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Pro Tour London 1999
October 15-16-17
Day 2
Round 12 feature match

Gary Wise versus Brian Hacker

Two of the legends of the money draft circuit met with some real money on the line in round 12. Both players were 7-3-1 and hoping that winning their next three matches would be good enough to make the top 8. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Gary Wise was doing a lot of talking and joking around while the players shuffled their decks. Hacker quietly contemplates the coming match. Wise wins the die roll and choses to play first.

By the time Gary's turn 3 Thornwind Faeries kills Brian's turn 2 Angelic Page, both players realize they are in a mirror match-up: blue/white versus blue/white. Those Faeries should be quite good. Wise almost never drafts anything other than blue/white so he should know this match-up quite well. He has better cards in play too: Faerie Conclave, Forbidding Watchtower, Field Surgeon, and Thornwind Faeries stare across at Capashen Templar and basic land.

Hacker is winning the attitude war - by refusing to engage Gary in any banter, he's gotten Gary to be quiet and contemplative. The bad news, though, is that Gary's cards are doing plenty of talking for him. Faerie Conclave and Thornwind Faeries keep pecking away at Brian's life total while Field Surgeon makes it impossible for Hacker to attack effectively.

Wise puts Sigil of Sleep on his Thornwind Faeries, which could doom any hope of a Hacker comeback. However, Hacker has a path of Peace ready. Creature removal is hard to come by in a blue/white deck, but Hacker has it and staves off defeat. Gary uses Snap to save his Faeries, but the Sigil is gone. Meanwhile, the Conclave keeps serving every turn. Hacker has a Kingfisher, but he can't block effectively while Field Surgeon is in play. When Gary replays Thronwind Faeries and Hacker doesn't draw a solution, Brian sees that his life total is only 5 and concedes to save time for games 2 and, hopefully, 3.

Wise considers sideboarding in a black splash - Sicken and Twisted Experiment are usually amazing against blue/white because annoying 1/1 creatures (like the Field Surgeon and Thornwind Faerie Gary used to win game 1) tend to control the board. However, it's just a bluff. Gary shuffles them in along with a few Swamps and then takes them back out again.

Hacker's turn 4 Kingfisher is the first spell of game 2. Then Wise plays one of his own. Gary finally plays the Field Surgeon he has been holding on turn 5 - he held it until he knew Brian couldn't Miscalculate or Power Sink it. When Gary's turn 6 Thornwind Faeries resolve, he's in control again. Hacker had just Pacified Gary's Kingfisher, but he still can't get through for damage now that Gary has a flying creature and a Field Surgeon. On turn 7 Gary plays Sanctum Custodian. Brian is at 16, but he knows it's over. His entire deck has only that one Path of Peace for removal, but Gary has 3 powerful creatures in play. Brian concedes rather than making them both sit there for another 10-15 minutes.

Wise 2 - Hacker 0

- Randy Buehler