Last Friday night, instead of packing for another basketball weekend, I dropped the kids back at home, and wandered again to the new location of Sword in the Stone Games with two missions: To find a particular Magic - Lord of the Rings Commander Deck and, if I was living dangerously, sign up for the evening booster draft.
Yeah, ViscountEric playing Magic.
As luck would have it, both my missions were easily completed.
Looking back I haven't done a booster draft since Khans of Tarkir block, nearly a decade ago. Luckily, I drafting has necessarily changed. I drafted red initially, picking up black when I needed a second color. A lot of soldier tokens for red and "amassing" orcs.
For being out of the loop for nearly a decade, I did okay, going 0-2-1 in matchplay (3-6-1 overall).
Favorite card from the draft? The passively annoying Erebor Flamesmith.
I drafted two of them, and both seemed to appear by turn five, whittling away at my oppenents' life totals as I cast creature removal/boost spells. I enjoy passive damage, so this was a winner in my book.Despite being nearly double the cost of the other Commander decks from previous sets on sale, the Food and Fellowship Commander Deck. It's Green-White-Black, with lots of hobbits and life-gaining food. The winner why I picked it up to start my Commander Saga experiment? It's got a boatload of treefolk (ents).
As I pondered experimenting with "fun" Commander, I wanted to see the deck progress through the sets of Magic from the beginning (Alpha/Beta/Unlimited) and evolve as new cards come out (within budget). One problem: There's not enough cards to build a 100-unique card (save basic land) with the original green cards, so I pondered adding white. Second issue, there's no legends to act as Commanders until, not ironically, Legends. Starting with Food and Fellowship, I can start with the Fourth Age of Man, learn the ins and outs of the new cards, but transition over the Unlimited cards to represent the impending Fifth Age.
I will be happy when I can avoid temptation from the Ring. It's kitschy for the set, and resulted in about a half-dozen rules interpretations during the tournament. |
Silly? Yes. Heretical to some weird Tolkein fans? Probably. I can also build up a reserve cache of older cards to be "rediscovered" as the sets progress.
We shall see what we shall see, but if I have time, I might as well venture to Sword (and Dragon Knight down the street from me) to stay active during non-basketball time with the kids.
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