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Drafting With Rich – TPF #29

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 analyzed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!


Draft:

Pack 1:










Urborg Syphon-Mage, Snapback, Aether Web, Lightning Axe, Havenwood Wurm, Basal Sliver, Sage of Epityr, Ghitu Firebreathing, Momentary Blink, Sulfurous Blast, Duskrider Peregrine, Smallpox, Moonlace, Valor, Search for Tomorrow

Pick: Sulfurous Blast

Pack 2:










Thallid Germinator, Zealot il-Vec, Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Temporal Eddy, Tendrils of Corruption, Chameleon Blur, Subterranean Shambler, Cyclopean Giant, Screeching Sliver, Psychotic Episode, Might of Old Krosa, Weatherseed Totem, Paradox Haze, Hivestone

Pick: Tendrils of Corruption

Pack 3:










Drudge Reavers, Goblin Skycutter, Cancel, Pentarch Ward, Assassinate, Greenseeker, Pit Keeper, Divine Congregation, Jhoira’s Timebug, Undying Rage, Urza’s Factory, Locket of Yesterdays, Tivadar of Thorn

Pick: Assassinate

Pack 4:







Herd Gnarr, Fortify, Coal Stoker, Tolarian Sentinel, Benalish Cavalry, Sangrophage, D’Avenant Healer, Wormwood Dryad, Mystical Teachings, Quilled Sliver, Dread Return, Lim-Dul the Necromancer

Pick: Coal Stoker

Pack 5:







Icatian Crier, Goblin Skycutter, Strength in Numbers, Zealot il-Vec, Ancient Grudge, Flickering Spirit, Call to the Netherworld, Drifter il-Dal, Assembly-Worker, Magus of the Candelabra, Darkness

Pick: Goblin Skycutter

Pack 6:







Scarwood Treefolk, Keldon Halberdier, Mana Skimmer, Molder, Children of Korlis, Viscid Lemures, Ground Rift, Plated Pegasus, Truth or Tale, Scryb Ranger

Pick: Keldon Halberdier

Pack 7:







Gorgon Recluse, Dream Stalker, Wormwood Dryad, Venser’s Sliver, Clockspinning, Bogardan Rager, Saltcrusted Steppe, Primal Forcemage, Wipe Away

Pick: Gorgon Recluse

Pack 8:




Orcish Cannonade, Mindstab, Two-Headed Sliver, Clockspinning, Sidewinder Sliver, Viscid Lemures, Aspect of Mongoose, Squire

Pick: Orcish Cannonade

Pack 9:




Urborg Syphon-Mage, Aether Web, Basal Sliver, Sage of Epityr, Ghitu Firebreathing, Smallpox, Moonlace

Pick: Urborg Syphon-Mage

Pack 10:




Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Temporal Eddy, Chameleon Blur, Cyclopean Giant, Psychotic Episode, Paradox Haze

Pick: Psychotic Episode

Pack 11:




Drudge Reavers, Pentarch Ward, Pit Keeper, Divine Congregation, Locket of Yesterdays

Pick: Pit Keeper

Pack 12:

Sangrophage, D’Avenant Healer, Dread Return, Lim-Dul the Necromancer

Pick: Lim-Dul the Necromancer

Pack 13:

Ancient Grudge, Call to the Netherworld, Drifter il-Dal

Pick: Call to the Netherworld

Pack 14:

Molder, Ground Rift

Pick: Ground Rift

Pack 15:

Clockspinning

Pick: Clockspinning

Pack 16:










Mire Boa, Dreamscape Artist, Aven Riftwatcher, Cradle to Grave, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes, Aquamorph Entity, Shade of Trokair, Sinew Sliver, Melancholy, Gossamer Phantasm, Hammerheim Deadeye, Sophic Centaur, Hedge Troll, Retether

Pick: Cradle to Grave

Pack 17:










Ridged Kusite, Battering Sliver, Reflex Sliver, Uktabi Drake, Blightspeaker, Aquamorph Entity, Evolution Charm, Seal of Primordium, Mana Tithe, Rathi Trapper, Psychotrope Thallid, Saltblast, Dunerider Outlaw, Jedit Ojanen of Efrava

Pick: Rathi Trapper

Pack 18:










Mire Boa, Battering Sliver, Erratic Mutation, Wistful Thinking, Dash Hopes, Reality Acid, Citanul Woodreaders, Melancholy, Seal of Primordium, Stonecloaker, Jodah’s Avenger, Blood Knight, Spellshift

Pick: Blood Knight

Pack 19:







Reflex Sliver, Poultice Sliver, Spitting Sliver, Veiling Oddity, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Fa’adiyah Seer, Brute Force, Revered Dead, Dormant Sliver, Sulfur Elemental

Pick: Brute Force

Pack 20:







Dawn Charm, Cradle to Grave, Evolution Charm, Reality Acid, Deadly Grub, Citanul Woodreaders, Brute Force, Fa’adiyah Seer, Aether Membrane, Big Game Hunter, Benalish Commander

Pick: Big Game Hunter

Pack 21:







Cradle to Grave, Reflex Sliver, Poultice Sliver, Pallid Mycoderm, Dust Corona, Vampiric Link, Gossamer Phantasm, Big Game Hunter, Hammerheim Deadeye, Magus of the Tabernacle

Pick: Big Game Hunter

Pack 22:







Synchronous Sliver, Needlepeak Spider, Pallid Mycoderm, Brain Gorgers, Dust Corona, Seal of Primordium, Dismal Failure, Mycologist, Roiling Horror

Pick: Roiling Horror

Pack 23:




Dawn Charm, Spitting Sliver, Brain Gorgers, Keldon Marauders, Ghost Tactician, Revered Dead, Hunting Wilds, Frenetic Sliver

Pick: Spitting Sliver

Pack 24:




Aven Riftwatcher, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes, Melancholy, Hammerheim Deadeye, Sophic Centaur, Retether

Pick: Melancholy

Pack 25:




Ridged Kusite, Battering Sliver, Reflex Sliver, Uktabi Drake, Seal of Primordium, Psychotrope Thallid

Pick: Uktabi Drake

Pack 26:




Battering Sliver, Wistful Thinking, Dash Hopes, Reality Acid, Seal of Primordium

Pick: Battering Sliver

Pack 27:

Reflex Sliver, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Fa’adiyah Seer

Pick: Ghost Tactician

Pack 28:

Reality Acid, Deadly Grub, Fa’adiyah Seer

Pick: Deadly Grub

Pack 29:

Dust Corona, Vampiric Link

Pick: Vampiric Link

Pack 30:

Dust Corona

Pick: Dust Corona

Pack 31:










Lost Hours, Riddle of Lightning, Wrap in Vigor, Knight of Sursi, Leaden Fists, Gift of Granite, Frenzy Sliver, Ghostfire, Fomori Nomad, Patrician’s Scorn, Logic Knot, Skirk Ridge Exhumer, Sparkspitter, Cyclical Evolution, Force of Savagery

Pick: Ghostfire

Pack 32:










Emberwilde Augur, Aven Augur, Fatal Attraction, Cutthroat il-Dal, Gift of Granite, Quiet Disrepair, Edge of Autumn, Lymph Sliver, Blind Phantasm, Virulent Sliver, Cloudseeder, Skirk Ridge Exhumer, Llanowar Reborn, Nihilith

Pick: Nihilith

Pack 33:










Riddle of Lightning, Judge Unworthy, Kavu Primarch, Oblivion Crown, Nessian Courser, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Sarcomite Myr, Death Rattle, Homing Sliver, Cyclical Evolution, Sliversmith, Chronomantic Escape, Lumithread Field

Pick: Death Rattle

Pack 34:







Bogardan Lancer, Knight of Sursi, Grave Peril, Wrap in Vigor, Samite Censer-Bearer, Death Rattle, Blind Phantasm, Lumithread Field, Grinning Ignus, Edge of Autumn, Pooling Venom, Tolaria West

Pick: Death Rattle

Pack 35:







Leaden Fists, Quiet Disrepair, Saltskitter, Unblinking Bleb, Llanowar Augur, Grave Scrabbler, Lumithread Field, Mesmeric Sliver, Deepcavern Imp, Stronghold Rats, New Benalia

Pick: Deepcavern Imp

Pack 36:







Augur of Skulls, Lost Hours, Petrified Plating, Grave Scrabbler, Henchfiend of Ukor, Lymph Sliver, Homing Sliver, Sword of the Meek, Even the Odds, Mystic Speculation

Pick: Henchfiend of Ukor

Pack 37:







Rift Elemental, Augur il-Vec, Grave Peril, Mass of Ghouls, Vedalken Aethermage, Utopia Mycon, Haze of Rage, Dakmor Salvage, Magus of the Moon

Pick: Mass of Ghouls

Pack 38:




Putrid Cyclops, Rift Elemental, Unblinking Bleb, Deepcavern Imp, Logic Knot, Virulent Sliver, Ravaging Riftwurm, Lost Auramancers

Pick: Deepcavern Imp

Pack 39:




Lost Hours, Wrap in Vigor, Gift of Granite, Frenzy Sliver, Patrician’s Scorn, Cyclical Evolution, Force of Savagery

Pick: Force of Savagery

Pack 40:




Cutthroat il-Dal, Gift of Granite, Quiet Disrepair, Blind Phantasm, Virulent Sliver, Llanowar Reborn

Pick: Cutthroat il-Dal

Pack 41:




Oblivion Crown, Homing Sliver, Cyclical Evolution, Sliversmith, Chronomantic Escape

Pick: Sliversmith

Pack 42:

Bogardan Lancer, Grave Peril, Wrap in Vigor, Samite Censer-Bearer

Pick: Grave Peril

Pack 43:

Quiet Disrepair, Saltskitter, Llanowar Augur

Pick: Saltskitter

Pack 44:

Lost Hours, Petrified Plating

Pick: Lost Hours

Pack 45:

Utopia Mycon

Pick: Utopia Mycon

Final Decklist:

Maindeck:

1 Brute Force
1 Blood Knight
1 Cradle to Grave
1 Goblin Skycutter
1 Pit Keeper
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Assassinate
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Deepcavern Imp
1 Ghostfire
1 Orcish Cannonade
1 Urborg Syphon-Mage
1 Coal Stoker
1 Henchfiend of Ukor
1 Sulfurous Blast
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Gorgon Recluse
1 Keldon Halberdier
1 Mass of Ghouls
1 Roiling Horror
2 Death Rattle
1 Nihilith
8 Mountain
9 Swamp

Sideboard:

1 Battering Sliver
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Call to the Netherworld
1 Clockspinning
1 Cutthroat il-Dal
1 Deadly Grub
1 Deepcavern Imp
1 Dust Corona
1 Force of Savagery
1 Ghost Tactician
1 Grave Peril
1 Ground Rift
1 Lim-Dul the Necromancer [FOIL]
1 Lost Hours
1 Melancholy
1 Psychotic Episode
1 Saltskitter
1 Sliversmith
1 Spitting Sliver
1 Uktabi Drake
1 Utopia Mycon
1 Vampiric Link


This draft was pretty easy. My first couple of picks put me into the right colors, and I was never given a reason to stray. Planar Chaos was actually pretty good this time. I got a few pet cards. Big Game Hunter is a card that I’m happier with each time I play it, and Roiling Horror is a card I’d never played before the team drafts at PT: San Diego, but I gave it a try there on the advice of Ben Rubin, and wow has it been good. If you get ahead early, and can suspend it quick he can come out as a 5/5 or so, and then after one hit he becomes The Abyss. Future Sight rounded out the deck nicely with some good removal spells, and a big evasion creature in Nihilith.


Round 1 I played against a decent Blue/White deck. Game 1 he played Serendib Sorcerer and Pulmonic Sliver, but not much else. I had Trapper for the Sliver and a removal spell for the Sorcerer, and some dudes to attack with. Game 2 took a while because I couldn’t draw lands, and he bounced my Nihilith, but eventually the Nihilith came back and dealt nearly all of the damage needed to kill him.


Round 2 I played against a Green/Black deck splashing Red for Strangling Soot. Game 1 we both got a bit flooded, but he had Weatherseed Totem, which got a couple hits in. Fortunately I got a Rathi Trapper to stick before it could do the last ten. He then played Spectral Force, which meant he got another hit in with the Totem, but I found Big Game Hunter for the Spectral Force sitting on top of my deck next turn. After that we both said go for a while, then I started drawing spells while he just drew more land. Game 2 he suspended Mindstab turn 1 and it looked like things might get ugly. I had a pretty quick start however, with Trapper turn 2, Syphon-Mage turn 3, Roiling Horror turn 4, and turn 5 I hit him down to three by tapping his blocker and activating the Syphon Mage. I drew Sulfurous Blast next turn to kill him a turn before the Syphon-Mage could finish the job.


I split the finals.


Rich

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