniel wins the roll and both players keep their opening hands.

Daniel's leading play of Time Sieve meets with a Broken ambitions, with the unfortunate side-effect of filling up Dan's graveyard with Borderposts. Peter stalls on 4 lands, until Daniel's Font of Mythos helps him find the fifth, but Pete doesn't make a play and discards a Mulldrifter. Daniel lays more artifacts including a howling mine, but his Time Warp is Negated. Pete makes up for lost time with a ramping Knight of the White Orchid, while Daniel lays another Howling Mine and more cantripping artifacts. Pete bounces the Font with Cryptic Command at end of turn, then lays an Oona, with 2 mana up. Dan takes the opportunity to play Time Warp and replay the Font. Drawing 5 cards the next turn, Dan flashes a Cryptic and Open the vaults, and Pete scoops up his cards, remarking “I'm pretty sure you won't mess up from here”. “Do you even know me?” laughs Daniel as they reach for their sideboards.

Daniel 1-0 Peter

Daniel removes his Pollen Lullabies and a few artifacts for some disruption in Tidehollow Scullers, Silences and Pithing Needles. Pete removes a pile of removal spells and Baneslayers for Vendillion Cliques and counterspells.

Pete sends his hand back twice with a sigh, while Daniel is happy with his opening seven. Both players lead with Borderposts, followed by a Pithing Needle on Glen-Elendra Archmage for Daniel. Pete can't find a 3rd land though, and Dan accelerates with another borderpost and a Time Sieve, A Tezzeret from Daniel prompts the scoop, as Pete's deck refuses to give him another land. “My only way to win is for him to not draw land,” Daniel says apologetically. Pete will need a win to make the top 8, and a draw should be good enough for Daniel.

Daniel 2 – 0 Peter