Back from vacation (insofar as travelling with a 2-year old Baby Raptor qualifies as a vacation) so it’s time to cram in some studying before my first ever Magicfest (nee Grand Prix, which is still a far superior name). It’s Modern Horizons, which looks to be complicated, fun, and nearly $7 a pack. Wow. I know I have more money than free time, but that’s still an impressive chunk out of the wallet for a practice pool. Let’s see what we get.

Pool

This is surprisingly overwhelming to look at! A couple things jump out at me. First, I have almost no removal. This is a removal light set, but one Mob seems bad. Blue looks deepest, despite not having a single Man O War. I hem and haw, and ask for a lot of help from the Super Drafting Fun Time Pals and the Lords of Limited discord. They talk me into a UG splash-heavy deck. And the mana base is… a thing alright.

Deck

The mana is shaky: 7 forests and islands with an Astrolabe to help splash. All six snow-covered lands are in, and the card advantage from Fact or Fiction and other sources. There’s a lot of value in here (running four of my rares: Stepmom, Genesis, Mist-Syndicate Naga, and Bazaar Trademage) so it’s a survival and dig to the power sort of gameplay.

Match Summary

Round 1: I choose to draw first against… slivers. Whoops! I keep a two-land hand and… don’t draw a land in first three turns. I land a Trademage to… not find land. Oppo curves out perfectly with Slivers, which ends it pretty swiftly. I get my revenge with a brutal Stepmom + Mist-Syndicate Naga which overhwlmes in a real hurry. In game 3 I start grinding out some serious advantage. I get got by Wing Shards but the card advantage is overwhelming.

Round 2: facing 5 color great stuff. They get a Soulherder + Ponder Mage combo going, which is pretty oppressive. Oppo pulls a second Blizzard Strix to dodge a much-needed piece of removal, and I think I’m pretty much sunk. Then he pulls an Urza and Rotwidow Pack to really drive home the point. Game 2, oppo gets WUBRG again and I’m getting beat in the air with a Chillerpillar and no answer.

Okay, I’m just going to mash “Publish” now since fitting in additional rounds might take me months. 1-1! Sure!