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Time Spiral/Planar Chaos draft report - March 30, 2007
Artifacts (1)
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1 Foriysian Totem
Spells (8)
---------
1 Fiery Temper
1 Funeral Charm
1 Orcish Cannonade
2 Premature Burial
2 Sudden Death
1 Sudden Shock
Enchantments (1)
-----------------
1 Melancholy
Creatures (13)
--------------
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Blazing Blade Askari
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Deathspore Thallid
1 Dragon Whelp
1 Dunerider Outlaw
1 Flowstone Channeler
1 Mana Skimmer
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Skirk Shaman
1 Stingscourger
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Viashino Bladescout
Land (17)
---------
8 Mountains
9 Swamp
Sideboard (used)
----------------
1 Ironclaw Buzzardiers (in for the Dunerider Outlaw against non-green opponents)
1 Vampiric Sliver (in for Big Game Hunter against white weenie type decks)
Red/black isn't a great combination in Time Spiral/Planar Chaos drafts because the creatures are fairly weak. I like red because of all the removal and I was in red early after a first pick Dragon Whelp. I was thinking of going with white or green as the second color but I kept getting passed black removal. Both of the Sudden Deaths and both of the Premature Burials were passed to me. I think one Sudden Death was as low as a fifth or sixth pick.
Round 1 - Brian Miller - UR
Game one started fairly evenly but then Brian started suspending larger creatures than I had, most importantly the Errant Ephemeron. I misplayed and blocked Keldon Halberdiers with my Deathspore Thallid, somehow forgetting that the Halberdiers have first strike. Oops. I killed the Ephemeron with my Big Game Hunter but I took too much damage too quickly to come back. I couldn't find very many creatures and didn't find enough removal to keep up.
Game two I had a bit better start but then drew nothing but land. I did a total of nine damage in both games. Not a good start.
Matches: 0-1
Games: 0-2
Round 2 - Pat Moldovan - W
Losing round one put me squarely in a kid bracket. There were 26 players on Friday night---apparently spring break brought out the students because most of them looked to be about 12 years old. Naturally I was paired up against a non-kid. The way round one started I figured I was in for another beating but Pat stalled on two Plains for at least four turns. He had suspended a Divine Congregation and gained 10 life but it didn't help because his only creature was a Brass Gnat. He tried to hold off my army with the white charm "Fog" but I swarmed him in a couple of turns. Where were all these creatures in round one?
Game two was much of the same. He found land but didn't find many creatures and I killed the ones which did come out. He had another Congregation and another white Fog but neither helped. He started playing a lot of creatures after his Congregate but I was able to just keep swarming in with my little inferior ones and flying over with the Whelp for the win.
Matches: 1-1
Games: 2-2
Round 3 - Sam Fleig - GWB
Sam and I traded blows in the first game but he attacked into a couple of combat tricks. I used Deathspore Thallid's ability to kill one of his creatures after blocking and used Sudden Death to get rid of his Magus of the Disk before starting to play my good creatures. He played Stormfront Riders to turn Serf token into 1/1 white Soldiers but I found the Sulfur Elemental to kill the soldiers. Then I got the Hydra and the Whelp out and started swinging.
Game two my removal came out in force and I kept him to minimal creatures. He got the Sengir Autocrat again but I forced him to block with all his creatures by attacking relentlessly. I had Fiery Temper and Melancholy in my hand in case he found Savage Thallid or another big creature but none of his beasts came out to play.
Matches: 2-1
Games: 4-2
Round 4 - Ben Luff - URW
Aside: I was surprised how many people played three colors and somehow hit all three land types on turn three. Very risky.
My removal came out in force against Ben. He played a creature and I killed it. That's pretty much how it went. He played a Ghost Tactician (discard a card, your creatures get +1/+0) with one card left in hand. I was starting to lose the creature advantage and figured he had another critter in hand so I used Funeral Charm to make him discard at the end of his turn. It was an Island. Hmm. Later on that turned out to be crucial as my Whelp killed him the turn before he would have drawn another land which would have allowed him to play the one card in his hand: a foil Akroma.
Game two the Whelp came out again and I killed his flyers. I got rid of Crovax with Sudden Death, which is one of the few ways to kill that creature. He got me down to four but I sent in the Whelp one more time for lethal damage.
Matches: 3-1
Games: 6-2
------------
1 Foriysian Totem
Spells (8)
---------
1 Fiery Temper
1 Funeral Charm
1 Orcish Cannonade
2 Premature Burial
2 Sudden Death
1 Sudden Shock
Enchantments (1)
-----------------
1 Melancholy
Creatures (13)
--------------
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Blazing Blade Askari
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Deathspore Thallid
1 Dragon Whelp
1 Dunerider Outlaw
1 Flowstone Channeler
1 Mana Skimmer
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Skirk Shaman
1 Stingscourger
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Viashino Bladescout
Land (17)
---------
8 Mountains
9 Swamp
Sideboard (used)
----------------
1 Ironclaw Buzzardiers (in for the Dunerider Outlaw against non-green opponents)
1 Vampiric Sliver (in for Big Game Hunter against white weenie type decks)
Red/black isn't a great combination in Time Spiral/Planar Chaos drafts because the creatures are fairly weak. I like red because of all the removal and I was in red early after a first pick Dragon Whelp. I was thinking of going with white or green as the second color but I kept getting passed black removal. Both of the Sudden Deaths and both of the Premature Burials were passed to me. I think one Sudden Death was as low as a fifth or sixth pick.
Round 1 - Brian Miller - UR
Game one started fairly evenly but then Brian started suspending larger creatures than I had, most importantly the Errant Ephemeron. I misplayed and blocked Keldon Halberdiers with my Deathspore Thallid, somehow forgetting that the Halberdiers have first strike. Oops. I killed the Ephemeron with my Big Game Hunter but I took too much damage too quickly to come back. I couldn't find very many creatures and didn't find enough removal to keep up.
Game two I had a bit better start but then drew nothing but land. I did a total of nine damage in both games. Not a good start.
Matches: 0-1
Games: 0-2
Round 2 - Pat Moldovan - W
Losing round one put me squarely in a kid bracket. There were 26 players on Friday night---apparently spring break brought out the students because most of them looked to be about 12 years old. Naturally I was paired up against a non-kid. The way round one started I figured I was in for another beating but Pat stalled on two Plains for at least four turns. He had suspended a Divine Congregation and gained 10 life but it didn't help because his only creature was a Brass Gnat. He tried to hold off my army with the white charm "Fog" but I swarmed him in a couple of turns. Where were all these creatures in round one?
Game two was much of the same. He found land but didn't find many creatures and I killed the ones which did come out. He had another Congregation and another white Fog but neither helped. He started playing a lot of creatures after his Congregate but I was able to just keep swarming in with my little inferior ones and flying over with the Whelp for the win.
Matches: 1-1
Games: 2-2
Round 3 - Sam Fleig - GWB
Sam and I traded blows in the first game but he attacked into a couple of combat tricks. I used Deathspore Thallid's ability to kill one of his creatures after blocking and used Sudden Death to get rid of his Magus of the Disk before starting to play my good creatures. He played Stormfront Riders to turn Serf token into 1/1 white Soldiers but I found the Sulfur Elemental to kill the soldiers. Then I got the Hydra and the Whelp out and started swinging.
Game two my removal came out in force and I kept him to minimal creatures. He got the Sengir Autocrat again but I forced him to block with all his creatures by attacking relentlessly. I had Fiery Temper and Melancholy in my hand in case he found Savage Thallid or another big creature but none of his beasts came out to play.
Matches: 2-1
Games: 4-2
Round 4 - Ben Luff - URW
Aside: I was surprised how many people played three colors and somehow hit all three land types on turn three. Very risky.
My removal came out in force against Ben. He played a creature and I killed it. That's pretty much how it went. He played a Ghost Tactician (discard a card, your creatures get +1/+0) with one card left in hand. I was starting to lose the creature advantage and figured he had another critter in hand so I used Funeral Charm to make him discard at the end of his turn. It was an Island. Hmm. Later on that turned out to be crucial as my Whelp killed him the turn before he would have drawn another land which would have allowed him to play the one card in his hand: a foil Akroma.
Game two the Whelp came out again and I killed his flyers. I got rid of Crovax with Sudden Death, which is one of the few ways to kill that creature. He got me down to four but I sent in the Whelp one more time for lethal damage.
Matches: 3-1
Games: 6-2
posted by Ulrich at 3/31/2007 01:36:00 PM Link
2 Comments:
Just three rounds? I keep forgetting how quick those draft tournaments go. Any good freebies?
It's always interesting reading your posts; I still don't know how you remember all that detail!
Dan
No, four rounds. It should have actually been five with 26 players, I think, but they stopped at four because there were only a couple of undefeateds. Peter wound up winning the whole thing!
I take notes during the tournament and as I start writing I remember more of the details. Some people write down what caused every point of damage but I'm not that obsessive.
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