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By: Flippers_Giraffe, Simon Smith
Jan 05 2016 1:00pm
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I'm back again to show you what I've been up to in the world of MTGO. For me it's the week after Christmas as I'm writing this right off the back of my last article. I've spent days literally all of them playing Commander and failing to win any games at all. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I was quite good at 100 card singleton, is it really that different? I suppose my card collection isn't what it was back then but I'm slowly building it back up, some cards are at amazing price levels due to the Modern format exploding since I left and came back.

Before I get carried away as my Commander rant will have an article for itself, for this article I decided to invest some player points into the Vintage Cube. I fancied trying something different It's 100 player points to enter and I need to win two matches to get my points back. I went for the Vintage Cube as my knowledge of Magic cards goes all the way back to Alpha/Beta, the only sets I'm a bit dubious about are the ones I missed when I stopped playing a while ago which are the Innistrad, Return to Ravinca and Theros blocks anything else I know the card from the artwork so there's not many I actually need to read which makes drafting easier.

I must admit I was quite excited about this I had a spare three hours which is rare for me so thought let's give it a go I have nothing to lose. 

While writing this article it's made me think about using video. I generally don't like spending my time watching videos I'd rather have something to read with nice pictures but I think I'm showing my age now....  

I won't be showing you from which cards I picked for my card pool due to not knowing about the auto save draft log tick box which is in your account settings in game history, next time gadget. So for this article there are a few things I want to point out. The first card in my pack that I took was Tombstalker as he's a nice hitter and easy to cast with delve. Next pick was Liliana of the Veil which secured me in black as my first colour. I then went to green for Managorger Hydra and passed a Baneslayer Angel which I would later regret. If only I could keep the cards I drafted as I don't have a Liliana of the Veil, she actually never saw play in the draft but I know she was there with me.

After picking the Managorger Hydra I picked Elspeth, Knight-Errant and my plans suddenly changed and I went Black/White from thereafter, all the green cards started drying up as well so it was a good choice. I saw a lot of duals in my colours flying around but wanted to stay with two colours so started to pick up some removal in the form of Diabolic Edict which is always a great card due to its instant speed. I also picked up some other nice removal at instant speed for black Disfigure which is great for taking out mana ramp creatures like Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves. My favourite of the bunch though is Murderous Cut which can be cast using delve which makes it super useful.

From the white side our removal is in the form of enchantments Banishing Light and Journey to Nowhere. I actually picked Banishing Light over Swords to Plowshares I'm not sure it was the best thing or not but it felt right as it's a lot more versatile and I had a lot of other removal at this point as well. I also had these two dual colour removal spells as well which helped move me over to the enchantment Vindicate and Utter End both of which I think are amazing cards. There was also a Tidehollow Sculler as well as one of the picks which was nice.

Now let's have a look at the creatures that made it into the main deck. First up is black I've already showed you Tombstalker the only other black creature that made it in is Bob Dark Confidant. So let's see the white creatures then, starting from the bottom up and no not Elspeth's! First we have Student of Warfare as an early hitter who can turn quite nasty when you start pumping her. Our main mana stabiliser Weathered Wayfarer comes in at the bottom of the mana ramp as well.

 

Then we come into the three mana step for Blade Splicer which I think is a really nice card while she's in play her Golem has first strike. Then we have our knight in shining armour Mirran Crusader who shall be known as Elspeth's errand boy, as it's one of the few male cards that made it into the deck for some reason. We also have Boros Reckoner which is a pretty cool card, not easy to cast being three white mana but it has a built in safety catch, whenever its dealt damage it deals that amount of damage to a creature or player of your choice. We also have the devious Kitchen Finks as one of our three drops.

Of the four up drops there are only two creatures that made the cut. The first is our flasher Restoration Angel, when she comes into play your opponent will take notice of her angelic ways. Our second is our fine lady upon a warhorse, the mighty Hero of Bladehold, if she survives to your next turn she will be leading the charge and taking no names. If you exclude Tombstalker this is the top of our mana curve. I made a brave choice and decided to cut back on my mana base taking this into account, which is quite a risk as I don't really have any mana ramp in the deck. 

We have a few artifacts that were included in the deck Lightning Greaves to protect are creatures from spot removal. Worn Powerstone which is our only source of mana ramp, Lastly we have a card which I think is a bomb in a draft deck considering the deck size is forty cards which is Sword of Body and Mind. when it connects with your opponent it mills off the top ten cards of your opponents library and you gain a 2/2 wolf token which is always useful.

And that is the contents of our main deck along with Wall of Omens and Enlightened Tutor. There is only one card that I used from my sideboard which is Sword of Feast and Famine the others never made the cut. The more interesting of the bunch were Bitterblossom but I didn't want to include it along with Dark Confidant in the same deck as it would be suicide to have them both in play at the same time. Bloodline Keeper, there just wasn't room to include this guy otherwise he would have been in. I also drafted the mighty Griselbrand but because I didn't pick up any other large creatures I didn't want to pick extra cards just to support casting him. I also had Kytheon Hero of Akros but he didn't really connect with me so was dropped late in the deck creation. Which leaves our deck looking like this albeit a very Modern deck in a Vintage draft.

    Creatures    Instants    Sideboard
Blade Splicer 1 Diabolic Edict 1 Bitterblossom
1 Boros Reckoner Disfigure 1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Dark Confidant 1 Enlightened Tutor 1 Braids, Cabal Minion
Hero of Bladehold 1 Murderous Cut Brimstone Volley
Kitchen Finks 1 Utter End 1 Flickerwisp
Mirran Crusader      1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
Restoration Angel 
Planeswalkers 1 Griselbrand
Student of Warfare 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 1 Hallowed Spiritkeeper
Tidehollow Sculler Liliana of the Veil  1 Honor of the Pure
Tombstalker     1 Inquisition of Kozilek
Weathered Wayfarer    Artifacts 1 Kytheon Hero of Akros
    1 Lightning Greaves 1 Leonin Arbiter
  Enchantments Sword of Body and Mind 1 Leonin Relic-Warder
Banishing Light Worn Powerstone 1 Managorger Hydra
Journey to Nowhere      1 Nezumi Shortfang
      Lands 1 Pithing Needle
  Sorceries Plains 1 Ranger of Eos
Vindicate  7 Swamp 1 Secure the Wastes
        1 Sword of Feast and Famine
        1 The Abyss

Let the games commence... 

Match one

Round one 

I begin with a nice hand of removal and creatures. My opponent starts playing into a Shadowmage Infiltrator, I play Journey to Nowhere to remove him from play, we don't really want that guy in play any longer than needed as he is a massive threat due to his card draw ability. My opponent in his turn cast Desecration Demon which is just as huge a threat but I'm not so worried I just need to draw a swamp and I can Vindicate his ugly face off the playing area. I seem to not be drawing any more lands though, have I really made an error with only going with 15 lands instead of the average 17, if I have I've doomed myself for the rest of the event. I play Weathered Wayfarer which is turned into a forest by Song of the Dryads. My opponent plays Sword of Fire and Ice which means that demon is dealing out a total of 10 damage a turn. Two turns later I'm dead with no swamp still.

Round 2 

Interesting this is saved as round three in my replays. I start off with Tidehollow Sculler grabbing his Pack Rats. He Man-o'-Wars it back to my hand to give him some extra time so I recast and grab it again. I then kill the pesky Jellyfish with a Diabolic Edict I know how good these pesky Rats can be. He then plays Sword of Fire and Ice which is a big threat to my Tidehollow Sculler, I drop our lady of the hour Elspeth, Knight-Errant letting our Tidehollow Sculler fly in for a crushing blow. My opponent then Reanimates his Man-o'-War sending our Tidehollow Sculler back to our hands and equipping it with the Sword of Fire and Ice. We start to build up a creature base on each side which is a bit of a standstill, I then play Enlightened Tutor to grab my own Sword of Body and Mind. With Elspeth, Knight-Errant still in play my opponent knows his game is up and concedes. 

Round 3

I sideboard in a few lands and take out Lightning Greaves and Boros Reckoner. My opponent is off to an excellent start with a forest into Birds of Paradise and a Chrome Mox. Then down comes the Pack Rat while I'm stalling on a Swamp and Plains, things are not going well. The Pack Rats multiply and before I know it I'm toast. At this point I think I'm truly doomed, if all the decks are this good I'm going to be wasting three hours of my life and lots of player points.

Match 2

Let's hope we do better this time round, it can't really get any worse cant it?    

Round 1

I start off with a nice selection of lands this time and play into Lightning Greaves and Hero of Bladehold who don's the greaves and starts the attack. My opponent reacts in his turn by casting Oath of Druids, this could make for an interesting game depending on what comes down next turn. I am a bit concerned as he must have some really heavy hitters in the deck. I deal with his Oath with Utter End removing it from play. My opponent concedes as he has no way to deal with my lovely lady.

Round 2

I start off with an odd hand of 6 plains, Weathered Wayfarer and Blade Splicer. My opponent starts with Shelldock Isle and then plays into Oath of Druids. The Oath brings down a Courser of Kruphix which isn't so bad. I play Student of Warfare and then in his turn after he draws I see his next card that will be activated by Oath of Druids will be Emrakul, the Aeons Torn  Lucky enough for me I draw an Utter End and remove the Oath before it activates. The following turn Hero of Bladehold comes into play on my side, my opponent drops down Karn Liberated and he starts removing my threats while building up his mana base and then casts the dreaded Emrakul, the Aeons Torn who proceeds to stomp me to death. Now that didn't go so well. Let's hope I can start quicker next round, I need to kill my opponent fast and not let his Oath of Druids activate now that I know what lurks within his deck. 

Round 3

I start off with Student of Warfare and she really starts hammering it home, at level 2 she's a 3/3 first striking whirling dervish. My opponent concedes when I cast Enlightened Tutor our knight did us proud in this round she will be rewarded by Elspeth for her ability to single handedly take down our opponent.  

Match 3

Round 1

We start off the round with Boros Reckoner who promptly gets Incinerated, which means my opponent takes three damage back to his face for his troubles. He then brings down Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker who hits me back. This guy could be an issue, I drop my Kitchen Finks and equip them with Lightning Greaves sending them in to do battle with Sarkhan. I try to Vindicate Sarkhan but it's Counterspelled. I then drop down Blade Splicer but he steals my Golem with Treachery. He then plays Bonfire of the Damned killing all my creatures (the Kitchen Finks had already died once) and then Sarkhan hits home again. My chances of winning this round are very slim. I cast Journey to Nowhere taking care of the Golem that was stolen from me and then drop down Elspeth who starts creating soldiers who she sends into Sarkhan. Sarkhan ignores her and hits me again taking me down to five life against his 17, sad times. I draw a nice card this turn my ever faithful Utter End and remove Sarkhan from play and send in my soldiers. In my follow turn I play Mirran Crusader and pop the Lightning Greaves on him while Elspeth boosts one of her soldiers and hit for 7 damage my opponent concedes.

Round 2

I start off with Weathered Wayfarer which is swiftly dealt with by Burst Lightning. My opponent then goes into Chandra, Pyromaster, which I deal with in my turn via Utter End. They then play Vendilion Clique which I counter with Disfigure but he sends my Journey to Nowhere to the bottom of my deck. I then bring down Restoration Angel in the end of his turn and in mine cast Dark Confidant which is Counterspelled. In his turn he steals my angel with Treachery which I then kill with Diabolic Edict, poor lass. A few turns later Dack Fayden and Tasigur, the Golden Fang show up on my opponents side, I tackle Tasigur with Banishing Light and then start drawing lands like crazy. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage makes an appearance alongside Dack Fayden and I have nothing at this point in time. I then get a break and draw Hero of Bladehold which is stolen from me by Control Magic. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker then joins the party giving my opponent three planeswalkers my Hero of Bladehold and a transformed Delver of Secrets. He then proceeds to beat me to death. It's all down to the next round If I win I will get to walk away even with my 100 player points if not well, I'll be very sad. It's going to be close though so I'm going to need to play at my best.

Round 3

I start off with Weathered Wayfarer which is swiftly dealt with by Burst Lightning again! I then proceed to cast Wall of Omens and equip it with Lightning Greaves which was a mistake as next turn I cast Restoration Angel and can't blink it. I give the angel the greaves and she starts her beat down. Next turn I cast Sword of Body and Mind and equip it to the angel and she grinds my opponent good and proper, he has two blue flyers but they can't block her due to protection from blue from the Sword. We have a beat down race but I kill one of his flyers with Disfigure and then go in for the final kill either way by beat down or deck removal as he will have no cards to draw next turn and he disconnects, I'm afraid he wasn't man enough to concede he left me hanging for seven minutes which is very unsportsmanlike.

The end result though is I won two out of three rounds and won my entry fee back which I'm very happy about. I must say I really enjoyed myself I do like drafting but it's not normally possible for me to have three spare hours in a day where I can sit solidly in front of the computer which is why I look forward to sealed leagues.

One other thing I would like Wizards to do if they read this is do have an option for mixed booster drafts, I think that would be so much fun, it's always something I've wanted to try.

That's all from me today, Flip out.