Tonight the Monday night draft only had 8 people show up, but it was still going to be a fairly competitive event. There are times when it is clear what you should be drafting and how to build your deck. This is not one of those times. I am not convinced I built it correctly.
Draft Pool
Armored Ascension
Apothecary Initiate
Ballynock Cohort
2x Kithkin Shielddare
2x Last Breath
Niveous Wisps
Strip Bare
Advice from the Fae
Biting Tether
Briarberry Cohort
2x Consign to Dream
Flow of Ideas
Ghastly Discovery
Isleback Spawn
Merrow Wavebreakers
Ashenmoor Cohort
Hollowsage
Flourishing Defenses
Prescence of Gond
Flame Javelin
Barkshell Blessing
Elvish Hexhunter
Medicine Runner
Raven's Run Dragoon
Rhys the Redeemed
Safehold Duo
Aethertow
2x Puresight Merrow
Silkbind Faerie
2x Steel of the Godhead
2x Thistledown Duo
2x Fate Transfer
Gravelgill Duo
2x Helm of the Ghastlord
Tattermunge Duo
Trip Noose
Watchwing Scarecrow
Here's your chance to build a deck. Clearly we are building a UW deck here. Clearly that is what I was drafting too. However the signals coming from my right were very muddy. I'd see good green cards and then good white cards and then good blue cards and I was never certain what the guy to my right was drafting. Turns out he was drafting a GWU deck. That explains why I was getting such weird signals. The guy to his right was drafting Bu. I don't know if there was someone drafting red nearby. The red I saw wasn't amazing.
The Deck
Rhys the Redeemed
Kithkin Shielddare
Medicine Runner
Briarberry Cohort
2x Puresight Merrow
Ballynock Cohort
Silkbind Faerie
2x Thistledown Duo
Raven's Run Dragoon
Safehold Duo
Watchwing Scarecrow
Merrow Wavebreakers
Niveous Wisps
Trip Noose
2x Steel of the Godhead
Consign to Dream
Aethertow
Armored Ascension
Biting Tether
Flame Javelin
12 Plains
5 Islands
SB:
2x Last Breath
Elvish Hexhunter
Consign to Dream
2x Fate Transfer
I've listed only the most relevant sideboard cards. I really wanted to get down to monowhite, but there were no more playable white creatures in the pool and Biting Tether is a really strong card. I would also like to add the Last Breath and Consign to Dream, but I feel the other non-creature cards are better and I can't afford to drop my creature count further. Aethertow is usually obvious, but untapping a Puresight Merrow into 2 untapped creatures gave me hope that I would manage to conspire it.
With eight drafters and prizes to the top 2, the draft would function largely as a single elimination draft.
I won round 1 by count of 2-0 due to having a superior deck against a Bu deck full of 1-power guys. I won round 3 by count of 2-1 due to having a superious deck against a Gr deck by casting Steel of the Godhead on a UW hybrid guy.
So what about round 2? Round 2 I encountered Cheeks and his deck was practically made to beat mine. Game 1 I put an Armored Ascension on a Puresight Merrow, but then it died to a turn 4 Gloomlance. If he doesn't hit that Gloomlance, he probably dies, but instead my hand is exhausted and Cheeks still has guys on the field. Cheek's deck had 3 Gloomlance and 3 Murderous Redcap, plus Curse of Chains, River's Grasp, and a few other pieces of removal I did not see.
So, what do you sideboard in that kind of match-up? Knowing that your opponent has so many opportunities to 2for1, do you remove the auras or do you keep them in because they are so powerful if they stick around? I chose to keep them in because so much of my deck is built around drawing those auras. I lost game 2 to the crushing card advantage again.
From building the deck, a Last Breath over Consign to Dream would probably have been correct. Niveous Wisps maybe should have been a Last Breath as well. Other than that, I think I built the best deck I could have out of the pool I drafted. Did I draft the best deck I could though, that is another question entirely. I'm still very annoyed about the GWU deck to my right.
I would be interested in hearing your opinions of the best deck to build out of the pool and if you would sideboard out the auras against the guy with triple Gloomlance.
See you Friday,
Zachary
Tags: Magic Shadowmoor Draft
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
