Two blue decks met in this part of the semi final bracket. They were planning to use different paths to victory though, one relying on Monastery Mentor and one on Gifts Ungiven.

Eduardo Castro was on his way to the finals in our Vintage main event!

Eduardo Castro was on his way to the finals in our Vintage main event!

Game one:

Before we could get the ball rolling, Antoni had to shuffle up once more to find a decent starting hand. Eduardo went first with a Ponder, and also played a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy / Jace, Telepath Unbound before Antoni successfully created a Time Vault. Preordain and a Jace activation improved Eduardo's hand without flipping Jace yet, before he used Black Lotus to cast Monastery Mentor, but Force of Will took care of that problem. Antoni threatened to take all further turns in this game with Voltaic Key, and had a Flusterstorm for Eduardo's Mental Misstep.

A counter war ensued in the first game of the semifinals!

A counter war ensued in the first game of the semifinals!

Luckily Eduardo had a second Mental Misstep though. Maybe Antoni should have taken the risk to allow the Mentor and used his Force of Will to win this counter battle instead?

 

Jace flashed back Preordain, resulting in a flurry of other spells: Time Walk, Preordain, and Treasure Cruise all resolved, putting Eduardo far ahead now. Time Walk was flashed back soon, and a new Jace, Vryn's Prodigy / Jace, Telepath Unbound was played, which Antoni tried to counter with Mana Drain, but Eduardo still had a Force of Will for that.

Jace looted and flipped, Eduardo played Gush, then flashed back Treasure Cruise, before passing the turn with seven cards in hand and Library of Alexandria in play. Antoni tricked him out of drawing an extra card with Library though, by skipping his turn by untapping Time Vault. While that was a sweet move in general, Monastery Mentor and two Monks were created in the resulting extra turn by Eduardo. Antoni's Gifts Ungiven was countered via Force of Will, so he tapped his Time Vault hoping for a topdeck in his extra turn. A Sensei's Diving Top was waiting for him on top of the deck.
It resolved, but didn't deliver something useful either, so the Mentor and his students got the job done for Eduardo.

Eduardo took the lead 1-0

Game two:

Antoni Sánchez Saumell now had to win 2 games in a row!

Antoni Sánchez Saumell now had to win 2 games in a row!

The second game started with Antoni resolving a Black Lotus, but he passed the turn without playing a land after that. Eduardo played Ponder, finding his own Black Lotus. Sniffing a chance to keep Antoni from getting into the game at all, Eduardo sacrificed his Lotus to cast Wear // Tear on Eduardo's Black Lotus, but that was denied via Mindbreak Trap.

A second Wear // Tear was countered with Mana Drain, which cost Antoni the Lotus anyway, but at least allowed him to play a Sol Ring.
Inconveniently, Dack Fayden came down to steal the Sol Ring for Eduard, which kept Antoni locked out of the game, even when he finally drew a land. A combination of Gush, Monastery Mentor, Time Walk, and Preordain took him out of his misery fast though.

This marked the end of the match!

This marked the end of the match!

Eduardo won the game and the match 2-0, advancing to the Final!