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[Lord Hosk]

F this card.



"Im just going to play this turn 3 and mill you for 20+ cards, in fact I will make sure that I mill all your land and low drop creatures so you can never get past 3 land because im evil and I hate you." -Karnasis

[Omega Lairon]

[DELETED!]

[Omega Lairon]

[BALEETED!]

[Omega Lairon]

So, the fandraft / unnofficial sealed league "launch party". Here's the pool that got me 2-2 today, and will hopefully earn a better (or similar at the very least) record going forward

Click to Expand

I stayed in W/R for the entire day, although the freedom to slide into a few different but equally excellent decks was definitely a temptation. Have I mentioned how glad I am to be done with DTK forever?

So, how about them matches then?

Round 1 - leebenningfield
I felt optimistic going into the first game of the day - I had a decent hand, and a pool full of potential if things went butts-up. That almost seemed to happen here, with an early attack being met and countered by the opponent's army. Things looked grim - behind on board and stuck on 4 mana... but somehow I was holding steady. After a tense few rounds of "barely holding on", I was finally allowed a fifth land, and the reinforcements to start gaining back ground. The final honours went to Topan Freebalde, who had somehow become unnaturally huge, followed by a cheeky Lightning Javelin to the face. Game 2 was a smoother ride, mana wise. I had Boggart Brute out early, and Call of the Full Moon made him truly ridiculous - he managed about 18 damage by himself, and it took a triple block to finally seal his fate. All that was left was the cleaning up, a service which Empyran Tactician (and his twin, courtesy of Flameshadow Conjuring) was more than happy to provide.

Round 2 - korvys
Started out the match with an opening hand which somehow managed to be both fast *and* mighty. Sadly, that first wave of creatures was pretty much all I had to work with, as my deck decided that pumping out 4 or 5 consecutive lands would be an utterly hilarious prank. With my side of the field cleared of troops, the opponent's tag-team of Rhox Maulers and Skysnare Spider were allowed to do awful, awful things to my... I guess astral projection? However you're supposed to fight one of these duels... for obvious reasons, being there in person wouldn't be a wise move. Anyway, game 2 rolled around, and while I had some very strong opening moves, so too did my opponent. Things were looking bad as my troops were either removed or otherwise locked down, but then hope arrived in the form of LRR's very own Mage Ring Responder (or as I've taken to calling him, Big Hero Si... err.. Seven). With giant smashy-bot on my side, victory was assured. To end the round, I went into all out attack mode early and often. Unfortunately my opponent, having kept a 1-lander, proceeded to get stalled long enough for my opening charge to be more or less the only one required.

Round 3 against some rando
Eh, these matches are never as fun, so naturally my notes are pretty bare. Game 1 wasn't half bad - we were both playing eerily similar boros decks, right down to the Sentinel of the Eternal Watch -erses, which ensured that progress on either side was slow and painful. Eventually, I found my opening and took the shot. Games 2 and 3 were much the same - we'd get locked up and generally stalled until one of us was able to power through it. Of course, since this round title is in red, it didn't end super well. Of particularly aggravating note is drawing out Mage Ring Responder right when I needed him to save my butt in game 3... with 6 mana. I did manage to hold out for a turn or 2 longer... but still no land. And then of course, the next draw after fatal? Mountain.

Round 4 - SaloAbraxas
Made a really stupid decision to hold a 1-land hand at the start, but everything else was low cost, so it'd work out right? Well... not so much. I had a few small guys holding their own for a while, but Managorger Hydra came out to play shortly afterwards. I had a slim chance - by stalling on any more creatures and praying for just enough mana, I could *just barely* outdamage it. I did get my opening, and I took it... only for my opponent to have an answer for it, saving the dreaded hydra from its fate. With my attack broken, and no other answers for a rapidly growing beast, continuing the fight seemed pointless. Game 2 went by extremely quickly, and with not much to say about it. I had 3 mana and a hand full of 4+ cost. Yep.

Even still, I'm happy with how the day shaped up. 2-2 is a very respectable record, and I feel it's right at the level where that particular deck was performing. A little refining and it'll be ready for "game day" in the league. For starters, I'm definitely going to look at what some of the other colour combos might do for me.

F this card.



"Im just going to play this turn 3 and mill you for 20+ cards, in fact I will make sure that I mill all your land and low drop creatures so you can never get past 3 land because im evil and I hate you." -Karnasis

It's bad design all reaound... the "mill 2, repeat indefinitely" is too damn powerful for *either* 3 mana, or only an uncommon, but to have BOTH of those things? Someone at Wizards was asleep at the switch the day this monstrosity got the green light.

A suggestion for a """"fixed"""" version: Either crank the cost up to 5UU and make it a rare, or keep the low cost, but lose the "keep milling" effect (still make it a rare though).

[Lord Hosk]

I think you may be overrating this card, its a limited bomb and its really irritating if it gets hit turn 3 but its not that good.

At Uncommon at cost drop the repeatability
At Rare keep it as it is
At Uncommon as it reads 2UU
At Common 3UUU

At uncommon it needs to be harder to get on the field.

[Randus2003]

F this card.



"Im just going to play this turn 3 and mill you for 20+ cards, in fact I will make sure that I mill all your land and low drop creatures so you can never get past 3 land because im evil and I hate you." -Karnasis

I kinda had to do this today:



and yes I got all 3 in a row p1p1, p1p2 and p1p3

[Artirian_Legacy]

You're a monster, Randus. A lucky, lucky monster

[Randus2003]

You're a monster, Randus. A lucky, lucky monster

the best was round 3 where my opponent tried to race 2 of them with burn....and was about a turn away from doing it too.

[necargoface]

Cannot wait to do a draft this saturday! We're doing Khans-Fate right?

[Omega Lairon]

So hey, who likes value?

Click to Expand

These filthy things got me into a very respectable 2-1. I don't know what it is about playing Boros in Origins, but it's been happening to me rather a lot these past few weeks. It usually makes good things happen though, so I can't complain too loudly.

Opened rares: Alhamarret High Arbiter, Day's Undoing, Archangel of Tithes.
P1P1: Sphinx's Tutelage (all the pros use their first pick on a hate draft, right?)

Round 1: randus2003
The day's festivities started off a little rough - while I had a few small dudes out to hold the field early, there was scarcely enough mana to keep the good times rolling. My opponent, meanwhile, had built up quite the fighting force. Things looked grim until one of the big angels (can't remember which, and my notes are infuriatingly vague) came out to play. With the defenders scared into submission, I had the freedom to slowly rebuild, and gradually, I was able to get close enough for Chandra's Fury to finish the job. Game 2 went a lot more smoothly, with a massive army doing hard work on my side of the field. I got within striking distance, but those final few life points proved stubbornly tricky to remove. Alhamarret made an appearance for the opposition, but couldn't find a target to lock down. A few turns later, Chandra's Fury reappeared to make an encore of its game 1 performance.

Round 2: Lord_Hosk
My opening hand for game 1 wasn't much to look out, but with some seriously lucky draws, I was able to pull out both an Akroan Sergeant and Archangel of Tithes on curve. Naturally, with such a "fair" card in play, I had Hosk on the back foot for most of the match. And then Sentinel of the Eternal Watch showed up, and what little defences he could muster earlier were essentially nullified. With a subtly unclean feeling, I led my troops in while the guards could do little but look on helplessly.

We don't talk about game 2... things went super bad super fast

Game 3 was MUCH more fair, at least to start with. Some more lucky draws gave me spells as a reward for holding 6 lands at the start, and a brutal back-and-forth beat down ensued. Gradually though, my minions gained an edge and were able to slowly work through Hosk's vital organs.

Round 3: SchmuckOfAllTrades
I had a really good feeling coming down from the results of the first 2 rounds, and the first game in the finals only strengthened that feeling. A renowned Topan Freeblade and his Akroan Sergeant buddy really went to town from the moment they showed up. With my opponent having some harsh flooding issues, it was a swift and brutal beating. And then at long last, my luck ran out at the top of game 2... none of my hands were even halfway good, but I stuck with a mediocre 5 out of I suppose principle. Naturally, the 2 or 3 lands I started out with were the only ones that bothered to show up. To end things out, I ran afoul of a very nasty Managorger Hydra early into game 3. Although I had Sentinel of the Eternal Watch keeping the big guy from actually doing anything, there was no such luck for the other dozen or so creatures which came to the party. I had Chandra's Fury primed to thin the herd a little, but it was cruelly denied, and after that the ending was inevitable.

Still, it happens, and 2-1 continues to be a fantastic result by my own personal standards. Good times had by most.

[Omega Lairon]

That unintentional double post, yo!

Click to Expand

So that draft though... good lord. Toilet packs after toilet packs. It took almost the entire first pack for me to realise I would be playing Simic... and then blue dried out and white showed promise... It was a mess, to say the least. Of course, after picking up Managorger as 2nd pick of pack 2, I was 100% for sure in green, and thankfully, I got some rewards late that made the switch worth it. Still had to put in Mantle of Webs, a Vine Snare and splash for Iroas's Champion to get enough playables though.

Opened rares were Infinite Obliteration, Chandra's Ignition, and Tainted Remedy, and first pick was a Sigiled Starfish... so that probably says a lot too.

BUT despite all that, I had a very solid 2-1, which I was for one surprised by.

Round 1: BarcodeReader321
To say my first round games went poorly would be putting it lightly. "Awful" is closer... "abysmal" sounds about right. I mean, when you're mulling to 4, with 2 land and 2 non-creatures in hand, you have to suspect it's not going to end in anything but disaster. I did manage to finally pull out Managorger Hydra after another 3 or 4 turns of doing s*** all, but naturally, it was too far gone by that stage. Game 2 was immeasurably better... for one, I had playables in hand. Playables such as Topan Freeblade and Grasp of the Heiromancer, which proved a solid combo and almost singlehandedly locking down the board. However, for all it's strengths, it was powerless to stop a measly little Orchard Spirits from slowly bug-biting its way through most of my life points. The worst part was that it was kind of funny, so I can't even be justifiably salty about it.

Round 2: AdmiralMemo
By Memo's own admission, his curve was "a middle finger of 4 drops" (love that line, BTW). But you wouldn't have known it from where I was sitting. He had power, I had power... but he also had counters, taking out my Topan Freeblade with Unholy Hunger ("you ate all of that man!" "*lady") early into the game. Fortunately, I had backup in the strictly better Citadel Castellan, joined shortly by a War Oracle. The ensuing battle was pretty brutal, with both sides taking deep chunks out of the opposite's life. Eventually though, Rhox Maulers showed up to the party and ended up being just the dudes I needed to tip the scales in my favour. Game 2 marked the second (and final) showing of Managorger Hydra... who ended up on the wrong side of removal not one turn later. I don't really see what all the fuss is about (Kappa). Rhox Maulers showed up, but was also swiftly dispatched, and with my reserve of troops having run dry, Memo was given free reign to attack at his leisure. To finish out, I once again had Topan Freebalde out early, only to get Unholy Hunger'd (that keeps happening!). Thankfully, this time I had Stalwart Aven able to fly in mostly unopposed, with some expendable blockers holding out on the ground. With the help of a timely Titanic Growth, I was able to outpace the life drain of Memo's Shadows of the Past, and sneak in for victory.

Round 3: Swagbats
One downside to the way I'm formatting these now, what with the Green/Red text corresponding to a Win/Loss, is that it does tend to spoil the ending a little. Well, that and the "I got 2-1" right at the top. Well in any case, here it is, my first recorded victory against Mr. Savidan himself. That said though, there's wan't much of a game 1 to speak of, he got *super* unlucky with drawing out no lands, so it ended relatively quickly. Game 2 also happened to be quite the frantic sprint, although thankfully a lot more even. My trusty go-to opening gambit, the Topan Freeblade, was struck down by Celestial Flare before she could draw blood. Once more though, Citadel Castellan was ready to step right in. Things looked fierce over on the opposing battlefield, however, as a wave of renowned white dudes formed a rather intimidating offensive line. But my (mostly) lone soldier would not give up, striking in with support from enchantments to keep herself healthy, and to keep the defenders bent to her will. Gradually, I was able to carve out a small but vital opening, and with one last push, won the day.

So all in all, a pretty shaky start that ended up being a better than expected record. And I didn't even need to draft Boros to do it for a change (although I still evidently need a strong white backing to get anything done). In hindsight, the red splash for Iroas's Champion might not have been a fantastic idea, but it never really hindered me enough to say that it was for sure the wrong move. Even got to play her out once too... briefly.

[AdmiralMemo]

Had a blast tonight. Games were tight and fun.

[Omega Lairon]

It's the most wonderful time of the year week. Here's some cards I ended up taking to a respectable 2-1:

Click to Expand

Opened rares were Harbinger of the Tides, Infinite Obliteration (Kappa), and Hixus Prison Warden. First pick was Thopter Engineer

I tried to not be in Boros, I really did. The original plan was to force atrifacts (hence the first pick), but I didn't find any other support for it, and white kept throwing value at me as usual, so I just kind of fell into it. Oh well, I suppose in terms of archetypes I keep getting "stuck" playing, I could do a lot worse. At least it's something I enjoy and know how to play, you know (looking at you, blue spells).

Anyways...

Round 1 - Swagbats
As much as I still highly enjoy the opportunities to face Adam when they come up, I've also started to realise that the matches themselves tend to have similar results. Still, it's about the journey, not the destination, right? Game 1 was easily my best showing of the round - I had creatures coming out early and often enough to present a real threat. They didn't get much opportunity to attack though, as Adam's field was populated just as quickly with troops easily equal in quality... perhaps slightly better. A Somberwald Alpha in his ranks gave him an opening, and reinforcements made it look grim. Luckily, my next draw was Chandra's Ignition, which was cast with much haste on a Cobblebrute to cleanse the world in flames. With little opposition, the lone survivor was free to secure victory.

Game 2 was solidly in his favour from the outset, with Hangarback Walker putting the pressure on early, and some bounce spells and creatures ensuring that my side of things was difficult to maintain. Still, I held out long enough to get thoroughly ruined by some Rhox Maulers, so that was fun. Finally, the last game played to a similar script as the second, with Hangarback showing up in the first couple of turns. This time however, I had it put down before it could get too massive. However, there was much less I could do against the *other* creatures in his deck, which came at me in force.

Round 2 - Magyn
Had a slow start in the first game... can't remember the exact hand I ended up settling on, but there probably wasn't anything cheaper than 3 mana to play with. As a result, it took a few rounds of violence before I could start to regain the lost ground. And even then, I had to rely on removal and trickery to really make a difference. Salvation came in the form of Hixus Prison Warden, who managed to put a knife through both of Chandra's parents as well as confiscating their little toy flying machines. With the match turned in my favour, victory swiftly followed.

There wasn't really much of a game 2... I stalled at 3 lands and couldn't get anything decent out for too many turns. Thankfully, game 3 went a lot more smoothly, despite in incredibly greedy opening hand which really should have been mulligan'd, had a sane person been playing. Luckily, I had the land draws to make it work, pulling out Consul's Lieutenant and other not quite as interesting friends out as scheduled. The Lieutenant's boosts were key to keeping my dudes just out of harms way, although sadly, after doing so much good work, he was forced to lay down his life in order for comrades Ampyran Tactician and Boggart Brute to seal it.

Round 3 - Karnasis
I got of to a sprinting start in the first game, with Consul's Lieutenant (again) doing a fantastic job from turn 2 onwards. My opponent did seem to have a bit of trouble shifting in to gear however, only managing to field a few robots which were quickly overrun. Game 2 was far more even... at least to start with. I had some good attacking options on the ground and in the air, but the latter was quickly locked out by wave after wave of thopters. I couldn't do much against them directly, although I did manage to draw Hixus early enough to potentially put a damper on the air raids. Unfortunately, his attempt to do so was denied by a counterspell, and the thopters were allowed free reign directly over the heads of my helpless troops.

And so it all came down to this - game 3, in which I rather stupidly decided that 4 plains, a mountain, and a Subterranean Scout somehow constituted a hand that was in any way worth holding on to. Miraculously though, I caught a small break with Kytheon's Irregulars drawing out nice and early. Granted, they now had to face a steadily growing air force by themselves, a task made much easier by the otherwise "useless" extra lands allowing them to tap down 2 (and later 3) attackers per turn. With the pressure somewhat relieved, I was afforded the time to slowly build up an actual army, starring 2 Prickleboars and assorted others. Finally, once the guards were (figuratively) asleep at their posts thanks to the Irregulars, it was simply a matter of cleaning up.


So yeah, it probably couldn't have gone too much better for me this week, though it almost certainly could/should have been much much worse. Here's to doing it all again next week!

[AdmiralMemo]

I'm hoping we can give Theros a send-off today, since I think this is the last week it's available. http://strawpoll.me/5589187/r

If not, I know I am some other time.

[Omnicrat]

So, I can't be here on time on saturday for the prerelease... No way I can convince you all to wait an hour and 45 minutes, is there?

[Omnicrat]

Never mind! I'm working tomorrow morning instead of tomorrow night.

[AdmiralMemo]

Well, that was disappointing... I'd said just earlier today that BFZ was a draft environment where I felt good even if I lost, which hasn't happened since RTR block for me... Tonight changed that.

[Wooglie]

I might be around this Saturday/Sunday for a fan draft. It's been a while and I'd like to take advantage of the clocks going back.

[Atifexe]

Everywhere I've seen has said that the clocks go back on November 1st. >_>

[phlip]

The UK and America have their DST changeovers at different times.

[Atifexe]

Ah, okay. That sounds horribly confusing, but would explain why my grandmother was sharing images with the incorrect (locally, at least) date for the fall back.

[Wooglie]

Yeah because they go back at different times I get to fan draft at 1am instead of 2am, it also means that all of next week the twitch streams start an hour earlier for me.

[KeiranLC]

Well, that was disappointing... I'd said just earlier today that BFZ was a draft environment where I felt good even if I lost, which hasn't happened since RTR block for me... Tonight changed that.

Oh no! What happened?

[AdmiralMemo]

Well, that was disappointing... I'd said just earlier today that BFZ was a draft environment where I felt good even if I lost, which hasn't happened since RTR block for me... Tonight changed that.

Oh no! What happened?

I had a really bad draft. It's all up on Twitch.

[AdmiralMemo]

So in the latest FanDraft, I think I've had the most fun I've ever had going 0-3.