We celebrated the release of Lorywn with a 5 man last night. We played round robin, I guess to get as much experience with the new cards as possible. I ended up in 2nd with an E/g/b deck (translation: elementals splashing for giants and goblins). Somebody (rhymes with MooBombastic) managed to draft 2 Lilliana (!) and took the whole shebang. Note to self: Briarhorn is the nut high in Limited. Its an instant speed Hill Giant with a Giant Growth attached. Seems fair.
So elementals haven't gotten a ton of love in the few Lorwyn draft articles I have read so far. People seem pretty fond of faeries and kithkin, though I confess I haven't read everything out there. I was able to go mono red. The biggest problem with the elementals is how small most of em are. I sure felt like I was playing a lot of one butts. Here's the deck I drafted...
2 Flamekin Bladewhirl (These weren't quite as strong as I expected. A 2/1 on turn 1 is nice, don't get me wrong, but everything blocks and kills it, and everybody is running weenies)
1 Flamekin Brawler (Blocks well and combos nicely with Ceaseless Searblades)
1 Needle Drop (Totally worth it, even just to cycle for R)
1 Tarfire (This is good, but I took it over a Hostility, hoping that would wheel. That was dumb)
1 Adder-Staff Boggart (Can someone please explain to me why I thought this was a first striker? Memories of Boros, maybe? Nonetheless, very strong card)
2 Soulbright Flamekin (Again, combos with the Ceaseless Searblades, nicely costed, relevant ability for giants)
1 Smokebraider (Would have been even better if I had remembered I could cast Hostility with it)
2 Fire-Belly Changeling (It's been mentioned that changelings are awesome. This is so nuts good. Whomever claims that the Changeling ability makes Mistform Ultimus less special should be shot. The comment may be true, but the changelings absolutely make these tribal decks flow. Tribe synergies are just as important as color and Changeling makes it work. The Fire-Bellys also combo nicely with Ceaseless Searblades)
2 Mudbutton Torchrunner (These were subpar versus the Faerie deck, since I have no way to get them killed, but they are very solid removal against everybody else. And they go to the face (relevant against planeswalkers)!)
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil (This is so much better than I expected, since it enables the changelings as well and lowers the cost of Giant's Ire (which I think is being undervalued))
2 Inner-Flame Acolyte (I didn't evoke one of these all day. Why bother when it's a 4/2 haste for 3?)
1 Ceaseless Searblades (There were 3 games of 10 where this ability was really relevant, but wow is it ever relevant. Picture a board of Searblades, Soulbright Flamekin, Flamekin Brawler and 6 Mountains. Attack with Searblades and Flamekin Brawler, activate the Soulbright 3 times (Searblades becomes 5/4 with trample), add 8 mana to your pool and activate the Brawler 8 times (Searblades is 13/4 with trample, Brawler is 8/2 with trample). Seems okay, amiright?)
2 Giant's Ire (People always seems to undervalue Lava Axe effects but with any changeling and a Stinkdrinker in play, this says, 1R, deal 4 damage to target opponent and draw a card. That is nuts)
1 Changeling Berserker (This is good, obv)
1 Ingot Chewer ( So few relevant artifacts, but the body is nice in an archetype a little lacking in fat. On the plus side, the artifacts you are likely to hit are generally manafixing)
1 Sunrise Sovereign ( Changelings, duh)
1 Hostility (My stupidity paid off, as there were 2 in the pool. I still should have taken the first one over the Tarfire. Dumb interaction #476...Hostility, changeling and Stinkdrinker in play. Giant's Ire reads, 1R, put 4(!) hasty 3/1 elementals in play, draw a card. 12 power for 2 mana. Seems fair)
1 Hearthcage Giant (Rawr)
16 Mountain
Maybe this should be 17 land, but the elementals allow you to cheat the high mana cost stuff a lot. The deck usually plays nice, but if they have a way to remove your weenies, you are in a world of hurt, cuz you need those guys to commit shenanigans late in the game. Did beat an active Mirror Entity in the last game of the night though, so I was pretty happy with it. Release event on Sunday!
--CBG
PS Thank you Major_Luck, for correcting my game state. I am not being sarcastic. You make me a better player, even though I call you a dick for it. Thank you for not killing me, also.
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