Finally! Annual Enrollment for work is complete! After full shifts Saturday and Sunday, I'm officially done with the busy season (although I'm on day 8 of a 12 straight workdays).
As I escaped work yesterday, I dodged a complimentary round of drinks with the boss, told my wife I would be spending obligatory time at the bar with the boss, and ventured over to Emerald Vale for their booster draft. I'd rather spend twelve bucks to play a game than drink overpriced beer, and with my pulls from the last time I did it, it might pay for itself.
With ten players and two tables of drafting set up we rip open the packs and began.
Midway through the second pack I had a nice little collection of green and black cards, but then I decided for a little splash of blue. Between all the special lands and the banners in Khans still available in the rotation I was able to that and keep the card count around 51. A bit large for draft, but I was willing to experiment... at least for the first game.
That first match was a complete and utter disaster, as I got hosed in two quick games. The reason, I put in the wrong mana ratios for my swamps and islands, most noticably, I only put in two swamps.
I corrected my swamps issue and pulled all hints of blue
Second match was against the acting judge, and he was proper Magic ass, and I mean that in a compliment. Judges should be a bit anal, but also know someone else is being a buffoon. We traded some pretty decent blows first before he won, I pounded him into submission game two, and he steamrolled me in the final round. The deck was working.
The third match was against the punk-ass kid Magic player who knows everything yet needs to touch lands, double check his enchantments, and shuffle through his cards at breakneck speed looking for that one thing than will put him over the edge.
He was mana-screwed game one, we both were game two, as whoever drew their fifth land sealed the victory. Game three was my triumph of the night. We traded blows with creatures until he dumped a pile of creatures on his side, I managed to play a Death Frenzy (All Creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. When a creatures dies this turn, you gain 1 life.) which wiped the board except for my lone 3/3 and his 5/5 monstrosity with first strike capability and gave my life a cushion. Next round we traded attacks and I threw out a morph creature, and after the next round I blocked his 5/5 with mine and could pay his morph cost to reveal a
Gotta love Elephant Warriors, especially common ones.
The dude was one mana short to pump up his 5/5 AND give him first strike, so began an eternity of mana checking, graveyard delving, and hand rotation that usually screams futility. He finally accepted the trade-off and a turn later he was dead.
Sure, 3-5 for a tournment isn't great, but after major snafus at the start and some hefty competition at the back end, I'll take it and run. I also snagged some pretty interesting cards as the packs wandered around.
*Narset, Enlightened Master
*Butcher of the Horde
*Kheru Lich Lord
*Sultai Ascendancy
*Sultai Soothsayer (1 foil/1 regular)
Green
1x Alpine Bear
2x Awaken the Bear
1x Hardened Scales (Kept me competetive in three games)
1x Highland Game
1x Kin-Tree Warden
3x Longshot Squad
1x Scout the Borders
1x Tusked Colossodon
1x Tuskguard Captain
1x Woolly Loxodon
Black
1x Disowned Ancestor
1x Kheru Bloodsucker
1x Kheru Deathmaw
1x Krumar Bond-Kin
1x Mardu Skullhunter
1x Sidisi's Pet
Multicolor
1x Death Frenzy
Artifacts
2x Abzan Banner
1x Cranial Archive (Woo! A Feldon's Cane for whatever they call Type II? Yee-Haw!)
2x Lens of Clarity (1 foil)
1x Sultai Banner
1x Witness of the Ages
I also discovered the Tiny Leaders format and it seems to have interest at the store. A LOT of my Kamigawa rares are Legends with a casting cost of three (or less).
As I escaped work yesterday, I dodged a complimentary round of drinks with the boss, told my wife I would be spending obligatory time at the bar with the boss, and ventured over to Emerald Vale for their booster draft. I'd rather spend twelve bucks to play a game than drink overpriced beer, and with my pulls from the last time I did it, it might pay for itself.
With ten players and two tables of drafting set up we rip open the packs and began.
Midway through the second pack I had a nice little collection of green and black cards, but then I decided for a little splash of blue. Between all the special lands and the banners in Khans still available in the rotation I was able to that and keep the card count around 51. A bit large for draft, but I was willing to experiment... at least for the first game.
That first match was a complete and utter disaster, as I got hosed in two quick games. The reason, I put in the wrong mana ratios for my swamps and islands, most noticably, I only put in two swamps.
I corrected my swamps issue and pulled all hints of blue
Second match was against the acting judge, and he was proper Magic ass, and I mean that in a compliment. Judges should be a bit anal, but also know someone else is being a buffoon. We traded some pretty decent blows first before he won, I pounded him into submission game two, and he steamrolled me in the final round. The deck was working.
The third match was against the punk-ass kid Magic player who knows everything yet needs to touch lands, double check his enchantments, and shuffle through his cards at breakneck speed looking for that one thing than will put him over the edge.
He was mana-screwed game one, we both were game two, as whoever drew their fifth land sealed the victory. Game three was my triumph of the night. We traded blows with creatures until he dumped a pile of creatures on his side, I managed to play a Death Frenzy (All Creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. When a creatures dies this turn, you gain 1 life.) which wiped the board except for my lone 3/3 and his 5/5 monstrosity with first strike capability and gave my life a cushion. Next round we traded attacks and I threw out a morph creature, and after the next round I blocked his 5/5 with mine and could pay his morph cost to reveal a
Gotta love Elephant Warriors, especially common ones.
The dude was one mana short to pump up his 5/5 AND give him first strike, so began an eternity of mana checking, graveyard delving, and hand rotation that usually screams futility. He finally accepted the trade-off and a turn later he was dead.
Sure, 3-5 for a tournment isn't great, but after major snafus at the start and some hefty competition at the back end, I'll take it and run. I also snagged some pretty interesting cards as the packs wandered around.
*Narset, Enlightened Master
*Butcher of the Horde
*Kheru Lich Lord
*Sultai Ascendancy
*Sultai Soothsayer (1 foil/1 regular)
Green
1x Alpine Bear
2x Awaken the Bear
1x Hardened Scales (Kept me competetive in three games)
1x Highland Game
1x Kin-Tree Warden
3x Longshot Squad
1x Scout the Borders
1x Tusked Colossodon
1x Tuskguard Captain
1x Woolly Loxodon
Black
1x Disowned Ancestor
1x Kheru Bloodsucker
1x Kheru Deathmaw
1x Krumar Bond-Kin
1x Mardu Skullhunter
1x Sidisi's Pet
Multicolor
1x Death Frenzy
Artifacts
2x Abzan Banner
1x Cranial Archive (Woo! A Feldon's Cane for whatever they call Type II? Yee-Haw!)
2x Lens of Clarity (1 foil)
1x Sultai Banner
1x Witness of the Ages
I also discovered the Tiny Leaders format and it seems to have interest at the store. A LOT of my Kamigawa rares are Legends with a casting cost of three (or less).
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