Post by SwartDawgMillionaire on Jul 30, 2014 14:30:07 GMT -6
Some of my favorite writing on Magic is, surprise, based on the actual playing of the game. I really enjoy an article on Magic theory, so long as it’s well-written and topical, but there’s something about a really good tournament report that just takes the bacon.
When I was in college (freshmen year down in Winona, MN), I read a report byZvi Mowshowitz from 2005 GenCon in Indianapolis. He’d played Blue-White Landstill, which was a thing back then in Type 1.5 (Legacy was still called Type 1.5 then), and considered a much more casual format than it is even today). By today’s standards, it was pretty bad. Back then though? For some reason a Blue-based control strategy that needs to have an empty board to attack into with manlands was able to succeed in a metagame populated by Goblins and other Red attack decks. Besides, is there anything more frightening than Zvi Mowshowitz casting Fact or Fiction? (The answer: No.)
It was a great report about what was a pretty bad deck. I don’t remember everything that was in it, but it was a relic. It played spells instead of creatures (which might even be a stretch - really, it played lands instead of creatures), but only played eight counterspells. It had a ridiculous amount of removal, from Swords to Plowshares to Wrath of God to Nevinyrral’s Disk, but that was still pretty reactive. I mean, with the right combination of cards, Goblins could cream you for about 15 damage by turn three, which is one turn earlier than Wrath matter, and two earlier than Disk. Not to mention Goblins plays, you know, AEther Vial. That’s a thing.
The deck was bad, but there was something about the way Zvi wrote the report that made me want to play U/W Landstill. I didn’t know it at the time, but that deck was among the last of its era. Dedicated control strategies that won with Blue instants and manlands were on the way out, to be replaced with creatures that ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING. But for that tournament, Zvi was able to channel some principles of Magic’s most seminal thinkers (Randy Buehler, Weissman, himself) into a Top 8 at GenCon’s Legacy World Championship.
I never was able to get all the cards together for Landstill, for reasons that I don’t remember. Instead, I got the lands together, along with the Force of Wills, and created a Fish deck that could destroy all the dual lands that people played in my local metagame. I’d learned that Stifle and Wasteland was murderous on these Onslaught dual lands and the ABU Duals they fetched, so I build my Meddling Mage Fish deck (it had Icatian Javelineers to kill Goblin Lackeys. Yes, I’m aware that Icatian Javelineers are really bad. I thought I was being techy) and played it to an 11-1 finish over 3 tournaments over Winter Break that year. Then I never played it again. Little did I know that I was actually onto something that not everyone knew yet: Cheap counterspells (I played Daze and Force of Will instead of Counterspell and Force) combined with mana disruption and a clock could translate to wins. The difference between my deck and Zvi’s? Mine played creatures. For the record, this is not about me being a better player or designer than Zvi. I played the cards I did because I couldn’t afford to buy some of the spendier pieces of the deck (ironically, Dual lands, Wasteland, Stifle, Force of Will, and Onslaught fetches all cost under $20.00 a piece at the time). I just happened to find a strategy that worked.
Since then, I’ve been a fan of aggressive blue decks that can adapt to varied situations. I think my most successful at tournament Magic is when I’m played U/x decks with a clock and cantrips. I discovered Counterbalance and Sensei’s Divining Top before the greater community did, and translated that to the best Legacy success I experienced (a split of top 2 in an 80 person tournament in my very early 20’s).
My point is that a tournament report is a great document to read. It gives you an idea of the decisions other players make, which is invaluable for your own development as a player. Becoming better at Magic (and that is the goal, I promise you - not wins, not prizes) is tough because we are limited by our own experiences. When we play in authentic pressure situations (usually an actual tournament), and our friends are around, they are engaged in their own matches and can’t give us feedback on our plays. You’re stuck relating to them the story of your match, and if you didn’t catch a mistake the first time, chances are good you won’t remember it when you’re telling a friend about the match. Reading a tournament report can give you that insight you wouldn’t otherwise be able to gain.
Something to remember of course is that Magic is contextual. Decisions are made in real time with a plan by a certain player. There are better and worse plans for each game, but manydecisions are made with progression toward a particular game state in mind, and the same decision with the same situation but different players might not be correct or optimal. Like the man said, Study and Grow Strong. Don’t assume that one card will always do one thing; seeing how other people do different things with the same card will help you improve and grow as a player.
Last night, I played in a Magic 2015 draft at Mead Hall Games in Minneapolis. I know I’ve already spent a good deal of time blathering in this post, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Mead Hall is easily the best place I’ve drafted or gamed. There are a fair chunk of places to play Magic: the Gathering in Minneapolis and the surrounding area, and I’ve played at a fair chunk of them, but not all. With that said, go to Mead Hall. You won’t be disappointed. For one thing, they play movies on a very large TV behind the counter as you play. I don’t promise that they’re good movie, but it’s sure better than staring at your phone between rounds. There is also a much lower douchebag quotient at Mead Hall than other places I’ve played. For whatever reason, Magic players (particularly drafters) are very vocal about how bad they think you are at the game, or life in general. Not these people. Good sorts, all around. Give them you money, they will give you cardboard and happiness in exchange.
Draft - Act One: In which we establish the character of the boy - sullen, a hardluck story without a chance.
You know that bad feeling when you sit down? Before you even crack your first pack, you feel like you’re going to have to fight for every pick if you want to make a playable deck. That feeling? I had that feeling. It’s not good. I don’t know if it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy or not, but I was pretty sure I was going to be unsettled on colors by the time pack two came around, which is not a good place to be in a format without good mana fixing.
I made some small talk with the players at my table, and then it was time to open. I cracked pack one, discarded the rules insert and the basic land, and looked at the rare. It’s Life’s Legacy. I stare at it. In my head, I’m wondering whether this is even playable. Is it an instant? I wonder. No. It’s a sorcery. It’s cheap card drawing in Green, but I dont’ really want to be in green unless I can do dumb things, like convoke huge creatures off of Triplicate Spirits. Triplicate Spirits is really bad at being sacrificed to Life’s Legacy. I decide to forget the Life’s Legacy plan.
Some other notables in the pack:
Welkin Tern
That’s it.
This might have been the world’s worst draft pack. On one hand, I wish I didn’t have to open such crap. On the other hand, I feel good. By me opening this, some twelve year old kid doesn’t have to spend his allowance to augment his collection only to uncover… Welkin Tern tech.
I take the Welkin Tern. In my head, I’m thinking that I’ll pick up some blue and white flyers and maybe convoke some great white spells like Triplicate Spirits (this card factors into a lot of my plans).
I get passed crap. I hunt through the pack to see if I can see what the guy on my right took. The rare is missing, but there is next to nothing in the pack to give me a direction. White is terrible. The best card is…. Welkin Tern. I think about for a second, and decide that I don’t mind playing a lot of Welkin Terns. If I’m the Blue mage, I might as well get in for a lot of damage in the air as quickly as possible.
Pack one continues, and I start to see some Red cards sent my way. I pick up a few Forge Devils and Altac Bloodseekers to go along with them. In my mind, I can play a turn 2 Altac Bloodseekers and Forge Devil whatever blocker my opponent has, allowing a big 4/1 first striker to mosey over to the red zone. In my fantasy, all my opponents’ will leave X/1’s as blockers. A boy can dream.
At the end of the pack, I have a Paragon of Gathering Mists to go along with my Welkin Terns, and I’m considering whether or not a U/R Tempo deck can be good in M15. I’m pretty confident that zero playable Blue or Red cards made it past me in this pack.
Act Two: Boy meets Dragon: All is right in the world
In pack two, I open and see bad cards. The rare is bad, the commons suck, the uncommons… Is that Cone of Flame? Yes, yes it is Cone of Flame. I don’t windmill slam it, because the guy across from me just made a really big presentation of drafting two Nissas, which I found annoying. Instead, I smile inwardly at the thought of attacking with three Altac Bloodseekers after Cone of Flaming three of my opponent’s blockers. Is that 24 damage, Bionic Barry? Yes, yes it is.
If pack one was about drafting the hard way and trying to send the right signals to my left, pack two was about reaping the rewards. I was able to third pick a Hoarding Dragon. The next pick was a Scuttling Doom Engine. I raise an eyebrow. Is my opinion on this format way off? I’m pretty sure a 6/6 for 6 generic mana is good. If you tack on that it is really hard to block and punishing to kill, and you’ve got the next best thing to a bomb. That pick will make the main deck, I’m pretty sure.
Some other notables here include Altac Bloodseeker # 3 as well as Welkin Tern # 3. I also picked up a Goblin Rabblemaster and an Inferno Fist, which seems to pair really well with Welkin Tern. I snap up every Blue and Red playable that comes to me, and am feeling good about my deck all of a sudden. Since I got decent Red from the people on my right in pack one, I can’t imagine I’m going to be too badly off for Red at least come pack three. I’m hoping to pick up at least one Lightning Strike in the next pack and maybe some other removal to go along with my evasive guys.
Act Three of the Tragedy: The bottom falls out.
There’s a saying in poker: “You can never bluff an idiot.” The idiot will always call your bluff. They don’t understand the nuance of the game. You can represent a great hand with your bet, your eye movements, and be totally in control of all of your tells. If you opponent doesn’t know how to read those things, you’re still as much a victim of Lady Luck as the guy who doesn’t know the game.
I feel betrayed come pack three. My Blue guys. My Red guys. Where have you gone? I make it through three packs without even seeing a Lightning Strike. It occurs to me that I may have been sending the right signals, and reading what colors my opponents were drafting correctly. They could just not understand how to read my signaling. The guy directly on my right turned out to be a White/Red deck. Which strikes me as odd, since I know he passed me a Preeminent Captain in pack 3. I suspect that people to his right were blue, and he must have opened something good in Red in pack 2, and decided that he was going to force Red in pack 3. Mise.
Here is what I played, to the best of my memory:
1 Evolving Wilds
8 Mountains
8 Islands
3 Forge Devil
1 Void Snare
2 Altac Bloodseeker
1 Peel from Reality
3 Welkin Tern
1 Inferno Fist
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Divination
1 Frost Lynx
1 Paragon of Gathering Mists
1 Into the Void
1 Cone of Flame
1 Hoarding Dragon
2 Nimbus of the Isles
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Scuttling Doom Engine
1 Glacial Crasher
It felt like a pile. I was pretty sure I could steal a few wins by putting out a couple of Welkin Terns with a Paragon, but I did not feel confident sleeving this up without any Lightning Strikes. My friend Melvin from another pod comes over as I’m building and shows me his Red deck. It splashes Green for the ability on Kird Chieftain and Black for Nightfire Giant. It has three Lightning Strikes. I groan. It looks like a good Red deck should. Mine looks like… well, jank.
Round One - Ehren B/R Midrange
In spite of the hipster spelling of his name, Ehren is good people. He’s newly graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Journalism. Bless him, he still thinks people can read. If a potential employer reads this: Give Ehren a job. I don’t know his last name. There can’t be two Ehrens. Give the one you know a job. He’s nice and plays good Magic.
I don’t remember a lot of game one. I discover than my Welkin Tern plan is pretty good with Paragon of Gathering Mists. On the last turn of the game, I Cone of Flame his board and swing for 7. This will be a common theme for the evening.
Game two was similar. I didn’t change anything from the main deck. I was amazed that my plan of Welkin Tern + Inferno Fist was good. By turn 3 I was attacking with my 4/1 flying Welkin Tern, and then armored him up further by adding Paragon by turn 4. Into the Void was my MVP this game, as it let me sneak in a lot of great damage. A favorite play of mine was to Frost Lynx down a blocker, let him play out another guy, and then have two saucy targets for my Into the Void. Good times were had by all. He played out a Nightfire Giant, which is really good against my Welkin Tern.dec, but I Void Snared it instead of losing. Mise, amirite? Tempo is a thing, apparently. I kept trading my cards for his turns and life, which lead to me beating face. I’ll take it.
“You have a really good deck,” Ehren tells me as I pick up my cards to go report. I look down at my deck with Glacial Crasher.
“Thanks,” I say. I’m thinking that I’d rather play with the 2 Nightfire Giants he told me he has, but I got the win, so I walk away happy.
Games 2-0, Match 1-0
Round Two - Blake B/W Flyers
Blake is one of those quiet Magic players. I used to feel like these kinds of players were trying to get me on tilt, but I now I think they just like to concentrate. Everyone plays Magic a bit differently, I suppose. I’m a talker, but not everyone is.
Game one I keep a questionable hand. It has two Welkin Terns, a Paragon of Gathering Mists, and a Cone of Flame. It also only has two lands. They’re Island and Mountain, so I decide to keep, and that with some tight play I can win it.
Blake’s first play is a Carrion Crow, which my Welkin Tern happily attacks through. I follow it up with another Welkin Tern, and then Paragon the turn after that. Blake has Oppressive Rays for the two Terns though, so I draw the third and play it. We smack each other around for a bit, each content in thinking that we can win a race against each other. I’m on two Mountains and two Islands, and salivating over the Cone of Flame in my hand. All I have to do is draw a land in the next few turns, and I’ll cruise to game 2 up one.
I’m on 13 life, but Blake has a Midnight Guard, an Accursed Spirit, and a Hushwing Griff in play. He gets in a good attack or two, and brings me to six without me drawing a land. I’m staring down a lethal attack, but I know that if I can get in two attacks, I will win.
All I have to do is draw the land.
Naturally, I fail the Legacy, and draw a spell instead, promptly losing.
Game two, I don’t make any changes.
I mulligan my first hand, a no lander. My six isn’t much better, but the curve is really low, and it has a Mountain. The trouble is, that’s all it has for land. I shrug and say, “Mise.” I keep it.
Naturally, I command my deck to feed me lands. It does. I win on turn six after Cone of Flaming for Blake’s board on turn 5.
I expected a reaction from him, but Blake goes to his sideboard and seems ready to move on to game three. I’m still a bit jazzed, so I start talking.
“I was sitting on that thing all of game one. I just couldn’t draw the land to cast it,” I tell him. He appears unimpressed. Blake is a very Zen soul. I think about it for a bit and agree. Good players draw the land when they need it. I still lost game one.
Game three is a strange one. I open my hand of Hoarding Dragon, Nimbus of the Isles and five lands. “Mulligan!” My brain tells me.
“Keep,” my mouth says. Lousy mouth. Why do you do these things to me?
We both play our turn one lands and pass back and forth. Neither of us want to play out our creatures. “Your guys are smaller than mine!” I want to say. “I’ll win if you let me! Really, I will! It doesn’t matter if I keep bad hands!”
Somewhere in there, I draw (what else?) Welkin Tern. I decide to use it to draw removal. It does. Goodbye, my sometimes-lover.
On turn 5 I’m faced with the decision of running out the 3/3 Nimbus of the 4/4 Dragon. Both of us are on more or less our starting life totals, and I assume the reason he hasn’t cast anything is that he’s holding a grip full of removal. I drop the 3/3. Amazingly, it isn’t killed immediately. I whack him with it once after Frost Lynxing a blocker. I drop out a Altac Bloodseeker and pass to him. He kills the Nimbus with me tapped out and plays Triplicate Spirits. Hater.
On my turn, I formulate a plan. I Forge Devil on of the Spirits. My Bloodseeker gets +2/+0. I Peel from Reality the Forge Devil and one of the Spirits. I Forge Devil another Spirit. My Bloodseeker gets +2/+0. I attack for 6, bringing him to 7. On his turn, he swings with his Accursed Spirit and drops a 2/2 blocker along with an Oppressive Rays on my Altac Bloodseeker. I look at the other 2 Forge Devils in my hand. Then I look at my life total. 4. Yikes. I untap and draw Inferno Fist. I look at the board and go, “Mise.”
I double Forge Devil the blocker, and then I Inferno Fist the Accursed Spirit. I pay 3 to attack with my now 6/1 Altac Bloodseeker, bringing my 1/1 Forge Devil along for the ride. A perfect 7. Whew. Blake shrugged.
Games 4-1, Match 2-0
Round Three - Matt UB Control
We chat a bit before the round and agree to ID and split the prizes. I know that I don’t really care about opening any M15 packs, so I ask if we can play anyway. Matt, being gracious, accepts.
Game one is very similar to other games I’ve played. I get to Cone of Flame on turn 5 and attack with a lot of Welkin Terns. I think that a lot of my opponents put me on a slower strategy than I actually had, but that was fine with me. I got to cast Into the Void for a pair of 4 drops, which was really nice. I kept getting to beat for 3 after playing bounce spells, which felt great.
Game two was… very similar. When your 40 card deck gets to play with 3 copies of Welkin Tern, Altac Bloodseekers, and Forge Devil, there is a limited amount of variance in your games. I think I won this game by Cone of Flaming two blockers and directing the 3 damage at Matt’s face, then attacking with a 6/1 Altac Bloodseeker. That card is better than it looks.
Games 6-1, Match 3-0
I left 5 packs richer, but very smiley. I liked this deck, but it seemed like I won more off the back of the very bomb-ey Cone of Flame a lot. You can’t reliably get that Uncommon, but if you can, UR Tempo with evasion is apparently a viable strategy to draft in M15. I think I’d prefer to be in something with allied colors, because of the Sunblade Elf/ Nightfire Giant/ Kird Chieftain/ Dauntless River Marshall Uncommons, but if I can’t get those, this was a fine deck to play.
Ultimately, what I liked most about this deck was that it could play some janky blue creatures, apply a clock and disruption, and then win anyway. Thanks for reading.
When I was in college (freshmen year down in Winona, MN), I read a report byZvi Mowshowitz from 2005 GenCon in Indianapolis. He’d played Blue-White Landstill, which was a thing back then in Type 1.5 (Legacy was still called Type 1.5 then), and considered a much more casual format than it is even today). By today’s standards, it was pretty bad. Back then though? For some reason a Blue-based control strategy that needs to have an empty board to attack into with manlands was able to succeed in a metagame populated by Goblins and other Red attack decks. Besides, is there anything more frightening than Zvi Mowshowitz casting Fact or Fiction? (The answer: No.)
It was a great report about what was a pretty bad deck. I don’t remember everything that was in it, but it was a relic. It played spells instead of creatures (which might even be a stretch - really, it played lands instead of creatures), but only played eight counterspells. It had a ridiculous amount of removal, from Swords to Plowshares to Wrath of God to Nevinyrral’s Disk, but that was still pretty reactive. I mean, with the right combination of cards, Goblins could cream you for about 15 damage by turn three, which is one turn earlier than Wrath matter, and two earlier than Disk. Not to mention Goblins plays, you know, AEther Vial. That’s a thing.
The deck was bad, but there was something about the way Zvi wrote the report that made me want to play U/W Landstill. I didn’t know it at the time, but that deck was among the last of its era. Dedicated control strategies that won with Blue instants and manlands were on the way out, to be replaced with creatures that ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING. But for that tournament, Zvi was able to channel some principles of Magic’s most seminal thinkers (Randy Buehler, Weissman, himself) into a Top 8 at GenCon’s Legacy World Championship.
I never was able to get all the cards together for Landstill, for reasons that I don’t remember. Instead, I got the lands together, along with the Force of Wills, and created a Fish deck that could destroy all the dual lands that people played in my local metagame. I’d learned that Stifle and Wasteland was murderous on these Onslaught dual lands and the ABU Duals they fetched, so I build my Meddling Mage Fish deck (it had Icatian Javelineers to kill Goblin Lackeys. Yes, I’m aware that Icatian Javelineers are really bad. I thought I was being techy) and played it to an 11-1 finish over 3 tournaments over Winter Break that year. Then I never played it again. Little did I know that I was actually onto something that not everyone knew yet: Cheap counterspells (I played Daze and Force of Will instead of Counterspell and Force) combined with mana disruption and a clock could translate to wins. The difference between my deck and Zvi’s? Mine played creatures. For the record, this is not about me being a better player or designer than Zvi. I played the cards I did because I couldn’t afford to buy some of the spendier pieces of the deck (ironically, Dual lands, Wasteland, Stifle, Force of Will, and Onslaught fetches all cost under $20.00 a piece at the time). I just happened to find a strategy that worked.
Since then, I’ve been a fan of aggressive blue decks that can adapt to varied situations. I think my most successful at tournament Magic is when I’m played U/x decks with a clock and cantrips. I discovered Counterbalance and Sensei’s Divining Top before the greater community did, and translated that to the best Legacy success I experienced (a split of top 2 in an 80 person tournament in my very early 20’s).
My point is that a tournament report is a great document to read. It gives you an idea of the decisions other players make, which is invaluable for your own development as a player. Becoming better at Magic (and that is the goal, I promise you - not wins, not prizes) is tough because we are limited by our own experiences. When we play in authentic pressure situations (usually an actual tournament), and our friends are around, they are engaged in their own matches and can’t give us feedback on our plays. You’re stuck relating to them the story of your match, and if you didn’t catch a mistake the first time, chances are good you won’t remember it when you’re telling a friend about the match. Reading a tournament report can give you that insight you wouldn’t otherwise be able to gain.
Something to remember of course is that Magic is contextual. Decisions are made in real time with a plan by a certain player. There are better and worse plans for each game, but manydecisions are made with progression toward a particular game state in mind, and the same decision with the same situation but different players might not be correct or optimal. Like the man said, Study and Grow Strong. Don’t assume that one card will always do one thing; seeing how other people do different things with the same card will help you improve and grow as a player.
Last night, I played in a Magic 2015 draft at Mead Hall Games in Minneapolis. I know I’ve already spent a good deal of time blathering in this post, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Mead Hall is easily the best place I’ve drafted or gamed. There are a fair chunk of places to play Magic: the Gathering in Minneapolis and the surrounding area, and I’ve played at a fair chunk of them, but not all. With that said, go to Mead Hall. You won’t be disappointed. For one thing, they play movies on a very large TV behind the counter as you play. I don’t promise that they’re good movie, but it’s sure better than staring at your phone between rounds. There is also a much lower douchebag quotient at Mead Hall than other places I’ve played. For whatever reason, Magic players (particularly drafters) are very vocal about how bad they think you are at the game, or life in general. Not these people. Good sorts, all around. Give them you money, they will give you cardboard and happiness in exchange.
Draft - Act One: In which we establish the character of the boy - sullen, a hardluck story without a chance.
You know that bad feeling when you sit down? Before you even crack your first pack, you feel like you’re going to have to fight for every pick if you want to make a playable deck. That feeling? I had that feeling. It’s not good. I don’t know if it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy or not, but I was pretty sure I was going to be unsettled on colors by the time pack two came around, which is not a good place to be in a format without good mana fixing.
I made some small talk with the players at my table, and then it was time to open. I cracked pack one, discarded the rules insert and the basic land, and looked at the rare. It’s Life’s Legacy. I stare at it. In my head, I’m wondering whether this is even playable. Is it an instant? I wonder. No. It’s a sorcery. It’s cheap card drawing in Green, but I dont’ really want to be in green unless I can do dumb things, like convoke huge creatures off of Triplicate Spirits. Triplicate Spirits is really bad at being sacrificed to Life’s Legacy. I decide to forget the Life’s Legacy plan.
Some other notables in the pack:
Welkin Tern
That’s it.
This might have been the world’s worst draft pack. On one hand, I wish I didn’t have to open such crap. On the other hand, I feel good. By me opening this, some twelve year old kid doesn’t have to spend his allowance to augment his collection only to uncover… Welkin Tern tech.
I take the Welkin Tern. In my head, I’m thinking that I’ll pick up some blue and white flyers and maybe convoke some great white spells like Triplicate Spirits (this card factors into a lot of my plans).
I get passed crap. I hunt through the pack to see if I can see what the guy on my right took. The rare is missing, but there is next to nothing in the pack to give me a direction. White is terrible. The best card is…. Welkin Tern. I think about for a second, and decide that I don’t mind playing a lot of Welkin Terns. If I’m the Blue mage, I might as well get in for a lot of damage in the air as quickly as possible.
Pack one continues, and I start to see some Red cards sent my way. I pick up a few Forge Devils and Altac Bloodseekers to go along with them. In my mind, I can play a turn 2 Altac Bloodseekers and Forge Devil whatever blocker my opponent has, allowing a big 4/1 first striker to mosey over to the red zone. In my fantasy, all my opponents’ will leave X/1’s as blockers. A boy can dream.
At the end of the pack, I have a Paragon of Gathering Mists to go along with my Welkin Terns, and I’m considering whether or not a U/R Tempo deck can be good in M15. I’m pretty confident that zero playable Blue or Red cards made it past me in this pack.
Act Two: Boy meets Dragon: All is right in the world
In pack two, I open and see bad cards. The rare is bad, the commons suck, the uncommons… Is that Cone of Flame? Yes, yes it is Cone of Flame. I don’t windmill slam it, because the guy across from me just made a really big presentation of drafting two Nissas, which I found annoying. Instead, I smile inwardly at the thought of attacking with three Altac Bloodseekers after Cone of Flaming three of my opponent’s blockers. Is that 24 damage, Bionic Barry? Yes, yes it is.
If pack one was about drafting the hard way and trying to send the right signals to my left, pack two was about reaping the rewards. I was able to third pick a Hoarding Dragon. The next pick was a Scuttling Doom Engine. I raise an eyebrow. Is my opinion on this format way off? I’m pretty sure a 6/6 for 6 generic mana is good. If you tack on that it is really hard to block and punishing to kill, and you’ve got the next best thing to a bomb. That pick will make the main deck, I’m pretty sure.
Some other notables here include Altac Bloodseeker # 3 as well as Welkin Tern # 3. I also picked up a Goblin Rabblemaster and an Inferno Fist, which seems to pair really well with Welkin Tern. I snap up every Blue and Red playable that comes to me, and am feeling good about my deck all of a sudden. Since I got decent Red from the people on my right in pack one, I can’t imagine I’m going to be too badly off for Red at least come pack three. I’m hoping to pick up at least one Lightning Strike in the next pack and maybe some other removal to go along with my evasive guys.
Act Three of the Tragedy: The bottom falls out.
There’s a saying in poker: “You can never bluff an idiot.” The idiot will always call your bluff. They don’t understand the nuance of the game. You can represent a great hand with your bet, your eye movements, and be totally in control of all of your tells. If you opponent doesn’t know how to read those things, you’re still as much a victim of Lady Luck as the guy who doesn’t know the game.
I feel betrayed come pack three. My Blue guys. My Red guys. Where have you gone? I make it through three packs without even seeing a Lightning Strike. It occurs to me that I may have been sending the right signals, and reading what colors my opponents were drafting correctly. They could just not understand how to read my signaling. The guy directly on my right turned out to be a White/Red deck. Which strikes me as odd, since I know he passed me a Preeminent Captain in pack 3. I suspect that people to his right were blue, and he must have opened something good in Red in pack 2, and decided that he was going to force Red in pack 3. Mise.
Here is what I played, to the best of my memory:
1 Evolving Wilds
8 Mountains
8 Islands
3 Forge Devil
1 Void Snare
2 Altac Bloodseeker
1 Peel from Reality
3 Welkin Tern
1 Inferno Fist
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Divination
1 Frost Lynx
1 Paragon of Gathering Mists
1 Into the Void
1 Cone of Flame
1 Hoarding Dragon
2 Nimbus of the Isles
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Scuttling Doom Engine
1 Glacial Crasher
It felt like a pile. I was pretty sure I could steal a few wins by putting out a couple of Welkin Terns with a Paragon, but I did not feel confident sleeving this up without any Lightning Strikes. My friend Melvin from another pod comes over as I’m building and shows me his Red deck. It splashes Green for the ability on Kird Chieftain and Black for Nightfire Giant. It has three Lightning Strikes. I groan. It looks like a good Red deck should. Mine looks like… well, jank.
Round One - Ehren B/R Midrange
In spite of the hipster spelling of his name, Ehren is good people. He’s newly graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Journalism. Bless him, he still thinks people can read. If a potential employer reads this: Give Ehren a job. I don’t know his last name. There can’t be two Ehrens. Give the one you know a job. He’s nice and plays good Magic.
I don’t remember a lot of game one. I discover than my Welkin Tern plan is pretty good with Paragon of Gathering Mists. On the last turn of the game, I Cone of Flame his board and swing for 7. This will be a common theme for the evening.
Game two was similar. I didn’t change anything from the main deck. I was amazed that my plan of Welkin Tern + Inferno Fist was good. By turn 3 I was attacking with my 4/1 flying Welkin Tern, and then armored him up further by adding Paragon by turn 4. Into the Void was my MVP this game, as it let me sneak in a lot of great damage. A favorite play of mine was to Frost Lynx down a blocker, let him play out another guy, and then have two saucy targets for my Into the Void. Good times were had by all. He played out a Nightfire Giant, which is really good against my Welkin Tern.dec, but I Void Snared it instead of losing. Mise, amirite? Tempo is a thing, apparently. I kept trading my cards for his turns and life, which lead to me beating face. I’ll take it.
“You have a really good deck,” Ehren tells me as I pick up my cards to go report. I look down at my deck with Glacial Crasher.
“Thanks,” I say. I’m thinking that I’d rather play with the 2 Nightfire Giants he told me he has, but I got the win, so I walk away happy.
Games 2-0, Match 1-0
Round Two - Blake B/W Flyers
Blake is one of those quiet Magic players. I used to feel like these kinds of players were trying to get me on tilt, but I now I think they just like to concentrate. Everyone plays Magic a bit differently, I suppose. I’m a talker, but not everyone is.
Game one I keep a questionable hand. It has two Welkin Terns, a Paragon of Gathering Mists, and a Cone of Flame. It also only has two lands. They’re Island and Mountain, so I decide to keep, and that with some tight play I can win it.
Blake’s first play is a Carrion Crow, which my Welkin Tern happily attacks through. I follow it up with another Welkin Tern, and then Paragon the turn after that. Blake has Oppressive Rays for the two Terns though, so I draw the third and play it. We smack each other around for a bit, each content in thinking that we can win a race against each other. I’m on two Mountains and two Islands, and salivating over the Cone of Flame in my hand. All I have to do is draw a land in the next few turns, and I’ll cruise to game 2 up one.
I’m on 13 life, but Blake has a Midnight Guard, an Accursed Spirit, and a Hushwing Griff in play. He gets in a good attack or two, and brings me to six without me drawing a land. I’m staring down a lethal attack, but I know that if I can get in two attacks, I will win.
All I have to do is draw the land.
Naturally, I fail the Legacy, and draw a spell instead, promptly losing.
Game two, I don’t make any changes.
I mulligan my first hand, a no lander. My six isn’t much better, but the curve is really low, and it has a Mountain. The trouble is, that’s all it has for land. I shrug and say, “Mise.” I keep it.
Naturally, I command my deck to feed me lands. It does. I win on turn six after Cone of Flaming for Blake’s board on turn 5.
I expected a reaction from him, but Blake goes to his sideboard and seems ready to move on to game three. I’m still a bit jazzed, so I start talking.
“I was sitting on that thing all of game one. I just couldn’t draw the land to cast it,” I tell him. He appears unimpressed. Blake is a very Zen soul. I think about it for a bit and agree. Good players draw the land when they need it. I still lost game one.
Game three is a strange one. I open my hand of Hoarding Dragon, Nimbus of the Isles and five lands. “Mulligan!” My brain tells me.
“Keep,” my mouth says. Lousy mouth. Why do you do these things to me?
We both play our turn one lands and pass back and forth. Neither of us want to play out our creatures. “Your guys are smaller than mine!” I want to say. “I’ll win if you let me! Really, I will! It doesn’t matter if I keep bad hands!”
Somewhere in there, I draw (what else?) Welkin Tern. I decide to use it to draw removal. It does. Goodbye, my sometimes-lover.
On turn 5 I’m faced with the decision of running out the 3/3 Nimbus of the 4/4 Dragon. Both of us are on more or less our starting life totals, and I assume the reason he hasn’t cast anything is that he’s holding a grip full of removal. I drop the 3/3. Amazingly, it isn’t killed immediately. I whack him with it once after Frost Lynxing a blocker. I drop out a Altac Bloodseeker and pass to him. He kills the Nimbus with me tapped out and plays Triplicate Spirits. Hater.
On my turn, I formulate a plan. I Forge Devil on of the Spirits. My Bloodseeker gets +2/+0. I Peel from Reality the Forge Devil and one of the Spirits. I Forge Devil another Spirit. My Bloodseeker gets +2/+0. I attack for 6, bringing him to 7. On his turn, he swings with his Accursed Spirit and drops a 2/2 blocker along with an Oppressive Rays on my Altac Bloodseeker. I look at the other 2 Forge Devils in my hand. Then I look at my life total. 4. Yikes. I untap and draw Inferno Fist. I look at the board and go, “Mise.”
I double Forge Devil the blocker, and then I Inferno Fist the Accursed Spirit. I pay 3 to attack with my now 6/1 Altac Bloodseeker, bringing my 1/1 Forge Devil along for the ride. A perfect 7. Whew. Blake shrugged.
Games 4-1, Match 2-0
Round Three - Matt UB Control
We chat a bit before the round and agree to ID and split the prizes. I know that I don’t really care about opening any M15 packs, so I ask if we can play anyway. Matt, being gracious, accepts.
Game one is very similar to other games I’ve played. I get to Cone of Flame on turn 5 and attack with a lot of Welkin Terns. I think that a lot of my opponents put me on a slower strategy than I actually had, but that was fine with me. I got to cast Into the Void for a pair of 4 drops, which was really nice. I kept getting to beat for 3 after playing bounce spells, which felt great.
Game two was… very similar. When your 40 card deck gets to play with 3 copies of Welkin Tern, Altac Bloodseekers, and Forge Devil, there is a limited amount of variance in your games. I think I won this game by Cone of Flaming two blockers and directing the 3 damage at Matt’s face, then attacking with a 6/1 Altac Bloodseeker. That card is better than it looks.
Games 6-1, Match 3-0
I left 5 packs richer, but very smiley. I liked this deck, but it seemed like I won more off the back of the very bomb-ey Cone of Flame a lot. You can’t reliably get that Uncommon, but if you can, UR Tempo with evasion is apparently a viable strategy to draft in M15. I think I’d prefer to be in something with allied colors, because of the Sunblade Elf/ Nightfire Giant/ Kird Chieftain/ Dauntless River Marshall Uncommons, but if I can’t get those, this was a fine deck to play.
Ultimately, what I liked most about this deck was that it could play some janky blue creatures, apply a clock and disruption, and then win anyway. Thanks for reading.
