The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1235

I would have tried vampire for once, seeing how I received a lot of red cards, but somebody 2 sits left from me opened Arlinn and I started receiving no red at all pack 2, while there was still a bit of green, and black was flowing.
There was a bunch of blue too (Geralt's Masterpiece made the full wheel pack 2, and pack 1 ended with 3 blue cards then 2 blue ones), partly because noone wanted to go into it, partly because the one who tried was the woman from yesterday (so she let through a lot of things she shouldn't have).
I hate-picked Declaration in Stone pack 3, 6th pick. Not many people were in W there it seems, but the guy who opened it actually was, and was hesitant about its power level and didn't have many creatures, so he picked a dauntless cathar over it (he had 11 creatures in the final deck).

My red pack 1 was Fiery Temper x2, Incorrigible Youths x2, and Indolent Neonate (and I passed a second one).
On the other hand since I'd never tried GB either I wasn't that sad, although pack 2 I spent a lot of time wondering.

Now, there were 16 of us so we made 2 pods again, and I was in the lower-level one, with people who didn't draft much, people who were back recently after a 7-years break and just a couple sealed in the belt, and the (literal) couple from yesterday who came back in the end.
As said, the woman let a lot of good stuff through, and her bf who was in GB too also let a ton of good black through.

So my delirium deck had a Deathcap Cultivator, Accursed Witch, Kindly Stranger, Ever After, Sinister Concoction, Dead Weight (I passed a Murderous Compulsion for a youth pack 1 :< ), Pack Guardian, Biting Rain, Tooth Collector, Watcher in the Web (two, cut one)...
All in all, my matches felt like I had solid value with a mix of generally good creatures and Delirium pay-off, backed up with Ever After and Macabre Waltz to out-value people if I can stabilise. Somebody was in RG and kinda-delirium/madness so a Crawling Sensation didn't make the wheel as I'd hoped. I'm a bit disappointed by how it turned out, not because the deck didn't perform (overall it did) but because that was more "value!" than synergistic, and I also shouldn't have received so much good stuff had people had a more average level.

Match 1 vs RG madness/delirium guy
When you're used to Sin Prodder losing you lands or getting immediatly removed and your opponent gets Thornhide Wolves, Inner Struggle then Dire Swine, so at some point you stop and give him his stuff (only took the hit for the wolves).
He put pressure with it but was kinda short on lands, and my creatures where a bit better (plus I had the Accursed Witch) so he resorted to Crawling Sensation to chump me. After he started getting lands I attacked then used Biting Rain to get rid of the Prodder and other stuff (Moldgraf with Delirium that blocked), next turn Waltz to get Cultivator back, and I won from there. Lucky because I stayed stuck on 3 lands the whole time, the Cultivator was my saving grace.
Game 2 was my creatures outvaluing him overall.

Match 2 vs RG wolves
The Arlinn guy. He had mana issues game 1, which I won with on-curve creatures into his face.
Game 2 I didn't kept a 2-drop, despite knowing he was on werewolves. He didn't have many lands, but a turn 2 Hinterland Logger that flips and hits you while he plays Weirding Wood on a land, then next turn gives him the 4 mana to play Arlinn and send a 6/4 vigilance trample in your face hurts. I used Throttle on it next turn, but with 5 life and obsessive skinner he only needed a 2-attack creature to finish me, which he had.
Game 3 went into some weird kind of board stall because he played his Rush of Adrenaline on Pyre Hound for "value" (I wasn't blocking it), and afterwards didn't have another trick in case of a double block. So we were sitting there, with my Farbog Revenant slowly whittling him down, until I played a delirious Swine, he a Quilled Wolf with open mana to buff it (he'd live thanks to resurgence), then Accursed Witch for me, and next turn topdeck Ever After. Alpha swing knowing I'd outvalue him, and with the Witch flipping, Ever After and him at 3 life it was done.

Match 3 vs RW delirium
+ Show Spoiler [long 'cause I explain mistakes] +
Obviously my opponent was a bit lucky to hit his Purges early every time (esp. on my Accursed Witches), and to play his creatures with such consistence considering he only had 11, but I can see how so much removal + easy to trigger Delirium + decent creatures (chaplain, flameblade angel, delirious parish-blade and ox) and tricks to keep them alive he could afford to just stick a creature or two and swing while killing literally everything else (when you have 7+ removals and Fiery Temper is the weakest) till he won.

2-1 in the end, losing to the 1st, so prob 2nd.

Knowing several people were looking for value (they only draft and sell the rares to finance it) I was pretty sure I'd get Arlinn anyway.

We had Abbey x2, Declaration in Stone, Relentless Dead, 3 dual lands, Arlinn Kord, Tireless Tracker, Seasons Past, a couple Werewolves...
Abbeys went out early and I got to pick Arlinn, so yay. Add to that an UB dual land, I think better than the BR ones, and a second Engulf the Shore if I ever feel like building Mono-U Brains (I'd mostly need Part the Waterveil, Brain in a Jar, Mage-Ring Networks and the rest of the Engulf and I have most of the rest I think).
Seasons Past, the other Abbey, Declaration and Tracker were gone before my 2nd pick obviously. Think I took a second Altered Ego?

I checked prices out of curosity upon coming back home, and it turns out Arlinn is the most expensive of all rares there. Uh. Well, good thing none of us knew! It's way easier to sell an Abbey or Declaration anyway.

The man from the couple ended his match late so I didn't get to chat much with him, but I looked a bit at the woman's matches and overheard her telling her bf that she had fun. Playing UB after playing UG yesterday gave her a bit more removal and better wincons (in the form of crows and 3/3 spirit, mostly, she won one match off Alms of the Vein too), and it looks like she wasn't too put off by instants and playing reactive in the end.
I'm not sure if I should be happy that a newcomer had fun (tho she prob won't draft much, they play another game on fridays and she works out of town half the week so not here thursday; I'll be seeing the man then and I'll give him my excess cards tho), or if I should lament that she apparently found her calling in blue. D: