Magic The Gathering - Malaysia

Sean M La Faber must be happy to see his friend Nico Surinidran has through to the semifinals, but he must be at least slightly disappointed that they're not facing each other in the finals.

Sean is playing a very aggressive and burn heavy Jund deck while Nico has managed to power through his quarterfinals with timely Scourglass plays, generating heavy card advantage over the game and overwhelming his opponents towards the end of the game after his opponents have exhausted most of their resources.

PTQ Kyoto @ Manawerx November 9 2008 - Quarterfinals
Nico Surinidran vs Sean M La Faber

Game 1

Sean takes a mulligan and decided to keep his next 6 while Nico is happy with his opening 7. Sean won the dice roll and chose to play.


Sean M La Faber

Sean passes his 3rd turn without playing a land while Nico cracks his panorama, playing a Etherium Sculptor the following turn and playing a Savage Lands. Sean misses his next land drop as well, while Nico adds a Filigree Sages to his board. Sean misses another land drop, plays a Dregscape Zombie, and the Sages attacks in for more damage while a Resounding Wave from Nico bounces away Sean's land and Sean is forced to discard a card on his cleanup phase. Fleshbag Marauder from Nico takes away Sean's Zombie as Nico sacrifices his Sculptor as Sean finally finds his land, plays it and played a Blister Beetle to kill off the 3/1 Marauder. All Nico did was to add a Courier's Capsule to his board. Meanwhile a Blood Cultist comes in for Sean, and he attacks with his Beetle into Nico for his first blood while Nico's Sages continues the offence for Nico taking Sean down to 11 while he adds an Esper Battlemage which is met a Magma Spray immediately. A Vithian Stinger joins Sean's board Nico drew 2 cards from his capsule after which Sean adds a Scavenger Drake.

As things heats up in Sean's favor, Nico found and played his Scourglass in another perfect moment as Sean finally shakes off his shaky start and started to build up a huge board position.



Having not much of a choice, Sean attacks with all his creatures who are about to be destroyed, taking Nico down to 13. A Resounding Thunder met a Swerve from Nico who redirects to Sean sending him down to 1 with attacks from his Sages again, and when a Knight Captain of Eos showed up after an Agony Wrap from Nico, Sean concedes.

Nico 1 - Sean 0

Game 2

Sean took another mulligan again a Nico took a mulligan as well.

Sean starts off with a Dregscape Zombie on turn 2 while Nico plays a Courier's Capsule on his. A Goblin Assault threatens to make it a very fast game for Sean but Nico has an Oblivion Ring manages to shut it down before Sean could get anything out of it but Nico takes two from the zombie. Sean puts pressure on Nico with a Vithian Stinger while his 2/1 Zombie attacks Nico for another 2, taking him down to 16, while all Nico does is to crack his Capsule for more cards.



A Windwright Mage shows up for Nico hoping to stabilize but a Vithian Stinger pings it for one damage while Sean kills it off with a Blister Beetle and all this while, Sean's Zombie keeps chipping off Nico's life totals. A Skeletonize from Sean kills off the newly cast Knight of the White Orchid, but and once again, Nico has and plays his Scourglass in his darkest moment but it was a turn too late as Sean has a Resounding Thunder to finish Nico off after attacking with his whole board.

Nico 1 – Sean 1

Game 3


Nico Surinidran

Both players are happy with their opening hands and Nico start off the action with a Deft Duelist for Nico as Sean has nothing for turn 2, and the 2/1 First Striker with Shroud takes Sean down to 18 as a Metallurgeon meets an early demise by Sean's Branching Bolt, preventing any regenerating nonsense. A Vectis Silences joins Nico's board as the Duelist takes Sean down to 16. Sean plays a Vithian Stinger after which Nico attacked Sean for 3, taking him down to 13 with his Silencers and Duelist after which a Knight of the White Orchid comes in for Nico while Sean simply passes his turn. Sean tries to Skeletonize the Knight while Nico attacks Sean but Nico has a Hindering Light to save it. The attack from Nico's army of 3, takes Sean down another 5 to 8, and Nico plays a Executioner's Capsule to remove any potential non-black blockers from Sean's defense, but all Sean has is an Obelisk. Nico's creatures are joined by a Knight Caption of Eos as Nico tries to seal the game up.



The board however gets cleared by Violent Ultimatum, taking out all of the creatures besides the 2/1 Duelist with shroud and the soldier tokens. Sean draws and calls out for Infest, one that would deal with the Duelist and the tokens, but didn't and extended his hand, giving way to Nico to advance into the finals.

Nico 2 – Sean 1

Nico Surinidran advances to the finals beating Sean M La Faber 2 - 1!