http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34fuk
Here's the Raredraft link: http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34fuk
And, here's a link to the screenshot of the deck: http://twitpic.com/8qut9s/full
This was a great draft. I ended up following every principle that I outlined in my article at http://puremtgo.com/articles/ars-arcanum-dark-ascension-limited-overview. I went with an enemy color deck. I built for the long, grindy game. I picked up extra mana sources. I even first picked a Cobbled Wings in pack 2.
As far as deckbuilding, it seemed pretty straightforward to me. The Cobbled Wings is key with my larger creatures. I don’t include Rotting Fensnake, since it is mediocre. I didn’t go with 18 lands since I have a Pilgrim and a Caravan Vigil, but if I didn’t have them, then this would definitely be an 18 land deck.
On to the matches!
Match one, I face off against a UW deck splashing red for Charmbreaker Devils, some removal, and a couple werewolves. Game 1, he gets a Village Ironsmith flipped early, and I get stuck on three mana. Lucky, I managed to get down an Avacyn’s Pilgrim, and I had all my colors available. A well timed Lingering Souls followed by Travel Preparations meant I could hold off his team. Jar of Eyeballs got some counters on it, which let me find some land, and then I managed to land Slayer of the Wicked and Black Cat in the same turn. From there, I could start applying pressure, and he couldn’t come back. Game 2, I didn’t get any early pressure, and I instead only got down a T2 Cobbled Wings, and T3 Jar of Eyeballs. Luckily, his first play was a turn 3 Voiceless Spirit. Next turn, he played a Drogskol Captain and attacked me for three, but I was able to rip a Strangleroot Geist, play it, cast Deadly Allure on it, forced the Captain to attack, get back a 3/2 Geist, and equip Cobbled Wings. T5 I got down an Ulvenwald Mystics with Cobbled Wings vs. his Voiceless Spirit and Chapel Geist. He tapped out for an Elgaud Inquistitor, and I flashbacked Deadly Allure to eat his Voicless Spirit. Slayer of the Wicked killed my werewolf, but then I dropped Geistcatcher Rig, killed his Chapel Geist, and got in for some damage. The next turn saw my guys die to Burning Oil + Flashback, and then I got down a One-Eyed Scarecrow, but not much else. He played Charmbreaker Devils. Blood Feud came down the next turn, and ate one of my guys, and then I had to chump the Devils. Luckily, Jar of Eyeballs allowed me to draw into Lingering Souls, which I played with Flashback. I was able to get in with a few damage here and there, but he kept eating my guys with Blood Feud, then I would draw two cards (Jar of Eyeballs). Eventually, I managed to force him to hold back the Devils instead of trading with a Geistcatcer’s Rig. I then got Strangleroot Geist and Deadly Allure, played the Geist and the Allure, attacked and forced the Devils to block, and the game was downhill from there.
Match two, I faced another UW deck. Game 1, he got stuck on mana, but landed an early Stitched Drake that I couldn’t attack into. Luckily, he thought we were racing, and kept attacking me, so I got him down low, and was able to alpha strike for exactsies. Game 2, I missed my third land drop against Lingering Souls. I had out a Cobbled Wings, but things were looking Grim. He had me down to where he could attack for lethal with Selfless Cathar, but I got down some creatures, equipped them with Cobbled Wings, and ate a few tokens to keep me at 3 life. Avacyn’s Pilgrim gave me some white mana, and I dropped Lingering Souls with Flashback to stabilize. Casting Deadly Allure three times in one turn, as well as Travel Preparations allowed me to eat most of his team. After that, it was a case of strategically equipping Cobbled Wings to keep back his flyers. Ulvenwald Mystics eventually flipped, making it the biggest creature in the skies. Regenerating Dragons are good. After a few good trades, I just out card advantaged him for the win.
Match three, I face yet another UW deck. This one featured double Divine Reckoning. Game 1, he gets there with Divine Reckoning at exactly the right times, and barely manages to beat me when I have lethal on the crackback. Game 2, I get stuck on three mana, with only a Skirsdag Flayer and a Black Cat on the board. I manage to Travel Preps them up, which is good since he only has a Spectral Rider for racing. I suspect that this means he has Divine Reckoning up, and he doesn’t want to play more guys, so I keep racing him for a few turns. Divine Reckoning eats one of my guys, but I managed to stabilize by playing Travel Preparations twice on a couple of creatures. This forces him to flashback his Divine Reckoning, holding back just his Silverclaw Griffin. He also has a Moorland Haunt, which will allow him to chump until he kills me with the Griffin. However, after Divine Reckoning, I rip Geistcatcher’s Rig, and end up winning the game. Game 3, I kept a one-lander with Avacyn’s Pilgrim and Lingering Souls. I rip lands off the top both times, and my turns go like this. T1 Forest, Avacyn’s Pilgrim, T2 Lingering Souls, T3 Strangleroot Geist, Flashback Lingering Souls, T4 Travel Preparations, Flashback Travel Preparations, Deadly Allure. The game was pretty much over after that.
The key thing about this deck is that while I had plenty of early action in things like Strangleroot Geist and Lingering Souls, I also had plenty of things to leverage the late game, which made my deck able to compete in the new format. The first two decks I faced tried to get tempo their way through, but they just didn’t have the tools to do it. The last deck had the Divine Reckonings, and he probably had an advantage over me, but that last draw was just so awesome that he didn’t have a chance.
Lingering Souls was amazing. Strangleroot Geist was as well. Deadly Allure was key to many of my wins. Jar of Eyeballs was great in the extended game. Cobbled Wings was superb. Overall, I liked this deck a lot.
