Kuroda attempts to kill Kamiel WITH HIS MIND!

asashiro Kuroda and Kamiel Cornelissen are two long-standing pros who are no strangers to events of this caliber. Their Worlds experiences so far have not gone as well as they would have liked, with both of them at 4-2-1 heading into Round 8. Still, the winner of this match would be in good shape going into the final round of the first draft.

Cornelissen won the die roll and chose to play. He thought for a long time about his opening hand but decided to keep. Kuroda, on the other hand, had to mulligan.

(Cornelissen's turns are in white and Kuroda's are in blue.)

Turn #	Attacks	Blocks	Results	KL	CL
5	Two Saprolings	None	Faith's Fetters on Screeching Griffin clears the way.	18	24
5	War-Torch Goblin	None	Kuroda pecks back for one.	18	23
6	Conclave Equenaut	None	And hits for three more in the air.	18	20
7	Conclave Equenaut	None	The Equenaut is removed from the game by Devouring Light.	18	20
8	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	War-Torch Goblin and Sabertooth Alley-Cat	Rally the Righteous from Kuroda causes all three creatures to be sent to the graveyard.	18	20
9	Conclave Equenaut	None	Cornelissen attacks in the air with an Equenaut of his own.	15	20
10	Conclave Equenaut	None	Again.	12	20
11	Conclave Equenaut	None	And again.	9	20
12	Conclave Equenaut	None	Kuroda still can't find an answer.	6	20
12	None	None	Kuroda draws for his turn and scoops his cards, as Kamiel has just played another flier.	*	20

Both players started slowly, with Kuroda's first creature being a third turn War-Torch Goblin and Cornelissen's first being two Saprolings off of a Fists of Ironwood on that same Goblin. With Carven Caryatid, Scatter the Seeds, and Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi, Cornelissen quickly locked up the ground, and the air followed shortly after when Kuroda's Conclave Equenaut ran into Devouring Light.

When Cornelissen mounted his own air force and Kuroda failed to draw green mana for the Pollenbright Wings in his hand, the game ended in just a few short turns.

Game 2

Turn #	Attacks	Blocks	Results	KL	CL
8	Dimir House Guard	None	Fear allows the House Guard to get in for two past a crowded Kuroda board.	18	20
9	Two Ordruun Commandos and two Greater Forgelings	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi on a Forgeling, Carven Caryatid on a Commando, Transluminant and Greater Mossdog on the other Commando	Kuroda targets his Boros Guildmage with Rally the Righteous but is crushed when Cornelissen responds with Putrefy. With his four leftover mana, he pumps the unblocked Forgeling and saves the Commando that was blocked by the Caryatid. A Forgeling, a Commando, and the Mossdog head to the graveyard.	18	14
9	Dimir House Guard and Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	None	Cornelissen attacks back for six.	12	14
10	Dimir House Guard and Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	Nightguard Patrol chumps the Guardian	Faith's Fetters on the remaining Greater Forgeling (now with Galvanic Arc) ensures that Kuroda has no good blocks.	10	18
11	Greater Forgeling (with Pollenbright Wings)	Spirit token chump blocks	Leave No Trace clears the Fetters and Pollenbright Wings (off a Terrarion) convinces Cornelissen to block.	10	18
11	Dimir House Guard, Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi and three Saprolings	Ordruun Commando chumps the Guardian	Cornelissen reinforces with Scatter the Seeds and then forces five damage through.	5	18
12	Greater Forgeling (with Pollenbright Wings)	None	Kuroda pumps and hits for six, creating an army of Saprolings.	5	12
12	Dimir House Guard and Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	Saproling chumps the Guardian	Cornelissen sneaks through for two again.	3	12
13	Conclave Equenaut, Greater Forgeling, and five Saprolings	Four Saprolings are blocked by Saprolings and the Guardian	A timely Devouring Light deals with the Equenaut before it can create more tokens. Six Saprolings trade and Cornelissen takes four from the Equenaut and an unblocked Saproling. After combat the House Guard falls to Fiery Conclusion.	3	8
13	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	Boros Swiftblade steps in front	The Swiftblade dies a grisly death.	3	8
14	Conclave Equenaut	None	Kuroda adds a Screeching Griffin after combat, threatening lethal damage next turn.	3	5
14	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	Sellsword Brute blocks	Sellsword Brute dies and takes Kuroda to a precarious 1.	1	5
15	Screeching Griffin (with ability activated on Goliath Spider)	None	Cornelissen takes the two.	1	3
15	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi and Goliath Spider	N/a	Before combat Cornelissen takes down the Equenaut with Elvish Skysweeper and Kuroda realizes he can't live through the attack.	0	3

This game was truly epic. Both players amassed an army for the first eight turns, until Cornelissen blinked first and attacked with his Dimir House Guard. With Boros Guildmage backing up a team of huge men, Kuroda was confident enough to alpha strike back, but a Putrefy in response to Rally the Righteous wrecked him. With Pollenbright Wings stranded in his hand yet again, he was in a lot of trouble.

The board was full of tiny Kamiels.

Then a timely Terrarion enabled the Wings to get into play and suddenly he had a plethora of Saprolings (represented by Kamiel Cornelissen player cards - at this point there were nine on the board all told, between the two players). When he attacked on the next turn, Cornelissen showed him a devastating topdeck of Devouring Light and managed to stabilize the board, with seven Saprolings dying in combat.

Unfortunately for Cornelissen, he forgot to sacrifice his dying Saprolings to his House Guard, which meant that Kuroda now had an opening to hit it with a Fiery Conclusion sacrificing the final token. Cornelissen chose to let it die rather than eat his Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi, although with Kuroda at 3, it was a difficult choice.

When Kuroda attacked Cornelissen to 5 and added Screeching Griffin to his board along side a Sellsword Brute that was ready to chump block the Guardian (bringing Kuroda to 1), it looked like he'd pulled out a miracle win. However, he was crushed when Cornelissen tapped three on his end step and showed Congregation at Dawn, fetching up Goliath Spider and Elvish Skysweeper. With two guaranteed relevant draw steps, Cornelissen snatched the game back and finished the match.

Final Score
Kamiel Cornelissen 2, Masashiro Kuroda 0