Draftstravaganza 2: The Revenge

Nine planeswalkers step into a bar...

We were just about to Cube when...

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We didn't do any particularly wacky formats yesterday. We were going to Cube but then a 9th person showed up. That was not technology because I have resisted expanding the Cube. No longer. I guess the Cube is going up to a 12 player. I think Tabasco is going to post his suggestions for additional inclusions later this week. Feel free to chime in on that thread once it is created. So people were up for a Shadowmoor draft and I have had a box for drafting sitting around my house for the last two months. Off we went.

I drafted like complete trash, first picking a Thistledown Liege over Flame Javelin, even though I knew UW was never in a million years going to be open at this table. It was precisely the train wreck I deserved though I did manage to coerce the captain into scooping round 4 by having Tabasco play my deck. Jonathan Brostoff brought 3 of his friends and they went first through fourth place in the draft. Awkward. Actually, they were all awesome and it was a pleasure drafting with them.

The second draft was an 8 person RGD draft. This was a blast (best. format. ever.) and Brostoff won again, despite claiming that he was choosing by art (not a half bad idea in RGD). I managed second on the power of trips Rakdos Ickspitter and 3 Karoos. four color manabases for the win. I originally intended to be GBr, but I ended up splashing U as well for the goodness that is Steamcore Weird + Ogre Savant.

Thanks again for coming everyone. It was tons o fun.

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Who's up for a free Ravnica rotisserie? Actually, maybe we will ante packs since we always say fuck the third round when there's nothing on the line. I will provide the set.

Looking back, looking forward

Well what a rousing success Shadowmoor was, or was it? Big sets in the spring are kind of a waste. I seem to find myself in a similar situation as CBG. Late April thru mid July is the busiest time of year for me at work & with all of the festivals in the early part of summer something has to give. The last few years it has been drafting. I don't remember the last time I went down to GU to draft or to CBGs for that matter either. I like to think that Shadowmoor was pretty decent for limited, but have missed several weeks of league play and have only drafted it once since the pre-release (little tear). I was initially using the excuse that I had D&D on Fridays, but we've been on hiatus for the last several weeks (that's what you get when half of your play group are Renaissance fair people). But mostly it is just laziness & a general disinterest to be inside playing Magic. I hope that I feel differently after the Eventide Pre-release, but I am not so certain this will be true, but I think I need to still hold out hope.

As far as looking forward, I am definitely looking forward to my first vacation since the infamous death of the fandango last October (sorry fugie, but I haven't had off a Saturday & Sunday since that weekend). I am also looking forward to heading to Memphis in December. I have become even more disillusioned with work over the past few months and will take the time off regardless of the results (I still don't have anyone trained to fill in for me, but alas NOT MY PROBLEM).

Well until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.

The Gun goes 3-0, 6-0

I don't know if any of you have read any limited articles about the Gun but in case you haven't I will tell you what is involved.

The Gun is a two card combo based around a creature with an untap ability, and an aura that gives the creature a tap ability.

Let's look at some untappers:

Silkbind Faerie
Pili-Pala
Leech Bonder (works as long as there are counters to move Note from the editor: this works even if there are no counters to move. As long as you have two legal targets, it's fine. RTFC, Tabasco. Kisses.)
Puresight Merrow
Merrow Grimeblotters
Safehold Sentry

The Auras

Presence of Gond
Power of Fire

Pili-Pala is great because it is cheap and it only costs 1 to untap after the first activation, it also mana fixes. Silkbind Faerie is probably the best untapper in the set.

Getting the untappers is the hardest part about the deck. Presence of Gond and Power of Fire will be floating around in the later picks. Silkbind is pretty much only 1st or 2nd pick. and people who are drafting blue or white will be scooping up the good untappers. Pili-pala see no love, he is a lowly 1/1 so he dies to any removal, but they have to remove him fast or you will get there quickly.

a quick report from FNM

Round 1-against U/B

G1- I get a turn 2 Pili-Pala followed by a turn 3 Presence of Gond for my Pili-Pala. His first drop is a turn 4 Rootcutters. Elves>Rootcutters
G2- I got a turn 2 Boggart Ram-Gang after a Manamorphose (I had 2 mountains and an island)
followed by The R/G unblockable Hill Giant (in this matchup he was unblockable) I got there soon after his guys were smaller than mine and I stole one with Biting Tethers.

Round 2 against R/G/b

G1- I get a Gun going around turn 4 and he answers it with his Power of Fire, but not before taking 5 damage from the Gun. I then get another Gun and start throwing elves into play, and it is soon too much for him to handle. Unfortunately he has Spiteful Visions and Knollspine Invocation in play and drew nothing but lands.
G2-I get a turn 3 Gun and start shooting him in the face while building up cards in hand. he drops Spiteful Visions after he is behind. (Looking for an answer?) This basically ensures I have land drops and adds to the fire. He dies in a fire and I move into the finals.

Round 3-against B/R
I know from seeing his match next to mine round 1 that he has a Demigod of Revenge

G1- I start off with a turn 2 Pili-Pala, he misses land drops and is stuck on 2. I build some 3/3's and he has lowly 1/1's. Bigger dudes win.
G2-Is much the same as game one except he gets more mana this time. He ran his 1/1 fear into my artifact Scuttlemutt after making it red. I have to assume he forgot it is still an artifact even if you change its color.

I end up walking away with Fulminator Mage, Vexing Shusher, a Draft Set, and my entry fee plus 2 dollars in store credit. (I money drafted because i didn't think my deck would be as good as it was)

I think the Gun has potential, you need to be in U/R/G or G/R/w or G/W/r for it to be most effective Silkbind Faerie is the nuts.

See you guys tomorrow at the EDH Open!

Hot Sauce

Last month of Morningtide Sealed, Part 5

Well as can be expected, by the time the fifth week rolled around I wasn’t in the mood to play any more Morningtide limited, with the release of Shadowmoor at the end of the week. I did manage to make it down to Game Universe (GU), but decided a few days before to draft Shadowmoor instead. We; namely myself, CBG, Too Sarcastic (TS) & Scoop Phase (SP); managed to put together a four man over at Genesis (For those of you who aren’t familiar, Genesis is a Greek-style family type restaurant up the street from GU. The food is decent and moderately priced and they are very good about letting us hang out and draft after we are done eating). One other thing of note is how busy they were on a Tuesday at 1800. I understand a dinner rush, but every table in the non-smoking section was full on a Tuesday.

Anyways, TS & headed over and met up with SP and got a table and had no more than given our menus back to the waitress and CBG shows up. I am still impressed with your innate ability to show up at the last minute even though you had the shortest distance to travel, but I digress. So while we are waiting for our food we take care of the draft. For ease we decided to draft as we were seated at the table when we ordered (in the past we have switch the seating order after we order and it is kind of mean to the wait staff) with TS to my immediate left, SP across from me, and CBG to my right.

As far as overall picks I only remember a few key ones. Pack 1 pick 1 was a Burn Trail with my second pick being a Mercy Killing. From pack 2, I first picked a Flame Javelin only to have Puncture Bolt come back on the lap. As far as the rest of the draft, I took as much red/green removal as I saw and all of the green fat I could muster. One other note, the black we opened was terrible which leads to my next point. As could be expected in a four man it is highly likely that the person sitting across from you is in the same colors. Well, we managed one better, with both SP and I in red/green & CGB and TS in blue/white.

I will be the first to admit that my deck wasn’t very good nor was the curve great, but it was good enough to go 3-0. I will also not that I had enough removal and curved out enough times to play my 8 drop in three of the first four games by turn nine. Well without further ado, here is what I played.

Creatures:
Intimidator Initiate
Rustrazor Butcher
Crabapple Cohort (2)
Devoted Druid
Foxfire Oak (2)
Gloomwidow
Juvenile Gloomwidow
Woodfall Primus
Sootwalkers
Mudbrawler Raiders
Scuzzback Marauders
Scuzzback Scrapper
Safehold Elite

Spells:
Burn Trail
Flame Javelin
Power of Fire
Puncture Bolt
Runes of the Deus
Mercy Killing (2)
Blight Sickle

Lands:
Sapseep Forest
Forest (8)
Mountain (8)

Other cards of note from the side board:
Ember Gale
Smash to Smithereens
Gloomwidow’s Feast

As far as the matches, I played SP first and managed to turn 8 and turn 9 Woodfall Primus to hit a key artifact and win soon there after. I also may have managed to put Runes of Deus on Mudbrawler Raiders and swing for 13 on turn five.

In the second round I played TS who drafted a very controlling blue/white/black deck with lots of bounce and tap effects. I got the first game due to pure agro combined with four removal spells (including the combination of Blight Sickle and Power of Fire too off his weenies). For the second game I brought in Gloomwidow’s Feast taking out Runes of the Deus (it didn’t out right kill anyone and set me up for a two for one). But missed my third and fourth land drops to die to multiple weenies. In the third game he got mana screwed and I had a slow start (didn’t play anything until turn four). I did have enough removal to take care of his first few plays and managed to beat down with random guy (also not that I never say a green source but managed to see six of my eight mountains).

The last round was me versus CBG and it wasn’t very close with him scooping to me when I managed to get better threats to his many land draws.

Well that’s all for this week and I look forward to next week and Morningtide Sealed league.

Fatal Four-Man at Salt-Monster's house

So Tuesday Night the Captain and I go over to Soly's (Salt-monster) for a four-man, our fourth being Matt Freiwald. Seating is randomized and looks like Soly to my left, MF to my right, and the Captain across from me. I end up first picking a Boggart Ram-Gang meanwhile, MF to my right is trainwrecking. His decision was between a Windbrisk Raptors or a Flame Javalin, you can see his conundrum. I develop a grin on my face as I am passed a Javalin to go with my Ram-Gang I start seeing some good black-red hybrid cards and scoop them up. I end up with 2 Fists of the Demigod which speed up games and make for unfair blocks. My second packI am graced with a Din of the Fireherd to top out my curve and give me a late game bomb.

My decklist looked like this:


1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Scuzzback Scrapper
1 Sickle Ripper
1 Power of Fire
1 Blight Sickle
2 Fists of the demigod
1 Puncture Bolt
1 Flame Javalin
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
2 Tattermunge Duo
1 Lurebound Scarecrow
1 Corrosive Mentor
1 Boggart Arsonists
2 Sootwalkers
1 Cultbrand Cinder
1 Kulrath Knight
1 Gloomlance
1 Grief Tyrant
1 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
1 Din of the Fireherd
9 Mountain
8 Swamp

The rest of my pool:

1 Wooded Bastion
1 Tyrannize
1 Pyre Charger
1 Rite of Consumption
1 Fate Transfer
1 Scar
1 Hungry Spriggan
1 Gravelgill Axeshark
1 Tatterkite
1 Boggart Arsonists
1 Zealous Guardian
1 Elsewhere Flask
1 Bloodshed Fever
1 Torture
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Inescapeable Brute
1 Aphotic Wisps
1 Mudbrawler Cohort
2 Manamorphose
2 Torpor Dust

Round 1-I played MF with U/W
His deck was slower and tried to be more controlling, He had a Windbrisk Raptor but never saw it against me.

Game 1-I open with a turn one cinder followed by a fists to make him a 3/3 first strike, wither followed the next turn by a Ram-Gang. Things aren't good when you are at eleven by your third turn. he almost gets me with a Scrapbasket wearing Steel of the Godhead I manage to put a -1/-1 counter on it with Corrosive Mentor wielding the Power of Fire to only take 4 and put me to 1. I untap and rip Flame Javalin like a Champ. I all in with team which is Grief Tyrant, Cultbrand Cinder with Fists, Manaforge Cinder with Fists and Corrosive Mentor he blocks Tyrant and Cultbrand to only take 4, I play Sootwalkers and Kill his only dude (Scrapbasket) and sit with team ready to bring the pain next turn. Game 2-He drew nothing but land, I drew only mountains as mana sources Holding Gloomlance and a Sickle Ripper who wants to join the fray. I did still curve out playing Scuzzy turn 1 followed by Ram-Gang Turn 3 and Sootwalkers turn 4. I eventually hit my Manaforge Cinder to give me some black mana and seal the deal.

Round 2- Soly with U/B
His deck was also slower and tried to be more controlling.

I curved out purfectly against him as well, Cinder turn 1 Puncture bolt on his turn 2 play Eot, and Ram-Gang (wtf is this card stuck to my hand) turn 3. Sootwalkers soon to follow. He drops the U/B Hill Giant and I Javalin it so I keep my Ram-Gang. He was stuck on 2 land until turn 5, while I curved out. Game 2 He draws nothing but land and drops Isleback Spawn to try and stop the bleeding from my Corrosive Mentor wielding a Blight Sickle, Grief Tyrant, Rattleblaze Scarecrow, and Manaforge Cinder. He has 8 lands and taps 3 swamps to cast Beseech the Queen, He is one short of getting and casting Corrupt and Gloomlance was uncastable that turn due to him only having 4 swamps in play. He gets a creature and I kill him next turn with Din of the Fireherd in hand and only 7 lands in play.

Round 3-The Captain with G/W
His deck was more aggro with strong white removal and Windbrisk Raptor

Game-1 I play Turn 1 Manaforge Cinder Turn 2 I punture Bolt his Spawnwrith Eot, turn 3 I play Ram-Gang and bash (are you sick of seeing this yet). he untaps tries to tell me than my play was Illegal (I played Ram-Gang off of a swamp and 2 mountains) I kindly ask him to read Manaforge Cinder and he then understand's and continues his play of Wildslayer Elves which is followed by a remark of "I have to pay 4 for mine and it doesn't have haste." He next turn trades Wildslayer for Ram-Gang. I get it a few turns later by putting him to 4 and having Flame Javalin Snide remark also follows this. Game-2 I could not deal with a Windbrisk Raptor with 2 outs left in my deck (Gloomlance and Din of the Fireherd) Game-3 I struggle to get to four lands having 2 and 2 I casted Flame javalin for four to kill one of his threats but he has the upper hand pretty much to whole game, due to my inability to cast threats.

After rounds the records look like this:
Me 2-1
Captain 2-1
MF 2-1
Salmonster 0-3

I beat MF, MF beat Captain and Captain beat me. nice. circle jerk

we roll off and I take first, captain takes second, MF takes third, and Soly was fourth

I first pick a Wooded Bastion the only money opened and end up snaging the 2 foils lands as well.

By the way I looked at Wooded Bastion and was reminded of Gilt-leaf Palace. I compared the two and they are a warped mirror image of one another. See also Wanderwine Hub with Sunken Ruins, Auntie's Hovel with Fire-Lit Thicket, Ancient Amphitheater with Graven Cairns, and Rustic Clachan and Mystic Gate (this picture is a bit different but by the same artist).

As stated before B/R aggro is strong but does need some direct damage/removal. Fists of the demigod is absolutely rediculous on a 1 or 2 drop black-red dude, and although I had Din of the Fireherd I never casted it :( Red is good especially when you are the only person drafting it. MF did snag 2 puncture bolts from me so my deck could have been more absurd.

Until next time,
Hot Sauce (Tabasco)

P.S. I would like to point out that this blog has produced more material in the form of posts in 4 month's of 2008 than all of Last year (2007). Nice Job guys keep up the great work!

What do we know about Shadowmoor Draft?

A scant three days prior to the Release of Shadowmoor, I am trying to put together some general principles that are universal to all Shadowmoor drafts. I have only drafted the set three times, but hope to do so again tonight. I am trying not to overstate things, but still come to some useful conclusions. Here is what I can come up with thus far:


Green is good.

G/(R or W) seem to be the de facto strongest color combinations, given the aggressive curve and incredibly efficient creature drops at uncommon and to a more limited extent, common. Having enchantments at uncommon that nerf -1/-1 counters and fliers doesn't hurt. And hey, if you think there is a better color out there, let us know why in the comments.


White removal is probably better than any other color.

It is certainly better removal than white usually gets. I have discussed it before, but I will do so again; Last Breath, Inquisitor's Snare, Prison Term, Curse of Chains, Mercy Killing, and Æthertow. These are all at uncommon or common. Pairing white with blue gives control decks a chance to beat aggro.


The mill deck appears to be unviable. Or at least more difficult to build than expected.

Our Pseudonymous Drama Student attempted to draft this last Friday, at a ten man table. If ever there was a time to try out this sort of a deck, triple base-set draft with ten people early in the set's life would be the time. But it did not pan out. (I did see at least one game that the PSD took by milling, but as CBG reported, I think the total record was something like 0-4 in matches, 2-8 in games.)


R/B aggro can work. But it appears to have less staying power than Green aggro decks.

The Captain drafted one hell of an aggro deck last week, with multiple Ashenmoor Gougers and Sootstoke Kindlers. He curved out in game one and ran my B/U deck over like nothing. Only hitting my Din of the Fireherd game two (I think it was on turn 8) allowed my to get there and game three was very tight as well. I think with some direct damage to seal the deal, this could be a real contender.


Mono colored decks don't just draft themselves.

But Mark Rosewater keeps telling me to draft them. It may be possible to go mono, but thus far it appears that conventional two or three color decks are proving more successful- and ubiquitous. Drafting mono may require a surfeit of underdafted cards in a single color, or perhaps just a totally new perspective on drafting. Or maybe I should just try it some time.


Counter manipulation is very good against non-aggro decks.

Leech Bonder is sick against any deck that doesn't try to kill by turn eight. Actually, it's still not terrible against aggro decks either. On the first swing it will trade with a 3/3, assuming you have the one blue mana to untap it. Paired with Persist creatures (on either side of the board), the Leech becomes downright unfair. And that's only one card. There are a few -1/-1 counters flying around Shadowmoor, I hear. When in doubt, draft the Fate Transfer.


Any disagreement is welcome in the comments, in addition to other principles you have found to be true. I want people going into the release weekend with a solid base to work from.

T

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Shadowmoor draft

We had a 10-man Shadowmoor draft last night and I believe a good time was had by all (though feel free to speak up in comments if that wasn't the case). I ended up 4-0ing with an aggro-ish nearly mono green deck. Pack one started me down the green road, with a second pick Kitchen Finks and multiple Safehold Elites. I kept taking 2-4 drops through pretty much the whole pack. I think the only non-creature card I took out of this pack was a Giantbaiting, which does a pretty good impression of a creature. Pack two presented the choice between Oona, Queen of the Fae and Boggart Ram-Gang. I ended up resisting a strong urge to hate the Oona and was rewarded a pick or two later with my second Finks. The only cards I ended up needed red for were the activation on Tattermunge Witch and Flame Javelin. The witch was a superhero for me.

Overall, my deck had the ability to produce a ton of damage very quickly and that seemed to be the case across several of the decks. I played separately from the rest of the crew for the whole night and at least one match was done in less than 15 minutes every time. There were certainly matches that went to time, but I really feel like aggro has a leg up in the format. That would be even more the case if not for Consign to Dream. There were five in our pool and man is that card ever a beating.

Let's see...don't draft mill. Or maybe I should say, if there's is a mill deck, Pseudonymous Drama Student didn't draft it. CMC 3 is the new 4. There are a ton of great creatures at 3. There are definitely controlling decks out there of wall-ish guys with untap effects. Time will probably show us how to draft them to beat aggro. If I am drafting control in the format, I am definitely on the bounce wagon, because Shield of the Oversoul is almost format defining. There are a ton* of solid GW drops at every point in the curve and indestructible fatties with flying tend to get there. I was always finding my Lorwyn drafts getting bogged down at 4 but had no such issues with Shadowmoor.

First was G/r, second was G/W, third was U/B, fourth was U/W, fifth was U/B/r, sixth was major_luck with I am not sure but U-something, seventh was G/W, eighth was R/B, ninth was U/B/R, I think, and tenth was the mill deck, which was base blue I believe.

*1-Elvish Hexhunter, Seedcradle Witch
2-Safehold Elite, Medicine Runner
3-Kitchen Finks, Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers

Theses are just the commons and uncommons.