Adam

Shadowmoor release sealed

2008-05-03T17:21:12Z

I went to the Friday release event at First Pick last night. We had 24 entrants in the sealed. My pool:

White:
Barrenton Medic
Goldenglow Moth
Mine Excavation
Strip Bare

Blue:
Consign to Dream
Drowner Initiate
Ghastly Discovery
Kinscaer Harpoonist
Whimwader x2

Black:
Ashenmoor Cohort x2
Cinderhaze Wretch
Crowd of Cinders
Disturbing Plot x2
Hollow Barghest
Loch Korrigan
Smolder Initiate

Red:
Bloodmark Mentor
Burn Trail
Power of Fire
Smash to Smithereens x2

Green:
Devoted Druid x2
Farhaven Elf
Gloomwidow
Howl of the Night Pack
Hungry Spriggan
Nurturer Initiatiate x2
Prismatic Omen (foil)
Spawnwrithe
Tower Above
Wildslayer Elves
Witherscale Wurm
Woodfall Primus
Viridescent Wisps x2

Blue/White:
Aethertow
Barrenton Cragtreads x2
Puresight Merrow x2
Steel of the Godhead
Thoughtweft Gambit
Turn to Mist

Blue/Black:
Gravegill Axeshark
Gravegill Duo
Merrow Grimeblotter
Oona's Gatewarden

Red/Black:
Ashenmoor Gouger
Torrent of Souls

Red/Green:
Giantbaiting x2
Gutteral Response
Runes of the Deus
Tattermunge Duo x2

White/Green:
Elvish Hexhunter
Medicine Runner
Old Ghastbark
Reknit
Safehold Duo
Seedcradle Witch
Wheel of Sun and Moon

Artifact/Land:
Lockjaw Snapper
Rattleblaze Scarecrow
Scrapbasket
Scuttlemutt x2
Thornwatch Scarecrow x2
Madblind Mountain

---

My strongest cards are definitely green (I don't think I've ever had five rares in a sealed pool in one color, even if two of them aren't really playable) and white/blue. This would seem to suggest a green/white deck, but for some reason I was obsessed with the idea of beatdown, and I built the following:

Burn Trail
Power of Fire
Devoted Druid x2
Farhaven Elf
Gloomwidow
Howl of the Night Pack
Nurturer Initiatite x2
Spawnwrithe
Tower Above
Wildslayer Elves
Witherscale Wurm
Woodfall Primus
Giantbaiting x2
Runes of the Deus
Reknit
Safehold Duo
Seedcradle Witch
Lockjaw Snapper
Scrapbasket
Scuttlemutt x2
Forest x1
Mountain x3
Plains x2

This deck worked well, and the opponents I beat were just steamrolled. My most absurd opening was turn one Seedcradle Witch, turn three Spawnwrithe, turn four swing with 2WG up into one creature. I also got down the Witherscale on turn four or five several times. It had a major weakness, though - I have almost no way to deal with fliers. I think every game I lost was to some combination of Silkbind Faerie (which is just nuts) and Rune-Cervin Rider. This left me at 3-2, not enough to win anything. In retrospect, I wasn't nearly greedy enough; a much better build would have been:

Burn Trail
Power of Fire
Devoted Druid x2
Farhaven Elf
Gloomwidow
Spawnwrithe
Tower Above
Witherscale Wurm
Woodfall Primus
Aethertow
Barrenton Cragtreads x2
Puresight Merrow x2
Steel of the Godhead
Thoughtweft Gambit
Turn to Mist
Runes of the Deus
Seedcradle Witch
Scuttlemutt x2
Scrapbasket
Forest x7
Plains x7
Mountain x3

This loses some consistency from the previous build, but the sheer power should more than make up for it. I'm running two game-winning auras, with Scrapbasket and two Scuttlemutts to make sure they're as good as they can be. I've got the Burn Trail/Puresight Merrow x2 combination, which should just win the game if it sticks. I've got Thoughtweft Gambit, which can be better than Time Walk in the right board position. And for all this, the only nasty trick I've really given up is Howl of the Night Pack (which, admittedly, won me two or three games last night). This deck also has a much better curve. I guess I just never hit on quite this combination last night, which is a shame; I knew this deck had a 5-0 in it somewhere, I just couldn't find it in time.

It's back!

2008-05-01T05:58:21Z

Just in case anyone thought they had escaped the horror once Lorwyn merfolk left the draft environment, I lost two games tonight to milling.

Three takes on common ingredients - part 3

2008-04-27T06:34:11Z

(for the ingredient list, see part 1)

Method 3: Precooked vegetables

This method has a much shorter stove time, which is achieved by baking the potatoes for an hour at 350F. The potatoes are then peeled and cut into 3/4 inch dice.

The ghee is heated over medium heat, and the green chiles, cumin seeds, and ginger root are fried until the cumin seeds darken.

The potatoes, turmeric, and coriander are added, and the potatoes are cooked until slightly browned.

The salt and cilantro are stirred in before serving.

Three takes on common ingredients - part 2

2008-04-27T06:08:04Z

(for the ingredient list, see part 1)

Method 2: Sauteed and Braised Vegetables (cooked in broth)

This method simmers the vegetables to tenderness in liquid. The ingredients are the same, but the potato chunks are larger this time - one-inch cubes.

All but half a tablespoon of the ghee is heated over medium-high heat, and the green chiles, cumin seeds, and ginger root are fried until the cumin seeds darken.

The potatoes are stirred in and sauteed until they're just a bit browned.

The ground spices, a tablespoon of cilantro, and 1¼ cups of water are then added to the pan. The water is brought to a boil, then the heat is turned to medium low and the pot is partially covered. The goal is to have the water boil off just when the potatoes are tender; this may require fiddling with the heat.

Once the potatoes are tender, the remaining ghee is added and the heat is returned to medium high to give the potatoes a light crust.

The salt and cilantro are stirred in before serving.

Three takes on common ingredients - part 1

2008-04-27T04:56:47Z

I like the approach taken at the beginning of the vegetables section; Yamuna describes three different methods of cooking vegetables, and then provides three recipes using the exact same set of ingredients to demonstrate them. I decided to try out the three recipes to make sure I understood her methods.

The basic ingredient list I chose was

1 lb potatoes
3 T ghee
½ T minced green chilies
1 t cumin seeds
½ t minced ginger root
½ t turmeric
½ T coriander
1 t salt
2 T chopped cilantro

(These ingredients aren't actually enough to make a meal for two; you need a staple or another dish. We had them with chapatis, which I'll explain in another post.)

Method 1: Sauteed and Braised Dry Vegetables

This method uses very little liquid; small pieces of vegetables are fried in ghee until partially cooked, then covered and allowed to cook in their own juices. The potatoes are peeled and cut into half-inch dice.

The ghee is heated over medium heat, and the green chiles, cumin seeds, and ginger root are fried until the cumin seeds darken.

The potatoes are stirred in and sauteed until they're just a bit browned.

The heat is reduced to low, and the tumeric, coriander, and a couple of tablespoons of water are added. Everything is covered, and the potatoes are left to cook until tender (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Once the potatoes are tender, the salt and cilantro are stirred in before serving.

Ghee

2008-04-27T04:53:04Z

While we were in Pittsburgh, Rehana's mother gave us her copy of The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. Since Rehana and I are always looking for new recipes, I decided to just start going through the main dish vegetables section. It quickly became clear, however, that before we started we should at least try using ghee; despite the fact that we've been cooking Indian food for years, we've never actually used it before. It turned out to be really easy to make; I just baked a pound of butter at 300F for 75 minutes:

I skimmed off the foam and spooned the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.

The first strainer I used wasn't quite good enough.

Rehana's tea strainer did the trick.

Random deck thought

2008-04-25T02:42:31Z

I'm wondering if a Zur the Enchanter deck might be playable in Shadowmoor type 2. Some white/blue/black enchantments that Zur can fetch:

Greater Auramancy (Note that this won't stop you from popping additional Auras on Zur)
Runed Halo
Steel of the Godhead (this one looks like a lot of fun on Zur...)
Prison Term
Bitterblossom
Declaration of Naught
Oblivion Ring
Daybreak Coronet (if we end up with enough Auras)
Porphyry Nodes
Temporal Isolation
Griffin Guide
Sacred Mesa
Pacifism
Pariah
Story Circle

There's also Idyllic Tutor available to dig up toolbox enchantments without Zur. I'm not sure how to make certain that the deck can run without Zur, but between Prison Term, Porphyry Nodes, Temporal Isolation, Pacifism, and Temporal Isolation, the deck has no shortage of ways to stall. Something like this might work:

Four-ofs:
4x Zur
4x Prison Term
4x Bitterblossom
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Temporal Isolation
4x Porphyry Nodes
4x Rune Snag

Toolbox:
1x Steel of the Godhead
2x Greater Auramancy
1x Runed Halo
1x Story Circle
1x Sacred Mesa

26x land

This is totally untested, and it's obviously designed to work against a creature-heavy environment, but creature-heavy seems like it will be the rule for a while. The lack of non-Zur win conditions may be a problem, of course. The sideboard can be almost anything; Raking Canopy would be cute, but probably not really playable.

Some games from the Gathering

2008-04-24T23:45:36Z

Stone Age

Stone Age was set up on a couple of tables all through the convention, and it seemed to have at least respectable traffic throughout the week. It's a new Rio Grande game that should come out sometime this month. Each player controls a stone age tribe collecting resources to build huts and food to keep themselves alive. The tribe is represented by meeples, who can be placed on action areas during the placement phase of the turn. Many of the spaces are used to gather resources; in those spaces, each character buys the roll of one die. The total of the roll is then divided by the value of the resource to determine how much is gathered. The other spaces allow players the right to buy cards (which are worth points and allow various actions), build huts for points, decrease their food needed each turn, increase their population, or take a tool. Tools are a nice little mechanism to even out the luck of the dice a bit; each tool can be used once a turn to increase a production roll by one. This won't turn a bad roll into a good one, but it can make a big difference on a 7 roll for a resource worth four. The game end is (usually) determined by hut building; at the beginning of the game, there are four equal stacks of huts. When one stack is emptied, the game ends. This gives the players quite a lot of control over when the game will end; if one stack is built frequently, it will be a short game. Scoring is based on huts (each hut is worth the value of the resources used to build it) plus cards; each card, in addition to providing some bonus when purchased, gives points either as part of a set or for something else (such as tools or tribe members) collected during the game.

I wasn't terribly impressed with Stone Age; it just felt far too long for what it is. Even with the tools to even things out, there's a lot of luck in what you roll. I played twice; I lost the first game because I could not manage to roll above 12 on 6d6 for several turns while trying to gather food. I won the second by a mile, with almost exactly the same strategy (in fact, if anything I made one more costing error in the second), because I had decent rolls on food and excellent rolls on gold. I also didn't see a lot of interesting decisions; it was almost always obvious where to place my people. All else being equal, food reduction seems stronger than the other places to play meeples; this reduces the decision-making process even further and seems to hurt the last player significantly (in a four-player game, the first player will spend three fewer food than the last player every full starting player cycle if every player always chooses this space when available) I could forgive these flaws in a shorter game, but Stone Age seemed to take over an hour both times I players.

[Edit - I just learned that I was taught the consequences for starvation incorrectly; it's much less harsh than we thought. This could make starving your people a viable strategy, which would eliminate the "automatic" food reduction choice.]

Hanging Gardens

Hanging Gardens is a double set collecting game with a mechanism I haven't quite seen duplicated elsewhere. The basic piece in the game is a card with a 3x2 grid, some spaces of which are filled in with a color. Each player starts with an empty 3x2 grid. Every turn, each player will get a new card to add to their grid. The placement rule is simple - every colored space must go over an existing space in the grid, while empty spaces can hang off to expand the grid. The placement goal is to get groups of a color, which can be turned in (and marked with a blocker which prevents card placement over one square of the group) for scoring tiles; the scoring tiles form another set collection game, which look very similar to another game whose name escapes me at the moment. Whoever has the highest score when the deck empties wins. This isn't a very deep game, but it is quick, and the spatial reasoning required is a bit different than anything I've seen before. I doubt I'll pick it up or suggest it, but I wouldn't mind playing it again if someone else wanted to.

Race for the Galaxy

Race for the Galaxy was probably my single most-played game this week. I joined the tournament, but I got knocked out in a close game in the second round when I was on the wrong side of a kingmaking position (not that I fault the third player - he took the role that was right for him). I did have several very frustrating games outside of the tournament; I'm not sure what I can do when my hand screams military, I build the military infrastructure, and Explore +5 for 8+ cards (using other explore powers as well) on each of the last six turns of the game fails to give me any military world or development worth more than two points. That happened at least twice over the course of the week. The production strategy can at least use a larger subset of the deck...

Through the Ages

Through the Ages was probably the most heavily played longer game I saw; there was always at least one game going. I got in three games over the course of the week. I found myself playing two of them in very similar ways - I spent the entire third era hiding behind Ghandi. He's much more powerful than I gave him credit for; you're vulnerable to aggressions, but the doubled action cost makes it very hard for anyone but a dedicated warmonger to play Wars on you. That was enough in one game, where my point income was absolutely overwhelming, but not in the second game. The third game saw Jonobie (who was on her first game) go from no military power to the military power over the course of a few turns, with barely any rock production. I continue to be impressed by the number of paths there are to follow in this game - I think I see new ones every time I play.

Agricola

I think Agricola was the biggest hit of the Gathering; it wouldn't surprise me if Race for the Galaxy and Tichu got more plays, but from my completely unscientific observations when length is taken into account I think Agricola was probably the most played game. I did have one set of cards that I'm not sure I handled correctly - late in the turn order, playing with the interactive deck only (something another player wanted to do), I had, among other things, the Wood, Stone, and Reeds buyers, the Wood Collector, the Baker's Kitchen, the Corn Store, and Alms, the Wood Path, the Clay Path, the Social Climber... I can't remember the rest, but nothing else seemed very powerful or synergistic. I decided to try for a massive buyer-oriented strategy with this approach - spend the time before the first two harvests setting up for a massive Corn Store sowing, playing Alms in round six to ensure sufficient food. Get the Baker's Kitchen on the table in round seven, and use my massive food advantage to abuse the buyers for the rest of the game. I wasn't quite able to execute on this strategy - I was a turn slow - and this just left me way behind. Once I had the buyers on the table with infinite food, everyone else also had severe problems, but I was short actions and I couldn't catch up. If I ever have this hand again (unlikely, unless we decide to play with just the I deck again), I must find a way to increase my population early while heading for the combo - I just couldn't get enough actions, and the other players will ignore the relevant resources rather than giving me the "free" actions I was counting on to catch up. Playing the Stone Buyer early might have helped, but it would have screwed with my Alms pretty severely.

Tigris & Euphrates

I got in one play of T&E on the new set. There's a new board on the other side; we played the original board, so I can't comment on how it plays. It's a bit confusing for someone used to the old version, but I don't think it would be that hard to get used to. I won this one through sheer arrogance; one opponent launched a major external conflict and didn't bother to throw anything in to the blue conflict when up by four tiles. Four blue tiles from my hand later, I had all the blue points I could ever need and his invasion was in ruins. There was never much doubt after this conflict that I would win.

Neuland

I also got in a play of the new version of Neuland. There's (at least) one new building that I unfortunately didn't notice when teaching from memory: the Alchemist's Hut, which takes a paper and a pot of silver, and makes a pot of gold which can be used as any one resource. I think I'll like this change; it makes it harder to block out a resource with the rare buildings without making life any easier, and it makes silver slightly better. Paper+Pot of Silver is more than it takes to construct any other resource, so I'm not particularly worried about balance problems. Componentwise, I didn't see any introduced problems, although the symbols are again a bit confusing for someone used to the original.

Pittsburgh

2008-04-21T16:44:50Z

If anyone comes across a green windbreaker with an umbrella in the pocket, could you please let me know? I would also appreciate it if you'd hang on to it for me until I'm next in town...

I suppose I should post this before I forget again

2008-04-18T00:06:14Z

My cell phone number is 206-853-3138. I generally won't have net access during the day.

Carnival

2008-04-15T06:01:53Z

I'm back from Columbus, and off to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. I'm planning to use the UC as a gathering point. If there are any specific games people want me to bring, leave a comment.

What happens in Vegas will eventually be posted here

2008-04-07T01:21:22Z

Looks like I'll be at summer nationals in Vegas after all - Jeff, Pat, Cristal, and I just won the D19 B GNT finals today. And now, I'm off to Columbus to play games for a week.

Wednesday night draft

2008-03-27T07:10:56Z

Battlewand Oak
Bosk Banneret
Cloudthresher
Dauntless Dourbark
Earthbrawn
Everbark Shaman
Gilt-leaf Ambush x2
Kithkin Daggerdare
Lammastide Weave
Lignify
Lys Alana Bowmaster
Lys Alana Huntmaster
Oakgnarl Warrior
Winnower Patrol x2
Black Poplar Shaman
Blightsoil Druid
Dreamspoiler Witches
Makeshift Mannequin
Thieving Sprite
Weed-Pruner Poplar
Moonglove Extract
Murmuring Bosk
Forest x11
Swamp x5

This was a 12-man draft, which ended up being two six-man tables. I opened the Cloudthresher and the Dourbark, so I was pretty solidly in green, but I was having trouble settling on a second color. There was someone else at the table taking green - I saw several Handservants disappear - but I was hoping it was only one person. That hope proved false when I opened Earthbrawn, Bowmaster, and Elvish Warrior in my Morningtide pack, took the Earthbrawn (yes, I was passed a Bosk) and got the pack back with no green cards in it. I would have liked to play mono-green, but with only 18 green cards drafted I had to throw in the black. I can't do anything really unfair - a Thorntooth Witch or even a Branchbender would improve this deck greatly - and I didn't have high hopes.

Round 1

I was paired against Mike Gurney in this round; if he wasn't the best player in the draft, he was certainly second. He just absolutely flattened me in two games; he was playing red-green elves, but where I have treefolk that don't do much he had combat tricks. I put up some token resistance in game two with a turn two Nath's Buffoon from my sideboard, but he eventually got enough incrementally grown creatures on the table to finish me off.

0-2 games, 0-1 matches

Round 2

This opponent was playing elementals, with a red-green emphasis. Game one he got down an early Nova Chaser, and had combat tricks to keep it alive two turns in a row. Taking multiple hits from a trampler with two-digit power is not a recipe for health, and I quickly imploded. Game two, he had to mulligan and kept a six-land hand with no mountains. He didn't find one before I finished him off, and failed to play a single creature. In game three, a possible reason for his mana problems emerged; on turn five, he had one basic land of each type in play. This wasn't a major problem until he dropped Horde of Notions on the table. I had an Oakgnarl Warrior to hold it off, but I was clearly going to lose very quickly to it. I played my Sprite to force him to discard his last card... which turned out to be a Consuming Bonfire that he hadn't been able to cast. He used it through the Horde to burn down my Warrior, and then swung with everything. I had five power worth of creatures on the table at this point, and I was thrilled to trade them for the Horde. This left me way behind on the board, since he still had a Searblades and a Pathblazer. I took repeated hits down to two, but I eventually managed to get Battlewand Oak and a critical Black Poplar Shaman on the table, along with Dreamspoiler Witches; I now had his creatures contained, and a five-turn clock in the witches. Of course, I was dead if he drew any action, but he drew nothing but land until the Witches finished him off. I was very lucky to escape that one.

2-3 games, 1-1 matches

Round 3

I was paired against Zaiem in round three. He was at my table, and he turned out to be the Merfolk drafter. He was the only one, but he may actually have been hurt by the quality of the merfolk running around - the merfolk were so good (multiple Drowners, Harbingers, at least one Harpooon Sniper and Reejerey) that multiple people were grabbing the merfolk when there was nothing for them in the pack. I ended up with a Sniper and a Merrow Harbinger in my sideboard, and the player next to me had a Reejerey and a Judge. This left Zaiem with a deck that was just short of being fantastic - he had multiple Drowners, Summon the School, and almost all of the pieces, but no Judge meant that it was much harder for him to keep his life at a reasonable level while he tried for the milling kill. In game one, he came within one card of getting me, but I had managed to draw the Dourbark and he couldn't find a way to stop the gigantic trampler in time. Game two was even closer; this time, he did manage to Weight of Conscience my Dourbark. He correctly declined to remove it from the game - I had no enchantment removal - and just focused on milling as quickly as possible. I was able to pound him down to three before he completely stalled my offense, and on what we both knew to be my last turn, he flashed in a flying blocker, which I removed with an evoked Cloudthresher, dropping him to one. He still had enough blockers, finished off my library, untapped, and passed the turn. He was very confident in his victory - up until I untapped and Mannequined Cloudthresher back out.

4-3 games, 2-1 matches

Round 4

The pairings got very strange here; a 2-0 player had dropped after reaching the 1900 limited rating he needed, and things worked out such that I was paired down not against a 1-2 player, but against a 0-3 player. His deck wasn't very tight, and he was clearly inexperienced at the format - I had several opponents read Lammastide Weave, but at this point I would expect most people drafting to know what Dreamspoiler Witches do. I had no problem beating him in two.

6-3 games, 3-1 matches

I got very, very lucky here - I should have lost round 2 (if he doesn't attack with Horde of Notions, I'm pretty sure I cannot win that game), I took both games in round 3 by the thinnest of margins, and the round 4 pairings were just silly. I think this may be the weakest deck I've ever won store credit with.

Carnival

2008-03-04T02:59:01Z

Rehana and I will be in Pittsburgh Wednesday through Monday.

Shopping

2008-03-03T05:32:05Z

Does anyone know where I can get instant yeast up here? I tried Safeway, Fred Meyer, and Ballard Market today with no luck.

Morningtide release tournament

2008-02-03T06:40:20Z

My pool:

Ballyrush Banneret
Burrenton Bombardier
Burrenton Shield-Bearers
Entangling Trap
Kinsbaile Balloonist
Kinsbaile Skirmisher
Kithkin Healer
Kithkin Zephyrnaut
Oaken Brawler
Order of the Golden Cricket x2
Sentry Oak
Shinewend
Stonybrook Schoolmaster
Surge of Thoughtweft
Triclopean Sight
Wellgabber Apothecary

There are a lot of decent cards in here, but nothing that really makes me want to play white. Particularly annoying is the total lack of removal - white got two good common removal spells in Morningtide, but this pool has nothing. If I have to play this, I don't expect to do all that well.

Aquitect's Will
Captivating Glance
Disperse
Distant Melody
Ethereal Whiskergill
Faerie Trickery
Fencer Clique
Floodchaser
Mothdust Changeling x2
Mulldrifter
Notorious Throng
Paperfin Rascal
Research the Deep
Sage of Fables
Sage's Dousing
Stonybrook Banneret
Stream of Unconsciousness
Tideshaper Mystic

I'll almost certainly be at least splashing blue - Notorious Throng is just a huge bomb, and would be amazing without the prowl ability. The Mulldrifter is also quite nice. Distant Melody seems good, and Fencer Clique is excellent if unsplashable, but there's not a lot of depth here. I have some very nice wizard support without the requisite decent wizards.

Boggart Harbinger
Footbottom Feast
Liliana Vess
Morsel Theft
Nightshade Stinger
Peppersmoke
Pulling Teeth x2
Skeletal Changeling
Weed Strangle
Weed-Pruner Poplar

I hate to leave Liliana out, but 11 black cards total just isn't going to cut it as a main color, and double black is going to be very hard to splash.

Axegrinder Giant
Blind-Spot Giant
Boggart Sprite-Chaser
Faultgrinder
Flamekin Bladewhirl
Inner-Flame Acolyte
Kindled Fury
Lunk Errant
Mudbutton Clanger
Mudbutton Torchrunner
Release the Ants
Roar of the Crowd
Smokebraider
Sunflare Shaman
Thundercloud Shaman
War-Spike Changeling

Now this looks playable. I have several removal spells, including the very powerful Thundercloud Shaman, and a nice little giant theme. I've seen some disparaging comments about Release the Ants, but it's always been good for me.

Ambassador Oak
Bosk Banneret
Earthbrawn
Elvish Warrior
Everbark Shaman
Game-Trail Changeling
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Hunting Triad x2
Leaf-Crowned Elder
Luminescent Rain
Nath's Elite
Recross the Paths
Rootgrapple
Spring Cleaning
Sylvan Echoes
Warren-Scourge Elf
Wolf-Skull Shaman
Woodland Changeling
Wren's Run Vanquisher

And this is very good. Hunting Triad is a great card in both modes. Wolf-Skull Shaman and Leaf-Crown Elder both have the potential to be absolutely amazing if I hit their kinship triggers, and there are plenty of roleplayers and changelings here.

Brion Stoutarm

And just to solidify the Giant theme, we have this monster. I'm never sad to have Brion in my deck.

Moonglove Extract
Springleaf Drum
Veteran's Armaments

Howltooth Hollow
Vivid Creek

After quite a bit of thought, I ended up with this:

Mulldrifter
Notorious Throng
Blind-Spot Giant
Inner-Flame Acolyte
Mudbutton Torchrunner
Release the Ants
Roar of the Crowd
Smokebraider
Thundercloud Shaman
War-Spike Changeling
Ambassador Oak
Earthbrawn
Game-Trail Changeling
Hunting Triad x2
Leaf-Crowned Elder
Nath's Elite
Rootgrapple
Wolf-Skull Shaman
Woodland Changeling
Wren's Run Vanquisher
Brion Stoutarm
Moonglove Extract
Vivid Creek
Mountain x6
Island x2
Forest x6
Plains x2

This is a very greedy mana base, and there's not a lot of synergy here, but I do have some huge bombs.

Round 1 vs. BJ

BJ is a regular player in the area. He was running what looked like a GU deck. He won the roll, and I was forced to throw back my first seven. My six were very acceptable, though, and I was able to Release the Ants his leaf-guilder turn 2, drop a Vanquisher turn 3, and a War-Spike turn 4. He dropped a Pestermite and played Mind Spring for three. I thought I was in serious trouble, particularly when he played Footbottom Feast to get back his now-dead creatures, but I did manage to get down my Ambassador Oak. As it turned out, though, he had drawn nothing but land. He decided to tap my Vanquisher and double-block my War-Spike due to a brain fart, and when I gave the War-Spike first strike he conceded. I had a playable hand game two, and again got some early 3/3s on the table, but he managed to get down Waterspout Weavers. That would be a serious problem if he got kinship, but fortunately he never hit before I managed to get rid of them with help from Earthbrawn. He had revealed a violet pall during a clash, but he never saw a swamp except on a Fathom Trawl, and I was able to drop Brion and pound through for the win.

Round 2 vs. Justin

Justin was playing a green-white deck. Game one wasn't particularly close - I drew 11 land to 9 spells, and he flattened me with help from a well-timed Swell of Courage. Game two was quite close - we had very similar starts topping out at Game-Trail Changeling. I had more Hunting Triads, however, and the reinforce was enough to push through for the win. Game three was also uninteresting - he mulliganed to six and only saw two land. My deck is quick enough to punish that start fairly severely.

Round 3 vs. Peter

Peter was playing UGR. I had a slow start, and I found out the major reason for the red when he dropped a fifth turn Chandra. This absorbed two round of attacks from my Torchrunner, my Game-Trail Changeling, and Release the Ants. I actually managed to stabilize from this, and I had even started to turn the game around when he managed to use Hunting Triad to reinforce his Streambed Aquitects. I don't have any non-damage-based ways to kill creatures, so an effective 6/7 was a major problem. I would kill it on the attack, but I couldn't attack into it, so a ground stall developed while a Mothdust Changeling slowly dropped my life. I got Brion and a Mulldrifter down, but he had another Hunting Triad to pump the Changeling and I went down before I could kill him off. Games two and three weren't all that close, though, as my deck started to behave. (My notes for this round are not very good - we were very rushed after a late start).

Round 4 vs. Kellen

Kellen was playing a decent-seeming black-green deck, but my deck really came to play this round. Game one saw me with the war-spike and the vanquisher swinging on turn five. Kellen elected not to block, and since I had missed my fifth land drop I decided to just go ahead and play my Throng without prowl. Six flyers took a healthy chunk out of his life total, but he
managed to stabilize at three... just in time for my Torchrunner to show up. He went down a couple of turns later. Game two just saw an absurd succession of bombs - he was able to get rid of Leaf-Crowned Elder and Brion, but the Thundercloud Shaman backed up by a 6/6 War-Spike Changeling was a bit too much for him to handle.

Round 5 vs. Abe

I was the only undefeated player at this point - Abe was 3-0-1. Abe was running a BWGu deck that seemed to have a lot of warriors. I had to mulligan game one, but my six were again very good, and Abe's deck delivered a hideously slow start. His first two plays were Battle-Axes, while I quickly built up a creature base. He was able to kill two, but when he tried to Barrage Nath's Elite I had the Hunting Triad to bring it up to 7/5. Two swings from that were enough to finish him off. Game two saw me again lead with a mulligan. We played a close game, with lots of damage moving back and forth, but I managed to clear out his creatures with a well-timed Hunting Triad after he lost a clash on Fistful of Force, then play the second Triad to create some elves and Roar of the Crowd him out.

A hand from last night

2008-01-24T07:50:59Z

First seat, all white at matchpoints you pick up 9 AQJxx T876 AQx. The auction proceeds:
1H (2D) 2S (3D)
Your call?

Third seat, all white at matchpoints you pick up AKQTxxxxx - - JT9x. Partner opens 1H, and righty overcalls 2D. Your call?

...

If you chose 2S, the auction continues 3D-X-P. Your call?

Wednesday night draft, with Morningtide

2008-01-24T07:46:44Z

Coordinated Barrage
Harpoon Sniper
Amoeboid Changeling
Dewdrop Spy
Ethereal Whiskergill
Floodchaser x2
Latchkey Faerie
Notorious Throng
Paperfin Rascal
Sage of Fables
Merrow Reejerey
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Silvergill Douser
Stonybrook Angler x2
Waterspout Weavers
Whirlpool Whelm
Briarhorn
Imperious Perfect
Lignify
Cloak and Dagger
Runed Stalactite
Shimmering Grotto
Wanderwine Hub
Island x8
Plains x3
Forest x4

I wasn't at all happy with this deck - it took me too long to realize that merfolk were open. Before I did, I had passed a couple of Streambed Aquitects while trying for elementals, and as a result I didn't get very much in pack two. The Briarhorn and Perfect were my pack one and two first picks, but I didn't see enough other green to get me strongly into the color.

Round 1 vs. James

James had drafted a GBW elf-heavy deck at the other table. He had three Winnower Patrols, and got two of them down against me early. He smashed me down to five against his seventeen as I slowly dropped men on the board, including a Dewdrop Spy. I swung with my team, and he had no blockers left so eight damage got through. Prowling out Notorious Throng prompted a quick scoop. Game two saw me get both fliers down early and just outrace him in the air while he flooded. James's deck would probably beat mine most games, so I was relieved to make it out of this match alive; we played a further game for fun while we waited for the next round to start and he just crushed me.

Round 2 vs. Ricky

Ricky was playing WR giants-elementals. Game one saw him get a slow start, and I Thronged without prowl for eight early. He had no answer to the pile of faeries and conceded. In game two, I was falling behind to his Tar Pitcher (which kills most of my deck), and Brion sealed the deal - he ended the game at 20 life. Game three was much closer - I got a Latchkey Faerie with a Stalactite and Cloak and Dagger with the Reejerey on the table. Seven life a turn is a decent clock against most decks, but I had used my lignify on Tar Pitcher one turn before Brion showed up again. He also had a Seething Pathblazer, and he was able to win by swinging through with some elementals, sacrificing them all to the Pathblazer, then throwing it at me.

Round 3 vs. Jonny

Jonny had a BR goblin deck, but seemingly without any prowl trickery beyond a Stinkdrinker Bandit. In game one, he dropped an early Boggart Loggers after I already had a forest in play. I slowly took Logger beatdown until I drew a Floodchaser. I dropped it, and in response to his next attack I made my forest an island, which allowed me to block and kill the loggers. He then failed to play around my Douser properly and I has able to hammer him with card advantage. Game two started much worse for me - he had the stinkdrinker, a Prickly Boggart, and (once I barraged the Prickly away) a Marsh Flitter. Marsh Flitter is kind of good with Stinkdrinker Bandit, and I dropped two four quickly. I had a sage of fables and Reejeray in play, though, and he chose not to block with the Bandit when I swung; I played the Throng for five without prowl. The pile of black 1/1s were enough to stop further fear or flying shenanigans, and I swung for the win a couple of turns later.

Round 4 vs. Mike

Mike, one of the best players in the room, was also running merfolk; he was just blue-white. Game one, he dropped Sygg on turn two; I never saw my lignify (my only out, since he never tapped out before attacking) and fell quickly. Game two looked like it would got the same way when he dropped Sygg on turn four, but this time I got Latchkey Faerie with Cloak and Dagger and the Stalactite. Mike was at 12 from earlier attacks, so I had him on a two-turn clock unless he could come up with multiple fliers - I had an Angler on the table to tap one blocker. He took the first hit, but Cryptic Commanded me before the second one. At this point, I made a major and very stupid error - I had Imperious Perfect and six mana on the table, with Waterspout Weavers and Coordinated Barrage in hand. I foolishly made an elf (which I didn't need) and dropped the Weavers. Mike was able to do exactly enough with Sygg-protection to prevent me from blocking to kill me on his turn. If I had just kept one white mana open, I would have won easily - I just needed to not automatically produce the elf.

Morningtide Pre-release

2008-01-23T23:25:22Z

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.

Counting in Tichu

2008-01-05T00:12:07Z

I can count a bridge hand reasonably well, but Tichu has always defeated me - I can track specials, aces, and kings, but I have trouble going much below that routinely. This post seems to offer advice that gives some hope on tracking bombs, though, which should be easier to handle.

Wednesday night draft

2008-01-03T18:28:33Z

This draft didn't go as I planned. White is really hated at this shop, so when I took first pick Militia's Pride and second pick Changeling Hero I had high hopes for a solid Kithkin deck. The first pack had a Wizened Cenn in it as well, though, and when it failed to wheel I knew there would be at least one other Kithkin drafter at our seven-man table. I ended the first pack with a bunch of white cards, but no clear direction for my second color. The second pack gave me a slight push - I took Summon the School out of the first pack, and was passed a Douser. At this point I was regretting passing some Judge of Currents in the first pack. I never saw another judge, and I continued to wander during pack two. Pack three gave me another Summon the School, and then I was passed two Mistbind Cliques in a row. I was willing to take that as a direction, and ended up with a blue-white deck capable of some silly things:

Avian Changeling
Changeling Hero
Kithkin Harbinger
Militia's Pride
Neck Snap
Plover Knights
Summon the School x2
Triclopean Sight
Amoeboid Changeling x2
Benthicore
Faerie Harbinger x2
Mistbind Clique x2
Silvergill Douser
Spellstutter Sprite x2
Tideshaper Mystic
Whirlpool Whelm
Runed Stalactite
Island x10
Plains x8

This deck could really use a Judge of Currents or two, but it's still very solid other than a lack of removal. I can't deal with a large trampler, but most other things shouldn't be a problem.

Round 1 vs. Sam

Sam was playing a UGB merfolk/faerie deck. In game one, I didn't see a plains until turn eight or so, while he dropped two anglers, a pumped Paperfin Rascal, and Glen Elendra Pranksters. With Summon the School dead in my hand due to lack of white mana, I couldn't deal with the double Anglers and went down to the rascal. In game two, I kept a two-land hand with some action, but was dead before I saw any more land. This was a very frustrating round - I think my deck would beat his much of the time, but not without land.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Robert

We both opened the game with mulligans, and kept our six. Neither of us was doing very well - I was mana screwed, he was attempting to play a mono-black subset of his deck. He eventually got straightened out and dropped a Changeling Titan, but by then I had draw into enough mana to cast the two Summon the Schools in my opening hand. I sat back casting Summon the School again every turn, then chumping with two tokens, while I gradually built up mana to cast other things on my turn. Once I got the Faerie Harbinger chain going, he had no real answer and I beat him to death with my fliers. In game two, my deck finally gave me a reasonable number of mana sources. I Whelmed his second turn Leaf Guilder, which gave me plenty of time for Harbinger, Harbinger, Clique, Clique; he had no answer to that level of flying beatdown.

1-1

Round 3 vs. James

James was playing a WR kithkin deck; he was at the other table, so he wasn't the one who forced me out of them. He got a more or less perfect start in game one - turn 1 Stalwart, turn 2 Cenn, turn 3 Cenn's Heir. I got down a Douser and my Avian Changeling and tried to kill the Cenn, but he had the Surge to keep it alive and push even more damage through. I eventually got a Changeling Hero down, but it was too little, too late. He did not deal 3 damage to me on turn two in the second game, which I always appreciate; he instead flooded horribly. I got an early Kithkin Harbinger into Changeling hero, and my life total quickly went up out of danger range. He had no real action and I had little trouble killing him. For game three, we both had slow starts, but mine turned into Harbinger for Champion, Champion the Harbinger, do it again when the first one dies, do it again when the second one dies. It's hard for a weenie deck to deal with two Cliques and a Hero, especially when I have a Stalactite out to keep them out of Plover Knight+Surge range; I ended that game with more than 20 life.

2-1

Round 4 vs. Robin

Robin was playing a red-black Goblin deck with lots of removal, including a Profane Command. Game one saw us both flood horribly, but my first action card was Faerie Harbinger, which quickly ran off to find some friends. Robin didn't pull enough gas to avoid death once that happened. Game two was much slower; I had kept a slow, risky hand with a Clique, the Hero, the Stalactite, and plenty of land. Robin just burned away all my creatures while beating me down with a Facevaulter. This wasn't a major issue, but the clock got faster when she dropped a Giant Harbinger fetching Nameless Inversion. This killed off the Plover Knight I had drawn, and I couldn't find another creature or the ninth mana before the four a turn got me. Game three saw an orgy of early trading, as a Mudbutton Torchrunner, Facevaulter, and Moonglove Extract went away for a Spellstutter, Mystic, and Amoeboid. I was happy with this wrath, because I had a Douser and another Spellstutter in my hand. I got a lucky draw into a Faerie Harbinger, and started to get silly with searching. Robin had a Giant Harbinger for Nameless Inversion, but with my Spellstutter I was safe, and she couldn't block my flying army. Things got a bit tense when she dropped a Hearthcage Giant, but she didn't have enough elementals to kill me and my faeries went over the top for the win.

3-1

Thoughts on game complexity

2007-12-31T07:37:14Z

With one thing and another recently, I've been thinking more about the complexity of board games than I usually do. I'm now trying to sort my collection into rough categories. The basic categories are: can teach to anyone, can teach to someone with some interest but no experience, can teach to someone who has played very simple games, can take out for a group of real gamers, and only for the hard-core. This is my attempt; anyone have any thoughts on this, or different
experiences with some of these?

Can teach to anyone:
Bohnanza
Lost Cities
Hoity Toity
Relationship Tightrope

The key to this category is the length of the rules explanation; if the game can't be explained in five minutes or less, you'll lose their interest. Even then, if you want to be successful, you should know the rules of the game without needing to obviously consult the book (this is a slight problem for Bohnanza, where you need to remove some beans), and you should have a good idea of exactly how to explain the game.

Can teach to inexperienced players willing to learn:
Through the Desert
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation
Tichu
Frank's Zoo
Sieben Siegel, die
Settlers of Catan, The

The difference between this category and the previous one is solely in the level of motivation of the players; games in this category can be taught to players with no experience with games, but might either take longer or require a helper sheet. All of the games above this are also appropriate for this group. Tichu might, if anything, belong a level up; almost everyone knows how to play Poker these days, and knowing poker eliminates a lot of the teaching complexity. You can also introduce the rules for calling Tichu after a few hands have gone by to further reduce the memory burden. Through the Desert is not easy to play well, but the rules are easy to understand; it's not on the above list because the number of possible ways to score is a bit too large. I think with properly designed helper sheets it could go on the above list. Frank's Zoo would go on the first list with just the rules for the first round in effect, but I think the later round rules are enough to drag it down here. Confrontation might belong a level lower for someone who has never heard of any of the Lord of the Rings characters, and might be able to just squeak in a level up for someone who knows the story well.

Can teach to someone who has played very simple games:

Starfarers of Catan
Race for the Galaxy
Phoenicia
Tigris & Euphrates
Mü und Mehr
Princes of Florence, The
Stephenson's Rocket
New England
Puerto Rico
Industria
San Juan
Oasis
Goa
Antike
Saint Petersburg
El Grande
Amun-Re
Leonardo da Vinci
Caylus

I think this category is the publisher's sweet spot for games (or at least for games that there's any chance I'll pick up; I haven't bought a game in the categories above this one in years, and the only one I play regularly is Tichu), so it's not surprising that much of my collection falls here. This is also a very broad category, ranging from New England to Caylus.
It's possible that I should try to split this category in half.

I haven't actually played any of the "mehr" games from Mu und Mehr, so I have no idea where they fall.

Real gamers only:
Imperial
Fresh Fish
Ricochet Robots
La Città
Age of Steam
Lost Valley
Funkenschlag
Neuland
Scepter of Zavandor, The

Ricochet Robot is probably the simplest game I own rules-wise, but it's very difficult to play in a mixed-skill group. I would never pull it out for the "anyone" group, but I have pulled it out for the right "willing to learn" group. In general, though, I think it belongs down here. Imperial is here, instead of in the above list with Antike, because I think the not-controlling-a-country aspect is a bit too confusing. It could easily be taught to a group who knows Antike, however. Lost Valley is down here mainly because the rules are so bad, although it's long enough that it might belong here in any event. La Citta is also here for length reasons. The rest, I think, obviously belong down here (Zepter because it's in German, if nothing else).

Hard-core only:
Civilization
Titan
Diplomacy
Roads and Boats
Manifest Destiny
Antiquity
Indonesia
Age of Renaissance

These are games I wouldn't pull out unless the group knew exactly what they were getting in to. It wouldn't shock me if any of these took four hours or more with a completely inexperienced group. I think Through the Ages will fall into this category as well, although of all the games in this list except possibly Antiquity it's the one I'd be most likely to try on real gamers (since it can be scaled down).

Sunday draft

2007-12-18T18:50:27Z

So, you open your first pick at a seven-person table of a Lorwyn draft, and you see (among other things): Incendary Command, Thundercloud Shaman, Merrow Harbinger, Summon the School, Mulldrifter, Warren Pilferers. What's your pick?

I think the commons are out; they're two of the best commons in the set, but they just can't compete with some of the best uncommons in the set. Merfolk Harbinger is also clearly weaker than the other choices. In the end, I went with Thundercloud Shaman, since I think it has the most potential out of the cards - it can be the most important part of the Command while leaving behind a 4/4 body, and it can deal with a merfolk deck trying to abuse Summon the School fairly easily. I figured that the next few places would be fighting over blue (blue is heavily drafted at this shop, and this was a nice blue pack), and even with the Command likely to be taken early I would get a decent red hookup in pack two. My theory on what was going on was, of course, complete off; after grabbing a Militia's Pride (expecting to go red-white) and some giants as the packs wandered around I got this one back to find the Harbinger and the Mulldrifter still available. I grabbed the Mulldrifter - that seemed like a pretty good sign that blue wasn't being heavily drafted - and spent the rest of the draft grabbing both solid merfolk and faeries and great giants. I ended up with good 30-card decks for each tribe, but that's not much help with a minimum of 40 needed, so I ended up with this:

Aethersnipe
Amoeboid Changeling
Mulldrifter x2
Pestermite x3
Stonybrook Angler
Streambed Aquitects x2
Tideshaper Mystic
Turtleshell Changeling
Blind Spot Giant x2
Giant Harbinger x2
Goatnapper
Lowland Oaf
Thundercloud Shaman x2
Imperious Perfect x2
Wanderer's Twig
Shimmering Grotto
Mountain x7
Island x7
Forest x2

There's not a lot of synergy between the colors, but there is a lot of power. The blue's job is to slow things down while I get my Giants engine going. I have a bunch of cards that can easily swing the game by themselves, and the giants are almost unstoppable once they get going. I was very happy with my draft going into round 1.

Round 1 vs. Drew

The first two games of this match weren't very interesting - game one saw Drew mull to five, keep a one-land hand, and not draw another for four or five turns. In game two, I kept a two-land hand and missed a couple of land drops. I was still almost able to get back into it, but he got down Changeling Hero with Protective Bubble, which is just a huge beating. Game three saw us both finally hit land drops. He had kept a slow hand, and I had a powerful hand with a Perfect, but he thought he had turned things around when he risked a Changeling Hero with only one creature in play (looking at my list, it should be obvious that it resolved). I untapped, dropped Goatnapper, and swung for exactly lethal including the new hero.

Round 2 vs. Steve

Steve was playing blue-black faeries. He had multiple dreamspoilers and multiple peppersmokes, but Faeries really aren't fond of Thundercloud Shaman, and I took game one easily with my walking Plague Wind. Game two looked like it would go the same way (despite an early Weed Strangle which gave him a large life boost) until he dropped Wydwen on the table. I don't have any outs to a properly played Wydwen, and he was able to kill me without too much trouble. Game three saw my deck behave quite well, and I just overran him with giants.

Round 3 vs. Mike

Mike was very likely the best player at this draft. I suspect - and he independently noted - that my deck was probably better than his, but it was a close thing. He was playing black-green elves, which is theoretically a decent matchup for me, but he had double Briarhorn and at least one Warren Pilferers. I had slow starts both games, and despite getting access to my Thunderclouds I wasn't able to keep enough creatures on the board to wrath his field of three-toughness creatures. It's very depressing to be forced to drop an Aethersnipe to block and then have to choose between Briarhorn and Warren Pilferers... Better playskill might have saved me here, but I didn't manage it and Mike took me out in two.

Round 4 vs. Tom

Tom was playing merfolk. He was running quite a bit of countermagic, but my deck is just an awful matchup for him - I have more threats that must be answered than he has counters, and the standard merfolk tricks aren't nearly as effective against Imperious Perfect and Thundercloud Shaman. I just kept dropping threats until he ran out of counters, then smashed him with whatever he couldn't counter in both games.

Seattle PTQ

2007-12-18T18:47:07Z

I went to my first PTQ on Saturday - the format was Lorwyn sealed. I still don't have the collection for Constructed, although I hope to be ready for Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block Constructed when it rolls around. The pool I registered didn't have anything too great (although I wouldn't have minded the Cryptic Command that I opened); with what I got back, I built:

Austere Command
Galepowder Mage
Goldmeadow Harrier
Harpoon Sniper
Hillcomber Giant
Judge of Currents x2
Kinsbaile Balloonist
Summon the School
Faerie Harbinger
Faerie Trickery
Inkfathom Divers x2
Mulldrifter
Paperfin Rascal
Ponder
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Silvergill Adept
Wings of Velis Vel
Eyeblight's Ending
Moonglove Extract x2
Springleaf Drum
Shimmering Grotto
Vivid Creek
Wanderwine Hub
Plains x6
Island x5
Swamp x3

Rares I didn't play: Nettlevine Blight, Immaculate Magistrate, Colfenor's Urn. It's six rares because the Austere Command is foil - that makes it better, right? I was happy with my pool and deck. It's not overly laden with bombs or removal, other than the mighty Austere Command, but it's got a lot of very solid cards and synergy and feels more like a bad draft deck than a sealed deck to me. However, I made at least one clear error in deck construction - I should have been running more black stuff. My sideboard contains Peppersmoke, Warren Pilferers, Dreamspoiler Witches, and Weed Strangle. I was concerned when building that I wouldn't have enough merfolk to make Summon the School go off properly, but I could remove the Faerie Trickery, Hillcomber Giant, and an Inkfathom Diver or Paperfin Rascal for the non-Weed Strangle cards at least. That wouldn't put too much pressure on my mana, and it would give me a lot more power in the deck. I can always side landwalkers back in if they're useful.

Round 1 vs. Nick

Nick was running an aggressive GR deck. In game one, he dropped a whole pile of 1/1 creatures on the table, including Eulogist and a Boggart Forager, followed by Deathrender. I had played my Harrier on turn one, however, so I could neutralize Deathrender during combat, and he wasn't abusing it with his sacrifice creatures. I beat him down with a flier-heavy draw including the Balloonist. Game two was much scarier - he dropped fifth turn Masked Admirers, seventh turn Masked Admirers, and he had the Deathrender again... luckily for me, I had once again opened with my Harrier, and I drew most of my relevant removal - I was able to hold him off with both Extracts and a Harpoon Sniper. I avoided killing the Masked Admirers for a while, but I eventually drew into my Faerie Trickery to deal with the one I wasn't tapping. I also pulled my Balloonist and killed him in the air before that became necessary.

Round 2 vs. Zaiem

Zaiem is a good local player, so I knew this would be a tough match. He started game one with a bunch of early changelings and merfolk, followed by a Mirror Entity. I had my Galepowder Mage and Harpoon Sniper, but my real power was the Austere Command - I was very lucky to have started the game with my one out to the entity in my hand. He swung for lethal on turn 6, but I was able to Eyeblight's Ending one creature in response to the Entity activation (I had to wait because Entity gives everything Changeling) and survive at three life. I untapped, swung with the Mage removing my Sniper, and then used Austere Command to clear out his board without touching mine. I got a Judge of Currents on the board before he could recover enough to kill me and eventually took the game. Game two was longer, but never really in doubt - I got Summon the School active with two Judges on the table, and ended the game at 38 life.

Round 3 vs. Bryan

Bryan is another good local player, and he was running a nice green-black collection. In game one, he dropped some treefolk followed by Thorntooth Witch. My board position was not good, so I decided to Wrath and hope he was out of gas. Unfortunately, a second Thorntooth Witch, followed by Timber Protector, doesn't really qualify as out of gas. I don't have any reasonable answer to a resolved Timber Protector with friends - even Wrath doesn't help much - and quickly died to enlarged treefolk. I was feeling good about my Judge of Currents/Harpoon Sniper start in game two, but I walked right in to a Gilt-leaf Ambush on turn three and never drew another creature. He showed me his sideboard after the game - he had a Giants deck that almost anyone would be happy to play, including Brion, Harbinger, Thundercloud, at least one Stinkdrinker, and other supporting cast. It's a bad sign when I'm not sure if I can beat someone's sideboard.

Round 4 vs. Alfax

Alfax was running WGB. He had a very good draw in game one - turn two Hoofprints, with an Austere Command to clear out my board once I started building up Judges and Merfolk to fight the thing. He then used Elvish Harbinger to pull out an Imperious Perfect. However, I hadn't quite run out of gas; I used my own command to clear out his 3cc or less creatures - which includes tokens - and the Hoofprints. My remaining large creatures were enough for the win. Game two saw me get out two Judges and the Summon the School again; I probably could have ended the game much earlier, but I was trying to make sure he had no outs (Austere Command wouldn't have helped him, since I had a full hand while he was more or less empty). I ended this game at 61 life.

Round 5 vs. Ellis

Ellis was playing UWR with Merfolk and Kithkin. UR is not the combination you want for blocking my creatures, and I was able to win the race in game one. I thought I would win the race in game two as well, despite the two Dousers he had found. I was right in damage, but horribly wrong on the exact nature of the race - he had Drowner of Secrets, and milled me out a couple of turns before I could have killed him. Game three saw us very short on time, so the fact that I once again had double Judge and Summon the School just meant that I couldn't lose - I still had to win. He had double Douser on the table when time was called, and I had to start doing some math. After a minute of thought, I decided that I had exactly enough damage to kill him by swinging with everything twice. After about seven minutes of trying out blockers with the judge breathing down his neck on turn four of extra time, be packed it in.

Round 6 vs. William Laycraft

I had spent the end of round 3 watching William beat Zaiem, so I knew he had a good deck. He was running UBR with plenty of removal. In game one, I had a slow draw, and he just steamrolled me, picking off my creatures with Lash Out, Tarfire, and Shriekmaw for the win. Game two was much longer. I had a Judge and some Merfolk out, and I was in decent shape until he dropped Wydwen. He had quite a bit of mana out, but when I swung with two 3/3s and a Judge into his tapped-Wydwen board, he decided to bounce and replay Wydwen to block my judge. I used Moonglove Extract on it, then hit it with Eyeblight's Ending when he tried to bounce it. You know a card's solid when spending three cards to kill it feels like a victory... That was enough to give me game two, but game three was another mauling - he had two Dousers, Cairn Wandered, and Caterwauling Boggart, and I didn't get in a single point of damage before I died.

Round 7 vs. Matt

I was out of contention at this point, and just playing for pride. My notes here aren't great - Matt was playing a URG deck, and I beat him comfortably game one - he scooped when I got the Judges+Summon active. Game two saw a huge back-and-forth battle, as I dropped low to an islandwalker before getting judges on the board to keep me just above dead, and I thought I had stabilized with just enough life to kill him when he tapped four and Giant's Ired me out. Game three saw me double-mulligan, but once again stabilize and start to get control, and once again get Giant's Ired out. This time, I was holding the Familiar's Ruse I had boarded in for the Faerie Trickery... and no creatures in play. I've rarely seen such an obvious case of being killed by my own sideboard decisions.

Round 8 vs. Robin

Robin (another local player) and I had been talking since the end of round 6, so there weren't a lot of huge surprises for either of us in this match. She was running four-color good stuff, skipping green, and game one saw her hit all of the mana she needed and flatten me. Game two looked like it would go the same way, but I stabilized at two life and beat her down with evasive creatures. She had to mulligan in game three, and was never really in it.

Wednesday night draft

2007-12-06T07:29:16Z

I drafted down at First Pick again tonight. I managed to draft an absolutely horrendous deck, probably my worst ever, despite being passed an Austere Command pack one, pick 2 and a Purity pack two, pick 2. However, I got very lucky on the matchups (there are a number of very good players at First Pick, but I wasn't playing against them for the most part) and managed to go 3-1; my loss was to one of the winning decks, and he beat me so quickly that he actually forgot about game 1 (in which I didn't see my sixth turn). My deck was so bad it doesn't seem worth writing up, but I did get to see a great board position in a game next to me: on one side, Wort, Tar Pitcher, and Mad Auntie. This should be game over for almost any draft deck, but the other side of the table was *three* Judge of Currents, five or six Merfolk tokens, and Summon the School... by the time the goblin deck could stop the shenanigans, the Merfolk deck was at around 60 life.