I'm going to try doing shorter game walk throughs for a while, as the length of time it takes to write them up "under the microscope" style limits the number of drafts I can post.  Maybe I can get a few more up this way.  This one was done the day after A Small Child's writeup on this archetype went up here on PureMTGO, and it was fresh on my mind from reading it.

You all know the drill.  Let's check out some picks!

Pack 1 pick 1:

  My Pick: Flame Slash
 
 

I have a confession to make. I almost picked Broodwarden here. I even had it right-clicked while I thought about it till I was almost out of time. The only real choices here are that or Flame Slash. Tuktuk is fun but not as powerful a card as those two. Green is really strong in RoE and I like ending up in it a lot. If I'm going to fight for it, best to start cutting it early as word is out amongst other drafters how strong it is. Also there's multiple archetypes that use spawn producers, and I love spawn decks personally. Still, this is a strong gamble if green isn't open, and this guy's double-green, and doesn't do much in a deck without many spawn. When playing savvy drafters at RoE, the removal dries up after the first 3-4 picks in each pack so that's when you take some. Flame Slash works in many more archetypes than Broodwarden - even a non-red deck that's able to splash could potentially throw this bad boy in there, and he kills a lot of good stuff the 2 damage removal spells won't touch.  Like that Broodwarden! I came to my senses and took the better pick, though I regretted seeing Broody go. Passing it and Growth Spasm means less green coming in pack 2 most likely.

  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick: Venerated Teacher
 
 

This was another tricky pick for me.  The best two cards are blue, the Bloodthrone is gambling on an archetype I don't know if I'm in yet - though red/black tokens is sweet and I briefly considered him.  Merfolk Skyscout is a strong card. It's got evasion, it can give pseudo-vigilance to any one of your attackers, or give you one extra mana for second main phase, or get an extra use out of a tap ability.  I have only a little experience drafting red/blue, but there's different ways to go with it.  He'd be a fine pick here and might go in a deck with the Flame Slash.  The Teacher, though, would be a definite gamble. If I pick up levelers he can be great, though I might not run Flame Slash in a levelers deck. Still, he has the potential to make a deck really powerful, and if I'm going to get steered into that archetype, best to take (and cut) it early. I decided for the higher risk, higher reward pick rather than the Skyscout, though I'd respect that pick too - might even be the better pick here.
 

  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick: Mnemonic Wall

 

This is where my Spider Sense started tingling.  The Archetypes column by a small child just covered this a couple days before this draft!  And I'd read it & it was still fresh in my mind, too. I haven't drafted the Mnemonic Wall archetype before.  I had one deck with a couple walls in it, but it was a very different sort of deck than covered in that article.  I also remember PV's report on the Pro Tour he won said blue/black/red control was his first choice in draft, the green/x he won the thing with was his second choice.  (Not a bad choice if it wins a PT!)  Traitorous Instinct is a very strong card that I think some people undervalue.  But the wall is that and then some, and I decide to try for the archetype just like in child's article. Skyscout in pick 2 would have been better with this, but oh well!  Time to focus on removal and card advantage and a few finishers, and grab any other Mnemonic Walls I see!


 

My Pick: Narcolepsy

 

Nice pack!  Wavewatch is decent for this deck too, but there's two removal.  I wanted Corpsehatch but I didn't know how black I'd end up or how much fixing I'd have, and the double-black mana's a little tricky & it can't get black creatures.  Narcolepsy gets anything but dudes that are gonna kill you with activated abilities, and it's got a low mana cost, and I can cut blue a little more.  Generally in Mnemonic Wall decks you don't want too many non-recurrable removals, you want instant and sorcery removal.  But this is one of the best removal spells in the set, and 1 or 2 of these is fine in the deck.  You want a variety of types of removal so you have answers to everything.  I miss Corpsehatch, but I don't need its spawns much so what the hey.


My Pick: Bala Ged Scorpion

 

Deprive is ok in this deck too.  But the Scorpion is a potential 2 for 1.  Also child's writeup points out it's good to have blockers for random bears, so you don't have to waste good removal on them and can save it for bigger threats later.  Having a 2/3 out when the opponent has multiple 2/2s in play is "virtual card advantage".


My Pick: Narcolepsy


Well, one pick later it's still one of the best removal spells in the set!  I don't mind running two. Spawning Breath just isn't anywhere near as powerful, though I'd like one later. Regress is good. But if I'm playing a slow control deck, it will rarely bounce a blocker just long enough for me to push through fatal damage.  And Narcolepsy solves totem armor even better than Regress does. Regress takes the armor out of action but the creature comes back. Narcolepsy takes out the armor AND the creature.

My Pick:


This is removal.  The other spells ain't removal.  Nuff said.  Plus it adds one more to our "number of different removal spells in the deck" count.

My Pick: Artisan of Kozilek

 

My spawn-loving side looked longingly at the Dread Drone before I forced my attention over to Artisan of Kozilek.  This is an excellent, excellent card.  It's a finisher, it's card advantage, it's got annihilator, it wins fights with Crusher. This deck doesn't ramp into him, but it makes the game go longer by killing and blocking the enemy till you just draw enough lands. Plus he helps with the potential problem of being too threat-light by potentially counting as two threats for one card.  Very happy to pick this guy up.


My Pick: Shared Discovery

 

Nothing that fits too well.  Gloomhunter is a weak threat for a deck that just wants a few big finishers.  Distortion Strike will have few targets and I'm supposed to kill whatever could block me, not sneak past! Goblin Tunneler's mostly irrelevant here too.  The Ogre Sentry might be ok.  David Ochoa, one of the top limited rated players in the world, says this card's awesome and he loves getting them late.  This archetype is creature light unfortunately, so it may not be playable in this deck, but I take it anyway.  Nothing else I'd be more likely to run from this pack.


My Pick: Nema Siltlurker

 

If I somehow get steered into green, this is filler that I won't want to run. At least it's one less high-toughness guy in someone's deck that only some of my removal spells will work on.
 

  My Pick: Zof Shade
 
 

Not great, but potential filler. With two swamps out this guy could do a passable impression of a finisher.
 

  Pack 1 pick 12:
 
My Pick: Cadaver Imp
 

Did somebody say card advantage?

  Pack 1 pick 13:

  My Pick: Fleeting Distraction
 
 

The fact that it's a cantrip could make it of some use with Mnemonic Wall. Though I'd hope to have better things to return, and hope not to run this.  It would be cute if I get a Splinter Twin to set up a card drawing engine. Not likely to play this even then.

  Pack 1 pick 14:

  My Pick: Nighthaze
 

Even less relevant than Fleeting Distraction, which at least slows down my demise. Aggro decks don't even like this much, and I'm no aggro deck!

  Pack 1 pick 15:

  My Pick: Swamp
 
 

Ok, so at the end of pack 1, I have 5 cards with the potential to generate card advantage.  Mnemonic Wall, Wrap in Flames (occasionally), Artisan of Kozilek (usually), Cadaver Imp (sweet with Artisan!), and Shared Discovery if I play it.  Five outa fifteen ain't bad!  The deck needs some more removal, more finishers, and hopefully more Mnemonic Walls.  Let's see what we can find in pack 2!

  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick: Enclave Cryptologist
 
 

There are some excellent cards here that don't fit my deck, and I spent some time looking through them. I love me some Hatcher, one of the best commons in the set, but he doesn't belong here.  Overgrown Battlement rocks, and I'm trying to learn to stop underdrafting it, but I'm not green.  Student of Warfare is supposed to be awesome, but I look him up and he's not selling for near enough to tempt me to rare draft, at 90 cents.  No way to squeeze him in this grixis deck profitably either, especially with white in his leveling cost.  Luckily there's a bomb in my colors, so I snag the Cryptologist.  Drawing two cards a turn usually wins, especially in a removal-heavy control deck.  This is a better pick than the others even if they DID fit my deck.

  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick: Brimstone Mage
 
 

Wow.  I'd like a Regress ok, I want that Induce Despair.  But Brimstone Mage is a triple threat in this deck.  He's removal.  He's card advantage.  He's a finisher. Everything this deck wants!   His slowness that keeps him from being as good as he seems in other decks is less of a problem here, as my deck should usually stall opponents long enough to get this guy up to level 3.  At which point watch out, free Lightning Bolt every turn!  Another Guard Duty going around, and a Beastbreaker, cards to be ready to see from opponents.

  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick: Ulamog's Crusher
 

Wrap in Flames got a little consideration here, but it's not strong removal and I have one already.  The adept could be ok as a 4/2 flyer, but the Crusher is easily a more powerful finisher and helps fill in that role for me.  If he doesn't get the job done, maybe Artisan will bring him back to overload their removal and bash in again.  He'll also help make Induce Despair good if I get another shot at one.

  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick: Lust for War
 
 

Wow, a shot at a third Narcolepsy!  A lot of good cards in various colors, this pack must have been sick when it was opened.  Lust for War is crazy good and I hardly ever want to pass one.  It even goes good on the same creature as one of those Narcolepsy I got in pack 1!  If people don't have removal for their own creature this kills them surprisingly quickly, it's a finisher.  Mnemonic Wall can block most of the guys you'd throw this onto, as well.  Somebody out there is going to have all the Guard Duty they can eat, which might be a little troublesome.  My Brimstone Mage gives me one way around that deck, anyway.
 

  Pack 2 pick 5:

  My Pick: Devastating Summons
 
 

Not an ideal finisher for this deck, as it wants to keep its lands to keep playing stuff.  But this is two creatures for 1 card, they can be fatties, they can be mid-sized and leave you enough lands to keep playing all your spells.  This card's under-appreciated in limited.  Nice Griffin and Battlement.  I guess my next best choice would be Inquisition, but it could be a dead card a lot of the time.
 

  Pack 2 pick 6:

  My Pick: Mnemonic Wall
 
 

I look a bit at the Baneful Omen, which gives you inevitability against anyone without a Naturalize or Demystify.  But I'm not playing a triple-black cost spell in a 3 color deck with no fixing.  Lay Bare and Explosive Revelation are playable in this deck, but hey look!  Mnemonic Wall!  Yoink!
 

  Pack 2 pick 7:

  My Pick: Skittering Invasion
 
 

Shrivel is tempting here, and sideboarding could decide when it's in or out.  But I grab the Skittering Invasion with thoughts of making my draw 3 spell playable.  Occasionally it can make sure you get from 7 mana up to Crusher or Artisan quicker, if the next lands after the 7th were a few cards down.  Not a great card for this deck, though.  If I'd opened with that Broodwarden, now we're talking!
 

  Pack 2 pick 8:

  My Pick: Warmonger's Chariot
 
 

Reality Spasm could probably do something significant in this deck sometimes, but I'm not sure I know what that is.  The Chariot isn't to make my normal creatures finish faster or swing through more blockers...  It's so I can suit up those Skittering Invasion guys and make them swing like bears, right?  Well...

  Pack 2 pick 9:

  My Pick: Jwari Scuttler
 
 

Another early bear blocker, though not as good as Scorpion.  One turn earlier though.  Could be filler, or sideboarded in against weenie-ish decks.

  Pack 2 pick 10:

  My Pick: Guard Duty
 
 

Wow, three solid cards tabled here.  I'll keep a Guard Duty out of someone else's hands, as I don't want to see it on my Eldrazi dudes.

  Pack 2 pick 11:

  My Pick: Crab Umbra
 
 

Can be sideboard against Narcolepsy.  I guess it could go on Cryptologist or Brimstone Mage pretty well too, maybe I should have tried that at least once.  those guys win without the extra activations anyway, usually.
 

  Pack 2 pick 12:

  My Pick: Guard Duty
 
 

Again the on-color spells are largely irrelevant to my deck, and I'm glad to keep Guard Duty out of enemy hands.

  Pack 2 pick 13:

  My Pick: Reinforced Bulwark
 
 

Defense is relevant to this deck, though I'd rather do it with better cards.  Could have hated Demystify here to protect my Narcolepsy a little.

  Pack 2 pick 14:

  My Pick: Explosive Revelation
 
 

Sweet, it tabled!  This is safest when used as removal on a tiny guy with 1 or 2 toughness.  But since you keep the card revealed, and since Mnemonic Wall can recur it, this is ok in the deck though inconsistent and has a pricey mana cost.  Piling on card advantage should get me there, though.
 

  Pack 2 pick 15:

  My Pick:
 
 

The deck picked up some nice cards in the first half of the pack, the second half was pretty dry.  It also needs more removal spells to really do what it's supposed to do.  We're in good shape on finishers and card advantage now.  We'll hope to get some good removal in pack 3.

  Pack 3 pick 1:

  My Pick: Last Kiss
 
 

I want the Drake Umbra, it's a killer card that wins games.  But I know I need removal, so Deprive or Last Kiss are the choices here.  I went with the Last Kiss.  Gotta remember passing Emerge Unscathed and be aware of it when facing white decks.  It's pretty significant against my deck.

  Pack 3 pick 2:

  My Pick: Vendetta
 
 

Score! This pack appears to have Vendetta plus some other cards of various types.  Vendetta please.  Funny that I see a second Devastating Summons.  Definitely worse in multiples!  Though in an aggro deck that would often see it as a game winning finisher, running two to increase odds of getting one would be reasonable.  I don't need it, I need removal, and this is one of the best for my deck.  Better than Narcolepsy because of the chance to recur it.

  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick: Induce Despair
 
 

The hit parade continues!  Frostwind's nice, but this is top notch removal, and with two big walls and two eldrazi in the deck it should take dudes down.  A fine answer to totem armor too.

  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick: Keening Stone
 
 

I'd like the color fixing of the prism, and the Pennon Blade is great in spawn decks and lousy in this one.  But here's TWO all-stars for this deck as mentioned in a small child's article.  The Guard Gomazoa really helps you pick and choose when to use removal so you can save it for the best targets, and I want it.  But Keening Stone is an excellent win condition for the deck with fast wins, reach, and immunity to creature removal.  Gotta have it!  As he says, the fact that you stock their graveyard with their own creatures just makes this Stone start up faster.  So nice to luck into this rare, and get to play this card in the deck where it works best!

  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick: Bala Ged Scorpion
 
 

Also worth considering are Crusher and Wrap in Flames.  The deck doesn't need more finishers at this point.  Wrap in Flames is ok removal, but I like the Scorpion better.  It still does something on a board with no weenies, and it only has to kill one dude to become card advantage.  Kills some significant things that the Flames won't.  (Though admittedly Wrap can combo with other damage to finish something off, occasionally).

  Pack 3 pick 6:

  My Pick: Emrakul's Hatcher
 
 

There's a couple Might of the Masses lurking at this table to be aware of.  I don't need a third Scorpion, and since this guy's very nice I snap him up.  He can buy a lot of time blocking, or quickly accelerate me to one of my two Eldrazi, both things I like.  He can even beat in or trade with a good creature sometimes.

  Pack 3 pick 7:

  My Pick: Mnemonic Wall
 
 

The second Induce Despair would be awfully sweet to have.  But dude, Mnemonic Wall.  I could see a case for Induce though, what do y'all think?  I think it's important to guarantee a big blocker and card advantage, and I filled out my removal nicely in pack 3.  Can never have enough though, and I want the one more strong removal spell here too!
 

  Pack 3 pick 8:

  My Pick: Kiln Fiend
 
 

I figured this oddball could fit in as filler, since the deck casts a fair amount of instants and sorceries, and will also often have cleared a path.  But if they block and trade with my 4/2 dude, hey then he was really removal.  Which is what this deck wants to have.  So ok.

  Pack 3 pick 9:

  My Pick: Deprive
 
 

Ok, I should have taken one of these by now.  But now's fine.  More diversity for my removal suite, yay!

  Pack 3 pick 10:

  My Pick: Wrap in Flames
 
 

Could have taken Lay Bare also.  I wanted to have more ways to burninate stuff though.

  Pack 3 pick 11:

  My Pick: Spawning Breath
 
 

Cake, meet icing.  Icing, meet cake.  I felt like this late gift was just enough to push the deck into "man I got lucky and got a sweet deck" territory.  It's not that great, but it's one more removal, it's cheap so I could Wrap + Spawning or whatever.  The free mana for later can help me get to my 5-9 mana spells, too.  Always nice to take out a leveler in response to leveling, or a utility tapper guy, or a Dawnglare Invoker.

  Pack 3 pick 12:

  My Pick: Guard Gomozoa
 
 

This made me blink.  I had to pass this for the Keening Stone and it tabled?!  I admit I drafted one of these and didn't maindeck it once in a levelers deck.  Because I was an idiot.  The Gomazoa Gods decided to give me another chance.  This is awesome for my deck, gumming up the board while I build card advantage and remove their worst threats.  Awesome!

  Pack 3 pick 13:

  My Pick: Aura Finesse
 
 

Nothing good in this pack.  After the last two, that's totally ok.

  Pack 3 pick 14:

  My Pick: Might of the Masses
 
 

This is way too late to be seeing this card.  Well I won't let the next guy have it to use against me, just in case he's in green.

  Pack 3 pick 15:

  My Pick:


This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.  Visit the draft converter today!

So this turned out to be a pretty nice deck!  How'd I build it, you ask?

Johnny Mnemonic

 

Creatures 1 Ulamog's Crusher 3 Mnemonic Wall 1 Emrakul's Hatcher 1 Enclave Cryptologist 1 Artisan of Kozilek 1 Brimstone Mage 1 Guard Gomazoa 2 Bala Ged Scorpion 11 cards Other Spells 1 Keening Stone 1 Induce Despair 1 Lust for War 1 Spawning Breath 1 Wrap in Flames 1 Deprive 1 Last Kiss 1 Vendetta 1 Flame Slash 2 Narcolepsy 11 cards

Lands 6 Mountain 7 Island 5 Swamp 18 cards Sideboard 1 Explosive Revelation 1 Wrap in Flames 1 Cadaver Imp 1 Kiln Fiend 1 Devastating Summons 1 Warmonger's Chariot 1 Skittering Invasion 1 Jwari Scuttler 1 Shared Discovery 1 Aura Finesse 1 Crab Umbra 1 Zof Shade 12 cards

Plenty of useful sideboard options.  I kept the double-black imp and the double-red Explosive Revelation in the sideboard since I have no color fixing here.  Devastating Summons is often an "all in" card, and this is a deck that wants to keep having mana to keep using its card advantage and removal.  I'm pretty happy with this deck, it has a wide variety of removal to deal with every type of threat, good sources of card advantage, and three different categories of finishers to make it hard for anyone to have the right answers for all of them.  (Eldrazi, Brimstone Mage, and Keening Stone).  Well four really, counting Lust for War.

Round 1, Game 1

I opened on a Flame Slash and Bala Ged Scorpion, plus five land with all 3 of my mana colors.  A reasonable keeper.  My opponent started on a turn 1 Caravan Escort into what turned out to be not levelers, but some kind of red/white aggro deck.  I held back removal as he brought out Dawnglare Invoker and Lagac Lizard, I held onto topdecked Vendetta and Wrap in Flames, just throwing out Guard Gomazoa to block.  He had Puncturing Light for my Gomozoa, so I Flame Slashed his hill gianty lizard.  His Kabira Vindicator was followed by a topdecked Brimstone Mage from me.  He probably expected me to hold back and level it, but I was happy to block and trade with Escort before it got bigger.  Vendetta ate his Vindicator, leaving his lone Invoker on the board.  After combat he played out a Lone Missionary.  My Wrap in Flames got the two-for-one, leaving his board wiped and nothing but 1 card in hand.

I dropped down Bala Ged Scorpion next, just to get some pressure going, my topdecked Lust for War having no targets yet.  He was unlikely to present a suitable target for its ability anytime soon.  He did have another Puncturing Light to kill my guy.  A topdecked Ulamog's Crusher to go with my 7 lands had to wait, but then I dropped another Scorpion as he just kept laying lands.  His next turn provided another Caravan Escort though, which he proceeded to level 3 times.

Here comes the "thinking turn", as I topdeck an 8th land.  I start tapping all 8.  Then I think.  That Escort will be 5/5, and only needs one hit on my 4 life to win.  I need 3 crusher hits, he's at 24 from his Lone Missionary.  But!  if I Lust for War now, I can chump with the Scorpion, then next turn, my Crusher can use his only potential blocking turn (since he must attack every turn after that) to kill the Escort when the Lust forces him to attack me.  Brilliant!

The sad part is, then I figured out the effects of Annihilator 6 and how it would let me outrace him anyway.  He holds back a turn while crusher is up, I annihilate all his lands, he attacks and scorpion chumps, next annihilator 6 wipes his Escort.  Clearly I'm thinking about Emrakul's annihilate ability, not the Crusher's much more modest Annihilator 2.  My brain short circuited, what can I say?  After untapping a bunch of lands, I just retapped them and played Crusher.

I got a land, he flashed in an Affa Guard Hound that knocked me down to 2 life when I chumped his Escort.  I've got him at 13 from one crusher hit and one trigger of Lust for War (which I put on his Escort anyway, 'cause why not).  He has two creatures on board, and I have no blockers.  This is where "it's better to be lucky than good".  I topdecked the one Emrakul's Hatcher to make three blockers, for the win.  He conceded on turn 14.

No re-use of spells there, but he played 7 creatures and I killed 5 of them.  Not bad!

Round 1, Game 2

This time I got a hand full of gas, but only 3 land.  Still, they're one of each color, so it's good.  I've got Hatcher into Crusher if I can hit 5 mana.  My Vendetta and four-drop were joined by topdecks of Narcolepsy, Last Kiss, and a land.  I don't waste early removal on his Guard Hound, getting a Scorpion out to block it after I Vendetta his Lagac Lizard. His Makindi Griffin impresses me enough to earn my Narcolepsy as I draw into Spawning Breath and Wrap in Flames.  He Ousts his griffin so he can get it back later, then swings in and I figure I'd rather draw out his Puncturing Light than see it kill some actually-good creature.  Sure enough, he has it.

Stalling on 4 land as I draw my Artisan, I Last Kiss his hound to go back up to 17 life, leaving the board clear with my 5 cards in hand to his 1.  Turn 7 I again don't draw land, and he brings his Griffin back.  With a topdecked Mnemonic Wall I have even more reason to hit 5 mana, so I Spawning Breath him for 1 to guarantee Hatcher mana next turn.  I perhaps should have gone for that 2-3 turns earlier, but I was under no real pressure.  As it is, I topdeck Induce Despair, so I leave mana open to -8/-8 his Griffin by revealing my crusher, hoping I'll get lucky and he'll enchant it.  Well, he did pump it +2/+0 with a (Battle Rattle Shaman) before I killed it.  That brings him to 3 creatures in the graveyard, one in play.

Next turn I draw land number 5, so I can run out my Hatcher without sacrificing a spawn.  This brings me to Artisan mana rather than just Crusher mana, which is sweet.  He swings in with his 4/2 Battle Rattle, and I'm happy to trade my Hatcher for it.  Only a second flashed in Affa Guard Hound saves his guy. That's ok, I'm just happy to have gotten my guy killed, as I realize how well he goes with Artisan!  next turn I draw a land, putting me at 6 land and 4 spawn.  I sac 3 to play Artisan, putting me down to 7 mana, not enough to cast Crusher.  Only Artisan brings back the Hatcher, who makes three more spawn tokens, and we're rocking!

+ =

Best Friends Forever, and baby makes three.

He had a Guard Duty for the Artisan, and a Caravan Escort to bring him up to 3 blockers, so I play out Crusher and my Hatcher knocks him down to 19.  He levels up his Escort to 5/5, giving him 9 power of blockers to trade for my guy.  Before attacking, I cast Mnemonic Wall to fetch back Vendetta, guaranteeing it'll be a blowout if he tries to triple block.  He just lets my crusher in, knocking him to 11.  After that he played out another Escort and tapped out all his mana leveling it up, giving him a 4th blocker.

I hit one of his guys with Vendetta at his end of turn, then untap to Wrap in Flames all his guys, swinging in with Crusher and Hatcher for exacties while he can't block.  Ironically, my topdeck was my second Wrap in Flames.  Ended the game with a spare Narcolepsy in hand, too.  This game he again played 7 creatures, and ended with 4 in the graveyard and 3 alive at the end.

Round 2, Game 1

I mulliganed a dodgy 2 land hand into a 3 lander with Brimstone Mage and no mountains, Keening Stone and Mnemonic Wall.  Not worth going to 5, anyway. I topdecked the mountain in time for turn 3 mage to his turn 3 Reinforced Bulwark.  His turn 4 Overgrown Battlement had me worried I might face some monstrous fatties in short order.  But back to back topdecked Bala Ged Scorpion wiped both of his walls, and left me feeling smug.  His followup Stomper Cub didn't worry me, as I could double-block and 1-for-1 there.

Savage flying beats, any way you slice it.

Then he dropped the turn 6 Drake Umbra.  Ouch!  Probably the one I passed, come to teach me a lesson. I had outs, but not much time to draw them,  Artisan of Kozilek made Induce Despair a good topdeck anyway, along with my two Narcolepsy.  As it was, he had an Aura Gnarlid followed by Narcolepsy on one of my scorpions to make the Gnarlid a 4/4.  I got a Flame Slash that could kill just the Gnarlid.  Had I a second mountain, I could have gone slash the cub, Mnemonic Wall, slash the cub again.  But it was not to be, and I was dead on turn 8 at -8 life.

Round 2, Game 2

I couldn't risk a 3 island hand, so I went down to 6 with three black & blue mana, two cheap black removal spells, and Brimstone Mage.  Good enough. My draws brought me Mnemonic Wall, Narcolepsy, Island, and then a blessed mountain to bring my whole hand live!  All he had out by that point was a Reinforced Bulwark.  My Brimstone Mage was met by an Aura Gnarlid in reply.  I decided to Last Kiss it before it could get all, um, gnarly.  He only had one mana untapped, so his many islands couldn't save it with a counterspell.  Better to play around one than wait till his turn, I thought.

He only had a Pennon Blade the next turn, and I started leveling up my mage, adding lands and another Mnemonic Wall, Flame Slash and a Bala Ged Scorpion to my hand. I was under no pressure as he showed me the Parade of Rampiness - Ancient Stirrings into Island, then Growth Spasm, another Growth Spasm, Overgrown Battlement, a useless Narcolepsy on my Mage just as he reached "Free Lightning Bolts every turn" level, then another Overgrown Battlement. I did take a couple turns off frying him to shoot the spawn tokens from his Growth Spasms, just in case.  I don't think he remembered to use his Reinforced Bulwark to prevent damage once the whole game.

Finally done boosting up my Mage, I dropped a Keening Stone that was happy his 3 sorcery ramp spells were in the yard.  I tossed Flame Slash at one of his battlements just so it would do its job faster.  Turn 10 I milled 5 cards, revealing a third Battlement (nice), Regress, Skywatcher Adept, and a couple land.  Faced with the next activation revealing 10 of his remaining 14 in his library, with no attackers on his board and me at 22 life, he wisely conceeded rather than reveal more info to me for game 3.  Little Kid was right, Keening Stone is the real deal & a good fast win condition in this deck!  I ended this game with 5 removal left over, if you count the two Mnemonic Wall.  And an opponent surely hoping for a less sucky draw in game 3.

I will note that he ended with 3 cards in hand, and may have been holding back smaller creatures rather than lose them to my Mage.  The one benefit of him being under Narcolepsy in this game, though, is he could have run out a guy & put the Pennon Blade on it while my mage was tapped and unable to respond to the equip ability.  Of course I would have hit him with Induce Despair but he didn't know that.  And even if he did, it's the correct play to try to run me out of removal and keep playing and blading up guys until one sticks.  Of course he might have had a hand full of irrelevant spells too, for all we know.

Round 2, Game 3

So, rubber game of the match!  I've obviously sideboarded in Kiln Fiend as it's in my opener, along with three land and Spawning Breath, Bala Ged Scorpion, and Mnemonic Wall.  I'm missing black mana, but only the scorpion minds so far, it's a keeper.  There will be card advantage from that Wall sooner or later.  This game he had Overgrown Battlement on turns 2 and 4.  I got his turn 3 Skywatcher Adept with Spawning Breath, even getting him to waste 3 mana leveling it before I responded.  I bluffed in a couple 1 point hits from Kiln Fiend, and got my Brimstone Mage out there and pinging.  He erased my damage and then some with the problematic Jaddi Lifestrider.  Then his Ancient Stirrings revealed Ulamog's Crusher, and me pinging his spawn just brought him from 9 mana down to 8, so I was in definite trouble.

My Guard Gomazoa could hold off Crusher damage, but not stop the Annihilator ability from wearing me down.  Worse yet, he had Pennon Blade to make his Lifestrider into a 7/13 brute, and Regress on my Gomazoa to get it out of the way for a turn, and make it that much more impossible for me to spend enough mana fast enough to stabilize even if I drew answers.  Which I didn't.  By turn 9 I was down to 1 Mountain and the Gomozoa in play, so one more attack phase finished it.  He even got his third Overgrown Battlement in play, to add insult to injury!  (And add another +1 to his Pennon Blade bonus).  I needed a swamp early in this game, so my Scorpion could slow down his ramping.  But it didn't happen.  Good thing this was a swiss draft!

Round 3, Game 1

A hand with two swamps just wasn't keepable.  This deck definitely could have used some color fixers.  My six was intriguing, consisting of A) an Island, B) an Enclave Cryptologist, and C) 4 other spells.  This hand could be terrible, or it could be awesome.

It would be awesome & almost unstoppable if A) I drew a second land pretty quick, B) My opponent didn't have early removal for my Cryptologist, and C) He didn't have a fast aggressive start I couldn't keep up with.

Or I could go to five cards.  I decided to give it a shot.

Can the Dynamic Duo save the day?

Being on the draw, while I didn't get land on turn 1, it arrived just on time turn 2.  Yes!  My opponent's first play was the decidedly "not fast aggro" Halimar Wavewatch.  He followed up with Venerated Teacher, still no major worries yet.  I resolved to loot every turn till powered up, to maximize my chances of getting the right cards to pull this off.  This got me my third land drop, a card deeper.  I could now use my Induce Despair plus Artisan of Kozilek to kill - well, almost anything.  My next looting brought me Narcolepsy.  Sweet!  My opponent pumped 2 mana into his Wavewatch - good, I want him to waste as much mana as possible.  He had no 4th land drop, and still only blue mana in play, just the kind of slowish start I needed to see.

Fully leveling up my Cryptologist, I'd be drawing an extra card every turn now.  I still didn't find my 4th land, but with 4 removal in hand plus a Mnemonic Wall, and my opponent on 3 land also, I wasn't worried.  He just leveled his Wavewatch again, hit me down to 16 life with his Venerated Teacher, and passed back.  Turn 5, I got a little greedy.  Topdecking a mountain, I just played it out and passed back with 7 cards in hand.  I could have thrown Narcolepsy on the Wavewatch, and maybe even Flame Slash on the Teacher as well, but I wanted to get him to waste 2 more mana leveling it, then Induce Despair the thing.  Drawing an extra card on my turn would put me at 8 cards, so I figured I'd do it on his turn.

I should mention at this point I was bragging more & more in private chat to one of my buddies about how good my game was going, how decisively I was gonna win this one, etc.  Well, he dropped a mountain and cast Domestication on my Cryptologist.  Ouch!  I activated it one last time before losing it, getting an island.  Still, even after I'd shoot my guy I'd still be ahead in cards from the extras he'd drawn me plus the value of the filtering turns.  And four removal plus Mnemonic Wall should keep me around till I could bash on him with the Artisan or something.  As it was, though, I didn't fire off the Induce Despair - hitting the Cryptologist with Last Kiss was important so he didn't draw cards for my enemy, and it gained me back the two points the Teacher hit for this turn.

Next turn, I dropped my 5th land - and got greedy again.  His Wavewatch was still at level 4 since he spent all his mana on Domestication last turn.  I still liked the "Make you waste 2 mana to get a 5/5 attacker, then Induce Despair your guy instead of just casting Narcolepsy on it now" plan.  I passed with 5 mana open.  Still could have zapped the Teacher with something, or Narcolepsied the Wavewatch to play it safe.  What happened was, before combat he tapped out for Lord of Shatterskull Pass.  So I figured my Induce Despair needed to go there, because he's not only going to be a 6/6, he's got that scary ability and I really would rather have the Wavewatch alive and under Narcolepsy than this guy, in case of bounce or something.  He also levels back up twice as quick!  So I despaired him, going back down to 14 from teacher.  What I notice now looking back, since he's tapped out I could despair the Wavewatch, then Flame Slash the 3/3 lord before he can spend even a single mana to get it out of Slash range.  Whoops!

Then I topdecked Hatcher - the gods do this just to punish me.  I tapped a bunch of mana to throw him out there, wanting my Artisan out sooner and figuring I can take one Wavewatch hit down to 8 and this blocks out the teacher...  And wait, I should have left one island open instead of one swamp, then I could have sacced a spawn to Narcolepsy the Wavewatch  this turn still!  D'oh!  Well that's ok, I'm still winning with this insanely good hand, right?  So sure enough he levels up into a 6/6 islandwalker and taps his other 2 land (he's still stuck at 4 land) to play Hada Spy Patrol.

No worries.  I get my 7th land and Flame Slash the Spy Patrol (no shroud for you!).  I briefly considered a play where I Mnemonic Wall for Induce Despair, with swamp and three spawn open so I can -9/-9 the Wavewatch and get rid of it.  But it seems like a needless waste of spawn tokens, and would take my mana below Artisan range until I get another land.

What I actually did was Narcolepsy the Wavewatch, and Lust for War the Wavewatch.  All he's got is a creature that'll deal him 3 a turn while unable to attack, and a bear.  I can fetch any of 3 different removal with my Mnemonic Wall, and I can get Enclave Cryptologist back with my Artisan of Kozilek and fully level it the next turn for more brutal card advantage.  Life is sweet.

And then it's not.  If this game proves anything, it's the ongoing theory that "Dr. Cat will occasionally correctly play around almost any type of combat trick except one - the red 'steal your guy' cards".

With me at 8 life, due to not being cautious enough earlier...  He "took control" of his own guy, untapped it, and gave it +2/+0.  Just enough to swing for fatal, unblockable damage.  Ouch!  You may remember I lost a match in an earlier draft report on here to Act of Treason.  And at a local card shop, one turn away from a fatal attack that would win game 2 and put me in top 8 of the tournament, my buddy Carl put together a 17 point attack with Act of Treason on me - just exactly my life total.  I *never* see that card coming!  (Thank goodness I beat him in game 3!)

So, I should make a habit of *always* considering how to play around Act of Treason.  Even when I'm in a format that doesn't have it, and my opponent is in white/green, and only has 2 lands in play.  Always!  So, now I'd need to win two in a row to still earn that last booster, and maybe earn back some shred of dignity in the eyes of you faithful PureMTGO readers.  Did I do it?  Read on!

Before the next game though, the important lesson to be learned here is that I should have been mentally focused on Tempo this game.  Tempo, Tempo, Tempo.  Because I have a slow starting hand, because I have card advantage and likely have the late game inevitability, I should have focused all my attention on not letting him get a win from better Tempo - even though he was slow, I was slower!  Had I recognized that Tempo was primary in this game, it would have guided me to better decisions on at least one turn, and probably let me win handily.

Round 3, Game 2

Time to roll up the sleeves and get to work!  The Explosive Revelation was sided in, clearly, because it was in my 4 land opener, with two of my three mana colors & a Narcolepsy.  A keeper.  My first topdeck was that last color, black, so my Scorpion would be ready for any pesky Wavewatches that might show.  In some games a scorpion or two would be sideboarded out, but never against Wavewatch!  Sure enough, he had a turn 2 Wavewatch this game.  I threw down my Scorpion on turn 4 rather than try to make h?iim waste more mana 'cause I had no other turn 4 play, and it gets me a creature on the board.  it did get 4 damage in.  He played out a Hada Spy Patrol which I could kill with Wrap in Flames or Explosive Revelation.  I decided to go for using revelation on the only size creature it's guaranteed to kill, getting the extra card, and saving the chance Wrap in Flames could do better work later.

He had Heat Ray to kill my scorpion.  I used the Mnemonic Wall that was revolutionized to fetch back the Explosive Revelation.  I fetch you, you fetch me...  My opponent had a 5th land, and his OWN Mnemonic Wall fetching back Heat Ray!  Wall wars!  He had Emrakul's Hatcher next.  THIS time the Explosive Revelation chose to reveal Vendetta and only do 1 damage, but I had a backup plan in case that happened, and hit the Hatcher with Last Kiss.  (If I'd revealed a 2 drop, I'd have used one of my two Wrap in Flames and taken out some spawn as well.

Next up was Rapacious One, who ate Vendetta from me.  I also topdecked Deprive, and with 9 land in play figured on keeping Deprive mana open most of the rest of the game.  His Frostwind Invoker got one of the two Narcolepsy in my hand - man this deck has a lot of removal!  Next up was Hada Spy Patrol, but he left 3 mana open and didn't level it.  (If he had, I would have used Spawning Breath in response. Drew all my removal this game!)  So he's telegraphing Deprive or something.  I topdeck my Keening Stone, then I shoot Wrap in Flames at his Spy and his two spawn tokens.  There's value for you!  He Deprives it as expected though, which is fine, I wanted to bait that out to play the Stone safely.  I could have surprised heck out of him with the second wrap in flames.  But...  If I use Spawning Breath and then topdeck a land, I'm at 11 mana and can play AND activate Keening Stone in the same turn, so that's the play here.

He taps 3 of his 5 mana to level the Spy, and I Spawning Breath it.  He sacs a spawn to bring out Lavafume Invoker, not a big concern to me right now so I don't Deprive it.  Then I topdeck another land, as planned.  Out goes Keening Stone, with 4 land and a spawn open.  I should mention here that I was getting interrupted this match by a phone call and having to help out my sick sweetie a bit.  Still no excuse for what I did next.  After he put Domestication on my wall just to get blockers out of the way (haha, no good targets!), he cast Spawning Breath on my spawn token.  Ok, you can swing in for 2 of my 18 life.  But I should have sacced it in response.  A) Fizzle his spell, no spawn to put him at 8 mana where he can activate his Invoker once.  B) That and the four lands gets him, actually, dead on my turn.  As it was, I missed the activation and gave him another turn to live.

So, I drop an island and pass back to him.  All I have to do is survive this turn, really.  He plays Traitorous Instinct, preparing to hit me down to 9 life.  Would I still win?  Yeah.  If he had a followup spell that could boost damage to fatal, or destroy my Keening Stone, or something, could I just deprive that one instead?  Sure.  But man, it's Traitorous Instinct again, and at this point Homey Don't Play That No More.  I deprived that bad boy faster than you can say Jumping Jehoshaphat.  At the end of his turn, I activated Keening Stone.  Hmmm, Ogre Sentry, Staggershock, Skywatcher Adept, eh?  Interesting.  I activated again on my turn, with 16 cards in his yard and 11 in the library.  He conceded rather than let me view the rest of his deck.  Man, that thing IS good.  Turn 15 win!

Round 3, game 3

I thought about bringing in one more "Win Condition", since there was a fair amount of removal and control on both sides, or a Cadaver Imp in case the game went long again.  But I didn't.  It was not without regret and hesitation that I looted away Keening Stone with my turn 1 Cryptologist.  But I wanted to keep all my "gas".  Would have been better to ditch the marginal Spawning Breath though.  He killed my Cryptologist, and I killed a lot of his stuff.  An awful lot.  But when I played my Artisan of Kozilek he had Deprive.  I still got my Cryptologist back, but he took it with Domestication and I had to kill it again.  With Artisan and Keening Stone gone, I was low on ways to win.  But I had Guard Gomazoa and a wall out, and I kept nuking his stuff until he was in topdeck mode, and then I pulled my Brimstone Mage.  Oh yeah, a fistful of free burn will get the job done!  But sadly I hadn't noticed how much my clock had been eaten earlier in the round, and I was down to 30 seconds.  Oh no!

Creatures he played - 8 plus stole one of mine.  Creatures in his graveyard - 6.  (Plus I killed a 7th when I nuked my own cryptologist).  Should have won this one.  If I'd kept Keening Stone, it would have won so much faster (and starting so much sooner) that I would have finished on time.

But I still blame that dang Traitorous Instinct I didn't play around in game 1.   Khaaaaaaaan!

Anyway this was a great deck, even if my piloting was a little subpar that day.  It was a blast to play, and I'd try it again in a heartbeat.  Especially if I can get another Keening stone!  The last game I actually played two Mnemonic Wall, getting back Flame Slash both times.  The turn he untapped his Rapacious One with Traitorous Instinct (Khaaaaan!), I threw Guard Gomazoa and a Mnemonic Wall in front of it so he got no Spawn tokens and no damage on me out of it.  Up until I messed up, I was having a ball.

If you draft some more RoE, I'd definitely recommend this archetype when it's open. It's powerful, it's fun, and when it's working well it can put you firmly in control of the game.  It does, however, involve more decisions (and more tricky ones) than most other decks, so mind that you play it carefully and thoughtfully.

And remember, that guy with 1 white mana open and one card in hand isn't waiting to catch you with Condemn.  He's really got Traitorous Instinct in hand to nail you next turn.  Don't be fooled!