Hello everyone and welcome to SplitSecond!
My name is Sequeira, and I will be taking
you through today’s match.
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This week’s all about our Monthly Special,
this time featuring only Gods from Theros.
We are joined by a lovely duo of awesome people
from our LGS: Maria João and Tomás Tavares.
For commanders, Tomás is piloting his vision
for a big mana/combo Kruphix, God of Horizons;
Maria João has her hands on self milling
Phenax, God of Deception, David is piloting
Xenagos, God of Revels and Baal brought an
anti-creature control/combo Keranos, God of
Storms.
Baal won the roll this week.
His hand is low on mana, with only a basic
Island and Mountain.
However, he does have Ponder to help him go
a bit deeper, and Dig Through Time for, later
on, finding something juicy.
Cursed totem and Cyclonic Rift are both up
to help him disrupt and interact, whereas
Counterspell, if Baal finds the second blue
mana, can help him better police the table,
or just keep himself protected.
Tomás was pretty unlucky, having to mulligan
down to five cards in hand.
Most of his cards revolve around mana: he
has three lands, Island, Forest and Alchemist’s
Refuge.
Cultivate and Selvala all push his ramp upwards,
although he will need to dig for big mana
payoffs.
He chose to send Flusterstorm and Explore
to the bottom of his library.
Maria João’s hand is pretty solid.
She has two lands - a Watery Grave and a Swamp.
She has a turn one Bloodchief Ascension, which
helps Phenax achieve the kill without requiring
to go the full Mill.
Dimir Signet is ramp, and it could curve her
into a Narset, Parter of Veils.
She also has Mystical Tutor to fetch her anything
she needs, and a Force of Negation to protect
her further down the line.
Finally, David is also on a mana-heavy hand:
Spire Garden, two Forests and a Mana Confluence,
while also packing a pair of dorks in Birds
of Paradise and Elvish Mystic.
However, David has a Worldly Tutor up and
ready, which could very easily push him towards
either a major Xenagos payoff or, if necessary,
some value engine to make sure that mana does
not go to waste.
Time to give this match a spin:
Baal’s setting the tone.
He plays an Island and casts a good ol’
Ponder.
He draws one before passing the turn.
Tomás takes it slower, with a single forest
before skipping to Maria João.
The Phenax player wastes no time playing a
Watery Grave and casting Bloodchief Ascension.
It’s a bit unfortunate that she can’t
push for it to get counters yet, but she’s
confident the rest of the table will start
hurting each other pretty soon.
David plays a Spire Garden.
He then casts Birds of Paradise, being the
first one to ramp, before passing.
On his second turn, Baal puts the Island he
was looking for onto the battlefield.
He then shows David that ramping ain’t everything
as he casts a Cursed Totem, dragging the Xenagos
player down to regular speed.
He passes the turn.
Tomás plays a Flooded Strand and simply passes,
sideglancing the totem.
Maria João shows Baal that creature ramp
ain’t everything either as she plays a Swamp
and casts a Dimir Signet before passing.
David plays a Forest.
Completely unintimidated by the totem, he
plays Elvish Mystic.
Push comes to shove, he can start slapping
people with that Elf.
This time around, Baal’s simmering down
his Izzet boilers.
He plays a single Fiery Islet and moves to
end step, ready to interact.
Tomás uses this opportunity to crack his
fetch for a tapped Breeding Pool.
He then goes ahead and uses his turn to Cultivate.
Everyone is playing fairly slow, so he can
just build without any concerns.
He gets a tapped Island, plus a Forest to
his hand.
Maria João plays Darkwater Catacombs and
moves towards her Narset, Parter of Veils
plan.
Baal doesn’t like this one bit since it
directly interferes with his commander, so
he chooses to counterspell and initiate this
game’s interaction.
David is okay with following that line of
reason as he casts a Worldly Tutor on Maria
João’s end step, and gets himself a Reclamation
Sage.
He draws the sage, plays another Forest and
casts it.
Everyone’s shocked - well, not really - when
he chooses the Cursed Totem over the Signet
or the Ascension.
David uses his freshly unlocked Elvish Mystic
to play Arbor Elf.
A bit of a tribal subtheme.
He passes.
Baal’s playing it slowly.
He gets a Mountain in play and then threatens
the table when he casts Merchant’s Scroll
for a Mana Drain.
Powerplay guys, and one that directly attacks
the other five CMC commanders.
He passes, untapped and ready.
Tomás casts a Basalt Monolith, completely
unafraid.
It resolves, and he follows that with a Selvala.
Tons of mana.
He moves to endstep, and Maria João casts
Mystical Tutor for a Toxic Deluge, not really
looking towards all the ramp everyone is packing.
She misses a land drop so, instead, Maria
João has to Dark Ritual and cast the Deluge
for 3.
This way she keeps mana for a Force of Negation
she is holding.
She passes the turn, still waiting for a way
to charge her ascension.
David is pretty behind now, although the game
is still moving fairly slowly.
He plays a Mountain and passes back to Baal.
Baal plays an Island and skips casting Keranos,
keeping his countermagic up and ready to intimidate.
Tomás plays Alchemist’s Refuge and casts
a Victory Chimes, a card that synergizes oddly
well with Kruphix.
He doesn’t seem keen on fighting against
the Mana Drain, moving to his endstep.
Maria João casts a Lim-Duls Vault, floating
a blue mana.
In response, Baal Digs Through Time, showing
he had more tricks up his sleeve.
He then casts a Flusterstorm, copying it 4
times and countering Lim-Duls Vault.
The fun police hath spoken!
And just like that, Maria João is playing
a single Mana Confluence and also passing.
David does very much the same, dropping a
Forest and letting Baal get to business.
Tomás uses this opportunity to untap his
Basalt Monolith, sad he can’t bank this
mana with Kruphix yet.
Baal starts his turn with his own Narset,
Parter of Veils.
Not looking to lose this spell over nothing,
Tomás casts Brainstorm.
Baal then activates his planeswalker and finds
himself a card he’s been wanting to play
for some games now: Magic Mirror.
He passes, holding the doom of Mana Drain
over everyone else’s heads.
This is really felt during this turn cycle
as everyone does not cast anything.
Tomás plays a Polluted Delta and passes,
Maria João misses a land drop and David gets
a Karplusan Forest in.
So we’re back to Baal, Power Player’s
turn.
He activates Narset and reveals a Pyroblast,
further detracting from the table’s ability
to interact with his board.
He casts Sol Ring and follows it up with Keranos,
and the first God hits the table.
Tomás uses Baal’s end step to crack his
delta for a Tropical Island.
Tomás also decides he’s done being intimidated
by Mana Drain.
He casts Kruphix.
Baal uses the Pyroblast on it, choosing to
keep his other permission spell up.
Tomás decides to cast Mana Crypt and pass.
Billions of mana up!
Maria João finds and casts Drowned Secrets.
That’s a cool interaction with BloodChief
Ascension, but she’ll need Tomás’ Crypt
to slap him a few times.
David’s at the pinnacle of his flood as
he plays the Mana Confluence he’s had since
the beginning of the match.
He is still not willing to cast Xenagos, since
he very likely lacks the payoff to even risk
it.
Instead, he passes.
Baal reveals a Force of Will to Keranos, dealing
3 damage to Maria João since otherwise he’ll
be feeding the Ascension.
More countermagic can only translate into
him appearing even more threatening, so he
passes fully untapped.
Tomás uses this opportunity to untap his
Basalt Monolith.
Tomás takes 3 damage from the Crypt.
He plays Castle Garenbrig and passes, unwilling
to offer his spells to Baal’s countermagic
once more.
On his end step, the Ascension gets its first
counter.
Two more, and people might have to start moving
their butts or get drained.
Maria João does not feel the need to cast
anything as she plays an Island and passes.
David plays a City of Brass.
He timidly plays a Sakura Tribe-Elder, but
Baal’s trigger isn’t that happy.
It resolves, and we’re back to the Izzet
Control player.
Baal reveals an Estrid’s Invocation to Keranos’
trigger, He targets David’s Steve with the
3 damage to protect his poor Narset.
David sac’s it in response to get a Mountain.
Baal casts a Talisman of Creativity.
On his endstep, Tomás takes the plunge as
he uses Alchemist’s Refuge to cast a flashy
Kruphix.
Baal Mana Drains it, not being able to bank
in on that mana until his next turn.
Tomás being the hero everyone needed, though!
His Mana Crypt seems to disagree, as Tomás
gets punched for another 3 damage.
On his end step, another zen stone is added
to Maria João’s Ascension.
In fact, she is so okay with this plus Tomás
being proactive, she once again just passes
her turn.
David is on his turn and what did he find?
That’s right, more mana.
He casts Nature’s Lore for a Taiga, moving
to his end step.
Tomás uses this opportunity to Beast Within
Baal’s Narset.
He considered killing someone else’s stuff
and having the Beast attack the walker, but
there was less risk involved this way.
Keranos triggers on Baal’s draw, revealing
an Island.
He gets an additional draw and then plays
it.
Baal casts the long awaited Magic Mirror,
before moving to combat.
Still lacking a better target, he goes for
Maria João, before passing.
If you were expecting Tomás to take another
three damage and get Maria João’s Ascension
online, you were sadly wrong.
He wins the Crypt Roll this time.
Tomás decides he wants that Force to go as
he taps all his mana to cast Genesis Wave
for a whopping eleven mana.
He succeeds, as Baal hard casts the Force
of Will and stops him on his tracks.
Maria João casts and activates the Divining
Top, clearly looking for something specific.
She passes the turn, still not managing to
impact the table.
On his side, David plays a Destiny Spinner.
He is now able to ignore Baal’s shenanigans,
at least until Keranos does something to the
poor lady.
He casts his commander, uncounterable, and
passes.
Baal’s Mirror gets its first counter, drawing
him a card and triggering Keranos.
He reveals a Wooded Foothills, and David’s
Destiny Spinner relaxes a bit.
Baal gets an extra draw from his commander
and the turn’s card as well.
He plays the Foothills and passes.
Once again, he is threatening to interact
with the table at instant speed, and the other
three aren’t too happy.
Except maybe for David, whose Spinner laughs
in the face of countermagic.
Tomás loses his Crypt roll and decides to
bank on the refuge over casting stuff during
his turn.
Because Maria João is about to get Ascension
online solely at the expense of the Mana Crypt,
Baal cracks his Foothills in response to the
trigger, to avoid losing life.
It should be noted that the Bloodchief Ascension
was not in Portuguese nor English, and Maria
João was using it for the first time.
So, since everyone was playing it by memory,
the lifegain was completely forgotten.
However, we’re getting ready for some really
cool turns, so we decided to show you guys
the video regardless of this mistake.
Maria João uses her turn only to order her
library’s top three with her Divining artifact.
She is ready to milk that Ascension for all
it’s worth.
David starts his turn with a Collector Ouphe.
Baal floats three mana and Maria João swaps
the first card on her library with the top.
David tries to move to his combat step, but
Baal has mana to spend, and he chooses to
cast Cyclonic Rift.
Maria João casts Rewind on it, triggering
the secrets and milling Baal for two.
He also loses 4 to the Ascension.
It should be noted that Baal does Mill Past
in Flames.
Baal tries to respond with a Mystical Tutor,
which also gets countered by Maria João,
who casts Force of Negation while exiling
Propaganda.
Maria João chooses Tomás as her target for
Drowned Secrets, to avoid feeding Baal’s
graveyard.
Before the Rewind untaps Maria Joãos lands,
however, David chooses to cast Shared Summons
for a wonderful duo of Ruric Thar and Managorger
Hydra.
He and Baal both lose 2 additional life as
Shared Summons and the countered Cyclonic
Rift hit their graveyards.
David casts his trusty Hydra, hoping to pump
it with everyone else’s spells.
It’s David’s time to attack.
Xenagos’ trigger emboldens David’s Destiny
girl, who takes a spin at Maria’s life total.
He passes the turn.
Baal’s Mirror draws him two cards this time
around, and he reveals a Force of Negation
which immediately burns through the Destiny
Spinner, triggering the Ascension yet again.
He plays Castle Vantress, and chooses to remain
in control of the match.
Tomás does not try any flashy plays, instead
going to his turn and being punished by his
Mana Crypt.
That’s a really mean one!
He Plays Sylvan Library to try and get some
better stuff to do before passing.
The Hydra gets its first trigger.
Maria João is fine.
Everyone around her is dying, so she just
lets David get to it, not feeding the Hydra
so it remains under Keranos range.
David casts Ruric Thar, triggering his hydra
again.
Surprisingly, it resolves, adding more passive
damage to the table.
He moves to combat and pumps his hydra, attacking
Baal with it.
Baal scries with Vantress to try and find
a way to deal with this creature on his next
turn’s draw.
He puts a beast in front of the Hydra and
takes the trample damage.
The Keranos player draws three from Mirage
Mirror, revealing Imprisoned in the Moon as
his draw and killing off David’s Hydra with
Keranos.
David takes 2.
Then, Baal casts Imprisoned in the Moon on
Ruric Thar, taking the 6 damage for the well
of the community.
He takes 2 to play Steam Vents and plays a
Propaganda to defend himself from this increasingly
violent table.
Tomás is sweating as he rolls for the Crypt,
but the artifact decided to be gentle and
spare him.
He draws one from the Library and casually
casts a Consecrated Sphinx, hoping to start
adding “tons of cards” to his “tons
of mana” boardstate.
Baal has other ideas though, as he Reality
Shifts the poor thing while taking the Ascension
trigger.
The Sphinx gets exiled, and Tomás manifests
the top card of his library, an Ugin, the
spirit dragon which he had intended to draw
and cast next turn thanks to the library.
Maria João casts Mirrormade triggering Drowned
Secrets and milling Baal for 2 triggering
the Ascension dealing 4 damage to him.
Since Keranos is now a creature Baal is afraid
she choses to copy Imprisoned in the Moon,
or even The Magic Mirror so he counters it
with Force of Negation taking another two
from the Ascension.
She then passes the turn.
David is tired of being controlled.
He starts his turn with a Fierce Empath, which
gets him a Woodland Bellower.
He casts him, and gets a Thrashing Brontodon,
which gets sacrificed to release Ruric Thar
from his moon prison.
Both Baal and David take 2.
Moving to combat, David is finally able to
stop being nice, attacking Maria João for
12 with a Xenagos-buffed Ruric Thar, while
Tomás takes 6 from the online god.
Baal’s luck is on his side when he reveals
a Gilded Drake to Keranos’ trigger, while
drawing four from the Mirror.
He deals 3 to Maria João, and then uses the
Drake to steal David’s Xenagos.
Xenagos doubles Keranos’ power and is sent
directly at Maria João, taking her out of
the game.
Baal follows that up with a no-nonsense Blasphemous
act, once again taking 6 from Ruric Thar but
otherwise clearing the table and keeping two
commanders to himself.
He finishes up with a Lion’s Eye Diamond
and on his endstep Tomás untaps his Monolith
seeing as Ouphe has left the building.
He now gets to roll victoriously for the crypt
AND use it to cast stuff.
He draws one from the Library and cracks his
knuckles casting Kinnan and threatening infinite
colorless mana.
In response, Baal scries with Castle Vantress
and sends one to the bottom.
He cracks Fiery Islet to draw a card and lets
Kinnan resolve.
Tomás generates infinite colorless mana,
but does he have the outlet to win?
It doesn’t seem so as Tomás casts an overloaded
Cyclonic Rift.
Baal decides this is not that kind of story,
choosing to Narset’s Reversal the rift.
In response, Tomás activates the Refuge to
try and win on top of the Rift with a Staff
of Domination.
However, Baal is ready as he casts a Fierce
Guardianship and stops Tomás from taking
this match.
Tomás decides to bank his options on Kinnan,
activating him.
He finds a Blightsteel Colossus, which enters
play.
The reversal resolves, and Tomás’ stuff
gets back to where it came from.
The Kruphix player still has infinite colorless
mana floating, so he recasts the basalt monolith,
the not yet Victorious Chimes and then the
mighty Colossus.
He passes to David.
David tries to protect himself a bit by casting
a Prowling Serpopard.
He follows that with a Pathbreaker Ibex, which
he hopes to use for more than just breaking
paths.
He moves to his end step, and Baal goes ahead
and cracks his fetch for a Mystic Sanctuary.
He uses it to get Dig Through Time back to
the top of his library, and REALLY look for
a way to close the match.
Magic Mirror is now drawing Baal 5 cards,
and he reveals Dig Through Time for the Keranos
trigger.
The poor Ibex gets bolted to death.
Baal plays an Island and casts the Dig, finding
himself an Intuition which he also casts.
His pile consists of Underworld Breach, Thassa’s
Oracle and Jace Wielder of Mysteries.
David chooses the most color and cost intensive
one, Jace.
Baal casts Mana crypt to help him cast Thought
Lash, one of the best self-mill options available
on these colors.
He follows it up with Jace.
He activates Jace and responds with Thought
Lash exiling his whole library
No one at the table has a way to interact,
so Baal manages to win the game!
Thank you for joining us for today’s match,
everyone.
Keranos kept himself well stocked and won
through sheer card advantage.
We’d like to start the credits by thanking
our current Patrons, and especially Izanagi,
Stefan, TJ Rapp, Mic Per, Aajimu and Igligl
our stackbreakers.
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See you all then!
