Spike Weaver delayed the game once again until his crew had lots of extra Spikes to sneak past the Illusions, even though Illusions of Grandeur temporarily made it difficult to make the kill. Game two showed us a different side to Spikes...harsh beatdown, with not a Weaver in sight.
Things looked sweet for the Clerics in the early stages of the games because of their fast creatures, but once the Licids built up mana and blockers, they slowly passed by the damage-prevention specialists. Ironically, in game two, a Dominating Licid took control of the potentially deadly Soltary Visionary to its damage.
Elvish Bard's lure ability enabled the Elves to swarm past the surprising Druids for sixteen points of damage to win game one. Skyshroud Elite started the early beatdown when the Druids used a Tropical Island to cast a Wood Sage. It was all Elves from there.
Shadow was the key. Dauthi Mercenary snuck under the Walls and did lots of damage before Rolling Stones could ever hit the table. Game two was more of the same, only Snow Fortress' pinging ability stopped some of the the shadow.
In game one, the Muscle Slivers pumped up their buddies and just smoked the Bears; however, the fast Grizzlies mauled the Slivers down to one life in the second game. A heart Sliver opened the way for one massive final attack...without summoning sickness...to seal a Sliver victory.
Game one started favorably for the Ogres when the Ogre Arsonist (Portal) destroyed a Griffin Canyon upon entering play. Ogre Shaman managed to kill a few Griffins with its Stormbind-like ability, but, in the end, it was all Zuberi, Golden Feather and his pumped-up flyers that glided to victory.
The Dauthi Horrors came out strong and it looked like the shadow Beasts would go all the way, but the Elephants top-decked Elephant Grass to win. The second game saw Mawcor flying over for most of the damage and, in the final game, it was two Stompies (Rogue Elephants) vs. Dauthi Horrors, but backed by Elephant Graveyard and another Elephant Grass. The pachyderms trampled to victory.
