I made it to a second Hobbit FNM draft last week. There were only seven of us, but that's more than enough for Intergalactic Plastic, so we got to draft!
I continued a streak of not drafting enough color-fixing, especially in the land department. I got some other mana fixing, but I really need to return to pulling them early. I think that since my last try at this, Giant's Boulder has crept up the charts for perceived utility in limited, because I didn't get that many of those. Here were all my picks so you can judge (me) for yourself:
I got a little nervous after the first pack because I wasn't yet in black, but I made up with that a bunch in the second pack by drafting six black cards.
I was able to put together a deck that looked pretty good:
I sat down in the first round against a player running Azorius Recruiting. Very quickly it became clear that they'd pulled a bunch of the cards that they needed. On turn two they played Bilbo, Luckwearer, followed by a Lakeshore Apothecary the next turn. That's already a great combo, and the Snowslope Hunter I played (and later took out of my deck) didn't look so hot. It looked even worse when they played a second Lakeshore Apothecary on turn four. I played an Attercop I'd drawn, so I wasn't out of it, but then they dropped Longlake Nuisance. I put up a fight and played Supper for Spiders (which also later got taken out of the deck) and Elrond, Moon-Reader, but they played another Longlake Nuisance on the next turn. The only good part is that the Recruiting wasn't giving them more counters on the Apothecaries because they were already drawing off of Bilbo. On my sixth turn I had Great Fierce Bee and Beorn's Hospitality. The game wasn't over. Then they played Thorin's Last Stand and yes it was.
I got Thror's Map on the second turn of the second game, which was one of my best cards all night. They had a much slower start with nothing until a Patient Instructor on turn three. I played Beorn's Hospitality but still had no creatures out. On turn four they played a Longlake Nuisance. On turn five I put up a good defense by flashing out Head of the Hunt, but they had Thorin's Last Stand and took it out while also putting me down to 8 life. I Gathered the Darkness to bring my Head of the Hunt back to hand and played Well-Worn Spatula. Over the next two turns they played Lake-town Lookout and Eagle of the Great Shelf. I continued to put up a fight and get Wolf tokens on my side. Sadly, my Head of the Hunt got a bit traitorous.
That's right, my opponent cast Burglar's Plot and traded it for one of their soldiers. I was a much less scary theat then and the two flyers plus Bilbo were enough to kill me. 0-1.
In the second round I got the dreaded Bye. Thankfully, the manager was up for a game of Dandân (Forgetful Fish), which I'd never done! I lost but got a real good feel for it and I really want to play it again. I don't think I've played a single-deck format since playing Mental Magic decades ago, and surprisingly having that experience helped a bit. This was probably the most fun I've had with a bye in years.
In round three I was up against another friend running an aggressive Boros dwarves deck. In game one I got my Iron Hills Blacksmith out on turn two. I really like that card, but I was immediately jealous of the Troop of Ponies they played. I played Ragged Short Spear on turn three but didn't draw into a third land. I had Giant's Boulder on turn four but was still stuck on two. I played my Well-Worn Spatula, but my opponent played Dori, Bearer of Friends, an actual threat. I finally drew into a land and played Beorn's Hospitality, then the land to make my Blacksmith quite formidable. Unfortunately, my opponent had Magnificent End just waiting when I swung in. They untapped and cast Dwarven Shortsword. On my sixth turn I played Great Fierce Bee then another land to make it bigger. They played Balin, Loremaster with Storied. They attacked and dealt me extra damage with Smaug's Fury, putting me at 10 life to their 16. On turn seven, I cast Burn, Burn, Tree and Fern to take Balin out and swung in to put them at 11. They played The Mountain King's Return and attacked me to put me at 6 life. On the next turn I played both Elrond, Moon-Reader and Thror's Map. They returned Long-Bodied Grey Dog with their saga, then also played Ori, Keeper of Songs and attacked. I thought I had a good block on Dori.
They played Nori, Teller of Tales and I couldn't do enough on turn nine to stay alive.
In game two I looked more like an aggro deck. I had the Well-Worn Spatula on turn one, then Thror's Map on turn two. My opponent answered with Oin the Brave. I ran out Elrond, Moon-Reader on turn three and they played Troop of Ponies. On turn five I played Great Fierce Bee and attacked in but lost Elrond to Smaug's Fury. They played Misty Mountains Raider, which I immediately hit with Burn, Burn, Tree and Fern on my turn. They played Gandalf, Spark Starter and killed my Bee. On turn seven I conjured a Gathering of Darkness to get Elrond back to my hand and then cast Ravening Warg. My opponent cast their own Iron Hills Blacksmith, attacked, and hit for a lot with Smaug's Fury again. On my eighth turn I cast both Fili the Pathfinder and Elrond. Fili was big enough to scare away attacks and on my next turn I played Boughside Wanderers. (I don't remember what I got in my hand.) I swung in and put them to 8 life. On my tenth turn I played another Great Fierce Bee and swung in again, putting them to 4 and taking out many of their defenders. I won on my next turn, but time had been called so we were done. 0-1-1.
Before we reflect, we have a bonus round! I got to play against a friend who still had their deck together from their prerelease! They had put together a Rakdos deck. On turn two, they played Ravening Warg. I thankfully had Thror's Map and played that on my turn, then played Great Fierce Bee on turn three. On turn four, I played Iron Hills Blacksmith and the Well-Worn Spatula. On their fifth turn they Stirred Up Trouble with their Warg and then cast Dreaded Bat-Cloud for cheap. Thankfully I had Fili the Pathfinder on my turn. I attacked to keep up the pressure and put them down to 12 life compared to my 16. On turn six they hit Fili with Bilbo's Deadly Slice, but didn't have any way to stop a double striker with a few good equipment. I won on turn seven.
In game two they had Goblin-town Flunkies on turn two. I was very fortunate to get Thror's Map yet again. They played Goblin Plate Mail on turn three and put me to 15 life. I didn't have any blockers, but did have a Giant's Boulder. They played Reverent Howl on turn four to put my life even lower and gain five. I played Burn, Burn, Tree and Fern to take out the army, but they attacked the next turn to put me to 7. I had Gandalf, Wandering Wizard on turn five to get me back into the game, but they played Crude Bent Blade on turn six and he Gandalf wandered to my graveyard. I played Boughside Wanderers took his place on my turn, but Bilbo's Deadly slice didn't let them stick around either. On my seventh turn I played both Fili the Pathfinder and Iron Hills Blacksmith. They spent turn eight playing The Great Goblin and Tidings of War. I went to one life while they were at 25. I couldn't let them untap with The Great Goblin, so I Spewed Flame on him and played the Well-Worn Spatula (yet again). On turn nine they played Desert Were-Worm (what a cool card!) but they only had three mountains out. I equipped up my Iron Hills Blacksmith and braced for an attack. They didn't swing in right away, but prepped by summoning their own Great Fierce Bee and the Ravening Warg. I played Smaug, the Great Calamity. On their turn eleven, they flashbacked the Tidings of War and swung in. I pulled off a good block.
I played Gathering of Darkness to bring the Boughside Wanderers back and played my own Ravening Warg and got in for some damage. On turn twelve, against a mostly-empty board, I played Dwarven Shortsword and swung in for 22 damage for the win.
We played a bonus bonus game (I didn't take notes) against the other deck they'd put together: Boros Dwarves. I lost bad; they were at 31 life when I died!
After two drafts, my total The Hobbit draft record is now 1-3-1. That is definitely in the Not Great category. Is that because I'm bad at Magic or that the set isn't good for WUBRG drafting?
- I definitely didn't mulligan aggressively enough and I failed to get enough color fixing. So, I am clearly at fault in both drafting and playing. I hope I get another chance to do better at this format. Sadly it's nearly Reality Fracture time, so it might be a long time.
- I think the jury might still be out on how friendly The Hobbit is to WUBRG drafting.
- The common dual lands are quite good and it seems like players take them early. Please let me know if you're having a different experience!
- Other fixing is also highly sought-after. Giant's Boulder and Troop of Ponies are really good in all kinds of decks. This is interesting because it's different from the Conflux/Ravnica Allegiance problem where many people are shooting for five colors. That's certainly not happening, but the fixing resources are disappearing nonetheless.
I hope I get more chances to play this in the future! I would really like to prove that it's possible to do better (even for me).
Happy Hobbit Magicking!
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