Duskmourn, Round 1 (WUBRG Drafting)

I made it out to a Duskmourn: House of Horror draft at Intergalactic Plastic on week 1!  I did not do my homework ahead of time, but I was pleased to find that this set WUBRGs pretty well.  Even in a pod of only six (why oh why does 12 have to split to 6?) I was able to pull five of the common dual lands and three basic landcyclers.  I also managed to pull off a bit of "whenever an enchantment enters (or a door is fully unlocked)" synergy.  Unfortunately I didn't pick out enough rooms.

Here's what I drafted:

Two of my first picks were rare picks that didn't make it into the deck.

I had limited time for deck construction, but got this put together just in time:

Ghost Vacuum is really good at preventing opponents from getting delirium.

In the first round, I was up against a slick Boros control deck with more doors than Jim Morrison.  Both copies of Unable to Scream overperformed, locking down manifested tokens with ease.  I made a couple of mistakes.  In the first game, I let a Veteran Survivor level up.  That combined with a Tunnel of Hate put me on the back foot quickly and I never recovered.  In the second game, my opponent had all the answers for each of my plays.  Removal kept my creatures off the field.  In both games, Shattered Yard dealt the final point of damage.  0-1.

In the second round, I was up against a real clever Abzan reanimator deck with a bunch of finishers, including Fear of Abduction, Doomsday Excruciator, Miasma Demon, and Vile Mutilator and some ways to get them back from the graveyard.  Game one went back and forth.  I was very sad when my Cackling Slasher died because I had achieved the extra value. 

Brutal.

In the end, I the big beatsticks came out and I got overwhelmed.  In game two, I played a turn 7 Shroudstomper, which bit it immediately to removal.  I got to see the reanimation action, with Valgavoth's Faithful.  (They also had Rite of the Moth in their deck.)  I got Ghost Vacuum out, but my back was already against the wall.  I managed to suck up my Shroudstomper and one of my opponent's Broodspinners and spit them both out as 1/1 creatures, but it was too little too late against the Fear of Abduction and Miasma demon.  0-2.

We had a player drop, so in the third round I got a Bye.  Bummer!  1-2.

I think I may have gone too hard into mana fixing this time and missed out on some game clinchers.  Also, it's a bit hard to tell how good the landcyclers are in Duskmourn.  With two colored pips, they're actually pretty hard to cast in 5 coors.  Luckily for me, since I was pretty heavy in red and white, I never had to cycle them.  I don't know if I would be so lucky normally.

Both of my matches were really fun, despite the beatdown.  I hope I'll get to give Duskmourn another shot soon!