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!

Lorwyn Eclipsed Clue Draft (WUBRG Drafting)

I got together with three friends for a Lorwyn Eclipsed draft and we decided to play a single Clue game instead of doing duels.  We played with 30 life, which was probably too much for this set!  (I need to keep track of all of this somewhere.)  Here's how it went!

All Lorwyn Eclipsed!

I was really hoping for more basic landcyclers, but as it turns out there are only two in this set, not five.  Yikes!  One of those was in the same pack as the only Evolving Wilds I saw, so I didn't even get any Evolving Wilds!  I did try to pick changelings highly so I could make use of kinship synergy.  Here are all my picks:

Some real fun cards here, but very little mana fixing!

I built a deck that had very little Black and Red, but it still counts!

My first time using new Dragon Shield non-glare sleeves.  Did they work?

We dealt the Clue cards, rolled to see who was going first, and got down to playing!

My hand: Commander Mustard, Mastermind Plum, Secret Passage, and Library.  Revealed to everyone were the Lounge and Dining Room.  

 

The turn order was:

• P1: Golgari Bitterblossom
• P2: Sultai Elves
• P3: Mardu 
• Me: WUBRG 

The only play in the first round of turns was when P3 dropped Wanderbrine Trapper, a great aggressive creature!  

P1 made a big statement in the second round by playing Bitterblossom!  What a great card for a 30-life game!  P2 laid down Surly Farrier and P3 played Timid Shieldbearer.  P3 hit P1 with the trapper, guessing Mustard, Knife, Conservatory.  P1 showed them a card and took their treasure.  I did not have a play.  

Round three started off with another big play from P1.  Not only did they get their Faerie token, but they popped the treasure to play High Perfect Morcant.  What a sequence of plays!  P2 attacked and hit me for one, guessing White, Wrench, and Hall.  I had to pass.  Then they played a Dawn's Light Archer.  P3 dropped Springleaf Drum, then hit P2 and me.  They guessed Mustard, Pipe, and Kitchen.  I showed them Commander Mustard.  I landcycled my Kulrath Zealot, then on my turn used the treasure to play Nightmare Sower.  I was already quite mana flooded at this point with four lands sitting in my hand.  

In round four, P1 played Unforgiving Aim to get an elf token.  That triggered Morcant and we all suffered a blight of 1.  Then they attacked P2 with a faerie token but P2 blocked with the archer.  P2 used that archer to hit me and guessed Peacock, Candlestick, and Ballroom.  I had to pass.  P2 played a Great Forest Druid and passed the turn.  P3 played Mudbutton Cursetosser and the new Ajani, Outland Chaperone.  They hit P2 and guessed Scarlett, Pipe, and Passage and P2 showed them a card.  P3 played Elder Auntie, then passed the turn to me.  I hit P1 on my turn and guessed White, Rope, and Kitchen.  P1 had nothing.  I played Sizzling Changeling and ended my turn.  

P1 started round five off by hitting P3 with a faerie token.  They guessed White, Candlestick, and Ballroom and P3 showed them a card.  Then they cast Lys Alana Dignitary, triggering Morcant again.  P3 blighted their Cursetosser and used the trigger to kill the Dignitary.  P2 dropped another cool card, casting Maralen, Fae Ascendant.  Still on P2's turn, P3 cast Bogslither's Embrace to kill Morcant, opening P1 up so P2 could attack them with the Archer.  (P2 and P3 were starting to work together too much!)  P1 still had their 2/2 elf token, so they blocked with that.  P3 then attacked P2 with one of their Kithkin tokens, and P2 let it through.  (This was part of the teamwork.)  P3 guessed Plum, Knife, and Library and P2 passed.  I played my fifth land for natural WUBRG.  

It's beautiful!

I attacked P3 with my Sizzling Changeling and they blocked with a Kithkin token.  Boo!  I needed some info!

The sixth round of turns was also eventful!  P1 hit both P2 and P3.  They guessed Peacock, Candlestick, and Ballroom.  P2 passed, but P3 showed them a card.  P2 played Eclipsed Elf.  They exiled cards from P3's library on Maralen's trigger and got Goldmeadow Nomad.  P2 said they were going to combat and didn't give me a strong indication of where they were going.  So, I played Glamermite for two triggers: one from the Glamermite herself (untapping my Sizzling Changeling) and one from the Nightmare Sower, targeting Maralen.  P2 didn't like that and responded with Blossoming Defense.  They used their now 6-power fae to hit and kill Ajani.  (The teamship was over!)  They also hit P1 with their Archer, but P1 blocked with one of their faeries and played Gilt Leaf's Embrace.  

P3 continued the sixth round by attacking and getting through on both P1 and P2 with their Kithkin tokens.  P3 guessed Green, Knife, and Secret Passage.  P1 passed, but P2 showed them a card.  Then they cast Darkness Descends.  P1 responded by casting Blight Rot on Maralen.  P2 responded by playing Bitterbloom Bearer to get a final trigger on Maralen.  Sadly, that was a whiff on cards from P1's deck.  Everything came off the stack and the entire board got wiped.  I exiled Merrow Skyswimmer via the Sizzling Changeling.  I just cast the Skyswimmer on my turn and passed, but P3 used my end step to cast Keep Out on the Bitterblossom.  

With the board nearly reset, P1 started off round seven with a Mistmeadow Council.  P2 cast Blossombind on the Council on their turn.  P3 played their own Sizzling Changeling.  With my creatures, I hit both P1 and P3.  I guessed Scarlett, Wrench, and Hall.  P1 showed me the Hall.  I cast Tend the Sprigs and got the land and treefolk token.  

P1 had nothing in the eighth round, but P2 played a Surly Farrier.  P3 played Liminal Hold on my treefolk then attacked me with their Changeling.  I blocked with my Skyswimmer, then bounced it with Flock Impostor.  I hit P1 and P3 and guessed Plum, Wrench, and Billiard Room.  P1 passed, but P2 showed me the Billiard Room.  My mana flood paid off because I was able to cast Champions of the Perfect and also drop the Skyswimmer again..

The ninth round started with P1 having to pass again.  P2 cast Lluwen then attacked and connected with P3, guessing White, Wrench, and Ballroom.  P3 showed them a card.  P3 attacked and hit P1, guessing Peacock, Knife, and Secret Passage.  On my turn, I attacked all three opponents, but P2 blocked the Champions so I only got to guess on P1 and P3.  I guessed Plum, Pipe, and Kitchen.  They both passed.  With that knowledge, I had P1's hand almost entirely figured out.  I played Kithkeeper and felt real good about winning on my next turn.  

Unfortunately, P1 felt even better.  They collected evidence 6 on their turn to make a broad guess of Plum, Knife, and Ballroom.  I showed them Mastermind Plum.  Then they made an accusation of Peacock, Knife, and Ballroom.  They checked the envelope and it was correct!  "I was 80% confident," they said, but knew they needed to take the chance because the game would be done that round.

Quick thoughts:

• 30 was too much life this time.  P1 was the lowest at the end with 17 remaining.  I really don't know how to choose this correctly!
• I need to get better at gauging when the game is close to ending via Clue.  I probably should have made an accusation on my turn, though I don't know what that accusation would have been.
• I am so glad the whole group wanted to do this.  I really like playing group games in limited and especially draft formats.

Happy Magicking! 

Lorwyn Eclipsed Prerelease

Eventide was released on July 25, 2008.  I attended a Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease last night, though the set officially releases on January 23 of this year (2026).  Using that release date, there are 6391 days between these sets that take place primarily on the same plane without any between them.  Is this the longest in magic history?  (I think there were about 6103 days between Saviors of Kamigawa and Neon Dynasty.)  

On top of that long Lorwyn drought, there's a lot of enthusiasm for returning to an actual Magic setting.  People were very excited.  The Friday night event at Intergalactic Plastic was sold out and it was hopping.  I saw at least two people dressed up as Lorwyn elves, one with antlers.  It was rad.

I don't usually use a playmat, but I took an appropriate one out of mothballs for this event.

Yes, I know, it's the same mat I use in a lot of my sorting videos.  I don't have a lot of playmats, okay.

This time I actually remembered to take a photo of all of my packs!  Here's the entire pool I was working with:

Six packs and one (no longer stamped) promo card.

I was really excited to see the new Doran as one of my rares, but I didn't pick up just how good it comboed with Formidable Speaker until I got to playing.  I was obviously happy with the Blood Crypt and the two Foraging Wickermaws for running five colors.  On the flip side, I was disappointed to not get any Evolving Wilds nor Changeling Wayfinders.  I did feel a bit rushed during deck construction, but then I finished with plenty of time left.  I had a hard time making cuts and went with only 16 lands in the end.  I also did make a bunch of changes throughout the event.  Here's what the final version looked like:

The Kinbinding was not in my deck in the first round, but it was definitely a good card to add later.

In the first round, I was up against a friend who had built an Azorius deck, "Sygg and Friends".  The first game went well as I learned I had a bit of an aggro deck.  They played Merrow Skyswarm on turn four, but I cast Doran on my turn four using a Foraging Wickermaw.  They Blossombinded my Doran, but then I played Wildvine Pummeler, who also benefits from Doran's ability.  When I went to swing on my next turn, they scooped.  In the second game, they got Sygg out on turn three, and I Tweezed it on my next turn.  They followed that up with Thoughtweft Imbuer, which turned out to be an absolute beast even with only two Kithkin.  I did get Doran out on turn 6, but this time they hit it with Noggle the Mind, which was the right thing.  The game slowed down and I wound up hitting other things with removal (e.g. Gravelgill Scoundrel) when I probably should have focused on the Imbuer instead.  In the end, they played value creatures and ground me out.  The third game was another fast one.  I got Rooftop Percher out on turn 4 with Springleaf Drum, but they just had so many killer enchantments (e.g. the Blossombinds, Noggle the Minds, and Spiral into Solitude).  I managed to cast Shinestriker, draw three creatures, and then play them all on that same turn, but they did not have a big effect.  We went to turns, but I died on turn 3.  0-1.

Between rounds one and two, the Wizards tournament software crashed, so there was a bit of a break.  I don't know whether it got restored or the judge had to hand-match us, but we got moving again.  This time I was up against a new opponent playing a Sultai deck.  I blew game one by keeping a (second) hand that I shouldn't've.  Game two looked tough, but then I played Shinestriker and got Kinbinding from it.  I won off of that value.  In game three I had some gas but I drew land after land.  I thought I would be able to come back multiple times, but it just didn't happen.  0-2.

In the third round I was again paired with a new opponent.  They were running a nifty Selesnya deck.  In the first game they were stuck on only white mana and I was able to capitalize with both Foragming Wickermaws into Doran on turn four to win quickly.  (The Wickermaws' color changing ability even let me cast Prismatic Undercurrents with vivid of five on the next turn.)  In game two, they played Wistfulness and built up quite a board.  I did get Doran down, but I made some bad value judgments.  They played a Celestial Reunion for seven to find Kithkeeper and won with that.  In game three I got my favorite turn three Formidable Speaker to find and cast Doran on the next turn.  We went to time, but I won on turn two of five.  1-2.

This deck was wonderfully fun to play.  All of my games seemed good and the losses were really hard fought.  It was weird how I could aggro out some times if I dropped Doran early on.  I know that's not a thing you can plan on, but it is definitely fun.  I'm really looking forward to drafting this set!

Happy Lorwyn Magicking!