Drafty in Here Innit

I had my first ever drafting experience on Friday. As you probably know, the Planar Chaos release events were this weekend, and I felt like I just had to get in on the action.

It was sort of fun.

We had a group of eight at the Gamers Lounge, which I gather is the right number, and dug into our packs around 9 p.m. My first goal was just to get a playset of Simian Spirit Guides, but my second goal was to win.

I thought I was picking some real bombs, starting with my first pick, first pack Crovax, Ascendant Hero, but I think I was guilty yet again of trying to outsmart my opponents. Here’s what I was pulling:

2x Aven Riftwatcher
1x Benalish Commander
2x Calciderm
2x Crovax, Ascendant Hero
2x Dawn Charm
1x Magus of the Tabernacle
1x Mycologist
2x Revered Dead
1x Shade of Trokair
1x Whitemane Lion

2x Dead & Gone
2x Needlepeak Spider
1x Prodigal Pyromancer
1x Rough & Tumble
1x Shivan Meteor
1x Stingscourger

10x Plains
6x Mountains

Obviously I went red-white. I pulled one of the Crovax and the Benalish Commander early, and the next pack I opened had the Magus, so I was pretty solidly in . The utility advantages of Dead & Gone and the evasion of two Skirk Shamans (that I didn’t end up using) pulled me into red.

This was probably my first mistake. I don’t like playing white and I’ve never had good luck doing anything with it. Clearly I had some powerful white cards, and Planar Chaos gives white some added power with the color shifting, but it’s still white, you know?

More, though, I think the bigger problem was that I was playing at the Gamers Lounge. It bugs me that playing there means halfheartedly going through the first match, then quitting if you didn’t win. I paid $12 to do this, and I could have gotten as much fulfillment out of this by drafting and going home.

So I played one match against the only guy smart enough to draft every Giant Dustwasp he saw and who splashed them all into his white and black creation.

Both games we played (both of which I lost) went basically the same way.

In game one, he suspended three Dustwasps starting on turn two, while I commenced the beatdown with, oh yeah, Revered Dead. His first Wasp came into play on turn five; I took the damage, and made it and the next one Gone on the next turn. Unfortunately, by that point, he could just hardcast them from his hand. I used Stingscourger to return one to his hand, used Whitemane Lion to send the Stingscourger to my hand, and Stingscourgered another Wasp. My beats were not strong enough, though, and his wasps took me down with him at three life.

In the next game, we had dueling token generators, but his Stormfront Riders and their soldier tokens soon outstripped my Mycologist and his saprolings. He had a clear mana advantage, though, and that won him the game in the end. I gained some life with a pair of Aven Riftwatchers, but that just delayed the inevitable.

And then that was it.

Since I lost at the Gamers Lounge, my second round opponent who also lost, didn’t want to play.

Theoretically, then, I went 1-1 with my deck.

Watching the games on either side of me, drafting just Planar Chaos in an arena of people who are terrible drafters is ridiculous.

In the game to my right, a deck of blue and red was facing off against five-color slivers. Slivers was drafted by a kid who had never drafted before and who was still, in fact, unsure of how to tap lands for mana and how the phases go. Mr. Blue-red has been playing for a while, though I admittedly didn’t see what he was drafting.

Yeah, guess who won that one.

Correct. The winning strategy was ramp up to six mana and beat the living piss out of everything with the creature type that makes all of its members bigger and stronger.

On my left, Blightspeaker.dec demolished the kid who drafted Akroma, Angel of Fury. At one point, I looked over and saw at least six Blightspeakers on the table, and all of them were working pretty quickly. How good.

Blightspeaker
1B
Creature – Human Rebel Cleric
T: Target player loses one life.
4, T: Search your library for a rebel card with converted mana cost 3 or less and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
1/1

So, yeah. Drafting was fun, I still like Planar Chaos a lot (way better than Time Spiral), and I came away from the night with three Simian Spirit Guides.

Plus, I got a playset of Braids, Cabal Minion in case I want to play Black Stax and some Echoing Truths in case I need to take care of some goblin tokens Emptied from the Warrens.

All in all, a successful night, even if it was disappointing to not have multiple rounds and a full-fledged finishing rounds. Not to mention there were no release foils, FNM foils, door-prizes, or Planar Chaos singles for sale.

(Seriously, Dave, I realize you took a big hit from the Bowling Green store closing, but you have to start selling the new singles as soon as possible. It’s such an easy way to make money because it’s so much more convenient for customers.)

There’s even more Magic mayhem next weekend, though:

When:
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Registration starts at noon
Tournament starts at 1 pm

Where:
The Gamers Lounge
127 E. Market St.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 621-0282

Cost:
$20 gets infinite proxies

First place gets a Mox Ruby, and there may be prizes for 2nd-4th as well depending on turnout. More information on prize structure will follow, so stay tuned.

More importantly, Planar Chaos will be legal for this tournament! So if you want to power your Belcher deck with Simian Spirit Guides or hinder your opponent with Extirpate and Dawn Charm, go right ahead.

It sounds like there will be a pretty sizeable turnout from Cleveland, Columbus, and possibly Michigan, so the prize structure could be pretty impressive.

Come on out! Support your local Vintage scene! And throw your money into the pot!

I’ll see you there.