Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Yes I know its late

But my laptop took a dump on me and I have not really had acess to a computer for a couple of weeks... So here is my sealed from the PTQ:

Spellstutter Sprite
Kithkin Daggerdare
Leaf Gilder
Wings of Velis Vel
2x Fertile Ground
Nameless Inversion
Scion of Oona
Elvish Harbinger
2x Merrow Reejerey
2x Glimmerdust Nap
Moonglove Extract
Oblivion Ring
Cloudcrown Oak
Briarhorn
Galepowder Mage
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Bog-Strider Ash
Merrow Harbinger
Dreamspoiler Witches
Shriekmaw
Warren Pilferers

6x Island
6x Forest
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Secluded Gleen
2x Vivid Marsh
Sideboard
Wanderer's Twig
Springleaf Drum
Triclopean Sight
Hillcomber Giant
Plover Knights
Sentry Oak
Wellgabber Apothecary
Wizened Cenn
Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Lairwatch Giant
Goldmeadow harrier
Soaring Hope
Oakgnarl Warrior*
Battlewand Oak
Elvish Promenade
Elvish Branchbender
Elvish Eulogist
2x Warren-Scourge Elf
Aquitect's Will
2x Ego Erasure
2x Faerie Trickery**
Whirlpool Whelm*
Inkfathom Divers*
Tar Pitcher
2x Soulbright Flamekin
Crush Underfoot
2x Faultgrinder
Needle Drop
Stinkdrinker Dardevil
Adder-Staff Boggart
Boggart Forager
Ashling the Pilgrim*
Mudbutton Torchrunner
Prowess of the Fair
Hornet Harasser*
2x Nightshade Stinger
Black Polar Shaman*
Mournwhelk*
Moonglove Winnower*
Hoarder's Greed*
(* denotes being sideboarded in various times over the course of the day)
All I can really say about this sealed pool is, Nice Mana Base. The fixers I opened allowed me to play all of my good spells. All the while having a very stable mana base that had some good acceleration in it. I also was given a ton of sideboarding options with the pool.
If I had to do it again the only changes I would make are -1 Scion of Oona, -1 Dreamspoiler Witches, +1 Battlewand Oak, +1 Inkfathom Divers. I wouldn't change the mana at all for the switches.


As far as power level goes for this deck I feel that its about a B to mabye a B+. The deck can definitly do some very powerful things. Coupled with good removal and a good amount of evasion. But there are also alot of draws that just felt akward when I was playing. Like drawing a Rejeery and none of the other Merfolk... or Scion of Onna and no faries. The deck and also would just randomly just mana fuck itself because it is 4 colors. Spellstutter Sprite, Scion of Oona and Kithkin Daggerdare normally will never make the cut either... espcially not all of them in the same deck. It also is lacking in a true bomb rare... You know the rare you rip of the top and know you are not going to be able to lose this game if you try bomb rare... Yes Galepowder Mage is nice... and I have a Shriekmaw and Pilferers to go with it... but I never got it to happen once in 8 rounds.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The "MTGO Crash" Draft Walkthourgh

I'm going to try to do this anyway, even though I never got play a freakin game. Stupid servers. I am using screenshots of draftcap, because it's about 8 million times easier for you guys to see pics of the packs and then digest the stuff instead of reading a string of names. Yeah it's convoluted, but it also breaks up the picks nicely so I can talk about them in chunks.

Here we go. Click on the pics for enlarging.


What a disappointing first pack. Plenty of fine things to take- for pick 5. I chose the colorless removal spell since I knew it would make the deck and I don't have to commit. Second pick was all about removal. We've got four removal spells in three colors! And one really good creature (Cloudcrown, obv.) I took the Final Revels for the possibility of a wrath effect.

Pick 3 we have plenty of good creatures. The Sentinels and Baloonist are both tempting but I'm really excited about the Boggart Harbinger. This is how nuts goblin decks start. Inevitably someone passes me a Fodder Launch in pack three and I'm cursing myself that I don't have a Harbinger to go with it. Still, Hoofprints is a great rare that wins long games all day. I snap it up.

Pick 4 Silvergill Douser tells me that Merfolk are open, but I have take another Final Revels. Sexy!
Pick 5 Stonybrook Angler and Harpoon Sniper? Merfolk are definitely open! The uncommon is better, but I know the Angler will be great, and the Sniper needs a critical mass. I'll let it pass for now.

Pick 6 Might as well go all in. My pick, which you can't see on the screenshot is Streambed Aquitects, over Sentry Oak, I guess. Not much else.



Pick 7 Tough choice for me. Both the Feast and the Skeletal Changling would go well in the U/b deck that seems to be shaping up here, but I ultimately choose the Vivid land because I want the freedom to splash for white Merfolk, if they come around

Pick 8 Sweet! Another Feast! Now I feel better about tkaing the Vivid, too, because otherwise I might have considered the Drum.

Pick 9 Hearthcage Giant wheels. Maybe I should start looking at red...

Pick 10 Glimmerdust Nap. Some removal in blue. Soubright flamekin is late, but he is an enabler, not a key to the Elemental combo engine.

Pick 11 Red is still open, Goatnapper it is. If my black gets more solid in Pack 2 I may need the goblin plan anyway.

Pick 12 Late Inkfathom. Nice

Pick 13 Wispmare for opposing O-rings.

Pick 14 Triclopean Sight, hatedraft the shitty trick.

Pick 15 Protective Bubble

After Pack 1 we have some good mass removal and the beginnings of a Merfolk deck.



Pick 1 Well, once again not very exciting. Peppersmoke, Paperfin Rascal and Moonglove Extract seem to fit our deck. I could snap up the Smokebraider in case I get some more red, but I just go for first pick colorless removal spell #2.

Pick 2 This pack is incomplete, and none of the missing uncommons or possibly the rare came back around so they can't have been awful. One of the uncommons was a third Final Revels, but I decided two was enough. Whatever the reast were, I took the Nameless Inversion over all of them and a Streambed Aquitects. Seems fine.

Pick 3 Hamletback Goliath and Neck Snap seemed good, but I have the on-color Ghostly Changeling which is ridiculous in its own right. I seriously considered the Giant, though. Ultimately it came down to being able to drop a great dude on turn three instead of dropping Goliath a turn after you were already dead.

Pick 4 My eyes alight on the Avian Changeling but rest on the two-drop merfolk. Great curve, here I come!


Pick 5 Aethersnipe over Tarfire and Inkfathom.

Pick 6 Thought about the Glimmerdust Nap, but a quick count of the merfolk told me I could probably make the Silvergill Adept a two drop. Things are shaping up nicely!

Pick 7 I take the fixing (Vivid Marsh this time) over the iffy off color removal. Seems like the right call to me, but I may be wrong.


Pick 8 I almost auto-picked the Amoeboid Changeling without even looking at the off-color cards. Summon the School seems like a great splash for this deck. Man, no one is touching Merfolk!

Pick 9 Paperfin Rascal tables. Nice.

Pick 10 It was between the Battlewand and the Blades. I prefer taking combat tricks as hate drafts, but the Battlewand is really great early drop in the right deck. Also, treefolk have been coming late.

Pick 11 Runed Stalactite over Nath's Buffon, which is surprisingly good (Changeling removal and Eyeblight's Ending don't kill it).




Pick 12 Wellgabber Apothecary on the off chance it makes the deck.

Pick 13 Boggart Birth Rite

Pick 14 Zephyr Net

Pick 15 Giant's Ire

Pack 2 gave us more merfolk, some removal and a nice splash card in Summon. We could build a decent but unexciting draft deck with these two packs alone.


Pick 1 Finally a juiced first pick! Warren Pilferers and Judge of Currents are great cards, but the real choice was between Drowner of Secrets and Austere Command. Our deck becomes nuts if we can start to mill people out, but the ability to literally wrath the board is too good to pass up. I make the switch. Let's play U/w/b!

Pick 2 Cryptic Command! We are sooo heavy blue, too. Another Stonybrook Angler would be great, but the counterspell + card draw, or bounce, or whatever is too good to pass up. Also, it's worth tix.

Pick 3 Wow. We've got another Judge of Currents, Crib Swap in our new second color, and the bomb Fallowsage. I hate to pass the life gain again, but I think drawing cards is just better. We have enough removal. On a side note, the Deeptread Merrow will probably table given the way things have gone thus far.

Pick 4 Stonybrook Angler. Don't know what the two missing cards were, but I get our second Angler, so that's good.

Pick 5 Mulldrifter. Pick FIVE. C'mon people, don't you like blue???

Pick 6 Silvergill Adept numero dos over the great Whirlpool Whelm. I want more merfolk and have some really good removal already.

Pick 7 Paperfin Rascal over Ethereal Whiskergill. I think normally I would pick the sideboard card here but I am trying to max out my merfolk count for Summon the School and the Adepts. The Rascal is also easier on my curve.


Pick 8 Vivid Marsh #2 over the blue removal. I have removal. The marsh will definitely get played.

Pick 9 Judge of Currents wheels! Everything is going according plan.

Pick 10 Streambed Aquitects wheels as well. It would normally have taken a miracle for the Angler to wheel, but I half expected it, given how open Merfolk are.

Pick 11 Right on cue, Deeptread Merrow. We have TOO MANY playables now.


I am having issues uploading the last screenshot, so just trust me on these last picks.

Pick 12 Faerie Trickery. Man blue is underdrafted.

Pick 13 Protective Bubble

Pick 14 Boggart Sprite-Chaser

Pick 15 Ringskipper

Here is the deck :







It's a little creature light, so I cut the second Final Revels for another dude. Same goes with the second Extract, though they could both come in against beefier dudes. Fairy Trickery is similarly sidelined due to creature concerns, and because it is inferior to the Cryptic Command. The Wellgabber may actually come in if we need to beat down. The Wispmare was going to be main for enchantments (since we have none of our own to hit accidentally) but our creature quality is too high to waste a slot on that thing. Footbottom Feast helps us spend guys early in combat without worrying too much down the line about getting a critical mass of merfolk for shenanigans. I feel that if I played solidly and got lucky, I should win the draft with this sucker. Unfortunately, the server crashed multiple times after we finished drafting. I gave up trying to log in after over an hour had passed since the last crash. I put in a request for a refund coupon, but I don't know if it will be granted. Could I have built this better? Any picks you would have made differently?

T

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Don't Tell the Wife!

I 0-3ed last night's draft, but I did okay anyway. Thank God for poor college kids with large card collections and an appetite for beer.
3x Venser
4x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Pact of Negation
2x Teferi's Moat
2x Bogardan Hellkite
2 x Desert
Knucklebone Witch
Oona's Prowler
Cryptic Command
Jace
2 x Scion of Oona
2 x Birds of Paradise
Total Cost= $72

I also rare drafted an Auntie's Hovel, another Oona's Prowler, a foily Primal Command, and a Wydwen. I now have playsets of most of these cards. Looking forward to actually having options when building for Standard! But trying to explain why spending this much money was such a good deal to a wife who actively dislikes playing Magic would be a difficult task. So let's just keep this between you, me, and the other dozens of people who read this site, mmkay?
T

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Scooptastic!

Ever since last weekend I have wanted to write a post regarding my concession in the second round, on turn five of extra turns. The more I thought about writing the post, the more I realized it would be both long AND boring, something I’d like to, you know, avoid, so this post is a compromise. I will go through the ten seconds of decision making before I conceded in loose detail, then close with some other thoughts. Just so you know; this is not a defense of my scoop. This is just a discussion of how I’ve come to feel about the issue. Feel free to critique in the comments.
So here’s the deal: I’m playing Chris Richter in round two. I am 0-0-1. He is 1-0. He’s playing an interminable merfolk deck that eventually gets dubs Judge of Currents out. Yes, I misplayed to get to this situation, in case you were wondering, but I didn’t know it until after the game. My misplay didn’t affect my decision. Chris asks me if I would like to concede. Here are the next tens seconds transliterated to print.
My immediate response is, “No.” I say this out loud. I am annoyed that he would ask me this. It is round two, and he appears to be grasping at straws for a win.
I think about my record. 0-0-2 is the same as 0-1-1 for top 8 consideration, either way I have to win out. I am also out of prize range at this point. (Aside: This is a complete falsehood! The prize payout is very deep! I just did not know this at the time!)
He has been a decent opponent. He pressured me to play faster in game three when I felt it was his deck that was slowing the game down, but other that, he seemed more nice than he had needed to be.
I don’t want to look like a dick in front of this judge.

I decide to concede. Immediately Richter starts making comments about how he had board position and probably would have won if we were untimed. He also describes his merfolk stall deck as “beatdown.” Obviously these points are irrelevant on many levels (i.e. the match WAS timed, and regardless of what he called his deck, it was not “beating down” game three, etc, etc). These comments make me feel like he wasn’t as nice a guy as he appeared to be. I replied that playing a lifegain deck hardly qualifies as beatdown, and he would need do to more than double his life total to stay out of the draw bracket in future rounds. He retorts that he had six power of islandwalkers main against me (I was playing islands.) I walk away with a really bad taste in my mouth. Was this guy nice during the match just as a strategic consideration, letting his cocky true colors show after he got what he wanted? As in, “On the off chance this guy might otherwise cut me a break I need down the road, I might as well chitchat with him for now.” If so, that would be the lousiest reason to be sportsmanlike ever. As I walk through the venue I am sick just thinking about it.
***
This was pretty much my line of thinking about the whole scenario until the end of the day. Strategically (as far as I can tell) I am worse off with a loss instead of a draw. I know that competitive Magic players are by both nature and training always taught to make choices based on the best probable strategic outcome for themselves, and by that logic I made the wrong decision by scooping. If I by some miracle win out, I am more likely to get in the T8 with two draws than I am with a draw and a loss. At best I cowardly conceded because I was afraid of looking bad in front of a judge who may in the future rule unfavorably toward me in retaliation, and at worst I was manipulated into a concession I wouldn’t have otherwise given because my opponent saw a potential strategic advantage in being a decent human being during the beginning of the match. Either way, it was “a mistake,” to say the least. However, the next day I thought about the situation some more. I decided that maybe what happened had actually been a good thing. Here’s why: I would rather be seen as being too merciful rather than being too much of a dick. I would rather be called gullible, or too nice, or even sycophantic rather than have an opponent walk away from a match against me and say, “Man, that TooSarcastic guy was a real asshole.” We all know asshole gamers. And I don’t mean folks like you and me, although we’re assholes, to be sure. But generally we’re only dicks between rounds of Magic. Having played against you guys many times I can say that you’re all sporting opponents. No, you know the guys I’m talking about. The guys who get banned from stores, the guys who rip off kids when they trade, guys who MONEY DRAFT, for Christ sakes! I do not want to be one of those guys. And if it means sometimes making a mistake and scooping to a guy I shouldn’t, then so be it. At least I’m not the guy who looks his opponent in the eye and says, “Yeah, I’m out of the running, and I could scoop to you to keep your hopes alive, but I’m going to fuck you over because I don’t want to lose the four extra DCI points. Strategically it’s the right decision for me.” Ya’ll can disagree with me, but that’s where I ended up after this whole deal.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Trifecta

Our poster "The Captain" (not to be confused with "Captain Bondage Goth," who would never play Vintage) has a Type I trifecta; He won a Black Lotus, had his cool tech mentioned in an online article and beat young Turts in the T8. Congrats, Captain.
99% of the time, if you overhear a person at a game store saying card X is awesome in Vintage, it's nothing to get excited about. Who would have thought Stingscourger was the exception?
T

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Coyoeuglly is vindicated?

Last Friday night Coyoeuglly got assaulted by another (peripheral) member of our playgroup for taking a Lash Out over Deathrender 1st pick 1st pack. Actually the guy was salty because Major Luck ended up pounding the hell out of him with the Deathrender, not really because of Coyoeuglly's card choice. Regardless, Coyoeuglly got shit all night for it. Now, I think Deathrender is really good, in almost any deck, but even I thought the Lash Out pick was justified given the kind of decks Coyoeuglly drafts. Now, we have an opinion from the Mothership's own Quentin Martin, albeit one that is hastily tossed off as an aside. I will quote; "Deathrender is far too expensive for what it does, although it is still okay, but six mana to give a guy +2/+2 is pricey." He also ignores the second ability of the sword, which is obviously more relevant for most decks. Keep in mind this comment comes as ol' McMarty is deliberating his FOURTH pick, not his first of the pack. So in his in tempo-oriented faeries deck, Q wouldn't touch this Deathrender with a 10-foot clown pole. Is this a vindication for Coyoeuglly? I don't know. But it does seem to imply that we may be valuing the rusty sword a little higher than we should be. Or do we know better than this four-time Limited Grand Prix Top 8er?

Monday, November 12, 2007

CBG's PTQ deck

I know it's dangerous to throw your 4-4 ptq deck up for everyone to criticize but I felt really torn when building this one and wouldn't mind some input. Did I punt before we even started? Let's find out.

The Deck

1 Adder-Staff Boggart
1 Aethersnipe
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Giant's Ire
1 Incendiary Command
2 Inkfathom Divers
1 Jace Beleren
1 Lash Out
1 Merrow Reejery
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Shriekmaw
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Stonybrook Angler
2 Tarfire
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Whirlpool Whelm
8 Island
5 Mountain
3 Swamp

In the Sideboard

White
1 Avian Changeling
1 Changeling Hero
1 Entagling Trap
1 Hillcomber Giant
2 Judge of Currents
1 Kithkin Greatheart
2 Lairwatch Giant
2 Soaring Hope
1 Wispmare
1 Wizened Cenn

Blue
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Mistbind Clique
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Faerie Trickery

Black
2 Bog Hoodlums
1 Boggart Loggers (yes, I did sideboard this vs. Treefolk)
1 Boggart Mob
1 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Nectar Faerie
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Peppersmoke
2 Spiderwig Boggart
1 Thieving Sprite

Red
1 Boggart Forager
1 Ceaseless Searblades
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Crush Underfoot
1 Faultgrinder
1 Flamekin Brawler
1 Inner-Flame Igniter
2 Needle Drop
1 Rebellion of the Flamekin
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil

Green
1 Bog-Strider Ash
1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Elvish Promenade
1 Fertile Ground
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
2 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Sylvan Echoes
1 Treefolk Harbinger
1 Warren-Scourge Elf

and 1 Herbal Poultice

Wow, it's amazing what typing a pool can do for your senses. I realize now I got pulled into red by the Incendiary command and convinced myself I couldn't play the Mistbind Clique due to lack of faeries. I should have played all the black faeries, the Clique, the trickery and the blue changeling. If I needed to splash, I could have done 1 Lash Out, but I am not sure it would even be necessary. I obviously would if I had a Dreamspoiler but I don't so...oh well. What do you guys think? I feel like the green is powerful but not synergistic.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Hey!

Well, CBG finished 52nd in this 199 player ptq, with a 4-4 record. Major Luck went 4-4. Fugie went 4-4 (perhaps you are noticing a pattern). TooSarcastic finished 3-4-1. Thank goodness for that most supernatural of dudes, coyoeuglly. He lost in the first round and then won out from there, making top 8 with a 7-1 record. The wheels came off in the draft and he landed in 5th or 6th. An impressive showing, despite coming up empty of a ticket to Malaysia.

Squee!

I am going to my first PTQ this morning. Yes, that's right. If you don't count GP:Saint Louis, this will be my very first tourney where the top prize is more than "packs". I am excited. Let's all do a happy dance. Also, let's win.

Friday, November 9, 2007



Not sure why those images weren't enlarging on my computer. Trying a new upload.
T

League Deck



I finally realized I could enlarge the size of the cards in the deck editor for y'all to see (you still should click on the image to see it in detail). Here is the pool I am currently 9 points, 3 tiebreaks with. I'm at 34th. I don't know if trying to make top 32 is worth it since I had to play six matches to get those three points (lost four in a row, won two in a row, lost the last match in three games, losong one point).


Here's the pool (only basics on the bottom):





Here's my build:



I originally ran Teeg instead of the Changeling. Teeg never did anything but turn off my Summoon the School. Judge of Currents was cut for one more Island (bringing the count up to 17 land), as I was mulling to five way too often. Fugie is right, one more land is usually better in this format. Familiar's Ruse comes in for bombs, Forge Tender against red decks, Wispmare against O-rings and other scary enchantments. How did I misbuild?

T

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Overnight PE


I am in a 4X Sealed. 2-1 right now. Last game was

turn 1 Vivid land
turn 2 Fertile Ground
turn 3 Garruk, dude
turn 4 dude, dude
turn 5 dude, dude, removal
turn 6 overrun.

Never drew a 4th land. So wrong.

Regarding the build. Yes, I do know I left some good stuff on the side. I really wanted to go 5 color black. I'm just like that. I've been flooded three times so 19 sources is probably too many. What to cut though?

Nova Chaser is wrong. I am siding it out for Glen Elendra Sentinels or Adder-Staff Boggart (Don't hit me!). It would be so much better at 10/3.

Wispmare has had targets twice and makes a decent evasive finisher when I use the positive side of Final Revels. So stop complaining about it. I think it's worth maindecking and I think its worth splashing. Rings of Brighthearth + Garruk is disgusting. A 2nd Beast for 2 is insane. I don't even use the untap if rings is out. Deal with 8 3/3s. I dare you.

The two changelings bounced in and out a bit, as did the blue tempo cards. I can see siding in broken ambitions for big stuff. The first match was against a dude playing HUGE stuff so the Revels came out for blue temp and were very good. Of course he complained of mana flood as we both sat there with 12 lands on the table.

Also, you know I talk about how I never count how many creatures I have? Well, I probably should have this time (11!(though remember it doesn't count Garruk)). Oh well. Building well is for Fugies and I saw 5 amazing pieces of removal and got a little overexcited.

Edit-11 minutes into round 4. Well, I just ate it to a GW deck. Game 1, karma bit me on the ass. turn 3 Garruk. The rest is details. I had one turn to topdeck a Lash Out to blow him out. I didn't. Game over, man. Game 2, I stupidly left Final Revels in the deck even though it could kill almost nothing I had seen in game one. Ugh. 2-2. Come on, papa, let's get to 3 wins.

Update 2-1:20 am. 38 minutes into round 5. Pulled that one out! Final Revels is pretty darn good. Faced yet another green deck. Are we missing something? Seems sketchy but everyone seems to be running 'em. Game 1 was a seesaw battle where I put him on his back foot right away, hardcasting Mulldrifter turn 3 off a Smokebraider, Nova Chaser turn 4 championing MD. Attacking for 8 and getting the MD back on turn 5. Unfortunately, he stabilized at 5, and a huge misplay by me (fricking Mudbutton) cost me the game. Game 2, Garruk came out and does what he does. Game 3, he got screwed for 3 turns and that was all it took. By the time he got his 4th land, I was able to +2 Revels ftw. 3-2! Come on T16!

Update 3-2:39 am. Took the entire round for me to die with my opponent having 58 seconds left on his clock. I don't wanna talk about it. Boo.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

MGTO Sealed Pool


Can you see this? I doubt you'll be able to see this. I'll post the list later tonight.
T

Saturday, November 3, 2007

What have we learned?

(1) My blue was a lot better on paper than in real life. In 4 matches, I think I picked up a total of 2 games. I would have sold my soul for a Mulldrifter.

(2) Playing multiple builds doesn't work when there are so many people. We should do an inner-circle testing session just for that. Sorry TS and Major_luck. You guys definitely had the correct mindset. My fault for not planning better.

(3) When you get 8 Magic players together, they will draft. Even if 4 of them are supposed to be practicing for a sealed ptq. Even if it's 10 pm and 4 of them have a vintage tourney with a playset of Bazaars on the line in 12 hours. Even if one of them has a wife who wouldn't mind getting to sleep sometime. They will draft.

(4) The Elemental deck works okay. You really have to be the only one at the table. But it works. It helps to have somebody passing all the good red in favor of Flamekin Bladewhirls. It also helps to get 2 X Mulldrifter, 2 X Aethersnipe, and 2 X Smokebraider. Was the phrase, "It's a 1/1!" heard? Yes, it was. Also heard was, "I'll hardcast Mulldrifter on turn 3" and "I think I just win now. You're on 18? Yeah. Good games."

(5) Mulldrifter has flying. Yes, I know I should have known this. If you ever needed any kind of proof that development is unreasonably fond of blue, think of this. Counsel of the Soratami reads 2U, draw 2 cards. Mulldrifter costs 4U as a hardcast. So apparently, the correct costing of a 2/2 flier is 2 colorless. Or something like that. I realize that isn't quite how the evoke creatures are costed. But holy cow. I would hardcast Mulldrifter for 7. Would that be a lot worse? Yes! But it would still be playable at 7. Sheesh.

Edit to add: I actually checked Gatherer twice while writing point 5 despite the fact that I hardcast the damn thing like 5 times last night. So. Broken.