Pirate Draft League

Hey all! We've had two new drafts on the pirate ship One Eye so let's go to the updated standings.

Name	Record	Points/Event
Jacob B Tim N Jonathan B Thomas C Greg O Brendan H Alexis R Matt R Rob B Caleb R Ash O	8-1 9-3 7-4 3-2-1 6-7-2 3-4-2 3-5-1 5-12 2-5 1-5 1-4	7.62 6.75 5.50 5.00 4.34 4.00 4.00 3.22 3.00 2.22 1.57

Some notes: I had made a mistake in the tiebreakers for the December 1st event, so Alexis R and Chris W both lost a point from that event and Greg O gained 2. The latest RGD draft was awesome, though a Madison player came in and pwned (boo! (actually, just kidding, he was a very nice houseguest)). While I am still keeping complete standings, the only draft league standings shown are from players with at least 2 events, to simplify things and try to keep the data a little less outlier prone. Finally, my ship was referred to as the HMS One Eye in the last Pirate post, which is obviously incorrect, as it implies my ship is in the Royal Navy, which it is not. We fly a pirate flag around here, and the sea is our home, you salty dogs, er, cats.

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

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.

I heart RGD

I am probably going to become known as the dude who is unreasonably obsessed with obsolete formats but, dy-amn do I love RGD sealed and draft (and how I wish we could go back in time and have a real block constructed season¹). I started playing right when 9th Edition came out so Ravnica was my first large set. (My initial reaction? Why the hell are people so excited about Temple Garden?) I had actually learned way back when Invasion was the current set and I still own about 4 precons from back then, but I didn't have anyone to play with and quickly set it down. I knew that multicolor was cool and that Ravnica was supposed to be the multicolor set, but wow did this ever knock my socks off. The guild model is absolutely genius, and forces incredibly interesting decisions in sealed and draft. Personally, I am a big fan of opening giant wurms and beating face with them. Your mileage may vary. The only high level event I have ever attended was GP:St. Louis, where, at one point, I was 3-1 and looking like a strong chance for Day 2, with no byes. Admittedly I washed out from that point, but considering my record at FNM is rife with last place finishes, it was pretty awesome.

So why am I talking about this? Because the local store has Olde Fart Magic Night on Tuesdays. It's a sealed league and this month, we opened whichever block we wanted. Me? I wanted one last spin around the block(heh) with RGD. I've gone 2-0 with my deck so far which features Niv-Mizzet and Glint-Eye Nephilim colors (though no glint-eye itself). Remand, Last Gasp², Pyromatics, Vedalken Dismisser, Hit/Run, etc. I am convinced it is impossible to lose a game in which Vedalken Dismisser hits the table. More importantly than the power level is just being able to play all your cards. I am four color with 16 land and 2 signets. So sweet. I have yet to stumble on mana in 5 games. Sometimes I think we should all just switch to Duel Masters. Then again, would we get such enjoyment out of smooth mana if it didn't usually suck? Who knows. Not me.

I am totally going in on at least a box of each once the rotation happens. I am actually going to try to swing 2 of each. Anybody wanna help fund that?

...Yeah, I didn't think so. Anyways, RGD draft at my house in 2009!

¹And you better believe the people in Renton wish it as well. back
²Have you seen Nameless Inversion? Since when does black get the flowstone effect? I've seen it in artifacts, but Black? back