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!