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Drafting With LSV – Shards of Alara #25

Draft with Luis Scott-Vargas every day... At StarCityGames.com!
Friday, January 23rd – 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 Incurable Ogre
1 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
1 Necrogenesis
1 Soul’s Fire
1 Hissing Iguanar
1 Savage Hunger
1 Drumhunter
1 Mosstodon
1 Sprouting Thrinax
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Skeletonize
1 Carrion Thrash
1 Archdemon of Unx
1 Undead Leotau
1 Obelisk of Naya
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Bone Splinters
1 Resounding Thunder
1 Blister Beetle
2 Goblin Deathraiders
1 Naya Panorama
2 Savage Lands
1 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Plains
5 Swamp
3 Mountain
3 Forest

Sideboard
1 Soul’s Grace
1 Plains
1 Gustrider Exuberant
1 Rockcaster Platoon
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Cancel
1 Angel’s Herald
1 Angelsong
1 Where Ancients Tread
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Island
1 Sacellum Godspeaker
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Snip
1 Obelisk of Jund

P1p6 I was really hoping to get some boom booms since picking Where Ancients Tread in pack 1 often leads to a pretty nice deck.
P2p1 I took the Oblivion Ring in anticipation of going Naya and maximizing Ancients and a splashed Oblivion Ring might still be better than Executioner’s Capsule anyway.
P3p4 I could see Visionary being the pick here but I wasn’t quite ready to give up on Treading especially since Ridge Rannet and Incurable Ogre often show up pretty late.

Round 1 versus Naya

G1 My opponent plays some suboptimal cards like Dragon’s Herald and a relatively unsupported Exuberant Firestoker. Despite missing my 5th land drop I manage to win by just casting some dudes and playing a removal spell or two.

G2 I never seen anything but Plains and Forest on the other side of the table and manage to beat a non-spell casting opponent handily.

Round 2 versus Bant

G1 I have a pretty sick curve this game with turn 2 Deathraiders turn 3 Resounding Thunder on his Knight of the Skyward Eye and turn 4 Incurable Ogre. Okay maybe Incurable Ogre isn’t really that sick but when I Fleshbag his guy the next turn and drop a second Deathraiders it does the job.

G2 He starts well with a turn 2 Knight of the Skyward Eye turn 3 Dawnray Archer and turn 4 Fatestitcher. I have some nice plays myself though and turn 3 Sprouting Thrinax into turn 4 Bone Splinters plus Fleshbag Marauder demolishes his board. We both keep playing guys and I am drawing two a turn with Drumhunter. Both times he has a giant growth effect I have the removal spell for the two for one which is part of the reason I hate playing growth effects. All the card advantage is too much for him to overcome and eventually I get the concession.

Round 3 versus 4-color non Blue piloted by StarCityGames.com’s own Chris Woltereck

G1 I get pretty destroyed by Dragon Fodder in the early game with my first two plays being Goblin Deathraiders and Hissing Iguanar. I get whacked by a Welkin Guide and since I have to Thunder it his Carrion Thrash makes things really awkward. If I ever kill the Thrash he brings back Welkin Guide and I probably die to it. The only point in my favor is that I have an Iguanar and he doesn’t since I Beetled his. At this point Archdemon of Unx the perennial 23rd card shows up. It is pretty sick on the stalled board and between it Fleshbag and Iguanar I have a turn where I can force through lethal since he has to block and therefore die to Iguanar.

G2 His draw is a bit slow and he only plays a Wild Nacatl in the first four turns or so. I have a similar draw and my turn 4 Incurable Ogre isn’t the most impressive. He Welkin Guides up the Nacatl and then trades the Guide for my Ogre. I drop a Goblin Deathraiders and the Archdemon but unfortunately the Goblin gets Infested away. My Archdemon downgrades itself to a 2/2 and we are back on square one. Luckily I draw Ridge Rannet which gets a hit in before it trades with the aforementioned Nacatl plus a Branching Bolt. At this point he is at seven and I have a Resounding Thunder but I don’t really have a way to force through the last point. I keep hoping he will hit me with his Court Archers and I can attack with my lone Blister Beetle but unfortunately Chris knows of the existence of Resounding Thunder and isn’t going to make it quite that easy. My Iguanar which looks to be the game is countered by his Magma Spray but a topdecked Necrogenesis allows me to get the one point needed in to win.

Until Monday…

LSV