What's the Gol(gari) Here? - Monday Draft Report - June 12, 2017

Last week was a crazy busy week for me and mine, so when Friday came around, I was ready to just throw caution to the wind and draft something fun. Thankfully, it would seem that the table was ready to agree with me. Before we get into anything, I want to admit up front that if there'd been a proper aggressive deck at the table, I wouldn't have done nearly as well as I did, but as we were all drafting for fun, and there was a bit of table talk, all round, we ended up with decks that were more "sweet" than "good". I did draft fairly well though, I thought. Let's jump in to pack 1.

So my first pick was really difficult. There were no fewer than four first pick quality cards in the pack. I had to choose between Hapatra, Final Reward, Deem Worthy, Magma Spray, and Hooded Brawler. I chose to go with Hapatra, mostly because I hadn't gotten to play with her yet, and unlike most gold cards, I thought she'd be worth splashing if I ended up in either green or black, due to the amount of good -1/-1 counter cards in either of those colours. The rest of the pack had me fairly well convinced that the drafter to my right was in green as well, and by the end of the pack I was content with my place in red/green. I knew that since we two were cutting green so hard, I'd be rewarded on the second pack.

On the way back I wanted to cut green as much as possible, so that the drafter I was fighting with would have incentive to move into a second colour, but I really couldn't pass up Decimator Beetle. Not only is it just very strong on its own, but comboing with Hapatra made it a prime pick. Pick two was also a bit of a gamble, as I hadn't seen any good black in pack 1, and I already had the start of a fairly good red deck, but if I was already sure to be playing two Black/Green cards, I thought I'd better make a go at getting back into black. The rest of the pack should have convinced me not to bother, though the green was still coming fairly solidly. I had a choice between Quarry Hauler and Oracle's Vault second to last in that pack, and though I knew the drafter I was passing to was green, I also knew I wanted to try the Oracle's Vault if possible. I already had two Quarry Haulers in my pile, so I chose the jank and moved on.

In pack three, my rare was a Sheltered Thicket, which would have been very useful if I'd been smart and drafted the deck I was supposed to, but to be fair, even if I had stayed Red/Green, I think I would have taken the Edifice of Authority over the land. A fairly decent removal spell beats fixing most days.

The rest of the pack helped, as enough green and black were bleeding through to complete my deck. I have no idea how the seventh pick Hooded Brawler got through to me, but I was extremely greatful. Also, a second to last pick Nest of Scarabs, which I wouldn't have run if I hadn't been specifically in this deck. It turned out to be just "fine", but we'll talk about that when we get there.

So, here's the deck. I would have liked a few more creatures to put those Cartouches on, but as it stands, I think I did fairly well. The real problem was my actual curve. It's hard to see here, so let's take a slightly different look at the deck.

Curved out like this, you can see on which turn I'm looking at casting my spells, rather than how much they cost. I have one Greater Sandwurm and Stinging Shot at two, because if I didn't have one of my two drop creatures, I was happy to cycle them both away, especially if I knew my opponent had few targets for the shot. I actually played all of my good green and black cards. I was hoping through the whole last pack to find an Evolving Wilds, or even a Painted Bluffs, so that I could splash some of my killer red, but alas, it was not meant to be.

As it turned out, the drafter to my right was in Black/Green as well, so we were fighting the whole way along, but the packs were so rich that I don't think it would have made a difference aside from me getting a few more playables. If I'd had more options, I probably wouldn't have run the Nest of Scarabs or the Rhonas's Monument, but both were fine.

On to the rounds!

Round 1 I played against a new drafter, who I'd actually convinced to come out and try the format! He plays Yu-Gi-Oh, so competitive card games are not unknown to him, but the concept of drafting was new and exciting.

As it happened, he managed to draft a fairly interesting Black/White Zombies deck, which would probably have given me more trouble if he'd been more familiar with the rules. As it was a friendly draft, and navigating an unfamiliar game can be difficult, I helped him out a little bit, but in the end it came down to the Oracle's Vault. Our first game went a full 47 minutes with us both topdecking, and once I started playing a free card every turn, he couldn't keep up. In game two, I got out to a much faster start, and I probably would have won, but we went to time, so I ended up winning in 1.

Round 2 was against my dear, sweet, Tams. The draft wasn't quite as kind to her as it was to me, as her uptable drafter switched colours a few times, but she

managed to pull together a fairly decent long game deck. In the end my deck proved stronger, as I had Oracle's Vault and Edifice of Authority to manage the long game advantage. A top decked stinging shot did good work against her blue flyers, and casting Wander in Death to get back both a Greater Sandwurm and a Crocodile of the Crossing was fairly decisive. I won both of two games simply by casting more spells than her (some of which were for free), and though I nearly milled myself out, I managed to get the damage in before that happened.

Round 3 my opponent and I decided to draw. We were both 2-0, and didn't want a loss spoiling our records, but as always happens at The Gamer's Emporium, when you draw, you play it out for the extra pack.

It just so happens that my upstream drafter managed to go 2-0 with her Black/Green deck, so the finals was a mirror match! Between the two of us I think she had the stronger deck overall, though without a Hapatra and a Decimator Beetle, which I never gave her the chance to snag. In this match, too, my deck proved better for the long game. I had potential for a very quick start, running Hapatra into Nest of Scarabs or Hooded Brawler, into Crocodile of the Crossing, but more often, I found myself really getting started around turn four, after dropping a couple of do nothings. I fully admit, again, that had there been a Red/White deck at the table, I would have gotten run over, but based on how open red looked during the draft, I was fairly sure that wasn't going to happen.

The round went to three games, and then to turns, and then to a draw, which meant it was up to tiebreakers to determine who got the extra pack, but they were all fun games. The only mistake I noticed on my side was one which actually cost me the second game. I should have played a creature, rather than a Wander in Death on my final turn. I wanted to set up my hand for the next turn, and get value off of Rhonas's Monument. If I'd played a creature instead, I would have been able to block my opponent's ground attack, and I wouldn't have lost to the top decked Blighted Bat. Though I thought I could live through a removal spell, I forgot about the possibility of my opponent having a creature with haste. I won't be making the same mistake next time.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and not one I'm likely to repeat. If there's anything I've come to agree with the pros about this format, it's that games can go very quickly if you're unprepared, and who knows when that R/W Rush deck will show up to just kill you.

Thanks for reading,

-Step.