Yesterday I was in my first DCI-sanctioned draft. For some reason only boosters we had were Planeshift, but that was okay because i've never played Planeshift in limited and it is a pretty fun set for that. Here is the deck i drafted:4 Thornscape Familiar
1 Mogg Jailer
2 Horned Kavu
2 Caldera Kavu
2 Slingshot Goblin
2 Ambhibious Kavu
1 Thunderscape Battlemage
2 Kavu Recluse
2 Root Greevil
2 Magma Burst
1 Sparkcaster
1 Stone Kavu
2 Steel Leaf Paladin
2 Terminal Moraine
1 Rith's Grove
2 Plains
5 Mountain
6 Forest
I thought that my deck was pretty original, as i faced a lot of good green and red cards when drafting. The truth was that out of 9 players 4 played red/green, and one even splashed white like i did. Here is the match record:
Match 1: Against Jarkko, who played R/B/U.
Game 1: He was really mana screwed and i killed him pretty fast. He got some creatures out but it was too late when he did.
I sided some Pygmy Kavus in because i saw some black creatures like Lava Zombie and Volcano Imp.
Game 2: This time he had better draw, and got some Volcano Imps out. Ambhibious Kavu was awesome against them, it always went through. Then i drew a Magma Burst and burned both of them away, and swung. After a couple of Terminates i managed to get a Steel Leaf Paladin out, and it finished the game. Wow, my deck seemed to work really well!
1-0,2-0
Match 2: Against Markus, who played R/G.
Game 1: I started with fast beatings but eventually he managed to stall the game with pretty big creatures. Fortunately (for me, of course) he took 3 mana burn pretty early because he tried to play Magma Burst on turn three, he forgot that its casting cost is actually four. This mistake was fatal for him, as i drew 2 Magma Bursts which were enough to finish him.
I had no good SB cards for mirror match...
Game 2: Again a quick start, but again he stalled the game. Our creatures were equally big, and neither dared to attack. He played a Natural Emergence, which was a true surprise for me. Luckily I had Thunderscape Battlemage in play and i drew Horned Kavu. I gated BM and played it with green kicker. Again my kicked Magma Burst broke his defence and i swung for victory.
Now i dare to say that Magma Bursts were the best cards in my deck.
2-0,4-0
Match 3: Against Anssi, who played U/W/B.
Game 1: My hand was really crappy and i had to mulligan for the first time in the whole tourney. It didn't got much better, but i decided to go anyway, as it's really hard to win with 5 cards. I got a Horned Kavu out pretty early, but his 3 Nightscape Familiars blocked all my biggies all day long. Finally he played Stormscape Battlemage with black kicker and killed my Horned Kavu. After that, Sawtooth Loon, returning BM to his hand and played it with both kickers. So he got card manipulation, 2/2 flyer, 2/2 non-flyer, 3 life and killed two creatures with two cards??? Sweet! I scooped.
Game 2: Now my hand was pretty good, and i swung him a little before that damned Nightscape Apprentice came again, followed with Battlemage /w kicker, and then Silver Drake, BM again etc... I just couldn't win that deck. Stormscape Battlemage with creatures with gating is an amazing combo in Limited. Also he showed me his hand: Phyrexian Scuta and Dromar's Charm... Ok.
2-1, 4-2
Match 4: Against our tournament organizer Arto (he is known as Grifter here in MOTL), who played W/B/R/G.
Game 1: I went for REALLY fast beating, i had like 5 creatures in play at turn 4. Magma Burst again cleared the way. I won.
Game 2: I had pretty slow hand, but lands were okay and i keeped. He got a good defense up in time and i lost to Nightscape Familiar (yeah, these things were in both decks that could beat me in the tournament) which was enchanted by 2 Heroic Defiances.
Game 3: Mirrorwood Treefolk hitted play on turn 4. I couldn't even kill it with Magma Burst as it is 2/4... Needless to say, he dominated combat phases with Treefolk and Guard Dogs, which was another nice thing to face. Again enchanted Nightscape Familiar killed me.
I'm surprised how his mana base worked out so well... After all, he had only one Lair and rest were basic lands. Oh well,
better deck won.
2-2, 5-4
Match 5: Against Heidi, who played G/R/W.
Game 1: Our creatures were pretty same-sized, so attacking was useless. I lost to stupid mistake: I didn't burn her Samite Pilgrim out with Burst when i had a change, i just waited for another target. Pilgrim dominated combats and when she played Fleetfoot Panther, Stone Kavu and Steel Leaf Paladin, game was pretty clear.
Game 2: a GOD HAND. Here is the how the game went:
turn 1: forest, go
turn 2: mountain, Thornscape Familiar
turn 3: forest, Swing for 2, another Thornscape Familiar, Slingshot Goblin with one red mana...
turn 4: plains, Swing for 6, Steel Leaf Paladin (which costed 2 less because of Familiars), gated one Familiar
turn 5: forest, Magma Burst w/ kicker to clear her both creatures out, swing for 8, Thornscape Familiar... she scooped.
Game 3: I don't remember much about this game, just that i won because i drew 2 Magma Bursts and a Sparkcaster.
3-2, 7-5
Now the tourney was over, and we moved all drafted cards into one pile and took cards in turns.
I finished 3rd, and since the winner (Arto) already took Phyrexian Scuta and Eladamris Call and Anssi, who finished 2nd, took an Orim's Chant, a Questing Pheldagriffif was left for me.
[Edited 2 times, lastly by King Masticore on November 11, 2001]