Post by Travis Lannoye on Oct 28, 2013 9:39:50 GMT -5
Hello friends,
As some of you may already know, there was a pretty cool event happening this past weekend over at Mox Mania. The top 16 finishers of the Friday Standard and Saturday Legacy events were entered into a Modern Masters draft on Sunday afternoon. The top 8 of that draft got to go into a second Modern Masters draft later that day. First prize after all that mess was a From the Vault: Twenty, second place was a From the Vault: Realms. Not bad for a $20 entry fee.
Anywho, I managed to qualify in the Legacy portion piloting the following list:
Deadguy Ale
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Lingering Souls
2 Hero of Bladehold
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Wasteland
4 Scrubland
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
3 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
Sideboard:
2 Duress
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Disfigure
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
I beat Sneak Show, Zombardment, and UR Delver/Pyromancer, then lost to Death and Taxes on several very bad decisions, then ID'd with another Sneak Show to take 3rd place out of I think 18 people.
Fast forward to yesterday at about 1pm. I've watched a lot of ChannelFireball drafting videos on Modern Masters, but never actually done a draft in person. I knew that Faeries, Giants, Affinity, Thallids, Rebels, Storm, Suspend, and 5-color control were all solid decks, and I didn't have a big preference for one over another.
Pack 1, I opened Auriok Salvagers as a rare. It seemed like an OK card, but it would require a lot of Spellbombs and other one-drops to make it work well. I also saw four solid green cards in the pack: Search for Tomorrow, Imperiosaur, Sporoloth Ancient, and I think one of the big green suspenders. I took the Search for several reasons:
- I figured that green would be a good place to start because I would almost certain wheel one of the four green cards.
- Search was the only unique effect of the four, the other three were just fatties.
- Search seemed to fit in with a lot of strategies, whether it was 5-color or suspend or Thallids or whatever.
- I remembered the last MM draft I watched was Owen Turtenwald with 5-color control and he raved about how good the green ramp cards were in that deck.
- I also remembered that in my cube drafting experience, fixing is very important.
Mike Torrisi was sitting on my right, and he passed me a lovely pack with a Kodama's Reach. This seemed like the ideal choice to go with my Search, so I was off.
In the next pack, I slammed a Mulldrifter because it's a great card to ramp into, and I just love that card. So much value.
By the end of pack one, I had a second Kodama's Reach, a Skyreach Manta, a Fiery Fall, three green suspenders, and a couple of Vivid lands for even more fixing. I was pretty sure I would be some sort of UG ramp deck splashing some red for removal. Then pack 2 was opened.
In pack 2, I opened Oona, Queen of the Fae. Rares don't get much better than her in Limited. Untapping with Oona is pretty much an auto-win. Then Rob Couey (guy on my left) passed me a pack with Woodfall Primus and Eternal Witness. This was a tough choice because I already had a lot of things for the Witness to get back, but the Primus is another huge bomb. I went with the Primus due to the abundance of ramp and fixing I had, but I could make the case for the Witness as well.
I don't remember much about the rest of packs 2 or 3. I think I took Drag Down from a bad pack 3 that I opened. I got a 5th or 6th pick Lightning Helix in one pack and a 5th or 6th pick Careful Consideration in the other. My final deck looked something like this:
5 Forest
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Vivid lands (white, red, black)
1 Terramorphic Expanse
(16)
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
1 Woodfall Primus
2 Skyreach Manta
2 Mulldrifter
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Marsh Flitter
(8)
2 Rift Bolt
2 Kodama's Reach
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Fiery Fall
1 Tribal Flames
1 Sudden Shock
1 Drag Down
1 Careful Consideration
1 Traumatic Visions
1 Lightning Helix
1 Echoing Truth
1 Glacial Ray
1 Torrent of Stone
1 Aether Spellbomb
(16)
Notable board cards:
1 Fury Charm
1 Take Possession
1 Grapeshot
1 Otherworldly Journey
Round 1, I faced Tom Nelson with BR Goblins. Tom had a good deck: two Mogg War Marshal, Pyrite Spellbomb, Rift Bolt, Lava Spike, Murderous Redcap. Unfortunately, he also had a Vedalken Shackles (his first pick) and he kinda forgot to read the part about how you need Islands to make it work. I was nice enough to point that out when he cast it in game 1. Anywho, this was a close match. Game 1, he cast his Shackles on turn 3 with no Islands, and was still stuck on four lands when I cast a Woodfall Primus a few turns later to blow up one of the four lands. He managed to use Warren Weirding to knock off a 5/5 Skyreach Manta, but that was about it. Game 2, he had both War Marshals and used Warren Weirding on one of them for even more tokens. I had an Echoing Truth for about half of them, but the other half overwhelmed me. Game 3, I got there with infinite removal and Oona finished him off.
Round 2, I faced John Goudy with UW Affinity. John had a very good deck: Academy Ruins, Adarkar Valkyrie, my Auriok Salvagers, Flickerwisp, three Court Humonculus, a couple Frogmites, a couple Faerie Mechanist, Sanctum Gargoyle, all kinds of good stuff. However, he didn't splash red for any removal (like the Shrapnel Blast in his board). In both games, Mulldrifter drew more gas than Faerie Mechanist, Skyreach Manta and Penumbra Spider were too big for his smaller bodies, and he couldn't get my threats off the table. His lone removal play was Flickerwisp on a Skyreach Manta, but he had no answer for my bombs.
In round 3, I drew with a guy named Andrew who was playing a very good BW Rebels deck with Kokusho and double Feudkiller's Verdict. I'm trying to come up with a PC way to describe this guy. He's the type who probably does a lot of grinding on MTGO and online poker, and knows all the percentages and things that an average player doesn't really know. The way he talked during matches probably would turn a lot of people off, but I will give him credit for knowing what he was doing. We agreed to ID into the next round of drafting, but we played a match for fun afterwards. Things went pretty well for me in these games. His early Rebels were kinda cute, but they all died to my burn spells. He dropped Kokusho and I immediately traded a Skyreach Manta for it. He commented that it was an odd play for me, but then I dropped a second one the next turn. I killed both of his Feudkiller tokens with Tribal Flames and Fiery Fall, and he scooped when I dropped my Oona, commenting that she was the best card in the set. Game 2 was more of the same: his Rebels met my burn, and I was able to overcome his Feudkillers with Skyreach Mantas. At one point, he searched up Bound in Silence for a 5/5 Manta, and I cast a second one. Later, I cast Echoing Truth on both Mantas to remove the Bound in Silence, then recast one Manta in the same turn. He scooped with his life total at about 45. I felt pretty good at that point.
For the second draft, I was a little nervous because we were hosting a Packer party at our house, and the draft didn't start until a little after 5pm, so I didn't have a lot of time to play. I was really just hoping to money draft and scoop, but that would not be the case.
Pack 1, I opened Angel's Grace, and passed it for a Kitchen Finks. My friend Andrew was on my right and passed me a foil City of Brass, which I took over not much else. The next three cards were all blue, including a Glen Elendra Archmage. Eventually I found a late Eternal Witness, an Otherworldly Journey, a Pestermite, and some other blue cards. I figured I would be UG splashing black for some removal, but things were not looking all that great.
Pack 2, I opened Cloudgoat Ranger and Engineered Explosives. I took the Explosives for the money, and the fact that I didn't think I'd be playing much white. Then I started picking up Spellstutter Sprites like they were going out of style. By the end of pack 2, I had three Sprites, at least one Echoing Truth, a couple Drag Downs, an Executioner's Capsule, and a Horobi's Whisper. Things were setting up nicely for a solid Fae deck.
Pack 3, I opened Oona. Again. Happy Christmas for me.
My final deck looked like this:
10 Island
7 Swamp
(17)
2 Mothdust Changeling (counts as a Faerie)
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Epochrasite
1 Pestermite
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Marsh Flitter
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
(12)
2 Executioner's Capsule
1 Horobi's Whisper
2 Echoing Truth
1 Logic Knot
1 Death Rattle
2 Traumatic Visions
2 Aether Spellbomb
(11)
Sideboard:
3 Drag Down (less reliable due to two colors)
2 Erratic Mutation (less reliable due to my very low curve)
1 Engineered Explosives (again, two colors)
1 Riftwing Cloudskate (too slow)
1 Aethersnipe (too slow)
1 Vedalken Dismisser (too slow)
1 Worm Harvest
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
The Fae were strong.
Round 1, I played Andy Eichelkraut with BR Goblins. His deck wasn't great, and I didn't have much trouble winning.
Round 2, I played my good friend Andrew again, this time with RW Giants. He had a Ryusei, the Cloudgoat Ranger, double Bonesplitter, a Reveillark, and a lot of burn. I only remember the third game, in which he literally drew every single one of his 17 lands, and I was able to protect my squad with a Glen Elendra Archmage. It was a very long game, and I got pretty lucky that he didn't draw very well.
Round 3, I agreed to ID with the opponent (forgetting his name right now), but we played the match out to settle who got which prize. His deck was red and white...things. Game 1, he got stuck on two lands, and eventually discarded a Fiery Fall rather than cycle it for another land. Game 2, I stumbled on lands and he managed to get there. Game 3 was real easy. I dropped a Capsule on turn one, and on turn 2 he suspended a Pardic Dragon. If there's one thing I know about this format from reading articles and watching videos, you NEVER suspend a Pardic Dragon. He made things worse by trying to cast a Fury Charm at EOT to remove some suspend counters, which allowed me to cast a Spellstutter and put another counter on the Dragon. When the Dragon finally came into play, it promptly died to the Capsule. I won pretty easily after that.
So, kids, the moral of the story is that opening Oona is a great way to win at Modern Masters!
On a more serious note, I had that magical combination of good luck and better cards that enabled me to take down the whole event and take home the FtV20 box set. Now I just have to put it up on eBay and send that extra money into the wedding account to appease my future wife for letting me play cards all day and miss kickoff.
As some of you may already know, there was a pretty cool event happening this past weekend over at Mox Mania. The top 16 finishers of the Friday Standard and Saturday Legacy events were entered into a Modern Masters draft on Sunday afternoon. The top 8 of that draft got to go into a second Modern Masters draft later that day. First prize after all that mess was a From the Vault: Twenty, second place was a From the Vault: Realms. Not bad for a $20 entry fee.
Anywho, I managed to qualify in the Legacy portion piloting the following list:
Deadguy Ale
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Lingering Souls
2 Hero of Bladehold
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Wasteland
4 Scrubland
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
3 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
Sideboard:
2 Duress
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Disfigure
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
I beat Sneak Show, Zombardment, and UR Delver/Pyromancer, then lost to Death and Taxes on several very bad decisions, then ID'd with another Sneak Show to take 3rd place out of I think 18 people.
Fast forward to yesterday at about 1pm. I've watched a lot of ChannelFireball drafting videos on Modern Masters, but never actually done a draft in person. I knew that Faeries, Giants, Affinity, Thallids, Rebels, Storm, Suspend, and 5-color control were all solid decks, and I didn't have a big preference for one over another.
Pack 1, I opened Auriok Salvagers as a rare. It seemed like an OK card, but it would require a lot of Spellbombs and other one-drops to make it work well. I also saw four solid green cards in the pack: Search for Tomorrow, Imperiosaur, Sporoloth Ancient, and I think one of the big green suspenders. I took the Search for several reasons:
- I figured that green would be a good place to start because I would almost certain wheel one of the four green cards.
- Search was the only unique effect of the four, the other three were just fatties.
- Search seemed to fit in with a lot of strategies, whether it was 5-color or suspend or Thallids or whatever.
- I remembered the last MM draft I watched was Owen Turtenwald with 5-color control and he raved about how good the green ramp cards were in that deck.
- I also remembered that in my cube drafting experience, fixing is very important.
Mike Torrisi was sitting on my right, and he passed me a lovely pack with a Kodama's Reach. This seemed like the ideal choice to go with my Search, so I was off.
In the next pack, I slammed a Mulldrifter because it's a great card to ramp into, and I just love that card. So much value.
By the end of pack one, I had a second Kodama's Reach, a Skyreach Manta, a Fiery Fall, three green suspenders, and a couple of Vivid lands for even more fixing. I was pretty sure I would be some sort of UG ramp deck splashing some red for removal. Then pack 2 was opened.
In pack 2, I opened Oona, Queen of the Fae. Rares don't get much better than her in Limited. Untapping with Oona is pretty much an auto-win. Then Rob Couey (guy on my left) passed me a pack with Woodfall Primus and Eternal Witness. This was a tough choice because I already had a lot of things for the Witness to get back, but the Primus is another huge bomb. I went with the Primus due to the abundance of ramp and fixing I had, but I could make the case for the Witness as well.
I don't remember much about the rest of packs 2 or 3. I think I took Drag Down from a bad pack 3 that I opened. I got a 5th or 6th pick Lightning Helix in one pack and a 5th or 6th pick Careful Consideration in the other. My final deck looked something like this:
5 Forest
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Vivid lands (white, red, black)
1 Terramorphic Expanse
(16)
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
1 Woodfall Primus
2 Skyreach Manta
2 Mulldrifter
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Marsh Flitter
(8)
2 Rift Bolt
2 Kodama's Reach
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Fiery Fall
1 Tribal Flames
1 Sudden Shock
1 Drag Down
1 Careful Consideration
1 Traumatic Visions
1 Lightning Helix
1 Echoing Truth
1 Glacial Ray
1 Torrent of Stone
1 Aether Spellbomb
(16)
Notable board cards:
1 Fury Charm
1 Take Possession
1 Grapeshot
1 Otherworldly Journey
Round 1, I faced Tom Nelson with BR Goblins. Tom had a good deck: two Mogg War Marshal, Pyrite Spellbomb, Rift Bolt, Lava Spike, Murderous Redcap. Unfortunately, he also had a Vedalken Shackles (his first pick) and he kinda forgot to read the part about how you need Islands to make it work. I was nice enough to point that out when he cast it in game 1. Anywho, this was a close match. Game 1, he cast his Shackles on turn 3 with no Islands, and was still stuck on four lands when I cast a Woodfall Primus a few turns later to blow up one of the four lands. He managed to use Warren Weirding to knock off a 5/5 Skyreach Manta, but that was about it. Game 2, he had both War Marshals and used Warren Weirding on one of them for even more tokens. I had an Echoing Truth for about half of them, but the other half overwhelmed me. Game 3, I got there with infinite removal and Oona finished him off.
Round 2, I faced John Goudy with UW Affinity. John had a very good deck: Academy Ruins, Adarkar Valkyrie, my Auriok Salvagers, Flickerwisp, three Court Humonculus, a couple Frogmites, a couple Faerie Mechanist, Sanctum Gargoyle, all kinds of good stuff. However, he didn't splash red for any removal (like the Shrapnel Blast in his board). In both games, Mulldrifter drew more gas than Faerie Mechanist, Skyreach Manta and Penumbra Spider were too big for his smaller bodies, and he couldn't get my threats off the table. His lone removal play was Flickerwisp on a Skyreach Manta, but he had no answer for my bombs.
In round 3, I drew with a guy named Andrew who was playing a very good BW Rebels deck with Kokusho and double Feudkiller's Verdict. I'm trying to come up with a PC way to describe this guy. He's the type who probably does a lot of grinding on MTGO and online poker, and knows all the percentages and things that an average player doesn't really know. The way he talked during matches probably would turn a lot of people off, but I will give him credit for knowing what he was doing. We agreed to ID into the next round of drafting, but we played a match for fun afterwards. Things went pretty well for me in these games. His early Rebels were kinda cute, but they all died to my burn spells. He dropped Kokusho and I immediately traded a Skyreach Manta for it. He commented that it was an odd play for me, but then I dropped a second one the next turn. I killed both of his Feudkiller tokens with Tribal Flames and Fiery Fall, and he scooped when I dropped my Oona, commenting that she was the best card in the set. Game 2 was more of the same: his Rebels met my burn, and I was able to overcome his Feudkillers with Skyreach Mantas. At one point, he searched up Bound in Silence for a 5/5 Manta, and I cast a second one. Later, I cast Echoing Truth on both Mantas to remove the Bound in Silence, then recast one Manta in the same turn. He scooped with his life total at about 45. I felt pretty good at that point.
For the second draft, I was a little nervous because we were hosting a Packer party at our house, and the draft didn't start until a little after 5pm, so I didn't have a lot of time to play. I was really just hoping to money draft and scoop, but that would not be the case.
Pack 1, I opened Angel's Grace, and passed it for a Kitchen Finks. My friend Andrew was on my right and passed me a foil City of Brass, which I took over not much else. The next three cards were all blue, including a Glen Elendra Archmage. Eventually I found a late Eternal Witness, an Otherworldly Journey, a Pestermite, and some other blue cards. I figured I would be UG splashing black for some removal, but things were not looking all that great.
Pack 2, I opened Cloudgoat Ranger and Engineered Explosives. I took the Explosives for the money, and the fact that I didn't think I'd be playing much white. Then I started picking up Spellstutter Sprites like they were going out of style. By the end of pack 2, I had three Sprites, at least one Echoing Truth, a couple Drag Downs, an Executioner's Capsule, and a Horobi's Whisper. Things were setting up nicely for a solid Fae deck.
Pack 3, I opened Oona. Again. Happy Christmas for me.
My final deck looked like this:
10 Island
7 Swamp
(17)
2 Mothdust Changeling (counts as a Faerie)
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Epochrasite
1 Pestermite
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Marsh Flitter
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
(12)
2 Executioner's Capsule
1 Horobi's Whisper
2 Echoing Truth
1 Logic Knot
1 Death Rattle
2 Traumatic Visions
2 Aether Spellbomb
(11)
Sideboard:
3 Drag Down (less reliable due to two colors)
2 Erratic Mutation (less reliable due to my very low curve)
1 Engineered Explosives (again, two colors)
1 Riftwing Cloudskate (too slow)
1 Aethersnipe (too slow)
1 Vedalken Dismisser (too slow)
1 Worm Harvest
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
The Fae were strong.
Round 1, I played Andy Eichelkraut with BR Goblins. His deck wasn't great, and I didn't have much trouble winning.
Round 2, I played my good friend Andrew again, this time with RW Giants. He had a Ryusei, the Cloudgoat Ranger, double Bonesplitter, a Reveillark, and a lot of burn. I only remember the third game, in which he literally drew every single one of his 17 lands, and I was able to protect my squad with a Glen Elendra Archmage. It was a very long game, and I got pretty lucky that he didn't draw very well.
Round 3, I agreed to ID with the opponent (forgetting his name right now), but we played the match out to settle who got which prize. His deck was red and white...things. Game 1, he got stuck on two lands, and eventually discarded a Fiery Fall rather than cycle it for another land. Game 2, I stumbled on lands and he managed to get there. Game 3 was real easy. I dropped a Capsule on turn one, and on turn 2 he suspended a Pardic Dragon. If there's one thing I know about this format from reading articles and watching videos, you NEVER suspend a Pardic Dragon. He made things worse by trying to cast a Fury Charm at EOT to remove some suspend counters, which allowed me to cast a Spellstutter and put another counter on the Dragon. When the Dragon finally came into play, it promptly died to the Capsule. I won pretty easily after that.
So, kids, the moral of the story is that opening Oona is a great way to win at Modern Masters!
On a more serious note, I had that magical combination of good luck and better cards that enabled me to take down the whole event and take home the FtV20 box set. Now I just have to put it up on eBay and send that extra money into the wedding account to appease my future wife for letting me play cards all day and miss kickoff.
