For FNM, I went down to the local card shop for some M11 limited, a format I would prefer to gain a better understanding of before I make the trip down to Grand Prix Portland in September. The last time I drafted this format, I actually split for first place with a Black/Red deck that featured Royal Assassin, Hoarding Dragon, and a few Nightwing Shades along with far too much removal to be believed. This time, for learning purposes, I wanted to draft a different archetype to see what was out there.
Pick 1: Royal Assassin. Well, sometimes you just go with what works...
But just because I didn't vary my colors much (I did draft two blinding mages early, but White was not an option so I was forced into Red/Black again) doesn't mean the decks were the same. My previous deck used removal, evasion, and card advantage to tempo people out of the game. My toughest matchup with thatdeck was a Blue/Green tempo deck that used bounce and evasion to put me on the defensive, and counterspells to lock me out when I was down.
This week, I went for the Act of Treason deck. If you are unfamiliar, allow me to explain. Since Act of Treason has been moved to common, it is now possible to draft a deck around it looking to abuse it with sacrifice effects like Bloodthrone Vampire and Fling (also commons). The deck can just plain win with nothing, which makes it very potent and difficult to play against properly. Here is the list I ended up running.
Two things I would like to point out about the deck that I noticed when I built it. The creatures are mostly terrible, and the removal (not counting Act of Treason) is spotty. Even counting the Act of Treason as removal is situational. Still, when I saw this deck I thought I would do pretty well with it, since it would pretty much ruin anybody trying to play huge dorks, which is one of the major strategies I have seen in this format so far.
When I had finished my deck, I began chatting with a guy who had been at my table named Nathan, who had a Black Lotus tattooed on his arm. He was actually pretty cool, and after some KoL jokes he showed me his deck. I don't remember much of it, since our playtest was interrupted, but it went something like this....
Mana Acceleration + 5 Acidic Slimes + Destructive Force = You have no land.
I am very glad I never had to play him.
ROUND ONE: Vince, playing B/R Act of Treason deck.
Game One: I lose the die roll.
Vince and I spend turns one two and three playing identical Swamps and Mountains, sharing a laugh. He has no fourth land but does drop a Bloodthrone Vampire. For occult reasons known only to my subconscious this raises no red flags for me, and I use my turn playing a land and a Nether Horror, figuring my 4/2 is a slightly more impressive four drop than his 1/1.
Unfortunately, he agrees with my thought process, and casts Act of Treason on the horror during his turn, bashes me for five, and politely wings it into my graveyard before passing back to me, having sacrificed it with his Bloodthrone Vampire after combat. That being said, I figure my loss isn't too terrible as I spend turn five on a Gravedigger to return it to my hand (rather than running out my Nightwing Shade, lest he have more removal. He does have some removal in the form of an end of turn Lightning Bolt on my creature. He attacks for another damage on his turn and passes back. Me: 14, Him: 20
On my turn, I recast the Horror and pass, but this time he murders it with a Chandra's Outrage before attacking me again down to eleven. At this point, I figure I need a powerful critter out or I am going to die too quickly for my liking, so I play Nightwing Shade and, with only one mana available anyways, I drop Brittle Effigy and pass. This was a mistake. My opponent had only played one creature all game, and my own creatures had actually resulted in far more damage to me. I should have spent removal on the vampire many turns ago.
My opponent makes me pay for my error with another Act of Treason for my Shade, attacks me with his team down to 8, plays a Jinxed Idol after combat and sacrifices my creature to it to pass it to me before my turn. What a turn! I am now on a very fast clock, and will likely have to make awful creature trades to avoid dying to the Idol. On my upkeep the Idol dings me down to six, and I cast Act of Treason on the Bloodthrone Vampire to get rid of it (my opponent of course sacrificed it in response) having finally realized it's importance. My opponent reveals and Fireball on his turn, and it's off to game two!
I bring in two Stabbing Pains from my sideboard in exchange for some creatures. I know now the Vampire must die on sight.
Game Two
I keep my hand and lead with Swamp, Viscera Seer. Two can play this game! Vince also has a Swamp, but no turn one vampire. I play a land and attack on my turn, having finally damaged my opponent! His turn two play is, of course, a Bloodthrone Vampire. I waste no time in flashing my own Act of Treason for it, which has the desired effect of ridding the world of one Vampire, before attacking again with my own critter. Unfazed, Vince stoically drops Vampire number two and passes back to me.
On my turn, I attack with my Seer and the two vampires trade in combat. I hadn't expected my opponent to do this, as I assumed he would hold on to his deck engine. Because of this, I play a less than stellar post combat Vulshock Berserker and pass back to my opponent a little sheepishly. He untaps and casts a Lilliana's Specter. This card is the second most important non-rare black card you can draft. It is a great aggressive flyer with inherent card advantage stapled on, and I am pretty sure I never saw one at my table. If you were wondering, the most important non-rare black card is, of course, Doom Blade. If you get Doom Blades and Lilliana's Specters, you will probably do pretty well. At my last draft, I managed to force my opponent to discard a Vengefull Archon with my Specter, then used Rise from the Grave to claim it for my own. I won that game. This week, however, I'm staring one down and am forced to discard.
I, however, have a beautiful discard... Magma Phoenix. There are a few appreciative laughs from people watching the game, and even Vince had to smile when he saw it. On my turn I lay a land and pass back content to wait for my opponent to act this game, having learned my lesson from last game. Also, I want to leave open mana to get the Phoenix back, and there was no sense trading my Berserkers for the Specter at this point, I would have been happy to race my opponent. On his turn, my opponent attacks me for two and plays a Chandra's Outrage on my creature afterwords. I happily Fling it at his flyer in response, content to have burned his removal and still killed his creature.
On my turn, I use Rise from the Grave to nab his Specter and burn another card from his hand. I forget what he discarded, but at this point he was down to a card in hand and I pretty much destroy him with his Specter and my Phoenix beating him down into Fireball range before he draws an answer. I am happy my gameplan of slowrolling my aggression worked out, although my opponent having no Act of Treason's definitely helped. Killing the Vampires on sight was a good plan too.
Game Three
I stall on three Swamps and play no spells. What can you do? After the match, I move Pyroclasm into the deck and remove one of the Sign in Bloods. The idea was that both cards have the same intended effect: card advantage. What Pyroclasm does is double as removal, which I sorely needed. The reason I kept it out initially is that two damage kills almost every creature in my deck, but I was convinced by friends that continuing to slowroll my creatures was the way to play. Crystall Ball also moved into the deck, and I forget if I added a land or took out something for it.
At this point, my friend Jason begins to pester me to drop from the tournament so we can draft his freshly constructed Cube. I decline, hoping to better my record.
ROUND TWO: Ronnie, playing Blue/Green fatties with counterspells
Ronnie was a fairly new player who was here with his teenaged nephew Caleb who had a pretty ridiculous deck and was doing fairly well in the tournament (I believe he made top 8). He lamented his first round being against Caleb, who had doinked him with a Platinum Angel several times before using Clone to copy it, prompting a concession.
Game One: I lose the die roll.
Ronnie opens on a Forest into a Llanowar Elves, and I sense this time around I may get to make some serious use of my Act of Treasons. I have a Mountain for my turn and pass. The Elves doink me for one and Ronnie drops an Island, which gives me pause. I play a land, but have no action, which is depressing because Ronnie has a gorgeous turn three Water Servant. It is at this time I begin to wonder how screwed I am. My turn three is a relatively unexciting Crystal Ball. Water Servant knocks me to twelve on his attack, and I opt not to scry before my draw because I may need the mana to kill the Water Servant. I miss land, and when my removal spell gets Canceled on my next turn I concede.
Let's draw land, please?
Game Two
The Mana Gods are clearly punishing me, as I throw away my first three hands before keeping on one land, three spells. I am pretty sure my tournament is over, but I play my land and my Viscera Seer gamely and pass into another turn one Llanowar Elves from Ronnie. At this point, I believe in whatever Mana God has taken pity on me as I draw a running lands for two turns and bash for one each time. Ronnie plays a turn two Cultivate (Curses, he has the favor of the Mana Gods!), and simply counterattacks once.
I draw for my turn four and curse the fickle Mana Gods, as they have once more forsaken me (it wasn't a land.) I attack for one and pass. Ronnie has access to six mana on his turn, but taps out his blue sources to cast and Aether Adept on my Seer... clearly a suboptimal play which my opponent was frustrated with himself for when, on my next turn, I play it and a topdecked Brittle Effigy. Still no fourth land.
He stares at the artifact with frustration before attacking me down to 15 and playing a Sacred Wolf, which is a card that terrifies me because it has troll shroud. I draw for my turn and windmill slam it onto the battlefield: Crystal Ball! The ability to filter my draws should get me out of mana screw. My opponent swings with his Wolf and his Adept on his turn, and my Viscera Seer is only too happy to trade with the Wolf. I am at 13.
I elect not to scry before my draw because I want to be sure of my play; Act of Treason on the Aether Adept. I attack my opponent for two before eating it with my seer, spying a glorious land on top of my library! After a few turns of scrying by me, my opponent has a play in a Harbor Serpent, which delightedly smashes me to three life with the help of a few Llanowar Elves. I finally draw an Act of Treason, which I use to steal the Serpent, abuse my opponent with it, and fling it at one of the Elves. The remaining Elf drops me to two on Ronnie's next turn, but he has no additions to the board, which is a saving grace.
I play a Nightwing Shade on my next turn, but my opponent has an Ice Cage for it to drop me to one with Llanowar Elf beatdown. After combat he plays a Greater Basilisk, which is too big to let live so I exile it with Brittle Effigy and play a Fiery Hellhound. My opponent has no further meaningful plays this game, and with the help of super deck manipulation I manage to draw answers to all of his random creatures. I win... after a mulligan to four. At one life.
After the game, Jason is furious with me for being the only person who would ever even bother to play out a hand like that when I could have dropped from the tournament and done a Cube instead.
Game Three
Ronnie opens on turn one Llanowar Elves YET AGAIN and I quietly curse the Mana Gods yet again. I have a new religion, and that religion is the Order of the Crystal Ball. This game is actually really anticlimactic as my opponent plays nothing but Runeclaw Bears and basically rolls over once I get Magma Phoenix online. My opponent drew no Blue sources this game and became really frustrated when I ran out a Royal Assassin, showing me a hand full of countermagic. I sympathized with him, but pointed out that mana had not exactly been kind to me this match either.
ROUND THREE: Nick, playing Red/Green beatsticks.
Game One: I win the die roll!
I open on a Swamp to Nick's Forest. This also is how turn two goes down. I feel pretty good about my turn three Royal Assassin, until Nick plays a Mountain. This turn, at least, he has nothing too threatening as he drops a Gargoyle Sentinel. I quip that this is shaping up to be a slow game. I play a Viscera Seer, but he has a Giant Spider. I sit on my creatures, waiting for an Act of Treason, but he Pyroclasms my team and bashes me on his next turn. I kill his sentinel on my next turn, but opt not to fireball his giant spider. This proves to be a huge mistake as it picks up a Shiv's Embrace and politely crushes me for two turns before Nick uses Fling to kill me. I was holding a Fling, and waiting for land to cast my Act of Treason and it in the same turn. Oh well, mana is unkind. Perhaps Jason will get his wish!
Game Two
I open with a Brittle Effigy, and my opponent plays nothing but land as I run out a turn three Assassin (fat good it did me last game) and turn four Vulshock Berserker and attack him to sixteen. He, of course, Pyroclasms. I rebuild with Viscera Seer, but I feel obliged to throw it in front of an incoming Arc Runner. I scry before damage, since the Runner will die anyway, and like what I see. I play a fourth land on my turn, and my opponent untaps into a 7/7 Protean Hydra, which I refuse to let live despite the Act of Treason and Fling in my hand, unsure of my next draw. I exile it with the Effigy on my turn and pass. His follow up Ancient Hellkite is also scary, until I draw land and Act of Treason/Fling it at his face. He concedes.
Game Three
I really don't do much this game but stall on mana long enough to get obliterated by a turn six Inferno Titan.
Jason is certain now that I will drop to draft with him, but I reason with him that I paid to play this
format today. With some free time, I playtest with Caleb, my previous opponent Ronnie's nephew. I mentioned before that his deck was pretty ridiculous, and I meant it. Ronnie had two Clone's and a Platinum Angel, as well as some combat tricks and bounce effects. I have no notes of the game, but at one point Caleb had both Clone's in play, one of which was a copy of my Magma Phoenix and the other was a copy of his Platinum Angel, which was on my side of the board existing as a Zombie Angel.
I tried to Fling my Angel at his, and he countered it, so I was forced to Fling my Phoenix at his Wall of Frost, doing three damage to everything in the process. This, of course, killed Caleb's Clone of my Phoenix and did an additional three damage to everything. In response, Caleb used Unsummon on his Clone. The end result was an empty field and the life totals becoming Me: 3, Caleb: 6. At this point I completely punted, playing a Vulshock Berserker and attacking Caleb down to 3, tapping myself out for the Clone I knew he had in hand to become a 3/2 hasty Berserker copy and kill me. Fun game nonetheless!
ROUND FOUR: Matt, playing Blue/Black ??? Deck
My opponent this round is Matt, who informs me upon shaking my hand (I like to greet my opponents this way) that he is extremely new to playing Limited Magic, and hasn't played Magic very long at all. I mention that he's doing as well as I am, and I have played tons of Magic (not enough, however).
Game One: I lose the roll.
My opponent keeps a one land hand.
Game Two
Matt chooses to mulligan this time, saying he learned his lesson last game. His first play is a Kraken's Eye, then a Jace's Erasure. His next play is an Alluring Siren. Then a Maritime Guard. I play Magma Phoenix and Nightwing Shade in quick succession. I win.
After this game, I look at the standings and see that I am in fourteenth with six points. Ninth place has nine points.
I drop, and draft Jason's Cube.
I wish I had notes of those games, but I do recall one game ended when I cast Wrath of God with tons of creatures on both sides of the board. Oh, right, but I had Eldrazi Monument. Another multiplayer game ended when an opponent cast Martial Coup for nine, then untapped on his next turn and dropped Beastmaster Ascenscion. Another game was won on a Comet Storm for 18, and the other game had 6 board wipes.
YAY CUBE.
Despite my poor performance in the tournament, I did learn from the experience. My deck faltered many times during the tournament, and while I did have some unfortunate luck with lands, many times I feel like my deck failed because I really had no good plays before about turn five. My first round opponent, who drafted the same deck archetype, was much more successful because he valued Bloodthrone Vampire much more highly than I did, I passed two of them in the draft for cards which were, in a vacuum, more powerful but ultimately less important to my deck. Vince, on the other hand, read articles online about the archetype and knew what to prioritize, and his draft rewarded him.
The lesson here is that if you are going to try to draft a particular deck strategy, you should probably understand how to draft it. I'm not saying you have to follow a particular pick order or that running unusual decks is a bad idea. I am no advocate of the status quo in magic, which is why constructed bothers me so much... too many times I have seen identical decklists in professional Top 8s. What I am saying is that if you know somebody has had success with a deck similar to the one you are building, it would be foolish not to acquaint yourself with that deck and why it succeeded, what it struggled with, and what caused it to at some point (probably) fail.
Oh, and do you remember that guy Nathan I mentioned at the beginning of the article? The guy with all the Acidic Slimes? He ended up splitting for first. Tell me his deck wasn't a bit of a rogue strategy. I think a major difference maker was the Destructive Force, I kept hearing people mentioning it in awe after being blown out by it. I also don't think the deck was intended to be as rogue as it seems. When I asked him why he took five Acidic Slimes, Nathan simply replied "They are pretty good."
So there you have it. I think I will remember that advice too.
Don't think so much.
Draft good cards because they are good cards.
