Magic Draft 16/5/2014 report

Well, I went to Draft yesterday at last, and after the pre-release result in mind, I had taken it for myself that I would be drafting RED + something, to keep playing in my homecolour I feel most comfortable with.

There where 15 drafters in total, of which i found myself in the 8 player pool...

... and my first pack immediatly gave me a Spawn of Thraxes.  So red it was going to be, but then it started to appear as I was the only one drafting the colour!

So after having even receiving my second rare for my pool, the Ragebellow Shaman, I had managed to draft 90% in red, so no need for a second or a splash colour, and I could build a rather fast Minotaur deck with some big boomsticks in it.  The deck didn`t have any real boost cards, but it had a lot of Haste, always good for red aggro hehe.

Creatures:

1 Ragebellow Shaman
1 Spawn of Thraxes

1 Satyr Nyx-Smith
2 Kragma Butchers
1 Minotaur Skullcleaver
1 Spearpoint Oread
1 Deathbellow Raider
1 Sigiled Skink
2 Impetuous Sunchasers (1 FOIL)
2 Priest of Iroas

Spells:

1 Magma Spray
1 Flurry of Horns
1 Pinnacle of Rage
1 Riddle of Lightning
1 Boulderfall
1 Blinding Flare
1 Searing Blood
1 Lightning Strike
1 Font of Ire
1 Rise to the Challenge

Lands

17 Mountains

So yes, my drafted deck turned out to look almost like a Type 2 deck, needless to say, with my limited experience in the block and card knowledge, I never the less felt sort of confident to put up at least a good show, shootinh off like fireworks, or fizzling out like a wet matchstick...

The Plan

Well, Riddle of Lightning was in there, one of those fun cards that pass around a zillion times in a draft, but in this mono deck it could prove handy to either put land nearer to the top, or who knows do some burn if I can scry for the big casters like Boulderfall or the Spawn, coming in for respectively 8 or 7 damage to the face.

For the rest, it was hoping to let the bunch of mad, and by then hopefully trampling cows, do the work...

Game 1: Glenn Dielen playing a White Green Aggro deck

But just not as fast as my cows.  The first round I trampled him under the table when unleashing my whole batallion of cows while he had knocked me down to 15, the second game he got color screwed so it was a swift walk over.  2-0 up and honor had already been saved for the evening!

Game 2: Jonas Voorspoels playing a Blue White flyer deck

Flyers... ugh, I don`t have them, and my only two in the deck must attack.  When my mountains don`t come, I was forced down in round 1.  But in the second game I struck back, and even though he got me down to 3, I Riddled him to 2, then charged in to finish him, so round 3 would be the decider.  In this one, my deck did what it was supposed to do, and at a 15 - 3 I put in the Spawn of Thraxes for 7 damage and the win.  2-1 and where off to the finals of the pool.

Game 3: Niki Lin playing Black White control

Our resident judge and damn fine player, this would be a tough nut to crack if I ever wanted to record my very first tournament or event victory.  I did start off smooth in round 1 and brought the score to 1-0, this deck had a chance if I could get to him before his creatures came out and got boosted, as he lost this one by my Haste Tokens.
And I came SO close... In round two, at the crucial 5 - 7 mark, I held back one creature to block, but this was a big playmistake on my part.  I lost two turns later with him at 2 life, so had I commited, it would have been all over.
And in the final round, again i came within inches of nailing it, but at 4 vs 8, and a Riddle having revealed that my next card would be the Pinnacle of Rage finishing off his two creatures on the table, then the next turn the Spawn coming in to finish it off... he got his Coinsmith.  Everything but that one bastard would have been enough to take home the win, but now he drained me for 2 in my turn, then 2 in his and it was over.

I had let my victory slip by one not commited charger, and one turn to short in the final game...  I doubt I ever been this close.

But this did result in a nice 2nd place in the pool and 3rd place overall, meaning I added 7 more Planeswalker Points to the tally.  I might have even made the yearly 300 had I played a bit more in 2013 - 2014 `schoolyear`,  but with 3 events only this year, I`m still at 218 yearly points, so I`ll be missing the train in the end by just a few points.

Had I only attended GP Antwerp back in November, I would have qualified this year... so that leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Oh well, this draft was good for the confidence, that at least I`m not as hopeless in the format, and can hopefully when I`ll be starting to play Type 2 again soon take my spot of solid midfielder again, at times making the better players sweat (and at times screw it all up against opponents that barely know how to hold their cards).

Unfortunatly, with two pools only the winner had a promo, and I lost the dice roll for the second one in the pools, but after redistributing the loot, I ended up with this nice haul, definitly having some trade value: