Tom Guevin vs. Zvi Mowshowitz

In a match pitting one of the great showmen of the pro tour versus a player favorite to win US Nationals, Guevin, who has been working with Your Move Games, was able to win on a roll of the dice.

The match began with Mowshowitz casting Show and Tell on the first turn so he could drop Yawgmoth's Bargain, with Guevin playing a Seismic Assault, forcing Mowshowitz to play a more conservative game. Mowshowitz's second turn saw him build up his mana with a Grim Monolith, going down to 13 life.

The key moment of the game came in Mowshowitz's third turn, when his attempts to join the showman Guevin in his entertaining the gathered group of spectators caused him to make a huge mental error: Bargaining down to six when Guevin had the Assault, 5 cards in hand and an Attunement in play. Guevin activated the Attunement and threw three lands at Mowshowitz, ending the game.

Game 2 started with Mowshowitz playing a first turn Defense Grid, disabling Guevin's counter capabilities. After Guevin had cast a main phase Mystical Tutor for Intuition, Mowshowitz dropped a Scroll Rack. On Guevin's turn, he playeded an Ancient Tomb and Intuitioned for three Arcane laboratories, but after he dropped the lab, he found himself looking at Mowshowitz's tech sideboard card: a Masticore. Afew turns later, Mowshowitz was able to win the game, despite being salled a few turns by Guevin's Seizmic Assault, thanks to Guevin's inability to find a Delusions of Mediocrity with Frantic Search and Attunement.

In what may have been the most entertaining game seen in the feature matches thus far, Mowshowitz was forced to mulligan to five cards before keeping a 4 land, Show and Tell draw. After Mowshowitz's first turn Voltaic Key, Guevin Tutored for a Replenish, which he was able to cast two turns later thanks to Ancient Tomb. Coming into play were Seismic Assault and Yawgmoth's Bargain (Thanks to a Frantic Search), but Mowshowitz was able to Counter by Tutoring fora Lobotomy, taking all of Guevin's Delusions of Mediocrity, leaving Guevin at 11 with a Bargain in play, along with an Intuition and 3 lands in hand.

It was at this point Guevin made the comparison of his predicament to a Texas Hold 'em player going all in before seeing any cards. Essentially, he needed to do 16 points with the Assault, meaning he needed to draw four of his 28 lands in the next 10 cards. After paying five life, Guevin stated that there was no way he could win this turn, played an Island and said go. After Mowshowitz's uneventful turn, Guevin untapped, cast 2 Frantic searches, threw seven lands at Mowshowitz, bringing him to 2 and cast an Intuition for 3 more lands, forcing Mowshowitz, who this writer predicted would go 6-0, to concede.