Some Musings on Lorwyn Limited (In the form of a Release Tournament Report)

It’s not bragging if you’re learning, right? Seriously, I realize no one wants to slog through page after page of some schmuck alternately stating “I won” or “I got hosed.” So I will try to toss in some strategic insights on this still young format based on my results. Here goes!

The Deck: I was blessed with several possible directions for a build, but none of them felt overpowering for me. I had about half of a stellar Faerie deck (Faerie Harbinger, Peppersmoke, Pestermite, dubs Dreamspoiler Witches, Faerie Trickery, and Oona's Prowler) and some other good back up cards (dubs Æthersnipe, Liliana Vess, Nameless Inversion, Cairn Wanderer and Ponder. Yes, I did consider splashing the Æthersnipes, thank you. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This was a very solid dozen or so cards. Another direction was Elves, given my dubs Elvish Promenade, but sadly I had merely five other Elf creatures. And there was an Austere Command to consider. Given that my pool had great creatures but was light on removal, I decided a build-your-own Wrath of God would be good idea. So I decided I would play white if at all possible. In the end, my choice was to play all my Kithkin and all but two of my Treefolk, with a splash for the Nameless Inversion and Cairn Wanderer. What about Liliana Vess? I felt like it was too greedy to depend on getting double black given my dearth of fixing. She got cut. Here’s what I ran.

The List:
Kithkin Creatures:
Goldmeadow Harrier
Kithkin Daggerdare
Plover Knights
2 x Springjack Knight (Surprisingly good)
Wizened Cenn

Treefolk Creatures:
2 x Battlewand Oak (Without these a Treefolk deck doesn’t work)
Bog-Strider Ash
Cloudcrown Oak (The best Treefolk at common, I believe)
Oaken Brawler
Oakgnarl Warrior
Sentry Oak (Quite good)

Shapeshifter Creatures:
Cairn Wanderer
Changeling Titan

Elemental Creatures:
Briarhorn (Play it. If you have to, splash for it. Amazing.)

Total Creatures: 16

Spells:
Oblivion Ring (Play it)
Austere Command (Duh)
Dolmen Gate (It fits this deck’s strategy. I would play it in a Kithkin, Faerie, or maybe Merfolk deck)
Lace with Moonglove
Nameless Inversion (Best common after O-ring in the set)
Surge of Thoughtweft
Incremental Growth (A real skill tester. Goes up in value the better the player you are.)
Total Spells: 7

Land:
7 x Plains
7 x Forests
2 x Swamps
Vivid Marsh
Total Land: 17

Other possible playables: Kinsbaile Skirmisher, Fistful of Force, Runed Stalactite.
I won’t lie: the first match I had the Skirmisher and the Stalactite in the main instead of Lace with Moonglove and Bog-Strider Ash. People told me the Fistful of Force was good, but I just couldn’t see it being better than any spell other than maybe Lace with Moonglove, and I refused to cut a creature for it. Anyone want to make an argument for any of the board cards? Let me hear it.

Round 1: Scott
Scott says that we’ve played before, at a different release tourney. I smile and say “I think that we have.” Then he says with an edge of resentment that he is pretty sure that I beat him in that tournament. I tell him I don’t remember, but he cuts me off and says that he knows this because he lost every match of that tournament. Is it wrong of me to feel some relief when an opponent tells you that? Should “easy win” be floating through your mind? Or would that make you a dick? Just asking. We both mull to six and he asks me if we can just draw seven again. “I wish,” I reply, “but we better keep this match within the official rules.” He keeps a two lander after the Paris and I proceed to roll over him as he discards every three casting cost Kithkin ever printed. Dude got screwed. At this point I was thinking about round 2 already. That may have been a mistake. Next game he makes some guys, I kill them and I am looking at overwhelming board position. Then he drops foily Garruk Wildspeaker, untaps two lands and drops Ajani Goldmane, gaining himself 2 life. This is like turn six. Next turn he makes a beast and gives it a +1/+1 counter. I tap the 4/4 beastie with my Goldmeadow Harrier, play Incremental Growth and manage to kill both Planeswalkers that turn. Crisis averted. I also inform him that his foily Garruk should net him around $10 if he so desires. That’s the match. Moral: Planeswalkers are good. But I also think they are a little skill testing. Scott could have waited until he had just one creature down, then dropped the Planeswalkers and made a Beast. Even if I knocked one of ‘Walkers out, I still probably would have lost the tempo I had and likely the game. Instead they just sucked up one turn of attacks before I began beating on Scott.

Round 2: Ryan
Ryan is Scott’s buddy. He is one of those guys who plays like they have five minutes to win every game. In game one it actually took Ryan about five minutes to pound me into oblivion with Merfolk and Elementals. I took 13 damage on the last turn of the game. He was still at 20 life. Game two I was pinging away with some weenies and able to activate Springjack Knight multiple times to force through lots of damage. Unfortunately, he had Judge of Currents gaining him a total of nine extra life this game. I managed to kill a Sygg, River Guide and Veteran of the Depths before finally taking him out. We had 12 minutes to finish game three. This game I got the sense that he was more interested in tapping his Merfolk to do extraneous stuff than he was focused on winning. He took me to seven, but I managed to get him. After he lost Ryan told me that he had the perfect answer to my deck- Soaring Hope. Suffice it to say I would have been fine with him playing that card instead of actual threats. Moral: Lifegain is bad, but you already knew that. Clashing every turn is good. I know it helps your opponent too, smoothing his draws and letting him see your cards, but if you’re clashing then occasionally you get an added benefit as well, like a doublestriking a creature. Sentry Oak was great for that reason. You don’t even have to throw the guy in the red zone if you win the clash. You can just write down the removal spell that your opponent revealed, put the land you revealed on the bottom of your library and make plays to reflect this new information.

Round 3: Joey McHaines
We all know Joseph by now. I will withhold comments accordingly. He was listening to the Packer game on his radio, which was a nice bonus. His deck was a dedicated Elf creation with about twelve creatures and about eight hojillion removal spells. Seriously, he was splashing white for double O-ring and Neck Snap. Healso ran dubs Eyeblight’s Ending, a Weed Strangle, a Lignify etc. We both mulled to six and both had very slow hands. I was stuck on two land, swinging with a Kithkin Daggerdare and he was stuck on three with a Avian Changeling beating me above. He swung in for five turns before we really started to get rolling. He Lignified my Sentry Oak, which was fine, because I gave it three +1/+1 counters with an Incremental Growth. A 0/4 Treefolk with no abilities can still swing, and often should if it is now a 3/7. He finally played Nath of the Gilt-Leaf and started removing all my blockers with his, uh removal. It was elementary after that. Game 2 our decks actually came to play. I feel like he killed about eight of my guys, but I think I Wrathed the board with Austere Command, so I may have helped him out in that regard. He of course played Footbottom Feast to reload. He also was apparently gaining life (according to the life totals recorded), although I’m not sure how. He got this game and the match with what seemed like four total creatures that he just recurred. Joe went on to go 4-0-2 and made the top 8. Moral: Removal is SO good in this format. Lorwyn is about creatures, yes? If you can remove creatures, not only do you stop ridiculous synergies from occurring, you also can win the game yourself- with YOUR creatures. Wizards supposedly dialed back the amount of removal for this set, so I suggest taking it over bomb creatures in this format.

Round 4: Dylan
It was win or go home time. Dylan came out packing a base-blue deck that splashed white (Veteran of the Depths, probably other stuff), black (Nameless Inversion) and red (Tarfire). Also he had Merfolk, at least one Æthersnipe and a Benthicore. I couldn’t stop the Benthicore game one. That thing is a house. He got me when I was one White mana shy of the Austere Command. But I was ready for Benthicore game two. He was beating me in the air with some 2 power flyer for about four turns. Then drops the big guy and next turn tries to turn it sideways. Down comes Briarhorn, giving itself +3/+3. Go ahead, tap your Merfolk and give Benthicore shroud. I don’t have to target your guy. That swung the game around. My Treefolk had time to come down and after that it was lights out. Game 3 he was on his back foot the whole time. I would see him keep a Tarfire on top of his library after a clash with no Mountains in play. Same thing would happen with Nameless Inversion. By the time he got mana I had him at 13 with no chump blockers. I Surge of Thoughtweft with a bunch of dudes to drop him to 3 and that’s too far for him to recover. He takes me down to 18 and scoops them up. Moral: Briarhorn. Is. Amazing. Splash for him, draft him first pick, do whatever you have to do to play him. He is removal for all non-evasive creatures 6/6 and smaller. Draft him like a removal spell that also happens to give you a dude. The only time I didn’t kill an opponent’s creature with this guy was when I cast him at the end of my opponent’s turn so I would have enough bodies to swarm for the win on my next turn. Some cards are skill testers. This card will get you raped by thirteen year-olds because anyone with even a vague notion of Magic’s turn structure can destroy people with this. Okay, I’m done ranting.

Round 5: Keith
I have played with Keith before and there was something about him that made me dislike him. He seemed fine on the surface; a clean-cut guy with a good poker face. I usually appreciate opponents who don’t show any emotion because I can (mostly) rely on them to keep any psychiatric and or personality disorders to themselves. I hate the guy who is socially retarded, or gregariously condescending, or wants to tell you about how hot his girlfriend is, and how also he makes millions of dollars and definitely doesn’t have a really, really small penis. I prefer losing to emotionless killing machines than dealing with the same bizarre shit I slog through working at a mental health clinic. Sorry about the aside. Back to Keith. I am probably slandering Keith here, but I have a vague intuition that the last time we played he won, and was just the tiniest bit smug about it- just smug enough to let me notice. Now I sound like the crazy one. But hey, everyone likes winning and has a right to happy about it, so I should probably stop whining about that. It’s Magic-playin’ time. Keith is running a base-red Elemental deck with Blue as the secondary color. The first game he removes some of my early drops then has some strange combo-esque play involving Inner-Flame Acolyte pumping up a Changeling Berserker after equipping it with Runed Stalactite. I was at a healthy 17 life and two turns later I was dead. The Elementals can come out of nowhere to win. Very anxiety producing. Game 2 I had the perfect curve. Turn 2 Wizened Cenn, turn 3 Springjack Knight, turn 4 swing with both Kithkin, win the clash, Springjack gets doublestrike, cast Surge of Thoughtweft after Keith chooses not to block, take eleven sir- wait, you what? You Familiar's Ruse, countering my Surge of Thoughtweft, returning your Inner-Flame Acolyte? Ugh. I guess you just take 8 instead. After I dropped Plover Knights on turn 5 his mask cracked a little. “Of course. Of course you have Plover Knights on turn five.” He started to turn the game around and then I three-for-oned him with the Austere Command. He scooped on 7 life. We shuffled up for game 3. When I dropped turn two Dolmen Gate he got real salty. He threw up his hands and exclaimed, “Great, just great. That card!” I had seen mixed success with it previously (I was able to continue to attack in for a few damage per turn during a creature stall against Dylan, but against Joe I wished it had been another dude), and to be honest the card itself did less for me this game than the knowledge that my opponent was frustrated. We were both racing and I doubt Keith would have blocked more often if the Gate hadn’t been there. He had me down to 10, which I knew would go fast if he drew a hasty Changeling Berserker with any amount of pump or burn. Still I had no real option but to hope he didn’t draw the right cards and try to end the game as quickly as possible. After he went to 7 life he started holding his Elementals back to chump block. He was land flooded and I started to suspect his last 2 cards in hand were also lands. One more all-in attack took him to 3. He tossed his hand of two basics onto the table, conceding in disgust. Wary of returning the smugness he may have possibly given me in the past, I told Keith that he had me scared the whole time because I knew his deck could drop large amounts of damage from nowhere. “It’s a good deck,” he replied, shaking his head. “When I draw non-land cards.” We’ve all been there. Moral: Dolmen Gate is a fine card in an aggressive deck. Still, I would definitely relegate it to the sideboard in matches where you know your opponent has lots of removal or has a good chance of outracing you. In draft, even if you are building a mid-range deck I would snag a late Dolmen Gate for sideboarding in against decks where you know you will be the aggressor. It remains to be seen what pick will end up being “late” for a rare like this. I’m predicting if you see this coming anywhere after fourth pick it’s probably better than the other cards still in the pack- unless you’re running the slowest and of control decks.

Round 6: Tom
I found my opponent. I explained to him that looking at the standings we were guaranteed a Top 8 berth with a draw in this round. “Okay.” He replied. “So, where do you want to play?” I was confused. “Do you… mean for fun?” I asked. “No. I came here to play. And I think I have a pretty good chance.” “You don’t understand,” I countered. “If you lose this round there’s a good chance you won’t make it in to the Top 8. I don’t care how good you think your deck is, you have to admit there’s still a chance of you losing. If we draw, it’s a guarantee. Why would you want to take the risk?” He looked at me with the tiniest hint of smile. “I think my tiebreaks will get me in even if I lose. And besides; if I want to play, you have to play.” “Fair enough.” I replied, cursing inwardly that I got paired against the one cowboy still left in this tournament. We finished shuffling. Before presenting my deck I said, “One last chance. Will you ID with me?” Now he was smiling wide. “Nope.” I took a deep breath. Here we go. I throw back a one-lander. He blithely keeps immediately, not waiting for me to finish mulling. My six card hand features two Forests, a Dolmen Gate and three White creatures. I think for a while, then decide five is better. I keep on two lands and three spells I can’t cast. He starts laying dudes a’plenty, capping it off with a Brion Stoutarm. I have an O-ring ready for big bad Brion, but before I lay the removal he drops Purity. Okay, I have to remove that from the game before I can kill Brion with damage anyway. I have no other way of dealing with the Incarnation, but at least if he starts swinging with the Giant I could slide a Briarhorn in front of Brion. He doesn’t swing with Brion. And I don’t draw Briarhorn. He gets me with weenies and flings the last four damage at me. Game 2. It’s ugly. Turn 4 Brion Stoutarm for him. I’m “racing” him, but with the lifelink I really feel like I’m racing on a treadmill. He gains 15 life over the course of the game. He O-rings my Cairn Wanderer. I O-ring his Stoutarm. He O-rings my O-ring. I may have said some sarcastic comments at that point. I also lose badly. At the end of the game I told him “I feel no compulsion to be nice to you if I don’t make the Top 8.” That, kids, is me admitting right here and now that I am a dick. I realized this about four minutes later and apologized to Tom. Perhaps because of this apology, Providence decided to let two losers on 4-2 make the cut. I was one of them. Moral: Don’t be a dick. If there is some doubt in your mind as to whether or not you have been dick, rest assured you have. If you find yourself admitting that you are, in fact, a dick, make amends as best you can. It won’t always get you into a Top 8, but it will dampen the flames of whatever B.O. perfumed inferno awaits gamer assholes like us on the Other Side.

Top 8 Draft: We set up for the draft. Fugie, having been knocked from the tourney, is judging this show. I have recorded my picks.
Pack 1 Pick 1: Oblivion Ring
Best common removal in the set. Mise.
P1P2: Cloudthresher
A guy would have to be pretty heavy green to pay the GGGG in the casting cost, but it’s the second pick and I might as well shoot for it.
P1P3: Silvergill Douser
Nothing in Green. I’ll take the best card left in the pack.
P1P4: Thundercloud Shaman
I’m not seeing a lot of solid signaling, but if I end up in red this guy gets in there for sure. 4/4 for five is just fine thanks. Killing weenies is gravy.
P1P5: Wanderwine Prophets
I don’t know the set well enough to know if this is a signal or not. This guy seems abusable in the right deck.
P1P6: Silvergill Douser
Now we’re talking. I know these dudes are good. If people want to ship me more Merfolk I will snap them up.
P1P7: Battlewand Oak
I really like Treefolk. They’ve been good to me in one draft and in this sealed pool. This guy is excellent in a Treefolk deck. I will look out for more coming.
P1P8: Amoeboid Changeling
I seem to be shifting toward Blue, and this guy is capable of creating two extra Merfolk (or Treefolk, or whatever).
P1P9: Giant Harbinger
I don’t know if I’m in Red or not, but all the Harbingers have been really good for me prior. This one seems like it won’t be any different.
P1P10: Glimmerdust Nap
First removal I’ve picked since O-ring.
P1P11: Springleaf Drum
I don’t know if this is good fixing, but it’s fixing.
P1P12: Deeptread Merrow
Solid dude that will make the maindeck. Not a bad 12th pick.
P1P13: Mournwhelk
Really? 13th? This seems better that 13th pick to me. Maybe 7 is just too much to pay. We’ll see.
P1P14: Ponder
I think Blue is open. Can you imagine passing this- twice?
P1P14: Wellgabber Apothecary
Playable 15th pick. Nice.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Guile
The on-color Incarnation. How lucky.
P2P2: Mulldrifter
Daddy like.
P2P3: Mulldrifter
For reals. Blue is WIDE open. This deck is almost built.
P2P4: Briarhorn
I’m pretty sure by Christmas a Briarhorn will never, ever, ever go fourth pick. I know I will at least splash for green now.
* * *
It’s at this point that a guy on the other side of the table raises his hand and says, “I think this pile has too many cards in it.” He was right. The pack he was passing should have had 10 or 11 cards, but had 14. He was short 2 cards that he drafted (from his picked cards, but then some other dude next me was also short one card in his draft pile. WTF? Judge Fugie takes about ten minutes to gather info and contemplate what could have gone wrong. When he returns from his monastic hideout behind the store counter, Fugie is unhappy. “The mistakes made are incorrectable. Take the cards you have drafted so far and put them as far away from the table as possible. We will start the draft over and the packs used to do so will come out of the prize payout.” Oh shit. Also, The Fugitive Wizard explains that we will be doing this thing “all the way Pro Tour,” counting every single pack and passing on his command. Timed review periods, picks, and deck building. Oh, and the genius with 14 cards in his pack got a game loss. When Fugie ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
The next draft took twice as long. I won’t bore you with my picks, since I didn’t bother writing them down anyway. I was very tired by this point and somehow managed to try drafting Black/White Treefolk. Moral: Don’t try to draft Black/White Treefolk. Some of the best Treefolk are in Black and White, but you’ll never get enough to make it work. At least I didn’t. I realized this halfway through and ended up drafting some shitty Boggarts as well. It was B/R/w. I barely got sleeved in time to sit down for the Quarters. I faced Tom- again.

Quarterfinals: Tom
Neither of us were feeling very good about our decks, but his came to play. He had a U/W Merfolk deck with so much card draw. Dubs Mulldrifter for starters. Must be nice. Reminds me of a deck I drafted once... Game 2 I dropped him to 7 before he stabilized, but I was never able to punch through for enough damage. I remember ripping a crucial Fodder Launch with two guys (one a Gob) on board; a Lowland Oaf and a Spiderwig Boggart. I give the Boggart +1/+0 and flying with the Oaf and swing for three in the air. We go to the second main. I sac the Boggart and target his Stonybrook Angler with the Fodder Launch. In hand I have the Warren Pilferers to return the Spiderwig from the graveyard, but he has the key Faerie Trickery to counter the Fodder Launch. As a result he stays out of alpha strike range. He mops me up after drawing (literally) seven more cards than me. Moral: I don’t know how to do a successful draft of Lorwyn if people around you are switching tribes midstream, or sending terrible signals. You need to go tribal to have any chance of winning a draft, but if your tribe of choice dries up, I have this feeling you could just be fucked. I’m not sure how good drafters will end up compensating for this. There must be more complexity to the format than I’m giving it credit for, but it certainly feels easier to get hosed by people switching (or dipping in) to other tribes. Be ready for it to happen to you, boys.

Finally, Finish This Damn Article!
Well, I finished pretty poorly after a strong start. I lost four games straight at the end of the night (to the same guy!), and finished a middling 4-3. But I somehow made Top 8, and I got 1.5 free drafts out of the deal, along with another deck box. One final moral: In Lorwyn Sealed your ideal deck will be two tribes only, with a few supporting off-tribe bombs. Do not play a Merfolk/Faerie/Elemental deck because they’re all base blue. Color doesn’t matter as much as tribe. I was happy with Kithkin/Treefolk, and would build it again if the cards were there.
One thing’s for sure: Those of you waiting for TooSarcastic to win a Release tournament may have a long wait.
T