Outlaws of Thunder Junction (WUBRG Drafting)

I finally got to a Thunder Junction draft!  I played at my local store, Intergalactic Plastic.  I kept hearing that it would be good, and, yes, it certainly is.  5-color deserts is really fun to play.  

There were six of us in the pod, but dual deserts kept coming around.  I picked up four of those, a Conduit Pylons and a Mirage Mesa.  I wasn't looking as carefully for some other mana fixing cards, but I did get an Outcaster Greenblade and a Spinewoods Armadillo.  I would definitely prioritize those higher next time around.

Here's what I drafted overall:

Sorry for the glare!

As you can see, I got a lot of fun cards.  I would call this a Legendary 5-color deserts deck with some ETB synergy.  Here's the deck I put together from this:

I really need to stop running these flat mana curves.

My big hope was that I would be able to cast a big Villainous Wealth (X=4 or more). That seemed like a pretty good achievement to shoot for.  What wound up happening is far more entertaining.

In the first round, I faced off against an aggressive Boros deck.  I got absolutely trampled.  In both games I missed one or two land drops and just couldn't keep up with the onslaught of creatures.  I lost both games.  0-1

In the second round, I was up against Azorius Draw-Go.  It acted a bit like an EDH deck, with Jem Lightfoote as the general.  In game 1, I had 8 lands and Villainous Wealth in hand, but I felt like countermagic was ready to go against me.  I cast Spinewoods Armadillo first instead, and it got through.  Then, I cast Slick Sequence, which drew out the counterspell.  (I don't remember which one.)  On the next turn, I cast Villainous Wealth for 5 and it resolved.

Boom! Achievement unlocked!

I cast all four spells and won a few turns later off of that value.  I lost game two to the value of Wrangler of the Damned, but won a fast game 3 with a quick barrage of legendary creatures and Vraska Joins Up.  1-1

Round 3 was not so kind.  I just had no idea what I was in store for.  My opponent was playing Mardu Rakdos.  That's not a typo.  They were playing Mardu, with Rakdos, the Muscle in the deck.  That card is an absolute nightmare to play around.  In game 1, my opponent got Rakdos out.  Thankfully my Outcaster Greenblade was big enough to trade with it in combat, and I had an extra piece of removal in hand.  So I swung in, drew the block, they activated the ability by sacrificing another creature, and then I responded with the Void Rend.  Thankfully, I killed Rakdos.  Unfortunately, the ability still resolved and my opponent got to play Villainous Wealth on their next turn.  For 5.  (You've got to be kidding me!)  I got super lucky, though, because they flipped over five lands from the top of my deck.

Cards in exile from Rakdos on top, Villainous Wealth cast below that, my five exiled lands on the bottom.  Boom!  Anti-achievement unlocked!  (The Recycle art playmat has the correct expression.)

This was the second time Rakdos' ability had triggered, so my library was already looking pretty slim.  On my turn, I played out a bunch of creatures and got ready to race with six cards still on top.  On my opponent's turn, they played Rakdos.  A second Rakdos, the Muscle.  I could not believe it.  They milled me out in the next two turns. 

Here are the 21 cards they milled out of my library in game 1.  21.  In Mardu. In a draft.

In game 2, they got a Rakdos out on turn 6 and I just could not keep up.  Then they got Vraska Joins Up from it, giving it deathtouch.  Deathtouch + trample = dead Kyle.  1-2.

What a great draft!  I can't believe I lost like that.  I got the Villainous Wealth achievement and had it cast just as big back at me.  All of my games were really fun, even the three where I got steamrolled.  I hope I will get to more Thunder Junction drafts!