Chaos Needs a Bigger Deck (WUBRG Drafting)

If there was ever a time that I needed Yorion more, Friday's Chaos Draft at Intergalactic Plastic was it.  Sadly, Ikoria was not an option.  The store had Avatar, Marvel Super Heroes, Lorwyn Eclipsed, TMNT, and Hobbit play boosters to choose from.  I chose Lorwyn, Marvel, and Avatar to open in that order.  Here's what everyone opened:

No one picked Turtles!  I should have picked Turtles!

I got a lot of fun cards my way.  Here are all my picks:

You're going to take some lands, right?  You're going to take some lands?

The lack of fixing lands is glaring.  Perhaps I should have rolled with it, though, and played a deck of more than 40 cards.  Another big issue was the lack of removal.  I foolishly did not grab removal.  Here's the 40-card library I built:

There are lots of mana-fixing spells in here.

See that Through the Forest Gate?  I really wanted some awesome plays with that.  Well, it was a marquis card in my first round against a "Mono-Black with Friends" deck.  In game one, I had a turn two Troop of Ponies.  They played Goblin Plate Mail, then Ravening Warg the next turn.  I thought my turn four Ravenhill Flock was strong, but they played Hei-Bai which was a more immediate big threat.  I used my ramped mana to play Giant Koi on turn five, but they hit it with an Epic Downfall the next turn, ending with 22 life to my 7.  I played Rage into the Valley and Long Lake Nuisance on turn six, and they played Scarblade Scout.  I played Merrow Skyswimmer on turn seven, holding enough mana to cast Thirst for Knowledge and block with my Ravenhill Flock.  They attacked anyways and everything went according to plan.

... almost.

On turn eight I cast both Attercop and Wildvine Pummeler, so I wasn't out yet.  They played Stony-Voiced Goblins and then I couldn't keep up with my notes.  I played the creature that became my pseudo-commander: Leader, Super-Genius and drew into Through the Forest Gate, which I cast on my next turn while I had Down in the Valley on the board.

I only had nine cards in my library.  Five of those were lands.  I took three of them to keep six cards in my library because I was now drawing three cards per turn.  (I thought I was only drawing two because I can't count.  Those six cards were giving me two turns instead of three.)  My opponent was at 28 life and in the two turns I had I was able to turn the tables by attacking with my board and extra three new elves.  I got them down to 8 and brought myself up to 26, but that certainly was not enough.  The game ended with me drawing a card while they had no creatures on the board.  Bummer!  

That empty space is where my library lives.

In game two, they played Scarblade Scouts on turns two and three.  I was low on land but drew into a Forest on turn three to cast Cycle of Renewal.  Unfortunately, they played Abigale, Eloquent First-Year, and suddenly they were hitting even harder.  I got Leader out on turn five, but they dropped Crude Bent Blade.  On turn six I played both Attercop and Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards.  They Hama, the Bloodbender, and I think they took Cycle of Renewal with it.  On turn seven I cast Ravenhill Flock and Ashling, Rekindled.  During my eighth turn, Time was called.  I was at 3 and they were at 37 thanks to the vampirous power of lifelink.  I did great and lasted all the way through turns, thanks partially to Through the Forest Gate.  I lost the round, but only as a 0-1 loss.  (I think that's why I didn't get the bye in round two.)  0-1.

They ended at 50 life, so I probably would have won it.

In round two, I was up against Relentless Rakdos Removal.  In game one they played Bothersome Noisemaker on turn two and that thing got huge.  I had to play Tend the Sprigs on turn three to ramp into Merrow Skyswimmer on turn four.  They were stuck on three lands, but got Rage into the Valley on turn four and then Bogslither's Embraced my big turn five and turn six plays of Wildvine Pummeler and Giant Koi.  They were completely fine taking the blight option because the Noisemaker built it right back.  They ended their sixth turn with Obsessive Pursuit, which was a backbreaker.  Once they were able to sacrifice three clues in one turn, it was all over.  I got Leader down, but drew a bunch of land in a row so it didn't save me.  

Those three lands fanned out were my hand.

I discarded Through the Forest Gate in that game to some conniving or loot trigger, which was probably the right move.  I fared a bit better in game two, but I died in spectacular fashion to a Vivid trigger while I had one life.  

Usually vivid is on my side.

Through the Forest Gate couldn't save me because I didn't have enough mana to cast it.  We finished our match with over 35 minutes left in the round.  Oof.  0-2.

I definitely got the bye for round three, but another of the players really wanted to play against me, so I stuck around and played Forgetful Fish against the store manager, which is always a blast.  (I lost.)  Then I played my bonus round against the other player, running a fun Bant deck based on Thranduil's Company, which they rarely saw.

I lost twice.  Wilderland Scrounger is a good card that usually needs removal.  

Does gang-blocking count as removal?

I don't know how to convince my readers that I had fun going 0-3, but I had an absolute blast.  Leader and Through the Forest Gate do not belong in a 40-card deck together, but I had them both and it was fun.  Also, it is always a pleasure going to a Chaos draft run by a store.  That's always a good time.  

Happy Magicking to you, whether or not you pass through the forest gate!