This was it. After five rounds of Swiss and two single-elimination matches, only two players remained in the running for the fame and the glory and the grand prize of 600 Euros in MKM credit.

Santiago Ballestero had brought Green-White Tokens, long considered to be one of the best decks of the format. Carlos Victor Vásquez, meanwhile, had put his trust in the green and black Cryptolith Rite/Collected Company concoction which had done well at the Pro Tour but had fallen out of favor almost immediately afterward.

Game 1

Vásquez had a strong opening in Blisterpod, Duskwatch Recruiter, Catacomb Sifter, Catacomb Sifter, and Loam Dryad. Ballestero could barely keep up with Hangarback Walker, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, and Sylvan Advocate.

Carlos Victor Vásquez

Carlos Victor Vásquez

All changed, however, when Ballestero cast Tragic Arrogance. This left Vásquez with a Blisterpod and Ballestero with an active Nissa and a Sylvan Advocate. Vásquez never recovered.

Ballestero's deck, on the other hand, was firing on all cylinders now: Archangel Avacyn / Avacyn, the Purifier was summoned, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar's third ability was activated, Dromoka's Command had a Plant token enter a losing battle to transform Avacyn for yet another board wipe …

Santiago Ballestero 1-0 Carlos Victor Vásquez

Game 2

Vásquez again had the better start into the game with Zulaport Cutthroat, Catacomb Sifter, and Collected Company for second copies of each of the previously mentioned. And again, Ballesteri was barely hanging on by a thread of Plant tokens off of Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.

Santiago Ballestero

Santiago Ballestero

But once again, he was just waiting for his fifth land, this time to cast Planar Outburst. Before, so as to not lose too much life to the two Zulaport Cutthroats in the process, he pointed Stasis Snare at one of them.

However, for some reason, Ballestero waited until Vásquez's turn to do so, which allowed Vásquez to reply with another Collected Company. The Company gave Vásquez another Catacomb Sifter and another irrelevant creature; if it had given Vásquez a third Zulaport Cutthroat and a Nantuko Husk instead, Ballestero might have already been dead at that point. So let's file this under “high risk, no reward” or, more charitably, under “no harm, no foul.”

Anyway. Ballestero cast Planar Outburst and cleared the board, including three Catacomb Sifters and four other creatures on Vásquez's side. Since all Sifters died at the same time, Vásquez should have been able to scry twice for each of them, for a total of eighteen instances of scry 1. For weird reasons, or no reasons at all, both players calculated fifteen and only learned about their mistake later.

Anyway. Vásquez went to scry, searching for a third Collected Company to rebuild his army. Fifteen cards went to the bottom of his library with no Company to be found. He was never able to recover and the second game ended like the first: with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar's ultimate, with Archangel Avacyn / Avacyn, the Purifier and Tragic Arrogance, et cetera.

Santiago Ballestero 2-0 Carlos Victor Vásquez

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Congratulations to Santiago Ballestero, champion of the Standard main event of the MKM Series Madrid 2016!