11 of us showed up for the first draft Friday night conspiracy draft. Not the first draft. That happened the previous midnight. Hopefully there will be more Conspiracy drafts at Gnome Games, though. This one was a blast.
We were split into two draft pods of 6 & 5. I was in the 6 pod. Then we were randomly split into 3 group matches of 4, 4 & 3. I was in one of the 4 person matches. Gnome games structured it such that knocking any opponent out of the match won you a booster pack. The winner of each match would then play a 3 person match. Again, kill an opponent, win a booster, plus the overall winner would get one more booster. The prize structure created an interesting dynamic in the actual game ... but given the nature of the Conspiracy set, not necessarily a disappointing dynamic.
So I crack my first booster, fan the cards out to the rare spot and there, reaching out in such a friendly greeting, is Dack Fayden, "Jack! Good to see you, my friend!" Oh, you too, Dack! You too. Of course I'll force Red/Blue, man! Anything for you.
The guy to my right agonized long over his decision, "Oh man, that's such a good card ... but a huge color commitment pack 1 pick 1 ... I just can't. Or maybe I can. Oh I don't know." I sat there waiting and thinking, oh I hope it's blue or red. Then he passed me a foily Wolfbrair Elemental. There wasn't anything worth taking in red or blue and the elemental was pretty sweet. So I took it. Maybe I'll go green and either red or blue, splashing what I need for Dack. Pack 3 was boring, but there was a Howling Wolf. And in one of those first three I'd seen a Muzzio's Preparations. So okay, if I'm going to commit to green and if I'm going to try and snatch enough Howling Wolfs to make them worth including, this is the pack to decide that. I do it. From that point on the battle plan is basically prioritize green. Grab good red or blue, watching the signal for either to emphasize. Watch the Agendas. Try to get a Preparations to go with the Wolves. Over the rest of the pack it becomes clear that red is the underdrafted color. I pick up a Volcanic Fallout and Brimstone Volley. I get my Preparations and a late pick Sentinel Dispatch.
Pack 2 I continued that plan. It was most notable for getting a mid round Unexpected Potential. I start looking for anything amazing in any colors, figuring that even if I don't see any, I can just name Dack Fayden and forgo splashing blue. Make my mana base a little nicer. I also picked up a second Preparations and started paying more attention to picking up decent commons that become better than decent when they start with +1/+1 counters. Somewhere in this pack I also saw some Cinderwalls and at least one Vent Sentinel go by. There were other picks in those packs that I prioritized over them. Same with the pack that contained a Flamewright. Then it struck me that starting the game with Defenders in play, and the Cinderwalls being commons ... man, trying to splash in white, too would be a stretch. Then again, I have that Unexpected Potential and maybe the chance at a face smashing whopper of a Vent Sentinel is worth it? I don't know. But I start watching or the Walls also and next time I see a Vent Sentinel I snatch it.
Then Pack 3, smiling conspiratorily from the rare is Marchesa, the Black Rose. There's my Unexpected Potential, man! So I'm back to splashing blue for Dack. Which I'm fine with. I don't remember if it was late pack two or early pack three, but somewhere in there I picked up the Secrets of Paradise and figured it would help with the splash color. I see one more Flamewright, but something else in the pack looked better at the time and I don't think it circled the table.
Funny enough, the synergy between Secrets of Paradise and Sentinel Dispatch didn't occur to me until I was looking at my pool after the draft and had all the Agendas sitting aside together. Once it did, though, man ... I shoulda' grabbed both those Flamewrights. And Vent Sentinels. Totally would have been worth it.
Here's what I ended up playing.
Creatures
2 cc
Grenzo's Cutthroat
3cc
Sporecap Spider x2
Enraged Revolutionary
Heckling Fiends
4cc
Howling Wolf x3
Predatory Howl
Wolfbrair Elemental
Marchesa, the Black Rose
5cc
Charging Rhino
Selvala's Charge
Pitchburn Devils x2
6cc
Chartooth Gorger
Removal & such
Dack Fayden
Hunger of the Howlpack
Brimstone Volley x2
Volcanic Fallout
Fires of Yavimaya
Wrap in Flames x2
Agendas
Muzzio's Preparations x2 (naming Construct and Howling Wolf)
Secrets of Paradise (naming Construct)
Sentinel Dispatch x2 (Constructs, natch)
Unexpected Potential (naming Marchesa, the Black Rose)
Land
3 Island
8 Forest
5 Mountain
Questionable calls:
The Cutthroat & the Revolutionary. If you can trigger dethrone, those two cards are great. Without activating it? Not so much. When I put the deck together, though, I was a bit worried about my high mana curve. I can definitely see how drafting several of those cards and naming them with Muzzio's Preparations could turn them into amazing. But I hadn't done that. In retrospect, I didn't have to worry so much about the mana curve. Being a group game, nothing drastic happens the first few turns anyway ... and starting the game with 3 mana on turn 1 ... I was in a good place.
Wrap in Flames. Being able to kill three things is awesome. Counting on their being 3 things you need to kill with only 1 toughness? Kinda situational. Taking out something as a blocker for a turn? Again potentially great, but situational. This card being able to do both those things makes it worth playing. I still almost left them out until I realized just how amazing the card would be if I could get the Dack Fayden token. And I nearly pulled it off! Nearly... /sigh. Incidentally, this card is what convinced me to name Construct with one of my Preparations. I saw so many Wraps going around that I know I wasn't the only one in the pod with the card. I certainly didn't want to make it easy for an opponent to wreck my mana.
Volcanic Fallout. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to include a card like this. But I was starting the game with 2 toughness mana dudes that the Fallout would kill. Hurting my own mana base seems unwise. On the other hand, that's what symmetrical cards are about anyway, right? I simply wouldn't play it until my opponents killed my Constructs.
Chartooth Gorger. Expensive, but big late game and a mana fetch early game ... seemed good.
Noteable Sideboard cards:
Cinderwall x3
Vent Sentinel
Lizard Warrior x2
Pitchburn Devils
Boldwyr Intimidator
Marchsa's Smuggler
Cinderwalls + Vent Sentinel + Constructs? Strong. And with 3 Cinderwalls it becomes worthwhile to name them with a preparations. Then if I manage to get the Marchesa in play, the Cinderwalls become 1cc 4/4 defenders that never die! Very nice synergy. But it relies on getting that combination out. I'm not sure the cards are strong enough without being in play together. I mean, maybe? But I want something a little more aggressive than a collection of defenders.
Lizard Warriors. I drafted them hoping for something strong to name with the preparations. If I'd drafted a couple more of them ... I mean, 4cc for a 5/3 would be great. I decided to go with the Howling Wolfs, though, not only because I actually had three of them, but also because casting just one means I could go grab the others. 4cc for a 3/3 may not be as nice as 5/3 ... but increasing the likelihood that I get use out of the agenda seems smart.
Boldwyr Intimidator. Man I love that card. The ability, the flavor text, the art, the size! So much awesome. But 7cc. Ouch. I left it out due to mana concerns. Same reason I left out the third Pitchburn Devils. In retrospect, I think I could have traded these in for the Cutthroat & Revolutionary and been happy about it. Or maybe the Chartooth? Probably not the Chartooth. I'm not sure I'd want to remove my mana fetcher to include something expensive.
Or I could leave in the dethrone dudes and included the Smuggler. Suddenly I always have opportuntiy to attack the person at highest life total ... unless it's me. That caveat, plus concerns about access to blue mana that I only splashed in for Dack convinced me to leave out the Smuggler. Maybe not a good choice. Turns out my mana dudes never got killed, so I always had blue mana and making dudes unblockable is always strong. I can definitely see a good argument for including it instead of, I don't know ... maybe the Heckling Fiends or the Volcanic Fallout?
Chaff
Necromantic Thirst
Skeletal Scrying
Twisted Abomination
Tyrant's Choice
Grixis Illusionist
Marchesa's Emissary
Silverchase Fox
Spontaneous Combustion
I didn't want to branch into black also. Not even with the Abomination. I didn't want to rely too heavily on needing blue mana. Although if I'd managed to grab several Emissarys, like enough to make them worth naming with a preparations, that would have totally changed the dynamic of my cardpool.
Match 1
Fisrt turn, each opponent plays a land, one of them plays a Pride Guardian. I play Dack Fayden and start building up counters. Turn 2 I put down a Sporcap Spider for Dack to hide behind. Turn 3 I play Howling Wolf, go get the other two and put Dack up to 6 loyalty. WITH WRAP IN FLAMES IN HAND! I am so excited. Next turn I'm getting the token and I'm going to steal the dude to my left's Wakestone Gargoyle. Plus two more things! Man, I hope the other two guys play something sweet this turn!
Oppo to my left plays Glimmerpoint Stag, blinks Dack and the loyalty counters are gone. GAH! Good play him. What are the chances I can get back to six loyalty? I start thinking maybe I'll just take the Deathrender the guy on my right has in play. Then on his turn, he Brimstone Volley's Dack. Pf. Good play him.
So I settle for attacking the kid across the table with a wolf. All his critters are smaller than 3/3, and one is a Sakura Tribe Elder. Of course, he blocks with that, sacs it for a land, triggers Morbid and allowing me to Brimstone Volley the Gargoyle.
We develop the board. I get a Charging Rhino in play, a second Sporecap Spider. Glimmerpoint man has a 3/3 Apex Hawks and Favorable Winds. Kid across the table has Jetting Glasskite. That motivated me to Hunger of the Howlpack on a spider as soon as I could get a Morbid trigger. Deathrender dude had early on played a Skitter of Lizards kicked once with the Agenda that let him go look for more cards of that name. Deathrender is attached to it along with an Uncontrollable Anger he'd flashed into play to kill one of Glimmerpoint man's blockers.
Suddenly he made clear why he was sitting on the second Skitter when he Mana Geysered for 13 to put a 9/9 Skitter of Lizards in play. Slick. Kid across the table is Deathrender dude's friend, I'm at 20 life with a nice collection of blockers and Glimmerpoint man is at 14 with very few blockers so Deathrender dude swings both Skitters at him. I offer to finish off the 9/9 with my Brimstone Volley if he'll block with the Hawks to trigger Morbid. Thanks to them being kicked once and the pump enchantment, the Hawks deal four damage and my 5 point Volley would kill the Skitter ... except that his buddy across the table saves it with his own Morbid enhanced Hunger of the Howlpack.
me: "What?! Why would you do that?"
kid: "He's my friend! I'm just helping a guy out, right?"
glimmerpoint: "Do you not realize the now 12/12 Skitter is going to overrun you as well?"
kid: "oh, um ... I'm just ... um, helping, you know?"
deathrender: "Thanks, man!"
glimmerpoint: "So I guess the game is now two old men vs. the kids, huh?" Adjust his life total to 8.
me: "yeah. I guess it is."
I Wrap the kid's two Reckless Scholars and deathrender's Wind Dancer in Flames and swing at Deathrender with my 4/8 Spider and my Charging Rhino and a Howling Wolf while his blockers are tapped out, bringing him down to 8 life also. Fortunately, Glimmerpoint man rips a Stasis Cell on his turn and takes care of the big Skitter.
Deathrender dude has the Worldknit agenda ... so he's playing with his whole cardpool, right? Somewhere he's going to have an answer to Stasis Cell. For the next few turns he's playing out blockers while Glimmerpoint man & I try to swing past them before he finds that answer. I'm doing most of that work, which I'm fine with. Glimmerpoint man has to keep himself alive at only 8 health against both Deathrender's 6/6 Skitter and kid's 4/4 Jetskite. If Glimmerpoint man he dies, the Cell goes with him.
Those few turns later, Deathrender dude is at, like, six health and his buddy the kid can fly over for that much damage. That interesting prize structure dynamic I was talking about? "I'm really sorry man. I really feel bad knocking you out of the game. But it's a booster man! I'll give you ... um, 4, yeah, 4 cards from it. You can even have the rare if it sucks."
Whew. I was so happy I even reminded Glimmerpoint man he could move the Stasis Cell to a new target before the creature it's enchanting disappears from the game. He choses my tapped 4/8 spider. Which made sense I guess, since he had another flyer of some sort out on the board. And now that the youthful alliance was gone, maybe ours was too.
But then, he still didn't have enough blockers to stop me from getting through 8 points of damage. Since I'd want my big spider to block the Jetskite, it was kind of a no brainer to attack him and get rid fo the Cell. I was still at 20 life while the kid was in the 10-15 range and I just plain had more creatures in play than he did, plus a few that were big enough to handle his biggest.
So match one I won two boosters and advanced to the next round v. Robyn & Forest. Robyn's first match was over so fast, they had time to play a second match for fun before Forest's was done. Apparently she just shredded through her opponents. She works at Gnome Games and drafts regularly. And wins regularly. She's intimidating. Forest's game was a long, long slog. That's all I know about him.
Match 2
Neither of them have any Agendas. I turn over 4 of my 6 agendas and as I place my 2/2 defending mana dudes on the table there's that a pause where the only sound is the two of them telepathically signalling, "So ... us against him, right?" "Uh, yep."
Turn one we all play land. Turn two I play Marchesa, the Black Rose while Forest & Robyn play land. Turn 3 swing at Robyn, because you know ... she scares me. And whew, the +1/+1 counter on Marchesa means her own ability puts her back in play if she dies. Play a Charging Rhino. Robyn plays Rousing of Souls, revealing Swords to Plowshares. Awwww. So much for my happy Marchesa dreams. Forest just plays land. My next turn I attack him with the Rhino to bring it to 5/5 and Robyn with Marchesa because again, she scares me and now I've seen reason for it. So not knowing what I have in hand, Robyn puts Marchesa to the (exiling, not killing) Sword before I can untap, plays a doomed traveller while Forest plays his own small blocker of some sort.
The game still remained kind of one sided, though. Neither Robyn nor Forrest play much noteworthy while I play a Pitchburn Devils, Wrap three spirit tokens in Flames, and Kick the Wolfbrair Elemental x4. Finally Forrest adds a Hydra Omnivore to his collection of blockers. I take Robyn to 5 life and decide I should play Selvala's Charge while there are still 3 to Parley. I get lucky hitting 3 elephants.
"We're not friends anymore, Jack"
"I thought we already weren't friends?"
"You could have had my forgiveness."
"You killed Marchesa, Robyn. I don't want your forgiveness."
Once again, the prize structure dynamic comes into play. Robyn's at 5 life with a Spirit token and Custodi Squire in play; Forrest at 15 with his 8/8 Hydra, his own Custodi Squire and two small chumps; I'm at 23 with a 5/5 Rhino, 4/4 Elemental, a 3/3 Devil, 3 3/3 elephants and 4 2/2 wolves. Oh, and a 1/5 spider. When Robyn doesn't draw any sort of board clearing effect I assure Forrest that on my turn I'll take her out of our game.
"Maybe if you attack Robyn with your Hydra, she'll let it through just for spite of me taking 8 damage before she's out. Plus, you know, it's a booster pack for you instead of me getting them all."
"Yeah."
Apparently he was thinking the same. Just hesitating to take his ally out of the game. Robyn saw the sense in it, too, though. When he did attack her with both the Custodi Squire and the Hydra, she declined to block. She was eliminated, I dropped to 15. Attacking with both had left Forrest without enough untapped blockers to prevent me from swinging for his final 15.
So there we go. I got lucky in the draft, pulling both a Dack and Marchesa (foily, even!). Mostly those were just lightening rods for removal, though, so while they were nice I didn't really have a chance to do anything degenerate with them. What really won me the games were the Agendas. Having 3 mana on turn one is just so explosive.
2 weeks ago
