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Drafting With Rich – Shards of Alara #6

Draft With Rich Hoaen every day... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, November 17th – Canadian Draft maestro Rich Hoaen returns to the pages of StarCityGames.com. Each day, he brings us a triple Shards of Alara draft from Magic Online, from pick 1 to pick 45, sharing his insight on the more difficult picks along the way. For more in-depth analysis, visit the forums!

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2 Bull Cerodon
Incurable Ogre
Bloodpyre Elemental
2 Rip-Clan Crasher
Welkin Guide
Oblivion Ring
Ranger of Eos (FOIL)
Naya Charm
Naya Battlemage
2 Steward of Valeron
2 Mosstodon
Excommunicate
Rhox Charger
Branching Bolt
Soul’s Fire
Akrasan Squire
Court Archers
Sigil Blessing
Savage Lands
7 Plains
6 Forest
4 Mountain

This draft didn’t go exactly as planned. I spent the first pack and a half trying to decide which color would be my splash but eventually gave up on that and decided to go with the “6/6/6 and pray” plan. I tried to find one-drops for the Rangers but couldn’t really justify taking Nacatl over Oblivion Ring.

As it was I think I played one Mountain too few since every game I was just trying to hang on until I could draw a Red source and then my good cards would take over.

In the first round I played against a decent Blue Black White deck that took a lot of mulligans. Game 1 I mulliganed and played two Forests before conceding. Game 2 he mulliganed three times and I played a few 2/2s. Game 3 he mulliganed twice but made a game of it with Sigiled Paladin on turn 2 and Tower Gargoyle on turn 4. I got him to block with the Gargoyle and had Branching Bolt. He never played another creature.

Round 2 I played agaisnt a four-color Green deck. Both games I drew my mana quite well and had Bull Cerodon on turn 5. One interesting situation occured when he blocked my 2/2 with his 2/2 and tried to get me with Agony Warp making my 2/2 smaller and killing my 3/3. My Sigil Blessing ended up making it a two-for-one in my favour instead of his.

In the finals I played against a superior Green Red White deck. Both games he had turn 1 Wild Nacatl with a good follow-up while I struggled with my mana. It was close and I may have been able to win the first game with a sixth land on turn for a Bull on turn 8 but it wasn’t to be. His curve was nearly perfect in the second game and I put up a good fight again but was behind throughout. I gave myself a few turns to draw Soul’s Fire Excommunicate Naya Charm Welkin Guide or the second Bull but I couldn’t find it before his multitude of dudes overwhelmed me.

Until tomorrow…

Rich