(yawning) whoaaaa, that was quite a nap. Hey, so how’s the world doing? (awkward pause…) I think for the first time in quite a while, I simply skipped an entire set. At first, I thought all this quarantine would imply that I would be able to binge Magic without interruption. But I found that I simply had no appetite for a mentally taxing game that demands making decisions with incomplete information. Seems like I was getting my fill of that every day.

Draft log

P1p1: Not sure why the draft log botched P1p1, but it was a showdown between Massacre Wurm vs Enthralling Hold.

A reasonable choice, but the Wurm offers too much value even if it is at 6-mana. Probably took me too long to decided between them, since a day after this LR proclaimed it “a clear A”. In P1p5, a late Hunter’s Edge (strictly better Hunt the Weak) I read as a signal to move into green. It was pretty clear that GB was my lane and I built a thoroughly average GB deck out of it!

Summary

Overall the deck performed perfectly decently. A curve into some removal with a couple of powerful cards at the top end is a reliable, if dull, recipe for success.

2-1

It’s time for quarantine drafting people! While I’m resisting the urge to reinstall WoW, I have been baking a lot. Black sesame oatmeal cookies anyone?

Draft log

NIGHTMARE MUSE. Let’s do this. Okay, I need to dig for it and cast it (assuming black gets cut, which is my baseline for MTGO drafting). With low expectations, I am never disappointed and I shift into a pretty open UG seat. Don’t see a lot of Constellation payoffs, but I get some good fixing options and draft a control deck.

Summary

Interesting Moments

I did totally chicken out and NOT take the Enigmatic Incarnation. If I didn’t already have Ashiok, I would have trying to build around it. But I just don’t have the guts. It looks too complicated for this humble farm boy.

Pretty embarrassing to go 1-2 with Ashiok AGAIN. But I ran into a pretty good mono-white deck that kept hitting me in the face with Chimeras and then a RGbu(?) deck that had more 4/4s than the good Lord intended. There were some fun snap concedes when I did actually draw Ashiok though.

1-2

Last draft before I turn 40! Also might kick off a long streak of drafting if the northwest goes into Wuhan-esque lockdown for COVID-19. I gotta admit, it still feels like it’s just an above-average case of influenza with a really good PR firm. Hopefully this post doesn’t age too poorly when we’re fighting over who runs Gas Town.

Draft log

Well, Heliod seems a pretty easy choice here. Shame I got immediately knocked off white. I eventually nestle into RB midrange. Not exactly where one wants to be here.

There was a very interesting choice in pack 2. Right after picking up the Skophos Maze-Warden, I was presented with the opportunity to “live the dream” with the Labyrinth. Or take a Mire’s Grasp.

I went with the Labyrinth, even though my heart knew that Mire’s Grasp was the correct choice. Given how light I ended up in removal, I guess I deserved it.

I had two different builds of this deck. At first I went my normal, allergic-to-18-land self. But then I looked again at my curve (2x Bleeps, lots of double-pips) and leaned into the game plan of slowing down. Added a Thrill of Possibility and cut a Rage-Hound (since they can’t block) to go up to 18 lands and hopefully a higher chance of running the game long to get to my more powerful cards. Feels a little bad that I couldn’t work Heliod into this at all, but such is life.

Summary

Ended up 2-1, making the finals. I lost to a mediocre GB deck that lacked win conditions, but I guess the same could be said of my deck as well I suppose.

Draft log

This draft was a fascinating exercise in Butterfly Effect. P1p1 started out with Mire’s Grasp vs. Heliod’s Intervention. Efficient removal versus temperamental but potentially quite powerful removal. I take Mire’s Grasp. This is wrong: there was pretty universal agreement that Heliod’s Judgement is better than any common or uncommon. But when I took that, then the Eat to Extinction fell to me and I sort of married black waaay too hard given how cut it was in pack 3. And white was painfully open in pack 3 (Archon of Falling Stars, late Revoke Existence, &c). Blech.

Summary

Honestly, this deck was pretty bad. Somehow I won round one, only to lose to a very bad RW aggro deck in round 2. I had no desire to play round 3.

There were visions of a triple-cook night and a draft, which is just folly. Those dishes don’t clean themselves and Lil Chandra is really far from contributing anything other than morale.

Draft log

Ended up in G(u). Looking back there wasn’t a clear signal to go green in pack 1 until the pick 15 (!) Setessan Training, so I like how I navigated the draft. Getting hooked up with Nylea and a Hornbeetle in pack 3 certainly helped the overall power level of my deck.

Summary

Round 1 ran into a very good GB black (escape creatures, 2x Mire’s Grasp, 2x Funeral Rites, etc.) that I deserved to lose to. Almost pulled it out in game 3, but oppo had the single green “put target god on the bottom of the library” which was pretty much their only out from my alpha attack. The beat a bad UG deck that ran far too many Triton Wave-Crashers (the 2/1 that fuels escape). Then I beat a deck that had far too many 2/1 harpies for big dumb green creatures.

For the first time ever I started off a set with a 3-0 draft! I think the memo about how powerful black was hadn’t yet gotten around, so I had double Gorgon, Gary, and just a plate full of removal. It was fun. It.. it hasn’t been as smooth since.

Draft log

Summary

Felt like a tricky draft to navigate. I seized on the Mire Triton in P1p4 as a soft signal to veer towards black, then teased by white (Daxos, P1p10 hero of the Pride) only for that to dry up. I was able to wheel the BR gold Slaughter-Priest in pack 2, so I think my lane was correct. Just didn’t end up with high card quality.

Interesting Moments

What to cut?

Some tough cuts. Initially I was going to cut the Agonizing Remorse but was talked out of it. Eventually dropped Aspect of Lamprey, a Nyxborn Marauder, Libation, and a Storm’s Wrath (for mana considerations).