Recap 28 and Surprise Draft

That is the smug satisfaction of a man who just won a draft tournament.



This past Monday was a relocated night as Snape's Apartment was unavailable so we went to an actual apartment. Big thanks to Matt for letting us invade his flat and nerd it up.

The big news of the week was the return of Felix, who has been absent for a number of months. We welcomed him back and kicked off the evening with some casual play while we prepared to draft Mirrodin Besieged. This marks the 12th draft tournament, and Felix's second 1st place ranking.

Felix took over the FFA game with his U/B infect deck after he gained a foothold killing off my bad dudes directly with his livewire lash. Matt kept the pressure on him with unblockable creatures but in the end Felix was able to overwhelm me with poison and stay alive just long enough to give Matt the same dosage.

Once Chris arrived we divided up the twelve packs of cards and began drafting.
Felix drafted black and white, with focus on infect.
Matt drafted a lot of artifact bad dudes with some burn and defense in red and white.
I drafted G/B deck focused on draw power and aggro beatdown.
Chris drafted U/W with focus on flyers and artifact generated tokens.

The first round saw me match up against Chris. I locked down early keeping Chris at bay and then built up 3 Fangren Marauders which decidedly had his smaller artifact creatures locked down for fear of giving me loads of life. Finally a Black Suns Zenith swept the field away and gain me 75 life points, and then cleared the way for my to sweep in for damage. By the end of the game I had 129 life and Chris was feeling defeated. The second game Chris came out swinging but before long I had out another Fangren Marauder and was destroying artifacts and gaining life. I had his number again.

Felix and Matt were matched up and Felix was quick to receive the note from Burn the Impure that infect could be dangerous. Unfortunately for Matt, Felix drafted creature heavy and had no problem recovering. Before too long Felix was coming over with Imps, and Priests of Norn and Flensermites for the win. The second game played out similarly with Felix slowly grinding his way through Matt's beefy creatures until Matt was overwhelmed.

In the second round Matt and I matched up. The game started off badly for Matt who was land hosed to begin the match. I took advantage and swooped in with Glissa, and a Viridian Emissary. I slowly whittled him down. The second game was quite different as I was quick to get out some emissaries and do some damage, but then Matt come back and suddenly had a giant creature out with a sword of Feast and Famine on it. I was feeling the pinch as he suddenly had pro-both-of-my-colors. I took a huge hit, discarded and watched him untap and play more bad dudes. He passed the turn to me and I drew and it was Black Suns Zenith. I had the mana to change the game, and I did. I drew into a Viridian Corrupter after that putting the Sword into the graveyard for good. That changed the game and I was able to swing at Matt for lethal damage over a few turns while his defenses were down.

Felix and Chris were playing and Felix trampled Chris under poisonous feet while Chris, who was drawing fine during the first match, struggled to draw land and get board position in both games, leaving Felix to walk away with the sweep.

In the third round Matt and Chris met up and Matt was overpowering Chris with his big artifact creatures. Chris mounted a defense but Matt kept the pressure on overwhelming Chris bit by bit. Matt took the two games in brutal fashion leaving Chris wondering where his draft wins went.

Felix and I matched up to decide who would win the tournament. We were both feeling confident as were undefeated up to that point. We both raced for board position and Felix was eager to ring up some poison counters on me. I was creating a lot of draw power but was unable to find and answer for the Mirran Crusader and lost due to its Pro G/B which were my colors and Felix won the match without even having to poison me. The second game swung back in my favor with Felix unable to draw a plains leaving me able to control the board and swing for victory and by turn seven I had the game locked down with a Piston Sledge and the Spine of Ish Sah. The third game was quick, with Felix getting creatures swept away by the Black Suns Zenith but responding with a Flesh Eater Imp to which I could find no defense. He swooped in for the lethal infect three turns later to win the tournament.

Felix took the big prize, the Sword of Feast and Famine (sorry Paul). And I nabbed the Black Suns Zenith (as if I needed another!).

Good fun for all.

Stay tuned as there is more to come!