Round 3 Feature Match : Arho Toikka vs Tuomas Kuusniemi

On round two, one of the more interesting matches saw Arho Toikka from Helsinki paired against Tuomas Kuusniemi originally from Pietarsaari but now residing in Helsinki. Arho finished second in the Finnish Nationals 2000 and Tuomas, who is perhaps the most obscure student of theology ever and anywhere and a granted trash-talker compared to your archetypal Finn, is also known a sound and apt player: he participated in Pro Tour Tokyo this year.

Toikka's draft deck was W/U, complete with multiple Fact or Fictions and a combo of two Crimson Acolytes and Shifting Sky. Arho described the deck as controllish, but at least in this match it was in no way passive or reactive. Kuusniemi's deck was R/G/W and he hadn't set too high hopes on it; he had more or less been forced to G/W which isn't that strong in Invasion-Invasion-Planeshift draft, and there had been a certain choking effect as other drafters had been sharing these colours. Initially Tuomas felt it was a 0-2 drop-out-deck so I guess he was relieved, having won against Seppo 'Sabo' Toikka (no, not related to Arho as far as we know) on the previous round.

The first game was rather brief. Toikka had out an army of mainly white creatures such as Voice of All, Razorfoot Griffin and Crimson Acolyte. Kuusniemi's Thornscape Apprentice, Verduran Emissary, Charging Troll and companions backed up with a Lashknife Barrier were holding them at bay but insufficiently: he was taking some damage turn after turn. After playing Fact or Fiction Toikka added to Kuusniemi's agony by spewing out a Vodalian Serpent with kicker, mainly to block Kuusniemi's potentially threatening creatures. Then Toikka could go nuts with his flying army, and this burst of sudden aggression was such that at least I was left wondering whether the deck I saw being played really was a white-blue control construction. Kuusniemi quickly conceded the game as he saw no way of swinging the tide of events back to his favour.

The second game started out slowly. Kuusniemi played an Amphibious Kavu and then an Aurora Griffin. Toikka's first move was a Razorfoot Griffin. Kuusniemi attacked with his Kavu and Toikka blocked with his first-striking Griffin, perhaps to see whether Kuusniemi really had something to boost up his Kavu. Well, an Explosive Growth was cast and Toikka's Griffin was sent to the graveyard. Toikka then summoned a Hunting Drake, the potentially dangerous ability of which ended up fizzling because of Kuusniemi's Aurora Griffin. Later on, the Aurora Griffin traded with the very same Drake.

Then was the time for the game to stabilize; both players began playing out creatures and the strength of forces on the table grew at a fast pace. Only Toikka's Voice of All remained active and relentlessly grind away Kuusniemi's life points, two at a time. Toikka played a Fact or Fiction, gaining nothing tremendously important off of it, and played out a Silver Drake. Kuusniemi attacked with a kickered Pincer Spider, which Toikka blocked with four creatures. Finally Toikka played a second Fact or Fiction and a Benalish Lancer with kicker. Kuusniemi examined the board contents and hand sizes, drew his conclusions and conceded this game as well.

Arho Toikka wins 2-0

In the adjacent table, Arto Hiltunen, the Finnish Champion 1999, wielded his proactive U/B deck with great accuracy against Markus Mela's apparently W/U/B build. All in all, Arto scored three wins and one draw during the draft portion of Nationals.