Rather than split the pods by level, since the store clerk had to play as our 16th and I came a bit late, he just let things sort randomly for once, so our pod was missing probably the 2 best players, there were still 4 of us veterans, a mid-level player, the store clerk (who mostly lacks experience since he barely drafts anymore) and 2 new drafters, but not players.
Pack 1: Dreamstealer, then Torment of Scarabs (he picked Chaos Maw over it and mentioned hoping it'd wheel w/o naming it), then Vizier of the Anointed. Yeah I certainly hope this is gonna be my pair. Torment of Venom, later Supreme Will, Consign // Oblivion, and some mediocre creatures (boneslasher, that 1/4 mill). Took an early Liliana's Defeat too, partly to really cut B and try to assert the pair to myself, and passed a pick 5 Desert's Hold so I know someone shouldn't bother me.
Pack 2: Ifnir Deadlands passign Torment of Hailfire and Torment of Venom (they won't wheel). Pick 2 Champion of Wits, later another Consign // Oblivion, Spellweaver Eternal... bit short on 2-drops by mid-pack, I prioritise them as I hope to get some curve and removal to go with my eternalize/torment control plan. G looks ridiculously open (Sharpshooters on the wheel and similar stuff) and I pass an Unraveling Mummy to my right.
Pack 3: open Glory-Bound Initiate, Engima Drake and Khenra Charioteer. Strong if specific pack, take U cartouche. Pick 2 I get passed Vizier of Many Faces.
Daaaamn. My luck is unreal. I pick up Angler Drake, Baleful Ammit, a late Shadowstorm Vizier, and Tah-Crop Skirmisher and Shimmerscale Drake on the wheel, Miasmic Mummy since what the hell there's so much shit I can afford to discard in my picks so far. I have so many playables I even end up cutting some G cards on purpose.
I'll let the monster I end up with speak for itself.The Vile Manifestation was early pack 2, and when it was obvious I wouln't be cycling and should cut it I only had 2 others 2-drops and the Proven Combattant, I ended up with 7+ and cuts to make.
Also, yes, the tally is 12 commons, 11 uncommons and 3 rares (counting lands).
Starting with me, we get:
UB eternalize control
RW aggro
GW embalm
RW zombies (P1P1 Unconventional Tactics and forced W)
BW control (started U tho)
UR (prob didn't get much, one of the new drafters)
RGb (the other one, he waffled on B but has no fixing to splash the BB ones)
RGb (my right neighbour, who
can, and splashes Torment of Hailfire)
Round 1 vs BW control+ Show Spoiler +Store clerk, lost a bunch of picks on U early on, not sure why he moved out since W should have been cut on his side (4 people in a row!) and I was the closest U, across from him.
Game 1 s slow 'cause I play a bunch of 2/1s and stuff and he plays Dune Beetle or Moaning Wall... then puts a bit of pressure with Unraveling Mummy. Vizier of the Anointed gets things going for me tho, and I kept Supreme Will from my starting hand, when with his 8th land he drops... foil Razaketh. What. I expected Overwhelming Splendor! So I counter it. I already have flyers of my own out so the game ends relatively fast after that, and eternalized champion of wits reading "draw 5 discard 2" is fucking gas.
Game 2 I get to play a t4 Torment of Scarabs, so even with Festing Mummy and Doomed Dissenter, the grind and Consign // Oblivion doom his slow deck.
For the record he
has Overwhelming Splendor. So "play Razaketh, sac wall, fetch instawin aura" wouldn't have sit well.
1-0As I come back from the store where we were playing to the main room, I hear "Look at my horse, my horse is amazing!" from a table of the other pod. Well we know what he drafted.
Round 2 vs RW zombies+ Show Spoiler +That's the guy who recently went the exact same colours as me as my left neighbour because he didn't care about what was open but rather whether the cards looked pretty/cool. He P1P1'd Unconventional Tactics, and ended up forcing W, not sure if straight from the start or only after his P2P1 Angel of Condemnation. R wasn't as cut as B and Frontline Devastator is a zombie so that convinced him apparently.
One of the people between us was pretty vocal about in his disapproval of the forcing, but his W half is super consistent.
Game 1 he laments playing Disposal Mummy turn 3 when my Vizier of the Anointed dumps Dreamstealer in the yard. The ground is mucked a bit between my 2/4s and his zombies, but since he has a Binding Mummy he could easily push damage, and he drops Angel of Condemnation. I'd like to use my Consign // Oblivion to nuke his hand (he missed his 5th land drop so he's obviously full of gas) but that means not using Dreamstealer... and if I eternalize he'll blink the token anyway.
I blink it to get in, he replays it, I Angler Drake to get in and buy more time, and force blocks. His plays tell me he's got Kindled Fury but he's afraid to block the Drake and get blown out. He ends up exerting to remove the Drake, so I make him discard knowing I've got one turn for me and he loses a Sparing Mummy, yay me. Torment of Scarabs ends the game because he's low life, no hand, so he'll end up too short on blockers or having to sac the angel.
Game 2 he's got Unconventional Tactics in starting hand, races me, and despite nuking his hand a couple times to get rid of zombies he topdecks one and forced me to chump with Angler Drake, so I can't finish him off. He then topdecks Angel and pings me as I draw lands over the next couple of turns (Ifnir Deadlands shrank it).
Time is approaching for game 3, but I still want to make sure I can find my answers and bounce/kill stuff he casts Tactics on so he can't race me, so I go t4 Vizier, bin the Vizier of Many Faces, t5 embalm copying the Vizier, netting me a card and binning Dreamstealer, which he promptly exiles with Disposal Mummy (saving them after game 1). Torment of Venom gets me rid of the damn angel as soon as it shows up, Champion of Wits followed by eternalizing Sinuous Striker (bin a land, draw 2) lets me sculpt my hand (and nuke his with Oblivion), and casting Torment of Scarabs while he's low on life seals the deal as he knows he can't push through before it finishes him off.
2-0
He's the guy who complained about getting cut from W, but I don't think he'd have wanted any of these zombies anyway. He also says he's only won the previous game because he got lucky and his deck isn't that strong.
Obviously by the time he's lost the round he'll say his deck has a bunch of good shit that he never saw and that'd changed everything.
Game 1 Shadowstorm Vizier -> Ammit elicits a groan, and a I gain a bunch of life after bouncing his Solitary Camel, only to regret it when he replays it and slaps a Cartouche of Solidarity on it. He seems to be content not attacking, groans again when I draw Torment of Venom and trades his Sharpshooters for the Ammit, but doesn't say much when I play Vizier of the Anointed. That's still my biggest play and eternalizing Champion of Wits finding myself flyers makes him scoop.
Game 2 I mull, keep a 2-lander and my 3rd land is the tapped desert so I can't play the Ammit that made me keep it. He groands again when it comes down, but still Sand Blasts it. He then plays Anointed Procession, "you want to play it slow? I'm fine with playing it slow" is the idea as I play Torment of Scarabs t5... and he just nods, looking satisfied. Uh, no groan this time?
During his upkeep he bins Honored Hydra. Oops.
I have Consign // Oblivion and the clone, so I'd rather play the latter, trade it, then embalm it and bounce his other token, but he just plays Ambuscade and I scoop because going from 18 to 7 and still facing at least 6 trampling power is a lot.
Game 3 Ammit in starting hand so I keep, but play another 3-drop to trade with his. He still groans when Ammit comes down, but has a removal for it. The heck, you kept saying it's the best card in my deck, my best start possible (when I sandbagged it on purpose), while also bragging that you have a bunch of removal I just haven't seen it. Then why do you complain about using your removal on my best cards?
He's stunned when I make him discard again since he just bins a Sunscourge Champion, and that's only then that I realise he may have a bunch more embalm creatures than I initially thought. Still not as bad, I played the Vizier of the Anointed so I eternalize Sinuous Striker to have a blocker (Champion of Wits in hand, no 6th land for Dreamstealer and I wanna attack with it).
He drops Sifter Wurm, reveals Sharshooters and now sits at 28 life but still grumbling... well at least I'll give him reasons to do so and embalm the clone for it, with an interesting choice: Dreamstealer or Consign // Oblivion? 7 life is a lot but I'd rather hide my trick shot so I put it below Dreamstealer. When I shrink the Wurm with Ifnir Deadlands to bait a double block (so I can bounce the token, kill the Wurm and keep my 7/7 trample) he kills the clone with Ambuscade. Back to the card advantage plan.
A couple turns later, he plays Pride Sovereign—and Anointed Procession definitely feels justified with all these cards now— but obviously, I untap, bounce it, make him discard his 2 cards, don't say a word while he's ranting about my deck and complains that he doesn't draw his answers.
At that point I'm actually a bit low in cards and he's very high in life. I drop Shimmerscale Drake and Dreamstealer then start beating, using Sinuous Striker's ability to trade with the Wurm and making him discard. Embalming Tah-Crop Skirmisher finds me Angler Drake and he scoops since my board is overwhelming enough that I won't deck out.
3-0
During my first draft, I thought t4 Vizier of the Anointed -> bin Sinuous Striker -> cycle a card and get a 4/4 next turn was sweet.
Oh boy was I innocent back then.
It's still the best play tempo-wise probably, but getting to t4 Vizier of the Anointed -> t5 embalm Vizier of Many Faces for a draw and another tutor -> t6 embalm whatever to draw 2 cards on top of it is both so greedy and so satisfying, maaaan. Too bad eternalizing Champion of Wits costs 7.
I was a bit light on removal and unsure how it'd shake out, and indeed playing aggression was hard for me and facing the RW deck with a low curve, 2x Desert's Hold and some elusive exerters would have been a different story entirely.
This is what I play magic for, anyway. All of the synergies, the small combos, the satisfaction of making the pieces click together, and the payoffs for doing so. I'll take absolutely no credit for my absurd deck as it fell into my lap but that didn't make it any less satisfying to play. It was super mana-hungry so I actually had to think ahead about how to sequence my plays, when to bounce or setup an Oblivion based on knowlede of opponent deck, missed land drops and amount of cards in hand, etc.
Dreamstealer didn't really do much aside from making my r2 opponent freak out and push a couple points of damage in the last game. On the other hand I always had something to do with the deck so I didn't mind holding it till I could actually make it survive the obvious double block.
Vizier of the Anointed confirmed first pickable bomb, but you guys already knew that.
Torment of Scarabs only really did things because I could nuke my opponent's hand and had a couple flyers or a pseudo-race going on turns 2-3 to lower their life total, against anything remotely aggressive/pro-active than I can't stall the board against (hi 2/X zombies) it'd have been a sideboard candidate.
EPT
