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Greetings! I hope everyone who attended the live M11 prerelease this past weekend had a blast and opened lots of Baneslayer Angels. My son and I made it down to the Seattle prerelease, but due to a much-delayed start to the 2HG flight we came for, we unregistered and entered the “Open Play” event instead. In Open Play, you pay $15 for a random preconstructed deck, play some matches, and claim a one-pack prize afterwards. That ended up being just about right for us, and we had a good time despite not entering a true Limited event.

I didn’t miss playing in M11 sealed anyway, frankly. I think the new approach to core sets is great on many levels, but in the end, it’s still a core set. While there are certainly going to be differences between drafting M10 and M11, particularly in terms of the rares, it’s not nearly as compelling a Limited puzzle to solve as your average expert-level set is. To that end, I am still working out the puzzle of Rise of the Eldrazi drafting, and I still find it to be a blast. I imagine I’ll walk through at least one M11 draft once it’s online, but I’m definitely not through with Rise drafting. Let’s ROE ROE ROE this boat, shall we? 8-4 time!

The Draft

(Flash-free version of the draft)

Deckbuilding

This is too much of a control deck for the Distortion Strikes or the Traitorous Instinct, and this is also why I run the Lay Bare narrowly over the Might of the Masses. I’m not greedy enough to throw in a Swamp and double-splash for the Induce Despair, but perhaps with another fixer or two I would have, particularly another Prophetic Prism, as it can splash multiple colors with one card.

R1G1

I win the roll and make the play/draw choice. Magic pro Luis Scott-Vargas has strongly advocated choosing to draw with basically anything but an aggressive blue-white leveler deck in his draft video series. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into it since LSV snapped me out of my “always play” mentality, and I’ve chosen to draw in spots where I’d have chosen to play before. While it’s clear to me that I had been choosing to play too much, I also think LSV might be taking the draw choice to unwarranted extremes. It has been feeling correct to play with aggro in general, not just blue-white levelers, especially against another aggro deck. It’s an interesting question though, and I’ll continue to think about as I play the format.

In the case of this deck, though, the answer is more obvious: draw, draw, draw! I’m planning to clog up the ground and survive to cast difficult-to-stop threats, and with that strategy, I want the extra card far more than the faster start. Villain keeps on the play, and I snap-keep a fine starting seven:

A hand that accomplishes my early agenda of ramp and defense, setting up the ability to cast anything I draw.

Villain opens on an Island, and I draw Deprive before dropping a Forest and passing. A plains from Villain leads into Hada Spy Patrol, and it looks like I’m facing the one deck LSV advises playing with: blue-white levers. Not only that, the first threat is one that I will have to race if it reaches stage three, which is certainly not what I want to do with this deck.

I pull a Drake Umbra, which might help me race, play a Mountain, and cast the Overgrown Battlement. Villain drops a second Island and taps out to level the spy patrol before hitting me for 2 (18 – 20). Ulamog's Crusher off the top gives me another racing tool if I can ramp to it in time. I drop a Forest and cast the Ondu Giant, hunting up an Island before passing the turn. Venerated Teacher from Villain vaults the patrol to stage three, it attacks me for 3, and I’m way back on my heels (15 – 20). Villain’s missed land drop gives me some hope, but even I don’t face another threat, the patrol has me on a five-turn clock. The pressure is on!

I draw and play an Island, and face my first real decision in the game. Am I looking to put the Drake Umbra on my Ondu Giant and race in the air, or am I playing Guard Gomazoa to boost the Overgrown Battlement, accelerating out Ulamog's Crusher next turn?

R1G1 #1

If Villain has no answers and no flyers, turning the Ondu Giant into a dragon and swinging away is clearly the play. After all, I would win in four swings, which beats the clock Villain has on me. On the other hand, Villain is stuck on three lands and has five cards in hand. If one of those five cards is a Guard Duty, Narcolepsy, Regress, or Oust—all fairly likely holdings—I will hit once before having my Voltron disassembled. Does my situation improve if I play the gomazoa? Let’s play it out assuming Villain has removal, and I don’t draw anything else relevant.

Cast the Drake Umbra

1. Cast the umbra, attack for 5 (15 – 15).
2. Giant neutralized, hada hits for 3 (12 – 15).
3. I cast Guard Gomazoa.
4. Hada hits for 3 (9 – 15).
5. I cast the crusher.
6. Hada hits for 3 (6 - 15).
7. I attack with crusher, it’s chumped.
8. Hada hits for 3 (3 – 15).
9. Crusher damage is taken and I’m dead the next attack.

Cast the Guard Gomazoa

1. I cast the Gomazoa, attack (15 – 18) and pass.
2. Hada hits for 3 (12 – 18), Villain probably plays something.
3. I cast crusher and potentially make it through with the giant again (12 – 16).
4. Hada hits for 3 (9 – 16), crusher is neutralized.
5. I umbra the giant and swing for 5 (9 – 11).
6. Hada hits for 3 (6 – 11), maybe I have triple blue to counter something.
7. Giant hits for 5 (6 – 6).
8. Hada hits for 3 (3 – 6) and I definitely counter something if I didn’t before.
9. Giant hits for 5 (3 – 1), but I die on the counterattack.

Unfortunately, both scenarios show a loss for me unless I draw some help, or Villain fails to have removal. The second scenario needs less help to turn a loss into a win, though, so that is the route I take, attacking Villain for 2 (15 – 18) and dropping the gomazoa. Villain misses another land drop and casts an almost-irrelevant Ikiral Outrider before attacking for 3 and passing (12 – 18). A third Island doesn’t change too much, although it sets up the ability to umbra and leave Deprive mana up next turn. This turn, though, I attack for 2, tap out for the crusher and pass (12 – 16).

Villain draws and plays and Island, and I brace for a nullified crusher, but luck is with me and Villain casts a Dawnglare Invoker instead before I lose another 3 to the patrol (9 – 16). I take back the turn, draw another Forest, and play the Island. Given that Villain appears out of removal, is the play to umbra up the crusher or the giant in this spot?

R1G1 #2

Normally I’m an advocate of diversifying my threats: a 5/7 flyer and an Ulamog's Crusher are better than a vanilla 2/4 and an 11/11 flying annihilator 2. In this case, though, the crusher would need to hit twice to win, while the umbra’d giant would need to hit four times to win. I only have three attacks before I’m dead, so I need to make that crusher evasive. Assuming the invoker chumps once and I counter anything that would accelerate Villain’s clock or slow mine further, a flying crusher will win me this game. I slap on the aura and swing with both non-defenders. Villain sacrifices an Island and the outrider to the crusher, chumps with the invoker, and takes 2 (9 – 14).

Villain untaps, plays a second Plains, then attempts a second Dawnglare Invoker, which I Deprive. A Hyena Umbra bolsters the Venerated Teacher, but it appears to be annihilate fodder as the patrol drops me by another 3 (6 – 14). I take back the turn, hoping to draw insurance. Instead I draw another land, but I still hit for 11 as Villain sacrifices the umbra and a land (6 – 3). I’m sure villain has a ton of outs at this point, as any of the aforementioned removal spells or a flyer will get the job done. None of those outs materialize, and Villain scoops after the draw phase.

I have once again failed to take good sideboarding notes, but I believe I bring in Leaf Arrow for one Jaddi Lifestrider. I might have brought in the Spider Umbra too, but that’s fairly borderline. It’s solid defense against flyers, but against a color that can really punish umbras. If I were sideboarding right now, I’d make the arrow/lifestrider swap only, and I think that’s what I did in the actual match.

R1G2

Villain keeps on the play, and I check my seven on the draw:

This will do just fine, although it presents some interesting questions about which land to play first. Villain opens with an Island, and I draw a second one. What is your approach to the first-turn land drop? No screen shot required, but I’ll see you in the next paragraph when you’ve thought it through.

I really want to use that Evolving Wilds to fetch my Mountain, but if I get unlucky and fail to draw a timely Forest, things could turn ugly. Between Prophetic Prism, Ondu Giant, seven Forests, and a Mountain, I have a 10 in 32 chance of drawing something next turn that will clarify how I want to use the fetch land—10.5 if we give partial credit to See Beyond. Since I have a turn-one play off an Island, I go that route, dropping an Island and casting Skywatcher Adept. Halimar Wavewatch from Villain puts up a quick defense that threatens to turn into a brutal offense 10 mana from now.

I rip one of my ten outs to color clarity in Prophetic Prism, but it still leaves me with a subtle choice: Evolving Wilds or Island/prism this turn?

R1G2 #1

Having three mana available next turn for either leveling or Staggershock is desirable to me, so I play out the Evolving Wilds. I don’t want to hit the wavewatch with Narcolepsy until Villain has sunk more mana into it, and the Overgrown Battlement doesn’t have anything to accelerate me into anyway right now, so I can set up for a turn four prism/battlement or prism/Narcolepsy play without losing much. When Villain spends his third turn leveling up the wavewatch and enchanting it with Hyena Umbra though, I change my plans. With no targets out, I’m unlikely to cast the Staggershock next turn, so I might as well fetch the Forest for the battlement instead. I take 1 from the wavewatch before cracking the wilds (19 – 20).

I draw my second Staggershock, play my Island, and cast Overgrown Battlement before swinging for 1 and passing (19 – 19). Villain spends his fourth turn leveling the wavewatch to three, but holds back on attacking because of my wall. I draw Jaddi Lifestrider and have more options. Now what’s the play?

R1G2 #2

Option one is to level up the adept and hit for 2, letting Villain spend another turn leveling, meaning I’d take 7 before the inevitable Narcolepsy on the wavewatch. Option two is to cast the Prophetic Prism, potentially draw the land to enable the level-up play or holding back for Staggershock, with the fallback plan of putting the wavewatch to sleep right now. I like the prism play. I can probably afford to take 7 from the wavewatch, but that’s a bit greedy when I can nullify nine mana and two cards with two mana and one card right now.

Casting the prism does lead to another Forest, and I play it out. Looking at it now, I like being greedy, and just leveling up and attacking. Yes, I’ll take 7, but Villain will have spent his entire game buffing up a creature I can render useless for two mana, but I think the more important point is that by leveling up the adept now, it’s less of a telegraph next turn when I pass with three mana up. It’s still somewhat of one, but it’s a lot more suspicious to leave the adept as a wimpy 1/1 than it is to leave it as a 2/2 flyer when leveling up doesn’t move it to stage three. Nonetheless, in the actual game I hit the wavewatch with Narcolepsy and pass.

Villain has a fifth land, and spends four mana on a Hada Spy Patrol and a Time of Heroes. I had to physically restrain my Staggershocks, who erupted into an argument over which of them was going to blow out Villain in response to the next attempt to level up the spy patrol. I draw and cast See Beyond. Which card are we shuffling back, here?

R1G2 #3

It quickly boils down to Leaf Arrow or Jaddi Lifestrider. I decide on the Leaf Arrow, since I brought it in primarily for the two Dawnglare Invokers I saw in game one. There are only a couple of flyers that the arrow hits and the Staggershocks don’t, so I opt to keep the lifestrider and ship the arrow. Now I have to telegraph my Staggershock by passing the turn with an unleveled adept, but that’s fine. Even if Villain knows with 100% certainty that I have the Staggershock, there’s no good way to play around it unless I’m up against a Deprive or an Emerge Unscathed. The latter seems unlikely, as Villain would have left a Plains untapped for this turn, and I decide I’m willing to risk the Deprive for the bigger blowout, and pass.

Villain has land number six and immediately attempts to level the patrol, which meets Staggershock in response (the regular one, FWIW). Villain casts a See Beyond to mirror mine before passing back the turn. The rebounding Staggershock goes to the dome for 2 (19 – 17), and I draw Deprive. I could level up twice, but leveling up once with Deprive and Staggershock mana ready seems like the better play, since I can then level up twice next turn and still hit for 4. For now, I hit for two through the air and pass (19 – 15).

A Forest comes down for Villain, and the splash is explained immediately after with a Kazandu Tuskcaller. Is this a good Deprive target? I decide not, since Staggershock kills it. I let it resolve. The follow-up play is Champion's Drake, and is the last card in Villain’s hand. Counter this?

R1G2 #4

This time, I think countering is correct. The sleeping wavewatch will still make it a 4/4, and while my adept will be able to trade with it, it seems better to just win with my four-powered flyer than it would be to turn it into removal. In the game, I didn’t counter it, and I don’t remember if it was failure to account for the wavewatch and me thinking I would 2:1 with staggershock, or if I really decided that racing or trading with 4-powered flyers was the best path to victory. I’m inclined to think I had forgotten about the “out of mind” wavewatch as a drake pumper, but an error either way. Failing to Deprive also forces me to Staggershock at the end of the turn so that I have all six mana ready for the level.

I shock the tuskcaller, and the rebound zaps Villain for another 2 (19 – 13). Drawing Wildheart Invoker offers the alternative play of playing the 4/3 and leaving Deprive mana up, but I’d rather just get on with the 4/2 flyer. I level up twice, attack, and Villain opts to trade flyers before taking back the turn. No play and no land drop, so I quickly take the turn again, drawing my Sphinx of Magosi off the top and casting it. Villain has the Narcolepsy bailout, leaving me with a card-drawing engine instead of a game-winning engine. I draw Enclave Cryptologist and plan the turn:

R1G2 #5

While the idea of going nuts with card drawing has some appeal, extra cards are ultimately a means to a means to an end, while the Wildheart Invoker cuts out the middle man and provides a means to an end. I drop the invoker and leave Deprive mana up instead of casting the cryptologist. Anything relevant will be countered, and anything irrelevant will be ignored. Villain draws and casts Caravan Escort. Is this relevant enough to spend a Deprive on?

In the game I elected not to counter it, but I question that decision now. My thinking was that even fully leveled, the 7/7 Caravan Escort still wouldn’t be able to break through my eventual Jaddi Lifestrider, and that with the inevitability of my card drawing and crusher, the only thing that would prevent me from winning this game is something truly back-breaking, and therefore that’s what I should be saving my Deprive for. That’s not a terrible line, but with Villain topdecking, I think the thing to do is just clear the path for my 4/3 and end this as quickly as possible. Either way, it’s going to be hard to lose this game. After the escort gets a few level counters, I untap, draw an Island, and play it. Plans?

R1G2 #6

First, I think an attack is safe, as Villain is counting on holding the ground with the 7/7 first strike next turn, so I swing for 4 and connect as expected (19 – 9). Plenty of options post combat. I’d love to get to 8 mana next turn, but really, it’s pick your path to victory at this point. Keeping Deprive mana open seems wise, and to that end I like casting the lifestrider and passing. Because I am apparently not wise until I’m viewing replays, though, I cast the crypto, cast the lifestrider, and tap all but the lifestrider to gain 4 (23 – 9). Seeing gamble-laden decisions with little upside like this in my replays (surely he won’t topdeck anything relevant!) remind me that while I’m an above-average Limited player, I won’t be an elite player as long as I continue make these kinds of sloppy plays. The game felt so unloseable that I just stopped being careful, and elite players never stop being careful.

I draw Drake Umbra, and victory is all but assured. The invoker goes all dragon on Villain’s life total with the help of the umbra, and I finally use the Deprive on a Champion's Drake, which earns the concession shortly after. I won, but I definitely made some questionable decisions along the way.

Stay Tuned…

Round one is in the bag, but the rest of the games will have to wait. The good news is, part two is almost done and will be submitted in short order, possibly appearing as early as tomorrow if that’s how the fine folks at PureMTGO want to present it.

In the meantime, in an effort to be more transparent about my overall drafting results, and to provide a look into more than just the drafts I turn into articles, I have been posting lots of uncommented drafts to www.raredraft.com under the tag Waiting for Godot. I’d been reluctant to share my uncommented drafts in the past because I wasn’t comfortable throwing up my decisions for the world to see without also providing explanations to go with them. However, in the interest of transparency and easy extra content, I’ve let go of that complex and put it all out there, so feel free to browse some drafts and make some comments. If people have questions or comments about any given picks, I’ll back-fill them with comments as appropriate. You can also see my entire draft history from the beginning of Zendikar on my publicly-viewable Google doc. If you’ve been thinking of tracking your draft results (which I recommend), you can check out my template and adjust it to fit your needs.

Also, while there is much to love about www.raredraft.com, it is a work in progress, and one current flaw is that you can only search up the ten most recent drafts from someone (as far as I can tell). As a workaround until this is addressed, I’m embedding any drafts I upload in a post to Waiting for Waiting for Godot, the blog I use as a single, RSS-able source for announcing any Magic content I put up on the web. You can always view the drafts from there.

Happy drafting, and I’ll be back to wrap this up shortly!

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