Drafting on Thursday, Oct. 18! :)

Drafting on Thursday!  As usual, we'll try to start around 6:15.  This is a draft, so it will cost $10 (or you can bring your own packs).  I have lots of Return to Ravnica, and I expect that I will still have lots of it!  :)

I think we may have a bunch of people come who are new to drafting.  Because of that, I'll try to push for some kind of team format.  If anyone hates that, let me know!  Being able to consult with teammates about drafting tactics and/or deck-building tactics could be very helpful to many.

Awesome! :)

Drafting in the next two weeks

When should we do it?  Which evenings are you free?  Let me know!

Email me or leave a comment below! :)

Next time: Casual Constructed Evening

EDIT: Wednesday, Sept. 19: Moving the meeting a week back due to illness.  We will meet at the same time, but on Sept. 26th instead.  Hope to see many of you then! :-D

Hey all,

let's have a casual constructed event next time.  (That means it's totally free to show up!)  Let me know when you're free over the next few weeks.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights are all possibilities (up through Sept. 20).  Send me an email or reply right here.  :-D

I've got plenty of extra decks I can bring, as well as planes for planechasing and schemes for archenemying.

I'm working on putting together enough zombies for this co-op format.  (I still need 33 2/2 zombie and 3 5/5 zombie giant tokens.  If you have some and want to donate them, please let me know.  If you're looking for other tokens, I'm happy to donate mine to you!)  I'd also like to put together a danger room deck to help people learn to play.  That sounds like a really cool format, but I certainly haven't put together a deck yet.

Alum Aaron Dugger has put together a cube, which I'm sure he'd like to draft soon too!

In case you haven't seen my GoogleTalk bot, send a message to cardpricemonkey@gmail.com.  That has access to my entire collection and also has my want list.  There are over 21,000 cards listed!  (I still haven't added the cards from Tuesday's draft.)

Let me know when you might be free in the next two weeks!  Let's play some magic!

First Witt Draft of 2012-13

Hey gang!  After tallying the emails, here's what's going down:

A wacky draft!  Either bring any three 15-card packs, or get them from me when you show up ($10).

Tuesday, Sept. 4, room 327 in the science building.  We'll try to start by 6pm (I'll be there a bit early).

First Magicking of 2012-2013

When and what should we do?  A draft?  Some chaotic planechase games?

Let's get together in the next two weeks and play some magic.  Let me know which evenings you're free.  Usually Monday - Thursday evenings from about 5:30 to 10ish is what we choose from.  In the case of a draft or something, we can wait a little bit for someone if necessary.

We should also figure out what to do for WittCon.  We usually do a sealed tournament and some sort of wacky constructed tournament.  I was thinking EDH combined with Star/Emperor/2HG depending on the number of people.  In the past we've had really strict deck construction rules and haven't seen many people build decks, so it might be better to shoot for something more mainstream this year.

Finally, there are a bunch of colleges nearby.  Does anybody know of good rules to have a tournament with two opposing sides?  It could be fun to challenge another school to some magic and use a format that pits us versus them.

Happy new semester!  Let me know when you're free in the next two weeks!  If you'd rather draft or not, I want to hear about those preferences!  (It might be that we have enough people to have some drafting and others playing constructed.)

Either respond here or email me! :)

Archenemy Draft Results

Okay, that was really fun!

Sadly, due to a big storm, it was only me versus a team of three.  Still, it went very well.  I won 2 of 3 games, so it wasn't a complete blow out. Game 1 I ended up with life comfortably in the twenties or thirties.  Game 2 I lost, but game 3 I was down to 13.

I opened M 2012 first, then Zendikar, then Rise of the Eldrazi.  The three players drafted a total of 4 Avacyn, 2 Dark Ascension, 1 Innistrad, 1 Zendikar and 1 Eventide.

My deck consisted of:

Creatures:
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (Thank you, Eldrazi!),
Gravetiller Wurm,
Aerie Ouphes,
Wolfir Silverheart,
Spitemare,
2 Gryff Vanguards,
Nephalia Smuggler,
Gravedigger,
Village Bell-Ringer (What a bomb!),
Spectral Gateguards,
Geist Trappers,
Heartstabber Mosquito,
Oran-Rief Recluse,

Other Spells:
Harrowing Journey,
Spidersilk Net,
Rush of Blood,
Mind Control (Picked this over Flameblast Dragon; not sure if that was a good move),
Banishing Stroke,
Terrifying Presence,
Recumbent Bliss,
Mark of Mutiny,
Shattered Perception (I never should have run this.)

Land:

Evolving Wilds,
Graypelt Refuge,
Soaring Seacliff (Used this as janky removal in 2 games with the Aerie Ouphes and the Oran-Rief Recluse!),
3 each of Swamp, Mountain, Forest, Plains,
2 Island

The heroes came up with the plan of divvying out colors partially ahead of time, which I think was really smart.  We didn't allow "table talk" during the drafting, but collaboration ahead of time was okay.  They agreed to each choose one color (Green, White and Blue) and then splash the other two (Red and Black) as they saw fit.  As it wound up, they each played their main color and also Red!

I think with 4 or 5 heroes, they probably could have taken another game from me, but it's not obvious.  It was a little lopsided on drafting experience also; one of them drafts a lot, another has drafted a few times before (I don't know exactly) but for the third, it was their first draft.

Archenemy Draft?

I sent out an email at the end of last week about trying to integrate drafting with the Archenemy multiplayer rules.  The idea is to draft like normal, but one will be the archenemy, facing off against the rest of the players afterwards.  They will get to use the cards they drafted, but will also have all the scheme cards (used in the same way as Archenemy, but with the whole bunch of them shuffled together).

I'm ready to be the Archenemy!  All we need is a willing bunch of opponents!

If you have any thoughts about this format or know when you would be free during the next week, please let me know.  You can either post a comment here or email me (or both).  I'll do my best to find a time available to as many people as possible.

Some basic estimates we made were that three or less "heroes" is probably too few to win consistently; four or five is a good challenge; and six and above tips the scales to the heroes' favor.  I am really excited to test this out!