The first round of the second sealed section of $10K NY was the first glimmer of who we will likely see in the Top 24 at the end of the day. With a cut to a Top 24 draft, many more players will be playing on Day 2 than normal, meaning that all of the top tables become exciting to watch.
KIM CATON vs DIRK HEIN
Kim Caton was playing one of the stronger German players, Dirk Hein, and gave him a major headache with her three-team build. He was playing Green Lantern with Emerald Enemies and had a fan club of two watching the match, speaking rapidly in German, plus my German counterpart, who was reporting on the match as well. By the late turns, there was a
Kilowog vs
Kilowog battle goin' on (Poozers beware!). I watched as
Katma Tui was exhausted with
Rain of Acorns to exhaust Hein's
Kilowog, then next turn Caton recruited a
Black Hand and
St'nlli, with all of her teams teamed-up, allowing her to move her
Black Hand into the hidden area—alongside a
Dr. Ub'X! She got him in a lock and won to take her record to 6-0.
Caton later told me she had made three massive errors, “When I originally played Ub'X, I brought him into the visible area with
Thunderous Onslaught, thinking he was teamed up with Anti-Matter, but he wasn't, and he got stunned. I also forgot to gain life through
Katma Tui several times with characters who weren't being used. And then, I could have simply KO'd a resource to save my 7-drop through
Myrwhydden, and I almost lost the game because of it. Still, I'd rather make mistakes and not have them cost me the game, than lose because of them.”
TIM BATOW vs TILLMAN BRAGG
Another undefeated match, this time between Batow's hybrid deck and Bragg's Emerald Enemies/Green Lantern deck. It featured
more Kilowog on
Kilowog action (the poozers are everywhere!), this time in a turn 8 showdown.
Batow had six characters on the field:
Arisia,
Fiero,
Myrwhydden,
Nero,
Superwoman, and
Kilowog to Bragg's
Kilowog,
Abin Sur, and
Myrwhydden. The game ended with an attack by Bragg on
Nero, where Batow KO'd
Arisiaand
Myrwhydden for burn, burned for 3 with
Fiero, then KO'd
her for additional burn, all before allowing
Nero to be stunned.
That gave Tim the win and a 6-0 record. “(Bragg) had a huge early advantage on me, but then, on turn 6, he had to send his 6-drop Sinestro into my
Kilowog, which stunned his Sinestro. I played a
Chopping Block on him, and that was the major turnaround for me.”
MARK SLACK vs JACOB RABINOWITZ
Rabinowitz was playing a Green Lantern/Emerald Enemies deck against Slack's three-team hybrid Anti-Matter/Emerald Enemies/Green Lantern deck.
The decisive moment came when Slack stomped Rabinowitz's
Ultraman with his Azrael ◊ Batman and Rabinowitz was forced to concede with -2 endurance and no board.
Rabinowitz had a face-down
Millennium that he should have used earlier, and a team-up may have helped his endurance total. Slack, now at 5-1, forgot he had a
Coast City face down that he could have used on
Myrwhydden. Slack mentioned that, “Rabinowitz played willpower guys, which hurt, because
Myrwhydden doesn't fly. I did have
The Shark,
Olapet, and
G'Nort on turn 3, and he missed his 2-drop, sent a 3 ATK/5 DEF into
Olapet, and
G'Nort into my
G'Nort to regain control. But I used
Lanterns in Love on my
Olapet—
very early for a Lanterns—to save
Olapet and not lose a drop.”
OTHER MATCHES
Peter Sundholm hit 5-1 against Imsham Poolar, thanks to an Ub'X lock and Imsham unfortunately getting a horrible draw. “My deck has KO effects, ATK pumps, and two team-ups—and it's all Emerald Enemies and Green Lantern. Not as crazy as the last one, but it's solid!”
PC: Amsterdam champion Adam Horvath beat $10K Detroit champion Loren Nolen to remain undefeated.
Charlotte Ashley, from Toronto, who just started playing a few months ago and has only played in $10K Detroit and the PC before this, told me she's “terrible in Constructed—I'm not really a Constructed player. I'm really good at Sealed, though—I'm all over Sealed!” No kidding! The former L5R player has been decimating opponents and looks like an easy qualification for Day 2.