Quarterfinals: Dandy Sy vs. Jose Marie Sabale

New Bloods are put against each other in the quaterfinals. Pride of the northern coast Dandy Sy heads in the quarterfinals against the pride of the southern coast Jose Marie Sabale. Both are no strangers to the Nationals but never entered the Top 8 before.

It is no surprise for each of them that their opponent is using B/G TarmoRack, a hybrid B/G discarder control. They present their decks to the presiding judge Mr. Thons Galano and to each other.

Let the games begin!

 

Game 1

Dandy wins the die roll. He decides to play first.

Dandy plays a swamp then drops The Rack.

“Wala nang hiya-hiya! (No more hesitations!)” Sy exclaims. Sabale does the same thing on his turn.

Dandy plays a Llanowar Wastes and got 1 point of damage to produce a green mana and drops an early 0/1 Tarmogoyf. JM answered by playing Smallpox. Bye-bye Tarmogoyf.

Life track: Dandy - 18, JM - 19

Sy drops an Overgrown Tomb after the Smallpox disaster. Sabale on the other hand plays an Augur of Skulls, hoping that he could sacrifice it on his next upkeep to lead the game by having more cards in hand. Unfortunately, Dandy plays Cry of Contrition against JM. The sorcery resolved, haunts the Augur. But the insult doesn’t stop yet as Sy eliminates the Augur by playing Funeral Charm, kills the haunted Augur and makes Sabale discard two cards on that turn.

Sabale then plays a 4/5 Tarmogoyf to take advantage of the game. Sy answers by summoning an Elephant token courtesy of Call of the Herd. But both players are suffering point-by-point damage through each other’s The Rack. JM plays a Cry of Contrition, haunting his own Tarmogoyf and swings the Lhurgoyf and Dandy takes the damage. Dandy, on his turn, attacks his token and JM also takes the damage. Afterwards, JM decides to pass his turn.

Life track: Dandy - 9, JM - 10

Still both players suffers every pinch of The Rack, especially Sy. With no cards in hand, he takes 3 damage. Dandy decides to attack with his two creatures. Sabale’s Tarmogoyf blocks the token and takes the four damage from Tarmogoyf. After the combat, Sy drops an Augur or Skulls.

Life track: Dandy - 6, JM - 6

On his turn, JM receives one damage from The Rack. With one creature untapped on each payer’s table, he’s starting to draw a plan. How would he able to end the game by attacking his 4/5 Lhurgoyf, unblocked by Sy’s Augur? Sabale answers by playing Funeral Charm and give his Tarmgoyf +2/-1 and swampwalk. Then the monster swings and ends the game.

Sy - 0
Sabale - 1


 

Game 2

Dandy decides to draw first. Such an unusual call but in his point of view, it could be effective in a mirror match. He’s able to make JM mulligan down to 6 cards in hand. His tactic seems to work...

JM plays an early Rack. Dandy drops a tapped Overgrown Tomb. JM plays an Augur of Skulls. Dandy answers with a Dark Confidant. JM, on his upkeep, sacrifices the Augur to make Dandy discard two cards. He also plays Smallpox to eliminate Dandy’s Confidant. Afterwards, JM drops his Confidant. And so does Dandy.

Life track: Dandy - 19, JM - 18

Both players take so much card advantages but suffers point loss due to the Confidant. Sy finally reveals a Tarmogoyf and is able to drop the 5/6 abomination. On the other hand, JM can’t do anything against Dandy’s creatures but to destroy Sy’s Golgari Rot Farm with Rain of Tears. Dandy then plays Cry of Contrition and haunts his Confidant then attacks all of his creatures.

Life track: Dandy - 12, JM - 3

JM is helpless at this point, so he scoops.

Sy – 1
Sabale - 1

Game 3

Sabale gives the liberty of playing first to Sy.

Both players plays Dark Confidant but got swathed by an opposing Funeral Charm. Sabale drops his second Confidant and surprisingly survives the turn. Dandy has two Treetop Villages in play and a Swamp. He plays a Tarmogoyf and haunts it with his Cry of Contrition. Still, Sabale’s Confidant lives.

On JM’s turn, he reveals a Treetop Village. Then he plays an Augur of Skulls. Then Smallpox. JM sacrifices his fresh Augur and a swamp and discards another swamp. Dandy on the other hand, sacrifices his haunted Lhurgoyf and a Treetop Village and discards a Call of the Herd.

Dandy plays Dark Confidant and passes the turn. JM reveals a Seal of Primodium, losing 2 life. He attacks his Confidant and Dandy blocks it with Confidant too. Both creatures plunge to their respective graveyards. JM drops his third Dark Confidant and passes the turn.

Sy pays 2 life to play an Overgrown Tomb untapped and drops a Tarmogoyf. He then plays Cry of Contrition targetting Sabale. JM discards and left himself hellbent. JM passes his turn without any action.
Just before Dandy enters his precombat main phase, JM plays Funeral Charm and forces Dandy to discard a card. Sy responds by playing Funeral Charm, killing Sabale’s Confidant. JM Putrefies Dandy’s Tarmogoyf. He then passes the turn.

JM animates his Treetop Village and attacks. Dandy takes the damage. JM plays The Rack and passes to turn. Dandy, no actions but taking damages from The Rack each of his turns. The game is in ends with a Smallpox from Sabale.

Sy – 1
Sabale - 2

Game 4

Dandy decides to draw first.

Both players drop their own Overgrown Tomb. Then JM plays a Tarmogoyf. Dandy plays Augur of Skulls. JM then plays Cry of Contrition and haunts Dandy’s Augur then swaths with Sabale’s Funeral Charm. JM’s Goyf is pumped up to 4/5. He then attacks his Tarmogoyf. Dandy takes the damage.

Life track: Dandy - 16, JM - 20

Dandy answers with his own 4/5 Tarmogoyf. But it got Putrefied. JM attacks his monster again. Dandy drops the second Tarmogoyf. JM plays also his second Goyf and festers the game with Smallpox leaving Dandy defenseless. The older Tarmogoyf attacks once again. Dandy Putrefies the Tarmogoyf on his turn. Both has no creatures in their boards.

Life track: Dandy - 7, JM - 19

JM plays Cry of Contrition. Dandy plays Dark Confidant then The Rack. JM has no cards in hand. JM takes damages from The Rack. He then plays a third Tarmogoyf then passes the turn. Dandy revealed a Dark Confidant, losing 2 life. then plays a Treetop Village.

Life track: Dandy - 5, JM - 14

Dandy is still alive in the game. He reveals a Swamp courtesy of the Dark Confidant. He then passes the turn. Sabale suffers 3 more damage courtesy of The Rack. JM attacks his 5/6 Tarmogoyf but got blocked by his Dark Confidant. JM then plays a Seal of Primodium and destroys The Rack. The Lhurgoyf has turned into a 6/7 whopper!

Dandy plays another Rack and another Dark Confidant, then done. JM attacks his Goyf but got blocked by a Treetop Village, then Sabale passes his turn. Dandy reveals a land and plays Cry of Contrition and haunts his Dark Confidant. JM takes 3 more damage from The Rack, 2 more from a revealed Augur of Skulls. He’s one more Goyf attack from winning and Sy’s out of cards. He is slowly revealling his next card draw and boom! Funeral Charm. He swiftly targets Dandy’s haunted Confidant, clearing Sy’s board and his Tarmogoyf attacks.

Sy – 1

Sabale - 3

Jose Marie Sabale wins the game to advance in the semifinals!