Once again my Friendly Local Game Store, Intergalactic Plastic, took a dip into the past to run an older draft, this time Outlaws of Thunder Junction. My only other Thunder Junction draft was just about a year ago. We had a big turnout (14) and I got put in the pod of 8 which had two new drafters.
I thought I drafted five colors pretty well, but I did pass on a bunch of dual desert lands. I also forgot to maximize my crimeability. That became vital during the night. Here are all of my picks:
I took that Annie Joins Up to heart and went hard into legendary creatures. In the end, it was ready to combo with Magda, Vial Smasher, Baron Bertram (2), Ertha Jo, Bruse Tarl, and Honest Rutstein. Cutting cards was hard, but here was the deck I put together:
In the first round I was up against an Izzet deck ready to plot a course through the storm. In the first game I opened up with High Noon on turn 2. While I got things set up, my opponent plotted cards on turns 2, 3, 4, and 5. I should have seen what was coming, though it wouldn't have made any difference. On turn 6, they Failed Fording the High Noon, then cast the four plotted cards. The third of these was Outlaw Stitcher. That was the fourth spell, so they got an 8/8 zombie. The fourth was Visage Bandit, which became a stitcher and created a 10/10 zombie.
I had removal in my hand, but it wasn't fast enough and I fell quickly. The second game went much better for me and ended up in a race between their Stingerback Terror (and three Mercenaries) and my Boneyard Desecrator, Rattleback Apothecary, and my own collection of mercenaries from At Knifepoint. I lost the race, but it was close. 0-1. They went on to win the pod and the deck continued to storm out.
In the second round I faced one of the new drafters who is apparently the Selesnya prison warden.
Removal on both sides kept anything from happening for turns and turns. I finally got Bruse Tarl to work with Annie Joins Up, but, as shown in the picture, that got taken by Buried in the Garden. That might have been the correct choice, because I got Ertha Jo a bit later. After a long stalemate, I finally got in a big attack with Ertha Jo and two other small creatures, but powered by six mercenaries. That 18 damage won me the game. We started a second, but time got called before we got any big hits in. 1-1.
In the third round I was up against a Grixis deck centered around casting Cruel Ultimatum. (They told me about their deck before any matches started.) In the first game, they used three treasures to cast it. Oof. In the second game I mulliganed into a 6-land hand and kept drawing lands. They got ahead with Tinybones and were able to pave a path through my blockers with removal. That allowed Tinybones to steal those recently-removed creatures and use them against me. Stealing my Magda allowed them the treasures needed to cast Cruel Ultimatum again. Because of all the land draw, I didn't have much on the board to lose to the ultimatum. It didn't matter, though, because it put them up so much further that they killed me a few turns later. 1-2.
This was not an improvement on my showing last year when I also went 1-2. That's a total of 2-4. I definitely need more experience in this format. Here are some lessons I have to learn:
- Take the dual deserts! I passed one up for a Trick Shot because removal has done me so well in the past. In the end, though, I just didn't run it.
- Spinewoods Armadillos are not going to come around. They are bombs. Take them early!
- Extra ways to commit crimes are useful. Cards like Sandstorm Verge commit crimes! Take them!
I hope I get the chance to try drafting Thunder Junction again and improve a bit. It really seems like WUBRG should be good here.
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