I’ve been feeling about a month behind the Magic world. Heading into the draft I’m walking through today, I’d played in a total of eight rounds of Limited with Worldwake: the 2HG event at the live prerelease, detailed at the end of my last article, and the online prerelease. I had hoped to write up my online prerelease, but I couldn’t fit it in when it was current, and now I’d rather just move on to Worldwake drafting.

I headed to the draft queues a couple of days after their online availability (which felt like a couple of years, as I usually find a way to draft on day one of an online set release). I decided to jump into and write up the closest draft to firing between Swiss ZZW, 84 ZZW, and the 43-only WWW. It was no contest when I entered the draft room, with Swiss ZZW at 7 and the others at 1 and 2. I love it when joining the queue fires it…

  Pack 1 pick 1:

  My Pick:

Oh, P1P1 Hideous End. I considered Plated Geopede or Living Tsunami here because of how tiresome it is to fight for black, but Hideous End is a black card worth battling for. Besides, black isn’t always cut from the right, and if there’s anything worse than starting black and having it dry up on you, it’s deciding against a great black pick P1P1 and then having it flow. I cautiously take the Hideous End, looking to cut black while looking to see if black is being cut.

  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick:
 
Crypt Ripper is the clear pick for the plan to cut black, and the missing rare tells me nothing about whether or not black is being cut. If the best non-black card in the pack were better than Torch Slinger, it might have been tougher to stick the “cut black” plan. As it is, the ripper is arguably the best card here anyway.

  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick:

Here’s where I can’t justify cutting black given the quality of the non-black picks in the pack. Heartstabber Mosquito is a decent playable, but Umara Raptor is my most-drafted blue card, and I rarely pass Inferno Traps. It’s also worth noting that two uncommons are missing. There aren’t all that many uncommons worth taking early in pack one over Inferno Trap, and two of them, Vampire Nighthawk and Marsh Casualties, are black. Trusty Machete is another likely suspect, but this is the first signal that a player one or two seats to my right may be in black.

  Pack 1 pick 4:

  My Pick:

The Hellfire Mongrel is the safer pick since it doesn’t require heavy red to be solid, but I opt for upside since there is no relevant black here, and red may end up being my primary color if that trend continues.

  Pack 1 pick 5:

  My Pick:
 
The “no relevant black” trend continues.

Given that black seems to be doing its classic “dry up quick” thing, I don’t like this pick. I was trying to stick to red/black with the pick, but with the writing on the wall for black, I should have courted a third color over taking a marginal card in my “second” color, since it’s starting to look like it will actually be my first. On a re-do, I’d take the Baloth Cage Trap, as the Timbermaw Larva is more suited to monogreen.

  Pack 1 pick 6:

  My Pick:

Windborne Charge is the only exciting card in this pack, but having seen no quality white to this point, I dismiss it as a fluke and take the “meh” on-color playable in Slaughter Cry.

  Pack 1 pick 7:

  My Pick:

It breaks my heart to pass a Welkin Tern this late, but I feel the ship has sailed on blue. I’ve passed two terns, a Living Tsunami, an Into the Roiland an Umara Raptor, and it’s only pick 7. I don’t expect to see much good blue in pack two because someone to my near left is surely in it, and this pack is almost to the wheel. I take the Adventuring Gear because it will make any deck, but Highland Berserker is an acceptable red hole-filler, and could open the door for a light ally theme.

  Pack 1 pick 8:

  My Pick:
 
Black has continued to be bone dry and I’ve given up on blue, so sure, I’ll take a good white card. I’m definitely in “best non-blue card in the pack” mode as I try to figure out where I’m going with this draft, and in this pack, that’s the landfall cat.

  Pack 1 pick 9:

  My Pick:

If I’d taken the Baloth Cage Trap or Timbermaw Larva over that Ruinous Minotaur, I might have taken the Oran-Rief Recluse last pack, and I’d be on my way to a red-green deck—a combination I never drafted once in triple Zendikar. As it is, this is just another “best non-blue” pick.

  Pack 1 pick 10:

  My Pick:
 
Only great with lots of enters-the-battlefield shenanigans, Narrow Escape is still a suitable filler card in any white deck in need of a final playable or two.

  Pack 1 pick 11:

  My Pick:

Interesting, the only two white cards from P1P3 are still here, with Demolish, Lullmage Mentor, Vampire's Bite, Territorial Baloth, and Bog Tatters all going before the two Kor. While they aren’t exactly dreamy options for the white mage, it’s still relevant information as I approach pack two. White may not be wide open, but it appears to be on the table. I wish I had that Windborne Charge now.

  Pack 1 pick 12:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 14:

  My Pick:
 
I think the only time I’ve taken Scythe Tiger is when someone has stuck me with it P15, like I’m about to do to my neighbor.

After a muddled pack like this one, it’s important to take a good look at the curve and colors of the first pack before clicking away at pack two:

Pretty ugly, but at least I have a lot of flexibility. While I’m almost certainly not playing blue, I can let the packs and signals dictate my direction beyond that in pack two. That being said, green is highly unlikely at this point. I only have one green playable, and there are very few green cards I could open that would prompt me to move into it. I would take Lotus Cobra for tickets, and if I pulled a Gigantiform in an otherwise terrible pack, I’d probably take that as well.

It’s possible that black will flow given how it was cut, but if I move back into it, it has to be with the understanding that I’m unlikely to get much in the way of top-quality black cards past the first few picks of pack three. Red seems likely, although while the quantity is there, the quality is lacking, with Inferno Trap as the only standout. Given red’s overall weakness in Worldwake, I could be in for a rough finish if I end up back in red-black after pack two.

White is definitely in the running, and since I don’t like it with black, the most likely scenarios are red-black or red-white. I’m leaning red-white given how hard black was clearly cut, but if I open a Vampire Nighthawk or another amazing black card, I could still risk a run at black-red.

  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick:

Well, if I wanted a sign on whether I should continue to pursue black or move fully into white, this pack delivers. Not even a Mire Blight or Desecrated Earth to distract me with a black frame, and one of the best white cards in Zendikar sitting in the rare slot. Too bad I have to pass the Kor Skyfisher, but that’s pick one for you.

  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick:

The Kor Hookmaster is great, but Plated Geopede is the best overall two-drop creature in Zendikar Limited at any rarity, and with the Steppe Lynx, Adventuring Gear, and Emeria Angel, forms the core of a light landfall theme.

  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick:

Outside of super-heavy red, Spire Barrage is just OK, and with a Steppe Lynx and an Emeria Angel to cast, I won’t be heavy enough red for it to be the pick here. Kor Sanctifiers, meanwhile, remains an underrated card. A 2/3 for 3 is fine, but the ability to generate a potentially-devastating two-for-one when kicked makes it a special card in the format. I love being able to maindeck enchantment and artifact hate with no risk of it being a dead card, particularly in a format with many notable common and uncommon targets.

  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick:

Sorry, Gatekeeper of Malakir, I waved the white flag in the battle for you and your kind when that angel joined my team. My neighbor’s hard work in pack one is about to pay off, and I’m left choosing between the burn I’ve already acknowledged to be sub-par in the deck I have coming together, or the Goblin Bushwhacker. Given the Emeria Angel, the bushwhacker seems like the more correct pick in retrospect, as it will only take a few bird tokens for the bushwhacker to effectively end a game.

  Pack 2 pick 5:

  My Pick:

This was basically a bitter resentment pick at the prospect of passing my favorite blue two drop yet again. The Seismic Shudder would have been fine for the board, but it’s no great loss.

  Pack 2 pick 6:

  My Pick:

A reasonably obvious pick, but the real story at this point in pack two is the lack of decent white since the Kor Sanctifiers. I didn’t pass much good white in pack one, and the wheeled double Kor in P1P11 suggest that this may just be a series of bad packs for white. As we saw from P2P1, entire colors can be blanked in a given pack, so I’m not panicking yet.

  Pack 2 pick 7:

  My Pick:

A late Grazing Gladehart suggests there’s probably a happy green drafter at the table, but it’s another disappointing pack for red-white. I’ve come around on Shieldmate's Blessing as a playable trick for white decks that want to keep attacking, but I went with the quasi Lava Axe in Unstable Footing for some reach. I’d hope neither make my main deck, but at the halfway point, I’m going to need a strong finish from here if I want to leave any of these borderline cards in the board.

  Pack 2 pick 8:

  My Pick:

Well that’s encouraging: a super solid man in my last fresh Zendikar pick. I’ve seen some “drafting with” articles from respected pros who giveLavaball Trap more credit than I ever have, but I doubt any of them would take the rare over the vanilla beater, here. The trap cost is unlikely in Limited, and I need men, not eight-mana sweepers.

  Pack 2 pick 9:

  My Pick:

Not a big fan of the shrine, particularly in this crazy new world with Quicksand at common, but I’m light on two drops (and playables overall), so this will probably make my deck.

  Pack 2 pick 10:

  My Pick:

There’s a Seismic Shudder for the board.

  Pack 2 pick 11:

  My Pick:

I don’t know if I’ll play two, although multiples make it more likely I’ll get one early where it’s at its best. I just don’t see myself playing three Spire Barrages, either, and borderline two drops beat out borderline five drops.

  Pack 2 pick 12:

  My Pick:

Excellent, the Goblin Bushwhacker tables.

  Pack 2 pick 13:

  My Pick:

My spiteful Welkin Tern pick is consequence-free!

  Pack 2 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 15:

  My Pick:

Gotta love 15th-pick playables in a world with a basic land in every pack.

Well, that pack could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse. I can’t figure out if my read on the table’s interest in white was off, or if these were just sub-par Zendikar packs for white. Somewhere in the pack I noticed that we had a disconnect, which can make for odd picks. Well, nothing to do now but hope red and white flow for me in the final pack. Exciting! Finally, my first Worldwake draft pick…

  Pack 3 pick 1:

  My Pick:

…and boy, does it stink! The best options for me are Battle Hurda, Join the Ranks, Akoum Battlesinger, and Slavering Nulls. Sadly, with no allies so far and Adventuring Gear calling out for cheap drops, my choice is an uncommon Goblin Piker.

Seer's Sundial seems solid for more controlling decks where it provides some inevitability through sheer card advantage once you stall the board. The problem is, you have to invest six mana and have a land drop before it even replaces itself, and then it requires consistent land drops and mana from there to net positive on cards. If had a more controlling deck and more no-brainer maindeck cards in my pile, I would definitely try out the rare, but Goblin Piker feels more likely to contribute to wins for this deck than a Seer's Sundial will.

  Pack 3 pick 2:

  My Pick:

I hereby dub Eye of Ugin “Eyeroll of Ugin,” particularly if it maintains it’s sudden speculative value with the leak of the first Rise of the Eldrazi spoiler that caused its secondary-market price to spike to 5 basically overnight. Anyone drafting with the slow bleed in mind has picked money cards they can’t actually run, but I don’t think there has ever been a money card with quite this level of utter unplayabilty. (By all means, prove me wrong in the comments because it’s an interesting question: what are some of the all-time most unplayable money picks in draft?)

The eye was 1.75 at the time of this draft, so I passed it, particularly because the pack has the one of red’s shining lights in Worldwake. Searing Blaze is pretty nutty for an aggro deck, functioning a lot like a red Hideous End, but for 50% more damage and 50% less mana. “Like Hideous End, but better and cheaper.” Sign me up.

  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick:
 
I almost just took the Slavering Nulls again, as I think Iona's Judgment is too expensive to take here, and Marshal's Anthem is fairly unimpressive unkicked. Still, the Emeria Angel likes the anthem a lot, and I do like to try new rares when I can. The anthem kicked once targeting a dead angel would be pretty sweet, particularly if she left some birds behind the first time around.

  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick:

If I didn’t have the Kor Sanctifiers I would be more tempted by the Tuktuk Scrapper, but I’m happy to continue to fill out my two drops with this pick. Given that I’m fully intending to run Slavering Nulls without a Swamp, the Fledgling Griffin looks downright bomby from here.

  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick:
 
Apex Hawks has terrific modularity as a 2/2 flyer for 3 or 3/3 flyer for 5, but I want to try out one of the two ruins in the pack. I don’t hate my choice, but I should have gone with the Ruin Ghost in the battle of the test drives. I have a solid core of landfall creatures to abuse with the ghost, and it’s a card that doesn’t fit into any deck like the Hammer of Ruin can. Still, while Hammer of Ruin is no Trusty Machete, it does give the wielder +2 power, which is pretty much my favorite thing for a reasonably-costed piece of equipment to do. I’ll see how much of a downgrade it is to the machete.

  Pack 3 pick 6:

  My Pick:
 
Potential picks here are Goblin Roughrider, Iona's Judgment, and Ruin Ghost. I’d happily run a Goblin Roughrider or two, as 3/2s for 3 have always been solid in Limited. While Iona's Judgment is expensive, it exiles (the best form of creature removal), has no restrictions, no drawback, and in a pinch it can take out a vital enchantment. It’s almost never going to take out a more expensive spell, but it’s nice to pack at least one copy of a spell that answers just about everything, even if clunky.

Still, I can’t pass up a second chance at a Ruin Ghost for this deck. I’ve been looking forward to running my pick as white’s Worldwake game-changer in a deck where it can legitimately change some games. This deck qualifies, particularly if I can pick up a Sejiri Steppe or Smoldering Spires.

  Pack 3 pick 7:

  My Pick:
 
Speaking of Sejiri Steppe, I have a chance at one here, but I passed one P3P1 that should table and I still need to fill out my creatures. Again, 3/2s for three are always solid, if boring.

  Pack 3 pick 8:

  My Pick:

Chain Reaction? A red Wrath of God pick eight? This seems to be a perfect storm of an unfamiliar new set, a strong pack, Swiss, and a disconnect. I’ll happily capitalize.

  Pack 3 pick 9:

  My Pick:

Having passed two, I’m thrilled to snag a Sejiri Steppe with this pick, particularly given my last pick. The Ruin Ghost/Sejiri Steppe combo is excellent with Chain Reaction. Timed correctly (play steppe, Ruin Ghost the steppe, play Chain Reaction, I could wrath everything but my two best creatures—that’ll win you a game of Magic!

  Pack 3 pick 10:

  My Pick:

Fantastic again with the ghost, particularly in the aggressive deck I have shaping up.

  Pack 3 pick 11:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 12:

  My Pick:
 
The two toughness makes this a card destined to trade with something, but the trample is nice, and zendikons trading with things can be excellent in a deck with multiple landspells. It fits right in with what this deck is trying to do.

  Pack 3 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 14:

  My Pick:

Sweet, absolutely going in.

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I was worried halfway through this one, but I managed 10 playable spells and two playable lands in pack three to save it, including an incredibly late sweeper.

The Deck

Road to Ruin

ZZW Swiss Draft

Creatures 1 Ruin Ghost 1 Shatterskull Giant 1 Emeria Angel 1 Goblin Bushwhacker 1 Fledgling Griffin 1 Steppe Lynx 1 Kor Sanctifiers 1 Kor Cartographer 2 Goblin Roughrider 1 Plated Geopede 1 Slavering Nulls 12 cards Other Spells 1 Searing Blaze 1 Adventuring Gear 1 Inferno Trap 1 Crusher Zendikon 1 Chain Reaction 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition 1 Marshal's Anthem 2 Spire Barrage 1 Hammer of Ruin 10 cards

Lands 1 Sejiri Steppe 1 Smoldering Spires 7 Plains 9 Mountain 18 cards Sideboard 1 Slaughter Cry 1 Ruinous Minotaur 1 Goblin War Paint 1 Shieldmate's Blessing 1 Unstable Footing 1 Narrow Escape 1 Magma Rift 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition 1 Nimbus Wings 2 Seismic Shudder 11 cards

With two pieces of equipment, I didn’t want to play both Zektar Shrine Expeditions, and maybe shouldn’t have played the one, although the only other option in the board that could wield equipment more effectively than a one-turn 7/1 was Ruinous Minotaur. Despite the clunky mediocrity of Spire Barrage in a deck with only nine Mountains, the creature/player flexibility won out, and I ran both over Magma Rift, Unstable Footing, or Slaughter Cry. I will bring in Magma Rift against decks with high-toughness threats that nothing else handles.

R1G1

Villain wins the roll and mulligans. I decide on my seven:

It needs another Plains or some early threats to be great, but certainly a keeper. Villain mulligans to five, and I’m feeling pretty good about my chances, up two cards before play begins.

A first-turn Mountain across the table has me wondering what Villain took over Chain Reaction, and I draw my second Spire Barrage, putting my only two five drops unfortunately in hand. I cast Adventuring Gear and pass it back, and the dreaded turn-two Plated Geopede starts me on a fast clock. I draw Smoldering Spires, and my Ruin Ghost isn’t much of a response to the ‘pede before I pass. An Akoum Battlesinger joins the Plated Geopede, and they attack me down to 15. I draw Inferno Trap and plot the course:

R1G1 #1

If I pull a Plains next turn, I’ll really want to go turn-four Emeria Angel, turn-five Spire Barrage (for the worst Shock ever), which means playing the enters-the-battlefield-tapped land now. I’m not blocking with the Ruin Ghost, though, so it might as well strap on some Adventuring Gear and hit for 3.

I pass the turn at 15 life, and after a Teetering Peaks to pump the ‘pede and the battlesinger, I drop to 9. Villain has no further play, so I Inferno Trap the geopede before untapping, looking to stabilize. A Mountain isn’t quite the answer I was looking for, but at least I’ll have a bad Lightning Bolt instead of a bad Shock next turn. The question this turn is: do I need to stay back on defense with the Ruin Ghost? If I’m not ready to trade it with the Akoum Battlesinger, then I should still attack with it.

While red has many hasty threats, I can’t think of any that kill me on the next swing. I think I’ll be able to stabilize against most draws without blocking with the Ruin Ghost right now, so I hit for another 3 and pass.

My “most draws” scenario fails to anticipate the second Teetering Peaks and second Akoum Battlesinger which drop me to 1. I’m suddenly quite ready to block with the Ruin Ghost!

R1G1 #4 – Ouch.

This is a mulligan to five, mind you. Yikes! New respect for the multiple battlesinger scenario! Thankfully, Villain is down to one card, but between haste, burn, and a possible Smoldering Spires, any given draw step could be game over for me now. I pull Kor Sanctifiers, a much-needed body that hits the battlefield and allows me to hold back on Spire Barrage. I pass back the turn and brace for the gg topdeck that could be waiting at any draw step, but Villain passes without attack, land drop, or spell. Safe, for now. I pull another Mountain and look for my best path to victory. What’s the play?

R1G1 #4

These are very tricky spots: when you need to kill before you die, but being aggressive turns more of Villain’s possible draws into game-enders. Sadly, no matter what, I need to use a Spire Barrage on an Akoum Battlesinger. After that, though, it’s less clear. Despite my life total, I do have board control: if the game state went unchanged from here, I would win. If I drop the Mountain and swing for 3, I lose to burn, haste, or Smoldering Spires draws. If I leave both creatures back I only lose to burn draws, but I give Villain an extra turn to find burn by not attacking.

In these spots, I tend to take a more aggressive line—I’d rather press my advantage and actually attempt to win the game than protect against some number of additional outs, but at the cost of giving Villain extra turns. I’m not certain the math is on my side, here. It depends heavily on how many outs I’m up against in both scenarios, but “go for the kill” is my default line, so when I’m not certain of the math, I go aggro.

I could toss the Adventuring Gear to the sanctifiers and hit for 4, but I’d rather keep a defender back that defeats the battlesinger instead of just trading with it. I play the Mountain, attack for 3, barrage a battlesinger and pass with the life totals 1 – 11. Villain can only manage a Quest for the Gravelord, which is great news for the home team. I draw yet another Mountain and plan the turn.

R1G1 #5

Now I have a great reason to toss the equipment to the sanctifiers: if I play the Mountain and the sanctifiers goes unblocked, I can use the Ruin Ghost to trigger landfall a second time, hit for 6, then send the second Spire Barrage to the dome for exactly lethal. Villain declines to block the sanctifiers, and this is exactly what happens. I’m quite lucky to have escaped with a win here, and that was against a mulligan to five! I’ll have my work cut out for the rest of the match.

R1G2

Since all three of Villain’s game-one creatures had one toughness, I side in a Seismic Shudder for the Zektar Shrine Expedition. On the draw against a keep, I look at my opener:

That Marshal's Anthem feels pretty weak in this matchup and I should have sided it out, but a turn-three Kor Sanctifiers could be enough to hold off an aggressive start, so I keep. Villain has a turn-one Pulse Tracker, and I’m groaning before my first draw step. I pull Ruin Ghost so I will have a turn-two play and the Sejiri Steppe combo, but I’d rather have my Plated Geopede. Villain has another Swamp, and a Quest for the Gravelord and Guul Draz Vampire come down to continue the hot start. I drop to 18 on the attack.

Smoldering Spires off the top changes nothing, and I make my Ruin Ghost before passing. With the Quest for the Gravelord down, my new plan is to spend turn three with the steppe/ghost combo up, then kick the sanctifiers on turn four, but a Mountain into a brutal Cunning Sparkmage makes hasty work of my ghost, and I take another three on the attack.

I pull Kor Cartographer, and face an interesting choice: am I dropping an unkicked Kor Sanctifiers to staunch the bleeding but leaving the Quest for the Gravelord around to haunt me later, or am I effectively paying 3 life to bring it out kicked next turn?

R1G2 #1

I really can’t deal with a 5/5, but if I take another attack I’m basically accepting being bloodied, and I’ll need to use the Spire Barrage on the Guul Draz Vampire. The correct line here is to ignore the quest and set up a sequence of Kor Sanctifiers, Kor Cartographer, Spire Barrage on the sparkmage, and finally a kicked Marshal's Anthem. I can pull this off with the cards I have in hand, and if Villain has no other plays, it would leave me at 13 life facing a Guul Draz Vampire, a Pulse Tracker, and a Quest for the Gravelord with two counters. I would have my Ruin Ghost back and a reasonably beefy team, so even though it’s unlikely that Villain will have nothing to do except watch me execute this plan, it still seems superior to taking another three and accepting becoming “bloodied” just to take out a quest that isn’t actually threatening me yet.

In the game, though, I get greedy with the sanctifiers and do exactly that, playing the Smoldering Spires and passing, with visions of stabilizing after taking out the quest next turn. The big problem with the play is that I am basically accepting a drop to 10 life, at which point I’ll need to kill both the Cunning Sparkmage and the Guul Draz Vampire to avoid inevitable death, and I only have the one removal spell. My natural tendency to seek two-for-ones generally serves me well, but at times I make greedy mistakes because of it, and this is a great example.

Villain has no land drop and no plays besides attacking me to 12 (effectively 11 with the untapped sparkmage), and passes. I pull a Mountain and kick the sanctifiers after dropping the Plains. The sparkmage pings me, and I pass at 11. That “wait to kick” play looks so bad right now. Ugh. It looks even worse when a Teetering Peaks makes the Pulse Tracker a 3/1, and the vampires swing in.

R1G2 #2

I become bloodied off the Pulse Tracker’s ability, and I trade the sanctifiers for the tracker before going to 7 against an untapped sparkmage. (Side note: Villain should have just pinged me with the mage to get me to 10, then used Teetering Peaks on the Guul Draz Vampire to drop me to 5, leaving the Pulse Tracker alive.)

A Surrakar Marauder post combat is the nail in the coffin. I barrage the vampire, but that still leaves me on a sparkmage/intimidate clock that I can’t overcome, particularly after a Goblin War Paint lands on the marauder. It would have been a tough fight to win this game regardless of the Kor Sanctifiers misplay, but it was clearly a mistake. Against that fast start, I simply couldn’t afford the tempo loss of doing nothing on turn three just to snag an ultimately meaningless two-for-one on turn four.

R1G3

In game two I saw five new creatures, all of them one toughness. I pull the Marshal's Anthem for the second Seismic Shudder and head to battle.

That Spire Barrage looks pretty awful, but I have ten outs to a red source, and the shudder should be devastating when I find one. Plus, I have a two drop that survives shudder, which is nice. Keep.

Mercifully, Villain has no turn-one pressure, and I pull a Mountain off the top on turn two. The Fledgling Griffin comes down before I pass it back. A Surrakar Marauder comes down in response, and I draw and play Goblin Roughrider, hitting for 2 with the griffin. Villain has Teetering Peaks and Akoum Battlesinger to hit me for 6, as I’m not about to trade for my roughriders when I have Seismic Shudder in hand.

I pull a Plains, and after cracking back for 5 to bring life totals to 14 – 13, I once again ask myself how greedy I am. I can play the shudder now and follow with the Ruin Ghost, or I can wait and see if Goblin War Paint or another Akoum Battlesinger will make the shudder a three-for-one instead of a two-for-one. How greedy are you, here?

R1G3 #1

In this case, the greed has a very low cost. The Ruin Ghost currently has nothing to combo with, so it is just a 1/1. Also, I currently have no plays for turn five, and black-red has no responses to make me regret waiting (unlike, say, white), so the cost for leaving the door open for a three-for-one is minimal. I pass with no play.

Given the obviously-high density of one-toughness creatures in Villain’s deck, I was also ready to take three from the marauder and battlesinger to let Villain commit more creatures to the table, but a main-phase Nimana Sell-Sword makes that decision moot, and I sweep away the marauder and battlesinger before combat.

I rip Crusher Zendikon and turn a Plains into a red 4/2 trample haste creature, continuing to apply full pressure with an all-out attack. Villain opts to trade the sell-sword for the crusher, falling to 7 in the process. Quest for the Gravelord and Shatterskull Giant come down in an effort to stabilize, and I take the turn back, pulling a currently-unkickable Goblin Bushwhacker. What’s the plan?

R1G3 #2

There’s no need to offer a trade for the giant when as it stands, a Ruin Ghost plus the Fledgling Griffin will end this game in four swings. The ghost’s ability to turn into (tap Mountain, tap Plains, use ghost on Mountain, tap Mountain again) means that it will be three swings when I include a kicked bushwhacker into the equation. Bottom line: make Villain deal with the griffin or die. Griffin attacks, bringing life totals to 14-5, and the ghost comes down before I pass.

Clearly Villain knows what time it is, because an Inferno Trap takes out the griffin before I take the turn back. This was so much simpler when I had a flyer; now I have to think again. I draw the next best thing to a replacement flyer, though: a Plated Geopede with a Ruin Ghost in play. Villain has a Blood Seeker and a Corrupted Zendikon to add to the ground clog, but crucially has no removal for the geopede, and I take the turn back.

A second Mountain opens up many possibilities between the Spire Barrage, the Goblin Bushwhacker, and double landfall for the geopede. How are you using your resources this turn?

R1G3 #3

A land drop plus Ruin Ghost gets Plated Geopede through the impending 5/5 zombie token, so unless it’s for a guaranteed alpha strike, the ghost cannot be put at risk. With the Spire Barrage effectively putting Villain on 3 life instead of 5, I can almost get there with a kicked bushwhacker, but Villain would block everything except the bushwhacker and only take 2 damage. If I had one more Mountain or knew I would draw one, that would be the play. You could argue for doing it anyway, since I’m highly likely to find a third Mountain before Villain could mount a comeback, even with a 5/5 token in play. With the strength of my position, though, I’d prefer to wait for a sure thing, so I play the Mountain, send in the geopede, and force a chump block. Villain chooses the zendikon.

There’s no play on Villain’s turn—not even a replay of the zendikon land—and I take the turn back. A third Mountain gives me the alpha strike I’m looking for if Villain hasn’t drawn removal, but what are the consequences of a trick? I start to work out the possible tricks Villain could have, particularly with the quest at two counters. Do you go for the alpha here?

R1G3 #4

When my back is against the wall, I’m willing to take some risks in search of the comeback, but when I have Villain’s back against the wall, I tend to play it safe. If I attack all out with a bushwhacker-fueled alpha and run into a Hideous End, it would be an utter blowout. Destroying the geopede, making a 5/5 token, and blocking the other three attackers would leave me with an empty board and Villain with a 5/5 and a 4/3. I could use the Spire Barrage on the giant, but I’d rather keep that as my insurance policy in this game. So, playing around potential removal, I just attack with the geopede, which gets chumped by the Blood Seeker.

I’m still expecting a turn or two of playing around possible blowouts as I work toward a reliable alpha strike, but Villain draws and concedes to make things easy on me. My best efforts to punt the match in game two come up short, and I advance to round 2 with a 1-0 record.

Out of Time!

I’m closing in on 6,000 words for the draft and round one alone, so the rest of this walkthrough will have to wait. Hopefully I will have it done and submitted in the next few days, so check back soon for the conclusion. On that front, I realize my Magic content schedule has become quite erratic. It’s tough for me to know when my next article will post these days, much less regular readers. Since PureMTGO doesn’t currently have RSS feeds for individual authors, I’ve started a blog called Waiting for Waiting for Godot with the sole purpose of announcing new Magic content from me, so feel free to subscribe to that blog or follow me on twitter if you want to know when something new from me hits the web.

Thanks for your patience, thanks for reading, and happy drafting!

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