by Mike Rosenberg

Kyle McGinty, 2011 NACC Top 8 competitor and one of the two players representing the Alliance in the Top 16, is playing the much hyped Snobo-Cop deck, which uses Crime Scene Alarm-o-Bot and Winter Veil Disguise Kit to buy time until it can drop Sinestra for one explosive turn. Seth Miner of Portland, Oregon is playing Horde Hunter today. With both decks packing some serious power, it’s anyone’s match.

Kyle won the die roll and chose to start things off. Kyle elected to mulligan his hand, and Seth also chose to send his hand back. Kyle kicked off the match with a Crime Scene Alarm-o-Bot, while Seth's Sava'gin the Reckless Stash went to Kyle's hero. Kyle had a turn two Winter Veil Disguise kit, and Seth's second Sava'gin Stash put two damage onto the Sentry ally. Seth added Lordann the Bloodreaver to his board, while Kyle just had an Etched Dragonbone Girdle on his third turn.

Boomer from Seth gave him a tricky way to combat the Alarm-o-Bot. When Lordann declared an attack, before the Protector point but after the Alarm-o-Bot's trigger resolved, Seth used his newly played Boomer to exhaust the Alarm-o-Bot, letting his Blood Elf ally get in for some damage. Kyle added another Alarm-o-Bot to his board, while Seth finished off the damaged bot with Boomer. Seth dropped a Protector-proof threat into play in the form of Edwin VanCleef.

Kyle used his hero's flip to take out Boomer, but Warchief's Revenge from Seth's resource row let him blow up the remaining Alarm-o-Bot, as his allies pushed Kyle to 11 damage.

Kyle thought long and hard before finally playing Sinestra. He opted not to do anything with the ally, passing with his Girdle and Winter Veil Disguise Kit active. Seth sent in Edwin, pushing Kyle to 16. The Thugs got in there for a point of damage, as Kyle used his Girdle to prevent a point of damage. Seth then dropped Mazu'kon into play, putting Kyle to 23 damage.

Kyle readied up, and led off with Bottled Light. It brought back a Crime Scene Alarm-o-Bot, adding some defense to his table. He popped Bottled Light to Sinestra to make some Dragonkin tokens, which put Seth to 2 damage. He then used his Girdle to draw two cards, losing a Dragonkin, before destroying his Girdle to Sinestra. Two more Dragonkin appeared, and put 2 damage onto Lordann the Bloodreaver. Kyle played and used a new Etched Dragonbone Girdle, destroying his remaining Dragonkin token, then popped the Girdle for two more tokens. One finished off Lordann, and Bronze Drake gave the remaining token some extra ATK to put onto Edwin. Bronze Drake was eaten by Sinestra to make two more tokens. One finished off Edwin, and the other took out a Thug token. He Stashed Magni, the Mountain King, and finally ended an eventful turn.

Seth calmly readied up, dropped Al'Akir the Windlord and exhausted the Alarm-o-Bot after its trigger resolved from a Mazu'kon attack to make sure the Horde ally dealt the last 6 damage.

Kyle – 0, Seth – 1

Kyle chose to mulligan for his second game, while Seth decided to keep his hand of Concussive Barrage, early control, the VanCleef duo, and Mazu'kon. Kyle led off with a Bronze Warden, while Seth had no action. Kyle then added Twilight Citadel and Burly Berta to his board, showing that his deck could attack from multiple angles.

Seth drew and passed. Kyle attacked with Burly Berta, but Seth answered with Noxious Trap and a hero flip. Kyle dropped Faithseer Jasmina and passed to Seth, who Stashed Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen before passing with three open for Jaron, Herald of the Hunt. Kyle played Etched Dragonbone Girdle on turn 4 (giving his Faithseer a counter), and then attacked the Tauren token with Bronze Warden.  A Girdle activation turned the Warden in for two cards. Kyle then Stashed a Magni and passed with two open. At the end of Kyle's turn, Seth dropped Jaron, Herald of the Hunt. When Seth attacked into Faithseer, Kyle attempted to Blessing of Faith, but Seth responded with Concussive Barrage to take out the Worgen ally. Seth played another Jaron, Herald of the Hunt and passed.

Kyle drew two cards with Twilight Citadel/Girdle. He then played Ruby Stalker and Winter Veil Disguise Kit. Seth's attacks put Kyle to 7 damage, and Edwin VanCleef gave him another legitimate threat against the potential Disguise Kit/Alarm-o-Bot combo.

"Grand Crusader would be a pretty strong play this turn!" Seth said, as Kyle mulled over his options. In truth, Seth had a Vanessa VanCleef in hand and would not mind seeing a pumped Ruby Stalker take out Edwin. Bottled Light brought back Bronze Warden, healing Kyle for 3. He passed back to Seth, who immediately attacked with Edwin. One Jaron attack prompted Kyle to protect with his Warden, then draw two cards with his Girdle. Remaining attacks put Kyle to 11, and Mazu'kon pushed Kyle to 17.

Kyle readied up, and went into the tank. "Sinestra must be so difficult to play in this deck, with the amount of math you have to do," Seth said. Kyle pulled off a sheet of his score pad. "Seriously," he responded, as he started to do the calculations on whether he could end the game. Time passed, and Kyle was still crunching numbers. Enough time passed that the table judge prompted Kyle to make an action. So he did. He played Sinestra.

A Stashed Magni, the Mountain King and Bronze Warden followed up the Sinestra. Kyle popped his Bottled Light for two tokens, which put Seth to 2. Bronze Warden became two more tokens, putting Seth to 4. Disguise Kit became two tokens. Seth went to 6. Ruby Stalker attacked. 7. Stalker became two tokens. 9. Girdle activated for some card draw, then became more tokens. 11. Shalug'doom, the Axe of Unmaking came down, destroying 10 Dragonkin tokens and the Dwarf token. 22. Sinestra attacked. 26. Shalug'doom became two Dragonkin tokens. Game.

Wow. What a turn.

Kyle – 1, Seth – 1

Seth opted to go first, and he kept his hand. Kyle looked at his hand and once again took a mulligan. Seth started with Seeds of Their Demise, while Kyle had Twilight Citadel and Crime Scene Alarm-o-Bot. Seth dropped Boomer and started putting damage on the Sentry. Kyle added Burly Berta to his field. Seth sent Boomer into the Alarm-o-Bot to finish it off, and then he boomed Kyle's hero. He passed with three open for Jaron, Herald of the Hunt.

Kyle played Grand Crusader after Stashing Magni, the Mountain King, but lost Berta to Seth's Jaron. Seth readied up and used "Fungus Face" McGillicutty and Shadowfang Keep to take care of the Grand Crusader. Boomer took out the weakened Dwarf token, and attacked to put Kyle to 7. Bottled Light from Kyle brought back Burly Berta, and Kyle passed with one open. Boomer and Jaron swung in to Kyle's hero, putting him to 13. Boomer then exhausted Burly Berta, and Vanessa VanCleef came down to finish the ally off.

Kyle drew, saw no outs, and offered the handshake.

Seth Miner defeats Kyle McGinty, 2-1!