Dominaria: Round of 32 & Sweet Sixteen
Series Preview
Ground rules for this tournament.
Round of 64 results here.
With one small exception (Sparring Construct vs. Llanowar Envoy), the elegance of the Dominaria design is really coming through in this tournament so far. A lot of powerful creatures, but a welcome absence of needlessly complicated board states.
As expected, the self-pumpers and the triple-pip creatures all made it past the last round, While a number of mid-costing legends are still hanging around, it remains to be seen whether they can match up with their seemingly more efficient counterparts.
Note: Hover over the names to see card images.
Round of 32
(33)
By virtue of its same cost and trading stats as Yargle, Arvad can stall this one out indefinitely. At some point, he’ll have accumulated enough life that he can just go for the kill with a super-pumped army – but it’s a win either way.
(2)
The hyper-efficient Angel is out – and it’s not particularly close. After taking 13 before the first Lyra comes down, she is met next turn with an even larger trio of 7/7 Fungi. Even that lifegain of 5 isn’t enough to stop her from just dying on the spot there.
(3)
At some point, the generic 2/1 Wizard had to meet an real opponent; and here, it finally did.
(29)
Kind of similar to Baird’s confrontation with Thrull Abomination, but kind of different as well.
The big Kavu costs one less mana than the Thrull, so it can assemble a bigger army as Baird stalls things out. But at the same time, it also lacks Deathtouch, so Baird can simply triple block and trade one-for-one. Since the Kavu can only attack with one a turn thanks to the tax, it means they’re essentially walled off for the duration of the game.
The Baird stall just keeps winning (by default).
(5)
The little 1/1 Menace just keeps piling on the fast, convincing victories. It’s really emerging as a serious contender, though the low seed hurts a lot.
(6)
Aryel comes down too late and its creature-killing ability is too ineffective to hold off the exponential Marwyn assault.
(7)
It doesn’t matter how much extra mana Radha generates, if their attackers are just going to get killed by the 4/4 (and larger) Naru Meha blockers.
(8)
Finally a match-up between two fast-growing creatures. And it’s not close, as the cheaper Rats throw down its typical 3 damage on Turn 3, 5 damage on Turn 5 (assuming a Marshal trade), and 12 damage on Turn 6…before the Marshal can get anything going.
(9)
Traxos absolutely dominates Tatyova. By the second Traxos attack, Tatyova is forced to double-block for the 2-for-1 trade – and it’s all downhill from there.
All that lifegain and all those extra cards don’t make a difference when there are multiple cheap 7/6s barreling at you every turn.
(10)
Steel Leaf’s lower CMC allows it to push the 20 damage through before the Verix twins come in.
(22)
Total annihalation.
(21)
Jodah stems the early Lavarunner assault and hangs on with 3 life left.
(20)
Danitha owns the undermatched Elf and takes it easily.
(14)
Shanna’s ability is critical here. Instead of tapping down every Shanna that gets played, the Trickster has to settle for watching with a bunch of 2/2s as the army of Warriors gets bigger and bigger (in both quantity and quality), until she completely overwhelms them.
(15)
This time, the rush of seven owls on Turn 7 isn’t enough. Johu Vess’s Menace forces two triple-blocks after they come down, decimating the bird army and leading to their defeat soon after.
(17)
After squeezing by on lucky matchups to this point, Ghitu Chronicler gets its clocks cleaned by Chainwhirler.
Sweet Sixteen
(17)
Chainwhirler deals 12 damage (three attacks, three chain-shots) by the time Arvad comes down; forcing a chump block to the first strike – with no lifegain – the turn after. As such, Arvad never gets to its critical 5/5 size and falls.
(15)
By the time Johu Vess comes in and can block, it can only chump a pair of 5/5 attacking Fungi. Another easy victory for the Thallid.
(3)
Another fast-growing creature takes down a midrange Legend. Again, Shalai’s first blocking opportunity is on a pair of 4/4 Shanna’s. A strike with four 6/6 Shanna’s the next turn finishes things off.
(20)
Finally, Baird is the lower seed; so they can’t grind this one out. They actually have to…gasp, attack, in order to win.
Unfortunately for them, Danitha is able to turn the tables and lock them out here. Any attempted attack is going to be met by a series of first striking double-blocks, killing a whole bunch of Bairds. At the same time, all that lifegain is going to offset any of the Bairds that do get through. And as such, Baird is stuck in an impossible position.
(21)
Once again, the 1/1 Menace rushes in for the kill before its four-mana Legend opponent can really establish anything. The 92nd-seed is into the Elite Eight!
(6)
This was a battle of two real heavyweights, so let’s go through all the permutations here.
In short, Marwyn’s board presence is increasing faster than the Djinn’s; both because it can cast two Elves a turn to pump up their board (while the Djinn can only play one Island), and because it can cast two creatures a turn sooner than the Djinn (with the help of the mana ability). So Tempest Djinn needs to go on the offensive and deal just enough damage to win before Marwyn inevitably takes over.
The quickest way for the Djinn to do that, while maximizing blockers for Marwyn, is by attacking for 4 on Turn 4 (with one attacker), 5 on Turn 5 (only one of two max attackers), and 12 on Turn 6 (two attackers).
Problem is, if they play that way, Marwyn can go aggressive as well, play that 5th land drop on Turn 5, and throw down three Elves in total that turn to swing in with an unkillable 5/5 and 6/6. That’s more than enough to clean up before the Djinn can do its Turn 6 attack.
What if Djinn goes for the 5×2 attack on Turn 5 and 6×2 attack on Turn 6? Won’t work. Still too much damage.
Or what about going for a double-block for the Turn 5 attack, and aiming for 6×1 attack on Turn 6, and a 7×2 attack on Turn 7? Won’t work either. Marwyn can just respond conservatively by skipping their 5th land drop and overwhelming them by Turn 6.
Whatever the Djinn tries to do, Marwyn is just a little more explosive than it is.
(7)
Naru Meha is just a tad too slow here, as it is forced to trade with the Champion just before it’s built up a defense with the critical 6 toughness. From there, the cheaper Elves just roll through her.
(8)
Finally, the come into play tapped effect costs Traxos; as it gives the Rat Colony three free attacks – which it takes advantage of by dealing its trademark 34 damage.
Onto the Elite Eight…