The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1753

Basically forced BW in a 6-man pod off of P1P1 Unraveling Mummy and partly because I haven't got to draft this archetype yet (I've always been shoved out of it after a P1P1 Uconventional Tactics).
White was clearly not open to my right, and despite nothing going left there wasn't much in pack 2. The pod was also pretty darn short on removal, even for 6-person: from what I've seen, 2x Open Fire, 1-2 Puncturing Blows, 3x Ambuscade, 1x Thirst, 1x Sand Blast,1x Desert's Hold, 1x Rest, 1x Torment of Venom, 1x Lethal Sting, over 18 packs.

UR looked super open from pack 2, and BR was a lot too (I passed a couple Frontline Devastators pack 1 but didn't move into BR).
In the end I had to be happy with 2x Binding Mummy from pack 3, and a P3P2 Oketra, but my deck was a mess. Counting the counter-drafting I had to do from nothing in my colours, and the deserts picked pack 1, I didn't have the curve to play 16 lands because of mana sinks (Oketra, Unraveling Mummy, Accursed Horde—the second one was cut on the wheel by a GW player in pack 1, boo), but even just to reach 23 playables I had to play Kopesh and either Djeru's Renunciation or Without Weakness. Oketra's Monument got cut from me pack 3.

Basically I had 6 2-drops, 5 3-drops, 6 4-drops, Kopesh, Renunciation, Lethal Sting, Act of Heroism, and Sunset Pyramid.
2x Binding Mummy and Mummy Paramount as the premium 2-drops, Unraveling Mummy, 2 bats and Vizier of Deferment for the 3-drops, Accursed Horde, Carrion Screecher and Oketra as the best 4-drops.
My kingdom for an In Oketra's Name or Tah-Crop Elite as finishers! But none opened, and no zombie unco (lord or gold) either, RIP.

Round 1
UG tempo, our usual winner. I barely lose game 1, but I can't really handle Sharpshooters or a Hippo with my deck. Game 2 he's stuck on 2 lands a couple turns while I'm flooding (read I keep a hand with 3 spells, draw 3 more lands, and aside from my couple final draws I was at 9-10 lands and 5 spells), but with a t2 Binding Mummy I can keep pushing damage whenever I draw a zombie. Game 3 he misses his 3rd land drop but Naga Vitalist lets him play Manalith anyway. Oketra comes out and wins me the game before I have to rely on flyers tho.
We play a couple other games, he utterly destroys me in one of them because Spellweaver Eternals can survive blocks (and even kill stuff) when your non-creature spells are green's pump spells, and he's got 3 of the Spellweaver. I win the other, a very tight one that's again won by Binding Mummies removing blockers. In the long run he'd prob win more often than I do, I got lucky.

Round 2
To my left, he was picking white away too. He ended up in RW with both God-Pharaoh's Gift and Gate to the Afterlife.
So when game 1 he dropped the gate turn 3 and started casting Tormenting Voice, Market off a manalith, and looting with Battlefield Scavenger, it was pretty scary. My deck also can't really race with Manticore of the Gauntlet, especially when my "removal" in hand is blinking it (so taking 3 to the face again).
He only managed to get 13 creatures though and I exiled one with Disposal Mummy, he then proceeded to spend the game with 5 creature cards in the yard. I was wondering why he didn't chump with Gust Walker to get the 6th and activate, but he put me from 12 to 10 with Onward // Victory and exerting before I killed him.
Game 2 he draws a ton of lands and I kinda kill fast when I go haste Bat -> Screecher and hit for 5 a turn.

Round 3
The BR drafter across me. I assume he's playing a bunch of removal since I saw none, I'm also pretty curious to see what a BR deck that got into the finals looks like (because I'm pretty sure save for the newbie table at FNM with actual beginners, that's only the 2nd time it happens in HOU).
Horror of the Broken Lands, Festering Mummy, Gilded Cerodon, the Scrounger of Souls I didn't take, Magmaroth... his creatures are a pain for me, they're all bigger. I barely win game 1 by using Ifnir's Deadlands to clear the deathtouch scorpion, then the Vizier of Deferment to play around Gilded Cerodon removing a blocker, and finish him with the turn I've bought.
Game 2 I don't have a turn 2 play, he plays bigger creatures, and I'm pretty sad about Djeru's Renunciation when my deck goes badly enough that I don't have tempo (he didn't play before turn 3 either but I kinda rely on my 6 2-drops to get 4~6 damage in). When he plays the Merciless Javelineer (yikes!) with 2 mana and a card up, I decide not to play Binding Mummy + the 4/2 zombie so I can instead tap something on his turn... so he just punches me from 11 to 1. I'm a dumbass. He'd probably have won regardless since he had more power to race with and could trade cards for mine or remove blockers (and shrink them) to force me to lose my best creatures. Still, I'm an idiot and didn't even count the power on board zzz.

Game 3 he start slowly, but so do I with no 2-drop again and he Puncturing Blows my Accursed Horde—it's that or a Steadfast Sentinel which clocks terribly and can otherwise be eternalized later to compete with his own creatures. I burn my Lethal Sting on his t5 Cerodon to get 4 damage in again, but he drops a Scrounger of Souls—I have Oketra, I can grind through it.
He drops the Scorpion God.
Cut the camera!
I can't beat this. My only out in the entire deck is a Lethal Sting + Disposal Mummy combo. Worse, he can use it to remove my stuff and shrink Oketra. He can draw cards off it, I have a bunch of 2/2s and X/1s he can stop me from attacking with or even playing and his big lifelinker means I can't ever grind him out or alpha him. Game over. I literally can't beat that.
I can get rid of the Scarab God because Vizier of Deferment handles one token, I have flyers while half his removal exiles so he can't steal them, and Oketra wins combat against it. But for this match-up, the Scorpion God is better than LSV's all of famer.

We still keep playing, and I even throw the Screecher knowing he'll untap, kill it and draw a card for 3 mana, just so he doesn't shrink Oketra immediatly instead.
But 2 turns later he just casually plays Archfiend of Ifnir.
Same here, if he cycles once that straight up wins him the game, without the Scorpion God. But because I have Unraveling Mummy he can't ever block with it so if he doesn't have the mana or a cycler in hand I can actually pressure against it. Obviously here it's just the final nail.
I'm empty-handed, and I draw... Wrecked Camel.
Which would basically read for my opponent, if played: "all your cards in hand have cycling 1BR."
I just scoop.


I was really hoping to get another 3-0 so I could get above 66.67% winrate (the guy who topdecked 5 times in a single game against 100% lethal next turn forced me to a draw, otherwise that'd be my exact match win%), buuut can't beat the P1P1 God.
Also kinda validates BR's results: how does the archetype get in finals? Absolute bombs.

My deck performed fairly well considering in all but 2 of the games I drew more lands than spells. The tempo from a t2 Binding Mummy, t3 zombie, t4 zombie (or 2-drop zombie+Act of Heroism) makes it so you can get in a dominating position before the fact that you only have 3-4 spells and 7 lands crushes you. And as I keep telling people who complain about their bomb-ass zombie builds that 3-0'd easily, this is a pauper archetype with a couple uncommon payoffs, you just need the critical mass the good common zombies, not rares.

Movie should have been about 2 minutes shorter. Could have ended on this empowering note about humanities will to live and be 'good'.... But instead they had to flip the script and have everyone just be evil. Ugh. Why tho, we had two protaganists we learned a lot about and cared about, and he ruins them both. Says something about director mans world view.

12-man pod, with a clerk since an ill 12th guy was just checking whether we had an 8-man pod. 4-5 veterans (including "only here for fatal pushes" guy) and rest either new faces or guys who've drafted like 3 times in the last few years.

P1P1 Open Fire, passing Spellweaver Eternal, Khenra Scrapper and Unsummon. Man that's a pack I'd have loved in a normal pod. Pick 2 Bloodwater Entity, pick 3 Supreme Will over Ritualist because fuck that card, passing a second Spellweaver Eternal.
There's a clear signal in Obelisk Spider pick 4, especially since black also looked open earlier, but I don't want to switch now and like the cards I have, in my favourite archetype, so I stick to it.
Both R and W look cut in the middle of the pack, U meh, and BG would probably be my sit. Because I took a Manticore Eternal over Open Fire #2 and passed 3 Spellweaver Eternal so far I start sending hard signals to my neighbour to move into G and get the hell away from UR. Read: pick 7+ Excavator, late Torment of Venom, ignoring the huge signals by passing him the Oketra's Avengers in both my picks 10 and 11 (wtf people).
In the end I manage to have 13 of my 14 cards in my colours... but 5 of them are deserts.

Pack 2 sends me black back like nobody's business, but also a lot of red and a bit of blue. I pick a 6th desert early and come to regret it when a couple packs are super empty and I desperately need playables as I don't expect U to be very open pack 3. Then pick 4 is a choice between Ominous Sphinx, Inferno Jet, Gilded Cerodon and a decent U card (I take the flyer).
I end up passing another Frontline Devastator early, an Unsummon when I grab onto the second one hard, etc. I don't really have payoffs for a "spells" deck but my tempo looks decent with good 2-drops and 5-drops, a couple of flyers and counterspells (and a single Thirst, we didn't open much) but I desperately need more 3-4 drops to curve out then start removing/countering things.

Pack 3 has U opened up a lot more surprisingly, and black keeps flowing with late Splendid Agony, etc. to my chagrin I have to pass a Censor because that's exactly what my deck needs (2-drop or Blur of Blades + that on my turn 4). Reduce // Rubbles is one of my favourite and most satisfying cards to play in this format and I'm really happy to see it. 2x Emberhorn Minotaur saves my clock.

In the end I'm playing 6 deserts including 2 Ruins and a Rivulet, great 2-drops (Burning-Fist Minotaur, Pathmaker Initiate, Entangler, etc.), 3-drop fillers then heavy hitters (Frontline Devastator, 2x Emberhorn, Gilded Cerodon, Sphinx, Manticore, Shimmerscale Drake), and a couple counters and removal. It's not a great deck and it really needs to curve out (tapped desert + a good 2-drop, or Open Fire on their play on turn 3), but it has the potential to punish stupidly hard with menace/removing blockers/burning-fist backed up by Reduce // Rubble.

Round 1 vs BG midrange
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After the match I offer to go over his picks since a couple things surprised me. His curve actually stops at 3 with 2 Sandwalla and 4 tricks, with a Scrounger of Souls, the Hydra, and the enchant above. I make him side out Manifestation, a couple walls, Life Goes On and Without Weakness for more (and better) creatures.

Round 2 vs spicy RW zombies
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Round 3 vs 4c good stuff
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Looking at the other finals' game, there's GW midrange vs UB control-ish. Promo guy evidently went there because he opened bombs (Unesh and Kefnet's Last Word), B was his removal with Splendid Agony, 2x Lethal Sting and Final Reward (between he and I were 2 black drafters... he got all that but a Sting from me, he got quite lucky again).
He may have won game 2 but his opponent slammed Overwhelming Splendor and put an end to the clock, using Sunset Pyramid to scry for more blockers (since promo guy was suiciding one 1/1 each turn till he got him to 2). He was splashing Black for Punisher and Liliana's Defeat and scried till he got a swamp then closed the door. His creature base didn't look great early on, plus he was drawing more lands than spells until he started scrying each turn, but he had 2x Farm // Market and walls (he says he doesn't take them highly but he's the only drafter here to have consistently played 2+ of them all throughout the format, I think it's interesting since it showcases the various styles among us).

Last match goes to a tie, it's my neighbour who switched from BW pseudo-aggro to BG grind (got 2 Obelisk Spiders and I also passed 2x Grave Diggers in pack 3 so I imagine it was harsh) vs my round 1 opponent who got to play his Convergence this time. When I ask the result to report he thanks me for the suggestions after our match, saying his deck performed much better.

Redraft + promo time, and I'm assuming I'm 3rd since with the paired down guy winning, and only one 3-0 in the pod.
As it turns out, my opponents performed well enough that I'm slightly above the paired up 2-1 and up 2nd. Wait a minute... is that because I helped after round 1? Didn't expect that one. With the clerk stepping out, the 11th left out of a promo is also promo guy since he already got 2 from his previous drafts and I agreed to stay out of the randomised ones last week as other people didn't have any yet.

I'm 0K with this.

Rares:
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Not great overall, but RW look good, until... 7-8 creatures in W if I play 1/3 flyer for 2 or a lone 2/2 for 3.
Black has removal but only 6 creatures total (yeah including the 1/1 flyer for 1), RIP.
Green lacks creatures too and has no removal, so...U is there by virtue of having the most actual playables, and treasures + unknown shore to help splashing Huatli, Settle the Wreckage and the Pacifism.
Alo UG and UB uncommons, that prob aren't worth splashing in my case (and they're good in long games but my best creatures are 3/3 and the 3/4 for 5 that comes with 2 treasures). I have 2x Unfriendly Fire, bounce and a couple menace/flyers tho. 8 pirates but not running cutlass nor the flying U aura since my splash is stronger.

I went 2-1, round 1 had us both flooding one game, with me playing t4 Huatli off a treasure when he did.

Round 2 against stupidly aggro pool: game 1 is 2-drop, 2-drop, Captivating Crew when I just played Ferocidon, he activates and punches me on t5 and I untap, land and Unfriendly Fire the Crew. He then goes 4/4 "make your Serra angel" unco, but I'm able to cast settle the wreckage and I'll exile the 1/1 that makes a token too. Opp untaps... Hijacks the Ferocidon and swings for lethal. So we both spend a card, and the result is him losing 2 creatures and ganing 3 lands, and me losing my only creature (I was flooding hard, like 4 spells and 8 lands bad).
Game 2 he goes RW unco, Bishop's Soldier, multiple 1-drops. I play the Ferocidon t3 again so I can at least prevent his lifelinker from gaining life, and don't gain life myself off my t4 Pacifism. Welp. I misplay and lose a 2/1 attacking into the first strike hound (reading the card explains the card), then when I play the 5/5 that can't block alone... Hijack on my other creature and punch me for exact lethal. Don't think I'd have survived even without the misplay, RIP.
Fun fact: topdecking Huatli when Ferocidon is in play makes you frown.

Round 3 was a tempo fest, but it turns out that playing two 3/3 menace and a couple merfolk tappers beats him playing the pirate brain maggot t2 on the play after I mulligan, seeing me without a 3rd land with Unfriendly Fire, Huatli and the CMC 3 bounce + treasure which he takes.
Good for me because 3/3 menace doesn't beat his 6-drops.

Drover of the mighty, Snapping Sailback, the W indestructible/scry 1 trick, Tocatli Honor Guard, Vanquish the Weak
Other commons are Bishop's Soldier, 2W make 2 tokens, Heralds of the Streams, Swashbuckling, Fathom Fleet Firebrand, 3/2 for 2G enrage gain 2 life, and 6/6 trample for 4GG

I think I'd take the Snapping Sailback because it's a good card by itself even if I don't end up in dinos, over Drover of the Mighty which is also super powerful. Afterwards it's probably Vanquish the Weak. The W trick is very good regardless of your pairing but a P1P1 trick would be weird. Somebody downstream would certainly be happy though.
The Honor Guard is probably a better card than I have in mind (the cmc 4+ explore cards have really weak bodies without the trigger, raid and treasure-making are hit too) but I'm not sure how relevant the body is against decks that don't suffer too much from it.

Morning:
Rares: + Show Spoiler +
The pool was weird, with B and R having 2 and 3 removal respectively but 6 creatures (including Chupacabra or Deacon with no vampires, or 2x the rummaging goblin), W about as unplayable with a couple good creatures but again missing numbers.
U is great on the other hand, foil Wind Elemental and some more flyers (2x the explore siren), Siren Stormtamer, Lookout's Dispersal, etc. I decide to pair it with green because it provides some more bodies in case I need to finish it on the ground, and Deeproot Warrior looks like a solid common. I expect to name pirate with Banner but Merfolk can do in a pinch (not using Arcane Adaptation tho).

Went 2-1 with it.
Match 1 was against dinos, I barely won game 1 (went to 3 by chumping a 4/4 with a 1/1), the Banner gave the bonus to make a flying clock 1 turn faster. Also casually countering Burning Sun's Avatar with Dispersal Lookout obviously saving the game. Game 2 Siren Stormtamer t1 ended up dealing a good 7 points of damage by itself, and would have given my opponent headache using his sided in Crushing Canopies against my flyers. Air Elemental came up too and ended the game. Opponent showed me his boarding, but also the Regisaur he never drew, and the Avatar sitting in his hand (I had the counter in hand again tho).
He was about 3c with a pillar to fix. I went to see my friend's match and... it ended up as a draw. He had to mull, got it by Duress, missed land drops... so his opponent went ham with the Compass -> Maze of Ith and Map -> 3-turns Phyrexian Arena, along with some Greed thrown in. Gisath got hit by Cancel sadly, and Burning Sun's Avatar mazed every turn. Then his opponent tied the games on the last additional turn with the 3/2 unblockable.

Match 2 was against an EDH pal, game 2 ended up with a very interesting board state and I'm curious what would have been your play in his position:
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After that misplay, and fighting bombs each game I consider myself lucky to be up 2-0 and expect to just lose, but round 3 still leaves me salty.
+ Show Spoiler +

Afternoon:
Rares: + Show Spoiler +
W follows the trend of being unplayable, but U decides to join in. Too bad, I had Favourable Winds this time but no flyers. D: And I really really wanted to try River's Rebuke, but creatures are meh, no pirate synergies, only interaction is Run Aground...
Regisaur Alpha is so dumb that I'm playing R or G anyway. R gets me dino payoffs (Knight, the pseudo-5/3 trample) but no other dinos, unsplashable removal, Lannery Storm. G is pretty much only creatures but has the land fetch enrage uncommon to help with splashing, and the dinolord uncommon. So either UGr to play Rebuke and Tishana, or BGr for worse curve but removal, a better mythic and Deathless Ancient. I go for the safety, plus I have vehicles to upgrade my meh low drops.

2-1 again.
Match 1 isn't played. Siren Stormtamer -> Cutlass -> t4 Shapers of Nature, good thing I have a t4 3/4 reach... that'll just chump whatever 3/3 I block when he puts a counter on it. I lose stupidly fast while my opponent goldfishes. He then keeps a greedy hand, is stuck on islands in his 3c deck and loses.
Then game 3 he plays the unblockable 1/1 merfolk, I explore with my 4-drop revealing Skulduggery so I figure I can stabilise off that next turn and try to stall till my better creatures show up. He topdecks Jade Guardian to prevent that and then plays the 2/10 Galleon so he can now trade a bear for any of my creatures then crack back if I try to attack, while clocking me with his unblockable bear. No removal found so I just lose. Yay.

Match 2 is weird. We both have Regisaur Alpha and Dire Fleet Ravager... and also Kitesail Freebooter. One significant difference is that I'm BGr and he's UBrg splashing with a Pillar, a basic or two for each and treasures.
He wins game 1, destroying me with a t2 Freebooter taking a removal and Regisaur shows up to finish things. I win game 2 because he mulligans, t2 Freebooter sees his land-light hand and 0 fixing available for the Regisaur, then use Deadeye Tormentor to make him discard. That's going to happen in draft, and that's going to be fucking gross.
Game 3 I play Freebooter first, take away his Pillar, he takes away my Contract Killing... fuck. He also topdecks a trick so it blows me out. I've still dealt a bit more damage and drop my Ravager. He drops his the next turn, nuking our life totals to oblivion, but since I played mince first I get to have the 2-for-1, and from there I close with a wider board.

Match 3 has a super strong green, but he decided to forgo it to go UR spells because he opened Jace, props to him.
t3 Jace on the play is pretty good board presence, especially followed by 5/5 for 4. He's got a trick to blow me out again when I try to trade 3-drops for illusion to keep him off a second creature.
Thanks to unco fetch enrage I ramp up to unco dinolord but he bounces it, I get to cast Contrast Killing and use the treaure to drop a 2nd blocker with 2 life and he's got a 2/2 and a 2/1, Jace finally dead. From here the dinolord should win me the game, as he seems to finally draw more lands, but I'm dumb, don't play around a hasty threat or hijack for one turn and he topdecks Charging Monstrosaur. We laugh, myself at my idiocy, and move on.
Game 2 we both mull and he keeps a sketchy hand, telling me after the game he hoped to draw 2 lands to go t2 dino cost reducer, t4 Monstrosaur. He misses the 4th land once and since I kill the cost reducer to punish it and let my attackers through, it's too late.
Game 3 he goes for a t4 divination, t5 UR looter, then starts bouncing / putting on top of my library my blockers while I'm stuck on 3 lands (and a single swamp so I can't play that B drop and give it deathtouch as a deterrent), looks 4-5 times... I stabilise at 10 life, but at that point Hijack or Monstrosaur have high ends of ending me, and Jace would force attacks so bad too. Even worse when I decide to drop Ravager (I go 10->6 and him 19->12), as he's out of gas so trying to reverse before he topdecks looks like the plan. He could have held a couple lands and played them instead so he couldn't loot, not sure how much it'd have helped. In the end Ravager puts out absurd pressure and he doesn't draw an out. Seeing him draw 2 then loot 4 times was ridiculously scary though.