I drafted a sick deck… totally sick… and proceeded to go 3-1 with it.

Here it is:

It took a while to get everyone registered. Here’s the line when we joined it.

And they had to send some away… Only so many will physically fit in the building. In the end I heard there were 279 players.

Here’s a couple pics to give an idea. One toward the back of the room and one toward the front:

There were the usual regulars, yours truely included, plenty of folks from around the state, and the occasional celebraty… namely Luis Scott-Vargas, recent winner protour champion.

I ran Patrick Chapin’s latest take on 5 Color Control. I went 1-2-2 before dropping. Both draws were 1-1 with third game going to time without a winner.

After a burrito I drafted and started league play.

It was an awesome day! Played a bunch of Magic and got to meet one of the top players in the world.

Tomorrow I’ll be back for more league play and maybe some draft and/or team sealed.

Since I’ve started tracking it (on Oct. 12), I’ve played 165 hours of Magic… that’s 23.6 hrs/week on average.

This week the guys came over to do some T2 playtesting for the upcoming States. I was running a mostly mono red deck.

I took the deck to the Cruise Qualifier on Saturday and went 1-3 before dropping. Ugh. Started redesigning the deck when I got home, into a blue/red control/burn deal… “Controlled Burn”.

Sunday was all about limited: 2 drafts & a sealed flight. That was better… not great, but both drafts went 2-1 and the sealed was 0-2-1. I totally prefer draft to sealed. If you get a suck pool you pretty much just do badly.

Ben from Michigan prompted the discussion with a phone in question. The ensuing discussion covered two points I want to comment on:

1. Changes to core sets to include more advanced concepts/mechanics. Legends were added in Tenth Edition, why not add other things? Tom figured gold (multicolored) cards were fair game as did Gavin. Gavin really wants to see cycling in core sets.

   I disagree. I think the core sets should fill two roles: a gentle introduction for new players, and a general toolbox of basic staples for advanced players. To that end I like the fact that the cards are straightforward, have basic mechanics, and single color. I also don’t really agree with adding legends to the core, but I do see how they make for more interesting/fun starter packs.

   Speaking of starter packs… I really like the new style that was introduced with Shards of Alara: a partial precon and a booster. There’s enough in place that you can open it and start playing (with the 41 card deck), but also get a taste of the collectable aspect of the game due to the included booster.

2. Getting rid of the core set. The general comment was that they shouldn’t get rid of them, but that they should be smaller (Gavin suggested 120 cards.. 1/3 of the current size). The core provides an easy way for new players to get basic cards.

   I agree that the core sets should not be stopped. They could be smaller but I don’t think they should be downsized so drastically… if at all? As I said it’s a general toolbox… it should provide a wide variety of utility cards.

   When I started playing (as Planar Chaos came out) I felt myself at a distinct disadvantage in not having that toolbox to dig into when designing decks. When 10th came out, we treated it like any other set.. and bought a bunch. It wasn’t very exciting, but it filled in a great many holes in my collection. I won’t do the same with subsequent core sets.. mostly because I probably already have the cards that will be added to it from my collection of subsequent blocks.

My first match was with Lokman… one of the better players in the area… certainly well placed among the Superstars regulars. I actually won that round! Yay for me. OK.. that was the high point of the day.

After loosing the next 3 rounds, I dropped and signed up for the next draft queue. the rest of the day consisted of a second draft, some casual type 2 play, and watching some of the PTQ top-8.

Here’s the deck:

I could have used more removal, but when the stingers, iguanars, and token generators got online the result was pretty sweet. Make that 2 iguanars and 2 or 3 stingers, thrown in the necrogenesis to recycle dead things. The game is built around casting guys, turning them sideways, having them kill and/or be killed, doing direct damage via the iguanars in either case. Recycle them into saprolings that can be pinged by the stingers to do direct damage or devoured by the Viashino (again doing damage).

When it worked (which was 1 match out if 3)… it was really cool.

Rather annoyingly, we had 9 people drafting and I got stuck with the bye in the first round. I did well second round, with a decisive 2-0 showing. Third round was against one of the stronger players in the area. Games 1 & 2 both went to him, although they were both hard won victories for him and enjoyable games. I made a few misplays in game 2 that would probably finished it in my favor leading to game 3 and a potential 3-0 record. I’ll take 2-1 though. Far better than my drafting record a couple months ago.

Next weekend is the local Pro Tour Kyoto qualifier at Superstars (go Jon & crew… you guys are rocking!). I’ll be there. I don’t really expect to top-8, but anything is possible. A ProTour appearance is definitely in my plans for next year.

After 5 rounds I was 3-2 and in 12th place.

I lost round 1 to an expertly played UBR faerie deck. My opponent went on to make top 8.

I lost round 3 to one of the Superstars regulars who was piloting an elf deck. Game 1 taught me not to Esper Charm an elf player to discard. He had two Wilt-Leaf Leiges in hand which he could choose to discard and put onto play. I lost in combat after passing the turn. I won game 2 and lost the third from combat from a superior board.

The three rounds I won were fairly one sided games.

The practice already seems to be showing in the decks I’m drafting, and my win-loss record.

It got off to a slow start, with the store opening an hour late. It was cool though.. there was a group of us waiting so we had a good talk.. comparing Shards drafting strategies and such. Eric came by near 11 and treated us at Starbucks while we waited for Jon to open the store. Then, to reward our dedication we got the first draft for half price (i.e. 1 ticket).

In draft 1, I drafted a WGr deck with a dual focus of exalted and big creatures, and good color fixing. I went 2-0, 0-2, and 2-1 for 2-1 overall… winning a ticket (the equivalent to 2 boosters… 1 per match win).

The second draft was time for something completely different: Gryxis, or more specifically uBr. Blightning rocks. Turn 3 & turn 4 blightnings totally rocks! My record was 2-1, 0-2, 2-1.. again for a 2-1 overall record… and another ticket.

The day had good value in addition to being fun and somewhat educational. I paid 3 tickets for two drafts, and won 2 tickets… plus picking up (between opening packs & trading) a half dozen rares for Nancy & I. So the day cost me $7, but I ended up with at least that in rares.