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By: Thisismich, Michele Furno
Sep 15 2011 11:26am
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Disclaimer: With that description I'm not implying anything, I'm just stating the naked fact. I don't think I'm better than anyone nor that I play at pro level; after all it's still a game where luck counts along with the skill. Still, it happened and I must confess it was a nice morale boost :D

Anyway, as anyone here probably knows by now, RGD drafts returned for a week after last downtime (by the time you read this it may be, alas, over though) and I jumped into them head first for multiple reasons:

A) It's probably the best limited block EVER printed
B) The duals are juicy, especially for modern

As for point A, I must say that so far it didn't go bad at all, on average I was able to score better results than other blocks I drafted in the past; it's true that I never won 3-0 but I only lost once in the first round, so I always got something in return. Unfortunately for point B though, I didn't really open anything juicy yet :(, only a lesser dual (a Temple Garden), a Doubling Season and a Life from the Loam.

Oh well, I had boatloads of fun and that's the best payment for my tix, isn't it?

So, a couple of days ago I entered this queue:

I'm deeply sorry, I didn't know raredraft doesn't have the pictures for both dissension and guildpact :( I listed the cards in the comments.

Final Deck:

And I was paired with a guy whose name was ringing a bell inside my head but couldn't quite remember: mattn. For the entire first game I kept asking myself "Where did I already heard this nick from?", "Is it a recurring name when I draft?", then, as we were about to start game 2 I finally remembered, "OMG, he must be Matt Nass from CF (I won't say the full name of the site but I believe we all know where he's from, right?)" so I asked him and he confirmed my theory.

So, how the match went? Well, I think the description and the introduction kinda gave it away ;) but still, here you are:

M1G1:

Still oblivious of whom he was, I started with this hand on the play:

Mull \/

Keep /\

Needless to say I led the dances with the Votary of the Conclave and was able to swing twice with it (20-18) and then play my Freewind Equenaut before he made his first play (a Squealing Devil), which was, from my point of view, an optimal card because I could kill it with the votary and, if he denied the trade, I would be able to stop it with my Guardian of the Guildpact.

As I suspected he refused to trade (20-15), so I proceeded to play the aforementioned card.

An (Occular Halo) didn't change the board very much and I also drew a perfect card Skyknight Legionnaire for a big hit this turn (20-8).

He tried desperately to get something out of his deck using twice the draw ability from the halo (one before I passed and another one in his turn) but apparently all he could do was finding a Dimir Signet; I said apparently because after I declared my whole team as attacker, he played Clutch of the Undercity on my guardian (20-3) but that didn't change things much since I had no follow up plays anyway so I could re-cast it directly without losing a play and that was enough for him to concede.

M2G2:

Mull \/

Keep /\

I'm on the play... Urgh, things started looking grim since the beginning, but at least I had all my colors and some early action.

Of course I drew another land (the above mentioned Temple Garden) but I decided not to pay 2 lives and let it come into play tapped while all he did was playing a Dimir Signet, so, having drawn a Harrier Griffin which was among the high end of my mana curve, I just played a Transluminant and passed the turn.

On his turn he played a Squealing Devil that traded with my transluminant when offered to before I played the Freewind Equenaut I just drew. His next play was definitely better (a Helium Squirter) but since he had to tap out to play it, he couldn't activate it that turn, so I swung (20-18) before casting the Petrahydrox I drew.

I thought I could stabilize the board with that creature but he had an eventful turn because he played an Azorius Signet first and then a Tidewater Minion with the additional +1/+1 from the graft ability of the squirter; dang, that was a 5/5 and was very difficult to manage, yet to do all that stuff he had to tap out again and I drew a Burning-Tree Bloodscale ready to get bloodthirst (and to pass his defenses the following turns) and so I did (20-16), unfortunately I clicked on OK too fast and I couldn't cast the other transluminant that was lingering in my hand since the beginning.

Also, at that point I had enough mana to cast the griffin so I felt everything was all right, especially after he tapped out again to play a Train of Thought replicating it 3 times.

I was a bit worried about what he'd found but there was nothing I could do to play around cards I didn't know, also, I incidentally drew another land and that was just what I needed. With my bloodscale's ability, I made him block it with the squirter alone and swung (20-14) while he decided to bounce my petrahydrox with the minion's tap ability and faced an empty board (I was totally tapped out) into which he swung (15-14) before casting a Wee Dragonauts leaving one suspicious red mana open.

Let's not take any chances here. I made my bloodscale unblockable with his ability and swung (15-11) then I played a transluminant and a Gruul Turf bouncing a forest.

I mentally prepared for a big turn with the dragonauts getting bigger and bigger for a good hit but instead he just passed the turn to my relief because then I could make my bloodscale unblockable again and hit him for 3 (15-8) after playing a Gruul Signet.

It was then when I realized I had tapped my mana wrong and couldn't use the transluminant sac ability if I had to, but then I was still a 15 and I could take a few hits, right? Well his turn made me re-think about it when he went for an all-in attack and, after I decided not to block them, he played a Wrecking Ball on my bloodscale hitting me for a whopping total of 8 (7-8)... ouch.

Fortunately for me I drew just what I needed to feel safe (a Street Savvy for my equenaut), I then proceeded swinging with the transluminant, which connected (7-6), then finally casting the griffin and enchanting the equenaut with the savvy, so that I could answer another attack from the dragonauts.

On his turn he decided to attack with the minion again ant I took the risk not blocking it; that way, if I sacced the transluminant before his end turn I had 3 flying creatures that were lethal and I could tap down his dragonauts. I just hoped he hadn't another flying creature and indeed it happened because he conceded!!!

WOW, I did beat a pro level player 2-0, very, very nice feeling. Luck was predominant here but I still felt good (and tired).

M2G1:

No more pros this time and I kept this hand on the draw:

It was probably not that wise, but I thought something could come out of it.

He was playing black and led the game with a Roofstalker Wight while I was still developing my mana base but the guy had one toughness so I decided to run my Skarrgan Pit-Skulk w/o bloodthirst to keep it at bay while I had more mana on board.

He decided not to offer the trade and passed the turn while I kept getting lands off the top so I just played a Gruul Turf and shipped the turn back into his Ghor-Clan Bloodscale.

Definitely not that threatening with a guardian of the guildpact in hand but I couldn't stop drawing lands; at least I was able to play it this turn without getting too much damage.

Another turn, another bloodscale, this time it was a Burning-Tree Bloodscale that, even without the +1/+1 from bloodthirst, could get past the defenses of my guardian. I wasn't still feeling much pressure on me but his board was definitely building and I had nothing to answer with, especially when I drew another land off the top of my deck; fortunately, tapping my two other creatures I could use the Convoke ability of my Siege Wurm and put it into play but my joy was short lived because he played a Brainspoil on it and swung with the team (14-20), then, finally I ripped a non-land Burning-Tree Shaman that saw play immediately.

Again, my happiness didn't last long because a hellbent Twinstrike killed both my shaman and my guardian, then, having drawn yet another land, I had to concede.

Not the follow-up I had imagined from my first match...

M2G2:

Mull \/

Keep /\

Nice, third mull in 4 games... At least I have something to play (Order of the Stars) and I did setting the protection at red, then prepared for a couple of turns of setting the board (playing a Gruul Signet) until I drew a Gruul Scrapper; unfortunately my next land was an ETB tapped (Gruul Turf) and I couldn't play the scrapper into an empty board BUT all he could play in his 3rd turn was a Kill-Suit Cultist so the result was almost the same (20-17).

A Ghor-Clan Bloodscale stopped my dreams of swinging so I just played the guardian of the guildpact and passed the turn while he had to go suicide with his cultist before playing a Seal of Doom that he didn't use on my scrapper; since I wasn't threatened at all I decided to dump my hand swinging with the guardian that was unblockable (20-15) and then playing a Skarrgan Pit-Skulk with bloodthirst and the Burning-Tree Shaman sure he now would use the seal on it.

He didn't right away and instead played a Bloodscale Prowler w/o bloodthirst.

Since I didn't want to lose too many creatures, I just swung with the guardian again (20-13) and then played the Harrier Griffin I was sure he would use the seal on and yet he didn't... instead he chose to transmute his brainspoil into his Twinstrike (which was weird since he still had 4 cards in hand) and even let me tap one of his guys... Weird play.

At that point I wanted to push things so I could safely play the Taste for Mayhem I had in hand without worrying that he would kill the enchanted creature right away and I went for an all-in attack; he decided to trade the bloodscale for my scrapper and kill my burning-tree shaman with the seal of doom (!!!), which by the way, did him 1 damage due to his ability. (20-4)

That was pretty much it since he could not recover from the position he was in and correctly he conceded.

M2G3: time for the truth.

Guess what? Yep:

Mull \/

Keep /\

SLOOOOOOW hand but at least I had a signet which was also the first play of the game, followed closely by a bloodscale prowler from my opponent, to which I answered with a Petrahydrox that later on traded with it.

My opponent played an un-thirsted Burning-Tree Bloodscale to which I answered with a freshly drawn Order of the Stars set to red.

Down came a non-threatening Utvara Scalper while I again used the Convoke ability of the Siege Wurm to play it; since I had to tap down the order, I expected him to swing with the bloodscale but he played a Gruul Nodorog instead swinging with the scalper because he had to (19-20). Unfortunately for him I had a surprise in hand in the form of a Stalking Vengeance and I was a bit surprised when he decided not to block either creature (19-10), especially after all he played after the swing (14-10) was a Kill-Suit Cultist that, while being able to take a creature off the board, won't stop him from getting 5 points of damage if he did and in fact that happened, even more because to activate the cultist he had to block with the bloodscale so he:

  • Lost the bloodscale AND the cultist
  • Took 3 trample damage
  • Took 5 more damage off the vengeance's ability.

Unfortunately a little lag made me click twice on it so I swung only with the wurm but it apparently was enough because after I used the Convoke ability of the Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi he conceded.

YES, I made a comeback and I'm ready to rock the finals!!!

Of course you can always count on the MODO client to lose your replays and I was so concentrated on the games that I didn't note down the game numbers, anyway I was able to salvage the first match; I'll be quick about it:

I finally start with a clear keeper but it's clear from the beginning he is more aggro then me and his black splash rocks thanks to an early Gobhobbler Rats and an Orzhov Euthanist that took care of a bloodthirsted Burning-Tree Bloodscale.

A (Steelbreaker Wurm) created a little stall until I could find my Harrier Griffin, then we exchanged some hits, until he first used Psychotic Fury to give double strike to an unblocked wurm and then played a Predatory Focus the following turn to finish me off.

Game two I won, but just barely and in game 3 I remember being forced to play a Stalking Vengeance too early to get the kill.

What can I say more? TONS of fun, after all this I was left in semi-vegetable state and covered in sweat (I had to take a shower after that to recover some strength), I won't miss any RGD queue from now on!!!!

As usual, thanks for the read and I hope you enjoyed it.
--
Michele
Thisismich on MODO.

5 Comments

Oooohhh, nassssty by apaulogy at Thu, 09/15/2011 - 11:36
apaulogy's picture
5

Way to brave the format. From what I have seen, Matt Nass seems like a good drafter too. Kudos.

I couldn't even begin to dissect your picks.

Good job.

I know... big disappointment by Thisismich at Thu, 09/15/2011 - 12:15
Thisismich's picture

I know... big disappointment in raredraft :(
The problem is that I usually write the article offline and prepare all the pictures offline EXCEPT the raredraft, I usually do it before submitting the draft so I will get a fresh link instead of a days old one.

I would never have thought they lacked the pics for a set as heavily drafted as RGD...

I heard there is an alternate draft converter in use here; next time I'll try to use that instead.

Thanks for the comment :)

o no... by apaulogy at Thu, 09/15/2011 - 12:27
apaulogy's picture

I mean I couldn't even dissect your picks because I have no idea. I know the format is somewhat bomby and there is a ton of color fixing, but I have no way to evaluate the picks. :)

rgd by chiznad at Thu, 09/15/2011 - 12:41
chiznad's picture
5

unfortunately i didnt play in any of these this time around, though i drafted it many times when it was standard. from my experience tempo is so important in this block. flight of fancy is so under rated. if not for the dual i would've picked it. any time you can draw a card and keep card advantage over your opponent is huge in rgd and flight of fancy gives u 2 cards and a creature flying. yes its a fragile enchant but its still 2 cards. no surprise it didnt come back to you. i wont critique all your picks cause its boring. anyway, thanks for the draft review and congrats.

As the poster above me said: by Reaper9889 at Fri, 09/16/2011 - 07:13
Reaper9889's picture
4

As the poster above me said: ca is king (also true in RGD). That means that bounce lands are very high picks. Typically ppl splashed for them back then it was std (in limited)...