Guilds of Ravnica Prerelease 2018-09-29

The store changed its normal first prerelease time from 10 to 9 AM because there was a conflicting Yugioh event, and I was thinking maybe it wouldn't be well attended, but it was pretty good.  Maybe 30-40 people or so.

They were limiting each guild to 10 sign-ups, first come first served, and when I showed up, Golgari (black-green) was already all taken (people were hoping for promo Assassin's Trophy).  I was torn between Golgari and Selesnya (white-green) as my top choices, so that made my decision easy.  Selesnya was also the least full at the time, and I'm never above picking an underdog.

Just like Tarkir block in 2014 - 2015 (and Origins did something similar also), you get a "seeded" booster that has a promo and other cards for your guild.  Here's what mine had:

Bounty of Might is a great card for Limited (especially Sealed) because it will just suddenly win games out of nowhere, but it has no money value.  The rest of the pack was standard Selesnya fare.

When I opened my other 5 boosters, I was met by a four black and Golgari rares, plus support cards at uncommon and common (my last rare was Tajic, who is great, but there was no way I could play Boros).  So I was without question going Golgari, but while building I played around with white in a three-color deck and had a hard time deciding what to cut.  In the end, I was happy with my straight Golgari curve and cut out the white altogether.  Here's what I ended up playing:

Doom Whisperer is just bonkers -- there's no way they should have printed a card that good.  But I can't complain since I was the one benefiting from it.  Even if it didn't have the ability to surveil at will it would be ridiculously strong.  The plan of this deck (and Golgari in general) is to trade off low drops to stay alive while working toward my bomb rares.  There's a little bit of conflict between the trading and the two big convoke creatures, but I also had enough good blockers like Hitchclaw Recluse that I could get up to 7 and 9 convoking mana.  Midnight Reaper sometimes drew me a bunch of cards, but it is sometimes uncastable at low health.  I didn't have the best removal, but Bounty of Might sometimes represents a 3-for-1 and other times represents a "Oh you decided not to block because you have 15 life?  Now you're dead."  Very fun and sweet deck with a lot of synergy and a little pure gasoline.

I had some Plains and various white and white-green cards ready to side in, and I also had a pair of Crushing Canopy in case I needed enchantment or flier removal.  But I never made any changes to my deck all tournament.

Round 1 vs. Sultai (blue-black-green) Lazav Surveil.
I'm not sure what this guy was really doing, but he had mashed together his Dimir and Golgari cards.  It wasn't bad but I won in two games, partially because he had trouble with his mana base.  Win, 2-0.

Round 2 vs. Selesnya Convoke.
She had a bunch of the bigger convoke creatures and got ahead early both games.  In the first game I made a bad aggressive attack that almost cost me, but pulled it out with Doom Whisperer and a surprise Bounty of Might.  Second game she had me down to 3 life and attacked 4 creatures into my 3.  I 3-for-1-ed her with Bounty of Might while dropping to 1 life, and started to make a comeback.  But she got just enough creatures to force me to trade Doom Whisperer, and I drew a Midnight Reaper that I couldn't cast because I was so close to dying, and eventually she broke through (I cast the Reaper as a blocker just to see if she wouldn't attack into it, but she saw it).  We finished just as time before turns was expiring and called it a draw.  1-1.

Round 3 vs. Selesnya 2x Emmara with black splash.
This guy is good, and he had an excellent convoke deck without really researching the set in advance.  He tempoed me out of game 1 with creatures that I couldn't effectively block (4/4's and Roc Charger).  Second game I was doing pretty well but he calmly blew out my lethal Doom Whisperer with a removal spell after I pumped it, then blew out the Severed Strands that might have saved me for a couple turns by giving his creature hexproof.  Loss, 0-2.

Round 4 vs. Boros (white-red) with blue splash.
I don't think I ever found out what he was splashing because this looked like Boros aggro, except it wasn't very aggressive in either game we played.  He had Aurelia, but I was able to take her down cleanly with Hitchclaw Recluse and Undercity Uprising since her base power is so low.  Both games he ground me down and appeared to be ahead, and both games he lost to Bounty of Might attacks, once from 12 life and once from 17 (and he had no excuses on the second one because he did have blockers).  Win, 2-0.

2-1-1 match record isn't good enough for prizes (you have to get 3 wins), but it was enough to make me happy.  My game record of 5-3 was fine.

For value, Doom Whisperer is currently at about $18.  That seems high for the long term, but it is a powerful Commander card even if it doesn't take off in Standard (starting at 40 life, the Surveil ability is sort of a combination of a tutor and a fast graveyard filler for black combo decks).  Tajic is about $3 and the rest of my rares are near-bulk and likely to end up bulk in the long term.  I was sad I didn't get any shock lands because those are the best guaranteed value in the set.  So I almost made back the $25 cost of prerelease, but I don't think that's going to hold.

I look forward to drafting GRN.  Seems a bit different from anything I've drafted before.

Thanks for reading!

M19 Store Championship Draft 2018-09-15

I haven't been to any of my LGS's Store Championships before, but this time I saw it was booster draft and decided to jump at the 3 PM Saturday start instead of the usual 7 PM FNM draft.  It was a mix of regulars and people I didn't recognize (including one person drafting for the first time ever), and we had 21 total, which to me is perfect -- a good enough group to have a diverse draft, but small enough to only go 4 rounds before cutting to top 8.  It was 3 pods of 7.

Since it was a special event, they had a special promo Emmara from the upcoming set for everyone who participated (photo at bottom of post).

Here was my draft, bottom left to top right:

Pack 1 I ended up taking the rare, but it was close against Murder, Psychic Corrosion and maybe another good uncommon.  I like trying out rares I haven't gotten to play before.  There was also a foil Stitcher's Supplier, which is a $9 card, and I was surprised that it came back around and snapped it up for value.  Second pick I took the Skeleton Archer over a Runic Armasaur, maybe not correct but I've had good success with Skeleton Archers.  Boggart Brute and Shock made me think maybe I could get into the coveted "White-Red Go-Wide" deck, and I drafted toward it for the rest of the pack.

Pack 2 I opened Death Baron as my rare, and in hindsight maybe I should have tried moving into red-black (the 3 black cards I drafted in Pack 1 all work fine with Death Baron and my red cards).  I kept rolling with white-red though, and I managed to get a lot of cards I wanted.  Blue was wide open and no one seemed to be moving into it.

Third pack I was happy to get the Valiant Knight to go with my Gallant Cavalry and Cavalry Drillmasters, and then I also got several more Gallant Cavalry.  The Lightning Strike was also nice because I was having no luck finding Luminous Bonds, the removal spell I was really hoping for.  I did miss several chances in the first couple packs to grab a Take Vengeance, but I have not been impressed with that card in this style of deck and assumed I would find better removal.  The other common card I was sorely missing was Angel of the Dawn, and I wasn't the only one at the table who mentioned it -- apparently we had zero in the entire draft (21 packs).

Here's my deck:

I ended up with a lot of the cards I wanted but I was missing some role players.  I also had a glut of 4-drops competing for deck slots between the Valiant Knight, 4 Gallant Cavalry, and 3 Inspired Charge.  I've had decks in the past that had too many 4-drops, and it isn't fun sitting on 3 lands with a hand full of good 4-drops that you'll never be able to cast before the game ends even if you do get that 4th land.  So I cut a Cavalry and an Inspired Charge and instead played cards I wouldn't normally want in this deck like Daybreak Chaplain.  She isn't aggressive, but she goes well with Knight's Pledge, Marauder's Axe, and the pump spells.

All in all, this was somewhat worse than the white-red deck I had a month or so ago, and definitely a suboptimal example of the archetype.  It was missing fliers and powerful removal, but it still had a good curve, aggressive creatures, and a couple good rares.

Sideboard had some flexibility.  Smelt is obvious, and I used Gargoyle Sentinel against 2/1's like Child of Night and Knight of the Tusk against the 6/6 Colossal Dreadmaw.  If nothing else, Lava Axe or Trumpet Blast came in on the draw in place of a land depending on the matchup.  I technically had enough white and blue cards to switch to White-Blue, but I don't think that would have been better.

Round 1 vs. White-Green Dryads
First game I was on the play and managed to get him with pump spells.  There was an agonizing moment where I attacked all out and waited to show him I was going to win with Lightning Strike no matter how he blocked.  I maybe should have just showed him the Lightning Strike, but I couldn't remember if there was a spell he could have used his 1 green mana on to live, so instead he spent 2 minutes rearranging his creatures for optimal blocks before I cast the Strike.  Second game he had two Dryad Greenseekers but could not hit a land for the life of him.  Win, 2-0.

Round 2 vs. White-Black Lifegain
This guy was the other one at my table wanting Angels.  He and I were competing for white cards, but things went his way more than mine, as he ended up with the Murder that I passed to go along with Resplendent Angel, Transmogrifying Wand, Cleansing Nova, and Sigiled Sword of Valeron and some great synergy cards.  I made a mistake in game 1, forgetting that I had a Shock in hand when he cast a combat trick that I could have blown out.  Then I just straight up couldn't keep up in Game 2.  Loss, 0-2.

Round 3 vs. White-Green Auras.
He was going heavy on the +2/+2 and +3/+3 auras with things like the Rustwing Falcon.  First game I had the tools to outrace him, although I did make a mistake tapping the wrong colors of mana once that left me in a race against a Colossal Dreadmaw that I otherwise could have killed with Shock.  Second game he played turn 2 Remorseful Cleric (which I had passed in the draft!), and I had a choice between casting Oreskos Swiftclaw (3/1) or Dismissive Pyromancer on Turn 2.  I played the Swiftclaw, then he followed up with Oakenform to make the cleric a 5/4.  Next turn I played the Pyromancer and he pumped the Cleric again up to 7/6, which I simply couldn't beat.  If I had played the Pyromancer first, I would have been able to handle it or at least caused a standoff.  I took that wisdom into game 3, where I held back from casting a creature on turn 3 so that I could Lightning Strike his Falcon if he buffed it -- and it worked!  It always feels good to make a successful play based on past experience.  I won the game and the match, 2-1.

Round 4 vs. White-Red Lathliss.
There were 2 people at 3-0 who could draw into the top 8 and then 8 of us at 2-1 who had to play to get in.  My opponent had a similar deck, but with more Luminous Bonds and a Lathliss.  We played a very competitive 3-game match, and he came away with the win.  Loss, 1-2.

But luckily, I was able to get into the top 8 at 2-2 based on strength of schedule!  I got a special Top 8 deck box and a foil FNM promo token from Ixalan, with the possibility to win more.

Round 5 vs. White-Black Lifegain.
My opponent was the same guy I lost to in Round 2.  In game 1 I lost to the Sword (side note: I learned from asking a judge that if you Act of Treason a creature with the Sword equipped and attack, the other guy gets the Knight token because he still controls the Sword).  Second game had some epic life total changes.  I was sort of ahead for a while, but his long game was stronger, and he eventually put together a combo of Ravenous Harpy and Reassembling Skeleton that I couldn't break up with my weak removal.  Loss, 0-2.

The total record isn't great, 2-3 in matches and 5-7 in games, but I am glad I played it out.  This is probably my last M19 draft, and I have had fun with this set.  Guilds of Ravnica will be a big step up in complexity.

I didn't get a photo of the deck box, but it's not super exciting.  I drafted 4 rares and 7 uncommons, vs. 3 and 9 on average.  Two of my rares and several of my uncommons were just late picks that I took just because there was nothing good left in the pack.  The foil Stitcher's Supplier is around $9 with potential to go up.  The Emmara promo is probably a couple dollars at best once the dust has settled, although she does have some combo potential to make unlimited Soldier tokens.  Everything else is basically bulk.  The token card is City's Blessing on one side and the Elemental token for Rekindling Phoenix on the other.

Thanks for reading!

FNM Draft 2018-08-31

Spoiler up front, this was a good one.  Fourth time drafting M19 (although I've done a lot of practice drafts on DraftSim).  There were 29 people, so still a good turnout.

I was at a table of 7.  Here are my picks, bottom left to top right:

First pack I mulled over the uncommons a little but eventually settled on the Trashmaster.  There are some very good common goblins that I'd be happy to play, so being able to upgrade them seemed like a good way to begin.  Second pack was horrible.  It had a bad rare and a bunch of nothing else, so I took an average common.  I was not seeing anything that worked well with my existing picks, so I started going with best card available.  Vivien's Invocation is really strong, and green seemed open, but then it didn't.  I was afraid I was ending up in a train wreck situation, and I was happy to have two Gargoyles at least that would be playable in any deck.

I didn't have more than 3 playable cards in any of my colors, and then I open a really good white rare with no white cards picked at all.  On top of that, a lot of my best cards had double-colored mana costs, and I didn't have any color fixing.  But I took Cleansing Nova anyway just because I was still truly open in all colors.  Supreme Phantom and Departed Deckhand at least gave me some semblance of a plan, and I was able to mix them with more artifact creatures and a little more black removal, and by the end of the pack I was definitely blue and probably black.

Pack 3 rare was weird -- there were 2 copies of Ajani's Last Stand, one in foil.  I went with the Psychic Corrosion because it seemed like a possible alternate win condition if my deck ended up defensive.  Second Departed Deckhand was pretty exciting, and Skilled Animator was very exciting because it gave me a legitimate way to put opponents on the defensive (see images below).  The rest of the pack was pretty good too, so I feel like I correctly identified blue as an open color (and kept it open by taking medium quality blue cards in lower quality packs).  I wasn't sure about the resulting deck, but at least I managed to find enough playables after my scattered Pack 1.

Here's the main deck I played in Game 1 of matches:

It was hard to make the last few choices.  At first I had Child of Night in the deck, but I replaced him with Totally Lost pretty quickly.  I also eventually went up to 11 Islands vs. 6 Swamps because I kept drawing 2-Swamp hands and all my early game stuff was blue.

I wasn't sure what to do with One with the Machine and Psychic Corrosion, so I kept boarding them in and out.

One with the Machine was sweet when I could curve a 3-drop (usually the Gargoyle) into it, but once or twice I had it stuck in my hand.  If I could draw 3 cards from it, I was generally winning.

Here are the two big synergy groups that occasionally helped me win games quickly:

Any of the cards next to Skilled Animator would let me attack for 5 (or more) with flying on Turn 4, and opponents had to have a quick answer to survive that.  Having to pay 3 to activate the Gargoyle is pretty expensive, but usually it was worth it to pressure the other guy.

The Spirit package is a little slower, but the Deckhands are basically unblockable in this set.  It might just be my experience this week, but the Deckhands seemed like all-upside.  The first ability never was a problem -- if the opponent is casting a spell on it, they're killing it anyway, and it wasn't hard for me to avoid casting my own spells on it.  And the last ability was a great finisher on stalled boards.  This deck was full of mana sinks, so I was never unhappy to play out my lands.

I wasn't really sure about this deck -- it wasn't where I had expected to go with the draft, but it was where it led me.  How did it do?

Round 1 vs. White-Green Auras
This guy is a former pro or semi-pro, and I was nervous playing him (my hands were shaking just a little).  First game he put Oakenform on Daybreak Chaplain and started drawing cards every turn with the enchantment that requires you to have a 4-power creature.  I think I conceded a turn or two early, but he had more cards than me, and a 35 - 8 life advantage that was just going to widen.  I needed a reset.  Game 2 on the play I got my aggressive game going and was able to bounce or kill his stuff, and won easily.  Game 3 he was ahead for a long time, and got up to 29 life with me getting as low as 4.  But through some good tricks and blocks, I overcame his big stuff (Pelakka Wurm, Colossal Dreadmaw) and got hits in with my unblockable creatures, and won!  Win, 2-1.

Round 2 vs. White-Red Dragons
Game 1 he got stuck on 2 lands and couldn't do anything, and Game 2 I got stuck on 2 lands and couldn't do much (although it took him forever to actually win).  Game 3 was better, and I took it down.  Win, 2-1.

Round 3 vs. Naya (White-Red-Green) Ajani
In Game 1, he had a ridiculous start with Pegasus Courser into Hostile Minotaur into Ajani.  I thought for sure I was dead, but I was able to bounce and chip away to kill Ajani, and I stabilized at 4 life and won.  Game 2 was a good race but he got my last blocker with Plummet and won. I had a solid Game 3.  Win, 2-1.

Round 4 vs. White-Red Goblins and Warleaders
This guy's deck was just stacked and I couldn't touch it.  He had all of the good common goblins, Volley Veteran that acted as actual removal, and 2 Leonin Warleaders,  He won both games pretty easily.  Loss, 0-2.

Now I was 3-1 with my only loss to the sole 4-0 player in the tournament, so I was in pretty good shape to make Top 8.  We looked at the standings and a veteran showed me and my Round 5 opponent that we could draw into the Top 8.  I was happy to draw, but he insisted to play because he wanted the better seeding in the Top 8 so that he could play first in those games.  This meant one of us would be eliminated instead of both getting into prizes.  Ok Mr. Confident, lets go!

Round 5 vs. Black Green Liliana Zombies
Game 1 he mulliganed down to 5.  It was not a bad game, but I won without too much trouble.  Game 2 I was looking at my starting hand and I realized he had started shuffling again.  I ask, "Mulligan?"  Bitingly, he says, "No, I'm just shuffling for fun."  He mulligans to 5 again and loses again in a not-terrible game.  I say "Good match" and he mumbles, "I hope your Top 8 opponent mulls to 5," and walks away  And this is why I'm always willing to take the intentional draw.  Win, 2-0.

So I was completely on board to split the prize at any point in the Top 8, but there was always someone who wanted to play it out.  Since it's my birthday this weekend, I thought I'd go ahead and play through instead of conceding to leave.  The good news is that because my last opponent didn't draw with me, I got an extra win and was 2nd seed in Top 8, which meant that I would play first against anyone except the 1st seed.

Playoff Round 1 vs. Red-Green Dragons Splashing Black for Vaevictis Asmadi
This is a guy I like, but he also gets a little testy when he doesn't like how the game is going.  I felt like both games were competitive, but he was frustrated not to draw his big dragons when he needed them.  Win, 2-0.

Elvish Rejuvenator promo achieved (see image below).

Playoff Round 2 vs. White-Red Go-Wide
This was the guy who usually runs the store and the tournaments, and he's a very good player.  He had a very stock white-red deck with the usual 2-for-1 creatures and team pump spells.  Game 1 I got him in a tight race with my unblockable ability.  Game 2 he kept his life total high with some incremental lifegain and eventually won on a big attack.  Game 3 I whittled him down to where I could attack with everyone to push the last points through.  Win, 2-1.

On to the finals!  Winner gets a booster box (approx. $90) and loser gets $40 store credit.  My opponent is the same guy I lost to in Round 4, so he is confident to play it out.  Ok!

Finals vs. White-Red Goblins and Warleaders
More of the same.  Loss, 0-2.  Afterward I thought a lot about what I could have done differently.  I might have tried holding back my Departed Deckhand to try to make it harder for him to attack, but he was packing enough removal and tricks to punish that strategy.  I also had 4 Plains and a Manalith in my sideboard ready to be used for Cleansing Nova, and maybe this was the match to bring them in.  It would have made my mana much worse, but having the ability to board wipe could have caught him off guard.  Really, he just had an insane deck and I can't feel too bad about losing.  He went 7-0 in matches, plus an intentional draw.

Final results: 6-2 in matches, 12-8 in games, and 2nd place overall!  Like other decks I've played in M19, I was better on the play than on the draw.

What did I get?

I drafted 5 rares, which is above average, although I only played one main deck and a second one intermittently.  I drafted 10 uncommons, slightly above average.  I have not been seeing mythics at all in this format since I had Bolas at the prerelease, so I guess I used up all that mojo early.  Supreme Phantom is about $2 since it is showing up in Modern.  Nova is $1.20 and could go up as Standard evolves.  Trashmaster is a card that Goblin enthusiasts will want, but he is just 50 cents.  The promo Elvish Rejuvenator is just over $1, but it's one I would have bought for Commander if I hadn't won one.  So the draft itself didn't break even, but the $40 store credit is a testament to why you draft to build a good deck instead of trying to grab every $1 and $2 card you see to try to make back the $10 entry fee.

Good times!  Thanks for reading!