A Quick Return
Back, in the dark ages of the past (last year), when I was allowed to have as much free time as I desired, because I didn’t have a child, I drafted for a whole block. Return to Ravnica black was a blast, and I enjoyed learning how to draft, especially because I did it pretty much on my own. I picked up a few drafts during the summer, beat some face with Slivers, and then stopped. I loved the coming set, as Greek Mythology is an awesome concept to base a M:TG set on, but there was no way I was getting time out with a newborn.
Now, 7 months later, I was able to get out and draft again. Two entire sets have passed without me drafting a single pack. I’ve heard from some placed that Full Block drafting is the way to go because its the full concept in card, and it gives me hope that that is where I’ll be starting in again.
The draft was small, with 12 people signing up, in 6 man pods. I’d drafted with three of the others before, including a good friend of mine, but the other two were strangers. I had read a little bit about the sets, what they did, and has a pretty solid basis for drafting from last year.
It helped, but not to much.
I grabbed one of the better uncommons, Hour of Need, which put me solidly in blue. The next card was one I hadn’t seen before: Fleetfeather Cockatrice. Passed from my friend in the third pick was the Green/Blue God, Kruphix. Normally, I wouldn’t dedicate myself to a color this early, but with no experience with the set, I had to use something as a guide, or I would just subject myself to to analysis the whole time. none of that! I dove completely into Blue and Green, grabbing what I thought would be the best in each pack for those colors and ignoring the rest. I made a vital mistake, though, by picking to many high cost creatures. Theros had originally been dubbed as a slow grinding format, so I figured I’d err on the top end. bad news for me.
The first round, though, gave me a pile of (unfounded) confidence. I dropped a big giant bastard in Sealock Monster the first game on turn 4, and proceeded to run through him. Second game I repeated with a Sealock monster, but a bit later. I did, however, give it flying. Turns out, a giant flying Kraken is no joke!
The second round, we will say, was a bit rougher. He’d been in one of my last draft pods I’d played before my daughter, when I’d surprised the hell out of him on turn 8 with 24 points of unblocked damage, and he was a pleasant fellow. This time, I was on the receiving end of a withering onslaught of dangerous white heroic cards. It was simply brutal. I managed to stabilize, but he just kept pounding in and beat me to death. between the second and third game, he remembered who I was. We reminisced, rekindling our (fake) enmity, and got down to the second game.
Where he proceeded to beat my ass again, with almost the same cards that he’d beat me with the game before. I think, if I get to go and draft again, I am going to try for the W/R heroic. Seems pretty good!
In the third round, I played against my friend. He helped me craft my deck, and new that I was a touch top heavy. I think I took the first game, but it was a fluke. He then proceeded to fly through the air and beat me to death in the next two games with the same card, Stormchaser Chimera. I sadly had not taken one earlier on the thought that it was a Spellheart Chimera. Turns out, one is vastly better than the other.
Realistically, my deck just couldn’t cut it. I wasn’t going to be able to get enough cards onto the board quick enough to make a difference to anyone who’d drafted a decent deck. But it was a load of fun, and I ended up with a few cards I can play in EDH when I get to it again. All in all, it really got me wanting to play MTG again, which is bad. Because I have a ton of Warmachine yet to play, just got my bane riders together, and Lock and Load is right around the corner! I have so many new lists to try and combos to build. As my friend said last night: I like to use my brain to solve puzzles. M:TG and Warmachine are some really fun, similar puzzles, and they hit the same buttons. At least in Draft.
Bring on more drafts!