Neil Reeves is a popular figure from the Magic community. He was fresh off of a heartbreaking loss in the final round of the Swiss during the MtG U.S. National Championships that ended his tournament one match win shy of the Top 8. It would have been his second trip to the Top 8 at that tournament in as many years.

Neil took a loss in the first round of this tournament and has been scrapping it out over since. He stood one match win away from the Top 8 of this tournament in the final round of the Swiss portion of the event. In his way stood Bill Hodack. Bill, a Texan—like Neil—has worked with the Vs. Universe team writing some articles and doing data entry. He terms himself a Vs. Universe sidekick.

Neil was playing a Wild Sentinels deck with Longshot that was designed by Vs Universe’s Mike Thicke—Bill actually gave the deck its popular name, ‘Wild Vomit’—while Bill was playing Big Brotherhood. Neil was concerned about making the Top 8 even with a victory. At least one X-1 player would be left on the outside looking in, and Neil’s first round loss makes him the likeliest candidate.

Game one

Bill won the die roll and chose the initiative. He ditched his first four cards and Neil did the same when there was no Longshot in his opening draw. Bill waited for Neil as he slowly peeled up his six cards hoping to see the powerful mutant. “Don’t mind me. I am slow rolling myself.”

Bill had no turn one play, and when Neil put down a Wild Sentinel, his supporters groaned. Neil nodded, “That is the worst thing this deck can do on turn one.”

Neil had another two army guys on the next turn, and Bill made a Toad. Bill went to 44 while Neil dipped to 49. Bill had a Quicksilver for the third turn, while Neil spit out three more Wild Sentinels. When Bill attacked with Quicksilver, Neil provided more than enough Cover Fire to keep his grunt alive. Toad attacked and took down a man. Neil cracked back for what he could.

Neil had a Sentinel Mark IV on the appropriate turn but he really wanted to find a Longshot. Bill had a Blob for his turn and it stood side by side with Quicksilver up front. When Neil attacked with his Mark IV, Bill had the Overload. He put two Wild Sentinels on the attack into Quicksilver and made sure it stuck with Combat Protocols. He set the rest of his weenies to attack Blob and stunned that as well. Bill fell to 37 while Neil was at 42.

Bill found his Avalon Space Station on the next turn and flipped up Lost City on the next one. Neil never found a Longshot and barely even found any Mark IV’s, and without the degenerate part of his deck on the table, he was crushed in short order by the machinery of the Big Brotherhood deck and one more well-aimed Overload.

Neil – 0 Bill – 1

Game two

Neil was much happier with his openers in the second game and beamed as he played Longshot, “Oh dear.” He even hit a Wild Sentinel and a Mark IV at the end of the turn.
Bill recruited a Toad on the next turn and Neil dropped two army men. Longshot missed when he used the ability while being attacked, and Neil cracked back for 4 with his men.

Neil’s third turn saw him play three more Wild Sentinels. He put his two old ones up front while Longshot and the big ones lined up in the back. Bill shook his head, “That’s all you got? Awesome. I pass.” He had nothing, but when Neil team attacked the Toad with 5 points of army, he frowned as Bill flipped up both pieces of the Big Brotherhood combo. Neil frowned and took 1. When Toad cracked back at Longshot, Reeves missed for the second time in a row.

The two Texans each played a 4-drop—Blob for Bill and Mark IV for Neil. Bill tried to take out the Mark IV with a powered-up Toad, but Neil had a power-up of his own to stay out of stun range. Blob tried his hand at the Mark IV next and was repelled by another power-up from Reeves. Bill had bounced Toad, and when Blob stunned, Neil counterattacked with everyone but Longshot—who missed for a third straight time.

Neil had a pretty solid turn five. He used a Reconstruction program to pick up a fleet of Mark IVs and played one and a Wild Sentinel. He then used Underground Sentinel base to plop another into play. He put Longshot, three Mark IVs, and a big Wild Sentinel up front. He pushed the Longshot toward Bill and grinned, “Longshot might rumble this turn.”

Bill’s turn five was less explosive during the recruit step with only a Magneto to show for it, but his Combat Phase was somewhat more forceful. Neil sent a Mark IV into the Blob only to have it Overloaded. He thought for a while about the next attack and decided to send in another Mark IV on the same mission. Bill shrugged, “These cards are good—that’s why I play thirteen of them.” He had another Overload. Neil slumped. He thought and thought about his next play and after whiffing on Longshot for a fourth time sent his last Mark IV to finish off the Blob.

Based on the past two attacks, Neil was confident that Bill did not have a power up for the Blob, but he was wrong and Neil lost his third Mark IV of the turn. The game went on for two more turns but it really ended there when the Blob withstood the brunt of three consecutive Mark IV attacks.

Neil – 0 Bill - 2

Afterwards Bill said about the Sentinels deck:

“It broke my heart not to play that deck, I played the hell out of it for two months, but it just can’t beat this deck.  If it could beat this deck even a little bit, I would have played it.”

His playtesting paid off big time, giving him a lot of insight into the match that determined his place in the Top 8.