Khans of Tarkir Draft (WUBRG Drafting)

One of my friends had a Khans of Tarkir box and got myself and ten more people together to do a draft last night.  With the twelve of us we used the entire box!  We split into two pods of six.  Here were all my pulls:

Only one tri-color land!

My three opponents winded up being the person furthest from me while drafting (of course; we were still using the Wizards tournament organizing software), the person drafting to my left (who had the box), and the person to my right.  Importantly, I opened Thousand Winds and didn't take it, thinking I might be able to be a bit aggressive with Monastery Swiftspear instead.  That was a bad choice, as I didn't draft enough spellslinging to make it happen.  Instead I went with playing Clay Spiders, especially after getting Secret Plans as my fourth pick.  Some additional considerations I had while drafting were:

• I had forgotten that Heart-Piercer Bow was in this set and wished I had seen more.  (I won a lot of Core 2020 drafts off the back of that card.)  
• I also really wanted to get some Mystic of the Hidden Ways, which I'd lost a lot to in the past, but I got none.  
• I chose against Efreet Weaponmaster a few times, picking any of the other five-to-flip morphers instead.  I realized after my experiences at Wacky Worlds this year that though it seems like a useful card, it is highly situational.

  Here's what I built with my pool:

I was convinced to kill someone with the Meandering Towershell!

In the first round I was up against an Abzan control deck.  In the first game, I played Heir to the Wilds on the second turn and my opponent answered with Kin-Tree Warden.  I played what might be the best counter to that: Heart-Piercer Bow.  When I attacked, I could target the Warden and my opponent had to tap mana to regenerate it, which would tap it and keep it from blocking.  All that played out that turn and I got in for damage.  I tried that again the next turn, but they cast Kill Shot to take out my Heir.   (I got Kill Shotted a lot last night.)  At least I got to have the bow's damage resolve on the Warden to kill it.  I played my first clay spider (Ponyback Brigade, face down).  On their fifth turn, they played Alabaster Kirin and I played a second Ponyback Brigade face down.  They played their own clay spider and I played my third Ponyback Brigade, still face down.  They cast a very scary Rakshasa Deathdealer and the board was properly gummed up.  The Alabaster Kirin continued to hit me, but I held on.  I drew both my board wipes: Death Frenzy and End Hostilities.  I kept flipping over my brigades, trying to maximize the value of my Death Frenzy, which would kill everything but the Kirin.  I wanted to wait one more turn, but it was one turn too long.  My opponent played one of the two Abzan Ascendancies they drafted and now all their creatures were big enough to survive.  I played End Hostility instead, which, of course, gifted them with five 1/1 spirits.  I had to cast the Death Frenzy the next turn.  My greed had cost me both board wipes instead of one.  However, in the aftermath I played Kheru Lich Lord and my opponent flooded out while I was able to win.

In the second game, my opponent got stuck on only two lands.  I played a turn one Lens of Clarity, which turned out to be really strong all night.  I don't think I've ever played with that card before!  They played the Kin-Tree Warden on their second turn and I played out my Secret Plans, then Heir of the Wilds, and then Seek the Horizon.  My opponent had a Highland Game on turn five, but scooped shortly after I played my Abzan Guide face down.  It's a bummer to win a match in this way.  1-0.

In the second round I was up against the provider of the packs for the draft themself and the person I had passed the most cards to.  They had built a swift Mardu soldiers deck, with many chiefs.  I played Heir of the Wilds on turn two, but they had a Chief of the Scale.  I did not want that to snowball, so I hit it with Suspension Field right away.  Unfortunately, they had Chief of the Edge on the next turn.  I spent my fourth turn playing Seek the Horizon, while they did this:

Oof.

Yeah, that's a Firehoof Cavalry (thankfully not a soldier), a Mardu Hordechief (definitely a soldier) and it's token friend.  The only silver lining is that they didn't play a fifth land for many turns.  I played the Dragon Throne of Tarkir, which turned out to be very helpful.  (I'm still not sure whether I should have been running the second one!  What could I have taken out for it?)  My opponent played Unyielding Krumar and then I cast Monastery Flock face up ready to block it.  My opponent cast a clay spider and on turn seven it was time for a big Death Frenzy.  Nevertheless, my opponent had a Timely Hordemate to get themselves back in the game.  I played a clay spider (Snowhorn Rider) with a very important five land up (WUBRG).  My opponent attacked and I blocked their chief, then flipped the Snowhorn Rider, which ate it.  They played Mardu Skullhunter and the next turn was able to take out my rider with a well-timed Swift Kick.  I got my Lens of Clarity and the game slowed down.  I played Abzan Guide, but it ate an Arrow Storm.  My opponent got the goblins from a Ponyback Brigade and had a big attack with a Trumpet Blast.  I survived, killed enough of them and was able to bounce back.  I played Meandering Towershell and won shortly after with it and the throne.  

In the second game, I had to mulligan twice.  I put up a good fight, but my opponent was able to "Mardu me out" of life.

In the third game, I started off good, but they played Chief of the Scale, then Chief of the Edge on turns two and three again.  I successfully stalled them out and we went to turns.  On turn one of five, I'd lost most of my other blockers, but I had Sorin, Solemn Visitor out and Snowhorn Rider.  I decided attacking was better than blocking, so I gave my creatures lifelink and swung in.

Freaking Kill Shot!

I died to attacks before turns ended.  1-1.

In round three I was up against the drafter to my right.  They were running a Sultai deck chock full of Embodiment of Springs.  They also had lots of Mystic of the Hidden Ways that I had trouble with.  In the first game, they got two Emobidments down in the first few turns, then played a clay spider that turned out to be a Mystic.  They played lands and then more lands and then more lands.  I went down to six life and finally started being able to swing in.  I had to kill them before I took two more hits from the Mystic.  I swung out, put them to 18, but was feeling optimistic.  Then my opponent flipped their clay spider.  Remember that Thousand Winds I hadn't first-picked?  That card had gone all the way around the table to be picked up by my opponent.  They flipped it and sent my tapped-out board to my hand and won shortly after.

In game two, I played Secret Plans on turn two and that proved to be the difference maker.  I played clay spider after clay spider and cracked them open, out valueing my opponent.

In game three, I got lucky early on.  My opponent had a clay spider and a Mystic of the Hidden Way and I cast Death Frenzy out of fear of the Mystic.  The clay spider turned out to be the Thousand Winds!  With two of my opponent's win conditions out of the way, we settled in for a protracted game, though I failed to draw a white source.  Archers' Parapet proved to be quite troublesome.  I had my Hier of the Wilds out as well as a face-down Abzan Guide I couldn't flip over, a Monastery Flock, and the Dragon Throne.  I thought I was going to have a (very slow) edge with my Meandering Towershell.

At least it's not another Kill Shot, I guess.

Time for plan B.  My hand had only Sorin and End Hostilities, both useless without white mana.  I needed to attack with a creature big enough to survive the Smoke Teller.  (Amazingly, my opponent never needed to activate the Smoke Teller and seemed to always know what my creatures actually were.  I don't think I was telegraphing it that badly!)  So, I equipped the Throne to the clay spider and pumped the Heir prior to combat to get the sweet ferocious bonus.  Even more important, however, was the synergy of deathtouch and trample; blocking only soaked one damage.  This was well worth it and I kept the pressure up.  I went to attack again, but my opponent used Icy Blast to keep me at bay for a turn.  They were able to get in for some more damage to keep it close.

What's the most important part of this photo?

That's right, it's the tapped Scoured Barrens!  Even better than trample and deathtouch is trample, deathtouch, and lifelink.  Sorin next turn granted me that and that was enough to pull out the win.  2-1.

This was a really fun draft!  It was great to go back to 2014 and play with these cards again.  All of my matches were really fun.  I'm really glad I got to be a part of this draft!

Happy Magicking, even when it's a trip down Memory Lane! 

Detectives of Ixalan Chaos (WUBRG Drafting)

On Thursday night I had three friends over to do a wacky draft.  The group that came was ready to do some multiplayer chaos, so we drafted to play a single game of Ravnica: Clue followed by Explorers of Ixalan.  One player decided they really wanted to open Dragon's Maze.  I was out of loose packs, so it was time to open a box!  (I can't believe I still had a box of this left.)

You get to see the whole box, prior to opening.  Also: 11 different packs in three different drafters!  Pretty great variety!

I fell back into my old rut of Ikoria and LotR, and it's finally been paying off with Triomes!  Here were all my picks:

Lots of fixing; lots of mana cyclers.

I had a hard time making cuts.  I wound up cutting Snare Tactician really close to the end.   I built one deck and used it for both games.  Here's what I ran:

Fractalize goes in the 1-mana column because I figured I would be most likely to cast it with X = 0.

We rolled for turn order:  

• Player 1 was running Jeskai.
• Player 2 was also on WUBRG.
• Player 3 was Glint-Eye (UBRG) but mostly Jeskai.
• I was going last, running WUBRG. 

No wonder some of the mana fixing hadn't come back around! 

We started with the Clue game.  We pulled out a hidden suspect, weapon, and room; removed two rooms and revealed them to everyone (Dining Room and Study); and then dealt four cards to each player.  I got Emissary Green, Mastermind Plum, Senator Peacock, and the Kitchen.  The first turn was all a land each, but I finished up the second round of turns with an Abzan Devotee.  P1 also cast Frontline Rush at the end of my turn.  

On the third turn, P1 attacked P2 and P3.  They guessed Green, Knife, and Kitchen and both players passed.  P1 played Dragonfly Swarm, so I sent my Devotee at P3 and guessed Scarlett, Wrench, and Lounge.  They passed.

P1 kept up the attacks on their fourth turn, hitting P2 and P3 again.  They guessed Plum, Pipe, and Library.  P2 showed them a card and took their Treasure token.  P2 cast Falco Spara, Pactweaver, but P1 hit it with Disdainful Stroke.  P2 would be stuck without creatures for a while.  P3 cast Hakoda, Selfless Commander, which was their first pick of the draft.  His vigilance kept my creatures at bay for a long time.  I played Hawkeye, Master Marksman and hit P1.  I guess Peacock, Rope, and Conservatory.  They showed me the Rope.

On the fifth turn, P1 hit P2 and me.  They guessed Green, Knife, and Kitchen, the same as their first guess.  P2 passed and I showed the Kitchen.  My rationale there was that I should leverage the power I had with half the suspects and keep them hidden, so I revealed the Kitchen and took my treasure.  P1 continued their turn by playing Monastery Messenger and Nivix Cyclops.  P2 decided to clean up the board a bunch and cast Gaze of Granite for 3.  

Oof!

That left only the Messenger and Hakoda alive, but I had the mana to put the Devotee back in my hand.  P3 cast Invasion Reinforcements, then hit P1 with Hakoda, guessing White, Wrench, and Billiard Room.  P1 had to pass.  I cast Glidedive Duo and passed the turn.  

On turn six, P1 cast Nightwhorl Hermit and hit P3 with the Messenger.  They guessed Mustard, Candlestick, and Billiard Room and P3 showed them a card.  P3 cast Riling Dawnbreaker, then hit me and P2.  They guessed Plum, Pipe, and Kitchen.  I showed them the Kitchen too.  On my turn I attacked P1 with the Glidedive Duo.  They blocked with the Messenger and cast A Little Chat, sacrificing the Messenger.  Post combat, I cast Abzan Devotee and Bearer of Memory.  

On turn seven, P1 cast Kirol, History Buff, but P2 had their revenge by countering it with Glorious Gale.  Sadly, they didn't have any creatures to give the ring to.  Unfortunately, P1 now had Threshold, so they hit me with the hermit, asking Green, Knife, and Secret Passage.  I showed them Emissary Green.  P2 cast Bronzebeak Moa, their first creature!  P3 cast Warren Elder and Ascendant Dustspeaker.  They went to combat, killed P1's Threshold by exiling a graveyard card, and hit both me and P1.  They guessed Green, Knife, and Conservatory.  I revealed Green to yet another person.  Everyone was finding out about my hand!  I attacked and hit P1 and P2 and guessed Scarlett, Candlestick, and Hall.  P1 showed me the Hall.  Then I played the only thing keeping me from being afraid of all of P3's fliers, my Saber-Tooth Moose-Lion.  At the end of my turn, the life totals were P1: 6, P2: 12, P3: 12, and me: 10.

On turn eight, P1 just Collected Evidence 6 at the end of their turn, guessing Scarlett, Knife, and Billiard Room.  P2 showed them a card.  P2 then cast Claim the Precious to kill the Hermit.  They hit P1 and guessed Peacock, Rope, and Conservatory.  P1 showed them a card.  P3 cast Mind Spiral to tap my Moose-Lion.  Then they cast Honorbound Page and attacked and hit everyone.  

P1 had quite the board going!

They guessed Scarlett, Rope, and Conservatory.  I passed and P1 showed them a card.  I attacked P3, but they blocked.  I resurrected and replayed my Abzan Devotee.  P1 was down to 1 life, P2 had 8, P3 had 11, and I had six left.

On the ninth turn, P1 again just went directly to Collecting Evidence 6 and guessed Scarlett, Knife, and Conservatory.  We all passed, but I was convinced P1 had at least one of those cards.  Unfortunately, they accused the same set of three, checked the envelope, and won.  They said they were pretty confident about Scarlett because there was "lots of action" on her, but got lucky with the other two.  I couldn't believe it!

It was already pretty late, but I guessed that the Explorers of Ixalan game would take about an hour (it took longer) so we laid out the tiles.  We stayed in the same seats, but P3 won the roll to go first.  I don't want to change the names, so the play order for this game was P3, me, P1, and P2.  

P3 started off by taking a tile and getting High & Dry, Pirates' Market, a Site which lets you rummage at the end of your turn.  (When a player deals combat damage to another, the attacker can take one of the defender's sites, if they have any.)  I played a tapped land and didn't get to take a tile on the first turn.  P1 got the tile Cannons to Port, which is a Quest that rewards them a card draw when they damage the opponent to their left (P2).  P2 got Valuable Recon, which gave them a treasure and let them look at any one of the tiles on the board.  They looked at one of the 6-mana tiles and were done.  (This is one of the best parts of Explorers of Ixalan: that the first turn people are still doing a lot.)

On the second turn, P3 flipped Cannons to Starboard, which does the same as Cannons to Port except it's for attacking the player to their right (also P2).  I got Cannons to Port (pointing at P1), and P1 cast the first spell: Rally at the Hornburg.  P2 flipped a tile and got yet another Cannons to Port, pointing to P3.  

P3 started the third round of turns with Potioner's Trove, a mana rock I was not familiar with!  They then flipped a Cannons to Starboard.  I was really lucky not to have any cannons pointed my way yet!  I flipped Secure the High Ground, the first 3-mana tile, which prevented me from being attacked for one turn.  P1 cast Hydro-Channeler and then cast Of One Mind for one mana!  P2 finished the round by casting Hog-Monkey.  

On their fourth turn, P3 cast Kitsune Ace and flipped the 1-mana tile Broadside Assault, which did 2 damage to the rest of us.  I flipped Walls of Adento, which meant that a player had to pay 1 mana to attack me on their turn.  This actually kept me safe for a while!  I then cast Thornvault Forager, which I had just drawn.  P1 cast Moltencore Maestro and P2 dropped Abomination, Terrifying Titan.  At the end of P2's turn, P3 cast Firebending Lesson on the Maestro, but P1 cast Seize Opportunity to exile the two cards, using it's ability to make it big enough to survive.

For the fifth round of turns, P3 cast Ascendant Dustspeaker.  Now everyone had real threats except for me!  I flipped another 3-mana tile, getting Blessing of the Shapers.  This was a quest that gave my next creature to enter three +1/+1 counters.  I changed my plan and cast Vindictive Warden with my remaining mana, who became 5/6.  I was caught up to everyone else!  P1 flipped a 1-mana tile to get Plunder the Plunderers.  This granted them two treasure tokens after the next player dealt them combat damage.  P2 cast Needletooth Pack.  At this point the life totals were all still quite high: P3 and me with 19, P1 with 14, and P2 with 16.

P3 started round six by flipping their first 3-mana tile, a Wavering Allegiances.  This let them exchange control of any two creatures.  They immediately took my Vindictive Warden, giving me the Kitsune Ace.  I continued to flip 3-mana tiles, getting Scrolls of Azcanta.  This made each player draw two cards and each opponent of mine discard two.  With my remaining mana, I cast Tribute to Horobi.  Immediately all of my opponents started colluding on how to kill off their rats before I could get them!  P1 immediately sacrificed one to A Little Chat on their turn, then cast Kirol and flipped a 1-mana tile.  They got From the Mists, which let them put a creature with mana value three or less into play.  They dropped their Finch Formation, gave another creature flying, and attacked.  (I don't remember who.)  P2 cast Root Manipulation and then attacked P1, putting them down to eight life.  P3 and P2 both had 15 life, while still had 19.

On turn seven, P3 cast Hero in Training, then flipped a 3-mana tile: Jade Reflection.  That allowed them to copy their next instant or sorcery spell.  I flipped yet another 3-mana tile and got Unwitting Accomplice, essentially a Threaten.  I took Abomination and attacked P3.  

This was not a great plan.

 

The good news is that I killed the Abomination.  The bad news is that I didn't deal P3 any damage and didn't kill the Warden thanks to the Lightfoot Technique you can see in the corner of the photo.  Importantly, flipping that tile opened up two 6-mana tiles, the first available of the game.  I reserved one for my next turn.  I cast Celeborn the Wise and ended my turn.  P1 had a big turn.  They cast Reptilian Recruiter (I don't remember what they took), cast Frontline Rush, and attacked and killed P3, mostly with their Maestro, who became even bigger after they cast Kindled Fury.  Wow!  P2 cast Hazel Nocturne and Serrated Scorpion.  I had 17 life, P1 had 6, and P2 had 14, but we needed a way to kill P1 off.

On my eighth turn, I flipped the Tribute into Echo of Death's Wail.  I attacked P1, but they blocked well.  P2 and I were discussing what to do and I decided to take a chance and flip the first 6-mana tile.  I got Melee at the Gates, which causes all your opponents to attack with all their creatures and they can't attack you!  I was quite happy; maybe I could hit P1 back with a lot on my next turn.  P1 took their turn and flipped a 6-mana tile and got Might of the Sun Empire.  This got them a 3/3 Dinosaur token with trample and then let them put two +1/+1 counters on each creature they controlled.  They played the Monastery Messenger and then attacked in to P2, who survived with nine life.  P2 cast Claim the Precious on.... my Echo of Death's Wail!  No!  P1 had 4 life, P2 had 9, and P3 had 15.

At the top of turn nine, there were no exposed 6-mana or 3-mana tiles.  I flipped a 1-mana tile, getting Plunder the Plunderers.  I cast Hawkeye, but P2 cast Glorious Gale.  P1 started their turn and cast Monastery Messenger.

 

This was the board I was up against.  Yup.

 

They swung into me and I put up an honorable fight, but lost my board.  P2 got another turn and flipped a 3-mana tile, Can't Take it With You.  This was a quest that gave them two cards and four treasure tokens the next time a player died.  It was too late; P3 was already out of the game.  

I didn't have any strong plays.  On P1's tenth turn, they swung in and killed us both.  

P1 won both of the games that night!  Wild!

The only real takeaway I have for my future is that drafting, Ravnica Clue, and Explorers of Ixalan took us just under four hours. 

I hope you get to experience as much wacky magic as we did!  Happy Magicking!

Marvel Super Heroes Draft # 2 (WUBRG Drafting)

I got to my second Marvel Super Heroes draft at my FLGS, Intergalactic Plastic, last night.  We had a group of exactly eight and got right to it.  Right off the bat, the player sitting to my right opened The Mind Stone, passing me Thanos, the Mad Titan.  

If you are a new reader, you might think that this would dictate a new draft strategy for me and that I was lucky that I got that for my second pick.  I always go WUBRG (as most of you know) so I was already on that track.  Here are all the picks I made: 

Oops!  The card behind Serpent Specialist is a Hell's Kitchen.

There are a lot of things going well in that draft pool:

• Lots of fixing-lands.  Eight! 
• Two basic land cyclers: A.I.M. Scientists and Kree Sentinel.  
• Many creatures that could win the game.  (Power-up abilities are really good for me.)

Here's the deck I built:

I did not do any sideboarding; this is the deck I started and finished with.

The games were pretty intense, so my notes are more sparse than usual.  My apologies!  Another fun part of this draft is that I got to use a new life counter, a d30 that I got at Genie Hobbies in Gaylord, MI a few weeks ago. 

That store is right across from the Claude Shannon park, which is pretty neat!

 

I started the first round against a really strong player running an Orzhov Esper Weenie deck, chock full of lots of efficient creatures such as Agent Phil Coulson and Hero in Training, complemented by an arsenal of removal spells.  On turn three, I played Thanos.  My opponent played Ronin, Shadow Stalker, which they equipped with S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit.  I should have read Ronin more carefully, because they used the ability to kill Thanos on the next turn.  Oops!  I played a Ninja of the Hand on turn four and on turn five Hulk, Gamma Goliath, who met with a Web Up.  On turn six, I played Call Damage Control to get Thanos back and cast him.  I didn't get to power him up that game, but my opponent got mana flooded and I won.

In the second game, I got Thanos out on turn four, but he again met with removal.  I went down to 2 life before I was able to get him back into play and stabilize.  I won at 9 life.  We had extra time so we played a bonus third game where I was able to play Thanos and snap his fingers.  1-0.

My second round was against another player running an Orzhov deck that turned out to actually be Esper.  In the first game I got Kang, Temporal Tyrant, on turn four, then Thanos on turn six.  Thanos got immediately exiled by Cloak and Dagger, Entwined.  I went down to 4 life, but played Doctor Doom, planning to use Kang's attack trigger to keep me alive.  

A pretty dangerous plan!

A few turns later, my opponent played Unliving Legionnaire, threatening to take me out with it as the only flier.  I drew Photon Blast Barrage and made a costly bet to try and kill the Legionnaire and get Thanos back.

One original and many copies and-... oh, Take up the Shield.

 

The Legionnaire killed me the following turn.

In the second game, my opponent started off with two mulligans, but the first was not just any mulligan!

I have seen very few "All-Land Mulligans".  I think this is the second ever.

Down two cards, they recovered quickly with Captain America, Living Legend, on turn three, but I played Thanos on turn four, followed by Black Widow, Double Agent.  My opponent got me to discard my hand with HYDRA Infiltration, and then killed Thanos with Murdock's Crusade.  I got an Aerial Doombot down, however, and was able to win with that.  

In the third game, my opponent flooded out and I was able to win with Human Torch, Johnny Storm.  2-0.

In the third round, I was up against a mono-green deck.  In the first game they had a quick start with Ava Ayala and Hulkling, Burgeoning Bruiser on turns two and three.  I caught back up and managed to get everything off of the board.  Then they dropped Squirrel Girl.  Thankfully that turn I had exactly the mana to play Thanos and snap his fingers.  They played Titania, Rugged Rumbler, and Go Nuts! to kill Thanos and keep the game going.  I cast Doctor Doom, but they got two Wakandan Royal Guard, followed by Pet Avengers to put me on the back foot.  I got one of my deathtouchers out as well as other potential blockers, then played Human Torch to win another game.

In the second game, my opponent had two early Guerrilla Gorillas, then H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit.  I played Storm, Windrider, on turn four, both acting as a big blocker and shutting down H.E.R.B.I.E.  The game went back and forth; Wakandan Royal Guard was again acting really strong.  My opponent took out Storm, but then I drew the card that had won me game after game all night: Thanos, the Mad Titan.  I played him without snapping that turn, then drew into snap mana the next and wiped the board.  Thanos's lifelinking was enough to get me to victory.  3-0.

After the tournament I played against one of my friends who really wanted another match and won both games, though they had to mulligan down to four in the second game.  

Here are some afterthoughts: 

• I'm now 5-1 across two Marvel Super Heroes drafts. 
• I think this set is just really strong for WUBRG drafting.  Somehow I expect that has just gone under the radar.  The lands, basic landcyclers, and other assorted fixing is amazing.
• I like Power-up cards!  It really clicked with me this second time.  
• I got really lucky to get Thanos, and even luckier to draw him in so many games.  I also got lucky to have three colorless-generating lands.

I really want to do more of these; I hope I get more chances!  H p y M g c i g!