Foundations Draft #2 (WUBRG Drafting)

I missed some chances for TMNT drafts, but I did get in on a Foundations draft at my FLGS, Intergalactic Plastic, last night, with seven other people.  I have a little mantra that "I'm never disappointed opening a Foundations pack" so it seemed like it would be fun to do another one.  This followed the pattern.

One of the other drafters successfully interfered with my photo.  Well, now they're stuck in the blog!

In some ways, this Foundations draft reminded me of a Chaos draft.  The set is so big that there are a large variety of cards that come around.  The player to my right did manage to draft five Gnarlid Colonies, for their Big Green deck, though.  And the draft archetypes are pretty consistent.  Maybe I just have the wrong impression.

A lot happened during the draft, though.  I stared off with Elenda, Saint of Dusk, but then passed on a bunch of synergistic stuff and accidentally went pretty blue.  In pack two I got a bunch of great green cards.  Pack three was where things went real wild, though.  I opened Muldrotha, which has done me well in draft before.  Then I got passed two Homunculus Hordes in a row and suddenly I was hoping I had more ways to draw cards.  Thankfully I had already taken a Spectral Sailor and then Tatyova, Benthic Druid came along later in pack three.  Here are all my picks:

I actually got worried that I might not get into all five colors.

Throughout all of this, I very nearly failed to actually get enough five color support.  Although I only grabbed two lands, I got lucky with the Goldvein Pick, Burnished Hart, and Grow from the Ashes.  

I waffled back and forth about whether to run the Homunculuses.  In the end, I really wanted to, so I did.  That was a good choice.  I also didn't start with Slagstorm, but I had it maindecked after the first round.  Here's the deck I was running by the end of the night:  

Beautiful Homunculuses and all.

In the first round I was matched up against a Sultai deck with lots of graveyard-based value.  They started off with an Infestation Sage on the first turn, then a Strix Lookout.  I had drawn Spectral Sailor, so I played that during their turn, then got my Homunculus Horde out two turns later.  They played Dreadwing Scavenger and managed to get lots of value off of it.  With the Sailor out, I drew another card on turn five to go to two Homunculuses.  They saw the danger and used Eaten Alive with their Strix to take out my original (non-token) Homunculus Horde.  I was down in life, but on the next turn I activated the Sailor again to get two tokens again.  My opponent played Lathril, and I cast Run Away Together on the Sailor and the Dreadwing Scavenger in order to try to keep my life total up.  Thankfully I had drawn into Tatyova, so I could play her, play a land, and run my horde up to four.  On the next turn I played another land to get eight and then cast Quilled Greatwurm, one of my best threats.  I swung to bring the life totals close (my eleven to their fourteen) and get some +1/+1 counters.  One of my horde died, but I played another land next turn to get up to fourteen and win.

In game two, my opponent got some real synergy going.  They played Mischievous Mystic on turn two, which sailed right over my Nessian Hornbeetle, and turned their next turn Think Twice into a faerie as well.  I played another groundling, Cephalid Inkmage, but then they played Abyssal Harvester, followed up by a Gutless Plunderer on their fifth turn.  I convinced the Harvester to Run Away Together with my Hornbeetle, then played Tatyova, which my opponent Imprisoned in the Moon.  I Broke the moon's Wings and then played an Evolving Wilds and fetched to draw two cards.  My opponent started the seventh round of turns when time was called with me at twelve life and my opponent at seventeen.  My opponent started to pull neat tricks with the Plunderer's ETB effect and the Abyssal Harvester, but I was able to stay alive for the five turns without even casting the Homunculus that'd been in my hand the whole game.  The game ended with me at four life.  1-0.  

In the second round I was up against an Izzet Terror deck.  In the first game they had a quick Firebrand Archer, then Mocking Sprite, then Goblin Surprise, which they used to pump up the Archer and kill my Gleaming Barrier.  Turn five brought a Heartfire Immolator.  I had sacrificed Burnished Hart so my fifth turn was enough for Muldrotha to show up.  It got Imprisoned in the Moon (seriously?) and that attack put me to two life.  I thought I still had a chance, though, and went down swinging.  Involuntary Employment gave me the Immolator, which I sacrificed to kill the Sprite.  I had Witness Protection and the Nessian Hornbeetle to help me stay alive, but it wasn't quite enough and I died on the next turn.  

In game two, my opponent had Balmor out and two Mocking Sprites on turn four.  I thankfully wiped it all with Slagstorm.  They were stuck on three land for a bit, giving me the chance to get things going.  They wound up starting to play Tolarian Terrors, super cheap with all the spellslinging they'd been doing.  Things were looking pretty dicey when I was at four and they had twenty two life:

My big beaters spent a lot of time moonwalking.

I got real lucky and drew the Broken Wings again.  I ate one of the serpents, and started attacking with my Wildwood Scourge and turned the game around and won.

In game three my opponent played Leyline Axe for free, but got stuck on two then three land.  I'm not an aggressive deck, but I was able to win before they recovered.  2-0.

In round three I was up against Boros Angelic Goblins.  They played a turn one Goblin Bushwhacker and a beefed up Goblin Boarders on turn three.  I managed to keep them down, but then the angels started to come out.  Serra Angel (which I did put in Witness Protection) followed by two Vanguard Seraphim.  I nearly stayed alive, but those two kept flying over my ground blockers.  

They were too good to forget about the Bulk Up in the yard, sadly.  My Inspiring Call did not draw me into any answers in the last minute.

In game two, I got Burnished Hart down early, but they got a Sun-Blessed Healer and then the Goblin Boarders again.  With my extra land, however, I got a Homunculus Horde down with the Spectral Sailor.  In four turns I was up to seven Homunculuses and was starting to get their life total back down to twenty.  (It had gone up to thirty.)  I Involuntarily Employed their Dazzling Angel, their last blocker, and they scooped before I could activate the Sailor and gain seven life.

In game three, I kept a hand with two mountains and Slagstorm, figuring I could let them get ahead and then three- or four-for-one them.  That's not how it happened, though.  They got a Dazzling Angel then just kept drawing land while I built up a squad of attackers.  Things were going great until they played Herald of Eternal Dawn, which they'd sided in against me.  They tried to kill me with an attack and a Bulk Up, but I was able to bounce it with Run Away Together and win before it could stick back on the board.  3-0.

Some thoughts: 

• I really lucked out.  I was down by a game in the last two rounds and pulled out exactly the cards I needed multiple times.  And I only survived the first round because we went to time.  (Normally I'm the one behind when time is called.)  
• This was a much better showing than my previous Foundations draft.  I'm now 4-2 in total.  I guess WUBRG is feasible with only two fixing-lands.
• Triggering Homunculus Horde is really fun.  Any kind of repeatable draw engine will do! 
• I'm surprised I had better luck with the Homunculuses than Muldrotha and the Quilled Greatwurm put together. 

This is a fun format to run five colors in.  Give it a try!  

Happy Magicking! 

Chaos drafts with Ooze (WUBRG Drafting)

I got to hold another wacky draft last night with four other people, the first since the TMNT set released.  I told my group I was going to open a Lorwyn Eclipsed and a TMNT pack, but wasn't certain about the third.  Without a moment of hesitation, one the players said Bloomburrow.  It was so obvious!  The natural middle ground between Lorwyn and radioactive-ooze-infested NYC!

Everything we drafted.  My packs: no ooze, some ooze, lots of ooze, in that order.

I did not do a good job getting multi-colored lands.  I passed on many early on and then they got taken before coming back around.  Oops.  At the beginning of pack 2 I thought about trying to go Enchantress after the Sterling Grove showed up.  I did not see many enchantments after that, sadly, so it didn't wind up running the Grove.  One interesting thing that happened is that one player opened a pack with some money they didn't want to run.  I was very clear in that you are allowed to keep any pack like that and open a new pack.  Here's everything I took:

I also, like, didn't read Terminal Velocity right.  I am bad at reading cards.

Since I had the Terminal Velocity and knew half of what it did, I decided to stack up on big creatures, putting a big tail spike on my mana curve:

Also, I had two cards that triggered with Firesong and Sunspeaker, so I clearly had to run them.

We decided to do duels and I managed to get through three of them before the night ended.  In the first round I was up against a Yore-Tiller colored deck with some sweet cards, including a Ragavan they'd pulled!  (This is where all the dual lands I'd passed went.)  They started the first game off with Candlestick, which turned out to provide great value.  I got Demon Wall out on turn two, but they attacked with Nanoform Sentinel with the Candlestick on turn four and had a trick to it.  I played April O'Neil, Hacktivist, and she got me great value!  They played Fear of Isolation, which I hit with Iroas's Blessing.  They Sternly Dismissed April, but I recast her.  They attacked and killed April with a Poison the Waters post combat after I blocked.  Thankfully I had built up enough of a hand and got Oblivious Bookworm and Captive Weird out, immediately transforming the Weird into Compleated Conjurer, exiling Undercity Dire Rat.  My opponent played Ragavan, but it was a bit late in the game.  I attacked and played the Dire Rat, then had enough mana for Peerless Recycling with Splicer's Skill spliced onto it at the end of their turn.  I played April for the third time and the next turn played Altanak which brought me the win shortly after.

In the second game my opponent had to mill twice.  I played really conservatively and was able to outvalue them.  They got an early Fear of Isolation, but I had Take out the Trash ready for it.  I got out Rocksteady, Crash Courser on turn six, but had to play carefully around their Squirrelanoids.  I played A Mysterious Creature (actually Shady Informant) and used that as the main attacking threat.  After my opponent dealt with that, I played out the Altanak I had in my hand and won again.  1-0.

In my second round, I was up against an Azorius deck that had picked it's colors with a pack-1-pick-1 Dream Trawler.  The game started off slow with me playing Offender At Large face down on turn three, but it got waxed the next turn by Fate of the Sun-Cryst.  They got Cult Healer down and played Staggering Insight on it.  (Thankfully lifelink doesn't stack!)  I tried to Overkill it, but they had Shelter waiting.  That healer later got a Nyxborn Unicorn on it as well.  I double blocked the whole thing with Compleated Conjurer and a face-up Shady Informant, willing to make the trade.  My opponent had other plans (again).

Freaking Surge of Salvation!

This was going to be a 3-for-2 in my favor.  (Cult Healer, Staggering Insight, and the hero token at the cost of my two creatures.)  Instead I got 2-for-1'ed and I had to hit myself with the Shady Informant's death trigger.  It was like having to target your own stuff with Festering Goblin all over again!  I died shortly after that.

In game two they got down Warren Elder and I had a hard time dealing with it.  I got Acolyte of Affliction down and got Firesong and Sunspeaker, and even got to gain five off of Brilliance Unleashed with them.  They played Dream Trawler, however, and won off of that.  1-1.

In round three I was up against an Esper player that had been competing with the Dream Trawler player for cards.  In the first game we traded little threats with removal.  They hit my creatures with Anchovy & Banana Pizza and The game was slow and I got Nobody and Oblivious Bookworm down on turn nine.  They played Altar of the Goyf, but I killed their only creature with Take out the Trash + Splicer's Skill.  I used Terminal Velocity with Altanak because I read the card wrong.  (Read the cards, Kyle!)  I still had enough on the board to win.

In game two I just had nothing and got run over.  The played Hullcarver into Judge Magister Gabranth into Adventurer's Airship into Henchbots.  

Game three was more competitive.  Gabranth came out early again, and they used Run Away Together when I targeted him with Overkill.  I played Threats Around Every Corner, which helped.  I just could not keep up with their fliers.  The Prima Vista hit, then Rook Turret and Hullcarver again.  1-2.

I definitely had some play mistakes in here and I likely could have built a better deck.  Let me know what you would recommend!

This was the kind of draft where I was ready to draft again right away afterwards.  I had so much fun!  Happy Magicking!

Chaos Commander Draft

Commander Draft is an excellent format!  I got lucky enough to be a part of one on Wednesday night with three other players.  We decided to hold a chaos commander draft; every player got to pick packs from any three of the commander draft sets: Commander Legends, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, and Commander Masters.  As of this week, those packs are around $10, $10, and $20 respectively.  So, everyone wound up choosing between the first two.

Pretty Chaotic, actually.

The normal Commander Draft rules include:

• It's a pick-two draft, so you pick two cards each turn while drafting.
• The minimum deck size is 60 (including your commander(s)), not 40.  Unlike EDH, there is no singleton rule.
• The color-identity rule is still in effect, so it is possible to be running a deck without enough spells and upwards of 30 lands.

In addition, we included the following rules:

• We used the Wilderness dungeon instead of the standard Undercity for Battle for Baldur's Gate.
• We started at 30 life instead of 40 for time reasons.
• We used the Commander Masters rule that all zero- and mono-color legendary creatures are assumed to have both "Partner" and "Choose a Background" on them.  We also did this for Neapolitan Commander Draft.  This would not be necessary if the packs were all from Commander Legends or all from CL: Baldur's Gate, but since they were mixed we needed to add this to give more combinations. 

The drafting part of this is really fun.  After the first pack I was really afraid that I would be stuck in two colors.  The reason for this is that there are very few legendary creatures in two colors printed in these sets that either have Partner or Choose a Background.  If you want more colors, you are usually hoping for a three (or more) color legend to snap up.  Very thankfully, one appeared after a few passes in the second pack: Bane.  After that I went hard into Esper, figuring I could maybe equip my creatures a bit to get good value off of Bane's second ability.  Here's everything I drafted.

The Oceanus Dragon and Dream Fracture were the last two cards passed to me.  I just didn't realize they were coming my way until after I'd taken the photo and started deckbuilding.

I (admittedly hastily) built the following deck from those cards, but I was really happy to have a bit of a sacrifice theme.  I wasn't too worried about mana fixing with all that triple of Duodrones.  

I should have been afraid of the drones for a different reason, though...

We sat down to play and rolled to see who was going first.  The player to my right won, so the order was:

• P1: Ganax, Astral Agent of the Iron Throne. 
• Me: Bane, Lord of Darkness.
• P3: Rebbec, Architect of Bahamut.
• P4: Dynaheir, Invoker Adept.  

In the second round of turns, some people got some ramp going and I helped the whole table by playing a Marching Duodrone.  You might see the problem already.  

P1 opened up the third round by playing Shiny Impetus on my Duodrone.  I attacked one of the other players, then played Bane with the treasure.  I was feeling pretty good!  P3 did a bit of ramping then P4 played Roving Harper and drew their card.  

The problem started in the fourth round.  P1 played their background: Agent of the Iron Throne.  Now when they sacrificed any of their two treasures, we would all lose life.  Yikes!  I played my second Duodrone as well as one of my Guildsworn Prowlers and swung in for some damage and more treasures for everyone.  P3 played both Rebbec and the Acolyte of Bahamut background.  P4 got a nice combo going with Flaming Fist Officer and Alora, Merry Thief.  They attacked with their unblockable Harper thanks to Alora, bounced it, and pumped up the Officer.  

Nifty!

 

P1 took their fifth turn and demonstrated just how much trouble we were all in.  They played Ganax, then sacrificed treasures to get the Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind.  We each lost life to the Agent of the Iron Throne triggers.  It was clear to me who the Archenemy was.  I played Horn of Valhalla (without the adventure first, unfortunately), equipped it to the second Duodrone, and swung in with my team.  I attacked P1 with everything except the goaded Duodrone, who I attacked P3 with.  We all got our treasures (two for everyone except P1 who got three) and then P3 hit the goaded Duodrone with Guiding Bolt.  P1 also responded with a Murder on Bane.  Yuck!  P3 dropped an Emerald Dragon and cast Raise the Alarm on their turn.  P4 ended the round by playing Feywild Caretaker.  The Initiative was now in play!  

In the sixth round of turns, P1 dropped Falthis and Nemesis Phoenix, then swung at P4 with Ganax to take the initiative.  We continued to hemorrhage life as they kept using treasures!  I swung out at P1 and took the initiative for myself then played Bane.  P3 played Trailblazer's Torch, put it on their Emerald Dragon, then attacked.  They hit P1 with a bunch but also hit me for three with Rebbec.  I happily went exactly down to 15, perfect for Bane.  P4 played Abdel Adrian to combo even more and exiled their two non-Flaming Fist Officer creatures, making it even bigger.

We had now all crash landed in the Wilderness Dungeon!

It wasn't enough, though.  P1 started round seven and played Fang Dragon with their orb, giving it haste.  They had exactly fourteen damage worth of flying power on the board and put me at one with a treasure sitting open.  I was now naught but their pawn.  I played Grafted Wargear and tried to draw into an answer with Bane's ability.  I did not succeed.  P3 played Stingerfling Spider to kill Ganax and P1 used a treasure to kill me in response.  P3 did not attack and passed the turn to P4, who played Pegasus Guardian.  

In the eighth round, P1 attacked P4.  The life totals were now 13 (P1), 5 (P3), and 6 (P4).  Then they played Dragon Noble, gifting them two more treasures!  P3 did not attack on their turn, but P4 did swing in to P1.  Unfortunately the Archenemy blocked well and only took three damage and lost two of their creatures, causing more life loss.  (One of those creatures was Dragon Noble, which gave them a third treasure token.)  P4 then cast two spells that gave them the initiative, using it three times in one turn!

It didn't matter, though.  On turn nine, P1 untapped with the life totals at 10 (P1), 3 (P3), and 4 (P4).  They attacked P3 who was at three life with two fliers.  P3 could block them both, but they had to kill one of the attackers, causing another loss of life.  That was enough for P1 to sac their remaining three treasures win by the triggers of their background!

What a great game!  I think we needed to move against P1 with a little more focus in order to defeat them.  I certainly didn't help with my repeated Duodrone attacks!  

I also think that the granting of partner and choose a background to mono-colored legends is the correct rule to use.  

If you've never had a chance to Commander Draft, I hope you get one soon!  Happy Limited Commander Magicking! 

Chaos needs to read the whole card (WUBRG Drafting)

I hosted a little chaos draft last week with four other people.  We decided to run best-of-one rounds and use the Andrew McLaughlin rule: you can replace your third turn draw with adding a basic land from outside the game to your hand.  The hype for Lorwyn Eclipsed is still going strong, so there was a lot of that opened.  I picked a Foundations pack and my last two packs grabbed from GameStop.  Here's what everyone chose:

I've never been disappointed by a Foundations pack.

I definitely got greedy while drafting.  At one point I picked a pretty Plains way too early.  I also picked the Survey Mechan without reading to the end of the ability.  Notably, I didn't read the cost reduction part.  I'm lucky I got it!  (I should have taken it over Broodguard Elite.)  Here are all my picks:

I did not have a coherent draft strategy.  Had I read my cards better, I might have.

I was the last one to get their deck figured out.  That was true even though someone else was drafting for the first time.  Yikes.  I definitely made some bad choices (e.g. Jeong Jeong over Sizzling Changeling) but I didn't take the time to change my deck up between rounds.  Here's the deck I ran for the whole night:

I also think Mm'memon, the Right Hand might not have been a good choice.

We completed the Round Robin so I got to play all four opponents.  I was matched first against the new drafter, running "Mild Discomfort from Above", an Esper deck with lots of fliers.  In the past few years I have a terrible record against first-time drafters.  Even with the Andrew McLoughlin rule, I still had to mull my first two hands.  (Thankfully the first mull is free in Bo1.)  I got Cori-Steel Cutter and Ba Sing Se down but they started dropping their fliers.  I played a turn five Wildvine Pummeler, but they Rallied the Monastery it.  I tried to catch back up but without any way to deal with the flying assault, mild discomfort turned into perishing.  0-1.

In the next round I was up again Ink-Treader "Kithkin Alliance", powered by (guess what) Kithkin and Allies.  I got the Steel Cutter out on turn two and played Dragonbroods' Relic the following turn.  They Liminally Held the cutter before I could get the trigger, but I followed that up with Survey Mechan.  They had a great turn five with Professional Wrestler and Thoughtweft Lieutenant, but I warped in Broodguard Elite and put the four +1/+1 counters on my Mechan at the end of turn.  I played the Broodguard for good the next turn and started swinging with the five-power hexproof Mechan.  They followed that up with Iroh, Grand Lotus and swung in with the Wrestler.  I blocked with the Broodguard for the trade and threw these counters on my Mechan as well.  (This led to the political-future-ending statement by my opponent: "You're over there with a flying 9/11.")  I swung in for big flying damage.  They used Iroh to recast Tend the Sprigs to get a reaching blocker and dropped Omni Changeling.  Then they swung for 13 damage.  I might've been in trouble, except that I had Trystan's Command to pave the path to victory.  1-1.

I faced "Counterspell!Counterspell!Counterspell!" in the third round, a Dimir control deck.  I had an aggro-style start with Spider Manifestation, Jeong Jeong, and Mechan Shieldmate on turns two, three, and four, respectively.  They played a Selfcraft Mechan, but I had a Spiral Into Solitude for it and put them down to seven life on my fifth turn.  They played Sandskitter Outrider with the token to slow me down.  I played Electroduplicate on my Shieldmate to keep the pressure on and attacked one more time.  They blocked well but went down to one life while I was at 21.  They used Dragon's Prey to kill Jeong Jeong and I was down to only the Spider Manifestation.  I got the Dragonbroods' Relic and would win off of the activation, but I needed another creature to have enough mana.  I played Doc Ock, but it got Wildly Unraveled.  Then my opponent Temporally Cleansed the Spider Manifestation, which I dropped to the bottom.  I drew into Trystan's Command and grabbed both Doc Ock and the Spiral Into Solitude while I took out the Outrider.  They Unburied it, then cast Strategic Betrayal to exile my yard, though a turn late.  I played Doc Ock and then untapped with enough on turn ten to get the Reliquary Dragon out of the Relic and win.  2-1.

My final round opponent was running "Mono G with White", a Selesnya counters deck.  If I could pull off the win, then my 3-1 record would win on tie breakers from my second round opponent.  They started off with Lys Alana Informant and dropped Goldvein Pick and hit with it the next turn.  I got Jeong Jeong out, but they attacked and tricked with Biosynthic Burst, so I didn't get the trade.  I played Survey Mechan and had Ba Sing Se, but they dropped two more creatures: Earth Village Ruffians and Rebellious Captives on turn five.  They had a big attack before I could catch up, playing Mechan Shieldmate, Bender's Waterskin, and Glacial Dragonhunt all on one turn.  Unfortunately they took out the Mechan Shieldmate with a Make Your Move, then played Sage of the Fang.  I took my turn and played Shimmerwilds Growth, which let me play Wildvine Pummeler for cheap, but they Bit it Down.  Attacking on their turn put me to 1.  (They were still at 20.)  Dear reader, I have had some great comebacks, and I planned another one here.  I cast Mm'menon and was ready to put it together, but they Flashed in Thompson, tapped my flyer down, attacked and won.  2-2.

In the whole night, I don't think a single person used the Andrew McLaughlin rule.  

These drafts are so much fun.  I love all the crazy card interactions.  Happy Magicking, no matter how you do it!

*Update: Fixed the spelling for Andrew McLaughlin and an important note: my final round opponent did take an advantage of the rule in a prior round and took a land! 

Frepack Draft #(n+12) (WUBRG Drafting)

I ran an impromptu free draft last week with repacked cards for some students.  It initially looked like there were going to be three of us, but then the number jumped up to six!  Four of the six of us were relatively new drafters with one here for their first draft ever.  

During drafting, there were some comments about how a lot of my packs have a lot of eldrazi in them.  That's not on purpose; I've been sorting through a bunch of donated cards from Battle for Zendikar, so that's just how the cookie crumbles right now.  

Also, the person sitting to my left told everyone they were going five colors, so I had to put in some extra work getting the lands I wanted.  After the first pack I thought I was in trouble, as they'd be passing to me.  However, I got four lands in a row early in pack two, so I felt pretty good midway through the whole thing.  Here's everything I drafted:

Garrison Sergeant is one of my favorites.

From these cards, I built this deck:

I know Ghostly Sentinel is undervalued at five mana, but I've won too many limited games with it.

 

We decided to play best-of-one rounds in order to get as many matches in as possible.  (Note: this doesn't work as well with an even number of people.)  I was matched up first against an Izzet Eldrazi build.  Thankfully I drew well and got Tunnel of Hate online on turn six, with the manifested 2/2, Oran-Rief Invoker, Ulamog's Nullifier, and a Ghostly Sentinel on the board.  I won two turns later.  1-0.

In round two I was up against a Rakdos deck.  I dealt with their scary Valakut Predator with a turn four Torch the Witness.  In the next three turns I played 4W-cost fliers back to back: Ghostly Sentinel, Charmed Clothier, and Ghostly Sentinel.  I won the turn afterwards.  2-0.

In round three I was facing down a Dimir enchantments deck.  I was stuck on five mana for a while while they played a good defense with Grim Guardian (triggering off things like Necrogen Communion) and Pharika's Chosen.  I got Kozilek's Channeler down which got me unstuck.  Soon I had Eldrazi Devastator out and my Oran-Rief Invoker was looking a lot more imposing.  I lost both the Pharika's Chosen, which came back due to shenanigans, but not after dealing enough excessive damage in subsequent attacks for me to win.  3-0.

Round four was set to be exciting.  One person had already left without playing me, so this was to be my final round.  My opponent, running Mardu Life Drain with a bunch of effects like Drana's Emissary, had just come back big to win their fourth straight.  Only one of us would remain undefeated.  And, unfortunately, they got mana flooded.  They played their own Grim Guardian, but thankfully never the Emissary.  Kozilek's Channeler hit the board for me and nearly got there on its own.  4-0.

These little drafts are great!  I love getting together with students to reuse these cards that might otherwise be discarded!

Wrap up your own packs and Happy Magicking!

Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft (WUBRG Drafting)

I missed Friday night's draft event at my FLGS, but I heard about one happening yesterday afternoon at Doombrowski Games and Comics in Winter Haven (about a half hour away for me) so I went.  I had never played there before, but it was very nice.  The draft drew a big crowd of sixteen people (I don't know any others of worth in the area on a Saturday afternoon) so we had two full pods!  I went with a friend and saw three other people there I knew, so it's clear that people are willing to travel a bit for this hobby.  (Or maybe this block.)

There's probably an interesting analysis here of the Universes Beyond/Within controversy motivating people to vote with their wallets, but I don't know how to do that analysis.  It's just as likely that people are excited for Lorwyn itself.   

On the way there I had a great chat with my friend who talked about how they almost went five-color vivid.  I hadn't done a good study of the cards in this set, so I paid close attention to what they said.  One card they mentioned, Puca's Eye, stuck in my mind and I'm glad it did. 

I got into one of the pods sitting directly to the left of the two other people there who knew what I was up to.  Nevertheless, I was able to make some good picks.  Here are all my picks:

It's always fun to see a rare dual land in the mix.

There's a lot going on here.  Not only did I get two of the aforementioned Puca's Eyes, but I got other great vivid cards, especially Glister Bairn.  (I think I took a Puca's Eye over that and I should have taken the Bairn in the first round.)  If Blue or Green are main colors in your deck (and they probably will be) then casting it shouldn't be hard.  Maybe the biggest disappointment here is that I didn't get any Stratosoarer.  I saw one, but it was in a pack I opened, and I had to take something else.  Also, I took the two Stalactite Daggers hoping for some good Changeling synergy, but I took them out by the end of the draft because they are not good with vivid.  One card I really wish I'd gotten more of was Foraging Wickermaw, possibly the best support card for WUBRG drafting in this set.  

I had a hard time making cuts, but I decided to go with only sixteen lands instead of the normal seventeen because I had both two Kulrath Zealots and two Puca's Eyes.  Here's the deck I ended up with:

Got a bit of a Dutch angle on this one, whoops!  Also, that empty sleeve is for the Glen Elendra Guardian, because I traded it away before I took the photo.

You may note the three Wildvine Pummelers in the four-mana slot.  They fit there, I promise.  I'm sure nothing would happen that would put them in a higher slot in the deck!  (That's clumsy sixshadowing.)  

I was up against someone I'd never met in the first round, running a swift Orzhov-Kithkin deck.  I mulled twice in the first game and they beat me on turn five as I didn't have any fast plays.  (They curved out: Timid Shieldbearer to Wary Farmer to Gallant Fowlknight.)  

In game two, I played Boggart Cursecrafter on turn two.  On their third turn, they dropped Reluctant Dounguard and I played out my Glen Elendra Guardian.  They played Prideful Feastling on their next turn.  Thankfully on my fifth turn I drew into Puca's Eye and that drew me into Foraging Wickermaw.  On their next turn they took out my Guardian with Keep Out, then used Auntie's Sentence to force me to discard Eirdu.  Thankfully I also had Dose of Dawnglow in my hand, which was an awesome card all day.  They attacked with the Dounguard trading with the Cursecrafter.  I played a Wildvine Pummeler on my sixth turn (it would have been two mana cheaper if I hadn't blocked!) and my opponent dropped Reaping Willow, which is another great card.  I attacked in on the next turn, putting the life totals to me: 17, them: 8.  On their next turn, they had a great sequence of plays!

Byebye four -1/-1 counters!

Reaping Willow could bring back the Dounguard, which then lost both counters when Clachan Festival hit the board.  I cast Dose of Dawnglow on their turn, however, bringing Eirdu to the board.  I flipped it on my turn, cast a second Puca's Eye, and attacked big.  

These slips of construction paper I cut out months ago paid off big!

My opponent started their turn and then scooped.  They gathered their cards up, but hadn't shuffled yet and I realized their life total was underrepresented.  They hadn't gained six life from their two lifelinkers and should have been at 9, not 3.  I told them and also said I was okay with them "unscooping".  We successfully restored the board state and continued.  They attacked, I attacked, they played Dream Seizer, then I played Ashling's Command to win for real.  

They started off the third game with Goldmeadow Nomad.  I played Puca's Eye, they replayed the Prideful Feastling, I played the Foraging Wickermaw, they got their Reaping Willow again, then the Timid Shieldbearer.  It wasn't looking great, and I had to Blossombind the Willow.  I immediately wished that I'd saved it, because they followed it up with Moonshadow.  I drew into Grub's Command and took out the Moonshadow, but it came back immediately with the Willow.  I drew into my other command, though, and Ashling took care of the board and drew me two cards.  They played the Clachan Festival, but I played my Prismatic Undercurrents with a vivid count of five.  After that my draws were all gas.  My opponent flooded out and I won.  1-0.

In round two I faced up against the friend I'd rode with.  They had managed to draft mono red elementals.  In game one, they hit Flame-Chain Mauler on turn two and I answered with a Foraging Wickermaw.  They played Enraged Flamecaster and I countered with Boggart Cursecrafter, but they had a Cinder Strike waiting for it on their turn.  I played a Stalactite Dagger and they played Flamekin Gildweaver, triggering the Flamecaster.  (It wouldn't be the last time.)  On my fifth turn, I played Eirdu, but they had End-Blaze Epiphany ready to kill it as well as exile another Gildweaver.  They kept attacking through all of this.  On their seventh turn they first played another Flamecaster, then the second Gildweaver, triggering both of them.  I was dead on their next turn.  

They started game two off with Soulbright Seeker and got a ton of value off of it.  I played Stalactite Dagger and they Cinder Struck the token.  I played a Wickermaw and they Seared it.  I played a second Dagger and they played a Gangly Stompling.  I cast a pathetic Prismatic Undercurrents for one land (thanks colorless tokens!) and then they Giantfell my token and played a Flamecaster.  I got my Boggart Cursecrafter, but they played both a Feisty Spikeling and a second Flamecaster.  With the Cursecrafter out I was able to play a Wildvine Pummeler on my seventh turn, but they played a third Flamecaster and killed me on their next turn.  Sheesh!  1-1

But then we had a third bonus game, because those were done so fast.  This time they killed me on turn five, after this stunning sequence of plays:

Kyle, if they won a third time, that's not a "but", that's an "and".

They went on to win our pod.   

In my third round I was up against a real old-schooler.  They started playing in 1993 and were running a Dimir control deck.  Also, this was their first competitive event in over twenty years!  It was awesome to play against them and chat about rules changes over the years.  I went first in game one and played the Cursecrafter on turn two, which they followed up with a Summit Sentinel.  I played my Wickermaw and they got out a Voracious Tome-Skimmer.  I used the Wickermaw's color changing ability to power out a turn four Wildvine Pummeler.  They played a Requiting Hex on my Cursecrafter, but I still got to attack in with the Pummeler.  They played a second Summit Sentinel and an Heirloom Auntie, but I had an Ashling's Command on my next turn to put myself well ahead.  After that attack, I was up 18 life to 3.  Glister Bairn and a Blossombind gave me the win on my next turn.  

In game two, they elected to go second.  I had a really slow hand and they got out a Wickermaw before I did.  When I cast mine on turn four, it was the first time I'd remembered to surveil, and only because they'd just done it.  I also played Dundoolin Weaver that turn, with no trigger.   They used the Requiting Hex on the Wickermaw, which put me in a bind with all three Wildvine Pummelers in hand, five lands, and only a single green permanent on my fifth turn.  They played a Blighted Blackthorn and then a Stratosower in subsequent turns.  On my seventh turn, I was finally able to play a Pummeler... but then they played Wanderwine Farewell.  On turn eight I drew into another land and tapped out to get a Pummeler back down.  They played a Gnarlbark Elm, but I confidently played land eight, a second Pummeler to stay alive, and the Dundoolin Weaver to bring the Wickermaw back to my hand.  I was not expecting a second Wanderwine Farewell, though, and they attacked for the win.  What a game!

I rushed a bit in the third game, but I got a Puca's Eye on turn two.  They played a Summit Sentinel on theirs, then attacked on turn three.  I cast Unforgiving Aim to get an elf blocker so they bounced.  They played Merrow Skyswimmer on their fourth turn and I spent my fifth turn casting Ashling's Command to level the playing field a bit and get more cards.  They played a Chaos Spewer, which I answered with Kulrath's Zealot, which they had the Wanderwine Farewell for (and my elf token).  I replayed the Zealot and exiled a Pummeler.  They played Shinestriker.  I played the Glister Bairn and the Pummeler.  They played a Nightmare Sower on their eighth turn as time was called with 18 life to my 20.  On my next turn (time turn 1) I played Grub's Command to pave a path, but they played Glamermite before I could attack, tapping down my Zealot.  Nevertheless, I got in with the Bairn-powered-Pummeler to put them at 8.  They played down the Gnarlbark Elm and Tome-Skimmer, but my next attack killed all three faeries.  They weren't able to play enough on turn four to soak all the damage I was going to hit with and I escaped with the win.  2-1.

So many of my games were so intense and down-to-the-wire!  It was really fun, even in the loss I took to the Wanderwine Farewells.  I thought I had stabilized, but then I got caught completely off guard.  Also, all three of my opponents were really nice to play against.  The games were quite fun.  

I do look forward to drafting more of this set, but there is one big downside here that I've experienced before, in sets like Ravnica Allegiance and Conflux: people aren't surprised by the five-color strategy.  I know that when I'm drafting at home against my friends they all know what I'm up to, but at a store with people I don't know, I hope to elicit a bit of a "wow".  That's not going to happen here as "five color vivid" is a genuine draft strategy.

I also found a new reason for liking the simplicity of pack-per-win prizes at stores.  That was the same case here, but at the end of the tournament they had a whole announcement of the overall results.  I don't know whether people got extra prizes or what, but they ran down all sixteen of us in order to go up and collect our packs.  The unfortunate side effect of that is that we were the last game of the whole draft and we went to time and each turn needed significant consideration to make sure we did as best as we could.  A judge came over to see us many minutes in and we were only on turn two of five.  Everyone else was waiting to collect their prizes.  I wish that kind of pressure weren't necessary and people who had finished their third round early could have left way beforehand.  Oh well!

If you've never gone WUBRG before, Lorwyn Eclipsed is a great time to give this a try!  Happy Magicking! 

Also, I kept typing Dourguard instead of Dounguard.  Over and over.

Ravnica Clue with Assorted Jumpstart Packs

I had some extra Jumpstart packs and some students wanted to play Ravnica: Clue, so we cracked them open and did it earlier this week.

There were five of us and I only had eight assorted packs, so we used some of the actual Ravnica: Clue packs and everyone got one of those and one of the other packs I had.  I was really excited to do this because I really wanted to see how this worked.  Here are the packs we all opened:

I started with a Jumpstart 2022, but switched to Brothers' War when I saw no one else was using that.

Five players is not "Ravnica: Clue kosher" by the original rules, but I tend to think it works just fine.  We shuffled the cards up, put the three cards into the Confidential envelope, removed and revealed three rooms (Secret Passage, Library, and Study) and dealt three Clue cards to each person.  (I got Commander Mustard, the Ballroom, and the Conservatory.)  We tore open our packs to discover the themes and put all that in the center:

I love that the pack theme cards have real Magic backs.  I hoard them.  Why do I do that?

We were each in three colors, which was fun to me.  We decided to play with 20 life, partly because the night before we had finished a game with lots of life after a lot of Clue suggestions.  I won the roll to go first, so the players were:

• Me: Welded Azorius Senate
• P2: Golgari Swarm Law 
• P3: Adaptive Orzhov Syndicate
• P4: Selesnya Conclave Spirits
• P5: Fiery Simic Combine

P2 cast the first spell of the game with Gideon's Lawkeeper.  P3 followed that up with Twilight Panther.  

Thankfully I had a second-turn play to prevent cheap shots.  I cast War Screecher.  P2 immediately played Kraul Harpooner, but didn't realize they could use it to kill my bird and passed.  (I think I said something during P3's turn; I did not think of it while the Harpooner hit the battlefield as I was trying to keep up with my notes.)  P3 hit P5 with the Panther and made the first guess: Green, Knife, and Lounge.  P5 showed them a card.  P4 played a Murmuring Phantasm.  

I took advantage of my flier in the third round to hit P4.  I guessed Plum, Knife, and the Conservatory.  They showed me Mastermind Plum.  I played a Scrapwork Mutt to be a chump blocker.  P2 hit P3 with the Lawkeeper and guessed White, Pipe, and Hall.  P3 showed them a card.  P3 played Angel of Vitality on their turn, then hit P5 with their Panther again.  P3 guessed Plum, Knife, and Conservatory and P5 passed.  P4 played Winged Words to get some extra cards and P5 played Spiteful Prankster, which was a great card for this format!    

In the fourth round I hit P3 and P4.  I guessed Scarlett, Rope, and Kitchen.  P3 showed me Scarlett.  I played Azorius Justicar and detained the Angel of Vitality and Kraul Harpooner.  P2 played a Midnight Guard on their turn.  P3 played Princess Yue and Katara, Bending Prodigy.  P4 played a Departed Deckhand.  P5 played Chandra's Spitfire and hit me with the Spiteful Prankster.  They continued the pattern of guessing Plum, Knife, and Conservatory, and I had to show them my Conservatory.  

The board around this point.

I played Bitter Reunion and Trusted Pegasus in the fifth round, then hit P4 again.  (There's something about flying over a wall.)  I guessed Peacock, Rope, and Billiard Room.  They passed.  P2, who was stuck on three lands, hit me with their Midnight Guard and guess the same thing.  I also showed them the Conservatory.  It was getting problematic that everyone knew I had that card!  P3 hit P4 on their turn and guessed Plum, Candlestick, and Ballroom.  P4 showed them a card.  P4 cast Roaming Ghostlight then hit me with the Departed Deckhand.  They also guessed Plum, Knife, and Conservatory.  I also showed them the Conservatory.  P5 played their own Roaming Ghostlight and hilariously bounced P4's!

Competing Roaming Ghostlights!

Then P5 attacked me with their Spiteful Prankster and P2 with Chandra's Spitfire.  I blocked with my Scrapyard Mutt and P2 blocked with their Kraul Harpooner.  P2 cast Righteousness, one of the coolest cards ever, but P5 had a response.

Rapid Hybridization!

In the sixth round, I hit P2 and P5.  I guessed White, Knife, and Lounge.  P2 showed me the Knife.  Then I dropped Mishra's Juggernaut and passed the turn.  P3 played The Blue Spirit and hit P4 and P5.  They guess Plum, Knife, and Conservatory.  P4 showed them a card.  I got annoyed about this because with people repeatedly making the same suggestions, my card wasn't getting filled out at all.  That might be a good strategy for me to replicate in the future!  P4 replayed their Roaming Ghostlight and bounced my War Screecher.  P5 hit me and P2, guessing Mustard, Wrench, and Ballroom.  I showed them the Ballroom.  

I had been holding Supreme Verdict for one or two turns and I thought this (the seventh round) was the time to use it.  I hit P2, P3, and P5 with my creatures and guessed Peacock, Candlestick, and Lounge.  I got the most value from this, as P2 and P3 passed and P5 showed me the Lounge.  Before I could continue with my big player, P3 said out loud they knew something I had because of that.  They claimed my guesses always included a card I had... which is something I do a lot!  But not this time!  They thought I had Peacock in my hand.  Without denying or confirming P3's suspicions, I dropped the Supreme Verdict.  As we gathered the dying creatures, the ball was in P5's court because they had sixteen Spiteful Prankster triggers to dole out.  They first thought about killing me, then thought about killing P3, but finally decided to leave P3 at 1 life.  The life totals were now at 9 (me), 15 (P2), 1 (P3), 13 (P4), and 11 (P5).  

Still in my main phase, P2 cast Fungal Rebirth on their Kraul Harpooner and cashed in on the two saproling tokens.  Since they had done that before my end step, my next play of recasting my War Screecher was a complete misplay, because P2 dropped the Harpooner on their turn.  This time they didn't miss the trigger and shot my bird out of the sky.  I thought I would have an entire turn without anyone else attacking, but because of the Fungal Rebirth, P2 hit both P4 and P5, guessing Mustard, Pipe, and Dining Room.  They both passed.  P3 cast Syndicate Heavy, but spent the rest of their mana to recast Katara (I don't remember how it got back in their hand... maybe Boomerang Basics?) so they couldn't extort and replenish their life total a bit.  They collected evidence 6 and guessed Green, Pipe, and Dining Room.  I got real nervous because P4 passed, P5 passed, I passed, but then P2 showed them a card.  Then they accused Mustard, Pipe, and Dining Room.  I knew that was wrong because I had Commander Mustard.  Whew!  P3 had ruled Commander Mustard in because they thought I held Peacock, which is why they were so confident.  My accidental ruse had saved the game!  

Still in the seventh round, P4 cast Affectionate Indrik and killed the Harpooner.  P5 skipped the majority of their turn and confidently collected evidence six, guessing Peacock, Knife, and Billiards.  I passed, but P2 showed a card.  Then they accused: Peacock, Pipe, and Dining Room.  It was correct and they won!  P5 had figured out that P3 was wrong about the suspect but right about everything else.  They knew it wasn't Commander Mustard and ruled Senator Peacock in from that.

What can I say?  This was amazingly fun!  Let's wrap it up with some notes:

• This worked great with the assorted packs plus Clue packs.  I think it leveled the playing field a lot.
• 20 life was fine.  No one was in danger before the Spiteful Prankster enjoyed the thrill of a big board wipe.
• I don't think I'm super good at playing the Clue aspect of the game yet and I do want to get better.  I also think that taking all the notes I am prevents me from attempting any deep analysis of what's going on.  I can't say I mind that much.  

I highly recommend doing this!  Any Jumpstart is great with the Clue format and don't be afraid to mix in your Ravnica: Clue packs like we did.  Happy Magiclueing!