*Live* Coverage of the Team Leeds Prerelease

By Wagz

Hi all and welcome to the live coverage of the Team Leeds Prerelease. We will be giving reports on the Feature match on a game-by-game basis, starting here:

Match 1: Colin Ward vs. Rob Catton

Colin wins the die roll and declares he will "live the dream". A plains each with a kitesail apprentice for Rob. Colin makes a 2nd plains and a cliff threader, while Rob makes the mountain and marsh threader. No 3rd land for colin but a kicked skitter of lizards for rob brings the beats and the life totals are 18-14.

Finally a swamp for Colin, both players landwalkers are turned on. In Rob's attack just the marsh threader comes in but it is killed off and a shatterskull giant takes it's place. 3rd plains for colin and an apex hawks comes down. Rob sends his 4/3 and 2/2 in and the 2/1 sits in front of the lizard, before Rob makes a razor boomerang. Sejiri refuge brings it back to 18-11 but the giant bashes for 4. A kicked apex hawks comes down for colin and rob makes 2 1/1 allies end of turn.

No attacks from Rob but a shepherd of the lost leads to a blood seeker for Colin which gets killed by the boomerang. The angel gets into the roiled when it tries to attack but comes straight back down again. Winning the angel wars, Colin makes admonition angel, a 6/6 monstrosity which has landfall - oblivion ring. a kicked ruinblaster takes out colin's blue mana and rob replays the boomerang. A land exiles the Shepherd of the Lost but Eldrazi Monument makes an epic team on Rob's side of the battlefield. The Ruinblaster got blocked, taking Colin to 1 and the draw step yielded no more blockers

Rob 1 - 0 Colin

Colin will play first again for game 2 and Rob mulls to 6. Sejiri Refuge gives Colin the early lead and his Marsh Threader is the first threat of the game. Rob matches it with Fledgling Griffin. Threader attacks and is joined by Apex Hawks. Griffin beats to 18-18 and a Hellfire Mongrel comes in for Rob. Rob takes 4 and Colin Wind Zendikon's up a plains before making a Perimeter Captain. Landfalled Griffin attacks and is reinforced by Marsh Threader for Rob. Colin makes a Dread Sanctuary and swings in for 4 in the air. Landfall Calrisian flies in again (this guy seems good) and Hada Freeblade stands lone.

Colin flies in for another 4 and Rob makes Stoneforge Mystic, fetching up his Boomerang. Colin makes a plains but is lacking Black mana. Another 4 in the air of course brings it to 15-2 but Rob has the Eldrazi Monument for some big army. Only the Mystic comes in for 2, Rob keeping his blocks back for the moment. Another Plains for Colin but shows his annoyance at the number of Black spells in hand. Except, of course, the Admonition Angel which threatens to wreck Rob's team any time soon.

Umara Raptor for Colin makes it 6 guys to 4 but he is obviously happy to let Rob wreck his own team with the Monument (you have to sac a guy if you have one, it's not optional). Rob EOTs a Stone Idol Trap in an attempt to have a big enough team and sacs the Griffin in his upkeep. Rob has 3 cards in hand, one of which includes the Boomerang. Stone Idol gets in for 7 and Rob makes an Aeronaut and Boomerang. Colin swings in with the team of 6 guys and Rob can't block enough to stay alive.

Rob 1 - 1 Colin

Game 3 sees Colin wishing to live the dream once more. Turn 2 Griffin for Rob is better than Sejiri Refuge and Quicksand. Still no black mana for Colin but it turns off the Marsh Threader. Voyager Drake is Colin's first creature and it's just bigger than anything Rob's made so far. Rob turns a previously laid land into a 4/2 trampler via the Red Zendikon but a Battle Hurda threatens to stop that. Stoneforger Mystic comes down and finds nothing. Colin dances at the sight of a Swamp, makes Wind Zendiplains and swings in for 5, 11-15 in Rob's favour.

Marsh Threader sinks in Quicksand when it tries to Swampwalk over - that's no real Swamp evidently. Kor Aeronaut was removed as a threat to Colin's blockers and a Khalni Gem for Colin resets his Sejiri Refuge before he swung in over the air for another 5. Ruthless Cullblade for Colin enters the battlefield as a 4/2 and Rob makes two allies EOT. Ruinblaster comes down and kills the Refuge and a 1/1 Skitter of Lizards bulks up Rob's team, clearly looking for the Monument again. Colin swings in once more, putting Rob to 2 and Rob scooped it up when he couldn't deal with the flying team.

Colin 2 - 1 Rob Catton

Match 2: Greg Engiert vs. Paul Wray

Paul starts us off with a mulligan but Greg has one of his own. Paul's second hand is keepable but Greg doesn't like his. Kraken Hatchling is Paul's immediate threat (the 1 drops are really good nowadays) but Greg has a Pulse Tracker who ain't afraid of no Kraken. Surrakar Marauder from Greg looks to be a beatstick but with a starting hand of 5 it might not be enough. It is immediately Disfigured anyway and Paul curves nicely into a Windrider Eel, leaving Greg languishing on 2 lands. 1 of them cast the Burst Lightning to kill the flier and an attack from the Tracker makes it 20-17.

Calcite Snapper is the next card on Paul's side, a new Blue card which looks to have constructed playability written all over it. It certainly stops the beats from Greg's guy but he finds his third land to make a Cunning Sparkmage. Adventuring Gear gets equipped by the Kraken Hatchling and a land beefs him up but there is no swing. Sparkmage deals his one EOT and a 4th land makes a Bladetusk Boar for the Pole. Landfall makes the Kraken a beater for 2 and a ping makes it 18-15. Boar swings his 3 and a 4th swamp enters Gregs manabase. Tomb Hex stops the Board before it becomes a problem but the Pulse Tracker has become Kitesailed and swings for 2+1. Dead Reckoning gets back the Eel for Paul and kills the Tracker. Sparkmage takes Paul to 7 while Greg still sits comfortably at 18. Paul replays his Eel, leaving him with 1 card in hand to Greg's 2 but bigger creatures than a 1/1 flying Sparkmage. The Eel picks up the Adventuring Gear and Paul takes 1 EOT. Lacerator comes in for Greg and Disfigure kills the Eel, putting him in a good position with that inevitable Sparkmage. Paul never finds the land to kick his Mosquito and the players move to game 2.

Paul 0 - 1 Greg

Paul plays first but Greg has the first play with a turn 2 Kitesail, a card which is better than I first thought (and I first thought it was an answer to Nighthawk). Greg spends his turn 3 making a Hammer of Ruin, but has no-one to get dressed up for the ball. Paul is making a land a turn but has no plays as yet. 3/2 flier for Greg opposes a 4/2 Swampwalking Tog Batters from Paul but the Jagwasp Swarm picks up the Hammer and threatens the bigger beats. That Sparkmage comes along for another ride. 4 from Batters and a 2/1 Cullblade, which Greg ignores to deal Paul another 1, 16-14 to Greg. Tomb Hex deals with the 5/2 flier but he is replaced by Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, a massive Rare creature with a Ghostly Prison style ability. Toggy B deals his 4. Kazuul gets an Ogre and Burst Lightning deals with Toggy. Nighthawk for Greg and Crypt Ripper for Paul but it gets Punishing Fired. Greg puts all the equipment on his Nighthawk and Paul cannot do much but concede.

Paul 0 - 2 Greg

Match 3: Mick Edwards vs. John Ingham.

After giving your Head Judge abuse about not getting a Kor Duelist each, both players keep their hand. Mick's Adventuring Gear is met with Explore into Black-Red Manland. Teetering Peaks pumps up a 1/1 Skitter to drop Mick by 3 of his life total. The lizard gets in again and is joined by a 0/1 Plant and a 1/4 Vigilance, proving that John's team really can get there. Mick makes a 2/4 Flier, pretty much negating John's entire attack. A once-kicked Wolfbriar Elemental brings a 2/2 friend and it looks like Mick 'the Pro' Edwards is in trouble. Equipped Gear, landfall and Basilisk Collar played + equipped is a 4 point swing with a 4 point life increase. The swing back sees Veteran's reflexes from Mick to untap his 2/4, making it a 3/5 Lifelink Deathtouch to kill the Wolfbriar. Snapping Creeper comes in for John but it doesn't look like it can face the Geared Lightkeeper of Emeria. A second Lightkeeper

comes down while gaining Mick 4 life. John finds a Mold Shambler to off the Basilisk Collar but Mick has the flying beats and the life totals are 27-10. Mick gets a Toggy B but John has a Kicked Oran-Rief Recluse to deal with one Flier. 2/3 and Wolf swing, dropping Mick's buffed life total slightly. The non-dead Angel gets Geared up and beats for 4 with a landfall pump.

Nighthawk joins the squad and Mick's in some good shape. Likes his fiers and lifelink does this pro. Shambler, Vigilanced 2/3 and 2/2 Wolf swing in and Mick pauses for a think. Nighthawk blocks the 2/3 and a Murasa Pyromancer finishes it off after combat. Crypt Ripper for Mick and another land for John and it looks like a bit of a stalemate until Mick can find a land to pump his angel to get past the Recluse. Urge to Feed for John gets rid of Tog Batters and Mick can only summon a Nimana Sell-Sword.

Mold Shambler deals 3sies in an attempt to get Mick's life down but Mick finds a land to pump is angel. The Recluse is pumped by Groundswell, however and we are at a stalemate once more. Mick finds a kicked 2/2 Swampwalker to get over for the last 2 to take the game.

Mick 1 - 0 John

0/1 Token and a tapped green mana land faces off a Basilisk Collar in an unlikely duel. Mick brings the death with a kicked Quahog Vampires but it meets its own death to Tomb Hex. Unkicked Wolfbriar Elemental after a potential hesitant Mold Shambler but he keeps it up, presumably for that Collar. Mick makes his own unkicked Lightkeeper of Emeria but takes 4 for the first real blood. John makes the Mold Shambler, trying to represent a team big enough to get the job done. Mick equips the collar and swings for 2, gaining 2. John's swing back (with the 0/1 inclusive every time) and Veteran's Reflexes is a second surprise factor. Tomb Hex makes the Angel smaller but the deathtouch still deals with the Elemental. Life totals are 16 to Mick and 18 to John. Toggy B from Mick and Oran-Rief Survivalist from John makes for not quite a fair fight. Basilisk Collar leaps onto the Togs and a 4 point unblockable lifelinker does a job. Apex Hawks is made for Mick but it is clearly there for the ride as Togs will surely deal the full amount. Cute Mob are belong to John but he's been stuck on 4 lands for a long time. In the face of Gear on the Togs John scoops it up.

Mick 2 - 0 John

Round 4: Mick Edwards vs Jon Slack

Your reporter missed the first game due to setting up a draft but Mick Edwards is 1 up.

Mick 1 - 0 Jon

Mick makes a turn 2 Hexmage but Jon makes a Giant Scorpion to hold it off. An Adventuring Gear helps the Hexmage get through and a Basilisk Collar comes into play to make combat even more one-sided. The Scorpion tries getting in for a cheeky one but is tricked by the Hexmage's Veteran Reflexes. Jon makes a Ruthless Cullblade to get something on the battlefield and Mick equips the Hexmage and swings, missing on his land drop. 2nd Swamp from Jon allows a kicked Bloodhusk Ritualist to knock a Lightkeeper of Emeria from Mick's hand and after swinging he makes a kicked Quahog Vampire.

Swampwalk is looking very good in the BW on BU matchup. Jon makes a third swamp and passes the turn. Mick attacks with both his guys and Jon blocks the Hexmage with his Ritualist. Jon uses Urge to Feed to pump his team and kill the Swampwalker but First Strike and Deathtouch deals with the Ritualist. Mick finally finds a fourth land to pump his Hexmage. Post-combat an attempted Angel is Canceled. Toggy B comes to Jon's aid but the Lifelink, Deathtouch and First Strike makes for a formidable Warrior in the Vampire Shaman. Dead Reckoning for Mick gets the Angel back onto his library and kills off Togs. Tomb Hex finally spells doom for the Hexmage and Hideous End deals with the Angel, clearing the board and making it 29-6 in Mick's favour. An Apex Hawks picks up the Adventuring Gear and Jon can only draw his card and say go. Jon counters an attempted EOT Join the Ranks but he is close to death. Unkicked Kor Sanctifiers gets played after the Hawks drop Jon to 2 and Wind Zendikon turns and Island into a blocker. It's not enough, however, as Mick overkills with Skyfisher and Hookmaster to take out the blocker.

Mick 2 - 0 Jon

Round 5: Andy Bodle vs Dan Hiscutt
Battle for the Boosters (coverage by Ben Heath)

Dan opens with plains. Andy replies with Swamp and 'terrible card' (he said so), Pulse tracker.
Dan plays mountain, passes turn. Andy attacks with terrible card, plays Cliff Threader, which Dan dismisses with Burst Lightning.
Dan 18 Andy 20
Dan reveals a third colour, Forest found through Misty Rainforest, and plays Apex hawks with no kicker.
Dan 17 Andy 20
Andy plays and equips Adventuring Gear to Pulse tracker and swings.
Dan 13 Andy 20
dan draws, swings with hawks and then plays marsh flats and makes it a chrusher zendikon.
Dan 13 Andy 18
Andy swings with Pulse tracker, dan blocks with zendikon, returning flats to hand
Dan 12 Andy 18
Dan swings with Apex hawks, then magma rifts tracker, sacking a forest.
Dan 12 Andy 16
Andy draws, plays a land and passes
Dan swings with apex hawks and passes
D 12 A 14
Andy draws and plays marsh threader
Dan draws, swings with hawks then searches for plains with marsh flats. he then plays rolling terrains, deealing 1 damage.
D 11 A 11
Andy puts gear on threader and then swings for 4 and then passes
D 7 A 11
dan plays sejiri steppe, naming black for apex hawks. turns out to be a misplay as he then plays zekar shrine expedition. then swings for 2.
D 7 A 9
Andy plays trusty machete, equips onto threader then swings for 6, putting dan on 1
D 1 A 9
Dan plays a land (zSE 1) and then plays his bomb, hellkite charger.after much thought he passes
Andy swings with threader, dan blocks with hawks. Andy plays walking atlas post combat and sticks the machete onto it.
dan swings with hellkite chrager, andy uses hex to give it -2/-2, with dan paying 7 he got to swing again, but that left andy on 3 with a free board to swing at, and it was onto game 2.

Dan 0 Andy 1

Dan on the play in game 2.
Dan bins opening hand, Andy chooses to keep.
Dan plays sejeri steppe, Andy plays swamp then pulse tracker (again)
Dan plays forest through misty rainforest, plays kor skyfisher returning forest
D 19 A 20
Andy plays swamp and passes
dan plays smouldering spires, skyfisher goes through for 2
D 19 A 18
andy hexes skyfisher with landfall (swamp), and swings through with tracker
D 17 A 18
dan plays mountain and passes
andy attacks with tracker, misses landdrop and passes
D 15 A 18
dan plays mountain and burst lightnings tracker and passes
andy plays a plains and then a kor cartographer and finds a plains
dan plays forest and passes
andy swings and then dan responds with stone idol trap. the token is quickly smothered. cliff thresher hits the board on andy's side
D 13 A 18
dan plays a stonework puma and then passes
andy plays lodestone golem and then swings with thresher and cartographer. dan let's them through to take 4, this is deliberate though as he inferno traps the lodestone golem.
D 9 A 18
dan magma rifts threader sacing the mountain, then swings with stonework puma, swinging for 2.
D 9 A 16
andy attacks for 2, then plays apex hawks with 1 kicker.
D 7 A 16
dan makes a forest a guardian zendikon, and then passes.
andy swings through the air for 3 with hawks and then kicks heartstabber mosquito to destroy the zendikon.
D 4 A 16
dan plays kor sanctifiers without kicker.
andy plays dead reckoning, sticking lodestone golem back onto the top of his deck and destroying the sanctifiers.
dan shakes hands and concedes the match

dan 0 andy 2

Match 6: Chris Vincent vs. Valentin Mahrwald

2 of the York players make our final match of the afternoon. A mulligan for Valentin starts things off, but Chris claims he "never mulligans, just keeps bad hands". Hexmage faces off a Goblin Shortcutter and is joined by a Steppe Lynx after taking the first chunk of damage. Molten Ravager looks like the blocker of choice but is offed in combat with the help of Tomb Hex. A second Shortcutter evens up the dude field and the first one swings in for Valentin. The counterattack makes it Chris 14, Valentin 10. An end of turn Aeronaut for Chris is killed off by a 'trapped' Inferno Trap and an untap sees Iona judging the Hexmage ill-fit to stay on the battlefield. Chris has the Steppe Lynx and a 2/2 Ally but without his land drops he is not winning the race against the Shortcutter twins when his Halo Hunter is sent on a Journey to Nowhere. 6 life apiece and 2 small dudes on either side, it looks like he who pulls the trigger will win. A Steppe Lynx suicides to one Shortcutter but the other meets a Hideous End. Kor Hookmaster taps down the ally and Iona judges the Journey to Nowhere, she gets everywhere. The two dudes can't deal Chris enough damage and he can't block the Halo Hunter so Chris takes the game.

Chris 1 - 0 Valentin

Steppe Lynx for Chris starts things off and a Kor Firewalker starts Valentin's offence. Valentin's Goblin Roughrider is Disfigured but is soon joined by a Pillarfield Ox and a second Firewalker. A Hookmaster really puts the boot in and a Fledgling Griffin creates an unassailable army for Valentin. Chris doesn't have what it takes and scoops it up to the exceedingly quick offence.

Chris 1 - 1 Valentin

2nd turn Griffin is the first creature for Chris, which is immediately unable to block due to Shortcutter. A 3rd turn Steppe Lynx for Chris is never as good as a 1st turn one but he has the Disfigure for the potential trader in Goblin Roughrider. A 2/2 Ally helps the weenie team but an opposing Quicksand, Firewalker and Roughrider look to take care of those shenanigans. Valentin's Lightkeeper is sent to Nowhere and a Hexmage beings what looks like a Ground stall until Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs gives Valentin the fatty advantage, seeing off a Steppe Lynx on his first rampage.

Valentin's other Kor Firewalker enters the fray, which isn't the strongest against a BW deck but gets him incremental life off his own Red spells. A 3/2 flier on the other side gives Chris enough blockers but Inferno Trap sees off the Hexmage, leaving a 3/2 flier and a 2/2 which cannot block for Chris. The whole team rocks in and the 3/2 flier trades with the Roughrider. Kortographer takes care of what looks like mana issues for Chris. "Are you tapped out?" asks Valentin before kicking a Bushwhacker and swinging for the win.

Chris 1 - 2 Valentin

Thanks very much to all the players, the full result breakdown is (edit it yourself but the numbers are correct):

Tie 1 Tie 2 Tie 3 Matches
Rank No. Name Points OMW% PGW% OGW% P/W/D/B
1 36 Engiert, Grzegorz 16 64.8148 83.3333 59.2796 6/5/1/0
2 11 Ward, Colin 16 64.8148 66.6667 63.3333 6/5/1/0
3 20 Mahrwald, Valentin 15 55.5556 78.5714 54.5177 6/5/0/0
4 28 Bodle, Andy 15 53.7037 71.4286 54.9471 6/5/0/0
5 19 Day, Joshua 15 47.2222 71.4286 48.2479 6/5/0/0
6 18 Edwards, Nathan 12 67.5926 60.0000 60.2320 6/4/0/0
7 21 vincent, chris 12 59.2593 71.4286 56.2576 6/4/0/0
8 1 Devine, Andrew 12 56.4815 66.6667 56.7262 6/4/0/0
9 24 Edwards, Mick 12 55.5556 71.4286 49.5116 6/4/0/0
10 37 Kitchen, Matthew 12 55.5556 66.6667 54.6825 6/4/0/0
11 29 hiscutt, dan 12 52.7778 57.1429 52.0045 6/4/0/0
12 3 Wilson, Adam 9 63.8889 46.1538 63.2479 6/3/0/0
13 34 Grzesik, Dawid 9 58.3333 50.0000 55.5693 6/3/0/0
14 16 Stevenson, Craig 9 56.4815 53.3333 52.0635 6/3/0/0
15 41 Edwards, Andrew 9 55.5556 50.0000 52.6984 6/3/0/0
16 8 ingham, john a 9 55.5556 46.1538 57.6190 6/3/0/0
17 38 Sloss, Coran 9 55.0000 50.0000 50.4762 5/2/0/1
18 2 Hall, Kenneth Martin 9 44.4444 50.0000 45.9463 6/3/0/0
19 25 Tea, David 9 44.4444 42.8571 46.9658 6/3/0/0
20 27 Smith, Lucas 9 38.8889 40.0000 42.0635 6/3/0/0
21 30 Jaskulowski, Marcin 9 37.5000 60.0000 40.0000 4/3/0/0
22 33 Slack, Jonathan 8 49.0741 46.1538 50.0534 6/2/2/0
23 9 Teasdale, Keir 8 37.9630 46.1538 41.0460 6/2/2/0
24 26 Tulloch, Craig 6 55.5556 42.8571 53.9499 6/2/0/0
25 14 Pemberton, Andrew J 6 55.5556 40.0000 51.4881 6/2/0/0
26 22 Tyson, Steve 6 53.2407 42.8571 49.2735 6/2/0/0
27 5 Whittaker, Danny 6 44.4444 62.5000 43.0556 3/2/0/0
28 40 Reeve, Kathryn 6 43.3333 38.4615 45.1984 5/1/0/1
29 32 Majkowski, Krzysztof 4 54.1667 44.4444 51.0417 4/1/1/0
30 15 Wong, Fu-Sheng 3 66.6667 50.0000 57.7381 3/1/0/0
31 31 Osuchowski, Bartosz 3 66.6667 33.3333 66.6667 2/0/0/1
32 35 Stowinski, Lukasz 3 66.6667 33.3333 63.4921 3/1/0/0
33 42 Hammond, Mark I 3 66.6667 28.5714 68.0556 3/1/0/0
34 17 Wray, Paul 3 58.7963 28.5714 54.2735 6/1/0/0
35 7 Gunnell, Kevin 3 55.5556 33.3333 55.7540 3/1/0/0
36 12 Malone, Paul 3 33.3333 37.5000 38.8889 3/1/0/0
37 23 Coltman, Ben 1 70.3704 37.5000 63.6905 3/0/1/0
38 10 Boniface, Aaron 1 37.5000 14.8148 39.9306 4/0/1/0
39 6 Brocklehurst, John 1 33.3333 29.1667 33.3333 3/0/1/0
40 4 Catton, Rob 0 83.3333 33.3333 63.3333 2/0/0/0
41 39 Leung, Jonathan 0 55.5556 33.3333 50.0000 3/0/0/0
42 13 Taylor, Daniel 0 55.5556 14.2857 49.2063 3/0/0/0