PlanetMTG

Quarterfinal Manuel Bucher vs. Mido Kagawa
by Tobias Henke
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Manuel is the reigning Swiss national champion, as well as having a Grand Prix-trophy from back in 2004 on his resume. Today he's looking to get another one. Sitting across from him is Mido Kagawa, a 19 year old player, that looks like just another one of those Japanese top Pros, travelling the world nowadays to play Magic and earn a living on the way. Actually, he's not, but simply living in Italy. He might even qualify as "local"—the crowd certainly is highly in his favor.

The match-up is the much dreaded Teachings-mirror. We're certainly in for three long games withthe lack of time limit in the Top 8.

Manuel wins the die roll and elects to go first. His first draw of seven though is not quite good enough, but he looks quite happy with the following six. The first turns go by in the usual blur of mana sources being played, extra cards drawn and—in one case—two Academy Ruins leaving the game at once.

The first real threat is Manuel's Aeon Chronicler which hits once and then falls victim to a Damnation. Manuel follows it up with Triskelavus, and it seems as if Mido has got some problems dealing with that. He spends his turn casting Careful Consideration, while some token and the mothership get him down to eleven. In response to a second Damnation, the Triskelavite are sacrificed, putting Kagawa on eight life.

Now, Manuel plays Haunting Hymn, which Mido tries to counter with Delay. Manuel has got a Pact of Negation for the Delay, but then Mido's Venser, Shaper Savant sticks and returns the big discard spell to Manuel's hand... from where it is in turn discarded together with three more cards, when Mido plays his own Haunting Hymn.

Both players are relatively low on cards, but have an Urza's Factory each to keep them busy. And soon Mido gets his Mystical Teachings-engine rolling—just in time to Delay a Triskelavus Manuel gets off his second Academy Ruins.

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Aeon Chronicler join Mido's side of the board, while two Shadowmage Infiltrator turn up on Manuel's. The Chronicler starts hitting and soon gets Manuel down to nine life, only one point ahead of Mido. The Finkels start hitting, and the extra cards include Manuel's second Triskelavus, which gets countered by a Cancel.

At end of turn Mido plays Triskelavus himself (thanks to Teferi's mysterious flashdance-powers), not only turning the tide... but the match... into a win. Attacking with Teferi, Chronicler and Triskelavus gets seven damge through (one Assembly-Worker blocking on Manuel's side), and flying Mogg Fanatics do the rest.

Both players' sideboarding includes removing the Damnations from their decks, as well as some other creature removal. Instead they add the wild assortment of Pull from Eternity, Detritivore, Ancient Grudge and in Manuel's case Imp's Mischief.

In the second game both players keep their opening seven, and play Prismatic Lens on turn two. Manuel misses his fourth land drop, but gets Finkel onto the board. Instead of his fourth land, he even gets a second Shadowmage into play, which would leave him vulnerable to Damnation, if the black Wrath of God had not been safely tugged away into Mido's sideboard.

The Finkels keep attacking, bringing Mido down to thirteen, but still leaving their owner struggling with mana problems. A Teferi gets played, and then slaughtered (by the appropriately named Pact) without too much relevance. Another attack gets Mido to eleven, and another Teferi is played. Manuel is happy to play a Pact of Negation which he would have had to discard anyway. (Drawing three cards every turn does that to people.)

In the following turn Aeon Chronicler increases Mido's offense, and a third Shadowmage Infiltrator joins Manuel's team. Teferi hits the bin, but a second Aeon Chronicler looms threateningly. Pull from Eternity takes care of that, and still another Finkel gets played, but this time to chump-block the big, bad Aeon Chronicler. Life totals now are 6 to 7 in Manuel's favor.

While Mido's Aeon Chronicler dies to a timely Void, the 1/3 beat-sticks go all the way... 20 damage purely dealt by Shadowmage Infiltrator beatdown—a rare sight!

Mido chooses to start game 3 and keeps. Manuel has to mulligan once again... once. But his draws and land drops spell trouble for the Swiss. As his Coalition Relic gets Ancient Grudged he suddenly finds himself without a single source of blue mana!

He finally rips an island off the top and tries for a Shadowmage Infiltrator, which gets countered. Next turn Mido's Urza's Factory gets online, while Manuel is still sitting on five lands and no artifact mana source.

Manuel starts catching up on lands, but among those there's still no Factory. By now there are two Assembly-Workers, and Manuel's life-total is getting below the double digit mark. A Teferi is tutored up with Mystical Teachings to stop the bleeding, but Mido in turn uses his own Teachings to get Cancel.

Although token beatdown puts Manuel at two life he's not done in yet. Void on zero and a transmuted Tolaria West getting his own Factory seem to even out the board position, but being on two life Manuel won't be able to make one more mistake.

He's literally with his back against the wall, and now the trap catches: Manuel plays Mystical Teachings searching for Ancient Grudge. With that he can get rid of two Assembly-Workers for the bargain price of seven mana total (as opposed to producing his own Factory-tokens). Well, at least that's what he thinks. A Delay is cast and suddenly the Flashback-spell is stuck in the removed-from-game-zone. That's not quite what the young Swiss had in mind and to the chorus of the applauding Italian crowd he can do naothing but to extent his hand.

Mido Kagawa wins 2-1 and advances to the semifinals, where he'll face Masami Kaneko.