Deranged_Hermit's DII Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34qne

I was again, a bit excited to see how this deck would perform.  I went into deckbuilding after the draft not with a good feeling (but i drafted 35 tix worth of rares so i wasn't too upset). but then after looking at my available options, and seeing my late 42nd pick burning vengeance, it all kind of came together.

so i'm RG splashing white for a few durdles, rally the peasants, and travel preps flashback. the RG is a typical werewolf and aggressive 1, 2, 3 drop plan (no 4 drops in the whole deck aside from a smite the monstrous (should've been cut if i had more early drops)).

but here's the interesting synergy that i'd love to test more to get the right balance.  i have 9 flashback spells. geistflame, faithless looting, wild hunger, 2x travel preps, 2x rally the peasants, burning oil and night birds clutches (plus a gnaw in the board.

combine that many solid combative and aggressive tricks and pump spells, combine it with burning vengeance to clear the path... and i think you have a good formula for success.

now i lost in the 2nd round to a fellow clan member that had a solid UB control deck (remember how open blue and black were), and he eventually went on to win the whole thing... so i dont feel so bad. but were the deck fell short was generating enough actual early threats in order to actually use my pump spells. plus i went with 15 basics and an evolving wilds which was a little light. didn't realize how intensive the mana requirements are for getting enough flashback spells out there. rally really needs 6 mana to operate, and i rarely got to 6 lands.

also, this deck needs at least 2 or 3 faithless lootings. they allow you dig for threats, and dump either excess land or your flashback fodder in the yard. on top of being a flashback spell in of itself.

the werewolf route was ok. not a cog in how the deck should operate, but fine in of itself. the immerwolf itself isn't great because it's intimidate is weak, but the ability to keep your guys flipped is really good when you want to play out travelpreps w/ flashback.

in this particular build, i would've cut the smite, and cut the moonmist for another darkthicket and reckless waif. even could cut one rally for a pilgrim or something. 15 creatures is probably min for this, with your combat tricks acting as removal. oh yea, village ironsmith would be amazing too as first strike with combat tricks is win.

better luck next time. peace

Deranged_Hermit's DII Draft #1

So I was suuuper excited at the end of this draft... and I was absolutely certain that I was going to get at least to the finals, if not win it all with a deck this strong. I was able to draft my favorite archetype, BUG spawning.dek... with 3 legit bombs in splinterfright, ghoultree, and murder of crows. plenty of enablers, had thoughtscour, dreamtwist, 2x mulch, tracker's instinct, screeching skaab, and alchemy (potential of 10 dumpers when including flashback). even had excellent mana fixing with a wilds and woodland cemetery.

see the draft for how it all came together. its a fairytale is d-hermit land:

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34tq9

now to the match (read: singular)

M1G1: the replay didn't save, but no save was needed to remember this line of play. game started out pretty slow. on the draw i hit a couple of enablers early, opponent drops plains, plains, thraben heretic. so i'm thinking... "perfect" (sarcasm)... here goes my entire strategy, exiled out the window.

we go back and forth without much going on. he's played nothing but 4 plains and missed a land drop. the heretic and a durdle in play. 4 cards left in hand. i play a brainweevil and hold it, hoping to sac it my next turn and play banshee to get rid of the heretic. i miss on my 2nd black source but i sac him anyway to get some cards since he just missed a land drop, i know i can hit spells since he's either hurting on a second color, or has all big 5+ drops. maybe this was a mistake, but there's no way to know that i should've played around what followed:

so i target him and he discards: drogskol reaver and unburial rites.  F.  M.  L.

game ends pretty soon after that. i draw and play a murder of crows. let him get damage thru on his turn in order to copy the crows with a cackling counterpart. i do this main phase, another potential mistake as he EOT feeling of dreads me. attacks again for 6, draws two more cards, and plays requiem angel for the scoop.


M1G2:  i figure he's a blue white splashing black, tempo but possibly bordering control since he basically did nothing G1 but play a heretic. so in comes the crushing vines, death's caress, and two chills. dont know what i took out, if anything, but i end up with 46 cards and 19 lands. so perhaps my sideboard strategy wasn't correctly instilled. i'm a bit tilted at this point and just want to try anything to kill that reaver.  the chills were to outrace his GY hate, and possibly get his splash colors in the graveyard.

i open with a boneyard wurm, two chills, a death's caress and a mulch, woodland and swamp. pretty much a perfect hand for what i want to do. mulch for land drops. mill 10 consecutive cards, play a huge ass wurm, and kill the major threat he plays.

it plays out pretty much as expected. he goes turn one dagger (threw me a bit), and another turn 2 heretic. so i chill hitting him a spare from evil, fiend hunter, plains, warden of the wall... and a forest. FOREST??  wtf? didn't i see 3 colors already G1?  so now i'm losing to a 4 color bomb the f*ck out of me deck? sure, lets see what i milled... alchemy, stranleroot gesit, ghoultree, evil twin, and dream twist.   F.  M.  L.

turn 4 i play a screeching skaab followed by a 5/5 boneyard wurm, against his unequipped heretic, elder cathar, and lifelinking, spirit making inquisitor. turn 5 i start by death caressed his heretic. but what i should've done i think is attacked first all in with dreamtwist backup for potential combat trick. so he removed ghoultree in responsed, making the wurm a 4/4, and i do nothing. could've at least gotten 4-6 damage thru, and killed two potential dudes instead of nothing. next turn he fiend hunter's (2nd in deck) the wurm. trades the inquisitor for the skaab, giving him a token. then he drops dearly departed (3rd bomb flyer for him). play continues, and i have nothing but a makeshift mauler in play and he alpha strikes (wait for it... AFTER travel prepping with flashback and dagger equipped.) the old sawiing for 16 trick with your 3 splash colors. i'm down to 1. i chill looking for a gnaw. to at least drag this out another turn. dont hit it. and scoop.

so there you have it. variance at it's best. i'm really trying to learn from this experience. there were a few questionable (read: desperate) plays on my part, but you have to give credit where credit is due.  his consecutive turn 2 heretics COPMLETLEY threw me off my gameplan. and the bad beat G1 admittedly tilted me a bit to the point of questionable sideboard choices. he drew his bombs, and hit his lands he needed even w/o fixing (he said he had plenty of fixing in his deck, didn't need it apparently).

but lets take a look at the end game state. turn 7 i have 7 lands in play, no issues with colors (as predicted). a makeshift mauler on the battlefield with banshee and trackers instinct in hand. 3 spells  exiled and 16 cards in graveyard, guess how many were lands.... 3.  which means of my remaining 12 cards in library, 9 are lands. not quite the land to spell distribution you would want when milling yourself. spare a creature or removal spell in place of a land and this game... and match... could've gone different.

such is variance. better luck next time i guess.

Deranged_Hermit's ISD Draft #3

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=32iik

this was a really fun draft. i took a couple chances early with the curse and the drownyard, and they really paid off. i won in a multitude of ways in this swiss. only losing in the last match due to mana screw in both games.

my strategy was to go for the lab maniac win in G1, w/o curses (i've found the curses are too hard to control when trying to get the lab maniac out of the yard. especially in multiples. perhaps this in't the case, i just had enough playables to get by w.o them).  then in G2 i would side out the maniacs and the mem's journey and bring in the curses and additional 'mill-you' cards. and with the alchemist hitting the board in multiple games, it just gets you there.

neat combo btw... undead alchemist and occultist. mill them a few times with a dream twist/drownyard, get some duders from the alchemist, swing in and force them to either block or take 'damage' that creates more milling and more duders.

lost in the "finals" after a game 1 win, with two games of mana screw. M3G2 things were going fine. put a curse on him, then played armored skaab, milling my drownyard (frown). then he fills his board up, plays the skirsdag high-priest. i have victim in hand but i never find a second swamp and he beats me with demons about 5 turns later while he's at 11 cards in library (my math isn't great... but the drownyard over those turns would've gotten me there).

M3G3 i keep a one lander (forest) and a mulch in hand, on the draw. you know how it goes... no 2nd land until turn 5. he curves out and beats me before i get to draw/play the 2nd land. that's how it goes doesn't it

Deranged_Hermit's ISD #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=32asx

another disappointing draft that lacked a solid direction. i recognize this and know that i need to be more focused in my drafting strategy.  too many times i just take the best card in the pack, hoping that people surrounding me will pass me more good cards in the colors i decide to play.

if i was more adept at reading signals, i would've abandoned white a lot earlier, and gone BUG self mill with the spawning. dont recall however seeing a single gnaw to the bone. but had several shots for enablers in blue while it was being passed, along with overall solid removal and tempo adv.

BUG is my favorite archetype to draft, although i just didn't have the tools to take advantage of the spawning, or the juggernauts. if i had 3 or 4 total mulches, and sac outlet like a hauberk or disciple to untap and keep the juggs attacking, i would've been a lot more comfortable and would've had a great shot in the finals. but as it was, i steamrolled a couple of lesser opponents, and lost 0-2 to the very focused and solidly built UW aggro/tempo.dek


until next time

deranged_hermit M12 #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=32due

M1G1: mulled to 6 on the draw, but have the hydra in hand. playing against GR. his first play is jade mage, which is quickly webbed to stop any shananigans. next turn i play an elf and manalith which is responded with a shock and manic vandal. talk about wrong place at the wrong time. i know he has burn so i have to play the hydraw at a high enough initial total so that it doesn't meet a chandra's outrage or incinerate or something stupid. i play him at 9 life with 5 counters, he had just played a greater basilisk. now i know i have to kill him in one swing which means i have a 3 turn clock. the math doesn't work so i have to chump twice to stay alive. i'm at one life when i swing for 40.

M1G2: again i have to mull a no-land hand into 6 on the draw. during sideboarding i know i took out a land since i got a bit flooded midway into that first game. and with 3 mana dorks and a manalith, i figured i'd be ok. opening hand was 3 forests, two ice cages, and a sacred wolf. brought in the other cage since he didn't reveal any self targetable effects.

he turn two's a skinshifter, and it never attacks the whole game. this game goes pretty long, and my opponent was not very cordial about losing to the hydra once again. didn't know what to tell him, it was turn 21 when i drew it and played it. and the board stalled once again with me at 3 life, him at 20. isn't that how the game is played?  removal, trading, card draw, bomb for the win. sorry.

M2G1: facing a fellow clan member who has a good UB bounce and fliers deck. not the best for all of my enchantment removal, and single reach creature. plus he's playing the hydra's worst nemesis: gideon's lawkeeper (x2). game one goes pretty long like usual. i keep a slow hand with 3 removal spells and the spinner 6 drop. he curves out pegasus, skywinder drake, alabaster mage (which burns off the ice cage on the drake), cancel my spinner, then the board stalls a bit. him with a webb'd mage and a stingerfling. me with a looter and azure mage at 3 life. next turn carnage wurm for the win. down 0-1 but definitely winnable.

M2G2: this is the big one. i keep a greedy opening 7 on the play with forest, mountain, unsummon, doom blade, hydra, manalith, and spinner. i figured if i can get that one land in the next two draws to drop the manalith, i would be able to get this so long as i play around his counters. problem... i miss my 3rd turn land drop. i get it turn 4 to drop the manalith, bouncing the drake to try and save tempo, but he continues to drop all of his helpful little guys. alabaster mage, looter, drake, lawkeeper, aether adept bouncing a lawkeep'd hydra.

next turn i play a fleetwing and trollhide to halt his flying assault instead of replaying my hydra. and this is where i think he had a big misplay that opened up things up for me. he oblivion ring'd the trollhide so that he could continue to attack in with this hoard that consisted of, at that point: looter, two lawkeepers aether adept pegasus, alabaster mage, and skywinder drake against my one fleetwing. i doom blade the mage, trade with the drake, take 5 down to 6 life.

next turn i play arachnus spinner, pass. he taps the spinner before combat and i activate to fetch a web for his stormfront pegasus. attacks down to 2, he plays peregrine griffen. mind you this board state. he has not one, but two tappers, a looter, an adept, and a griffin that both attack for lethal. i have an unsummon,  and hydra in hand, with 7 mana on board. we get to talking a bit since we're clan members, and i've done everything but conceded at this point. then i just play it out... like you ALWAYS should.

i draw an ice cage. okay, this is removal. now i it's a math game and a blocking game. unfortunately, the math doesn't add up to where i could save my hydra if he attacked all in. i bounce his one lawkeeper, ice cage the 2nd. play the hydra for X=2. i'm tapped out. if he attacks all in, he kills my hydra, but trades his two relavant creatures, and would be left with a looter and a 'just-played' lawkeeper.

his turn, draw. loot. play lawkeeper. pass.  i web his other lawkeeper at the end of his turn. and i have survived!  saved the hydra, isolated his tappers, and made it so his attacks are no unprofitable. now i just have to hope he doesn't have another way to remove the hydra from combat (pacifism, frost breath, unsummon, adept, o-ring... these all insta-kill me. and his looter means he's filtering MUCH quicker than i can in top deck mode.

i top deck a skinshifter, pass.   he loots, plays a skywinder drake, pass. we continue to brick for several turns even with his looting, and me playing a divination. the hydra is now a 32/32 when he scoops.  WOOT!!!

M3G3: i curve out with the nuts. turn one elf into turn 2 manalith. turn 3 fleetwing into counter mana. then when he's tapped out with a looter on board, i play chandra. he does o-ring the chandra next turn but i EOT naturalize the play the spinner to get the scoop.

so i dont want to say that i won only because of my bomby cards (spinner, chandra, and hydra). but it does help. never giving up and playing the game out was the key lesson here. i was dead on board by a mile, at 2 life. bounced and isolated a few threats, got a few good draws, and won the match.

happy drafting!
d-hermit

Deranged_hermit''s ISD Draft #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=32ifa

Deranged Hermit makes his draft debut!