I missed Friday night's draft event at my FLGS, but I heard about one happening yesterday afternoon at Doombrowski Games and Comics in Winter Haven (about a half hour away for me) so I went. I had never played there before, but it was very nice. The draft drew a big crowd of sixteen people (I don't know any others of worth in the area on a Saturday afternoon) so we had two full pods! I went with a friend and saw three other people there I knew, so it's clear that people are willing to travel a bit for this hobby. (Or maybe this block.)
There's probably an interesting analysis here of the Universes Beyond/Within controversy motivating people to vote with their wallets, but I don't know how to do that analysis. It's just as likely that people are excited for Lorwyn itself.
On the way there I had a great chat with my friend who talked about how they almost went five-color vivid. I hadn't done a good study of the cards in this set, so I paid close attention to what they said. One card they mentioned, Puca's Eye, stuck in my mind and I'm glad it did.
I got into one of the pods sitting directly to the left of the two other people there who knew what I was up to. Nevertheless, I was able to make some good picks. Here are all my picks:
There's a lot going on here. Not only did I get two of the aforementioned Puca's Eyes, but I got other great vivid cards, especially Glister Bairn. (I think I took a Puca's Eye over that and I should have taken the Bairn in the first round.) If Blue or Green are main colors in your deck (and they probably will be) then casting it shouldn't be hard. Maybe the biggest disappointment here is that I didn't get any Stratosoarer. I saw one, but it was in a pack I opened, and I had to take something else. Also, I took the two Stalactite Daggers hoping for some good Changeling synergy, but I took them out by the end of the draft because they are not good with vivid. One card I really wish I'd gotten more of was Foraging Wickermaw, possibly the best support card for WUBRG drafting in this set.
I had a hard time making cuts, but I decided to go with only sixteen lands instead of the normal seventeen because I had both two Kulrath Zealots and two Puca's Eyes. Here's the deck I ended up with:
You may note the three Wildvine Pummelers in the four-mana slot. They fit there, I promise. I'm sure nothing would happen that would put them in a higher slot in the deck! (That's clumsy sixshadowing.)
I was up against someone I'd never met in the first round, running a swift Orzhov-Kithkin deck. I mulled twice in the first game and they beat me on turn five as I didn't have any fast plays. (They curved out: Timid Shieldbearer to Wary Farmer to Gallant Fowlknight.)
In game two, I played Boggart Cursecrafter on turn two. On their third turn, they dropped Reluctant Dounguard and I played out my Glen Elendra Guardian. They played Prideful Feastling on their next turn. Thankfully on my fifth turn I drew into Puca's Eye and that drew me into Foraging Wickermaw. On their next turn they took out my Guardian with Keep Out, then used Auntie's Sentence to force me to discard Eirdu. Thankfully I also had Dose of Dawnglow in my hand, which was an awesome card all day. They attacked with the Dounguard trading with the Cursecrafter. I played a Wildvine Pummeler on my sixth turn (it would have been two mana cheaper if I hadn't blocked!) and my opponent dropped Reaping Willow, which is another great card. I attacked in on the next turn, putting the life totals to me: 17, them: 8. On their next turn, they had a great sequence of plays!
Reaping Willow could bring back the Dounguard, which then lost both counters when Clachan Festival hit the board. I cast Dose of Dawnglow on their turn, however, bringing Eirdu to the board. I flipped it on my turn, cast a second Puca's Eye, and attacked big.
My opponent started their turn and then scooped. They gathered their cards up, but hadn't shuffled yet and I realized their life total was underrepresented. They hadn't gained six life from their two lifelinkers and should have been at 9, not 3. I told them and also said I was okay with them "unscooping". We successfully restored the board state and continued. They attacked, I attacked, they played Dream Seizer, then I played Ashling's Command to win for real.
They started off the third game with Goldmeadow Nomad. I played Puca's Eye, they replayed the Prideful Feastling, I played the Foraging Wickermaw, they got their Reaping Willow again, then the Timid Shieldbearer. It wasn't looking great, and I had to Blossombind the Willow. I immediately wished that I'd saved it, because they followed it up with Moonshadow. I drew into Grub's Command and took out the Moonshadow, but it came back immediately with the Willow. I drew into my other command, though, and Ashling took care of the board and drew me two cards. They played the Clachan Festival, but I played my Prismatic Undercurrents with a vivid count of five. After that my draws were all gas. My opponent flooded out and I won. 1-0.
In round two I faced up against the friend I'd rode with. They had managed to draft mono red elementals. In game one, they hit Flame-Chain Mauler on turn two and I answered with a Foraging Wickermaw. They played Enraged Flamecaster and I countered with Boggart Cursecrafter, but they had a Cinder Strike waiting for it on their turn. I played a Stalactite Dagger and they played Flamekin Gildweaver, triggering the Flamecaster. (It wouldn't be the last time.) On my fifth turn, I played Eirdu, but they had End-Blaze Epiphany ready to kill it as well as exile another Gildweaver. They kept attacking through all of this. On their seventh turn they first played another Flamecaster, then the second Gildweaver, triggering both of them. I was dead on their next turn.
They started game two off with Soulbright Seeker and got a ton of value off of it. I played Stalactite Dagger and they Cinder Struck the token. I played a Wickermaw and they Seared it. I played a second Dagger and they played a Gangly Stompling. I cast a pathetic Prismatic Undercurrents for one land (thanks colorless tokens!) and then they Giantfell my token and played a Flamecaster. I got my Boggart Cursecrafter, but they played both a Feisty Spikeling and a second Flamecaster. With the Cursecrafter out I was able to play a Wildvine Pummeler on my seventh turn, but they played a third Flamecaster and killed me on their next turn. Sheesh! 1-1
But then we had a third bonus game, because those were done so fast. This time they killed me on turn five, after this stunning sequence of plays:
They went on to win our pod.
In my third round I was up against a real old-schooler. They started playing in 1993 and were running a Dimir control deck. Also, this was their first competitive event in over twenty years! It was awesome to play against them and chat about rules changes over the years. I went first in game one and played the Cursecrafter on turn two, which they followed up with a Summit Sentinel. I played my Wickermaw and they got out a Voracious Tome-Skimmer. I used the Wickermaw's color changing ability to power out a turn four Wildvine Pummeler. They played a Requiting Hex on my Cursecrafter, but I still got to attack in with the Pummeler. They played a second Summit Sentinel and an Heirloom Auntie, but I had an Ashling's Command on my next turn to put myself well ahead. After that attack, I was up 18 life to 3. Glister Bairn and a Blossombind gave me the win on my next turn.
In game two, they elected to go second. I had a really slow hand and they got out a Wickermaw before I did. When I cast mine on turn four, it was the first time I'd remembered to surveil, and only because they'd just done it. I also played Dundoolin Weaver that turn, with no trigger. They used the Requiting Hex on the Wickermaw, which put me in a bind with all three Wildvine Pummelers in hand, five lands, and only a single green permanent on my fifth turn. They played a Blighted Blackthorn and then a Stratosower in subsequent turns. On my seventh turn, I was finally able to play a Pummeler... but then they played Wanderwine Farewell. On turn eight I drew into another land and tapped out to get a Pummeler back down. They played a Gnarlbark Elm, but I confidently played land eight, a second Pummeler to stay alive, and the Dundoolin Weaver to bring the Wickermaw back to my hand. I was not expecting a second Wanderwine Farewell, though, and they attacked for the win. What a game!
I rushed a bit in the third game, but I got a Puca's Eye on turn two. They played a Summit Sentinel on theirs, then attacked on turn three. I cast Unforgiving Aim to get an elf blocker so they bounced. They played Merrow Skyswimmer on their fourth turn and I spent my fifth turn casting Ashling's Command to level the playing field a bit and get more cards. They played a Chaos Spewer, which I answered with Kulrath's Zealot, which they had the Wanderwine Farewell for (and my elf token). I replayed the Zealot and exiled a Pummeler. They played Shinestriker. I played the Glister Bairn and the Pummeler. They played a Nightmare Sower on their eighth turn as time was called with 18 life to my 20. On my next turn (time turn 1) I played Grub's Command to pave a path, but they played Glamermite before I could attack, tapping down my Zealot. Nevertheless, I got in with the Bairn-powered-Pummeler to put them at 8. They played down the Gnarlbark Elm and Tome-Skimmer, but my next attack killed all three faeries. They weren't able to play enough on turn four to soak all the damage I was going to hit with and I escaped with the win. 2-1.
So many of my games were so intense and down-to-the-wire! It was really fun, even in the loss I took to the Wanderwine Farewells. I thought I had stabilized, but then I got caught completely off guard. Also, all three of my opponents were really nice to play against. The games were quite fun.
I do look forward to drafting more of this set, but there is one big downside here that I've experienced before, in sets like Ravnica Allegiance and Conflux: people aren't surprised by the five-color strategy. I know that when I'm drafting at home against my friends they all know what I'm up to, but at a store with people I don't know, I hope to elicit a bit of a "wow". That's not going to happen here as "five color vivid" is a genuine draft strategy.
I also found a new reason for liking the simplicity of pack-per-win prizes at stores. That was the same case here, but at the end of the tournament they had a whole announcement of the overall results. I don't know whether people got extra prizes or what, but they ran down all sixteen of us in order to go up and collect our packs. The unfortunate side effect of that is that we were the last game of the whole draft and we went to time and each turn needed significant consideration to make sure we did as best as we could. A judge came over to see us many minutes in and we were only on turn two of five. Everyone else was waiting to collect their prizes. I wish that kind of pressure weren't necessary and people who had finished their third round early could have left way beforehand. Oh well!
If you've never gone WUBRG before, Lorwyn Eclipsed is a great time to give this a try! Happy Magicking!
Also, I kept typing Dourguard instead of Dounguard. Over and over.
No comments:
Post a Comment