fbpx

Drafting With Rich – TPF #34

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:










Gaze of Justice, Strangling Soot, Fathom Seer, Flamecore Elemental, Gemhide Sliver, Ophidian Eye, Molder, Viscid Lemures, Ground Rift, Skittering Monstrosity, Spirit Loop, Sporesower Thallid, Sudden Spoiling, Orgg, Sudden Death

Pick: Sporesower Thallid

Pack 2:










Crookclaw Transmuter, Empty the Warrens, Strength in Numbers, Errant Doomsayers, Corpulent Corpse, Drifter il-Dal, Subterranean Shambler, Mindlash Sliver, Havenwood Wurm, Cavalry Master, Fledgling Mawcor, Ignite Memories, Walk the Aeons, Darkness

Pick: Strength in Numbers

Pack 3:










Nantuko Shaman, Gorgon Recluse, Spiketail Drakeling, Scarwood Treefolk, Orcish Cannonade, Venser’s Sliver, Clockspinning, Bogardan Rager, Sangrophage, Smallpox, Saltcrusted Steppe, Scryb Ranger, Prodigal Sorcerer

Pick: Scryb Ranger

Pack 4:







Dark Withering, Goblin Skycutter, Strength in Numbers, Zealot il-Vec, Urborg Syphon-Mage, Flickering Spirit, Ghitu Firebreathing, Bewilder, Detainment Spell, Dreadship Reef, Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician, Mystic Snake

Pick: Strength in Numbers

Pack 5:







Aether Web, Drudge Reavers, Psychotic Episode, Sprout, Aetherflame Wall, Pit Keeper, Sage of Epityr, Ghostflame Sliver, Phyrexian Totem, Truth or Tale, Coalition Victory

Pick: Phyrexian Totem

Pack 6:







Feebleness, Chromatic Star, Tolarian Sentinel, Flowstone Channeler, Dream Stalker, Wormwood Dryad, Venser’s Sliver, Clockspinning, Pendelhaven Elder, Tectonic Fiend

Pick: Feebleness

Pack 7:







Mindstab, Slipstream Serpent, Children of Korlis, Viscid Lemures, Ground Rift, Wormwood Dryad, Assembly-Worker, Plated Pegasus, Eternity Snare

Pick: Mindstab

Pack 8:




Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Icatian Crier, Chameleon Blur, Ghitu Firebreathing, Bewilder, Detainment Spell, Molten Slagheap, Lim-Dul the Necromancer

Pick: Lim-Dul the Necromancer

Pack 9:




Gaze of Justice, Flamecore Elemental, Ophidian Eye, Molder, Viscid Lemures, Ground Rift, Spirit Loop

Pick: Viscid Lemures

Pack 10:




Drifter il-Dal, Mindlash Sliver, Havenwood Wurm, Ignite Memories, Walk the Aeons, Darkness

Pick: Havenwood Wurm

Pack 11:




Scarwood Treefolk, Venser’s Sliver, Clockspinning, Sangrophage, Saltcrusted Steppe

Pick: Scarwood Treefolk

Pack 12:

Ghitu Firebreathing, Bewilder, Detainment Spell, Dreadship Reef

Pick: Dreadship Reef

Pack 13:

Drudge Reavers, Sprout, Truth or Tale

Pick: Sprout

Pack 14:

Clockspinning, Pendelhaven Elder

Pick: Pendelhaven Elder

Pack 15:

Children of Korlis

Pick: Children of Korlis

Pack 16:










Veiling Oddity, Ridged Kusite, Saltfield Recluse, Needlepeak Spider, Poultice Sliver, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes, Aquamorph Entity, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Sinew Sliver, Vampiric Link, Jodah’s Avenger, Big Game Hunter, Calciderm, Mirri the Cursed

Pick: Mirri the Cursed

Pack 17:










Dawn Charm, Cradle to Grave, Giant Dustwasp, Stingscourger, Wistful Thinking, Keldon Marauders, Dash Hopes, Revered Dead, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Brute Force, Saltblast, Dismal Failure, Keen Sense, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Pick: Giant Dustwasp

Pack 18:










Giant Dustwasp, Ridged Kusite, Shade of Trokair, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Brute Force, Prodigal Pyromancer, Fa’adiyah Seer, Hammerheim Deadeye, Psychotrope Thallid, Harmonize, Heroes Remembered

Pick: Harmonize

Pack 19:







Midnight Charm, Synchronous Sliver, Needlepeak Spider, Shade of Trokair, Fury Charm, Vitaspore Thallid, Deadly Grub, Melancholy, Gossamer Phantasm, Aether Membrane, Dunerider Outlaw, Retether

Pick: Midnight Charm

Pack 20:







Synchronous Sliver, Dawn Charm, Spitting Sliver, Shade of Trokair, Vitaspore Thallid, Brain Gorgers, Fury Charm, Melancholy, Seal of Primordium, Sunlance, Hammerheim Deadeye

Pick: Sunlance

Pack 21:







Ridged Kusite, Battering Sliver, Reflex Sliver, Reality Acid, Evolution Charm, Brute Force, Piracy Charm, Seal of Primordium, Venarian Glimmer, Treacherous Urge

Pick: Evolution Charm

Pack 22:







Battering Sliver, Aven Riftwatcher, Wistful Thinking, Firefright Mage, Vampiric Link, Gossamer Phantasm, Sophic Centaur, Dormant Sliver, Frozen Aether

Pick: Aven Riftwatcher

Pack 23:




Reflex Sliver, Poultice Sliver, Pallid Mycoderm, Uktabi Drake, Deadly Grub, Dust Corona, Seal of Primordium, Mana Tithe

Pick: Uktabi Drake

Pack 24:




Veiling Oddity, Ridged Kusite, Saltfield Recluse, Needlepeak Spider, Poultice Sliver, Vitaspore Thallid, Dash Hopes

Pick: Vitaspore Thallid

Pack 25:




Dawn Charm, Wistful Thinking, Keldon Marauders, Dash Hopes, Revered Dead, Keen Sense

Pick: Keen Sense

Pack 26:




Ridged Kusite, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Fa’adiyah Seer

Pick: Uktabi Drake

Pack 27:

Synchronous Sliver, Vitaspore Thallid, Deadly Grub, Melancholy

Pick: Melancholy

Pack 28:

Vitaspore Thallid, Fury Charm, Melancholy

Pick: Vitaspore Thallid

Pack 29:

Reflex Sliver, Venarian Glimmer

Pick: Reflex Sliver

Pack 30:

Firefright Mage

Pick: Firefright Mage

Pack 31:










Ichor Slick, Bogardan Lancer, Knight of Sursi, Grave Peril, Wrap in Vigor, Lumithread Field, Grinning Ignus, Edge of Autumn, Fomori Nomad, Logic Knot, Cyclical Evolution, Sword of the Meek, Even the Odds, Maelstrom Djinn, Vedalken Aethermage

Pick: Ichor Slick

Pack 32:










Leaden Fists, Gift of Granite, Augur of Skulls, Lost Hours, Fatal Attraction, Petrified Plating, Lymph Sliver, Homing Sliver, Sporoloth Ancient, Grave Scrabbler, Chronomantic Escape, Cloudseeder, Skirk Ridge Exhumer, Force of Savagery

Pick: Sporoloth Ancient

Pack 33:










Unblinking Bleb, Llanowar Augur, Venser’s Diffusion, Kavu Primarch, Sarcomite Myr, Death Rattle, Homing Sliver, Edge of Autumn, Lymph Sliver, Dakmor Salvage, Dust of Moments, Reality Strobe, Veilstone Amulet

Pick: Death Rattle

Pack 34:







Samite Censer-Bearer, Putrid Cyclops, Rift Elemental, Llanowar Empath, Marshaling Cry, Vedalken Aethermage, Virulent Sliver, Frenzy Sliver, Mystic Speculation, Stronghold Rats, New Benalia, Magus of the Abyss

Pick: Magus of the Abyss

Pack 35:







Unblinking Bleb, Lost Hours, Wrap in Vigor, Fomori Nomad, Patrician’s Scorn, Logic Knot, Nessian Courser, Grave Scrabbler, Henchfiend of Ukor, Cyclical Evolution, Sliversmith

Pick: Nessian Courser

Pack 36:







Oblivion Crown, Saltskitter, Thornweald Archer, Flowstone Embrace, Frenzy Sliver, Mesmeric Sliver, Patrician’s Scorn, Ravaging Riftwurm, Lost Auramancers, Magus of the Vineyard

Pick: Thornweald Archer

Pack 37:







Leaden Fists, Quiet Disrepair, Saltskitter, Mesmeric Sliver, Deepcavern Imp, Llanowar Reborn, Utopia Mycon, Haze of Rage, Sliver Legion

Pick: Deepcavern Imp

Pack 38:




Llanowar Augur, Augur of Skulls, Samite Censer-Bearer, Aven Augur, Thornweald Archer, Death Rattle, Blind Phantasm, Sparkspitter

Pick: Death Rattle

Pack 39:




Bogardan Lancer, Grave Peril, Wrap in Vigor, Logic Knot, Cyclical Evolution, Sword of the Meek, Vedalken Aethermage

Pick: Sword of the Meek

Pack 40:




Gift of Granite, Lost Hours, Petrified Plating, Lymph Sliver, Homing Sliver, Chronomantic Escape

Pick: Lost Hours

Pack 41:




Llanowar Augur, Lymph Sliver, Dakmor Salvage, Dust of Moments, Reality Strobe

Pick: Lymph Sliver

Pack 42:

Samite Censer-Bearer, Vedalken Aethermage, Virulent Sliver, Frenzy Sliver

Pick: Vedalken Aethermage

Pack 43:

Lost Hours, Wrap in Vigor, Cyclical Evolution

Pick: Wrap in Vigor

Pack 44:

Utopia Mycon

Pick: Utopia Mycon

Pack 45:

*, *

Pick: *

Final Decklist:

Maindeck:

1 Midnight Charm
2 Uktabi Drake
1 Evolution Charm
1 Feebleness
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Strength in Numbers
1 Thornweald Archer
1 Deepcavern Imp
1 Ichor Slick
1 Nessian Courser
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Harmonize
1 Magus of the Abyss
1 Mirri the Cursed
1 Sporesower Thallid
1 Giant Dustwasp
1 Sporoloth Ancient
2 Death Rattle
1 Mindstab
1 Havenwood Wurm
10 Forest
7 Swamp

Sideboard:

1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Children of Korlis
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Firefright Mage
1 Keen Sense
1 Lim-Dul the Necromancer
1 Lost Hours
1 Lymph Sliver
1 Melancholy
1 Patrician’s Scorn
1 Pendelhaven Elder
1 Reflex Sliver
1 Scarwood Treefolk
1 Sprout
1 Sunlance
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Utopia Mycon
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Viscid Lemures
2 Vitaspore Thallid
1 Wrap in Vigor


With my first pick I knew I didn’t want to take a Black card, but I’m not really sure about Fathom Seer or Sporesower Thallid. I never seem to get any Thallids to go with the Sporesower, so he just ends up being a big man, while Fathom Seer is excellent on its own because there are so few ways to draw cards in the format. I ended up regretting not taking the Blue card, but the Green I got in Time Spiral was still pretty good. Despite passing all those Black cards, I didn’t really have a problem going into Black because getting Black in pack 2 isn’t very relevant since there’s only one good common, and a bunch of mediocre ones that people will always take cards in their other color over. And, of course, I expected get good Green in Planar Chaos. Planar Chaos was much worse than I expected because I didn’t get much Green, but the Uktabi Drakes I did get were a good fit for my deck since I wanted aggressive creatures to go with my Strength in Numbers. Pack 3 saved my deck as usual because I got good removal, and just enough creatures so I didn’t have to play any bad cards.


Round 1 I played against a Blue/White deck, with Enslave. I don’t know if he could cast the Enslave, or just planned to get it with his Lost Auramancers. Game 1 he double mulliganed and didn’t play much, while I had a decent draw and just ran him over. Game 2 he got stuck on two lands for a few turns while I got a bit flooded. He hid behind Magus of the Moat, but I had both Death Rattles in hand and set up a turn where I could double Rattle and attack for nearly lethal, and kill him the next turn.


Round 2 I played against another Blue/White deck, this one almost entirely flyers. Game 1 we traded cards for a while, then I cast Harmonize and Mindstab on consecutive turns which put him too far behind on cards to recover. Game 2 he had a pretty bad draw, while I had a good curve with Death Rattle and Strength in Numbers to finish him.


I split the finals because my deck was pretty mediocre.


Until tomorrow,


Rich

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