The Hobbit prerelease was at the beginning of August, but this past weekend my FLGS had enough packs to facilitate its first Hobbit draft. They weren't play boosters from a box, but cardboard-covered blister packs for individual purchase. (They finally got their shipment of play booster boxes in the day I started writing this, and delays on the next set have already been announced a month before that set releases.)
We had enough for twelve people, so we split into two pods of six. That's great for a lot of people, but I continue to believe that a bigger table is better for my draft style. Here's what I drafted:
I do think I made a mistake right off the bat. I first picked that Bilbo, Luckweaver over An Unexpected Party, which is really strong in limited. I don't have an explanation; I don't know why I did that! Apparently Black is the consensus best color of this set, but I didn't get much of that. I very nearly drafted Bilbo-tribal, except I didn't get any copies of Bilbo Baggins, Burglar! I also checked my picks at the end of pack one and realized I was only in Bant, so I made sure to grab my last two colors in pack two, to avoid being a fraud. Most important, though, is that I took four Giant's Boulder, a card that is good for me with all three of its abilities.
Here's the deck I was running at the end of the draft matches. (Why would he say it like that? Maybe for foreshadowing?)
The five lands were pretty good for a six-person pod in a set with basic lands in packs and I even used the Iron Hills' ability multiple times. My curve here was really low, though, which is weird for me. I was hopeful I could keep up with the speed of other decks!
In the first round I was up against a Rakdos deck played by a friend who I've faced a lot at store events recently. I got a Giant's Boulder right off the bat, but they played Gollum the Abandoned on turn two and then Goblin-town Flunkies on the next turn. I played Ori, Keeper of Songs, but they hit it with Pinecone Strike and then played a second Gollum the Abandoned post combat to hit me with the ETB effect again. I played Iron Hills Blacksmith, but they didn't flinch and swung in again. I killed Gollum with Magnificent End, but they sacrificed their other creature to get it back and replayed it. I was in trouble at six life against twenty. They attacked and I flashed in Little Bear to hold them off. They played Smaug, Wicked Wurm, but I hit it with Stone by Sunlight. I got aggressive and started to hit back. I put them to nine life and started to think I was safe. They flashed in Head of the Hunt, hit me on the next turn for four and then played Gollum to end it.
The second game went too fast for me to take good notes. I know that I held on to Bilbo, Luckweaver in case I needed to trade for a good creature. All that got me was being in this situation at the end of the game.
Oof. 0-1.
In the second round I was up against another of my friends, who wasn't very friendly with Part in Friendship.
Not this time, Pinkie Pie.
In the first game I had a good thing going against their Golgari deck until they played Part in Friendship on turn five. Their deck consisted of big green beaters including multiple copies of Boughside Wanderers, at least two Wilderland Scroungers, and Galion among others. It was clear I could not keep up with them auto-replacing all their deaths and I found myself in a familiar situation with only Bilbo, Luckweaver.
After that first game loss, I desperately sideboarded to remove removal and replace it with delaying cards such as Velvetwing Butterflies. In the second game I got off to a fast start with my cheaper creatures. They played Part in Friendship late, but I had Giant's Boulder up with seven untapped mana and held it off to pull out the win.
In the third game, they realized just how good their Notary Hobbits were and had 15 mana available on turn six! They played Boughside Wanderers and found... another Boughside Wanderers.
I lasted until time was called and then died on turn three. 0-2.
In the third round I was up against another friend, but one who I rarely am pitted against. They were running "Bearly Jund". In the first game they had Goblin Plate Mail out on turn two, followed by Great Fierce Bee (an amazing card) on turn three. The played a second Goblin Plate Mail on turn four and I played Ori to hold them off. They drew more with Reverent Howl on their turn, but then I responded with Dreaded Bat Cloud and a Giant's Boulder. They played Goblin-town Flunkies and then a Rage into the Valley. After huge value off of the Bee, I finally hit it with Enchanted River's Grasp. They played a Crude Bent Blade and I flashed in Little Bear. I attacked to put them to five against my four life. I played Dwarven Provisioner and used the Iron Hills to pump it up. I was going to pull it off! And then they played Beorn, Reluctant Host. I used my last Iron Hills, but it wasn't enough.
In game two I had a fast start, with a Giant's Boulder into Bilbo, Luckweaver, into Ori, Keeper of Songs. I continued to be aggressive and got slightly ahead, six life to five, and pulled off the win. They had Beorn the Fierce in their hand, but didn't have the second green to cast it!
The third game was another tight one. We went to turns and I pulled out the win on turn five! Again they didn't have the second green to cast the Beorn the Fierce in their hand. Yuck! 1-2.
Bonus Round! My resident Ravnica Clue hype starter brought their set and we played a game with our draft decks. Well, most of a game. Both of my opponents were from the other pod: Player 1 was running Boros Dwarves, Player 2 was me, and Player 3 was playing Rakdos Goblins.
I didn't take great notes, but on turn four I made a classic multiplayer blunder and overextended after hitting for the second time. I took some heat but I continued to get in on people the next turn and was making a good dent in my sheet. Everyone kept showing me their suspects so I was narrowing it down quickly. On turn six, Player 1 cast Stone Giant of High Pass, which granted them archenemy status pretty quickly.
I cast Balin, Loremaster on turn seven and then the manager declared they were closing up the shop! We decided to write down our best guesses and see who was closest. I thought I was in good shape because I had just figured out that Mastermind Plum was the killer. When we revealed our guesses (we wrote them down) I got the suspect right, but Player 2 got both the suspect and the weapon correct. We didn't quite finish right, but it was still really fun!
This draft was great! I had so many tight games where the win came down to the last few cards, which is always exciting. And it was super awesome to get to use my deck for more than just the three draft matches. 1-2 isn't a great result, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a ton of fun!
I hope Hobbit cards have arrived in your neck of the woods so you get to play this draft format! Happy Magicking!
No comments:
Post a Comment