Clue of Creation (WUBRG Drafting)

Ravnica Clue wacky drafting is an amazing format.  Not only are the rules fun, but it's a way to rescue a draft when you only have three people.  That's what happened this week when I only had two guests coming for a draft on Thursday evening.  A "vanilla" wacky draft really needs a minimum of four people to fire, but three makes for a fun night if you add in the Clue rules.  My two guests were very cool with Clue ("clool"?) so we kept the date and played what was one of the best Clue games I've had!

We picked a really good mix of packs, including a new Hobbit pack.  

Nine great packs and three hidden cards!

I opened Song of Creation and decided to give that a go.  I realized that I'd need to build around it a bit so I kept my eyes open for cards I could cast from places other than my hand.  (I didn't see much.)  This actually would have been a great time to be doing a "progressive draft" (is that the right term?) where you choose your next pack after each round.  Then I could have opened Secrets of Strixhaven for packs two and three to get some prepared creatures.  Here are all my picks:

Radagast doesn't combo great with the Song.

As you can see, I did not do a great job of drafting around the Song.  Not much in the way of prepared, adventures, or flashback-type spells.  I was determined to run it anyways because... because it's a three-color spell in my five-color deck.  Here are some other things I was doing while drafting:

• I drafted a bunch of landcyclers and kept my eyes open for necromancy spells (along the lines of Raise Dead or Animate Dead) but I only got Corpse Churn in the first pack.  I did also get Rooting Moloch which could serve the same purpose, however.  
• When I picked the Elvenking's Halls in pack three, I thought to myself that it would be great if I could pick all three multi-lands in a row.  Then I grabbed the Avenger's Hangar and Azorius Guildgate in my next two picks.  Awesome!  It feels really good to have six mana-fixing lands for this, especially since Clue provides Treasures that can go a long way in fixing too.
• I got a lot of other fixing too!  I don't know how I got so lucky, especially at a table with only two other people.  I didn't even run the Doc Samson I grabbed.   

Here's the deck I built from those picks:

No Doc Samson needed here.

We dealt out the Clue cards and rolled to see who was up first.  

One suspect, one weapon, and four rooms, a good distribution of cards.

I won the roll, so:

• Player 1 was me,
• Player 2 was on Boros, and
• Player 3 was running Jeskai.  

We decided to play a 20-life game.  This might seem incorrect, because the original Ravnica Clue rules call for 30 life, but after a couple of times wacky drafting with three people, 20 seems much better.  It turned out to be the right call. 

Player two started us off with a Fire Nation Cadets on the first turn.  No one cast anything until their next turn either, so they dropped Wingnut and then hit P3 with the Cadets.  They guessed Apothecary White, Candlestick, and the Conservatory.  P3 showed them a card and took their Treasure token.  P3 did have a play on turn two and cast Oin the Brave, who did a ton of rummaging for them during the game.

On turn three I played Fertilid.  I had Song of Creation in my opening hand and was looking forward to getting more things out of my hand so I could play it more safely, but it would have to wait.  P2 cast Foot Elite and then attacked and hit us both.  (I was not willing to put my Ferilid in harm's way.)  They guessed Mustard, Knife, and Billiard Room.  Thankfully P3 had a card to show, so I didn't have to reveal anything.  That gave P3 another treasure, which meant they were already Storied!  On their turn they played a Boros Cluestone then Action News Crew.  They hit me with Oin, naming Emissary Green, the Knife, and the Conservatory.  I had all three of those in hand, and I figured it was best to reveal a room, so I showed them the Conservatory and took my treasure.  

That was a useful treasure, because I played Donatello, Turtle Techie to start off the fourth round of turns and drew my card.  P2 hit us both and guessed Peacock, Wrench, and Study.  Again, P3 had to show a card and I escaped with only damage.  P3 attacked P2 back, but they got blocked.  They dropped Thor Odinson, however, ready to start hitting in.  At the end of turn four, the life totals were me: 14, P2: 20, P3: 11.

On turn five, I hit P2 with Donatello and guessed Mastermind Plum, the Rope, and the Kitchen.  They showed me the Rope.  They cast Unsubtle Mockery to kill Thor and then attacked us both, but I blocked with Fertilid and used both counters to go ramping.  They guessed Plum, Pipe, and Dining Room on P3, who showed them a card.  P3 hit me and guessed Green, Knife, and Dining Room.  Again, I had all three, and I could again just reveal the room.  Unfortunately, since P3 had asked me two similar suggestion-questions that differed by only one card, P2 vocally pointed out that they knew I had the Conservatory from the first guess.  Oof!  P3 played Ultron Drone, powered it up, and passed, ending the turn with life totals at me: 12, P2: 17, and P3: 10.

I played Zog, Triceraton Castaway to start off turn six and then hit P2 with Donatello.  I guessed Headliner Scarlett, the Candlestick, and the Ballroom.  They showed me the Ballroom.  I played Mindful Biomancer and passed the turn.  P2 played Jessica Jones, Private Eye (this card is so good) and then hit P3 with Wingnut.  They guessed Emissary Green, the Wrench, and the Secret Passage.  I had all three of those cards, so P3 had to pass.  

Photo from around this point.

On their turn, P3 played Speedball, New Warrior and I Corpse Churned for the Fertilid.  The life totals were me: 13, P2: 14, P3: 9.

I attacked P2 with Zog on the seventh turn.  They responded by "channeling" Team Avatar, but I responded with Stolen Stark Tech.  Since Zog was now indestructible and trampling, they didn't block.  I guessed Emissary Green, the Lead Pipe, and the Library; they showed me the Library.  On their turn, P2 punished me by playing Spider-Woman, Secret Agent and tapping Zog, who would be locked down for the rest of the game.  Then they hit me, guessing Emissary Green, the Knife, and the Secret Passage.  It seemed like my opponents were really focused on Emissary Green and the Knife, so I showed P2 the Secret Passage to keep them guessing.  P3 cast Don & Raph, Hard Science.  The life totals ended with me: 12, P2: 8, P3: 9.  I was in a strong place both in life and Clue-knowledge.

I drew Species Gorger on turn 9 and had nine lands.  That seemed like the perfect combo with Song of Creation, so I cast the Gorger first, then the Creation.  We had a discussion about how things happen with the beginning of the end step actions.  (Could I discard before choosing whether to Collect Evidence 6 to make a suggestion?)  I had enough in my yard that it didn't matter, but I'm still curious.  I collected the evidence and guessed Apothecary White, the Knife, and the Study.  P2 passed, but P3 showed me Apothecary White.  Player 2 then cast Renounce the Guilds, and I was faced with a faux Villanous Choice.

P2 and P3's choices were obvious, but mine was not.

I made what is almost certainly the wrong choice and kept the Song of Creation.  P2 attacked me and I chump blocked with Mindful Biomancer.  Then they collected evidence 6 and guessed Emissary Green, the Knife, and the Kitchen.  I was lucky enough to again have all three, so I continued my strategy and showed them the Kitchen.  P3 hit both of us and guessed Headliner Scarlett, the Wrench, and the Secret Passage.  I had to show them the Secret Passage.  I had 8 life, P2 had 6, and P3 had 9.

Why was the Species Gorger the wrong choice?  Because of some other bad choices I made on my ninth turn.  I got really lucky in that I topdecked a spell.  I attacked P3 with Donatello, and they cast Wilt in the Heat to kill him.  I cast Ant-Man, Colony Commander, which I'd drawn and drew into Cycle of Renewal and Knight of Wundagore.  I cast the Cyce of Renewal because I wanted to thin out the lands in my deck and because I'm an idiot.  I then cast Knight of Wundagore and moved to the end of turn to Collect Evidence 6.  (I had plenty in my yard now.)  I guessed Commander Mustard, the Wrench, and the Hall.  P2 showed me the Hall.  I realized I was an idiot because I counted my library to find only eight cards.  I could cast a maximum of two more spells this game.  I would need to win on Clue.  P2 cast Ferocious Tigorilla then hit me with Wingnut.  They guessed Emissary Green, the Knife, and the Study.  I finally had to reveal a non-room and chose to show them Emissary Green.  My secrets were coming out!  P3 cast H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit and then Collected Evidence 6 to also guess Emissary Green, the Knife, and the Study.  I also showed them Emissary Green.  (Is that the right thing to do?)  The life totals were me: 7, P2: 6, and P3: 9.

Turn ten started off with me attacking P2, who blocked and traded.  Then I cast Great Fierce Bee, which seemed like a good idea because of the scrying.  (I should have cast it pre-combat.)  I collected evidence 6, guessing Senator Peacock, the Candlestick, and the Lounge.  P2 showed me the Lounge.  P2 went right to the end step and collected evidence 6 for Mastermind Plum, the Knife, and the Dining Room.  P3 passed so I had to show them the Knife, my last great secret.  P3 also went right to the end step and guessed Headliner Scarlett, the Wrench, and the Study.  I passed and P2 showed a card.  P3 thought for a while, then passed saying "Oh man, so close!"  The life totals were still 7, 6, and 9.

I drew a land on turn eleven and also jumped right to my end step.  I guessed Headliner Scarlett, the Candlestick, and the Study.  P2 showed me Headliner Scarlett.  I also felt like I was really close.  Maybe I could have figured it out from the information I had so far (let me know if you can) but I didn't, so I passed the turn.  P2 played Goblin Plate Mail and then Web Up on H.E.R.B.I.E.  They didn't attack, though, and jumped right to collecting evidence.  They guessed Mastermind Plum, the Wrench, and the Study.  P2 and I both passed.  They accused the same thing and got it correct to win!

This was one of the best Clue games I've had!  The life totals all got pretty low and everyone seemed to be close to solving the murder.  I think I need to improve my deduction skills and ask better questions.  Right now I mostly just shoot in the dark with cards I haven't guessed yet.   

Another draft saved by Clue in an awesome way!  Happy Murder-solving Magicking!

The Hobbit Draft (WUBRG Drafting)

The Hobbit prerelease was at the beginning of August, but this past weekend my FLGS had enough packs to facilitate its first Hobbit draft.  They weren't play boosters from a box, but cardboard-covered blister packs for individual purchase.  (They finally got their shipment of play booster boxes in the day I started writing this, and delays on the next set have already been announced a month before that set releases.)  

Weird but okay.

We had enough for twelve people, so we split into two pods of six.  That's great for a lot of people, but I continue to believe that a bigger table is better for my draft style.  Here's what I drafted:

There are some fancy-looking cards there!

I do think I made a mistake right off the bat.  I first picked that Bilbo, Luckweaver over An Unexpected Party, which is really strong in limited.  I don't have an explanation; I don't know why I did that!  Apparently Black is the consensus best color of this set, but I didn't get much of that.  I very nearly drafted Bilbo-tribal, except I didn't get any copies of Bilbo Baggins, Burglar!  I also checked my picks at the end of pack one and realized I was only in Bant, so I made sure to grab my last two colors in pack two, to avoid being a fraud.  Most important, though, is that I took four Giant's Boulder, a card that is good for me with all three of its abilities.

Here's the deck I was running at the end of the draft matches.  (Why would he say it like that?  Maybe for foreshadowing?)

No one can defeat the Quad-Boulder!

The five lands were pretty good for a six-person pod in a set with basic lands in packs and I even used the Iron Hills' ability multiple times.  My curve here was really low, though, which is weird for me.  I was hopeful I could keep up with the speed of other decks!

In the first round I was up against a Rakdos deck played by a friend who I've faced a lot at store events recently.  I got a Giant's Boulder right off the bat, but they played Gollum the Abandoned on turn two and then Goblin-town Flunkies on the next turn.  I played Ori, Keeper of Songs, but they hit it with Pinecone Strike and then played a second Gollum the Abandoned post combat to hit me with the ETB effect again.  I played Iron Hills Blacksmith, but they didn't flinch and swung in again.  I killed Gollum with Magnificent End, but they sacrificed their other creature to get it back and replayed it.  I was in trouble at six life against twenty.  They attacked and I flashed in Little Bear to hold them off.  They played Smaug, Wicked Wurm, but I hit it with Stone by Sunlight.  I got aggressive and started to hit back.  I put them to nine life and started to think I was safe.  They flashed in Head of the Hunt, hit me on the next turn for four and then played Gollum to end it.

The second game went too fast for me to take good notes.  I know that I held on to Bilbo, Luckweaver in case I needed to trade for a good creature.  All that got me was being in this situation at the end of the game.

I would like to trade your Smaug for one of my non-existent creatures.

 

Oof.  0-1.  

 

In the second round I was up against another of my friends, who wasn't very friendly with Part in Friendship.  

Not this time, Pinkie Pie.

 

In the first game I had a good thing going against their Golgari deck until they played Part in Friendship on turn five.  Their deck consisted of big green beaters including multiple copies of Boughside Wanderers, at least two Wilderland Scroungers, and Galion among others.  It was clear I could not keep up with them auto-replacing all their deaths and I found myself in a familiar situation with only Bilbo, Luckweaver.  

I was less salty because I hadn't been holding it.

 

After that first game loss, I desperately sideboarded to remove removal and replace it with delaying cards such as Velvetwing Butterflies.  In the second game I got off to a fast start with my cheaper creatures.  They played Part in Friendship late, but I had Giant's Boulder up with seven untapped mana and held it off to pull out the win.  

In the third game, they realized just how good their Notary Hobbits were and had 15 mana available on turn six!  They played Boughside Wanderers and found... another Boughside Wanderers.  

Hello everything.

I lasted until time was called and then died on turn three.  0-2.

In the third round I was up against another friend, but one who I rarely am pitted against.  They were running "Bearly Jund".  In the first game they had Goblin Plate Mail out on turn two, followed by Great Fierce Bee (an amazing card) on turn three.  The played a second Goblin Plate Mail on turn four and I played Ori to hold them off.  They drew more with Reverent Howl on their turn, but then I responded with Dreaded Bat Cloud and a Giant's Boulder.  They played Goblin-town Flunkies and then a Rage into the Valley.  After huge value off of the Bee, I finally hit it with Enchanted River's Grasp.  They played a Crude Bent Blade and I flashed in Little Bear.  I attacked to put them to five against my four life.  I played Dwarven Provisioner and used the Iron Hills to pump it up.  I was going to pull it off!  And then they played Beorn, Reluctant Host.  I used my last Iron Hills, but it wasn't enough.

In game two I had a fast start, with a Giant's Boulder into Bilbo, Luckweaver, into Ori, Keeper of Songs.  I continued to be aggressive and got slightly ahead, six life to five, and pulled off the win.  They had Beorn the Fierce in their hand, but didn't have the second green to cast it!   

The third game was another tight one.  We went to turns and I pulled out the win on turn five!  Again they didn't have the second green to cast the Beorn the Fierce in their hand.  Yuck!  1-2.

Bonus Round!  My resident Ravnica Clue hype starter brought their set and we played a game with our draft decks.  Well, most of a game.  Both of my opponents were from the other pod: Player 1 was running Boros Dwarves, Player 2 was me, and Player 3 was playing Rakdos Goblins.  

Here're my Clue cards.

I didn't take great notes, but on turn four I made a classic multiplayer blunder and overextended after hitting for the second time.  I took some heat but I continued to get in on people the next turn and was making a good dent in my sheet.  Everyone kept showing me their suspects so I was narrowing it down quickly.  On turn six, Player 1 cast Stone Giant of High Pass, which granted them archenemy status pretty quickly.  

Sometime during the turn after the Stone Giant landed.

I cast Balin, Loremaster on turn seven and then the manager declared they were closing up the shop!  We decided to write down our best guesses and see who was closest.  I thought I was in good shape because I had just figured out that Mastermind Plum was the killer.  When we revealed our guesses (we wrote them down) I got the suspect right, but Player 2 got both the suspect and the weapon correct.  We didn't quite finish right, but it was still really fun!

This draft was great!  I had so many tight games where the win came down to the last few cards, which is always exciting.  And it was super awesome to get to use my deck for more than just the three draft matches.  1-2 isn't a great result, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a ton of fun!

I hope Hobbit cards have arrived in your neck of the woods so you get to play this draft format!  Happy Magicking!

Freepack Draft #(n+13) (WUBRG Drafting)

I ran a draft on Thursday with four students, as early in the semester as I could, using the packs I've built from cards donated to me.  We decided to do single-game rounds because many people didn't have much time.  I thought I might have a hard time getting dual lands, but a lot of them came around to me.  Here's everything I picked:

I also first-picked two of them.

Here's the deck I put together.  It's fun to only need six basic lands!

The table was busy, so my comforter is the backdrop this time.

I got all my matches in before people left, thankfully.  In the first round I was up against a swift Boros deck.  They had a Felidar Cub out on turn two, then bestowed it with Mogis's Warhound on turn three.  Thankfully, I had Runic Shot on my third turn to cut it in half.  They didn't slow down, though, and ran out Clarion Cathars.  I played Rhox War Monk on my fourth turn to try and keep things at bay.  They cast Bonded Construct, swung in, and then cast Touch of the Void to kill my Monk after combat.  I cast Unified Front on my turn to slow things down.  They played Dwarven Forge-Chanter.  I passed and then they started swinging again.  I cast Void Grafter to block the Dwarf and then cast Glowspore Shaman on my seventh turn.  Since the board started to gum up (I played more strong creatures), I couldn't keep up with my notes until my opponent dropped Coalition Warbrute.  Thankfully I drew into Infused Arrows.  They played Resolute Blademaster. to again move ahead.  I took that back with Garrison Sergeant.  I played Ruin Processor the next turn and it was over.  1-0.

In the second round I was up against a Selesnya deck with lots of mana.  I got my Glowspore Shaman out on turn two.  They responded with a (face down) Mysterious Creature on the next turn and then Market Festival the next.  I hit the disguised creature with Runic Shot (paying the ward and kicker).  (I don't recall what it actually was.)  They played Pharika's Disciple and Baloth Pup on their turn.  I got my favorite Infused Arrows again and immediately took out the Disciple.  They played Giant Mantis and Harvestguard Alseids on their sixth turn but I dropped Kozilek's Channeler to keep the board kinda even.  On their next turn they played Slip on the Ring to make the Mantis their ringbearer and skulked past my Channeler.  I played Unified Front to avoid taking more skulk damage, but on their turn eight they took out my Channeler with Mighty Leap and Prey Upon (maybe with the Alseids?) and then attacked me with it and the Mantis.  I blocked with all of my tokens and then used my last Infused Arrow to save one of them.  (I think I got confused about Prey Upon and thought it was a "bite" card, not a "fight" card.)  On my turn I played Voyage Home and Pathway Arrows.  After a few passed turns, I played Ulamog's Nullifier and won on turn ten.  2-0.

In round three I was up against someone who had built a bit around Grim Guardian in a previous freepack draft.  They ran one again this time in their Golgari deck, but I didn't get to see it.  This time I kept a two-land hand.  They led off with Pacification Array on turn one, then Leech Fanatic on turn three and Cautious Survivor on turn four.  It wasn't fast, but it was enough since I continued to be stuck on two lands.  I finally cast Glowspore Shaman on turn seven or eight, but it was too little, too late.  2-1.

In round four I was up against a relatively new player.  They started setting up some pieces with Implement of Combusion and Kefnet's Monument on turns two and three.  I played the first creature on my third turn with a 3/4 Tajuru Stalwart.  They played Vile Aggregate on turn four, then I played Arcus Acolyte, then I played Void Grafter.  I tried a successful attack, but they cast Jace's Scrutiny.  They also Negated my Runic Shot.  I kept the pressure up on my next turn, though, and cast Unified Front.  On turn eight, my opponent cast Murk Strider, Mist Intruder, and Essence Scattered my Garrison Sergeant.  I still kept attacking in, though, and won shortly after.  3-1.

I really appreciate all the people that have donated cards to me in the past that make these free drafts possible!  I know people often want to get rid of bulk, but it's not nothing to hand these cards off to me and I love running these for students.  It's not a long list, so Thank You!

And Happy Magicking! 

Rooms for more Clue Chaos (WUBRG Drafting)

The Hobbits are having trouble leaving the Shire.  While I wait for my FLGS to get play booster boxes, I got two friends together and we did a wacky Clue draft.  (Although I generally want four people total to run a draft, I've found that three works quite well with Ravnica: Clue, so we did that.  We decided on 30 life, because there were only three of us and we would each have six Clue cards in our hand.

I just finished watching Avatar this weekend, which I had started because the set came out last year.  Naturally, I was excited to include an Avatar pack!  Here's what we opened:

Would I get a companion to build around this time?

Yet again I failed to open a companion, but I did get something fun to focus on nonetheless.  I took Luminous Broodmoth and actively avoided flying creatures for the rest of the draft.  I opened Intruder Alarm in pack two and hoped I could find more creatures with tap abilities and mana dorks, but I came up mostly empty.  Perhaps the most important was pack three, however, where I got super lucky and picked up four fixing lands!  Here were all my picks:

Reminder: the lack of flyers is on purpose.

With those cards, I built a deck with a very low curve!  

Low for me, anyways.

I felt like I had a lot of useful combo pieces as well as efficient enough creatures that I could get in early and try to solve Guildmage Boddy's murder.  We sorted out the Clue cards, put one of each into the solution sleeve, then shuffled up and dealt the rest.

My hand.

Oh no!  Six rooms!  I knew nothing about the suspects or weapons!  I won the die roll to go first, mulliganed my first hand and kept a risky two-lander.  (Thankfully I drew lands the first two turns.)  My two opponents, P2 and P3, were both running Grixis.  No wonder I'd been able to get my hands on those three white dual lands!

The first round of turns passed with just lands, and only P3 had a play in turn two with a Hexing Squelcher.  

On turn three I played a face down Museum Nightwatch.  P3 cast Charging Strifeknight and hit both of us.  They guessed Scarlett, Rope, and Conservatory and I had to show them the Conservatory.  At least I got a treasure!

On turn four I cast Kyoshi Warriors, then attacked and hit P3 with my Mysterious Creature.  I needed to learn something (anything) about the suspects and weapons, so I made a guess with a room I already had: Green, Wrench, and Hall.  P3 passed.  P2 cast Waterbending Lesson.  P3 cast Lamplight Phoenix and attacked P2 who had no blockers.  P3 guessed Green, Pipe, and Ballroom and P2 showed a card.  (Obviously not Ballroom, because, y'know, I had that along with all the other rooms.)

For turn five I hit both of my opponents and risked asking about a room I didn't have: White, Knife, and Kitchen.  P2 passed and P3 showed me the Kitchen.  P2 played the very intimidating Azula, Cunning Usurper and targeted P3 with the ability.  P3 didn't let her stay in power, though, and cast Extract a Confession.  Azula was the only creature P2 had, so she died while I just sacrificed my 1/1 ally.  P3 then dropped Lightshell Duo and hit me with the Phoenix since I didn't have any fliers on the board.  They guessed Plum, Rope, and Dining Room and I showed them the Dining Room.  

On turn six, I cast Social Snub and copied it.  It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, though, because P3 was able to sacrifice a creature before the Phoenix and then the Phoenix, and then collect evidence to get the Phoenix back.  I had enough remaining creatures to attack both my opponents, though.  I played the same game I had been playing and guessed Plum, Wrench, and Library.  They both passed.

"Wait, what?" I said out loud before I could stop myself.  I had the Library in my hand, but I had suddenly guessed the murderer and murder weapon!  More importantly, though, because of my idiotic outburst, my opponents knew I hadn't been suspecting that answer.  I still didn't have enough information to make an accusation because I didn't know the room, so I ended my turn without making an accusation.  This meant, though, that my opponents knew I had at least one of those three cards I'd called out.  P2 was still in a bit of catch up, but they played Potioner's Trove and a disguised creature.  P3's Phoenix was still something I couldn't block.  They hit me and guessed the same cards I had guessed.  I showed them my library and feared they also knew the correct suspect and weapon.

I needed to throw them off the scent, so on turn seven I hit both opponents again and named Scarlett, Candlestick, and the Billiard Room.  P2 showed me Scarlett.  I cast Gnarlbark Elm and Joined Researchers and the latter became prepared at the end of the turn.  On their turn, P2 cast Sneering Shadewriter and then hit P3 with their disguised creature.  They guessed White, Knife, and Ballroom, and P3 showed them one of the first two cards.  P3 played Yuyan Archers and then hit me.  They guessed Mustard, Rope, and the Lounge.  I passed.

Both of my opponents had now made guesses that seemed to ignore Plum and Wrench.  I couldn't zero in on those already again, though.  I attacked both players on turn eight.  P2 cast Tweeze on my Kyoshi Warriors, but I cast Quandrix Charm to make them too big.  P2 decided not to do the trade and took the hit, so I got in on both of them.  I guessed Peacock, Pipe, and Study, trying to narrow down the rooms that I didn't have.  I was disappointed (probably visibly so) when P2 showed me Senator Peacock.  I cast the Joined Researchers' Secret Rendezvous and Sokka, Lateral Strategist.  P2 still had enough cards that the researchers were immediately reprepared.  P2 just collected evidence 6 on their turn to guess Mustard, Candlestick, and Secret Passage.  P3 showed them a card.  P3 hit me with that dang Phoenix and guessed Mustard, Wrench, and Secret Passage, which I passed to.  Then they dropped Skyskipper Duo.  

It was down to two rooms: Study and Secret Passage.  On turn nine I figured it was time to go all in on Secret Passage, especially since both of my opponents had guessed it last turn.  I attacked both of my opponents, including with Sokka so I could draw.  P2 flipped their creature into Riftburst Hellion and blocked.  P3 also blocked.  I don't know why I thought I would be able to get through, but I really did.  Thankfully both of my creatures were blocked.  If one of them had gotten through, I would have been stuck with that for my guess this turn.  Instead, I collected evidence 6 and made the guess: Plum, Wrench, and Secret Passage.  Pass and pass!  I accused the same thing, checked the envelope, and won.  

There are some things to unpack:

• I obviously got amazingly lucky!  All my cards were in one group and I randomly guessed the other two on my third try.  I very nearly messed up that advantage, but I managed to come back around and figure it out.
• We ended the game with everyone at around 15 life.  I think that 30 life is a bit too much for drafting with three people.  
• It was really weird to not play any flyers.  I didn't like being completely open to flying attacks.  
• I cast Secret Rendezvous on my last turn because I really wanted to draw into one of my cool combolicious cards.  The neatest part of my deck that came into play was the Joined Researchers.  (Which was admittedly still pretty cool!)  

The only thing I have left to say is that I love Clue limited, especially wacky drafting.  It is a fantastic format that I hope everyone gets to experience.  Happy Magicking!

Hobbit Prerelease (WUBRG Sealed)

Sadly, I can't title this one WUBRG Wargs!  

I went to a Hobbit prerelease last night at my FLGS Intergalactic Plastic.  Here's what I opened:

Not pictured: the Azog, Moria's Ruin "promo" that I got and forgot about until the end of deckbuilding.

I really struggled with deckbuilding here.  It's harder in sealed than in drafts; the card pool is much larger yet I have less fixing than I generally pull from drafts.  It's harder to get all five colors to work, as you'll see here.  Here's the deck I had at the end of the night, though the original version was much different:

Most importantly, I cut the Crude Bent Blades because the sacrficing seemed really bad with a bunch of Enchanted River's Grasps.

In the first round I was matched up against an opponent at their second prerelease.  Despite their newness, they had a great grasp of how good their cards were.  (I would call their Mardu deck "Seek the Smaug".)  I played Giant's Boulder (which is an absolutely amazing card for everything I'm trying to do) and they played Nori, Teller of Tales on turn two.  I followed that up with Dáin Ironfoot and then they played The Arkenstone's adventure, Seek the Heart, to tutor up Smaug the Magnificent.  I spent turn four playing Ragged Short Spear and Ravening Warg, but they dropped Smaug, hit me, and it was clear I was in trouble.  I attached the spear to the Warg on the next turn and swung in with the Ferocious trigger and double strike on both my creatures.  I followed that up with Goblin Plate Mail, so I wasn't out of it yet.  They played Sting, Bilbo's Sword on their fifth turn to take the tide back, then Fearsome Goblin Pair, which is a great card.  On my sixth turn I attacked with both creatures and probably shouldn't've.  After they hit me again, I drew for my turn and scooped.

In the second game, I played Old Thrush on turn two and got jealous when they played Thror's Map.  I passed and they cast Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills.  Thankfully I had The Chief Warg on the next turn.  They followed that up with Dwarven Shortsword.  I played Azog, Moria's Ruin (who, you'll notice, is not in the final version of the deck) and sacrificed my thrush to get a goblin army and a card.  My opponent played Iron Hills Stalwart.  On turn six, I played Giant's Boulder, Ravening Warg, and Enchanted River's Grasp on the Stalwart.  They dropped Ori, Keeper of Songs and the board was pretty well gummed up at that point.  On their next turn, they Stirred Up Trouble, to kill my Ravening Warg.  On turn eight, I played The Black Arrow and equipped my Chief Warg to attack and get the Ferocious bonus card.  They cast Seek the Heart to go get Smaug, cast him, and attacked.  Thankfully, I had another Enchanted River's Grasp, which I locked Smaug down with next turn.  I also attacked with (my) Dain and played Guardian of the Halls.  My opponent played Bilbo's Deadly Slice to kill (my) Dain on their turn, but on the next turn I was able to cast Thranduil, the Elvenking and keep attacking.  My opponent played the Arkenstone and Sting, but Thranduil was big enough that I won.

For game three, my opponent wanted to be on the draw.  I got the Ragged Short Spear out on turn two.  They played their own Old Thrush.  I played Ravening Warg and they cast The Mountain King's Return, another cool card, and smartly discarded Fearsome Goblin Pair to it.  I played Ravenhill Flock on turn four.  I play Toothy in EDH (the deck is called "Pir and Toothy go to the Library") so I know how good those draw for counters creatures are.  They got their Goblin Pair the next turn and then immediately Stirred Up Trouble, sacrificing it to kill my Ravening Warg.  With three mana left, they--you guessed it---Seeked the Heart to get Smaug.  I played The Chief Warg on my next turn and they played The Arkenstone.  (They were missing a second red source for Smaug!)  I played Thranduil, Sindarin Liege and made a bad attack, losing my Chief Warg.  They couldn't cast Smaug, but they did have Head of the Hunt, which is really good.  Two turns later, at the beginning of turn eight, Turns were called and I cast Stone-Giant of High Pass.  My opponent had never gone to turns before, so I explained it.  On their turn (Turn 1) they played Thror's Map to get a mountain and summon Smaug and attack.  On my next turn (Turn 2) I attacked well and then killed two creatures with the Stone-Giant's ability.  I foolishly didn't take out the Head of the Hunt first and my opponent got two wolf tokens.  My opponent attacked back on Turn 3 but didn't take me out.  With my beefy Ravenhill Flock and the Stone-Giant, I swung in, put them at four, then sacrificed the new wall to hit them for lethal.  1-0.

In round one, my opponent had played Smaug each game.  In round two, I was up against a Golgari "Fierce and Ferocious" deck, piloted by someone who often drafts with me.  I went first, but they played a Nighthowl Pursuer on turn one that would wind up doing me a bunch of damage.  I played Old Thursh on turn two and they played Troop of Ponies, the second 2-drop colorless card that made me jealous.  They sacrificed it to ramp on turn three.  On turn four I drew and played a second Old Thrush, which they outclassed on their turn with Beorn the Fierce.  Thankfully I had an Enchanted River's Grasp for it on turn five.  They spent turn five playing two Crude Bent Blades that killed both of my Thrushes.  

Bye bye, birdies.

On turn six I cast Gandalf, Wandering Wizard and felt pretty good.  That confidence was misplaced because of a Little Bear.  That stupid little bear untapped Beorn, who attacked and with the power of a Reverent Howl slapped me down to 4 life, putting them to 27.  I played The Chief Warg and Ravening Warg the next turn.  They attacked again, putting me to 1 life.  I played Dain, Ironfoot, but on their turn they Stirred Up Trouble to limit by blockers.  I had nothing to do on turn nine and they attacked to kill me, with Smaug, Wicked Wurm in hand.  

In game two, Nighthowl Pursuer hit the board right away again.  Then I played Old Thrush.  They cast Wargling on their second turn, dispelling the deja vu, thankfully.  I had Dain Ironfoot on turn three and Ravenhill Flock on turn four before they flashed in Little Bear.  My opponent didn't give the ravens a chance to flock, though, and Quarreled it on their fourth turn.  After attacking, they were winning 13 to 16.  I played Goblin Plate Mail, and attacked but once again they played Beorn the Fierce.  That triggered all the ferocity and I went to 5 life.  I cast The Chief Warg, but it wasn't enough.  They used Beorn's ability (which we'd missed before) and it was all over.  1-1.

That round was very quick.  Thankfully my opponent was willing to play more.  They beat me in a third game with the deck (Beorn again!) and then borrowed another friend's deck to whip me a fourth time.  After that I made a bunch of changes to my deck to get the version pictured above.  In particular, they told me about the Thrandul, the Elvenking combo with Guardian of the Halls and Woodland Weavemaster, so I added the Weavemaster to the deck.  I had been having trouble figuring out what to keep in for White (my plans with equipment and dwarves hadn't really panned out) but my friend advised that I put An Unexpected Party in, which was a good call: even if I didn't get the second white source, the adventure was worth it.  

In round three, I was up against another skilled opponent that is a regular at Intergalactic Plastic, who was running a strong Mardu deck.  (This round was quite intense and my notes are sparse due to my concentration on the game, sorry!)  I again had Old Thrush on turn two.  The next play was on their turn four with Dwarven Provisioner.  I cast Thranduil, the Elvenking on turn five, but they had a Bilbo's Deadly Slice for it.  I recovered the next turn with Gandalf, Wandering Wizard.  They played Gollum, Silent Slinker and a Ravening Warg.  I played Guardian of the Halls, which they outclassed with Esgaroth Garrison.  The game dragged on, but I got out a second Elvenking and won with it.

In game two, I got hit early.  I went to 1 life against their 18, but I held on.  I got the Elvenking combo with both elves so I could pump it up.  Many times my opponent made a play that seemed like it would spell my demise, but I got around it on my turn.  I must have been at 1 for over five turns before I started to turn the game around and at least ten turns before I won.  (I think I won with the Stone-Giant this time.)  This was pretty criminal.  The probability I was going to win that game was vanishingly small and didn't tip to my side until the very end.  I got very lucky.  2-1.

2-1 is respectable, but that could have easily been 0-3.  I squeaked out round one, got mauled in round two, and then won round three on the smallest of life margins.  I-... oh, it's not time for the post-mortem yet because my friend wants to play a third game with me!

In bonus round four, I was up against the player who had helped me fix my deck up after round two.  They were running Simic, which I assumed meant Elves, but instead it was just lots of card draw.  They won in three games, and had multiple copies of good cards like Old Fat Spider Can't See Me, Bilbo Baggins, Burglar, and Lakeshore Apothecary.  I did not take notes and I'm not even sure how I won a game.  (They frequently read these posts, so maybe they'll chime in in the hard-to-use comments.)

This was officially a 2-1, kinda a 2-2, and something that was very close to a 0-4.  I really don't trust my sealed deckbuilding skills.  I hope I get some good comments about how I should have built my deck differently.  The one thing I realize is that I definitely should have run my Mirkwood Nurturers.  They would have worked great with many of the cards in my deck, including the Old Thrushes and the Ragged Short Spear.  With them it might have even been worthwhile to put the Crude Bent Blades in too!

No matter what, I had a really great time.  Happy Hobbit Magicking to you! 

Finding Thunder and Lightning in Chaos (WUBRG Drafting)

Apparently Thor has been a Marvel villain a few times, such as during the Blood and Thunder storyline.  I had Lightning, Thunderbolts, and Villains in last night's draft, so maybe that was me.  I'm already way ahead of myself, though.  I got some people over and we drafted a bunch of fun packs:

Lots of Super Heroes and a mish-mash for everything else.

Here are all my picks:

A bit unfocused, but there's no way to be unhappy with this pile.

After taking The Dawning Archaic second, I pushed towards instants and sorceries spellslinger-style.  I took the Regal Leosaur to have more than just one Mutate creature.  In the second pack, I was thrilled to open Cosmic Cube and then saw Thunderbolts Conspiracy and figured I could work to make that happen.  I got a few more Villains and went deeper into Black in the rest of pack two and then even further in pack three.  Also in pack three, I tried to make Castle Doom work, but I decided in the end it wasn't worth it.  The other Archaic (Rancorous) was an obvious choice.  I took Labratory Maniac because I had a couple big draw spells (Boon of the Wish-Giver and Steal the Show) and if those went off twice with the Dawning Archaic, I might have a second win condition.  (The obvious flaw in that logic is that if the game goes that long, I should be winning anyways.)

Given all of that, here's villanous "Thor" deck that I built:

There are a lot of game winners in here.

That's a bit of a lie.  This isn't what I built right off the bat.  I started the night with Regal Leosaur in instead of the Barbed Bloodletter.  

Nevertheless, this deck seems like a winner.  We had planned to do a round robin, so there would be three rounds.  The curve is pretty low and reaching the late game will be good for me.  Can this deck of bombs go 3-0?  We paired up shuffled.

In the first round, I was up against an Izzet Flyers deck.  My opponent dropped a Goblin Assailant on turn two.  (I miss vanilla creatures.)  I had Lightning, Army of One in my hand, but no red source for a while, so it got in for some damage.   They played Iron Man, Master of Machines on turn four.  I flashed in Thunderbolts Conspiracy, but was still without creatures.  Thankfully, I drew into Firdoch Core and then was able to play Lightning on turn five.  They played Hawkeye's Bow and hit me again with Iron Man, putting me to 11 life.  On turn six, I couldn't safely get in with Lightning.  I had Stolen Stark Tech in my hand, but I elected to cast Rancorous Archaic with full converge instead.  Sadly, that got Temporally Cleansed and they also played Aerial Doombot.  On their attack I killed the Goblin Assailant.  I swung in with Lightning on turn seven, but then they played Goblin Assault Team and came in.  I animated my Core, blocked, and cast Stolen Stark Tech to keep it alive.  I made a big play mistake on the next turn and equipped the Stark Tech to Lightning.  Sadly, Iron Man had the Goblin's +1/+1 counter, so it blocked and safely killed Lightning.  I replayed the Rancorous Archaic, but my opponent had Frozen in Ice the next turn.  I passed on turn eight, but hit the Doombot with Zuko's Exile after they powered it up.  They attacked and I went down to 3 life.  They played First-Time Flyer.  I played Killmonger, Scourge of Wakanda, and took out Iron Man (byebye, Archaic) but they had enough to kill me in the air.  That's okay!  Maybe if I hadn't accidentally sent Lightning to her death, I would have pulled that off.

In game two, they had three good early turns with First-Time Flyer, Seize the Spoils, and Goblin Assault Team on turns two, three, and four, putting me to 14 real fast.  I played Oscorp Research Team, perfect for blocking the Goblins.  They dropped Ran and Shaw and I immediately hit that with Zuko's Exile on turn six.  They played Aang's Journey (that's a lesson) then swung in.  I confidently blocked with the Research Team.

Oof, Super Speed.

 

I wasn't out of it yet, though.  I cast Kang, Temporal Tyrant, who put in work for me all night.  Kang pales in comparison to Prismari, the Inspiration, which my opponent dropped next.  I had 9 life.  My opponent had nine flying power.  I cast Pull from the Grave to last another turn, but they played Vibranium Energy Daggers on their turn.  0-1.

Okay, maybe I lost because of a bad play mistake and because I couldn't deal with multiple dragons.  I'm still had a great deck with all kinds of bombs.  I shuffled up and played against my next opponent, running a Simic Clones, Life, and Counters deck.  They started off with a turn one Adventurous Impulse.  I played Lunatic Pandora on turn two.  (I am very curious about a strategy decision I made over and over: if I have a tap land and two basics in my hand, should I play a tap land on turn one or play the Lunatic Pandora?  I chose to play the land because I didn't feel like thinking about it.)  They followed that up with A.I.M. Synthoids.  I played Firdoch Core on turn three and then they played Hellcat, Undying Vigilante.  (I love the flavor of the name and ability.)  They cast Zimone's Experiment, which is a great card.  I dropped the Cosmic Cube on turn five and went to attack with an animated Firdoch Core on the next turn.  My opponent beat me to the punch, however, by flashing in Tigra and then Band Together to kill my Core before moving to attacks.  

No Cosmic Cube trigger for me!

They played Pterafractyl with five counters and I played Kang on my seventh turn.  I cast Pull from the Grave with no targets just to stay alive.  My opponent cast Omni-Changeling to get their own Kang and put me to 1 life.  I attacked on turn eight and got Killmonger from the Cube.  I was able to take out the Pterafractyl, but needed one more blocker to stay in the game.  That game seemed really close!

In game two, I got Lunatic Pandora out on turn two again.  My opponent played Shopkeeper's Bane, which combos great with their Tigra.  I played Oscorp Research Team on turn four, but they continued to attack in safely for a bit.  They played Zimone's Experiment again and got Flux Channeler and another clone: Spark Double.  I played a powered-up Ninja of the Hand and they played the Channeler.  They dropped a Savage Land Dinosaur (what an amazing card) and I sacrificed the Lunatic Pandora to take it out the next turn.  They played Tigra on their seventh turn, as well as Ant-Man's Army.  I mutated Snapdax onto my Ninja and killed the Shopkeeper.  They Omni-Changeling'ed the Snapdax.  They thankfully couldn't mutate it because the card doesn't have that ability, but they did still get my Snapdax's deathtouch, which was not how I thought mutate worked.  (I am bad with mutate rules.)  Then they used Spark Double to get another non-legendary but still deathtouching Snapdax.  Yikes!  On turn nine, I played Killmonger, sacrificed the Oscorp Research Team, and took out the Spark Double.  Finally, I had the initiative!  I played Cosmic Cube the next turn and attacked, hitting Airbending Lesson from the cube onto the Omni-Changeling.  I attacked again the next turn and got Kang.  I was now in a strong enough position that I was okay with the trade of the two Snapdaxes.  ("Snapdaxen"?)  They played Call Damage Control, but when they couldn't get both creatures back, they scooped.  

On to game thr-... Wait.  My opponent had a flash of insight.  What did I mutate Snapdax onto?  Ninja of the Hand?  That's a human!  You can't mutate onto a human!  (I am really bad with mutate rules.)  I cheated and I cheated bad!  (Not on purpose; I'm just dumb.)  Not only did I cheat, but it was pretty clear I wouldn't have won that game without the mutate trigger.  0-2.  (It was at this point that I went through my deck, counted up all the humans, and then sided out the Regal Leotaur.)

My round two opponent wanted to play a third game against me, since that second one had gone wonky, but the other pair had finished, so we moved on to the next round instead. 

Okay, round three.  My last chance to get a win.  Time to focus.  My opponent had built an aggressive nearly-mono white Boros deck, but maybe I could pull it out.  I played Lunatic Pandora on turn two and they played Feisty Spikeling, then Political Triumph on turn three.  I got Kang out on turn five, but they flashed in Flock Impostor and then played Anti-Venom on their turn.  Turn five!  Thankfully, I had a Zuko's Exile ready for it.  They played Pigment Wrangler on turn six and I played Ninja of the Hand and Domri's Ambush to take out the Wrangler before it could cast Striking Palette.  They flashed in Ambrosia Whiteheart and triggered the Political Triumph.  I had eight life, so I would be able to survive the next attack.  I attacked with Kang to get the trigger and the life, but they cast Spider-Man, to the Rescue to keep me from getting in.  Okay, I was still going to be able to survive the next attack.  I blocked Ambrosia with the Ninja because it could get bigger on future turns.

I chose incorrectly.

Avengers Assemble! took me out. 

Okay, alright, round three, game two.  This was now my last chance for a game win, not to mention trying to win a round.  My deck is so powerful.  This might be my worst match-up, but I do have a chance.  I played the Lunatic Pandora again, but this time on turn one.  My opponent played Political Triumph on turn one.  Then Valiant Rescuer on turn two.  Then Spider-Man, to the Rescue on turn three.  Then Daily Bugle Reporters on turn four.  They played S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier on turn five and I responded to it's entering ability with Zuko's Exile on the Political Triumph to try to stay alive.  

Cue Restoration Magic.

I stayed alive one more turn after that.  0-3.  0-6 in games.

I did squeeze in that bonus game with my round-two opponent and I did win.  They did not go easy on me (though they forgot to unsideboard and didn't have Zimone's Experiment) and even got out a combo with Tigra and Earth Kingdom General.  I stayed in the game with Thunderbolts Conspiracy and a bunch of villans, then I got the Dawning Archaic out and took over the game from there.  That game certainly doesn't officially count, though.

There have got to be some lessons here!  Here's what I'm taking away:

• I still need to read my cards carefully.  I've mentioned this before and somehow I continue to fail at this.  For example, I don't think I fully read Cosmic Cube all night.  Obviously, this also messed me up in the cheat-mutate game.
• I made a lot of other play mistakes.  That doesn't always come out in my recollection of events.  Not only did I make an unsafe attack, I also miscounted potential damage and creatures multiple times.  Someday I'll be a good magic player!
• This deck was hard to play.  There were so many things going on and there were some times where I had to make some risky choices.  (Do I attack while the cube is out and see what I get or do I need to do something else instead?)  
• Sometimes you're going to go 0-3.  It just happens.  It might be luck or bad play or bad deckbuilding or just that everyone built to beat you.  It doesn't matter.
• I had a great time.  Playing Magic is just fun.  Many of my games were really tight and I was hanging on in the margins (or not) for a while.  It's tough to be in that situation, but it's fun to figure out how to stay alive just one more turn.  Not only that, I got to play big splashy cards and even activate Cosmic Cube.  It's also great to watch your friends pull out big moments like winning off of Avengers Assemble that turn.
• It is good and fun to be dragged down to earth amidst your own hubris. 

Happy Magicking, whether you go 0-3 or 3-0!

Khans of Tarkir Draft (WUBRG Drafting)

One of my friends had a Khans of Tarkir box and got myself and ten more people together to do a draft last night.  With the twelve of us we used the entire box!  We split into two pods of six.  Here were all my pulls:

Only one tri-color land!

My three opponents winded up being the person furthest from me while drafting (of course; we were still using the Wizards tournament organizing software), the person drafting to my left (who had the box), and the person to my right.  Importantly, I opened Thousand Winds and didn't take it, thinking I might be able to be a bit aggressive with Monastery Swiftspear instead.  That was a bad choice, as I didn't draft enough spellslinging to make it happen.  Instead I went with playing Clay Spiders, especially after getting Secret Plans as my fourth pick.  Some additional considerations I had while drafting were:

• I had forgotten that Heart-Piercer Bow was in this set and wished I had seen more.  (I won a lot of Core 2020 drafts off the back of that card.)  
• I also really wanted to get some Mystic of the Hidden Ways, which I'd lost a lot to in the past, but I got none.  
• I chose against Efreet Weaponmaster a few times, picking any of the other five-to-flip morphers instead.  I realized after my experiences at Wacky Worlds this year that though it seems like a useful card, it is highly situational.

  Here's what I built with my pool:

I was convinced to kill someone with the Meandering Towershell!

In the first round I was up against an Abzan control deck.  In the first game, I played Heir to the Wilds on the second turn and my opponent answered with Kin-Tree Warden.  I played what might be the best counter to that: Heart-Piercer Bow.  When I attacked, I could target the Warden and my opponent had to tap mana to regenerate it, which would tap it and keep it from blocking.  All that played out that turn and I got in for damage.  I tried that again the next turn, but they cast Kill Shot to take out my Heir.   (I got Kill Shotted a lot last night.)  At least I got to have the bow's damage resolve on the Warden to kill it.  I played my first clay spider (Ponyback Brigade, face down).  On their fifth turn, they played Alabaster Kirin and I played a second Ponyback Brigade face down.  They played their own clay spider and I played my third Ponyback Brigade, still face down.  They cast a very scary Rakshasa Deathdealer and the board was properly gummed up.  The Alabaster Kirin continued to hit me, but I held on.  I drew both my board wipes: Death Frenzy and End Hostilities.  I kept flipping over my brigades, trying to maximize the value of my Death Frenzy, which would kill everything but the Kirin.  I wanted to wait one more turn, but it was one turn too long.  My opponent played one of the two Abzan Ascendancies they drafted and now all their creatures were big enough to survive.  I played End Hostility instead, which, of course, gifted them with five 1/1 spirits.  I had to cast the Death Frenzy the next turn.  My greed had cost me both board wipes instead of one.  However, in the aftermath I played Kheru Lich Lord and my opponent flooded out while I was able to win.

In the second game, my opponent got stuck on only two lands.  I played a turn one Lens of Clarity, which turned out to be really strong all night.  I don't think I've ever played with that card before!  They played the Kin-Tree Warden on their second turn and I played out my Secret Plans, then Heir of the Wilds, and then Seek the Horizon.  My opponent had a Highland Game on turn five, but scooped shortly after I played my Abzan Guide face down.  It's a bummer to win a match in this way.  1-0.

In the second round I was up against the provider of the packs for the draft themself and the person I had passed the most cards to.  They had built a swift Mardu soldiers deck, with many chiefs.  I played Heir of the Wilds on turn two, but they had a Chief of the Scale.  I did not want that to snowball, so I hit it with Suspension Field right away.  Unfortunately, they had Chief of the Edge on the next turn.  I spent my fourth turn playing Seek the Horizon, while they did this:

Oof.

Yeah, that's a Firehoof Cavalry (thankfully not a soldier), a Mardu Hordechief (definitely a soldier) and it's token friend.  The only silver lining is that they didn't play a fifth land for many turns.  I played the Dragon Throne of Tarkir, which turned out to be very helpful.  (I'm still not sure whether I should have been running the second one!  What could I have taken out for it?)  My opponent played Unyielding Krumar and then I cast Monastery Flock face up ready to block it.  My opponent cast a clay spider and on turn seven it was time for a big Death Frenzy.  Nevertheless, my opponent had a Timely Hordemate to get themselves back in the game.  I played a clay spider (Snowhorn Rider) with a very important five land up (WUBRG).  My opponent attacked and I blocked their chief, then flipped the Snowhorn Rider, which ate it.  They played Mardu Skullhunter and the next turn was able to take out my rider with a well-timed Swift Kick.  I got my Lens of Clarity and the game slowed down.  I played Abzan Guide, but it ate an Arrow Storm.  My opponent got the goblins from a Ponyback Brigade and had a big attack with a Trumpet Blast.  I survived, killed enough of them and was able to bounce back.  I played Meandering Towershell and won shortly after with it and the throne.  

In the second game, I had to mulligan twice.  I put up a good fight, but my opponent was able to "Mardu me out" of life.

In the third game, I started off good, but they played Chief of the Scale, then Chief of the Edge on turns two and three again.  I successfully stalled them out and we went to turns.  On turn one of five, I'd lost most of my other blockers, but I had Sorin, Solemn Visitor out and Snowhorn Rider.  I decided attacking was better than blocking, so I gave my creatures lifelink and swung in.

Freaking Kill Shot!

I died to attacks before turns ended.  1-1.

In round three I was up against the drafter to my right.  They were running a Sultai deck chock full of Embodiment of Springs.  They also had lots of Mystic of the Hidden Ways that I had trouble with.  In the first game, they got two Emobidments down in the first few turns, then played a clay spider that turned out to be a Mystic.  They played lands and then more lands and then more lands.  I went down to six life and finally started being able to swing in.  I had to kill them before I took two more hits from the Mystic.  I swung out, put them to 18, but was feeling optimistic.  Then my opponent flipped their clay spider.  Remember that Thousand Winds I hadn't first-picked?  That card had gone all the way around the table to be picked up by my opponent.  They flipped it and sent my tapped-out board to my hand and won shortly after.

In game two, I played Secret Plans on turn two and that proved to be the difference maker.  I played clay spider after clay spider and cracked them open, out valueing my opponent.

In game three, I got lucky early on.  My opponent had a clay spider and a Mystic of the Hidden Way and I cast Death Frenzy out of fear of the Mystic.  The clay spider turned out to be the Thousand Winds!  With two of my opponent's win conditions out of the way, we settled in for a protracted game, though I failed to draw a white source.  Archers' Parapet proved to be quite troublesome.  I had my Hier of the Wilds out as well as a face-down Abzan Guide I couldn't flip over, a Monastery Flock, and the Dragon Throne.  I thought I was going to have a (very slow) edge with my Meandering Towershell.

At least it's not another Kill Shot, I guess.

Time for plan B.  My hand had only Sorin and End Hostilities, both useless without white mana.  I needed to attack with a creature big enough to survive the Smoke Teller.  (Amazingly, my opponent never needed to activate the Smoke Teller and seemed to always know what my creatures actually were.  I don't think I was telegraphing it that badly!)  So, I equipped the Throne to the clay spider and pumped the Heir prior to combat to get the sweet ferocious bonus.  Even more important, however, was the synergy of deathtouch and trample; blocking only soaked one damage.  This was well worth it and I kept the pressure up.  I went to attack again, but my opponent used Icy Blast to keep me at bay for a turn.  They were able to get in for some more damage to keep it close.

What's the most important part of this photo?

That's right, it's the tapped Scoured Barrens!  Even better than trample and deathtouch is trample, deathtouch, and lifelink.  Sorin next turn granted me that and that was enough to pull out the win.  2-1.

This was a really fun draft!  It was great to go back to 2014 and play with these cards again.  All of my matches were really fun.  I'm really glad I got to be a part of this draft!

Happy Magicking, even when it's a trip down Memory Lane!