I'm planning another Christmas Draftstravaganza this year. CBG is probably not going to make it, which is sad, but I will try to do some documentation myself to post up on this here site. I feel like the formats were somewhat uninspired this year, but I am going to try to spice things up with some smaller prizes that should hopefully make things more interesting. I'll spoil one of the contests to give you an idea of the flavor of what I want to do; I'm going to give a prize immediately after drafting Scars of Mirrodin to the player who drafted the least number of artifacts and Infect cards combined. The idea is that it's sort of a "pre-event" consolation prize, because the field is so dominated by those two strategies, and everyone knows it. But because I will announce the prize prior to drafting, the prize itself may affect the draft. I expect to see more last pick Golden Urns and Vector Asps instead of Assault Strobes and Turn Asides. Also, there are some tier 2 strategies (e.g. Furnace Celebration.dec and G/x "Dinosaurs") that don't buy into Infect or artifact cards, and I'd like to see if people push those archetypes more. Ultimately I'm trying to make things a touch less competitive and more a touch more unique.
Here's the schedule of events, if anyone is interested.
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Three drafts. One day. DCI tiebreaks, timed rounds.
Prizes! Each draft will have a 1 pack ante in addition to any packs drafted. As long as there are at least 8 people, prize packs will pay down to 3rd. For drafts where packs are opened, Mythics/Rares/foils can be drafted afterward, assuming there is enough time to do so (So, TBD prior to each draft, you'll know before drafting). A draft set will be awarded to the drafter with the best record over all three events! Other prizes may be awarded throughout the day as the TO sees fit!
Food! Free brunch will be provided at about 11 AM! We can then order food and split the cost around 4 or 5 for dinner. Free snacks and beverages will be available throughout!
Formats!
Draft 1: Scars of Mirrodin Draft
Time: A noon HARD START will be enforced for this event. Sorry guys, but with three events we've got to start the day on time or we'll never finish! I suggest coming at 11 AM and eating some FREE BRUNCH! At 12 PM seating will assigned and at 12:05 PM the draft will begin. For realz.
Cost: $12 OR a draft set of Scars and one pack ante.
Draft 2: Chaos! Draft
Time: Roughly 5 PM. We may be willing to hold the draft a little to accommodate drafters coming from work.
Cost: $12 OR 4 tournament legal packs (3 packs for drafting, one pack for ante). Players choosing to pay $ will get three pulls at random from a bag containing packs from Magic's history!
Draft 3: Cube Draft (16 person max)
Time: Roughly 10 PM. The start time on this draft could be significantly earlier if there are fewer than 9 people at the other drafts. I HOPE this will be the latest start time likely for the final draft!
Cost: $3 OR 1 pack ante.
Showing posts with label Draftstravaganza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Draftstravaganza. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, July 24, 2008
They keep coming back.
Well after a little less than a week, the 12 man cube is alive and doing okay. I hesitate to say well, as it has become quite apparent that we have successfully nerfed green-white aggro, but have made black-x reanimator too powerful. After a short conversation with TS this morning, we agree that something needs to be done. While we do agree on what needs to happen, as usual, we disagree on how to get their. Before I get into where we differ in opinion, let me first go over what we agree on.
First, a five man draft should never be able to support two high powered reanimator decks. Second, there are too many redundant reanimation engine parts. Third, there are several very powerful pieces to the reanimation engines. And finally, there isn't much in the way of grave yard hate.
I do agree with Tabasco that we need to include more graveyard hate, but I think it should solely come at the expense of reanimation pieces. TS wants to reduce the number or redundant pieces (spells that function almost identically to other spells already in the cube). We disagree on the power level of cards to come out. I think that one or more of the high powered cards needs to exit stage right, while TS thinks that all of the high powered pieces can stay, but the redundancy needs to be thinned out. Discuss further in the comments.
Until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.
First, a five man draft should never be able to support two high powered reanimator decks. Second, there are too many redundant reanimation engine parts. Third, there are several very powerful pieces to the reanimation engines. And finally, there isn't much in the way of grave yard hate.
I do agree with Tabasco that we need to include more graveyard hate, but I think it should solely come at the expense of reanimation pieces. TS wants to reduce the number or redundant pieces (spells that function almost identically to other spells already in the cube). We disagree on the power level of cards to come out. I think that one or more of the high powered cards needs to exit stage right, while TS thinks that all of the high powered pieces can stay, but the redundancy needs to be thinned out. Discuss further in the comments.
Until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Draftstravaganza III: Legend of the Cube- Recap!
Brunch!
Very soon we will have an updated Cube list, possibly tonight, if my wife doesn't kill me for spending all my leisure time writing about Magical faeries and such. In the meantime, I want to briefly discuss the Draftstravaganza.
In a wonderful coincidence, Saturday stayed cool AND cloudy/rainy all day, making other summer activities less palatable. That and a late invite out on Facebook netted a surprising number of brunchers and drafters. All told, we had in attendance 13 drafters, two wives and a child, although the latter were mostly there for the food and conversation (whatever!). Since 12 (we gained Bagha midway through the first draft to make 13 total) was way too many to Rotisserie anything, we decided to Cube first. We did 2 six man pods for three rounds each. Then, after several hours, we decided to draft the Cube again, as a 10 man pod. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this iteration of the Cube is about 200 zillion times more fun than the last one, as evidenced by the fact that we drafted Cube for 9 hours straight and not a single person wanted to play another format, the fact that nobody appeared too disapointed with the card pool (although there a few cards placed gently on the chopping block midway through) and I have received uniformly rave reviews since. For those of you who couldn't make it, it was fun. I mean, REALLY fun. These stupid plays, among others, were witnessed.
Jonathan made a 3 card infinite turn combo with Time Walk, Izzet Chronarch and Crystal Shard. I know he won at least two games with it. I guess you can't keep a good EDH idea down.
I heard Swizz Dizzle say (twice, to two different opponents) that he had no creatures left in his library- and then played Living Death! He had a nice little combo with Survival of the Fittest going.
I definitely got hit by Okiba Gang Shinobi- and "discarded" Reckless Wurm and Fiery Temper.
Jonathon also hit me with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach and I had to ditch a Thundermare and a land. He then promptly cast Necromancy on the Mare turn 3 and swung with his hasty 5/5. Game two of that match saw Jonathon with FIVE enchantments on his side of the board; Exploration, Phyrexian Arena, Gaea's Anthem, Bitterblossom and Null Profusion. Yeah, he got there, even though he drew all but four cards from his library.
Bobby Hill Was playing a deck with Niv-Mizzet, Rhystic Study, Sensei's Divining Top and Force of Will. He won the pod, I think.
Tabasco totally played a turn 5 hardcast Sundering Titan against me, destroying three of my four lands. I also had a fifth land and Plow Under in hand, just waiting to make him pick up his bounce land. Imagine, this is a Limited format where turn 5 Plow Under (at least on the draw) is really just too slow!
My best play all day was when Sean resolved a turn seven Oona, Queen of the Fae against me. Turn six he had cast Guile, and he had some other beaters out too. I had taken the lead early with a morphed Thelonite Hermit that got in there twice. Now all I had was the unmorphed Hermit and his three tokens. Sean had tapped out to play Oona. I play... Mirrorweave on Guile! Swing with four Guiles, you can block one, so take 18 thanx.
There was a rumor that somebody over in the other pod got a turn 1 kill, but I may have been mistaken, let me know in the comments.
In a wonderful coincidence, Saturday stayed cool AND cloudy/rainy all day, making other summer activities less palatable. That and a late invite out on Facebook netted a surprising number of brunchers and drafters. All told, we had in attendance 13 drafters, two wives and a child, although the latter were mostly there for the food and conversation (whatever!). Since 12 (we gained Bagha midway through the first draft to make 13 total) was way too many to Rotisserie anything, we decided to Cube first. We did 2 six man pods for three rounds each. Then, after several hours, we decided to draft the Cube again, as a 10 man pod. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this iteration of the Cube is about 200 zillion times more fun than the last one, as evidenced by the fact that we drafted Cube for 9 hours straight and not a single person wanted to play another format, the fact that nobody appeared too disapointed with the card pool (although there a few cards placed gently on the chopping block midway through) and I have received uniformly rave reviews since. For those of you who couldn't make it, it was fun. I mean, REALLY fun. These stupid plays, among others, were witnessed.
Jonathan made a 3 card infinite turn combo with Time Walk, Izzet Chronarch and Crystal Shard. I know he won at least two games with it. I guess you can't keep a good EDH idea down.
I heard Swizz Dizzle say (twice, to two different opponents) that he had no creatures left in his library- and then played Living Death! He had a nice little combo with Survival of the Fittest going.
I definitely got hit by Okiba Gang Shinobi- and "discarded" Reckless Wurm and Fiery Temper.
Jonathon also hit me with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach and I had to ditch a Thundermare and a land. He then promptly cast Necromancy on the Mare turn 3 and swung with his hasty 5/5. Game two of that match saw Jonathon with FIVE enchantments on his side of the board; Exploration, Phyrexian Arena, Gaea's Anthem, Bitterblossom and Null Profusion. Yeah, he got there, even though he drew all but four cards from his library.
Bobby Hill Was playing a deck with Niv-Mizzet, Rhystic Study, Sensei's Divining Top and Force of Will. He won the pod, I think.
Tabasco totally played a turn 5 hardcast Sundering Titan against me, destroying three of my four lands. I also had a fifth land and Plow Under in hand, just waiting to make him pick up his bounce land. Imagine, this is a Limited format where turn 5 Plow Under (at least on the draw) is really just too slow!
My best play all day was when Sean resolved a turn seven Oona, Queen of the Fae against me. Turn six he had cast Guile, and he had some other beaters out too. I had taken the lead early with a morphed Thelonite Hermit that got in there twice. Now all I had was the unmorphed Hermit and his three tokens. Sean had tapped out to play Oona. I play... Mirrorweave on Guile! Swing with four Guiles, you can block one, so take 18 thanx.
There was a rumor that somebody over in the other pod got a turn 1 kill, but I may have been mistaken, let me know in the comments.
Tabasco watches Pseudonymous Drama Student play Rhyno.
Major_Luck tunes his deck at the end of the round, while Rhyno battles on.
Conn and a blurry Jonathon play at blinding speed (heh)! In the background is Tabasco.
Swizz Dizzle guards the prize packs while Jonathon plays in the background.
Major_Luck, Swizz Dizzle.
Tony and Swizz, playing.
Harry Potter and Bagha look like they were up a little late last night.I will be at Game Universe this Friday (Don't even know/care if it's Standard or Draft down there). I will be bringing the Cube for an afterdraft. You really should come.
T
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Draftstravaganza 3 update
The first draft will be Ravnica Rotisserie (buyin=1 pack of anything). I have confirmed the existence of the complete set. I even got an extra Chorus of the Conclave, which might be added to the "prize" pool. Maybe last place could get some love.
Friday, July 11, 2008
A bag for grabbing
The Eventide Prerelease is this weekend. I will not be attending, despite the fact that it is going to be the last "big" prerelease, at least for a while. I desperately hope some venue in Milwaukee steps up to the plate and starts hosting some more local prereleases. I love prereleases, but my family situation makes it pretty difficult to blow an entire day on Magic. A smaller, closer venue would help a lot on that front. I would imagine the pros of local prereleases outweigh the cons of losing the festival atmosphere of the current status quo.
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Michael Weston.dec is gonna have to rely on Fugie for support this week. I was gonna go, but I am some few cards short and a familial obligation came up. I think it has a really solid chance in the current metagame. I have been saying for quite a while that the deck that can profitably play Wrath in this environment has a really solid chance. It just has to get there vs. Faeries. My hope is that the addition of Eventide and the shift into Phelddagrif colors will help it get there. The goodies are legion. Also, if you are going to the prerelease, I can guarantee buyers for 2 playsets of the UG cairn land. Just saying.
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I was playing the new Girl Talk album Feed the Animals at Draftstravaganza. If you've never heard Girl Talk, it's kind of hard to explain. Basically, he makes party music by sampling hundreds of tracks. Not entirely new, but definitely awesome. Here's a sample.
You can download Feed the Animals for the payment of your choice at Illegal Art.
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I've begun acquiring packs for a wacky pack draft. It sounds like we are going to start dueling draftstravaganzas between TS and CBG. I have plans to crush TS's draftstravaganza like a bug. I will, however bring the Rav set and the Carroll draft packs like I promised.
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Is anybody interested in wacky constructed formats? Like auction? I would be willing to put decks together (probably extended) if we wanted to do that sometime. Re:Standard, I agree with Tabasco. It blows.
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Michael Weston.dec is gonna have to rely on Fugie for support this week. I was gonna go, but I am some few cards short and a familial obligation came up. I think it has a really solid chance in the current metagame. I have been saying for quite a while that the deck that can profitably play Wrath in this environment has a really solid chance. It just has to get there vs. Faeries. My hope is that the addition of Eventide and the shift into Phelddagrif colors will help it get there. The goodies are legion. Also, if you are going to the prerelease, I can guarantee buyers for 2 playsets of the UG cairn land. Just saying.
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I was playing the new Girl Talk album Feed the Animals at Draftstravaganza. If you've never heard Girl Talk, it's kind of hard to explain. Basically, he makes party music by sampling hundreds of tracks. Not entirely new, but definitely awesome. Here's a sample.
You can download Feed the Animals for the payment of your choice at Illegal Art.
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I've begun acquiring packs for a wacky pack draft. It sounds like we are going to start dueling draftstravaganzas between TS and CBG. I have plans to crush TS's draftstravaganza like a bug. I will, however bring the Rav set and the Carroll draft packs like I promised.
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Is anybody interested in wacky constructed formats? Like auction? I would be willing to put decks together (probably extended) if we wanted to do that sometime. Re:Standard, I agree with Tabasco. It blows.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Draftsravaganza(s)!
DRAFTS!
I still can't pronounce the word correctly, but Draftstraganza 2: The Revenge was very fun. Personally I got pounded in the Shadowmoor draft, despite what I thought was a solid G/R affair with Flame Javelin, Boggart Ram-Gang, and double Tower Above. Oh yeah, Pili-Pala and double Power of Fire. Then I played Julio in the last round, whose G/R deck featured double Deus of Calamity. He showed me how it was done. I was only able to defeat Tabasco in the first round and lost out from there, probably due to my many play mistakes. I feel like if I don't draft at least once a week I just make stupid errors all over.
Ravnica/Guildpact/Dissension draft was way more fun, partly because I knew what I was doing. My plan was to go Red/White/Blue, starting with first pick Hunted Dragon. I also grabbed an early Snapping Drake and a Peel from Reality. I got what I thought was the Izzet hook up in pack two, with dubs Train of Thought, dubs Torch Drake, a Repeal, Gigadrowse, Electrolyze, Pyromatics, and Izzet Chronarch. However, CBG, who was sitting to my left, apparently cut me some Steamcore Weird and Ogre Savant action in the middle pack. Man, Izzet was open!Dissension pushed me into Black instead of White with a very late Wrecking Ball, a Demon's Jester and two Rakdos Signets for the splash. I also grabbed a few decent Graft guys including Helium Squirter and Cytoplast Manipulator. I know the consensus was that if you weren't running four colors, you were doing something wrong, but I really prefer my Rav block draft decks to be three colors if possible (with maybe a fourth color splash for an off color guild land, like one black source for Church of Deals, or the "kicker" on Induce Paranoia). I think there is usually less of a chance of properly drafting mana fixers to actually make a four color deck that doesn't screw you at random than there is of winning based on three color consistency. But hey, I'm the guy who kept playing against opponents who seemed to keep beating themselves with their manabases, so I might be biased. It was actually a challenging deck to build, because I had so many options. More than one opponent did not approve of my Torpid Moloch turn one, but the plan was to be a midrange deck that could basically steal a win with bounce and pumpable and/or hasty flyers. I just needed to stay alive long enough to flip the game around. More than one game I used Hunted Dragon as a five mana burn spell. I ended up losing the finals to Jonathan. That guy had my number all night! I just felt like he not only outplayed me, but knew what I was trying to do and knew exactly how to stop it. To be fair, the final game of the draft he drops a turn two Azorious Guildmage and I draw absolutely zero removal or bounce all game. Nothing. So my options were fairly limited. He roundly outplayed me though, and deserved the win more than me, no doubt.
CUBE!
Well, CBG and I finally came around to Tabasco and The Captain's point of view- we need to expand the Cube. After having nine on Sunday it really seems like the thing to do. The Cube is fun, and even though the usual number is around 4-6, we should be able to support more, just in case. As Tabasco reminded us, this will also make the Cube drafting experience more dynamic since there will be a larger potential card pool. I invited Tabasco and The Captain to make a card list that will take us to 540 cards. I think they are keen to include Eventide goodies too. For ease of reference here is the latest Cube Draft List (v2.0) with only a few changes. We replaced Dimir Cutpurse with Shadowmage Infiltrator and Frenzied Goblin with Taurean Mauler (the joke being that the Shapeshifter was a better Goblin than the, you know, actual Goblin). I would love to put this together within the next few weeks, if possible. The reason being...
Draftstravaganza III: Legend of the Cube
We're trying to keep the Limited flame alive! This is tentative, but I am aiming for July 19th, Casa de TooSarcastic. Free brunch starts at 11, drafts commence at noon. I would like to get three drafts in. Possible formats include: Cube Draft (obv), RGD Rotisserie (eh, CBG?), Reject Rare, Shadowmoor/Shadowmoor/Eventide (it's the weekend after the prerelease) and/or other unusual stuff. If we do the Cube and then the Rotisserie we are looking at a very cheap day of drafting for everyone. Free and brunch and cheap Magic! What else could you want? Maybe we'll start the day out with some bizarre Sealed format, just because. Let me know what you would like to play.
T
I still can't pronounce the word correctly, but Draftstraganza 2: The Revenge was very fun. Personally I got pounded in the Shadowmoor draft, despite what I thought was a solid G/R affair with Flame Javelin, Boggart Ram-Gang, and double Tower Above. Oh yeah, Pili-Pala and double Power of Fire. Then I played Julio in the last round, whose G/R deck featured double Deus of Calamity. He showed me how it was done. I was only able to defeat Tabasco in the first round and lost out from there, probably due to my many play mistakes. I feel like if I don't draft at least once a week I just make stupid errors all over.
Ravnica/Guildpact/Dissension draft was way more fun, partly because I knew what I was doing. My plan was to go Red/White/Blue, starting with first pick Hunted Dragon. I also grabbed an early Snapping Drake and a Peel from Reality. I got what I thought was the Izzet hook up in pack two, with dubs Train of Thought, dubs Torch Drake, a Repeal, Gigadrowse, Electrolyze, Pyromatics, and Izzet Chronarch. However, CBG, who was sitting to my left, apparently cut me some Steamcore Weird and Ogre Savant action in the middle pack. Man, Izzet was open!Dissension pushed me into Black instead of White with a very late Wrecking Ball, a Demon's Jester and two Rakdos Signets for the splash. I also grabbed a few decent Graft guys including Helium Squirter and Cytoplast Manipulator. I know the consensus was that if you weren't running four colors, you were doing something wrong, but I really prefer my Rav block draft decks to be three colors if possible (with maybe a fourth color splash for an off color guild land, like one black source for Church of Deals, or the "kicker" on Induce Paranoia). I think there is usually less of a chance of properly drafting mana fixers to actually make a four color deck that doesn't screw you at random than there is of winning based on three color consistency. But hey, I'm the guy who kept playing against opponents who seemed to keep beating themselves with their manabases, so I might be biased. It was actually a challenging deck to build, because I had so many options. More than one opponent did not approve of my Torpid Moloch turn one, but the plan was to be a midrange deck that could basically steal a win with bounce and pumpable and/or hasty flyers. I just needed to stay alive long enough to flip the game around. More than one game I used Hunted Dragon as a five mana burn spell. I ended up losing the finals to Jonathan. That guy had my number all night! I just felt like he not only outplayed me, but knew what I was trying to do and knew exactly how to stop it. To be fair, the final game of the draft he drops a turn two Azorious Guildmage and I draw absolutely zero removal or bounce all game. Nothing. So my options were fairly limited. He roundly outplayed me though, and deserved the win more than me, no doubt.
CUBE!
Well, CBG and I finally came around to Tabasco and The Captain's point of view- we need to expand the Cube. After having nine on Sunday it really seems like the thing to do. The Cube is fun, and even though the usual number is around 4-6, we should be able to support more, just in case. As Tabasco reminded us, this will also make the Cube drafting experience more dynamic since there will be a larger potential card pool. I invited Tabasco and The Captain to make a card list that will take us to 540 cards. I think they are keen to include Eventide goodies too. For ease of reference here is the latest Cube Draft List (v2.0) with only a few changes. We replaced Dimir Cutpurse with Shadowmage Infiltrator and Frenzied Goblin with Taurean Mauler (the joke being that the Shapeshifter was a better Goblin than the, you know, actual Goblin). I would love to put this together within the next few weeks, if possible. The reason being...
Draftstravaganza III: Legend of the Cube
We're trying to keep the Limited flame alive! This is tentative, but I am aiming for July 19th, Casa de TooSarcastic. Free brunch starts at 11, drafts commence at noon. I would like to get three drafts in. Possible formats include: Cube Draft (obv), RGD Rotisserie (eh, CBG?), Reject Rare, Shadowmoor/Shadowmoor/Eventide (it's the weekend after the prerelease) and/or other unusual stuff. If we do the Cube and then the Rotisserie we are looking at a very cheap day of drafting for everyone. Free and brunch and cheap Magic! What else could you want? Maybe we'll start the day out with some bizarre Sealed format, just because. Let me know what you would like to play.
T
Monday, July 7, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Quick Draftstravaganza Recap
I am currently laid low with a virus of some sort, so I will be making this post a short one. It doesn't seem fair to leave the Draftravaganza un-commented, so I will do some quick recapping from my perspective. First off, thanks to CBG for hosting. It was awesome. Second, boo to Wizards for fucking up our Rotisserie draft. Who would have thought the company that makes the cards can't send out an accurate full set to someone who has redeemed it on MODO? And it wasn't just one or two cards off, this sucker had a duplicate common run and no uncommons, to say nothing of the missing rares. I know lots of us were really looking forward to this, and it sucks that Wizards is directly responsible for screwing us out of the opportunity to use the product they sell in the way we had planned. Great marketing, WOTC.
First up was Carroll draft, Which I really do enjoy as a format. Can you imagine a draft where players open packs 360 unique cards? It is still possible to get doubles of a spell, but even that is a rarity in Carroll draft. It totally gets you back to the basics of drafting. It didn't go as I had hoped. I ended up taking B/W weenies, which did not seem like a great strategy. At least I managed to pick a color with some removal. During one early pick from the Guildpact pack I had to choose between a Douse in Gloom and Pillory of the Sleepless. I tried to wheel the Pillory, which was a little too greedy. It would have been great because I was lacking unconditional removal, and I had to be the only one in B/W. I did end up picking up several other "pacificism" effect, the strongest of which turned out to be Cowed by Wisdom. It really forced my opponents into some bad choices. I was surprised. What ended up saving my ass from a 1-2 or 0-3 record was the combat tricks. Guided Strike was cantrip removal all morning, and Douse in Gloom turned out to be pretty good at instant speed as well. Since I had almost no fatties, keeping my little guys swinging was the only way for me to have a shot at winning. Masked Gorgon was the only big guy I had, and he was obviously swingy (but turned out to be good). I did lose to Swizz, as is recapped here. I was happy with 2-1 because I did not expect to do that well with the deck.
Second format was 2HG Rav-Gpt-Dis draft. It was super fun remembering how the pick orders changed based on playing two opponents. Major Luck and I did pretty well in 2HG with this format, I was looking forward to it again. But my partner this time around was CBG. We argued a lot, took too many bouncelands (hard to play six in a single deck...) and generally figured we'd lose. We did have Sunforger and Lightning Helix (in my W/U/R deck- I guess I heart Numot even in different formats!) and double Mortipede (in CBG B/G/W/R? deck, I don't remember which color he didn't play). Those Mortipedes kicked ass all day for us. Not only did they usually give us a two for one trade, they also let the rest of our team get in there. We lost our first match, but the joys of round robin play dictated that if we beat our final round opponents we still take first. Sunforger on a Mourning Thrull is all business, let me tell you. We got there and with a 2-1 record took first. Too bad there was only one dual land in the pool.
We ended by with EDH 2HG. I was really tired by this time but luckily partner Swizz did not need very much help after powering out Niv-Mizzet on turn 2. His deck is sick. After we won one game it was Swizz's turned to be distracted- by the thought of leaving soon to party with a lady. He decided to jet, and surprisingly, none of our opponents seemed to mind that the team with the turn-2 Legendary Dragon was disbanding. I was ready for bed, and packed it in as well.
I would love to hear other people's experience of the night. I would also heartily recommend Carroll draft and limited 2HG to anyone looking for a different way to spend their draft night. I wish I could recommend Rotisserie because it sounds like it would be awesome, but... you know.
T
First up was Carroll draft, Which I really do enjoy as a format. Can you imagine a draft where players open packs 360 unique cards? It is still possible to get doubles of a spell, but even that is a rarity in Carroll draft. It totally gets you back to the basics of drafting. It didn't go as I had hoped. I ended up taking B/W weenies, which did not seem like a great strategy. At least I managed to pick a color with some removal. During one early pick from the Guildpact pack I had to choose between a Douse in Gloom and Pillory of the Sleepless. I tried to wheel the Pillory, which was a little too greedy. It would have been great because I was lacking unconditional removal, and I had to be the only one in B/W. I did end up picking up several other "pacificism" effect, the strongest of which turned out to be Cowed by Wisdom. It really forced my opponents into some bad choices. I was surprised. What ended up saving my ass from a 1-2 or 0-3 record was the combat tricks. Guided Strike was cantrip removal all morning, and Douse in Gloom turned out to be pretty good at instant speed as well. Since I had almost no fatties, keeping my little guys swinging was the only way for me to have a shot at winning. Masked Gorgon was the only big guy I had, and he was obviously swingy (but turned out to be good). I did lose to Swizz, as is recapped here. I was happy with 2-1 because I did not expect to do that well with the deck.
Second format was 2HG Rav-Gpt-Dis draft. It was super fun remembering how the pick orders changed based on playing two opponents. Major Luck and I did pretty well in 2HG with this format, I was looking forward to it again. But my partner this time around was CBG. We argued a lot, took too many bouncelands (hard to play six in a single deck...) and generally figured we'd lose. We did have Sunforger and Lightning Helix (in my W/U/R deck- I guess I heart Numot even in different formats!) and double Mortipede (in CBG B/G/W/R? deck, I don't remember which color he didn't play). Those Mortipedes kicked ass all day for us. Not only did they usually give us a two for one trade, they also let the rest of our team get in there. We lost our first match, but the joys of round robin play dictated that if we beat our final round opponents we still take first. Sunforger on a Mourning Thrull is all business, let me tell you. We got there and with a 2-1 record took first. Too bad there was only one dual land in the pool.
We ended by with EDH 2HG. I was really tired by this time but luckily partner Swizz did not need very much help after powering out Niv-Mizzet on turn 2. His deck is sick. After we won one game it was Swizz's turned to be distracted- by the thought of leaving soon to party with a lady. He decided to jet, and surprisingly, none of our opponents seemed to mind that the team with the turn-2 Legendary Dragon was disbanding. I was ready for bed, and packed it in as well.
I would love to hear other people's experience of the night. I would also heartily recommend Carroll draft and limited 2HG to anyone looking for a different way to spend their draft night. I wish I could recommend Rotisserie because it sounds like it would be awesome, but... you know.
T
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Undefeated Lists after 2 rounds
1 Branchsnap Lorian
1 Krosan Restorer
1 Ronom Unicorn
1 Sporeback Troll
1 Reveillark
1 Accelerated Mutation
1 Hail of Arrows
1 Ferocious Charge
1 Viashino Bladescout
1 Dragon Mage
1 Akki Drillmaster
1 Jedit, Ojanen of Efavra
1 Saltskitter
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Fever Charm
1 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Battlefield Scrounger
1 Divebomber Griffin
1 Sawtooth Thresher
1 Cetavolver
1 Gruul Turf
6 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Island
Swizz-Dizzle's
1 Reef Shaman
1 Fire/Ice
1 Soulless Revival
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Confound
1 Compulsion
1 Izzet Signet
1 Warren Weirding
1 Rend Flesh
1 Runeboggle
1 Blind Phantasm
1 Frost Raptor
1 Wail of the Nim
1 Toils of Night and Day
1 Exotic Curse
1 Wonder
1 Myr Quadropod
1 Clutch of the Undercity
1 Mercurial Kite
1 Dematerialize
1 Zombie Cutthroat
1 Ixidron
1 Spire Golem
1 Floodchaser
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Mountain
6 Swamp
8 Island
1 Krosan Restorer
1 Ronom Unicorn
1 Sporeback Troll
1 Reveillark
1 Accelerated Mutation
1 Hail of Arrows
1 Ferocious Charge
1 Viashino Bladescout
1 Dragon Mage
1 Akki Drillmaster
1 Jedit, Ojanen of Efavra
1 Saltskitter
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Fever Charm
1 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Battlefield Scrounger
1 Divebomber Griffin
1 Sawtooth Thresher
1 Cetavolver
1 Gruul Turf
6 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Island
Swizz-Dizzle's
1 Reef Shaman
1 Fire/Ice
1 Soulless Revival
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Confound
1 Compulsion
1 Izzet Signet
1 Warren Weirding
1 Rend Flesh
1 Runeboggle
1 Blind Phantasm
1 Frost Raptor
1 Wail of the Nim
1 Toils of Night and Day
1 Exotic Curse
1 Wonder
1 Myr Quadropod
1 Clutch of the Undercity
1 Mercurial Kite
1 Dematerialize
1 Zombie Cutthroat
1 Ixidron
1 Spire Golem
1 Floodchaser
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Mountain
6 Swamp
8 Island
Round 2-Carroll Draft
Fugie dropped after getting rolled so Major_luck got the bye.
Table 1-The Captain vs. Tabasco. Game 1 Cappy tempos Tabasco out. The ending was a grafted Reveillark swinging for the win with protected by Matsu-Tribe Sniper. Game 2 Tabasco went to Paris and then started speaking French. A double-kicked Cetavolver may have been involved. Sawtooth Thresher became a 6/6. Hot Sauce is crying now. It is sad.
Table 2-Swizz-Dizzle vs. TooSarcastic.
Game one TooSarcastic keeps a four land hand and then draws seven lands in a row. Swizz get that one. Game two Swizz mounts a aliant deenes but is stuck on 3 land for too long. Silver Knight and Kami Ancient Law, combined with Whipgrass Entangler finally get there, despite multiple bounce spells. Game three Swizz unmorphs a Zombie Cutthroat turn four on the play. The race is on. Unfortunately for TooSarcastic his Spined Basher is cacked before he can eqiup the Runed Stalactite. Frost Raptor and Mercurial Kite come down in support. TooSarcastic drops Conclave Equanaut to stem the air force, but Swizz rips removal off the top and comes in for lethal.
Table 3-CBG vs. Scoop_phase. Scoop made 7 land drops in a row. That is bad. In game 2, CBG managed to create a whole bunch of dudes and alpha strike through Magnigoth Treefolk for the win.
Table 1-The Captain vs. Tabasco. Game 1 Cappy tempos Tabasco out. The ending was a grafted Reveillark swinging for the win with protected by Matsu-Tribe Sniper. Game 2 Tabasco went to Paris and then started speaking French. A double-kicked Cetavolver may have been involved. Sawtooth Thresher became a 6/6. Hot Sauce is crying now. It is sad.
Table 2-Swizz-Dizzle vs. TooSarcastic.
Game one TooSarcastic keeps a four land hand and then draws seven lands in a row. Swizz get that one. Game two Swizz mounts a aliant deenes but is stuck on 3 land for too long. Silver Knight and Kami Ancient Law, combined with Whipgrass Entangler finally get there, despite multiple bounce spells. Game three Swizz unmorphs a Zombie Cutthroat turn four on the play. The race is on. Unfortunately for TooSarcastic his Spined Basher is cacked before he can eqiup the Runed Stalactite. Frost Raptor and Mercurial Kite come down in support. TooSarcastic drops Conclave Equanaut to stem the air force, but Swizz rips removal off the top and comes in for lethal.
Table 3-CBG vs. Scoop_phase. Scoop made 7 land drops in a row. That is bad. In game 2, CBG managed to create a whole bunch of dudes and alpha strike through Magnigoth Treefolk for the win.
Round one wrapup
Table 1-Hot Sauce vs. Fugie. Hot sauce got game 1 after a Lys Alana Huntmaster followed up by a Timberwatch Elf and token proceeded to put the beats down while Fugie had 7 power in flyers but could not race. Game 2 was completely one sided as I had a turn 2 bear and followed it up with a +2/+1 enchantment while Fugie fails to find lands in his main colors. Hot sauce 2-0. as reported by Tabasco
Table 2-The Captain vs. CBG. CBG kept kind of a slow draw (barring Bile Urchin). Then he got hit for 4 with a turn 3 Inner-Flame Acolyte. Things went downhill from there. CBG almost stabilized game 2, until Cappy played Dragon Mage. Oops. Cappy 2-0.
Table 3-Swizz-Dizzle vs. major_luck. Game one, it was a back and forth game, but swizzy topdecked clutch of the undercity when the major was at 1. Game 2 was a war of attrition again, but Wonder in the yard seems good. Swizz-Dizzle 2-0.
Table 4-TooSarcastic and Scoops. A back and forth 3 game match ended in horrible defeat for Scoop_Phase when he failed to read Deathmark Prelate and Scoop_phase entered his scoop phase.
Table 2-The Captain vs. CBG. CBG kept kind of a slow draw (barring Bile Urchin). Then he got hit for 4 with a turn 3 Inner-Flame Acolyte. Things went downhill from there. CBG almost stabilized game 2, until Cappy played Dragon Mage. Oops. Cappy 2-0.
Table 3-Swizz-Dizzle vs. major_luck. Game one, it was a back and forth game, but swizzy topdecked clutch of the undercity when the major was at 1. Game 2 was a war of attrition again, but Wonder in the yard seems good. Swizz-Dizzle 2-0.
Table 4-TooSarcastic and Scoops. A back and forth 3 game match ended in horrible defeat for Scoop_Phase when he failed to read Deathmark Prelate and Scoop_phase entered his scoop phase.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Draftstravaganza thoughts. T-72 hours.
The first format is Lorwyn Rotisserie draft. A complete set of Lorwyn is laid out and the first person chooses. Then drafting continues clockwise to pick 8. The person who picks 8th also picks 9th and the draft goes counter clockwise back to drafter #1. Drafting continues like this until Bog Hoodlums is taken*. I am curious what people think is the first pick. The_captain felt pretty strongly that Mirror Entity was it. I do like that pick, but could see taking a planeswalker or a command there as well. How early do you think removal will be taken? Will Fugie 1st pick Horde of Notions? Here's a good article with some stuff to chew over by Chad Ellis. Rotisserie bears a lot of similarities to Rochester but I would think is a more powerful format due to the number of rares.
The second format is Carroll draft. Carroll draft is a normal 8 man format which uses 24 different packs. The intention is to use the 24 most recent expert-level expansions, though the release of two-set blocks requires a little rejiggering (we are adding a pack of Coldsnap for this version). First everyone opens a big set (Lorwyn through Invasion). Drafting proceeds as normal. You will travel backwards in time as you go through the packs so if your first pack is Lorwyn, your second pick will be from Time Spiral, then Ravnica, and so on. The second pack you open will be from a second set (Morningtide through Planeshift). Again, you will travel back in time as drafting moves to the right. Finally, the third pack will be all 3rd sets, though Coldsnap will be in the mix due to Lorwyn being a 2 set block. The first time we ran this format, it was awesome as heck, despite the presence of Skullclamp. Fricking Skullclamp. To me, this format is all about sticking to your basic drafting principles of remaining open to colors as long as possible and reading signals very carefully. I think this is an incredibly skill-intensive format due to the constantly shifting foundation.
The third format will be Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension Two-Headed Giant. We will randomly assign teams and draft as normal for 2HG, with each team taking 2 cards from each pack. Note, mana fixing=very, very important. Just saying.
Any further thoughts? I am psyched.
* That's a joke. Drafting Bog Hoodlums will not just end the draft, so don't take it just because you want to screw with someone.
The second format is Carroll draft. Carroll draft is a normal 8 man format which uses 24 different packs. The intention is to use the 24 most recent expert-level expansions, though the release of two-set blocks requires a little rejiggering (we are adding a pack of Coldsnap for this version). First everyone opens a big set (Lorwyn through Invasion). Drafting proceeds as normal. You will travel backwards in time as you go through the packs so if your first pack is Lorwyn, your second pick will be from Time Spiral, then Ravnica, and so on. The second pack you open will be from a second set (Morningtide through Planeshift). Again, you will travel back in time as drafting moves to the right. Finally, the third pack will be all 3rd sets, though Coldsnap will be in the mix due to Lorwyn being a 2 set block. The first time we ran this format, it was awesome as heck, despite the presence of Skullclamp. Fricking Skullclamp. To me, this format is all about sticking to your basic drafting principles of remaining open to colors as long as possible and reading signals very carefully. I think this is an incredibly skill-intensive format due to the constantly shifting foundation.
The third format will be Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension Two-Headed Giant. We will randomly assign teams and draft as normal for 2HG, with each team taking 2 cards from each pack. Note, mana fixing=very, very important. Just saying.
Any further thoughts? I am psyched.
* That's a joke. Drafting Bog Hoodlums will not just end the draft, so don't take it just because you want to screw with someone.
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