After a couple of days of drafting – and watching the Dutchies draft – I had not a single rare to show for my efforts. I never managed to reach the finals of a singles draft, nor did I win a team draft, even though I only entered two of each. By the end of the sessions – and mostly thanks to Frank Karsten and Roel van Heeswijk – I settled on giving their idea of Blue/White control drafting a try. Not only it was a plan I liked, since I’m very familiar with drafting U/W control in other past draft formats, but it was a plan that used many underdrafted cards that usually come as late picks (more on that ahead), which meant it was not as big a problem to have your neighbours in the same colors. Also, at this time I had no better plan.
I left the Dutchies drafting in their hotel lobby after being randomly left out of the eight. Since I had some time to kill, instead of calling a cab to take me from the Dutchies hotel to the Wizards hotel, I took a free shuttle from this hotel to the airport. Once there I took another free hotel shuttle from the airport to my new hotel. I feel like I won a free draft set with that move.
At the tournament site I meet all the other Portuguese players. Some were qualified for the Pro Tour, while some were there for the LCQ and good times. We started a draft with six Portuguese, Willy Edel, and Chris Flaaten. I forced U/W control just like I wanted. The deck looked very bad on paper, but I still posted a 3-1 result… which was probably the same number of wins I had after four drafts with the Dutchies. Later on I forced U/W control once again, ending with a 2-2 score. I was definitely forcing it at the Pro Tour the next day, if I had the chance.
By now you may be wondering… what are the differences in drafting U/W control over the regular U/W decks?
Before answering that, I’ll present you the top 5 list of commons and uncommons for this archtype:
1- Errant Ephemeron (you really have to open them, as no one’s passing them.)
2- Riftwing Cloudskate (you won’t see him that often, but when you do, pick him high.)
3- Castle Raptors
4- Fathom Seer
5- Jedit’s Dragoons
Blue is highly overdrafted in this format, so don’t expect to have these cards passed. These Blue cards are at the top of the list just because they’re good in any Blue deck, not just in this one in particular. Castle Raptors is one of your win conditions, but if your priority is to gain control of the board, then he gets the job done. It’s very difficult to attack into a Castle Raptors. But the card I want to talk about is Jedit’s Dragoons, because it’s a fine first pick, as crazy as that may sound. There have been many U/W pseudo-control decks where we would play something like a River Kaijin to hold the ground, and win by racing with some fliers. Not in this archtype. You don’t care about tempo. You care about staying alive for the long game, where your more expensive cards and creatures with re-usable activated abilities will give you the edge over any 2/2 and 3/3 tempo creatures your opponent may have. Don’t worry if you already have one Jedit’s Dragoons. You will play all of them, and possibly with an Eternity Snare too. Since this is a slower format, I dare to say that Jedit’s Dragoons is as important in this archtype like River Kaijin was back in the days of Kamigawa.
The key to a successful U/W control draft is not only to have good blockers like Castle Raptors and Jedit’s Dragoons, but also to have creatures with reusable activated abilities like D’Avenant Healer, Saltfield Recluse, and Merfolk Thaumaturgist. If you have these creatures on the table it becomes incredibly hard for your opponent to push damage through, and the last two cards combo to kill any creatures with power two or less. The Merfolk is also very good with Bewilder – a card you can expect to table back to you -and with your defensive creatures like Ghost Tactician or Dream Stalker when they attack.
Cards that rise in value when drafting U/W Control
D’Avenant Healer
Jedit’s Dragoons
Watcher Sliver
Slipstream Serpent
Eternity Snare
Bewilder
Think Twice
Cancel
Clockwork Hydra
Urza’s Factory
Merfolk Thaumaturgist
Dismal Failure
Saltfield Recluse
Any suspend creature for 1 or 2 mana
Cards that become worse when drafting U/W control
Amrou Seekers
Benalish cavalry
Cloudchaser Kestrel
Ivory Giant (for his ability, rather than his suspend cost)
Spiketail Drakeling
Crookclaw Transmuter
Temporal Eddy
Whitemane Lion
With U/W control draft decks, you will play Limited like Constructed. Every game, you don’t care about tempo or your life total (that’s why Jedit’s Dragoons are so important). They’re simply resources you’re using to achive your goal, which is to have control of the board. You then win with a single creature like Errant Ephemeron or Jodah’s Avenger. You are playing just like a Construted U/W deck, and most of the draft decks you’ll face will be creature beatdown decks. Let’s imagine you played turn 3 D’Avenant Healer, turn 4 Pallid Mycoderm, and turn 6 Jedit’s Dragoons. These cards should be enough to handle the vast majority of threats your opponent might have played until turn 6. Then cards like Eternity Snare and Cancel can deal with problems those three couldn’t handle. These late picks, or 23rd cards that those who do not know laugh about, are very effective at stopping much better cards.
Pro Tour Geneva Day 1
Draft 1
In my first pod I recognized Paul Cheon to my right (and therefore feeding me during the draft), and Kevin Desprez on the other side of the table. I started the draft with the common pick we all dream of: Errant Ephemeron. An early pick Castle Raptors in the first set of boosters shows that Paul is probably not White, and my picks are going according to the plan. After the first booster my deck seems really solid, but it went downhill from there. In the second pack I first pick Serrated Arrows, then Temporal Isolation, and then Momentary Blink over Mindless Automaton. This was a pick I’m still not sure about. After the two boosters of Time Spiral, the only other picks worthy of mention were quad-Spiketail Drakelings. I wasn’t happy about playing them, but I was picking them, as late-pick Drakes indicate Blue is open. In Planar Chaos, my first, second, and third pick went to plan. First pick was a Merfolk Thaumaturgist over nothing relevant, and second and third were Saltfield Recluses. Luckily I first picked the Thaumaturgist as none other came (and I would happily pick them highly).
Creatures (15)
- 1 Ghost Ship
- 1 Castle Raptors
- 2 Dream Stalker
- 1 Errant Ephemeron
- 4 Spiketail Drakeling
- 1 Tolarian Sentinel
- 1 Merfolk Thaumaturgist
- 1 Primal Plasma
- 2 Saltfield Recluse
- 1 Veiling Oddity
Lands (17)
Spells (7)
This deck turned out fine, if a little weakened by the fact of my neighbour to the left being in the same colors as me. The only thing I dislike are the four Spiketail Drakelings, which I was using as Mana Leaks. Usually Drakelings on turn 3 provide a good source of damage, and a counter for a reasonable threat your opponent presents. But in this deck I would counter any spell they played with my Drakeling on the table, as I don’t need a 2/2 flyer on the table and I’m unsure if I’ll be able to use them to counter anything later. My plan was not to use them to race and counter a big threat, but to control the table by delaying my opponent’s army. With that being said, the cards I missed were Jedit’s Dragoons, and a D’Avenant Healer I had in the sideboard but couldn’t run together with 4 Spiketail Drakelings.
Round 1: R/G/W
I won game 1 racing in the air with a Castle Raptors and a Spiketail Drakeling, while chump blocking a Pouncing Wurm on the ground.
I lost game 2 because I mulliganed to four on the play (as my opponent choose to draw first this game). Since his deck was very slow and I had a good draw (with four cards), the game is actually played itself out a little… but after a Harmonize, the card difference become too much.
I also lost game 3. I choose to play since his deck was very slow, and I kept with two lands. I stalled on two lands for a couple of turns. On turn 5 I drew my third land, but I was sat with Plains, Plains, and Island with a lot of Spiketail Drakelings and double-Blue cards in my hand.
0 – 1
It still hurts when I think about this loss. I know in the past weeks I talked about playskill and luck, and how you deal with it in theory, but on the playing tables the feelings are amplified. I shook my opponent’s hand and wished him luck, but I’ll let you guys into a little secret: on the inside, I was bleeding.
His deck was very slow. The cards he showed me, other than Harmonize and Sulfurous Blast, were all pretty below average. Not only was his deck weak, but my opponent was clearly unexperienced. He passed Vesuvan Shapeshifter first pick first pack. He incorrectly paid mana costs multiple times against me. He used Simian Spirit Guide on turn 3 to accelerate a Scarwood Treefolk. He played Sulfurous Blast, and responded by activating the ability of Flickering Spirit. And, as I predicted, he didn’t win another game against anyone in the pod. But he beat me, fair and square.
Round 2: Dalibor Szegho – U/W
I played a turn 4 Careful Consideration that was met with Mana Tithe. I was already a bit mana flood by then, and it didn’t help that I drew more lands afterwards. My opponent was stuck on three lands and obviously upset, but as soon as he drew the fourth it was a bloodbath, as I had pretty much nothing to defend myself with. I topdecked into an Ephemeron later on, which was big enough to defend me, but after a while he made Pulmonic Sliver and Watcher Sliver, and re-started the attacks. I had no way to deal with that.
In game 2 I established my combo of Merfolk Thaumaturgist and Saltfield Recluse, which killed his first two creatures and prevented him from playing more.
I don’t like being in a losing situation with not much time on the round. Not that the speed of my play changes – I play at the same pace every game no matter the score. However, it does affect my in-game strategies. With the score tied or favorable to me, I’d have no interest in attacking with Saltfield Recluse and Merfolk Thaumaturgist, but in these circumstances (1-0 down) I had to, even if I didn’t want to. I figured that if he had the Crookclaw Transmuter and played it to block, it’d be a 1/3 and pretty much nothing would happen… or it’d be a 3/1 that would attempt to trade. Then I could save my creature with Momentary Blink. Unfortunately it was a Celestial Crusader, and I was forced to use the Blink to save my guy with his staying alive. On his turn he enchanted it with Pentarch Ward, and now the Celestial Crusader can’t be targeted by Saltfield Recluse. He can also now play White guys, since they’re big enough to survive thanks to the bonus from the Crusader. This slowed the game even more, and it was more difficult for me to get damage through.
Later I rebuilt with a Ghost Ship and Errant Ephemeron, and he played his own Ephemeron. I had Dismal Failure. Once again, if I wasn’t down a game, I would’ve let the Ephemeron resolve. Then I would attack with my Ephemeron, and they would eventually trade, leaving me with the Ghost Ship to continue attacking. The only spell I had to counter at this point was Pulmonic Sliver, as he had Watcher Sliver and Poultrice Sliver in play. Since I had to be more aggressive, I decided to counter the Ephemeron and hope that he didn’t play the Pulmonic Sliver next turn. He did. I had no way to get through the 2/4 and 3/5 flying and regenerating slivers, so the game stalled. After a while he played Magus of the Disk, so I started saving gas in my hand. He used the Magus and regenerated his Slivers, but after I deployed the creatures I’d stockedpiled, the board was once again clogged. My one chance to win was with Veiling Oddity. My opponent couldn’t attack me either, as I had a trick – either a Dawn Charm or a Bewilder – if he did, he would lose. We entered extra turns, and even if I drew the Veiling Oddity I had no turns to remove all the counters.
By now, my only chance was for my opponent to attack with everything, letting me play the Charm or the Bewilder (he had exactly one extra flier for my life total – if I cast Bewilder on that one, I would survive and strike back for the win next turn). Since he’s winning 1-0, he obviously chose not to attack. The game ended in a draw, with the match win going to him.
0 – 2
Round 3: Kevin Desprez – R/B
I won the first, as I had a pretty insane draw. I re-used Serrated Arrows multiple times with Dream Stalker and Tolarian Sentinel. He played first in the second game, and curved with Ghostflame Sliver and Blazing Blade Askari. I was able to deal with them with Serrated Arrows, but he had late game cards for the final push, like Corpulent Corpse, Magus of the Arena and Forysian Totem. He also had Strangling Soot and Sedge Sliver, and from what I’ve seen it was the best deck I’d faced thus far… but strangely, it was standing at 0-2.
For the third game, I sided in another Island for a Plains (making a total of 12 Island), as I struggled a little getting double Blue in the second game. I guess it paid off, as I was finally able to make a turn 3 Spiketail Drakeling. Thanks to Sedge Sliver pumping more of his kind, his creatures were vastly superior. I was holding on as best I could with defensive guys like Dream Stalker and double Saltfield Recluse, while attacking in the air with another Spiketail Drakeling (the first was long gone) and Castle Raptors. On his last turn before dying to the fliers, he attacked with everything, and it’s enough for the win… but I prevented all combat damage with Dawn Charm, and swing back next turn.
1 – 2
Even though this score was not very good, I still hadn’t given up on my plan of forcing U/W control. In order to make Day 2, which was my main goal for Limited Pro Tours this year, I had to win out in the next pod. This is a rare thing, as everything has to go your way, and so far I wasn’t feeling that Fate was smiling on me this weekend. Since I had to be lucky in the next draft and following three rounds of play, I told myself I should at least try for U/W control, because if I didn’t I wouldl regret it later.
With that in mind, I sat down at my second pod, and first picked Tolarian Sentinel. Then I’m passed quite a weak pack, and I stuck with something average in Blue. Third pick I’m presented with the choice between Kaervek the Merciless, Uthden Troll, and Conflagrate. Kaervek is the best card, but I didn’t want to change to Black/Red, so my pick was probably Conflagrate. Then it hit me. Third pick Conflagrate is nothing spectacular, but the Troll plus the Kaervek would put some players into Red right behind me. I decided a Conflagrate was not worth it changing my course for, and as I was aiming for U/W I picked Prismatic Lens instead.
I wasn’t getting any White signals, so I fourth picked Scryb Ranger, but a really late seventh or eighth pick Jedit’s Dragoons put me back on track. From here, things became much simpler. I simply picked the best card in each pack for the U/W plan. I picked up some goodies in the second booster, like Riftwing Cloudskate and Looter il-Kor, but it was Planar Chaos that turned my deck from good into very good, with many top picks including uncommons and rares.
Creatures (18)
- 1 Pirate Ship
- 1 Coral Trickster
- 1 Dream Stalker
- 1 Jedit's Dragoons
- 1 Looter il-Kor
- 1 Riftwing Cloudskate
- 1 Slipstream Serpent
- 2 Tolarian Sentinel
- 1 Chronozoa
- 1 Dust Elemental
- 1 Malach of the Dawn
- 1 Revered Dead
- 1 Saltfield Recluse
- 2 Shade of Trokair
- 1 Shaper Parasite
- 1 Voidstone Gargoyle
Lands (17)
Spells (5)
Sideboard
So far things were going my way, as I felt I had a draft that could post a solid 2-1… and, with some luck, the much-needed 3-0. In fact I felt so confident in the deck that I opted to leave out some cards with double color costs, and play with others aparently inferior. The only exceptions were Malach of the Dawn and Voidstone Gargoyle.
The beauty of U/W control decks in this format is they have a lot of small combos. When you play utility creatures, not only do they have re-usable effects, but they can also combine effects among themselves. My first draft deck had the combos of Saltfield Recluse and Merfolk Thaumaturgist, and Serrated Arros and Dream Stalker or Tolarian Sentinel. This one can make the most of Reality Acid, a plan somewhat debated before the Pro Tour, but unfortunately it only had one copy of the Aura.
Round 4: U/G splash White
I started with a suspended Shade of Trokair, and on turn 4 my board was the Shade, one Plains and three Islands. I was holding Voidstone Gargoyle, and there was a Riftwing Cloudskate suspended on the opposite side. If I drew a Plains on the next turn, I’d make the 3/3 flyer and nullify the Riftwing Cloudskate. I drew an Island, and to make things worse, he destroyed my only Plains with Mwonvoli Acid-Moss. With only Islands, I was able to play Pirate Ship and Slipstream Serpent, which were good enough to hold the ground and ping him. However, I was repeatedly attacked in the air by the Cloudskate. However, this time I didn’t die to color screw, and eventually I drew two Plains and played my big White flyers.
Game 2 I started with turn 1 suspended Shade of Trokair, turn 2 suspended Riftwing Cloudskate, and turn 3 Spiketail Drakeling that I had boarded in (along with a Chromatic Star). I used my mana and cards so perfectly that I never had the need to cycle the Star. Each turn I was already holding the perfect play. When a deck has draws like this, Magic it’s an easy game.
2 – 2
Round 5: W/B
Game 1 I kept with two lands, and I never drew the third.
Game 2 was very close, and I was under a lot of pressure. My opponent had Celestial Crusader, Amrou Seekers with a +2/+1 aura, and another creatures. I was forced to make very risky plays to stay alive, like hoping that he didn’t have a removal spell or Whitemane Lion, and thanks to a Malach of the Dawn and a Cronozoa I was able to contain the attacks, stabilizing at a very precarious life total. When the Cronozoa started multipling, the board started to get absolutely ridiculous for me, and I take the offensive from there on.
Unlike the second, I think I was in control of the third game since the beginning. I had an early Looter to dig through my deck, and also had the Tolarian Sentinel / Reality Acid combo. Despite being in control, I was only attacking for one a turn with the Looter, as my board was Looter, Tolarian Sentinel, and something irrelevant. But I had inevitabilty thanks to an Urza’s Factory, and I was holding Dust Elemental but didn’t want to risk playing it. One turn he tapped out to kill one of my creatures, and I responded with Dust Elemental to bounce my three guys. This clock is much faster, as I only needed a couple of attacks to deal the remaining damage.
3 – 2
Round 6: Hidenori Katayama
And there I was! After stumbling at the beginning with a 0-2 score, I managed to mount a comeback of three straight wins. I was just one win away from making Day 2. Things were alligning. My deck was strong. I minimized the chances of being screwed, and so far it hadn’t happen twice in the same round. I was also getting some luck at key moments. With this in mind, I arrived at the table determined to win, since I was so close to achieving the initial goals I proposed to at the beginning of the tournament.
But in the last round, some peculiar results left me as the only 2-0 in the pod, and therefore the only one with nine points and still with a chance for Day 2. My opponent, Hidenori Katayama, only had seven points due to a draw in the previous round, so when I arrived at the table to play, he was already standing there with a smile offering me the concession, as he had no chances to advance. I happily accepted and thanked him, and on the inside I exploded with satisfaction. I was advancing into Day 2!
4 – 2
I hope you’ll join me next week, when I’ll review my Day 2 drafts and rounds. No matter how much I wanted to continue to force U/W control, at some point it become impossible, so I was forced to change plans in the middle of Day 2 thanks to the experience acquired in the tournament so far. Some things went smoothly, while others didn’t.
Thank you for reading, and see you next week!
Tiago