Saturday, July 16, 2011

Wait, what?

Round 3 and my opponent is one of the few guys I enjoy playing against locally. I played Game 1 with extremely tight play against an unknown and this rewarded me with a hard fought win. Game 2 was the exact same except it was his tight play that rewarded him with the victory.

Let's set the board for Game 3. My opponent is tapped out after just going nuts with a Goblin Bushwhacker and some Warren Instigators. A lonely Goblin Chieftain holds down the fort representing lethal upon passing back the turn (why didn't he attack with it?). It's what Goblins! do. He also has a Dark Tutelage in play. Wait what? I was never really able to get a really good peg on his decklist, but I seen such things like Ember Hauler (3 alone in the first game), Hero of Oxid Ridge, Goblin Wardriver, Goblin Guide (a couple of these evil little guys in Game 2), and of course Lightning Bolt. The Tutelage must have been his tech to combat any opponent that might stall the game and grind him out.

I have him @ 9 life and he says 'Go.' while proudly spotlighting his Chieftain with a dramatic turntable scratching motion. My board is 5 or 6 lands and two Viscera Seers and a single Kalastria Highborn who has really done some heavy lifting this game. At the end of his turn I decide to sacrifice a single Seer to dig for something that can help finish the game for me (I did not feel I could attack into his 2/2 and manage to deal lethal even with him gifting me with a Seer block). He drops to 7 life and I go up to 4 with Kalastria's trigger. Or maybe I blocked one of his Instigators and sacrificed then, but the point is I knew I needed some help and I was trying to play to my outs. What outs did I have? Gatekeeper of Malakir couldn't force him to sacrifice his lonely blocker. Bloodghast would have haste and could help me crack in for at least 3 while presenting another sac outlet...

I told you I was on the ropes. Scry 1 reveals... Lightning Bolt.

At this point I had a deep, deep feeling in my loins that was the exact card I needed to pull this victory out. Or perhaps it was gas. I immediately put it back down on top of my library. Untapped, drew, sent a Lightning bolt straight to his face, and proceeded to deal lethal by sacrificing the Viscera Seer and Kalastria Highborn to deal the required 4 lose of life to lock up the game. We shook hands and proceeded to scoop up our cards when someone who'd been watching our game emphatically declared...

"You can't do that."

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