---

Hey everyone, welcome back. I left you last week after winning round one of an 84 Rise of the Eldrazi draft. Go back and review if you missed part one, but your executive summary is that my first three picks were ramp-style green cards, and I padded it out with some red for a fairly straightforward green-red ramp build. The ramp leads up to a Pelakka Wurm, an Ulamog's Crusher, a Gigantomancer, and an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Ulamog was instrumental in taking down the first match despite butchering game one like a n00b.

Round-Two Scouting

After watching replays, I see that my round-two opponent dispatched his first-round opponent in two games, revealing only a handful of cards:

The main takeaways from the scout are the Hada Spy Patrol, the Kabira Vindicator, and the Venerated Teacher: I’m up against blue-white levelers. Being low on removal, I’m going to have to outrace! Let’s see what I can do…

R2G1

Villain wins the roll and keeps on the play. My seven on the draw:

Looks great! I don’t usually say that about openers containing 9-drops, but this one has the tools to get there. Villain naturally opens on a Plains and a Soul's Attendant. The attendant could be rough. I produce a lot of tokens and don’t really have removal to spare, so it’s something I’m just going to have to play through.I draw Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, who is frankly at his worst in the matchup, because removal beyond Smite shrugs off indestructibility for the most part.

I drop a Forest and pass, and Villain duplicates his first turn exactly, gaining a life and taking one of mine after the attack (19 – 21). That’s a pretty tough start for me. The double attendants aren’t going to kill me, but it’s almost like Villain has mulliganed to five in exchange for a 60-point starting life total. It will be interesting to note how much life those two weenies produce this game so far. I’ll keep track parenthetically (+1).

I pull Emrakul's Hatcher. Are we playing Overgrown Battlement or Nest Invader here?

R2G1 #1

If I had a four drop I should play the battlement, but without one, I should drop the 2/2 while it might be able to hit a couple times. I instinctively play the Overgrown Battlement because it has been my go-to two drop throughout my early ROE Limited experience (19 – 23) (+3). It’s not a huge mistake, though. Given the amount of damage I’m going to have to deal to win, this game will be decided by my ability to produce Eldrazi-generated inevitability, not by failure to sneak in a couple points of damage with an early Nest Invader.

No land, no attack, and no play from Villain are a good sign for me, and I draw Heat Ray for my third turn. I’m definitely playing Nest Invader this turn, but am I using Heat Ray on one of the attendants beforehand?

R2G1 #2

Again, I can’t see myself using up one of my two removal spells on a 1/1 lifegain creature, I’d rather just play through them and control the board. I play the Nest Invader and pass (19 – 27) (+7). Villain again has no play. Perhaps the invader will go all the way after all! I untap, looking looking for a land, but draw Might of the Masses off the top instead. The invader hits for 2, but that’s made back and then some when I do what I have to do, and sac the spawn token to reach Emrakul's Hatcher mana, putting four creatures into play (19 – 33) (+15). Yikes!

Villain finds an Island and plays Sea Gate Oracle, gaining 2 and probably setting up for another land drop next turn (19 – 35) (+17). I draw Vent Sentinel and assess the options. What’s the plan for this turn?

R2G1 #3

It starts with an attack. The hatcher goes unblocked for 3 (19 – 33), and I have to choose between the Rapacious One and the Vent Sentinel. I go with the Vent Sentinel, because the Rapacious One would cost me two of my tokens, and if it doesn’t hit to replace them, I’ll be pretty far off from an Eldrazi. Villain misses the fourth land drop despite the Sea Gate Oracle, and opts for the desperation Venerated Teacher with no levelers in play (19 – 36) (+19). I pull a Forest, putting me at Rapacious One mana without sacrificing spawn, or Artisan of Kozilek mana if I use my spawn. What’s the play?

R2G1 #4

This is an interesting, close spot. On the one hand, getting the artisan down now could put Villain on the ropes with one attack. On the other hand, I have nothing in my graveyard to reanimate, and if the artisan meets with an answer, I’d be an extra two turns off from casting Ulamog. Meanwhile, Rapacious One will either hit next turn and get me to Ulamog mana, will draw out removal, or will be gang blocked. If it dies, it becomes a nice card to reanimate with the artisan. I imagine the Rapacious One will hit, though, since it’s actually a net life gain for Villain to let it through at this point.

All of those factors convince me to cast the Rapacious One, but I might have been too enamored with resolving Ulamog ASAP instead of just playing the most immediate threat with annihilate against a struggling opponent. In general in ROE ramp strategies, when I have one-shot mana effects and a range of fatties, I like saving the one-shot effects for the most expensive one. That would certainly be correct in this spot against a normally-developed opponent who was more vulnerable to indestructibility. In this spot, though, if Villain essentially loses to an unanswered artisan after two swings, I could have presented that threat now instead of taking an extra turn to build up to an even bigger one. Tough call. What did you all choose to do here?

Let’s see if the Rapacious One plan works out. I attack with the hatcher, then cast the Rapacious One (19 – 35) (+21). I pass, and Villain is again without a play or land drop. I take back the turn and pull Aura Gnarlid. I attack in with the Rapacious One and the hatchling. The Venerated Teacher jumps in front of the Rapacious One to enable a Smite. This vindicates the Rapacious One decision somewhat, but I’d be fine with a smitten artisan and two sacrificed permanents instead. The hatcher hits for 3 (19 – 32).

No question now: I sacrifice all tokens and tap out to cast Artisan of Kozilek and return the Rapacious One to play before passing (19 – 36) (+25). Villain finally finds a second Island and fourth land overall, and hits the artisan with an Oust, sending it away for a bit (22 – 36), then passes. I draw Forest, play it, and try again with the hatcher/Rapacious One attack. Villain double-blocks as follows. Are we using the Might of the Masses to generate spawn tokens? What are the considerations in this spot?

R2G1 #5

The central question is: should we go for Ulamog this turn in the face of two untapped Islands? The double block suggests that Villain really doesn’t want me back up to nine mana for the upcoming artisan draw, further suggesting that getting to 11 for the Ulamog right now is probably a good play. Accordingly, I pump the Rapacious One to a 10/9, and trample over for 5 as well as hitting with the hatcher. Of course, producing five spawn tokens undoes all that damage and then some (22 – 38) (+35). I’m not going to take another screen shot, but what permanent are we going to hit with Ulamog’s “cast” effect in the shot above?

The two attendants are proving to be quite annoying, but I’d still rather take out a land. I opt for a Plains, but like Island slightly better since there are more Island-intensive cards in the format than Plains-intensive ones. Any land should be appropriately crippling though, especially with Ulamog set to attack next…oops, hold that thought. Ulamog instead meets with Deprive! Villain makes a mistake, though, allowing the land destruction to resolve before casting the Deprive, which could have saved the targeted land.

Bummer! I’ve been thinking a lot about this choice, too. My read based on the double block was “Villain fears that artisan coming back,” and so I acted accordingly, but the consequences of the Deprive in that spot are pretty severe. Ulamog’s “shuffle graveyard into library” effect in a sense costs me both of my Eldrazi instead of one. I’m still in fairly good shape, but was the toll of a Deprive—even though it went against my read—high enough to warrant playing that turn more cautiously?

Villain takes back the turn, replays the Plains, and passes. I untap and draw Sporecap Spider, who seems a lot worse than the Artisan of Kozilek. Sadness. In any case, while I expect to cast some creatures here, a big question is: do I attack with Rapacious One when it now gives Villain life in exchange for creating spawn tokens?

R2G1 #6

I’d like to get one more hit in with the Rapacious One before backing off. Producing five tokens here allows me to dump my creatures, activate the Vent Sentinel, and still have enough tokens left over to immediately recast Ulamog should I be lucky enough to draw him again. After that, though, I don’t see a point in any further attacks with the Rapacious One while there are two Soul's Attendants in play. For some reason I don’t attack with the Nest Invader, but the hatcher and the drone hit for 8 before the attendants gain another 10, and casting the gnarlid and spider trigger another 4. (22 – 44) (+49).

Villain untaps and hits land #4 (again), and casts Kabira Vindicator, and I decide not to activate the Vent Sentinel since it would cost a token, and I take back the turn (22 – 46) (+51). In a stroke of good fortune, my Artisan of Kozilek has risen to the top of my library. How should I play out the turn?

R2G1 #7

I could just swing away and reanimate anything that dies to blocking, but in the case of Nest Invader or Emrakul's Hatcher, block and reanimation actually represents a net life gain for Villain. Rapacious One is still on the no-attack list as well. I opt to swing with just the gnarlid, although I could have sent the spider as well. As expected, there are no blocks, the artisan comes down after combat (22 – 46) (+53), and I pass. Villain plays a fifth land and passes back the turn without leveling up the vindicator.

I draw a Mountain, and move to declare attackers, but Villain has no response. Does the telegraphed trick given the unleveled vindicator change the approach to the attack? What am I likely up against, and is there a way to play around it?

R2G1 #8

With no response before declaring attackers, I’m very confused. The only spell that make sense to me is Smite, but that would be castable with a level up of the vindicator. I suppose it could be Harmless Assault, but that would be more harmless to my overall plan than it would be to my assault. A bit confused, I attack with the artisan and the gnarlid, waiting to see what I was missing, and ready to use the Heat Ray on the vindicator after the annihilate resolves. It’s possible that the five land will be more important to Villain than the attendants, and if that’s the case, I can blank the possible Smite with the removal.

Then, with Annihilate on the stack, Villain Regresses the artisan! Clearly a timing mistake, as the Regress now fails to prevent the annihilate 2 from resolving. Villain seems to agree, conceding the game before choosing what to sacrifice. I think 46 life may be the highest opposing life total at which I’ve earned a concession in Limited. Those attendants gained a whopping 53 life before the concession, but in a format with annihilate around every corner, board control is just more important than life gain.

The Sporecap Spider decision in sideboarding is tough because despite facing , I haven’t seen any flyers to be worried about, and providing extra fuel for the Overgrown Battlements and Vent Sentinel seems like it could be good here. I make the swap for the second Battle Rampart, but I can switch back if it seems appropriate and we go to a game three. Let’s see if I can make it moot.

R2G2

Villain elects to play, and keeps. I have these seven:

Swap a Forest for a Mountain, and this is a fantastic starter. Keepable regardless; I’ll just have to find a Mountain early and make it fantastic.

How about right off the top? Yes, I’m liking my chances now. My turn-two Overgrown Battlement is the first spell of the game, while Villain responds with a Sea Gate Oracle. I pull Heat Ray for my third turn. Which creature are we casting this turn?

R2G2 #1

An argument for the Gnarlid is that it can start attacking sooner, but with only one Mountain, I like casting a red card now so I can cast another one next turn. The Vent Sentinel makes sense to me, because then I’ll have mana for both the gnarlid and the rampart next turn. Villain has a Kabira Vindicator for turn four, and I figure it will be meeting with a Heat Ray after Villain has invested some mana into it. Emrakul's Hatcher off the top gives extra options. Are we sticking with the gnarlid/ramapart play, or should we audible to the hatcher?

R2G2 #2

I have nothing in hand that needs the spawn tokens and the rampart can haste up the hatcher, so I like maxing out the mana for the gnarlid and rampart. With three defenders, Vent Sentinel looks pretty solid right now. Villain has six cards in hand but doesn’t have a fifth land drop. Merfolk Skyscout comes down for the opposition, and I take the turn back.

I pull Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre off the top, and now I have a use for some spawn tokens. I play the hatcher, unfortunately making me unable to activate the Vent Sentinel, but you do what you have to do when Ulamog wants to come out and play. With no profitable attacks, I ship the turn back. Villain finds a Plains on top, levels up the vindicator, and attacks with the skyscout, untapping a land in the process (18 – 20). Once again, Villain declines to level up the vindicator, suggesting a trick among the five cards in hand. I pull Overgrown Battlement number two. What’s our plan for the turn? Are we playing around Deprive?

R2G2 #3

For at least a turn, I want to play around the counterspell and see if I can draw it out with my other spells. I decide to cast the Heat Ray on the vindicator, figuring it will either draw out countermagic or allow me to attack this turn. I don’t hate the play because it clears the path for an attack, but I think Heat Ray is even more likely to draw out removal in response to the next level up, when Villain might be more protective of the increased investment. There is a pause, and then the Heat Ray resolves. I swing for 5 and follow with the Overgrown Battlement, which also sticks (18 – 15).

Villain untaps and casts a second Kabira Vindicator, which may be one reason Deprive didn’t show up to protect the first one. The merfolk attacks again, untapping—shocker—an Island, leaving up as I take the turn back. I pull Nest Invader. What’s our best play in the face of an almost certain Deprive?

R2G2 #4

It’s time to stop worrying about the Deprive. Ulamog targeting the second vindicator clears the path again, and I’ll still have mana left to activate Vent Sentinel and cast and haste the Nest Invader. I can do 8 damage with the Vent Sentinel before my next main phase, leaving only 7 left to do with attackers. I cast Ulamog off the battlements and forests, and Deprive counters it as expected. Between my army of attackers and the Vent Sentinel, though, Villain’s only hope is an Oust or Regress for the sentinel in the next couple turns. Eel Umbra on the skyscout and Repel the Darkness only delay the inevitable, and Villain falls to sentinel damage shortly after.

Round-Three Scouting

Nice to make the finals! Let’s see what I’m up against. I have a much better picture of my finals opponent, having five games to scout. Here’s the partial deck:

Finals Opponent – Partial Decklist

It has some unexciting cards at the bottom end of the deck, but as with most finals decks, the top end looks just fine. Turn two Beastbreaker of Bala Ged into turn three attack for 4/4 is one of the better starts the format has to offer.

R3G1

This was the only other interesting game in the draft, and unfortunately it was the one game Magic Online lost. I had the foresight to copy and paste the game log into a document, so I can at least give you an accurate blow-by-blow despite not having my hand info.

I win the roll and mulligan to 6, while Villain keeps.

I drop two Forests and a Prophetic Prism, and Villain responds with the dreaded turn-two Beastbreaker of Bala Ged. My memory is that I had a Flame Slash, but was willing to take 4 to spend my third turn on a Growth Spasm and have Villain sink some mana into the guy before killing it. Villain levels and hits for 4 (16 – 20). I play a Forest, slash the beastbreaker, and sac the spawn token to enable Emrakul's Hatcher and produce three more.

Villain plays an Island for two of each, then casts a second Beastbreaker of Bala Ged, leaving up. I attack with the hatcher (16 – 17) and try for a Stomper Cub off of a spawn token and four land since I’ve missed my fifth land drop, but the cub meets Deprive. The beastbreaker attacks without a pump (14 – 17), and the post-combat Wildheart Invoker explains why. I untap and attack in with the hatcher again, and Villain trades the invoker for it.

I pass with Heat Ray in hand, which I’m prepared to use on the beastbreaker in response to a level up, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, the beastbreaker attacks as a 2/2, and a Frostwind Invoker comes down after combat (12 – 17). I have Rapacious One, Artisan of Kozilek and a Might of the Masses in hand, so I take out the invoker with the Heat Ray since I’ll be clogging the ground soon enough.

I still haven’t hit my fifth land drop, but I am able to cast the Rapacious One with the two spawn tokens I have left. Villain levels up the beastbreaker and attacks, and I have to take it (8 – 17), but I’m thinking I can take control of the game on my next turn if I can connect fully with the Rapacious One.

After combat, Villain cycles Irresistible Prey and drops Skywatcher Adept. I untap, draw a land, and swing with the Rapacious One, which goes unblocked, putting me at 5 total spawn tokens (8 – 12). I’m left with five land and five tokens, which is enough to cast the Artisan of Kozilek and leave one token behind. I reanimate the Emrakul's Hatcher over the Stomper Cub because it produces extra chumps and extra bodies for the (Might of Masses), which would currently be a +7/+7, which is enough for the win next turn even if the Eldrazi and hatcher are chumped.

Villain untaps with one card in hand, draws a second, casts Distortion Strike on the beastbreaker, levels up the Skywatcher Adept, and attacks. “Phew,” I think. “That’s only 7, he’s just attacking to show how close it was.” Then, after declare blockers, Villain casts Eel Umbra on the flyer for exactly 8, and the topdecked win. Ouch! That hurt.

I bring in the Naturalize for the Prophetic Prism and submit for game two.

R3G2

I choose to play of course, and have a fine starter:

Beautiful! Let’s draw a couple of land and make this work. I pull a Mountain and drop the Overgrown Battlement, while Villain misses the third land drop and passes without a play. Looking good for the home team! I pull Naturalize, drop the second Mountain and cast the Battle Rampart. Villain cycles Irresistible Prey and finds a third Forest, but passes.

I draw Heat Ray, missing my fourth land drop, which prevents me from unleashing a hasty Rapacious One. I settle for a hasty Sporecap Spider, which is quite a downgrade (20 – 19). Villain finds a fourth Forest, but again has no play. I desperately want to punish that slow start, but I’m actually behind on land now, failing again to draw land. I meekly hit for another 1, and pass (20 – 18). Villain has a fifth Forest and a first spell, Nema Siltlurker.

I finally draw a Mountain, and I’m at Rapacious One mana. I haste it up and crash in for 5 damage, spewing five tokens out as well (20 – 13). Villain has a sixth Forest without an Island in sight, and makes a Wildheart Invoker. I hope for another Forest to make this turn simple, but instead I have Emrakul's Hatcher on top. What’s the play?

R3G2 #1

I can cast Pelakka Wurm, but not with Might of the Masses mana up. On the other hand, if I use ample tokens, I can cast the wurm with enough token mana to Heat Ray the Wildheart Invoker if the wurm is double blocked. That’s the play I like here now, but it’s a little tricky—let’s see if I saw it mid game, I don’t think I did.

Nope, I just tapped all my land, the battlement, and sacrificed a token for the wurm. It’s mostly a non-issue given the game state, but I don’t like the number of subtle spawn-token plays I’ve missed or messed up during the draft. It’s something I’ve been working on since the draft, and I feel I have a better handle on it now.

As it is, Villain still doesn’t have any good options as I haste up the wurm and swing, also leaving back the Sporecap Spider needlessly. The wurm is double blocked, and I take out the Wildheart Invoker while hitting for 5 and dumping more tokens on the table (20 – 8). I draw Vent Sentinel off the dying wurm, Villain manages a Boar Umbra for the siltlurker, but with Might of the Masses and 13 creatures, the game is over on my next attack.

R3G3

One last game for all the marbles! , two-thirds of the marbles, at any rate. Unfortunately, this game doesn’t deserve the full treatment, because there were never any decisions. I mull a terrible six and keep a four-land hand with Pelakka Wurm and Vent Sentinel. Villain opens on Enclave Cryptologist, and by turn four she is fully leveled, with a Beastbreaker of Bala Ged by her side. Meanwhile, I draw three land an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and my first play of the game is the Vent Sentinel. My fifth draw is Might of the Masses, which can’t even pump the sentinel high enough to take out a leveled beastbreaker.

I draw an Aura Gnarlid for turn six but it gets Deprived, and by the time I cast the turn-seven Pelakka Wurm, Villain has seven cards in hand, a 4/4 beastbreaker, a 2/2 flying Skywatcher Adept, a Frostwind Invoker, and I’m at 6. The wurm takes me back to 13, but the card advantage from the cryptologist is just not something I can come back from. When the invoker suits up with Boar Umbra after drawing another card off the cryptologist, it’s over. I take 8 through the air, and concede after drawing my ninth land to five spells (ironically one of which I still couldn’t cast).

Not Getting It Done

An anticlimactic final game for the event, but a fun draft overall. As “Timmy” as this set is, it is also full of nuance and subtlety, as are unfortunately evidenced by the abundance of little play mistakes I made throughout these games. I’m a couple weeks and several drafts away from this event, now, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about how to draft and play this format since then. There is still a lot more to discover, though, and I look forward to writing more walk-throughs of this fascinating format.

Until next time, happy drafting!