Dave’s Personal Blog

This weekend was Grand Prix Oakland. A GP a quick train ride away. So it was an easy choice to drop by for a while on Saturday.

I spent most of my time there today catching up with some old friends and picking up some cards I had been looking for.

I did take the time to get a draft in. My first pack had Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. It seemed good… heavy red is always fun. Splashing black is seldom a bad idea. Well, not too much black goodness was forthcoming but there were some decent blue cards, so i figured red with a blue splash. Pack 2 gave me Hellkite Charger… tasty! With the red I picked from the Zendikar packs, I was solidly in red by the time we got to the pack of Worldwake. The red just kept on coming: 3 Skitter of Lizards, 2 Claws of Valakut, and so on. I ended up with enough good playables (IMO) to build a mono red deck. That played well with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Claws of Valakut, and Spire Barrage. Here’s the list I settled on:

Basic Lands (14) 14 Mountain Lands (2) 1 Smoldering Spires 1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Creatures (11) 2 Goblin Bushwhacker 3 Skitter of Lizards 1 Hellfire Mongrel 1 Molten Ravager 1 Pilgrims Eye 1 Torch Slinger 1 Deathforge Shaman 1 Hellkite Charger Sorceries (4) 1 Demolish 1 Roiling Terrain 2 Spire Barrage Instants (1) 1 Unstable Footing Enchantments (4) 2 Claws of Valakut 1 Goblin War Paint 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition Artifacts (4) 1 Everflowing Chalice 1 Explorers Scope 1 Grappling Hook 1 Kitesail

Round one was a fairly solid win for me against a RB deck. In game one I was down to 2 life before my Hellkite Charger came online and commenced the burnanating. Game 2 saw my life total being chipped away 20-18-17-10, at which point my deck took off and dropped him from 20 to 8 in one turn. My opponent quickly did the math, and.. GG.

Round two was against a U deck: Fire against water. He took the first game, while handily took the second. Game three saw me unable to do much other than get hit by his fliers, until he finally did the leathal damage.

One memorable play was dealing the final point of damage by playing a kicked Deathforge Shaman.

11 Creatures is a bit light, and I could have played a Tuktuk Grunts in place of the Zektar Shrine Expedition, although being the only ally I had it was on the pricy side.

In any event, the draft was fun and I was pleased with how well I did given that it was my first Zendikar block draft and my first time seeing Worldwake cards (I couldn’t make it to the prerelease this time, haven’t gotten product yet, and didn’t even look at the spoilers).

It’s been a while since my last post here. It’s been busy. I’ve been busy with life & all that. I’ve been getting back into the iPhoneOS development, especially in light of the iPad announcement, and I’ve started a cooking/foodie blog at daveastels.com.

In my last post I listed my wants for a place in San Francisco. In a delightful twist of irony, a friend posted that she was looking for a new roommate. I joked with her that is was, indeed, somewhat amusing that we posted what were essentially mirror posts on the same day. I thought little more of this until a mutual friend suggested that we seriously consider sharing her place. A week later and I’d started moving in.

Things are going great. The neighborhood rocks: BART, MUNI, corner green grocers, convenience/liquor store, coffee shops, taquerias, and even a gourmet ice cream shop. All within an easy walk. The condo is fabulous. The roommate is incredible. Did I mention that I have a 26 minute door to door commute now!