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Feature Match: Quarterfinal
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Quarterfinal: Thomas Refsdal vs. Andre Müller -- by Tobias Henke
The name Refsdal rings a bell from a time long, long ago. But actually it's his older brother Gunnar who won a Grand Prix back in the last century and finished in the Top 8 of another, as well as in the Top 8 of Pro Tour London in 2000. One more example of family relations at work, as his brother can of course be seen on the sidelines routing for him. While he's never actually been in the spotlight like his brother, Thomas Refsdal is by no means a slouch either. He's been playing Pro Tours since PT Paris in 1997, each season qualifying for one or two (a total of 14), with a couple of Top 32's along the way.
Andre Müller might as well be one of the best known players of all time in Germany. Being a long-time crowd-favorite, he actually backed up the public's confidence in his capability by Top-8-ing Pro Tour Philadelphia and spending the best part of the last two years as Level 3 professional. Now he's back trying to rack up enough points.
Stockholm is his second GP Top8.
The two players both drafted green-based decks, so it will be a battle of big monsters to be watched. Andre is pairing it with the black cards, while Thomas' deck is of the red variety.
Thomas wins the die-roll and chooses to play first. His opening hand, though, consists of two Mountains, a Stingscourger, and a bunch of unplayable green cards, so he ships it back. He's fine with his next six, as is Andre with his seven, although it might be a little heavy on the dark side, with no source of green Mana.
The first play is Ashcoat Bear from Thomas, but he can only frown when not drawing a third land. Well, obviously he can attack as well.
Next up is a Deepcavern Imp from Andre, which returns the favor of hitting for two. Thomas misses out on the land-drop again, while Andre pays the upkeep cost of his Imp by playing Gorgon Recluse at discount rate.
While he still has no land, Thomas at least can drop an Utopia Vow on the 2/4, keeping up the bear beatdown. This gives Andre his first source of green mana, but he will need two if his Sporoloth Ancient should ever see play. Instead he simply lays his fifth Swamp, attacks, and passes the turn back to Thomas, who finally gets his third land, adding a Nessian Courser to the board, which is – in a world full of 2/2s – quite dominating.
Faceless Butcher takes care of that problem, and a Prodigal Pyromancer falls victim to Midnight Charm. Meanwhile the Imp brings Thomas to 10 life, while the Butcher holds the ground against Ashcoat Bear. To increase pressure Andre drops a second Deepcavern Imp, which gets Thomas on dangerously low life, with no answer to any flyer to be seen, let alone two.
The next upkeep shows that Andre's deck is indeed well equipped to pay for his Imps, as he smoothly discards Grave Scrabbler right into play. Sitting on two life, Thomas takes a quick glance at his next draw, then scoops up his cards.
Andre Müller 1 – 0 Thomas Refsdal
Neither player sideboards, although Thomas thumps thoroughly through his pile.
Thomas elects to play first once again, and this time he's not forced into a mulligan. Neither is Andre, so they're off to game 2.
Which does look remarkably like the first one, with Ashcoat Bear on Thomas' second turn, followed by Deepcavern Imp on Andre's third. But while Andre has no good follow-up to discard into his Imp, Thomas drops land number three along with a Nantuko Shaman, which forces Andre to trade his Imp with the 3/2, rather than attacking.
Thomas adds Stingscourger to his side of the board and even sneaks a tricky Pendelhaven into play alongside the endless 1/1-supply that is Mogg War Marshal. This offense gets Andre down to 9, but then suddenly comes to a halt when Andre drops first one and then a second Sporolth Ancient, getting his own – and much more impressive – token-production online.
Instead of attacking Thomas now changes his mind and takes his shot at... well, shooting damage directly to Andre's head. First in line is Riddle of Lightning, simultaneously bringing his opponent down to 6 and revealing Prodigal Pyromancer. Another Nantuko Shaman – this time suspended – digs deeper into his library.
But in the end he misses out on a good chance to draw one of about five cards left in his deck, that might be capable of dealing the last few points. Andre's superior fatties grow even larger with a Gaea's Anthem and do the final damage just in time to avoid a fiery death.
Andre Müller 2 – 0 Thomas Refsdal
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Weitere Artikel/Berichte von Tobias Henke
| #1 |
GO WOTC GO WOTC |
von renappel am 06.05.2007 • 21:21 |
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es ist echt beeindruckend welche inkompetenz wotc online in jeder hinsicht an den tag legt,... was hält so lange auf? ham die angst vor nem neuen nipplegate dass die erst alles filtern wollen? und nipplegate interessiert doch hier sowieso keine sau...
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| #2 |
Tja, |
von Zar von Bar am 06.05.2007 • 23:35 |
es ist echt klasse, wie die WOTC "Live" Coverage wirklich _jedes_Mal_ unter aller Sau ist.
Aber dafür ist die Coverage vom Planeten sehr gut, Lob auch von mir an dieser Stelle.
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