Morningtide Pre-release
My sealed deck:
Boggart Harbinger
Dreamspoiler Witches
Frogtosser Banneret
Ghostly Changeling
Mad Auntie
Nameless Inversion
Nightshade Schemers
Prickly Boggart
Skeletal Changeling
Squeaking Pie Grubfellows x2
Warren Pilferers
Violet Pall
Weed-Pruner Poplar
Caterwauling Boggart
Rival's Duel
Roar of the Crowd
Spitebellows
Titan's Revenge
Tarfire
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Runed Stalactite
Cloak and Dagger
Shimmering Grotto
Mountain x6
Swamp x10
I think this is better than some draft decks I've played; I knew what I was going to be doing before I had opened any of the Morningtide product. It's hard to say no to a tournament pack that includes Wort, Mad Auntie, Boggart Harbinger, Nameless Inversion, Warren Pilferers, and Tarfire. I had plenty more Morningtide goblins, but I did have a problem in deck construction - my green included Orchard Warden, Everbark Shaman, double Ambassador Oak, Battlewand Oak, Cloudcrown Oak, Seedguide Ash, and Unstoppable Ash. That's an excellent treefolk package, and I could have removed the two faeries, Titan's Revenge, Spitebellows, Roar of the Crowd, Skeletal Changeling, Rival's Duel, and Caterwauling Boggart for it and run black-green with enough of a red splash to support Wort. I decided against that because it would cost me most of my removal and - more importantly - I really wanted to be able to drop Wort early. Wort is just a huge bomb, and I really didn't want him sitting in my hand any longer than necessary.
My round one opponent was a young kid who didn't really know the rules; he was playing UG without much of a tribal theme that I could see. My deck went off perfectly in game one, and he found himself staring down Wort, Warren Pilferers, Boggart Harbinger, and a Grubfellows, with Tarfire and Nameless Inversion recursing. Sealed decks don't last very long against that. I had some tools for game two, but on turn four he dropped the one creature that I really didn't want to see - Chameleon Colossus. I actually managed to kill it with Titan's Revenge, but it had smashed me down to eight. He followed up with a Fencer Clique, which I couldn't outrun or find an answer for before I died. Game three again saw Wort hit the table; this time I stuck Cloak and Dagger on him. 5/3 shroud fear would have been enough even without the recursion, and I won easily.
Round two was again a black-red elemental warrior/shaman deck. In game one I dropped turn two Cloak and Dagger, turn three Ghostly Changeling; I was mana flooded, but the changeling converted that to damage, and I smashed through every creature he played. I had to throw back a one-land hand game two, and I drew five land and Tarfire. I decided to keep this one, and drew land for the next five turns. He got a Countryside Crusher down, but I finally started to draw non-land cards, including Violet Pall, and stabilized at three life. I had Wort on the table and the game just about under control, when he dropped - Mudbutton Torchrunner. Time to shuffle... Game three saw my deck behave again with a Harbinger into Wort and I killed him quickly.
In round three, I had a mulligan decision - three mountains, Boggart Harbinger, Frogtosser Banneret, Warren Pilferers, some black card. This is an almost perfect hand, except that I can't actually play any cards in it until I pull a black source. Do I keep it, and hope to draw one of my 11 black sources over the next two draws? I did, which was completely the wrong move; my opponent was playing a red-black Rogue deck, and when I didn't drop any blockers he got out of control quickly with Auntie's Snitch. I didn't see a swamp during the six turns before I died. I think my draw in game two was a clear keep, but I stumbled a turn looking for the fourth mana to go with the three I started with, and against a fast rogue deck that's lethal - I would have won the race, but he had two Morsel Thefts, and the 12 life swing was more than enough. This was a very disappointing round - I had fully expected to 4-0 with my deck, and this match was tough but probably winnable. There's nothing I could have done about game two, but I should have mulliganed game one. I really need to start mulliganing more aggressively; this is at least the second time today I kept a hand I should have thrown back.
I wasn't too worried about round four down in the loser's bracket. My opponent was playing a red-white-black deck with what appeared to be a Giants-Warriors theme. I never saw a mountain during game one, but it didn't matter much - I got down all three Kinship creatures, the Stalactite to make Schemers work, and Mad Auntie to keep his Battle-Axed War-Spike Changeling from being relevant. He couldn't stand up to the triple-kinship effects and went down under a pile of Goblins. In game two, I showed him my other color with turn four Wort; he flooded and I ran him over.
My draft deck:
Earwig Squad
Festercreep
Final-Sting Faerie x5
Moonglove Changeling
Nightshade Schemers
Oona's Blackguard
Pack's Disdain x3
Prickly Boggart
Revive the Fallen
Scarblade Elite x2
Thornbite Staff
Violet Pall
Weed-Pruner Poplar x4
Swamp x17
This is an odd little draft archetype that will never exist outside of MOR-MOR-MOR: Assassins. I'm running 12 assassins, which is more than enough to make the Scarblade Elites very, very good. Thornbite Staff is excellent with the five Final-Sting Faeries and just broken on Moonglove Changeling. It's extremely expensive to play unless it comes down before the changeling, however. The biggest danger (aside from the fact that I basically scoop to Chameleon Colossus) is that it's very slow, but the fast archetype in this format seems to be Prowl, and since I was trying to draft prowl until I stumbled into Assassins I didn't think there was likely to be a good prowl deck out there; I just wasn't seeing anything useful.
In round one, I faced a mono-white Kithkin deck. This is a very good matchup for me if I can reach the late game; two Weed-Pruner Poplars can kill more or less anything in his deck. With my opponent on play, I had the nut draw - Prickly Boggart, Oona's Blackguard, Earwig Squad. He dropped a Mosquito Squad turn one, and hit my Boggart with a Coordinated Barrage on turn 2 and my Blackguard with one on turn three. So much for my Earwig Squad... We spent a long time trading off creatures, but he was forced to use removal on my Weed-Pruners and eventually ran out of cards with me at a precarious two life. We were both flooding badly, but I recovered first and nicked him down. I had to start game two with a mulligan, and it wasn't particularly close; I didn't manage to damage him before I died. Game three saw me finally get a Scarblade on line, and I didn't attack with it when it could possibly be barraged; since my Assassins were good enough to trade with his creatures one-for-one, I was building up huge card advantage. It got worse when I found the Thornbite Staff and started using it while dropping Final-Sting Faeries; weenie decks can't survive repeated three-for-ones for very long.
Round two saw me against David, a frequent player at Genesis Games. He had drafted a red-green treefolk-shaman deck. I started with my Prickly Boggart and a Moonglove Changeling, but he got down a Bosk Banneret quickly, then Orchard Warden and two Ambassador Oaks. I found my Staff, but before I could get the Changeling going he Shard Volleyed it and dropped a Game-Trail Changeling. His creatures were too large for me to deal with, and I went down under a tide of treefolk. Game two saw a similar opening, but this time he dropped the forest-searching treefolk. I Violet Palled it away, since he seemed to be short forests, but he dropped a Pyroclast Council. All of my creatures had two toughness while most of his had three, but I had a Festercreep in play that looked like it would solve the problem. However, when he did find a shaman, he had the Earthbrawn to keep his Pyroclasts alive, then dropped a Rage Forger to boost his Pyroclast and Game-Trail. I can't easily deal with creatures with more than three toughness, and I went down again after delaying for a couple of turns with Weed-Pruners; I was forced to chump each turn, so I couldn't even build up enough to kill one of his creatures.
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rupes) wrote,
