Battle for zendikar drafts 6... 3-0s 3... 3/6 :D... and those 3 were the ones with prizes (rather than helping someone open a box). won FNM two weeks in a row
Never had a better run in a limited format. It seems like this format really suits me. I had 2 2-1's as well. Just the one trainwreak trying to play R/W allies Munda the Goma fada then cut completely out the rest of the draft. Other than playing RW twice (to do it properly the second time) I have played a different archetype each time.
I stabilized at 1 life against a GB Scions deck that had a Zulaport Cutthroat in play. I had drawn six lands in a row (a total of 4 spells and 11 lands), but I used Stone Haven Medic to keep my head above water long enough to topdeck and deploy creatures. He had gotten a bit impatient in trying to close out the game, steadily losing one creature at a time while I kept his Giant Mantis at bay with my 1/3. I was finally able to turn the corner with a 7/7 Endless One into an Angel of Renewal.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
I played sealed deck for the first time (since I started playing Magic in 1995) last night, oh man, have I been missing out!
And wanted to share about this really cool play I made and was wondering if it would be frowned upon to create an entire thread JUST to brag about what I did... then I saw this thread.
By golly, this thread might be the smartest thing I've seen any admin do. It fulfils a burning need, keeps the forum clean, and tastes better than unicorn poop!
Didn't take me long to decide to play Grixis Aggro. I had a Molten Nursery, Nettle Drone and a Ulamog's Nullifier. Sealing the deal for the Eldrazi direction was the fact I had 2 Sludge Crawler and 2 Culling Drone. It was on. I was going to try the ingest - un-ingest for value ETB effects. I had 2 Evolving Wilds in my packs as well, so I wasn't too worried about going tricolor, with black as my base. It felt "right" as well, since my main deck is Grixis Delver, and I play Grixis Twin, Grixis Control and Grixis Burn as well. What could be a more fitting entry for me into Limited?
I know, its missing a spell. I cant remember for the life of me what it was. Edit:It was Zulaport Cutthroat!!! This deck, my first sealed deck EVER, took me to 2-1 against: Bant Control, Naya Allies, Mirror.
M1: Bant Control
G1 - At first it feels like he's playing Simic - its only in G2 when he gets a white source. In any case, the first game goes like absolute clockwork - I curve from Crawler into Culling Drone into Nettle Drone, followed by a Wasteland Strangler un-ingesting to -3/-3 his first and only creature before I finish up with Swarm Surge. Nettle Drone does a lot of work, and he continues delivering in all my matches. I love that guy.
G2 - I mulliganed to 5, and am pretty worried. The most epic play I probably did for the night happened here, though. I've got a Crawler on the board and a Kozilek's Sentinel. He Awakens with Roil Spout and puts my Sentinel on top of the library. Things aren't looking too good at this point and he has that 3cmc 2/1 mana dork on the board as well, now against my lone Crawler. His lands and his dork are tapped out, though. On my turn, I swing for 1, and ingest a card. I then cast Bone Splinters, sacrifice my Crawler and Destroy his 4/4 land. I then un-ingest with Strangler and off his dork. He doesn't recover from that.
M2: Naya Allies
G1 - He mops the floor with me using Veteran Warleader. I don't remember much else, but something something all my allies have vigilance and first strike, something something all my allies have trample. When Retreat to Emeria hits the board I know I'm doomed. But I play out the game best I can anyway just to see more of his deck. I think that Trample thing happened after I knew I was a goner.
G2 - Molten Nursery, Nettle Drone and Brutal Expulsion do excellent, excellent work for me this round. I manage a solid win here.
G3 - My dumbest move of the night happened here. I block his 3/3 Veteran Warleader with my Nettle Drone, thinking it was a fair trade because his warleader would ultimately grow beyond my control. My ignorance of the fact he could be given first strike by tapping any ally leads to a loss of a vital damage source. I struggle and put up a fight, and ultimately he wins with 1 life. Yes, 1 life. The bonehead move with Nettle Drone cost me this match, and my opponent knew it too. He sheepishly said he was pondering whether to tell me about the ability but figured, well, I should have read the card carefully. He wasn't wrong.
M3: Mirror (BGw)
He suggests we split packs, and I agree. So we just play a round for funsies, which I win. Nothing of particular importance happened, but basically Molten Nursery and Nettle Drone win the game for me across an otherwise stalled board. edit: I forgot, one thing did happen: I resolved Part the Waterveil for the first time that night this round. I didn't exactly win on the extra turn, but I do recall it pretty much putting me far enough in the lead.
Aftermath: I collect my 2 prize packs, and crack a Zada and a Shambling vent. My M3 opponent, being a really nice guy, agreed to trade me his Sunken Hollow for my Prairie Stream when I mentioned I played Grixis. (He was like, wow, Grixis in modern and Grixis in Limited too, huh?)
Lessons learnt: Read every card carefully especially when drafting a new set!!! I would have had 1 more pack to crack if I hadn't gone and blocked with my Nettle Drone. Also, M2 taught me that no matter how confident I am of dealing damage, I still need at least 4 removals. Relying on just 2 is taking a huge risk.
This is essentially bragging, so this seems like the right thread, but I do also have a serious question.
Does anyone else feel like the 8-4s for this set have just been incredibly soft so far? I feel like I routinely see top tier commons (Sheer Drop, Reproach, Skyspawner, Clutch, Outnumber) going 5th to 8th, Gnarlids, Sliderunners, Predators, Valakut Invokers, and Thicket somehow seem to wheel more often than not, and I've even seen stuff like Fissure and the good blighteds wheel.
Usually I'd assume that seeing cards I consider top tier so consistently go late means that my assessment of their value is off, but I'm currently 19-2-7 with a huge variety of archetypes.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
Haven't played in any 8-4s yet. I've watched some pro 8-4 draft videos, and from that small sample size I would have to agree with you. I saw something like a 7th-8th pick Coastal Discovery on a video the other night, and I have a hard time imagining that's correct very often.
I wonder if it has to do with the MM-esque focus on archetypes. As an example, a person might believe he/she is drafting a good RG deck, but if the red cards that are actually coming around are really for the UR devoid deck, maybe they're building the "wrong" red deck and passing good blue, so somebody a few seats down really benefits. Does that make sense?
Terribly synergistic. Catacomb Sifter + Smothering Abomination/Brood Butcher is disgusting, and adding From Beyond into the mix is pretty much game over. Sludge Crawler is MVP status for winning me a game through 2 Dampening Pulse from my opponent and taking down multiple 3/3s and 4/4s along the way. Sided out the Sludge Crawlers once all night, against a BG deck that was also spamming Scion tokens, put in Culling Drones. I remain of the opinion that UB or UBx (usually R or G) is where you want to be in the the Limited format. It takes some work and a bit of luck but when it comes together it just makes something beautiful.
Terribly synergistic. Catacomb Sifter + Smothering Abomination/Brood Butcher is disgusting, and adding From Beyond into the mix is pretty much game over. Sludge Crawler is MVP status for winning me a game through 2 Dampening Pulse from my opponent and taking down multiple 3/3s and 4/4s along the way. Sided out the Sludge Crawlers once all night, against a BG deck that was also spamming Scion tokens, put in Culling Drones. I remain of the opinion that UB or UBx (usually R or G) is where you want to be in the the Limited format. It takes some work and a bit of luck but when it comes together it just makes something beautiful.
Goodness, that's a lot of multiples. Coupled with the wide array of different cards you have for the archetype, I'd imagine that the others at the table were fighting each other for RG Landfall or Allies or something. That's good news for you, of course, because it would mean all of their decks are weaker as a result.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Terribly synergistic. Catacomb Sifter + Smothering Abomination/Brood Butcher is disgusting, and adding From Beyond into the mix is pretty much game over. Sludge Crawler is MVP status for winning me a game through 2 Dampening Pulse from my opponent and taking down multiple 3/3s and 4/4s along the way. Sided out the Sludge Crawlers once all night, against a BG deck that was also spamming Scion tokens, put in Culling Drones. I remain of the opinion that UB or UBx (usually R or G) is where you want to be in the the Limited format. It takes some work and a bit of luck but when it comes together it just makes something beautiful.
Goodness, that's a lot of multiples. Coupled with the wide array of different cards you have for the archetype, I'd imagine that the others at the table were fighting each other for RG Landfall or Allies or something. That's good news for you, of course, because it would mean all of their decks are weaker as a result.
Yep. I sat at one end of the table and I think the two other Blue players were sitting on the opposite end, fighting between each other (one opened a Lumbering Falls and still elected to not play Blue because he was getting cut so greatly. He wound up going into GW because of an Emeria Shepherd). It helps that the Devoid cards are all very narrow in what kind of deck they can go in outside of the obvious Devoid decks. I got a last pick Sludge Crawler and was thrilled to see it. Quickly becoming one of my favorite cards, next to Eldrazi Skyspawner.
So.. at my weekly non FNM drafts I have gone 3-0, 2-1(6 man 4 way tie), 3-0, 3-0 that's getting a bit reduclous now.. I won FNM twice in 4 weeks as well. Apparently its my month.
I take the firebird first but then just jump around taking the best cards in multiple colours I see in the first pack.. Hearld Of Kozilek wheels.. RU I am. Second pack was perfect I get most of my deck there... third pack.. nothing again.. nothing that is except outnumber. There was a blue green player to my right taking my skyspawners and incubator drones. but it seems like the packs were just kind of bad.
What surprised me about this deck was how fast it was.. curve out and start hitting for 8 on turn 5 then use an awaken spell and kill them turn 6. imagine if it was the actually good version of the deck...
I did a battle for zendikar draft tonight at FNM and in my first pack I opened a foil Veteran Warleader. I draft it, thinking that GW allies might be a good way to go. The person to my right hands me a pack with a Lumbering Falls and I take it, figuring that since I'm in green, splashing blue is easy. Then I get handed a foil Scatter to the Winds followed by Nissa's Renewal and Ugin's Insight and I figure the blue is now more than a splash so I might as well try converge.
The next pack I open has Ob Nixilis Reignited, I take it because it pays for the draft and I don't want to play against it. I am then handed a pack from my left with Greenwarden of Murasa in it. I decide to just give up on drafting any kind of competitive deck and just go five-color good stuff converge. Then the third pack in the second round gives me a Bring to Light to work with.
All-in-all I built a surprisingly sweet deck in which I was able to play every single one of the 8 rares and 2 mythic rares I drafted. I went 1-1-1 losing a RW allies aggro deck in the first match, winning my second match against a esper eldrazi deck and tieing my third match against a RB eldrazi deck. I gave my third opponent the win since I already made a profit for the night and the draft's prize support was a pack per match win (reporting the match as a tie would have meant neither of us would get a 2nd pack).
I am still riding high on the euphoria of opening four packs and ending the night with an expedition, three mythic rares, two foil rares, and 6 other rares.
Unfortunately I hit submit about a fraction of a second late and MTGO didn't register the deck. I was stuck playing an 80-card Monstrosity with all my picks.
(EDIT - Maybe I got indecisive on the number of Islands and including Skyrider Elf last minute and had an illegal deck temporarily when the timer hit 0, but I would have just submitted something had I seen the time was about to expire.)
Round 1:
2-0 (won with 80-card deck, then boarded into real deck and won)
Round 2:
2-1 (won with 80-card deck, lost tight game, won 3rd with landfall beats)
Round 3:
Got crushed.
Whoever I knocked out with an 80-card deck must have been peeved.
Games involved:
-hiding behind walls while Valakut Invoker blows everything up
-breaking armies
-Rolling Thunder and then breaking armies
-moar Rolling Thunder
I think I occasionally attacked with creatures en route to 3-0.
So I cast Eladamri's Call EOT, he counters with Stubborn Denial, I Cyclonic Rift his Kamahl, pay the 1 and resolve the call for Cromat, then cast Vampiric Tutor to tutor to the top. I have 19 cards left in my library and I'm at 7. My turn I draw the card I tutored.... Coalition Victory!!! I cast Cromat and pass the turn back hoping he can't kill me. He Emblems Jace, casts Rush of Knowledge to dig, mills me 5. Casts Compulsive Research, to dig mills me 5..... and passes! I untap and slam Coalition Victory for the win. It was pretty effing awesome lol. My opponent didn't even get all salty, their response was, "Nicely done sir, I tip my hat." lol
Unfortunately I hit submit about a fraction of a second late and MTGO didn't register the deck. I was stuck playing an 80-card Monstrosity with all my picks.
If you fail to submit in v4, it auto-submits whatever you have in the deck section when the timer expires. It only gives you the default 80-card deck when you have an illegal deck in there.
Hmm I must have been 1 land short then, as I kept changing the land distribution and swapping in and out the blue cards. I clearly should have hit submit much earlier when I had the first version done, then could have had time to debate the blue splash knowing at least I would have a deck at the end.
Regardless, the power level of cards in my SB was pretty decent so the full deck wasn't awful, as far as 80-card decks can go. I could actually hit my colors reliably thanks to the mana fixing. And playing Landfall with 40 lands wasn't that bad either...
(This bragging isn't completely unconstructive. The constructive advice to be gleaned from this draft is to open 2 mythics and get passed a third so you can win an entire draft with 7 Forests in your deck.)
Today was a end of year party for the store... the not so local store but the biggest store in the area. to celibrate they had a standard tournament to get your hands on cards from foil set of Worldwake. I don't really play standard much and I'd of had to be up early. So I turned up later for a side event draft.. the prize was a canopy vista expedition
Kill all the things.. slowly drain your opponent to death.
Decided to treat myself to an 8-4 on my birthday... and ended up 2-0'ing Reid Duke!
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My helpy helpdesk of helpfulness.
My Decks: EDH: Sygg, River Cutthroat , Road to Scion
Grimgrin, Corpseborn Modern: Polytokes IRL: Progenitus Polymorph , Goblins
So in OTGW prerelease last night, I didn't open any mythics, but had no reason to complain because my promo was Matter Reshaper and my sealed pool gave me several powerful eldrazi and a grand total of 11 possible sources of colorless mana. I ended up being spoiled for choice and decided to not even play with the one Wastes I pulled because I had better options that would allow me to hit my non-colorless colors as well. I went 1-1 and then dropped because I was tired and fading fast. Then on my way out of my LGS I purchased the UR intro deck that ended up having a foil Kozilek's Return in one of the included booster packs, which made my night.
The deck had some consistency issues, but it was certainly powerful. Stoneforge Masterwork nearly went around the entire table somehow, and it was AMAZING. Putting it on a Sky Scourer or Vestige of Emrakul represents a lot of damage, and switching it over to a Flayer Drone after combat makes attacking a nightmare for opponents.
My last game of the night (round 3, game 2) was quite likely the best possible sequence of spells.
Turn 2 Kozilek's Sentinel
Turn 3 Flayer Drone, attack for 2
Turn 4 Vestige of Emrakul, drain for 1, attack for 5
Turn 5 Stoneforge Masterwork, equip to Vestige, attack for 5, equip to Flayer Drone
Turn 6 Maw of Kozilek, drain for 1, equip to Vestige, swing for 6
In hindsight, I probably should have taken more two-drops over four-drops. Someone across the table who was also playing Grixis Aggro had taken a lot of the two-drops and Reality Hemorrhages that I passed.
I had to mulligan basically any hand that didn't have a mix of two cheap creatures + tricks/removal, which turned out to be a lot of them. My basic plan was to play an early creature, use a combat trick to kill their blocker, then surge a Boulder Salvo to kill something else or a Freerunner to add additional pressure. Afterward, Cinder Hellions would close out games that went late.
I made some questionable picks (like a Cinder Hellion over a second Freerunner), but the deck had some explosive plays - like drawing a sixth land to go Makindi Sliderunner > landfall > surged Goblin Freerunner > surged Reckless Bushwhacker > attack for like 18 or something.
...I also didn't bother to run a 10th creature until halfway through round 3.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
I still look at my deck list now and wonder how in the hell did it work so well for me. I had no big threats until my 6th or 7th land drop, but the deck curved out beautifully every time. Three of my games started as turn 1 Jaddi Offshoot, turn 2 Sylvan Advocate, turn 3 Scion Summoner, turn 4 sac the token and cast Nissa's Judgement or Kozilek's Channeler, then I was so far ahead that my opponents were on the backfoot trying to keep off my assault. I couldn't ask for a better curve, especially the times I cast Embodiment of Fury on turn six and then played a land with the advocate out, giving me an absurd 5/5 trampler with haste.
Then when the deck would just about run out of gas, I'd draw Zendikar Resurgent and then untap my next turn, top deck a creature, cast it and then proceed to draw and cast three more in a row...
Omnath was just gravy on top of everything else, more often than not I'd hold it in my hand until I could cast it and then drop a land for landfall to get some value, because Omnath never lived long enough to attack, but was at least a good way to draw out my opponent's Oblivion Strikes.
I gave the final win to my opponent, since he said he might go to the Grand Prix and I knew I would never go, because those big tournaments for me are way too stressful. I don't even do many qualifiers, I just did this one on a whim because I like sealed so much.
Never had a better run in a limited format. It seems like this format really suits me. I had 2 2-1's as well. Just the one trainwreak trying to play R/W allies Munda the Goma fada then cut completely out the rest of the draft. Other than playing RW twice (to do it properly the second time) I have played a different archetype each time.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
And wanted to share about this really cool play I made and was wondering if it would be frowned upon to create an entire thread JUST to brag about what I did... then I saw this thread.
By golly, this thread might be the smartest thing I've seen any admin do. It fulfils a burning need, keeps the forum clean, and tastes better than unicorn poop!
OK, so this is what I want to gush about:
My rares/mythics were: Greenwarden of Murasa, Part the Waterveil, Brutal Expulsion, Prairie Stream, Nissa's Renewal (eew) and Wasteland Strangler.
Didn't take me long to decide to play Grixis Aggro. I had a Molten Nursery, Nettle Drone and a Ulamog's Nullifier. Sealing the deal for the Eldrazi direction was the fact I had 2 Sludge Crawler and 2 Culling Drone. It was on. I was going to try the ingest - un-ingest for value ETB effects. I had 2 Evolving Wilds in my packs as well, so I wasn't too worried about going tricolor, with black as my base. It felt "right" as well, since my main deck is Grixis Delver, and I play Grixis Twin, Grixis Control and Grixis Burn as well. What could be a more fitting entry for me into Limited?
This is what I created (to the best of my memory)
1 Outnumber
1 Bone Splinters
2 Culling Drone
1 Kozilek's Sentinel
1 Molten Nursery
1 Nettle Drone
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Murk Strider
1 Ulamog's Nullifier
1 Wasteland Strangler
1 Brutal Expulsion
2 Swarm Surge
1 Part the Waterveil
1 Vestige of Emrakul
1 Eldrazi Devastator
1 Ulamog's Reclaimer
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Blighted Cataract
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
6 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Island
I know, its missing a spell. I cant remember for the life of me what it was.Edit:It was Zulaport Cutthroat!!! This deck, my first sealed deck EVER, took me to 2-1 against: Bant Control, Naya Allies, Mirror.M1: Bant Control
G1 - At first it feels like he's playing Simic - its only in G2 when he gets a white source. In any case, the first game goes like absolute clockwork - I curve from Crawler into Culling Drone into Nettle Drone, followed by a Wasteland Strangler un-ingesting to -3/-3 his first and only creature before I finish up with Swarm Surge. Nettle Drone does a lot of work, and he continues delivering in all my matches. I love that guy.
G2 - I mulliganed to 5, and am pretty worried. The most epic play I probably did for the night happened here, though. I've got a Crawler on the board and a Kozilek's Sentinel. He Awakens with Roil Spout and puts my Sentinel on top of the library. Things aren't looking too good at this point and he has that 3cmc 2/1 mana dork on the board as well, now against my lone Crawler. His lands and his dork are tapped out, though. On my turn, I swing for 1, and ingest a card. I then cast Bone Splinters, sacrifice my Crawler and Destroy his 4/4 land. I then un-ingest with Strangler and off his dork. He doesn't recover from that.
M2: Naya Allies
G1 - He mops the floor with me using Veteran Warleader. I don't remember much else, but something something all my allies have vigilance and first strike, something something all my allies have trample. When Retreat to Emeria hits the board I know I'm doomed. But I play out the game best I can anyway just to see more of his deck. I think that Trample thing happened after I knew I was a goner.
G2 - Molten Nursery, Nettle Drone and Brutal Expulsion do excellent, excellent work for me this round. I manage a solid win here.
G3 - My dumbest move of the night happened here. I block his 3/3 Veteran Warleader with my Nettle Drone, thinking it was a fair trade because his warleader would ultimately grow beyond my control. My ignorance of the fact he could be given first strike by tapping any ally leads to a loss of a vital damage source. I struggle and put up a fight, and ultimately he wins with 1 life. Yes, 1 life. The bonehead move with Nettle Drone cost me this match, and my opponent knew it too. He sheepishly said he was pondering whether to tell me about the ability but figured, well, I should have read the card carefully. He wasn't wrong.
M3: Mirror (BGw)
He suggests we split packs, and I agree. So we just play a round for funsies, which I win. Nothing of particular importance happened, but basically Molten Nursery and Nettle Drone win the game for me across an otherwise stalled board. edit: I forgot, one thing did happen: I resolved Part the Waterveil for the first time that night this round. I didn't exactly win on the extra turn, but I do recall it pretty much putting me far enough in the lead.
Aftermath: I collect my 2 prize packs, and crack a Zada and a Shambling vent. My M3 opponent, being a really nice guy, agreed to trade me his Sunken Hollow for my Prairie Stream when I mentioned I played Grixis. (He was like, wow, Grixis in modern and Grixis in Limited too, huh?)
Lessons learnt: Read every card carefully especially when drafting a new set!!! I would have had 1 more pack to crack if I hadn't gone and blocked with my Nettle Drone. Also, M2 taught me that no matter how confident I am of dealing damage, I still need at least 4 removals. Relying on just 2 is taking a huge risk.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Does anyone else feel like the 8-4s for this set have just been incredibly soft so far? I feel like I routinely see top tier commons (Sheer Drop, Reproach, Skyspawner, Clutch, Outnumber) going 5th to 8th, Gnarlids, Sliderunners, Predators, Valakut Invokers, and Thicket somehow seem to wheel more often than not, and I've even seen stuff like Fissure and the good blighteds wheel.
Usually I'd assume that seeing cards I consider top tier so consistently go late means that my assessment of their value is off, but I'm currently 19-2-7 with a huge variety of archetypes.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
I wonder if it has to do with the MM-esque focus on archetypes. As an example, a person might believe he/she is drafting a good RG deck, but if the red cards that are actually coming around are really for the UR devoid deck, maybe they're building the "wrong" red deck and passing good blue, so somebody a few seats down really benefits. Does that make sense?
3 Sludge Crawler
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Benthic Infiltrator
1 Catacomb Sifter
1 Cryptic Cruiser
1 Ulamog's Nullifier
1 Smothering Abomination
1 Incubator Drone
1 Skitterskin
2 Mind Raker
1 Spell Shrivel
1 Complete Disregard
1 Grip of Desolation
Sorcery - 2
2 Swarm Surge
Enchantment - 1
1 From Beyond
Land - 18
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
6 Island
7 Swamp
1 Murk Strider
1 Swarm Surge
1 Dominator Drone
1 Sludge Crawler
3 Culling Drone
1 Transgress the Mind
1 Gruesome Slaughter
Terribly synergistic. Catacomb Sifter + Smothering Abomination/Brood Butcher is disgusting, and adding From Beyond into the mix is pretty much game over. Sludge Crawler is MVP status for winning me a game through 2 Dampening Pulse from my opponent and taking down multiple 3/3s and 4/4s along the way. Sided out the Sludge Crawlers once all night, against a BG deck that was also spamming Scion tokens, put in Culling Drones. I remain of the opinion that UB or UBx (usually R or G) is where you want to be in the the Limited format. It takes some work and a bit of luck but when it comes together it just makes something beautiful.
Focus: Omnath, Locus of Mana EDH.
,
- UG Ezuri, Claw of Progress The Artist Formerly Known as Kraj,
- R Heartless Hidetsugu Burn it all down .
- G Kamahl, Fist of Krosa/Jolrael, Empress of Beasts Nacatl War-Pride shenanigans.
- WBR Zurgo Helmsmasher Wrath.dec
Goodness, that's a lot of multiples. Coupled with the wide array of different cards you have for the archetype, I'd imagine that the others at the table were fighting each other for RG Landfall or Allies or something. That's good news for you, of course, because it would mean all of their decks are weaker as a result.
Yep. I sat at one end of the table and I think the two other Blue players were sitting on the opposite end, fighting between each other (one opened a Lumbering Falls and still elected to not play Blue because he was getting cut so greatly. He wound up going into GW because of an Emeria Shepherd). It helps that the Devoid cards are all very narrow in what kind of deck they can go in outside of the obvious Devoid decks. I got a last pick Sludge Crawler and was thrilled to see it. Quickly becoming one of my favorite cards, next to Eldrazi Skyspawner.
Focus: Omnath, Locus of Mana EDH.
last nights deck
1 Salvage drone
2 Kozileks sentinel
1 Mist intruder
2 Kozilek's herald
1 Ruination guide
1 eldrazi sky spawner
2 Murk strider
1 Incubator drone
1 Vestige of emrakul
1 Cloud manta
1 Akoum Firebird
1 Oblivion sower
5 outnumber
1 clutch of currents
1 rush of ice
1 stonefury
lands
1 spawning bed
1 evolving wilds
8 mountain
7 island
I take the firebird first but then just jump around taking the best cards in multiple colours I see in the first pack.. Hearld Of Kozilek wheels.. RU I am. Second pack was perfect I get most of my deck there... third pack.. nothing again.. nothing that is except outnumber. There was a blue green player to my right taking my skyspawners and incubator drones. but it seems like the packs were just kind of bad.
It doesn't even look very good, only one guide no vile aggregates one skyspawer one mist intruder no enough exile to allow for the murk strider. 5 outnumber though!
What surprised me about this deck was how fast it was.. curve out and start hitting for 8 on turn 5 then use an awaken spell and kill them turn 6. imagine if it was the actually good version of the deck...
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
The next pack I open has Ob Nixilis Reignited, I take it because it pays for the draft and I don't want to play against it. I am then handed a pack from my left with Greenwarden of Murasa in it. I decide to just give up on drafting any kind of competitive deck and just go five-color good stuff converge. Then the third pack in the second round gives me a Bring to Light to work with.
In the last pack I open Beastcaller Savant and get handed a Brood Butcher from my right.
All-in-all I built a surprisingly sweet deck in which I was able to play every single one of the 8 rares and 2 mythic rares I drafted. I went 1-1-1 losing a RW allies aggro deck in the first match, winning my second match against a esper eldrazi deck and tieing my third match against a RB eldrazi deck. I gave my third opponent the win since I already made a profit for the night and the draft's prize support was a pack per match win (reporting the match as a tie would have meant neither of us would get a 2nd pack).
Then when I opened my single booster prize pack I got an Expedition Canopy Vista and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger...
I am still riding high on the euphoria of opening four packs and ending the night with an expedition, three mythic rares, two foil rares, and 6 other rares.
Way behind on board - slams Oblivion Sower - drops 7 lands, opponent forced to draw 14 cards from Sire and decks himself.
1 Scythe Leopard
2 Snapping Gnarlid
1 Oran-Rief Invoker
1 Makindi Sliderunner
2 Valakut Predator
2 Grove Rumbler
1 Ondu Champion
1 Broodhunter Wurm
2 Shatterskull Recruit
1 Akoum Hellkite
1 Breaker of Armies
1 Outnumber
2 Swell of Growth
1 Sure Strike
1 Unnatural Aggression
1 Brutal Expulsion
//Planeswalkers: 1
1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
//Lands: 18
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Blighted Woodland
1 Island
1 Fertile Thicket
7 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Skyrider Elf
1 Infuse with Elements
1 Earthen Arms
1 Retreat to Kazandu
1 Seek the Wilds
1 Roilmage's Trick
1 Rush of Ice
1 Kozilek's Sentinel
1 Scour from Existence
1 Stonefury
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Spell Shrivel
1 Angelic Gift
1 Forerunner of Slaughter
1 Reclaiming Vines
1 Prism Array
Unfortunately I hit submit about a fraction of a second late and MTGO didn't register the deck. I was stuck playing an 80-card Monstrosity with all my picks.
(EDIT - Maybe I got indecisive on the number of Islands and including Skyrider Elf last minute and had an illegal deck temporarily when the timer hit 0, but I would have just submitted something had I seen the time was about to expire.)
Round 1:
2-0 (won with 80-card deck, then boarded into real deck and won)
Round 2:
2-1 (won with 80-card deck, lost tight game, won 3rd with landfall beats)
Round 3:
Got crushed.
Whoever I knocked out with an 80-card deck must have been peeved.
2 Kozilek's Sentinel
2 Nettle Drone
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
1 Valakut Invoker
2 Cloud Manta
1 Incubator Drone
2 Kozilek's Channeler
1 Oracle of Dust
1 Clutch of Currents
1 Breaker of Armies
1 Outnumber
1 Anticipate
1 Sure Strike
1 Spell Shrivel
1 Gruesome Slaughter
2 Rolling Thunder
//Lands: 18
10 Mountain
8 Island
1 Dispel
1 Boiling Earth
1 Oracle of Dust
1 Coralhelm Guide
1 Wavewing Elemental
1 Eldrazi Devastator
1 Scour from Existence
1 Roilmage's Trick
Games involved:
-hiding behind walls while Valakut Invoker blows everything up
-breaking armies
-Rolling Thunder and then breaking armies
-moar Rolling Thunder
I think I occasionally attacked with creatures en route to 3-0.
Board State:
My lands are Watery Grave, Temple Garden, Sacred Foundry, Blood Crypt, Polluted Delta, Twilight Mire, Simic Growth Chamber, and Glacial Fortress. I have a Cho-Manno, Revolutionary in play. My opponent has a pile of U/R lands, a Jace, Telepath Unbound on 9 Loyalty, Kamahl, Pit Fighter and a Venser, Shaper Savant in play. Opponent is tapped out except for a Volcanic Island.
So I cast Eladamri's Call EOT, he counters with Stubborn Denial, I Cyclonic Rift his Kamahl, pay the 1 and resolve the call for Cromat, then cast Vampiric Tutor to tutor to the top. I have 19 cards left in my library and I'm at 7. My turn I draw the card I tutored.... Coalition Victory!!! I cast Cromat and pass the turn back hoping he can't kill me. He Emblems Jace, casts Rush of Knowledge to dig, mills me 5. Casts Compulsive Research, to dig mills me 5..... and passes! I untap and slam Coalition Victory for the win. It was pretty effing awesome lol. My opponent didn't even get all salty, their response was, "Nicely done sir, I tip my hat." lol
Hmm I must have been 1 land short then, as I kept changing the land distribution and swapping in and out the blue cards. I clearly should have hit submit much earlier when I had the first version done, then could have had time to debate the blue splash knowing at least I would have a deck at the end.
Regardless, the power level of cards in my SB was pretty decent so the full deck wasn't awful, as far as 80-card decks can go. I could actually hit my colors reliably thanks to the mana fixing. And playing Landfall with 40 lands wasn't that bad either...
I even won while drafting 'green.'
2 Cliffside Lookout
1 Kor Castigator
1 Stone Haven Medic
1 Veteran Warleader
1 Undergrowth Champion
1 Shadow Glider
2 Eyeless Watcher
1 Ghostly Sentinel
2 Tajura Beastmaster
1 Angel of Renewal
1 Oblivion Sower
1 Ruin Processor
2 Call the Scions
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells: 4
2 Gideon's Reproach
1 Inspired Charge
1 Smite the Monstrous
Lands: 18
10 Plains
7 Forest
1 Fertile Thicket
(In fairness, green did provide some excellent sideboard support in the form of 2 Plummet.)
(And 2 Territorial Baloth, which came in handy when my finals opponent had a maindeck copy of Rising Miasma.)
(This bragging isn't completely unconstructive. The constructive advice to be gleaned from this draft is to open 2 mythics and get passed a third so you can win an entire draft with 7 Forests in your deck.)
Kill all the things.. slowly drain your opponent to death.
1 Endless one
3 Kalistra healer
1 Kor castigator
1 Felidar cub
1 Stonehaven medic
1 Nirkana assassian
2 Makindi patrol
1 Kalistra nightwatch
1 Emeria shepard
Spells
2 Ondu rising
1 Gideon's reproach
2 Complete disregard
1 Sheer drop
1 Stasis snare
1 Smite the monstrous
1 Mires malace
1 Rising miasma
1 Planar outburst
1 Mortary mire
9 Plains
7 Swamps
1 Felidar cub
1 Tandem tactics
1 Retreat to Hagria
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
My Decks:
EDH: Sygg, River Cutthroat , Road to Scion
Grimgrin, Corpseborn
Modern: Polytokes
IRL: Progenitus Polymorph , Goblins
Just a friendly reminder that I will drive this car off a bridge
Well, I just managed to 3-0 violating most conventional Limited principles:
-only 11 creatures in aggro
-only 13 "lands"
-multiple 1-power 1 drops
-maindeck artifact kill
-leaving flyers and card advantage and unconditional removal in SB
1 Student of Warfare
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Leonin Arbiter
1 Seeker of the Way
1 Abbot of Keral Keep
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Silverblade Paladin
1 Manic Vandal
//Spells: 6
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Disenchant
1 Searing Spear
1 Lightning Helix
1 Banishing Light
1 Ravages of War
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Winter Orb
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
//Mana: 18
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Arid Mesa
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Sacred Foundry
6 Plains
4 Mountain
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Boros Charm
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Mardu Woe-Reaper
1 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Emeria Angel
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Outpost Siege
I pretty much only killed mana dorks, mana rocks and duals and then watched greedy decks lose to themselves.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
1 Dimensional Infiltrator
1 Slaughter Drone
1 Sky Scourer
1 Kozilek's Sentinel
2 Cultivator Drone
1 Kozilek's Shrieker
1 Eldrazi Aggressor
1 Flayer Drone
1 Vile Aggregate
2 Maw of Kozilek
1 Vestige of Emrakul
1 Skitterskin
1 Sifter of Skulls
1 Embodiment of Fury
1 Stoneforge Masterwork
1 Bone Splinters
1 Grave Birthing
1 Complete Disregard
1 Oblivion Strike
1 Boulder Salvo
1 Holdout Settlement
3 Island
6 Mountain
6 Swamp
The deck had some consistency issues, but it was certainly powerful. Stoneforge Masterwork nearly went around the entire table somehow, and it was AMAZING. Putting it on a Sky Scourer or Vestige of Emrakul represents a lot of damage, and switching it over to a Flayer Drone after combat makes attacking a nightmare for opponents.
My last game of the night (round 3, game 2) was quite likely the best possible sequence of spells.
Turn 2 Kozilek's Sentinel
Turn 3 Flayer Drone, attack for 2
Turn 4 Vestige of Emrakul, drain for 1, attack for 5
Turn 5 Stoneforge Masterwork, equip to Vestige, attack for 5, equip to Flayer Drone
Turn 6 Maw of Kozilek, drain for 1, equip to Vestige, swing for 6
In hindsight, I probably should have taken more two-drops over four-drops. Someone across the table who was also playing Grixis Aggro had taken a lot of the two-drops and Reality Hemorrhages that I passed.
I also 3-0'd last week with this atrocity.
1 Makindi Sliderunner
1 Immobilizer Eldrazi
1 Valakut Predator
1 Reckless Bushwhacker
1 Akoum Flameseeker
1 Kozilek's Shrieker
1 Goblin Freerunner
3 Cinder Hellion
2 Unnatural Endurance
2 Brute Strength
1 Sure Strike
1 Sparkmage's Gambit
1 Reality Hemorrhage
1 Visions of Brutality
1 Devour in Flames
1 Oblivion Strike
2 Boulder Salvo
1 Looming Spires
10 Mountain
5 Swamp
AGGRO DECK WITH 10 CREATURES, GO
I had to mulligan basically any hand that didn't have a mix of two cheap creatures + tricks/removal, which turned out to be a lot of them. My basic plan was to play an early creature, use a combat trick to kill their blocker, then surge a Boulder Salvo to kill something else or a Freerunner to add additional pressure. Afterward, Cinder Hellions would close out games that went late.
I made some questionable picks (like a Cinder Hellion over a second Freerunner), but the deck had some explosive plays - like drawing a sixth land to go Makindi Sliderunner > landfall > surged Goblin Freerunner > surged Reckless Bushwhacker > attack for like 18 or something.
...I also didn't bother to run a 10th creature until halfway through round 3.
1 Blisterpod
1 Jaddi Offshoot
1 Sylvan Advocate
2 Eldrazi Aggressor
1 Netcaster Spider
2 Scion Summoner
1 Embodiment of Fury
1 Grove Rumbler
1 Saddleback Lagac
1 Kozilek's Channeler
1 Tajuru Beastmaster
1 Birthing Hulk
1 Omnath, Locus of Rage
1 Seek the Wilds
1 Spatial Contortion
1 Boulder Salvo
2 Nissa's Judgment
Artifacts:
1 Seer's Lantern
Enchantments:
1 Zendikar Resurgent
Lands:
5 Mountain
1 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
1 Sanctum of Ugin
2 Wastes
I still look at my deck list now and wonder how in the hell did it work so well for me. I had no big threats until my 6th or 7th land drop, but the deck curved out beautifully every time. Three of my games started as turn 1 Jaddi Offshoot, turn 2 Sylvan Advocate, turn 3 Scion Summoner, turn 4 sac the token and cast Nissa's Judgement or Kozilek's Channeler, then I was so far ahead that my opponents were on the backfoot trying to keep off my assault. I couldn't ask for a better curve, especially the times I cast Embodiment of Fury on turn six and then played a land with the advocate out, giving me an absurd 5/5 trampler with haste.
Then when the deck would just about run out of gas, I'd draw Zendikar Resurgent and then untap my next turn, top deck a creature, cast it and then proceed to draw and cast three more in a row...
Omnath was just gravy on top of everything else, more often than not I'd hold it in my hand until I could cast it and then drop a land for landfall to get some value, because Omnath never lived long enough to attack, but was at least a good way to draw out my opponent's Oblivion Strikes.
I gave the final win to my opponent, since he said he might go to the Grand Prix and I knew I would never go, because those big tournaments for me are way too stressful. I don't even do many qualifiers, I just did this one on a whim because I like sealed so much.