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Drafting With LSV – Shards of Alara #24

Draft with Luis Scott-Vargas every day... At StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, January 22nd – Luis Scott-Vargas continues his daily Draft series, sharing each pick from a draft in the Magic Online 8-4 queue. He talks us through the difficult decisions in the forums… do you agree with his choices?

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1 Ridge Rannet
1 Jungle Weaver
1 Blood Cultist
1 Magma Spray
1 Naya Charm
1 Sprouting Thrinax
1 Caldera Hellion
2 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Goblin Assault
1 Thunder-Thrash Elder
2 Undead Leotau
1 Scourge Devil
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Obelisk of Naya
1 Bone Splinters
1 Rockslide Elemental
1 Blister Beetle
1 Gift of the Gargantuan
1 Court Archers
1 Volcanic Submersion
1 Rhox Charger
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Plains
5 Swamp
4 Mountain
5 Forest

Sideboard
1 Soul’s Grace
1 Obelisk of Grixis
1 Soul’s Might
1 Ooze Garden
1 Mighty Emergence
1 Swamp
1 Rip-Clan Crasher
2 Savage Hunger
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Deathgreeter
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Forest
2 Shadowfeed
1 Sunseed Nurturer
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Godtoucher
1 Naturalize
1 Volcanic Submersion

P1p1 Rhox Charger fits in more decks than Tar Fiend and is more consistent either way.
P1p3 Taking Rakeclaw here is valid but Bone Splinters is far more powerful than some five-power dude of which there are many.
P2p1 Fleshbag has been pretty fantastic for me especially in conjunction with Thrinax but I think Necrogenesis is the pick here. I never want to take Necrogenesis at the time but every time I look back I feel like I should have.
P2p3 I really like Thoctar but Jund decks need some food and Beetle fits the bill.
P3p3 With double Fleshbag Bone Splinters and Caldera Hellion Goblin Assault is quite effective.

Round 1 versus Jund
G1 He only draws Forests and Swamps but Necrogenesis plus some random creatures into a 10/10 Tar Fiend still gets me.
G2 Despite cycling Jungle Weaver my opponent doesn’t play a third land for quite some time and is way too far behind once it shows up.
G3 This game is much closer than the other two as we both have a fair amount of action. A midgame Broodmate looks pretty bad for me but I play a Sprouting Thrinax and sacrifice it to Bone Splinters to kill the token. In the same turn I play a 13/13 Thunder-Thrash Elder and after chumping a few times with ground creatures my opponent is forced to throw Broodmate in the way. After the Broodmate dies so does my opponent.

Round 2 versus Naya
G1 I thought I was totally dead this game as he plays triple(!) Wild Nacatl plus a Knight of the Skyward Eye. My turn 4 Elvish Visionary draws me into Caldera Hellion and he has no follow up once I clear his board.
G2 I have a much better start than game 1 with Fleshbag plus Bone Splinters to blunt his early offense. Still I never draw a Mountain so I have too many uncastables in my hand. Once I run out of Black spells I soon also run out of life points.
G3 I am able to use Sprouting Thrinax and Undead Leotau to stall the board and we both amass a sizeable army. When I attack my Leotau into his squad of three or less toughness guys and a Rockcaster Platoon he blocks with just the Platoon. That lets me pump Leotau and then drop a 7/7 Caldera Hellion clearing both sides of the board. He follows that up with a Cavern Thoctar plus a Lightning Talons but bringing back Leotau then Scourge Devil finishes him off.

Round 3 versus Naya
G1 His curve is really tough to deal with consisting of turn 2 Sigiled Paladin turn 3 Topan Ascetic and turn 4 Feral Hydra. He even has a Branching Bolt to keep the pressure on but I am able to stabilize at four. Unfortunately Rockcaster Platoon has other plans and he throws rocks at me until I die.
G2 I think I am pretty far ahead but Elspeth disabuses me of this notion. I have to burn the Naya Charm I was saving to finish him off in order to kill Elspeth and eventually die to a huge Topan Ascetic backed by Exalted guys.

Until tomorrow…

LSV