In the final round before the Top 8, two players sitting on 6-1 are hoping to guarantee their place in the final rounds. Max is packing Morn Walks-the-Earth, whilst Henriette is relying on Fallenstar to see her through to the final.
Game 1
Max won the die roll and began the assault with Vindicator Dindro, with Henriette dropping her own 1-drop in the form of Quigley Slipshade. Max traded the two allies, before dropping the 4 / 3 Scraps. Miner Steelwhiskers was brought in by Henriette to try to halt the carrion bird’s attack, only to be gobbled whole by the pesky bird while Max recruited a “Fungus Face” McGillicutty. Henriette played another protector—Rysa the Earthcaller. With tempo trades already going in Max’s favor, he used a Crippling Shot to reduce the damage metal draenei would deal to Scraps to 0, allowing it to kill her for no damage back.
Fungus Face made the first dent in Fallenstar’s health, only to come face to face with a Sudden Death. Henriette completed Forces of Jaedenar, drawing into Routeen, who was then added to her party. Scraps flew into action against Fallenstar for another 4 damage. On the following turn, when Routeen declared the intent to attack Scraps, Max used Morn’s flip to play Crippling Shot from his graveyard, lowering Routeen’s ATK to 0 and keeping Scraps on the board. Caretaker Devonar rolled out for Henriette, jumping in Scraps’s path as it made headway for Fallenstar again. Magdelaine Prideheart came down Henriette, with Max playing his seventh resource and passing. As Magdelaine finally drew blood from Morn, a Weeble came to tea for Henriette. As she ended her turn though, Max played Blinky, immediately attacking Weeble and sending it to the Graveyard.
A Spirit Polluted found Henriette a Darynus, which joined Magdeline Prideheart immediately. As Magdeline attacked Morn, he exhausted to play Snake Trap from his hand and earn five Snake Tokens. Max blinked Blinky in and out of play as he equipped Morn with a Wrathtide Longbow, shooting Darynus for 3 before sacrificing a Snake to finish the job. A snake hit Magdeline for one, before the two remaining snakes and Blinky ran into Fallenstar for 9 damage. A Smash put paid to the Wrathtide Longbow, dealing 5 damage to Morn as it crumbled in his hands, and a Puncture took out Blinky with Max unable to pay the cost for its remove-from-play safety net. Max reinforced his party with Rogg Dreadnock and Golas Swiftwind, before completing Orders from Lady Vashj to draw two new cards. Magdeline was quick to eat up Rogg as Jav Stonewall and Caretaker Mooncrier reinforced Henriette’s position. With no options and probably aware that his deck had no means to push through the damage, Max scooped to move on to game 2.
Game 2
Both players mulliganed, and Max opened with the same play from game one of a Vindicator Dindro and an Orders from Lady Vashj. Henriette had no response, and the Vindicator dealt an early 2 damage to the Traitor Warrior. A Keeneye came in for Henriette, and Max chose not to use Bloody Welcome. With no further allies to add to his party, Max watched Morn take 3 damage from Llyras Keeneye before Vindicator Trytan joined Henriette’s party.
Max used the Bloody Welcome on Keeneye before sending in the Vindicator to remove his Aldor associate in Henriette’s party so that Bloodblade would stare down a bare opposing board. Henriette responded with Caretaker Devonar, only for the 5 / 3 Druid to meet a Bloody Welcome himself. Bloodblade hit Fallenstar for 5 but was soon Punctured. With three face-up quests, Max added a Roena Trailmaker, who due to her power stood at a slightly impressive 4 / 5. Fallenstar flipped to deal 2 damage to her, before adding a Miner Steelwhiskers to her party to halt the attacks once more. Trailmaker attacked Steelwhiskers, with the Vindicator making an attack on her only to see a flipped Bloody Welcome thrown back at him. Henriette then played a Weeble to add two new cards to her hand. The Trailmaker traded into Parvink’s older sister, and Max reinforced his position with Darynus, who met Henriette’s second Puncture. A Quigley came down for Henriette, and Max laid his seventh resource and passed (foreshadowing more antics to come). Quigley hit Morn for 2 damage as Darynus joined Henriette’s party. Max passed again, despite Henriette only having one ready resource, wary of Sudden Death. When Gabble joined Quigley and Darynus Max sighed, using Snake Trap on Darynus in order to gain some presence on the field before finally playing Blinky from his hand.
Four of the snakes chewed away at Darynus’s heels, while Blinky charged into Fallenstar. Henriette paid one to make Quigley elusive, meaning the two remaining snakes could only attack Fallenstar. Henriette tried to Sudden Death Blinky, forcing the Warp Stalker to teleport out of harm’s way. A new Miner Steelwhiskers came in to halt the attacks on Fallenstar, and as Henriette ended her turn, Blinky returned to the field. With nothing else available to him and no protector off of the top of his deck, Max had to use Blinky to eradicate Steelwhiskers. Quigley finally fell to a Snake token as Blinky phased away for Scraps and Sha’kar to come in for Henriette. Gabble blasted Scraps aside, as Henriette’s third Steelwhiskers shored up her defense. Sha’kar attacked into Steelwhiskers, and Max rowed Wrathtide Longbow to empty his hand and avoid a possible Smash on it that would leave him with only 4 health left. It was a good call, as Gabble got rid of the last Snake token and Jav Stonewall looked to stop any incoming Blinky attacks. After the stalker phased back in, though, and Max completed Orders from Lady Vashj, Henriette folded when she didn’t draw Puncture.
Game 3
Henriette elected to mulligan, while Max felt that his hand, which contained a Snake Trap and, was good enough to keep. No 1-drop from either player meant that Henriette’s Keeneye would be the first ally to join the game. Max’s Golan Swiftmend met with a Sudden Death, with Keeneye forcing 3 damage onto Morn. Max had no response, and as Quigley and Caretaker Mooncrier came down for Henriette, Max wasted no time in Bloody Welcoming Keeneye and completeing Forces of Jaedenar. As Aesadonna Al'mere snuck in for him, Max’s frustration grew as she was Punctured all too quickly for his liking. As the Caretaker and Quigley attacked, Max exhausted Morn to put three Snakes into play in response to the Mooncrier getting a little too close to his hero for comfort. The three snakes dug their fangs into Fallenstar as Bolan Earthmend strode in beside them, but he too was Punctured.
As Quigley and Mooncrier dealt a further 5 damage to Morn, Fallenstar flipped to kill a snake token, leaving Max with two. And then there was one as Max took the opportunity to remove Quigley as Henriette had exhausted all her resources. Darynus saught to apply some pressure for Max, but yet again Weeble came down, posing a further threat and refreshing Henriette’s hand. Max tapped the top of his deck and found Vindicator Bolan! Once he was in play, Max was more than happy to send Darynus crashing into Weeble only for the sacrificial pawn to take the damage. The snake hit Fallenstar for 1, as Caretaker Devonar was Bloody Welcomed off the field via Morn’s flip. Routeen came down but was taken out by the last snake.
Darynus crashed into Mooncrier, a Crippling Shot stopping the prize ally from taking any damage back. Bloodblade came down too, and Henriette’s only response was Gabble. As Darynus and Bloodblade combined on Fallenstar for 11 damage, Darynus inspired himself to traded into Gabble’s attack, and as Blinky came down Henriette knew the game was lost.
Max Siebel wins 2-1 and guarantees his place in the Top 8! |