The Final Fantasy product drought continues. We eagerly await the next printing, though it seems that might arrive after Edge of Eternities is released. My Friendliest LGS, Intergalactic Plastic, used this as an opportunity to run a Wilds of Eldraine draft this week, which I gladly joined in. I have a surprisingly good record with Wilds drafts: 12-2-1.
There were twelve players, so we got into two pods of six and got to drafting. I did not do very good at drafting fixing lands; I got one rare dual, one Crystal Grotto, and one Edgewall Inn. Thankfully I got enough other fixing to make up for it. (Thank you, Scarecrow Guide!) Here are all my picks:
I had a hard time putting this deck together. I'm still not sure I picked the right cards. For the final game of the night, I actually subbed out the Hamlet Glutton here for the Horned Loch-Whale. I don't even know if that was the right change. Here's my deck before I made that change:
I sat down in my first match against a new (to me) person who said they had gotten back into magic after a long hiatus due to the Final Fantasy set. That was pretty cool! They were there playing, earning points for Chocobo Racing. Pretty cool! They had a tricksy Dimir Faeries deck. I started game one by getting Scarecrow Guide out on turn two. That opened my hand up to other plays even though I only had a forest and plains out. Unfortunately, they Ratted it Out, putting me in trouble as I did not draw more lands for a bit. My opponent was also mana screwed on three swamps for a while. Thankfully I drew into the Prismatic Omen on turn four and then got into some lands to play Johann on turn eight. They got a fourth swamp, but it wasn't enough. So much of my deck is instants, sorceries, and adventures, so Johann valued me into the win.
In game two, I started stuck on two lands again. My opponent finally drew into both of their colors and had a turn two Obyra, then a Mocking Sprite the next turn. I had lots of nothing, so I had to Coop the sprite Up while hoping for a way to remove Obyra. I got a third land and played Hylda's Crown of Winter, which reminded me just how good Icy Manipulator used to be. A Stingblade Assassin came down without killing anything and I just continued to hold on.
Finally I drew Edgewall Inn for my fourth land. I was at just five life and tried to Flick a Coin at the assassin, but they responded with Water Wings. On my next turn I got a fifth land and played Johann. (I needed the extra land free to keep tapping an attacker.) I went to three life against their twenty, but got Prismatic Omen and removal and blocking to stall out their board. I finally played the Hamlet Glutton, putting me to six, and won off of the extra value provided by Johann. 1-0.
In the second round I was up against a value Sultai mill deck that got extra value off of Bramble Familiar. It came down but they didn't want to trade with my Scarecrow Guide, so I had some time with good mana fixing. I had Flick a Coin for their Likeness Looter and Rip the Seams for their Hollow Scavenger and Hylda's Crown showed up again to keep me in the game against their other creatures. On turn seven I was finally able to get the Threadbind Clique to come back from their adventure. The Bramble Familiar did it's Fetch Quest trick but didn't get a big critter, so I was able to handle it. I used Cooped Up on the raccoon and exiled it so it couldn't cause future trouble. They cast Storm Reading, but didn't get an answer. I kept the board clear and won with two scarecrows and the clique.
In game two we seemed to be playing the same game over. Bramble Familiar, Scarecrow Guide, Likeness Looter, and Flick a Coin all had the same effects. On their turn four they made a new play by sending Cruel Somnophage on its adventure and summoning it on the same turn. They used Fetch Quest again, this time having even worse luck with five lands milled! I got Virtue of Loyalty on the board for the first time and within a few turns my creatures were extremely imposing. They played Storm Reading again, but it didn't matter and I won again. 2-0.
My third round opponent was playing an Orzhov deck named "Rats that Like to Die". They had an amazing amount of death triggers. In the first game I had to play around those rats including Voracious Vermin and Lord Skitter's Butcher. Thankfully I had Cooped Up and got my favorite crown of ice down, and even played Vantress Visions for the first time to tap two things down in one turn. That drew a Stroke of Midnight on the crown, sadly, but I was able to get Virtue of Loyalty down and start buffing my crew. I played Hamlet Glutton, but it got captured by a Werefox Bodyguard.
I played the Virtue of Knowledge from its adventure, threatening to gain double life if the Werefox died. From there it was a slow win, but I pulled it off. In the second game they got a Tangled Colony on turn two. I fed that to a Frantic Firebolt before my graveyard got any bigger, but it Returned Triumphantly. The next turn there were some Protective "Rat" Parents, which I let through shortly thereafter because I didn't want the Tangled Colony to get any bigger. I thought I had it in the bag when I played Johann and then Virtue of Loyalty, but that actually played into my opponent's hands! After two turns, the Virtue bit it to a Stroke of Midnight and then Johann died in a Moment of Valor since his power had grown to 4. They had a mess of 1/1s and I started to stabilize at eight life to their seventeen. Then they got the card that worked with all those rats: Grave Pact. Talk about death triggers! Another moment of valor took down my big vigilant knight, but I sacrificed it to the Grave Pact trigger and lost a Human token when another of their creatures died. After that I lucked out that those rats couldn't block. I used Lagoon Breach to get rid of a rat and had enough power of creatures on the board that I won after a few turns. 3-0.
I honestly don't know why Wilds of Eldraine has been so good to me. I am 15-2-1 overall, which is nuts. Perhaps five-color-adventures is just a good deck! I hope you get the chance to try this format out, even two years on.
Happy Magicking!
No comments:
Post a Comment