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Drafting With Rich – TPF #12

Draft With Rich Hoaen every day... at StarCityGames.com!
You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TPF Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!


Draft:

Pack 1:










Amrou Scout, Grapeshot, Scarwood Treefolk, Slipstream Serpent, Gaze of Justice, Strangling Soot, Prismatic Lens, Clockspinning, Sidewinder Sliver, Viscid Lemures, Locket of Yesterdays, Quilled Sliver, Tromp the Domains, Kher Keep, Pendelhaven

Pick: Tromp the Domains

Pack 2:










Bonesplitter Sliver, Dark Withering, Viscerid Deepwalker, Ashcoat Bear, Amrou Seekers, Jhoira’s Timebug, Chameleon Blur, Subterranean Shambler, Cyclopean Giant, Screeching Sliver, Dreadship Reef, Ghostflame Sliver, Primal Forcemage, Uncle Istvan

Pick: Viscerid Deepwalker

Pack 3:










Tendrils of Corruption, Think Twice, Errant Doomsayers, Rift Bolt, Aetherflame Wall, Detainment Spell, Thallid Shell-Dweller, Bewilder, Call to the Netherworld, Opaline Sliver, Celestial Crusader, Flagstones of Trokair, Wipe Away

Pick: Rift Bolt

Pack 4:







Chromatic Star, Tolarian Sentinel, Flowstone Channeler, Watcher Sliver, Thrill of the Hunt, Plunder, Skulking Knight, Quilled Sliver, Haunting Hymn, Faceless Devourer, Orcish Librarian, Dreadship Reef

Pick: Flowstone Channeler

Pack 5:







Flamecore Elemental, Gemhide Sliver, Castle Raptors, Two-Headed Sliver, Blazing Blade Askari, Shadow Sliver, Ophidian Eye, Paradox Haze, Fury Sliver, Magus of the Mirror, Craw Giant

Pick: Gemhide Sliver

Pack 6:







Aether Web, Temporal Eddy, Mogg War Marshal, Terramorphic Expanse, Cyclopean Giant, Brass Gnat, Savage Thallid, Screeching Sliver, Stormcloud Djinn, Spitting Slug

Pick: Spitting Slug

Pack 7:







Deathspore Thallid, Flowstone Channeler, Sangrophage, D’Avenant Healer, Wormwood Dryad, Mystical Teachings, Two-Headed Sliver, Smallpox, Saltcrusted Steppe

Pick: Flowstone Channeler

Pack 8:




Cancel, Icatian Crier, Jedit’s Dragoons, Sprout, Foriysian Interceptor, Thick-Skinned Goblin, Dread Return, Celestial Dawn

Pick: Thick-Skinned Goblin

Pack 9:




Scarwood Treefolk, Gaze of Justice, Clockspinning, Sidewinder Sliver, Viscid Lemures, Quilled Sliver, Kher Keep

Pick: Scarwood Treefolk

Pack 10:




Chameleon Blur, Cyclopean Giant, Screeching Sliver, Dreadship Reef, Primal Forcemage, Uncle Istvan

Pick: Primal Forcemage

Pack 11:




Aetherflame Wall, Detainment Spell, Thallid Shell-Dweller, Bewilder, Opaline Sliver

Pick: Thallid Shell-Dweller

Pack 12:

Plunder, Skulking Knight, Quilled Sliver, Orcish Librarian

Pick: Orcish Librarian

Pack 13:

Shadow Sliver, Paradox Haze, Craw Giant

Pick: Craw Giant

Pack 14:

Cyclopean Giant, Brass Gnat

Pick: Brass Gnat

Pack 15:

D’Avenant Healer

Pick: D’Avenant Healer

Pack 16:










Dawn Charm, Stingscourger, Whitemane Lion, Vitaspore Thallid, Deadly Grub, Aquamorph Entity, Firefright Mage, Blightspeaker, Prodigal Pyromancer, Simian Spirit Guide, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Stonecloaker, Timebender, Ovinize, Torchling

Pick: Torchling

Pack 17:










Cradle to Grave, Dead / Gone, Reflex Sliver, Uktabi Drake, Deadly Grub, Reality Acid, Blightspeaker, Revered Dead, Rathi Trapper, Fa’adiyah Seer, Rough / Tumble, Circle of Affliction, Porphyry Nodes, Deadly Grub

Pick: Rough / Tumble

Pack 18:










Mire Boa, Battering Sliver, Aven Riftwatcher, Erratic Mutation, Cradle to Grave, Dust Corona, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes, Essence Warden, Bog Serpent, Circle of Affliction, Mycologist, Temporal Extortion

Pick: Mire Boa

Pack 19:







Whitemane Lion, Midnight Charm, Saltfield Recluse, Shade of Trokair, Vitaspore Thallid, Brain Gorgers, Fury Charm, Wistful Thinking, Mana Tithe, Primal Plasma, Psychotrope Thallid, Rebuff the Wicked

Pick: Whitemane Lion

Pack 20:







Synchronous Sliver, Needlepeak Spider, Mire Boa, Dreamscape Artist, Citanul Woodreaders, Firefright Mage, Vampiric Link, Skirk Shaman, Healing Leaves, Auramancer’s Guise, Braids, Conjurer Adept

Pick: Mire Boa

Pack 21:







Poultice Sliver, Veiling Oddity, Synchronous Sliver, Giant Dustwasp, Evolution Charm, Fury Charm, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Mana Tithe, Deadwood Treefolk, Hedge Troll

Pick: Giant Dustwasp

Pack 22:







Reflex Sliver, Dreamscape Artist, Aquamorph Entity, Uktabi Drake, Firefright Mage, Primal Plasma, Simian Spirit Guide, Jodah’s Avenger, Ana Battlemage

Pick: Jodah’s Avenger

Pack 23:




Battering Sliver, Wistful Thinking, Keldon Marauders, Gossamer Phantasm, Seal of Primordium, Riptide Pilferer, Fungal Behemoth, Simian Spirit Guide

Pick: Simian Spirit Guide

Pack 24:




Dawn Charm, Vitaspore Thallid, Aquamorph Entity, Firefright Mage, Simian Spirit Guide, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Timebender

Pick: Aquamorph Entity

Pack 25:




Reflex Sliver, Deadly Grub, Reality Acid, Revered Dead, Fa’adiyah Seer, Porphyry Nodes

Pick: Porphyry Nodes

Pack 26:




Battering Sliver, Dust Corona, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes, Mycologist

Pick: Mycologist

Pack 27:

Vitaspore Thallid, Fury Charm, Wistful Thinking, Psychotrope Thallid

Pick: Psychotrope Thallid

Pack 28:

Firefright Mage, Healing Leaves, Auramancer’s Guise

Pick: Healing Leaves

Pack 29:

Veiling Oddity, Synchronous Sliver

Pick: Veiling Oddity

Pack 30:

Firefright Mage

Pick: Firefright Mage

Pack 31:










Foresee, Rift Elemental, Augur il-Vec, Llanowar Empath, Grave Peril, Sarcomite Myr, Death Rattle, Homing Sliver, Edge of Autumn, Lymph Sliver, Blind Phantasm, Street Wraith, Storm Entity, Spellwild Ouphe, Nihilith

Pick: Edge of Autumn

Pack 32:










Petrified Plating, Bogardan Lancer, Venser’s Diffusion, Sprout Swarm, Sporoloth Ancient, Grinning Ignus, Whip-Spine Drake, Mass of Ghouls, Lucent Liminid, Thornweald Archer, Witch’s Mist, Boldwyr Intimidator, Phosphorescent Feast, Summoner’s Pact

Pick: Sprout Swarm

Pack 33:










Putrid Cyclops, Augur il-Vec, Ichor Slick, Petrified Plating, Bogardan Lancer, Venser’s Diffusion, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Sporoloth Ancient, Grinning Ignus, Whip-Spine Drake, Mass of Ghouls, Skizzik Surger, Akroma’s Memorial

Pick: Akroma’s Memorial

Pack 34:







Marshaling Cry, Emberwilde Augur, Putrid Cyclops, Augur il-Vec, Virulent Sliver, Ghostfire, Vedalken Aethermage, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Aven Mindcensor, Zoetic Cavern, Spin into Myth, Magus of the Moon

Pick: Ghostfire

Pack 35:







Emberwilde Augur, Aven Augur, Cutthroat il-Dal, Gift of Granite, Quiet Disrepair, Mesmeric Sliver, Flowstone Embrace, Nessian Courser, Ramosian Revivalist, Second Wind, Take Possession

Pick: Flowstone Embrace

Pack 36:







Venser’s Diffusion, Oblivion Crown, Lymph Sliver, Homing Sliver, Sporoloth Ancient, Lumithread Field, Arcanum Wings, Snake Cult Initiation, Emblem of the Warmind, Magus of the Moat

Pick: Sporoloth Ancient

Pack 37:







Grave Peril, Marshaling Cry, Kavu Primarch, Lymph Sliver, Blind Phantasm, Mass of Ghouls, Vedalken Aethermage, Dryad Arbor, Rites of Flourishing

Pick: Kavu Primarch

Pack 38:




Gift of Granite, Quiet Disrepair, Rift Elemental, Augur il-Vec, Llanowar Empath, Edge of Autumn, Yixlid Jailer, Boldwyr Intimidator

Pick: Llanowar Empath

Pack 39:




Foresee, Rift Elemental, Augur il-Vec, Sarcomite Myr, Blind Phantasm, Storm Entity, Spellwild Ouphe

Pick: Foresee

Pack 40:




Petrified Plating, Bogardan Lancer, Sporoloth Ancient, Grinning Ignus, Boldwyr Intimidator, Phosphorescent Feast

Pick: Sporoloth Ancient

Pack 41:




Putrid Cyclops, Augur il-Vec, Petrified Plating, Bogardan Lancer, Grinning Ignus

Pick: Grinning Ignus

Pack 42:

Emberwilde Augur, Putrid Cyclops, Augur il-Vec, Blade of the Sixth Pride

Pick: Emberwilde Augur

Pack 43:

Gift of Granite, Quiet Disrepair, Mesmeric Sliver

Pick: Mesmeric Sliver

Pack 44:

*, *

Pick: *

Pack 45:

*

Pick: *

Final Decklist:

Maindeck:

1 Edge of Autumn
1 Flowstone Embrace
1 Gemhide Sliver
2 Mire Boa
1 Rough // Tumble
1 Sprout Swarm
1 Thallid Shell-Dweller
1 Spitting Slug
2 Flowstone Channeler
1 Ghostfire
1 Psychotrope Thallid
1 Rift Bolt
1 Kavu Primarch
1 Llanowar Empath
1 Giant Dustwasp
2 Sporoloth Ancient
1 Torchling
1 Jodah’s Avenger
1 Tromp the Domains
1 Akroma’s Memorial
9 Forest
1 Island
7 Mountain

Sideboard:

1 Aquamorph Entity
1 Arcanum Wings
1 Brass Gnat
1 Craw Giant
1 D’Avenant Healer
1 Emberwilde Augur
1 Firefright Mage
1 Foresee
1 Grinning Ignus
1 Healing Leaves
1 Lymph Sliver
1 Mesmeric Sliver
1 Mycologist
1 Orcish Librarian
1 Porphyry Nodes
1 Primal Forcemage
1 Scarwood Treefolk
1 Simian Spirit Guide [FOIL]
1 Thick-Skinned Goblin
1 Veiling Oddity
1 Viscerid Deepwalker
1 Whitemane Lion


The first pick of the draft could easily have gone either way. On this day I felt like playing with Green cards so I took the Tromp. I think most of the time I would take Strangling Soot. I took the Deepwalker over Dark Withering because I’d just passed a pack where a Black card was by far the best. With the next few picks it became obvious that Blue was completely cut off, but Red and Green were both available, which was fine by me. From there my picks were relatively simple. I was Green/Red, but I was looking to splash a color because of the Tromp. The seventh pick Jodah’s Avenger was convenient for that purpose. I think I made a mistake not taking the second Edge of Autumn eighth. That would have allowed me to splash the Foresee that I just had a feeling was going to come back, despite the pack not being particularly powerful.


I came very close to losing round 1 to a Black/White rebel deck SPLASHING Skirk Shaman and Fortune Thief. In the first game he got ahead early, then had Mana Tithe for my Sporoloth Ancient. The game developed into a race of his two little flyers against my big ground guys, but he had a large head start. It looked like I was going to win the race by a turn, by using Torchling to Lure all of his creatures, but he had a removal spell and Aven Riftwatcher, which he needed both of to win. Game 2 I drew Rough/Tumble, which killed three of his creatures and none of mine. Despite that, the game wasn’t looking great for a while, because I couldn’t draw a creature with Tromp and Akroma’s Memorial in hand. Eventually I drew the Torchling and it did the dirty work with Memorial in play. Game 3 I had a pretty slow draw, and he had a fast one. Fortunately I drew the Rough/Tumble again, which took out his three ground guys, but left his Basalt Gargoyle. I was able to win the game at one life by chumping his Gargoyle twice while my ground guys attacked.


Round 2 I played against a slow but good Blue/White deck. In the first game I stumbled on lands, and he played Crovax before I got to four mana. Game 2 I got stuck on lands again, and he had two Lymph Slivers and a Sinew Sliver in play before I started doing anything relevant.


Until tomorrow,


Rich

Draft recording done by Blargware‘s MTGO DraftCap. Support Blargware!