Two paragons of Holiness face off in the semi-finals of the 5th Zangarmarsh Realm Championship Qualifier.  In one corner stands Martin Jacob Hildawa, whose solo [Rohashu, Zealot of the Sun] relied on the mettle of steel to get him this far into the event.  In the other corner is Michael Ryan Villamayor, whose [Suncaller Haruh] HordeStone deck has dominated his opponents with magical protection and acceleration.  Only one can move on to the finals, and neither will go down without a fight.

Michael won the die roll, and both players mulligan their opening hands. Michael starts by rowing a resource and passing the turn. Martin does the same on his turn. Michael plays [Seeds of Their Demise] on his second turn, and plays [Devout Aurastone Hammer]. Martin answers with a second resource and [Triton Legplates] on his turn, with Michael responding by completing Seeds, opting to ship the top 2 cards to the bottom of his deck.

[^Parexia, Herald of the Shadows]

Michael stashes a second Hammer on his turn to add an heirloom counter on his existing Hammer, which allows him to play [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows] ahead of curve, and hits Martin for 2 random cards from his hand – namely [Holy Wrath] and [Repurposed Lava Dredger]. A Triton counter was added to Martin’s Legplates at the end of this turn. He then plays [Polished Breastplate of Valor] on his turn in order to further build his defense against Michael’s threats.

Michael attacks with Parexia, whose damage is prevented by the Breastplate. He then plays a second copy of Seeds of Their Demise, and plays [Edwin VanCleef], putting 2 Defias Thug tokens into play. He spends his remaining resources to flip Suncaller Haruh, buffing him to a healthy 32 health. Another Triton counter is added to Martin’s Legplates at the end of his turn, but with two beefy allies staring him down, Martin knows that it won’t help him at this point in the game. He spends his fourth turn playing a resource, and [Troggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King], and passes the turn, with Michael responding by completing Seeds at the end of this turn. Again, he ships both cards to the bottom of his deck.

[^Shadowfang Keep]

Michael plays [Shadowfang Keep] on his turn, and plays [Obsidian Drudge]. He then sacrifices the Black Dragonkin to Shadowfang Keep, destroying Martin’s Breastplate in the process. Michael attacks with Edwin, Parexia and a Thug token. Martin strikes back against the Thug token, killing it, but neglects to use his Legplates to prevent any damage from Michael’s assault, and brings his hero to 9 damage. Martin responds by attempting to attack Edwin on his turn, but the remaining Thug prevents him from touching the Deadmines boss. He pays 1 to kill that token, and takes another point of damage to bring the total damage to 10.

Michael continues his assault against Rohashu with Edwin and Parexia to bring the Tauren to 18 damage. Michael then plays [Mazu'kon] to apply even more pressure, with Martin’s Legplates preventing 2 damage to bring the damage total to 22. Martin rows a resource on his turn, then realizing that he has no way of surviving the next turn, concedes victory to Michael.

Michael Ryan Villamayor moves on to the finals!