Hour of Devastation Game Day

Hour of Devastation Game Day

by Jeremy Hughes


Hour of Devastation proved to be another exciting Game Day. With many of our competitive players far away in another country attending Grand Prix Minneapolis, 17 local players took to the FFPLTC this past Saturday with the hopes of becoming the next Game Day Champion.

The field was made up of a wide array of decks. Choices included Turbo Fog, Aggro, Mill, and even 4-Colour Hapatra decks focused on generating as many -1/-1 counters as possible.

Cookies

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Building a Champion

The morning started with cookies, and players scrambling to make last-minute changes to their decks. The sugar-high proved useful, as one player was able to convert an extreme-budget Golgari Energy deck into something resembling a Top 8 worthy pile of cards.

The PL2 would like to acknowledge the helpful nature of many of our players that are willing to share cards, especially Clinton!

Deckbuilding

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Quarterfinals

Black and green played a major role in this Game Day's Top 8, with more than half the field heavily featuring those colours.

The quarterfinals were paired:

  • Golgari Energy vs. Budget Golgari Energy
  • Mill vs. 4-Colour Hapatra
  • Temur Control vs. 4-Colour Hapatra
  • Desert Ramp vs. Mono-black Zombies

Quarterfinals

Golgari Energy Mirror

Budget Golgari Energy squeaked into the Top 8 in 8th place, facing another Golgari Energy deck that dominated the field all day, finishing in 1st place after 5 rounds of swiss play.

This match was over quickly, with one BG deck out-drawing the other in games two and three, after suffering a loss from a rare and unanswerable 20-to-the-face Walking Ballista in game one. In a spectacular upset, number 8 took out number 1 in the quarterfinals.

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Semifinals

The semifinals were paired:

  • Budget Golgari Energy vs. 4-Colour Hapatra
  • Temur Control vs. Desert Ramp

The first semifinal between Golgari Energy and 4-Colour Hapatra went to three games. Game two saw Longtusk Cubs oscilating between double +1/+1 counters and double -1/-1 counters, as Winding Constrictors made this matchup quite abnormal.

Game Three

A timely Hazardous Condition in from the sideboard cleared away a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and several snake tokens. Golgari was then able to finish game three in just two swings with some counter-loaded Winding Constrictors. Yay Rishkar, Peema Renegade!

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Finals

The finals were paired:

  • Budget Golgari Energy vs. Temur Control

Finals

Game One

The first game of the finals was dominated by a timely Torrential Gearhulk resulting in an un-recoverable 4-for-1 advantage.

Game Two

After a mulligan from the Temur Control player and an opening 2 Mountain draw, game two featured constant Golgari pressure, with snake after snake hitting the board... and the opponent. Two Magma Sprays traded for a single Winding Constrictor on turn 2, and it was just downhill from there, as control was unable to recover the card advantage needed to win.

Game Three

Our finals required three games to determine a Game Day champion, as all good finals do.

Finals Pre-wipe

This game again saw a mulligan from the control side combined with early pressure from the Golgari deck. Multiple threats hit the board each turn.

Finals Post-wipe

Chandra, Flamecaller managed to wipe the board clean, but a calm and collected Golgari player immediately recovered with another Winding Constrictor followed by a Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. Multiple Glimmer of Genius were unable to dig fast enough, and a lone Glint-Sleeve Siphoner crossed the red-zone for victory!

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The secret ingredient? Winning!

Game Day Champion

Congratulations Maggie on your amazing Game Day victory! The whole FFPLTC is very proud of you!


Hour of Devastation Game Day took place at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre as part of the Public Library Players League on August 5th, 2017.

17 Players participated, playing 5 rounds of Swiss, followed by a cut to single-elimination Top 8.

Official Wizards of the Coast prize support was provided by The GameShelf in Thunder Bay.

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Deck Lists - Top 8

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