Two drafts

Wednesday I decided I was going to go straight from work to go draft at First Pick. I opened the Blue/Black Liege and picked it, then was passed the Red/Black Liege, which I took over the Blue/Black 3/2 flier for 3. I don't remember a lot of details from this draft since it was two days ago now, but I was definitely trying to take the most solid card in the deck, but ended up with a Blowfly Infestation, a couple Scars and some guys, so I tried committing myself to black. In the third pack I picked a couple of Hatchlings high over 2 and 3 drops and ended up with a very 4-drop heavy deck that I didn't like putting together, but had to go with.

Round 1 I played against Martin who won Seattle Regionals this past summer and did pretty well at Nationals, and who I remember from last summer being one of the best players in the area. He also plays insanely fast, and the previous week I heard him get pretty upset with someone who was going into the tank for a while. With my place being on the slow side, I felt pressured as I was shuffling up. Game 1 he stumbles on land and I attempt to put the pressure on, but I make some bad decisions trying to be timely with his decisions and I know he's thinking way ahead of me, and he ends up coming back. Game 2 I don't really remember but I think it was a blowout. I put myself out of that game before I even played a land. I know that he plays fast, but I have to play at my pace. I've never gotten a slow play warning, so my pace must be acceptable at least to a judge. I already talked about how I'd like to play faster so that I don't draw unnecessarily, but I can't push it or try to keep up with someone's pace.

Round 2 I play against Eli, another solid player. Game 1 was actually pretty close. I made an attack toward the end of the game when he had a big guy, a Safehold Duo, and a Green mana up. I knew to play around Barkshell Blessing, but totally didn't fully consider how the best way for him to play it would be and end up losing two of my dudes and he loses none when he plays it out. Game 2 I'm under pressure early, get my two Lieges out, but can't draw more gas (not that my deck had much of it), and still lose. Out of the money.

I decide to play Round 3, but don't draw gas. My Scars are very underwhelming when my guys aren't even that good. 0-3 drop. I can chalk this one up to bad deck/bad color, but it wasn't like I was playing optimally either.

Friday I head out again, and there's only 14-15 people playing, presumably because everyone's ready for the new set to come out so they don't want to draft an irrelevant format. I draft a Red deck splashing White for Mercy Killing, Barkshell Blessing, and 3 Ballyknock Cohorts, 2 of which came about 5-7th pick in the second pack. I opened a Ballyknock Trapper and took I think an Outrage Shaman over it, then it came back and I took a Mimic over it because I wanted to be heavy Red to support my two Tattermunge Duos and Cinder Pyromancer, but I wasn't that heavy at 4 anyway, and I even cut a Mimic from my deck. My deck was still pretty solid with a good curve with lots of 3 drops and ways to win the close ones with Cinder Pyromancer/Flame Jab and Unwilling Recruit.

Round 1 I play against someone I played in the draft Extravaganza who I didn't think was that good. Game 1 I can't deal with an enchanted Slippery Boggle and lose. Games 2 and 3 my deck works pretty darn well and I don't think I ever thought I was going to lose either of those games.

Round 2 I played a WR deck, where at one point he had Prison Termed my guy and with a Finks and a Loyal Griffin beating me down from the air, with me with a few dorks. I ran out Unwilling Recruit on his Finks and even though he remove a guy the score goes from 13-19 in his favor to 13-8 in my favor. He sits back and after letting 3 go through, I run out Cinder Pyromancer and win out with Flame Jab. Game 2 is more of a blowout.

Round 3 I played a Black deck against someone who I think is pretty solid. Game 1 he draws 2 land, and Game 2 I curve out and he can't keep up. He tried to Fate Transfer from his Grief Tyrant to my Hatchet Bully, but I Mercy Killed for 3 tokens, then after running out a Green guy, attacked with 5 guys leaving back a Green guy and a White guy and he blocks with all he can leaving 2 1/1's, and I Barkshell Blessing with Conspire the two unblocked guys to deal the last 6. Blowout, yeah...

Round 4 I play against a regular. I blow him out Game 1 on his two lands, and I get blown out Game 2 after a mulligan to 5. Game 3 I mulligan again, but off of my six make my 1, 2, 3, and 4 drops. He plays out a Trapper which I dispatch with a Power of Fire on a Pili-Pala which I knew was going to get Cultbrand Cinder'd, but had to deal with. He runs out another Trapper, but I draw Flame Jab with the lands I smartly held in my hand and deal with it. I get him to 1 and just need to draw land and I get there. In that game I make the only real misplay that sticks out in my mind; I draw Flame Jab and have a Tattermunge Duo, a 4/4, and another guy and he has a couple dudes and the Tattermunge. I say Declare Attacks and he taps the 4/4, and then I realize I should have killed the Trapper right away, so that when he taps my 4/4, I still have a 4/5 to attack with which he will probably have to chump or gang block.

Other than that mistake, I was pretty happy with my play. Even though I wasn't playing against the best players that frequent the store, I'm glad I got there with a deck that was pretty good but didn't have bombs that just win the game, and I didn't punt any games.

This draft I wrote down every card that was played against me, which I think really helped my focus. I made sure to do it during my opponent's turn while he was untapping or drawing or something to not take up too much time, and it kept my mind from wandering off of the game. I totally plan on doing it during the prerelease tomorrow, not that the competition will be really great, but it's a habit I would like to develop because I think it helps me.

The past couple days I've been really looking over the commons of the set, mostly for draft and what archetypes show up. I don't know if I would draft two main colors and dip into the other two neighboring colors, or one main color and play cards from the two neighboring colors and focus on the guild. Regardless, this weekend is all Sealed Deck play, so I just have to focus on the best cards in the 75 that I open, but it did give me a look into how the format will play out. I think the commons are pretty typical, but you'll still want to get out to 7 and 8 mana to play your bombs. Tomorrow morning I'll look over the commons for tricks I need to watch out for, and then we'll see how it goes.