*Live* Coverage of the Team Leeds Rise of the Eldrazi Launch Party

By John Ingham and Rob Wagner

ROUND 1; Steve tyson vs Luke Saffin

Steve tyson wins the roll

Game 1
Luke applies the ancient art of gypsy magic to make his hand good
TURN 1:

• Steve tyson: land


• Luke Saffin: land, goblin arsonist

TURN 2:

• Steve tyson: land, ikiral outrider


• Luke Saffin: land, swing for 1, grotag siege runner

TURN 3:

• Steve tyson: land, go


• Luke Saffin: swing with guys...ikiral blocks grotag, SMITE!, land aura gnarly

TURN 4:

• Steve tyson: land, zof shade


• Luke Saffin: swing both guys, miss vital land drop...hand full of fatties..awkward

TURN 5:

• Steve tyson: land, swing back with both guys, play dread drone


• Luke Saffin: swing for three. land!...make wildheart invoker

TURN 6:

• Steve tyson: 12 life/17 life. swing with drone, wildheart blocks..trade. caravan escort, level up terrible ikiral guy


• Luke Saffin: fail to find land again...pass

TURN 7:

• Steve tyson: land, swing with zof shade, block with arsonist, pump shade. gobbo dies, pinging escort dead


• Luke Saffin: land! woo! make Magmaw, pass

TURN 8:

• Steve tyson: land, (4 swamp, 3 plains if anyone cares) gang block. pump twice. all die. pass


• Luke Saffin: draw, still not lands. play stomper cub, pass

TURN 9:

• Steve tyson: induce despair, revealing skeletal wurm, killenate cub, swing for two


• Luke Saffin: draw-not land. play raid bombardment, pass

TURN 10:

• Steve tyson: swing with vigilance lump. play skeletal wurm


• Luke Saffin: traitorous instinct the wurm, hit, blocked by a spawn, terrible plays!

TURN 11:

• Steve tyson: skeletal wurm #2 and the game is pretty much done


• Luke Saffin: make some bad chump

TURN 12:

• Steve tyson: beats with wurms and ikiral, ...saff's at one..make zof shade..GG!

Game 2
steve mulls to 6
TURN 1:

• Luke Saffin: land


• Steve tyson: land

TURN 2:

• Luke Saffin: land, tuskcaller


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 3:

• Luke Saffin: land, gobbo arsonist, level up the caller n swing


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 4:

• Luke Saffin: level up. level up, make elephant, swing with gobbo


• Steve tyson: land, go

TURN 5:

• Luke Saffin: land, invoker, make elephant


• Steve tyson: land...all swamps...cards in hand, all white!... scoop

Game 3
GYPSY MAGIC!..."worked for G2!"
TURN 1:

• Steve tyson: land, plains! caravan escort


• Luke Saffin: land, go

TURN 2:

• Steve tyson: land, level up. swing for two


• Luke Saffin: land, tuskcaller

TURN 3:

• Steve tyson: level up, land, swing


• Luke Saffin: swing for 1, land, grotag siege runner

TURN 4:

• Steve tyson: land...all white this time!level up escort


• Luke Saffin: swing with grotag, no blocks. level up twice, makes an elephant

TURN 5:

• Steve tyson: sighs! no black sources. make lone missionary, gain 4 life. oust the tuskcaller. give 3 life to Luke


• Luke Saffin: make battle rattle shaman, pump elephant, swing, block and smite

TURN 6:

• Steve tyson: level up, in for 5


• Luke Saffin: make tuskcaller, level up

TURN 7:

• Steve tyson: swing for 5. make linvala! bust your tuskcaller tech


• Luke Saffin: swing for 4. make kozi's predator

TURN 8:

• Steve tyson: in with linvala in the air, make dread drone...woo a swamp!


• Luke Saffin: fail to draw land again..still on 4. traitorous instinct the escort, swing everyone...chumps happen, drone and spawns

TURN 9:

• Steve tyson: in with angel, play zof shade


• Luke Saffin: draw land..."nope that's your game!"

2-1 to Steve Tyson

ROUND 2; Andy Edwards vs Mick Edwards
Andy Edwards: GBw
Mick Edwards: GBr

Andy Edwards wins the roll

Game 1
Andy has a mulligan to start things off, will it hinder him?
TURN 1:

• Andy Edwards: Forest


• Mick Edwards: Swamp

TURN 2:

• Andy Edwards: Swamp and Beastbreaker of Bala Ged


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and a less impressive Prophetic Prism, looking to set up his future mana

TURN 3:

• Andy Edwards: another Swamp and swings in with a level 1 Beastbreaker (Mr Slave obv)


• Mick Edwards: Forest, 2nd Prism and a Joraga Treespeaker

TURN 4:

• Andy Edwards: third Swamp, in for 4 and a Nirkana Cutthroat (20-12 in Andy's favour)


• Mick Edwards: also third Swamp, filters 2 mana through his Treespeaker and makes the deathtouch Daggerback Basilisk

TURN 5:

• Andy Edwards: Plains, levels up the Cutthroat and an attack trades Slave with Basilisk, bringing Mick to 8. A post-combat Treespeaker follows


• Mick Edwards: Bloodrite Invoker and hardcore Pawn of Umalog look to give Mick a better board position but he can't get in for damage

TURN 6:

• Andy Edwards: Treespeaker levels up, uses the mana to make a Mul Daya Channelers and a Dawnglare Invoker empties Andy's hand to set up a win next turn (Vendetta on top of library, must be)


• Mick Edwards: Last Kiss deals with the Invoker just in time and buffs Mick back up to a healthy 10 life (no bloodied mechanic here) before adding his own Invoker, the Wildheart

TURN 7:

• Andy Edwards: Channelers reveals a black Invoker so is a 5/5 this turn. Cutthroat gets leveled up once, no twice to become a monstrosity. It and the Channelers get in for beats and Mick is forced to block. Bloodrite Invoker takes one for the team, being replaced by a Spawn


• Mick Edwards: Overgrown Battlement is Mick's last card and he fails to level up his Trespeaker for free - or is he keeping up Invoker mana?

TURN 8:

• Andy Edwards: Andy draws the Invoker and reveals a Zof Shade so the Channelers are once again huge. It and the Cutthroat attack, pawn blocks Cutthroat, Green Invoker blocks Channelers and Mick tries to +5/+5 the Invoker, which dies to Vendetta. Andy makes the Invoker and passes


• Mick Edwards: Pestilence Demon is a very nice Rip for Mick and turns a Spawn token into 1 damage to everything via a Prism but Mick stays back on defence, being 16-4 to Andy

TURN 9:

• Andy Edwards: draws the Shade and reveals a Wildheart Invoker. Cutthroat attacks in and Battlement becomes a spawn token


• Mick Edwards: Demon gets in for 7, putting Andy to 9 so is threatening to take the game next turn

TURN 10:

• Andy Edwards: Andy draws the Invoker and reveals a swamp. During his draw step Mick activates Pestilence Demon twice to kill Andy's Channelers and Treespeaker - he uses the mana to make the shade bigger but Mick has 2 tokens on defence - the Demon takes the game!

Game 2
TURN 1:

• Andy Edwards: Forest


• Mick Edwards: Forest, neither have the Treespeaker

TURN 2:

• Andy Edwards: Swamp and Mr Slave


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and Propephetic Prism - one of these plays is not like the other

TURN 3:

• Andy Edwards: Plains (nice manabase) and a 4/4 Mr Slave for foursies


• Mick Edwards: Swamp and a Pron of Ulamog for the bad defences

TURN 4:

• Andy Edwards: second Swamp and a bit of a tank. He gets in for 4 and Growth Spasms his way into a second Forest and a spawn token


• Mick Edwards: second Swamp and Ondu Giant brings a sense of skewed symmetry to the match

TURN 5:

• Andy Edwards: third Swamp and Mr Slave turns Ondu Giant into a 0/1. Nirkana Cutthroat joins the army, as does Null Champion, but both are level 0 grunts for the moment


• Mick Edwards: Mick cashes in his token for a Pelakka Wurm, going to 19 again

TURN 6:

• Andy Edwards: Andy counts his 8 mana, which is awkward because he cannot upgrade his creatures 3 times - as he is quick to point out as Mick asks if he has the Crusha. The Cutthroat gets 2 counters, ready for some swingy turns


• Mick Edwards: Treespeaker and a triple level up is all we have for Mick's turn

TURN 7:

• Andy Edwards: third level on Cutthroat and a Bloodrite Invoker are Andy's plays before he swings in with the 5/4 First Strike Deathtoucher - putting Mick back to 14


• Mick Edwards: Mick draws the Pestilence Demon, which must be nice. One activation kills 3 of Andy's guys and he feels like scooping

TURN 8:

• Andy Edwards: draws and once upgrades a Joraga Treespeaker, upgrades the Beastbreaker to level 2 and passes the turn


• Mick Edwards: Forest (land 9), Demon bashes Andy to 12 and a second Ondu Giant ramps Mick even further. Prism allows Mick to Flame Slash Andy's Cutthroat and that draws the Concession. Demon is pretty busted

2-0 to Mick Edwards

ROUND 3; martin sylvester vs mark hammond

Mark wins the roll, chooses second?!

Game 1
7 cards, all terrible
both mull to 6.
TURN 1:

• martin sylvester: land


• mark hammond: land

TURN 2:

• martin sylvester: land, go


• mark hammond: land, knight of cliffhaven

TURN 3:

• martin sylvester: fail to make land, pass


• mark hammond: land, level up, swing

TURN 4:

• martin sylvester: fail to make land again


• mark hammond: land, swing, make kabira vindicator

TURN 5:

• martin sylvester: land, finally, mushroom spider...(sporecap)


• mark hammond: level up vindicator, go to the red zone! make gobbo arsonist

TURN 6:

• martin sylvester: nest invader, it's like a land?


• mark hammond: eldrazi temple, to the red zone! Martin to 12!...make emrakul's hatcher and some spawns

TURN 7:

• martin sylvester: martin ondu giants to find a land


• mark hammond: land, "hmm, you have blockers, I'll stay home(Judge, thinking is not the way!-to the red zone with you!)..makes ulamog's crusher!

TURN 8:

• martin sylvester: make random guy...scoop phase entered. :P


• mark hammond: ...the Win-Zorrrrr!

Game 2
no mulls
TURN 1:

• martin sylvester: land, zulaport enforcer


• mark hammond: land

TURN 2:

• martin sylvester: land, bloodthorne vamp, swing


• mark hammond: land, go

TURN 3:

• martin sylvester: land, in for two, make invoker


• mark hammond: oust!, land

TURN 4:

• martin sylvester: wildbeats invoker


• mark hammond: land-eldrazi temple, hatcher!...using the ramp!

TURN 5:

• martin sylvester: level up zulaport, pass


• mark hammond: land, sac token...ha! the ulamog's crusher happens!...red zone with the hill giant hather!

TURN 6:

• martin sylvester: land...#thinks, makes the hmm noise#...level up the zulaport...


• mark hammond: to the red zone chaps...annihilator two!...post combat, hatcher.

TURN 7:

• martin sylvester: "right" level up enforcer, in for 5. Mark to 10.


• mark hammond: make kabira vindicator. red zone with the crusher and two hatchers...eldrazi squasheth a chump, wild-evoker and a hatcher trade.

TURN 8:

• martin sylvester: in with intimidate enforcer, 5! Mark to 5.


• mark hammond: "need to win now..." make hedron card draw box, break it, draw cards, heat ray teh enforcer...extend hand. GG!

2-0 to mark hammond

ROUND 4; coverage not happening due to beginning a side draft and being lazy :)

ROUND 5; Chris Vincent vs Ashraf Abbas
Deck descriptions:
Chris Vincent: Naya
Ashraf Abbas in his first sanctioned tournament: UB Control

Chris Vincent wins the roll

Game 1
Chris takes a mulligan
TURN 1:

• Chris Vincent: Forest


• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp

TURN 2:

• Chris Vincent: Plains and Nest Invader to start the beats


• Ashraf Abbas: Island and pass without any action

TURN 3:

• Chris Vincent: attacks for 2, makes a mountain and Woolly Thoctar. Oops, I mean Lord of Shatterskull Pass (at the cost of 1/4 of his 2 drop)


• Ashraf Abbas: Island allows Ashraf to Deprive Chris of his Lord

TURN 4:

• Chris Vincent: Plains allows the Lord to be replayed after the Nest Invader attacks Ash to 16


• Ashraf Abbas: Island, Skywatcher Adept begins the board position while Narcolepsy halts the Lord's shenanigans

TURN 5:

• Chris Vincent: another attack for 2 which is blocked by the Skywatcher, a Plains and a Makindi Griffin come down


• Ashraf Abbas: Cadaver Imp explains the block and gets the Adept back into hand and into play after a Swamp comes down

TURN 6:

• Chris Vincent: Chris swings in and has his Nest Invader blocked by the Adept, then makes and levels up a Knight of Cliffhaven


• Ashraf Abbas: Island (land #6) and a Last Kiss on the Nest Invaders gets back 2 of his life

TURN 7:

• Chris Vincent: both 2 power fliers come in and 1 is chumped by the Cadaver Imp. Prophetic Prism draws a card but Chris just levels up his Knight to level 2


• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp and a pass, nothing to do apparently with his 1 card

TURN 8:

• Chris Vincent: 4 flying power come over, putting Ashraf to 10 and a Mr Slave joins Chris' team. After Combat Chris makes his Knight level 3 - nearly Angel time


• Ashraf Abbas: Island and nothing for Ashraf

TURN 9:

• Chris Vincent: Mr Slave becomes 4/4, Knight becomes 4/4, Chris swings in for the win.

Game 2
TURN 1:

• Ashraf Abbas: Island, Skywatcher Adept


• Chris Vincent: Evolving Wilds, which could even be a boat!

TURN 2:

• Ashraf Abbas: Swamp, swing for 1 and a Halimar Wavewatch begins the level-uppy goodness


• Chris Vincent: Wilds was a Forest and it gets joined by Mr Plains to make a Nest Invader

TURN 3:

• Ashraf Abbas: second Swamp allows Ash to play Contaminated Ground on Chris' Plains and the Skywatcher Adept attacks for 1. It gets blocked by the Nest Invaders but Virulent Swipe helps to offset the catastrophic attack


• Chris Vincent: Plains allows him to cast a Kor Line-Slinger

TURN 4:

• Ashraf Abbas: forgets the Virulent Swipe before he draws a card, plays an Island and taps 3 to cast Perish the Thought. 2 Prisms, Mountain, Plains and Beastbreaker of Bala Ged are Chris' hand but Ashraf takes the Mountain


• Chris Vincent: Chris makes his Beastbreaker and a plains before passing the turn - not wanting to pay 2 life to cast a Prism

TURN 5:

• Ashraf Abbas: Consuming Vapors kills Chris' token, gaining Ash 1 life before he has his Wavewatch tapped by the Kor


• Chris Vincent: Beastbreaker gets upgraded and swings for 4, Chris again playing a Plains and not paying 2 for a Prism

TURN 6:

• Ashraf Abbas: Ash rebounds the Vapors, which kills Chris' Kor after tapping the Wavewatch once more. Another Wavewatch comes in and gets levelled up to a 0/6 blocker


• Chris Vincent: Forest, Prophetic Prism, Prophetic Prism are all Chris does with his turn

TURN 7:

• Ashraf Abbas: levels up his first Wavewatch to give 2 0/6 beefy defenders. Sea Gate Oracle cycles a card before Ash ends his turn


• Chris Vincent: White Invoker comes down for Chris and picks up Hyena Umbra - this spells bad things in the long game

TURN 8:

• Ashraf Abbas: See Beyond draws Ash 2 and he levels up his Halimar Wavewatch to level 3 before tapping his Sea Gate Oracle to have it killed by Chris' 3/2 first striker


• Chris Vincent: Beastbreaker makes it to level 3 and Invoker flies over for 3 damage, making it 19-16 in Chris' favour

TURN 9:

• Ashraf Abbas: Corpsehatch takes down the Beastbreaker and the level 3 Wavewatch makes it to 4


• Chris Vincent: Invoker deals another 3, Mountain comes down and Chris plays a Broodwarden without any tokens

TURN 10:

• Ashraf Abbas: the Wavewatch makes it to level 5, and the tokens sacrifice themselves to upgrade the other straight to level 5 allowing Ash to get in with two 6/6 creatures


• Chris Vincent: Chris makes his 8th mana and swings in for 7, putting Ash to 6 but it must be academic by now

TURN 11:

• Ashraf Abbas: Chris pays 2 life to tap all Ash's creatures and Ash has only an Island left so concedes.

2-0 to Chris Vincent

Final Standings (Top 8):

# Name Points OMW%

1 Hammond, Mark I 13 69.3333

2 Sylvester, Martin 12 64.0000

3 Edwards, Mick 12 56.0000

4 vincent, chris 12 54.6667

5 Catton, Rob 10 58.6667

6 Abbas, Ashraf 9 64.0000

7 Devine, Andrew 9 60.0000

8 Edwards, Andrew 9 52.0000

Top 5 Decklists:

1st Place - Mark Hammond

2 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Dreamstone Hedron

2 Caravan Escort

1 Deathless Angel

1 Emerge Unscathed

1 Ikiral Outrider

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

1 Kor Line-Slinger

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Oust

1 Wall of Omens

1 Akoum Boulderfoot

1 Brimstone Mage

2 Emrakul's Hatcher

1 Explosive Revelation

1 Goblin Arsonist

1 Heat Ray

1 Splinter Twin

1 Staggershock

8 Mountain

8 Plains

1 Eldrazi Temple


2nd Place - Martin Sylvester

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

2 Ulamog's Crusher

1 Dreamstone Hedron

1 Bala Ged Scorpion

2 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Bloodthrone Vampire

1 Cadaver Imp

1 Corpsehatch

1 Gloomhunter

1 Induce Despair

1 Nirkana Cutthroat

1 Zulaport Enforcer

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Boar Umbra

1 Daggerback Basilisk

1 Nema Siltlurker

1 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Sporecap Spider

1 Wildheart Invoker

x Lands


3rd Place - Mick Edwards

1 Bloodrite Invoker

1 Cadaver Imp

1 Dread Drone

1 Hellcarver Demon

1 Last Kiss

1 Pawn of Ulamog

1 Pestilence Demon

2 Flame Slash

2 Heat Ray

1 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged

1 Broodwarden

1 Daggerback Basilisk

1 Joraga Treespeaker

2 Ondu Giant

1 Overgrown Battlement

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Vengevine

1 Wildheart Invoker

2 Prophetic Prism

8 Forest

8 Swamp

1 Mountain


4th Place - Chris Vincent

1 Dawnglare Invoker

1 Guard Duty

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Kabira Vindicator

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

1 Kore Line-Slinger

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Mammoth Umbra

1 Puncturing Light

2 Soulbound Guardians

1 Flame Slash

1 Lord of Shatterskull Pass

1 Magmaw

1 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged

1 Broodwarden

1 Gigantomancer

2 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Ogre's Cleaver

2 Prophetic Prism

1 Evolving Wilds

2 Mountain

7 Plains

7 Forest


5th Place - Rob Catton

1 Makindi Griffin

1 Mammoth Umbra

1 Smite

2 Brimstone Mage

1 Flame Slash

1 Forked Bolt

1 Rapacious One

1 Spawning Breath

1 Staggershock

1 Wrap in Flames

1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Bramblesnap

1 Gelatinous Genesis

1 Joraga Treespeaker

1 Nest Invader

1 Ondu Giant

1 Snake Umbra

1 Sporecap Spider

1 Stomper Cub

1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Warmonger's Chariot

x Lands