I missed some chances for TMNT drafts, but I did get in on a Foundations draft at my FLGS, Intergalactic Plastic, last night, with seven other people. I have a little mantra that "I'm never disappointed opening a Foundations pack" so it seemed like it would be fun to do another one. This followed the pattern.
In some ways, this Foundations draft reminded me of a Chaos draft. The set is so big that there are a large variety of cards that come around. The player to my right did manage to draft five Gnarlid Colonies, for their Big Green deck, though. And the draft archetypes are pretty consistent. Maybe I just have the wrong impression.
A lot happened during the draft, though. I stared off with Elenda, Saint of Dusk, but then passed on a bunch of synergistic stuff and accidentally went pretty blue. In pack two I got a bunch of great green cards. Pack three was where things went real wild, though. I opened Muldrotha, which has done me well in draft before. Then I got passed two Homunculus Hordes in a row and suddenly I was hoping I had more ways to draw cards. Thankfully I had already taken a Spectral Sailor and then Tatyova, Benthic Druid came along later in pack three. Here are all my picks:
Throughout all of this, I very nearly failed to actually get enough five color support. Although I only grabbed two lands, I got lucky with the Goldvein Pick, Burnished Hart, and Grow from the Ashes.
I waffled back and forth about whether to run the Homunculuses. In the end, I really wanted to, so I did. That was a good choice. I also didn't start with Slagstorm, but I had it maindecked after the first round. Here's the deck I was running by the end of the night:
In the first round I was matched up against a Sultai deck with lots of graveyard-based value. They started off with an Infestation Sage on the first turn, then a Strix Lookout. I had drawn Spectral Sailor, so I played that during their turn, then got my Homunculus Horde out two turns later. They played Dreadwing Scavenger and managed to get lots of value off of it. With the Sailor out, I drew another card on turn five to go to two Homunculuses. They saw the danger and used Eaten Alive with their Strix to take out my original (non-token) Homunculus Horde. I was down in life, but on the next turn I activated the Sailor again to get two tokens again. My opponent played Lathril, and I cast Run Away Together on the Sailor and the Dreadwing Scavenger in order to try to keep my life total up. Thankfully I had drawn into Tatyova, so I could play her, play a land, and run my horde up to four. On the next turn I played another land to get eight and then cast Quilled Greatwurm, one of my best threats. I swung to bring the life totals close (my eleven to their fourteen) and get some +1/+1 counters. One of my horde died, but I played another land next turn to get up to fourteen and win.
In game two, my opponent got some real synergy going. They played Mischievous Mystic on turn two, which sailed right over my Nessian Hornbeetle, and turned their next turn Think Twice into a faerie as well. I played another groundling, Cephalid Inkmage, but then they played Abyssal Harvester, followed up by a Gutless Plunderer on their fifth turn. I convinced the Harvester to Run Away Together with my Hornbeetle, then played Tatyova, which my opponent Imprisoned in the Moon. I Broke the moon's Wings and then played an Evolving Wilds and fetched to draw two cards. My opponent started the seventh round of turns when time was called with me at twelve life and my opponent at seventeen. My opponent started to pull neat tricks with the Plunderer's ETB effect and the Abyssal Harvester, but I was able to stay alive for the five turns without even casting the Homunculus that'd been in my hand the whole game. The game ended with me at four life. 1-0.
In the second round I was up against an Izzet Terror deck. In the first game they had a quick Firebrand Archer, then Mocking Sprite, then Goblin Surprise, which they used to pump up the Archer and kill my Gleaming Barrier. Turn five brought a Heartfire Immolator. I had sacrificed Burnished Hart so my fifth turn was enough for Muldrotha to show up. It got Imprisoned in the Moon (seriously?) and that attack put me to two life. I thought I still had a chance, though, and went down swinging. Involuntary Employment gave me the Immolator, which I sacrificed to kill the Sprite. I had Witness Protection and the Nessian Hornbeetle to help me stay alive, but it wasn't quite enough and I died on the next turn.
In game two, my opponent had Balmor out and two Mocking Sprites on turn four. I thankfully wiped it all with Slagstorm. They were stuck on three land for a bit, giving me the chance to get things going. They wound up starting to play Tolarian Terrors, super cheap with all the spellslinging they'd been doing. Things were looking pretty dicey when I was at four and they had twenty two life:
I got real lucky and drew the Broken Wings again. I ate one of the serpents, and started attacking with my Wildwood Scourge and turned the game around and won.
In game three my opponent played Leyline Axe for free, but got stuck on two then three land. I'm not an aggressive deck, but I was able to win before they recovered. 2-0.
In round three I was up against Boros Angelic Goblins. They played a turn one Goblin Bushwhacker and a beefed up Goblin Boarders on turn three. I managed to keep them down, but then the angels started to come out. Serra Angel (which I did put in Witness Protection) followed by two Vanguard Seraphim. I nearly stayed alive, but those two kept flying over my ground blockers.
In game two, I got Burnished Hart down early, but they got a Sun-Blessed Healer and then the Goblin Boarders again. With my extra land, however, I got a Homunculus Horde down with the Spectral Sailor. In four turns I was up to seven Homunculuses and was starting to get their life total back down to twenty. (It had gone up to thirty.) I Involuntarily Employed their Dazzling Angel, their last blocker, and they scooped before I could activate the Sailor and gain seven life.
In game three, I kept a hand with two mountains and Slagstorm, figuring I could let them get ahead and then three- or four-for-one them. That's not how it happened, though. They got a Dazzling Angel then just kept drawing land while I built up a squad of attackers. Things were going great until they played Herald of Eternal Dawn, which they'd sided in against me. They tried to kill me with an attack and a Bulk Up, but I was able to bounce it with Run Away Together and win before it could stick back on the board. 3-0.
Some thoughts:
- I really lucked out. I was down by a game in the last two rounds and pulled out exactly the cards I needed multiple times. And I only survived the first round because we went to time. (Normally I'm the one behind when time is called.)
- This was a much better showing than my previous Foundations draft. I'm now 4-2 in total. I guess WUBRG is feasible with only two fixing-lands.
- Triggering Homunculus Horde is really fun. Any kind of repeatable draw engine will do!
- I'm surprised I had better luck with the Homunculuses than Muldrotha and the Quilled Greatwurm put together.
This is a fun format to run five colors in. Give it a try!
Happy Magicking!
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