ZZZ Drafting - 4322 - 16 November 2009

I drafted twice last night, and you can see the results at raredraft.com here and here.

The first deck I went WB, and ended up 0-1 after a winning the first game and losing the next two. I essentially used Blade of the Bloodchief terribly badly. If I had my time again I could easily have won the third match, but simply didn't realise what I needed to do to win at the time.

The second deck went mono-black to maximise a turn 5 Mind Sludge. Here's the decklist:

1 Vampire Lacerator
3 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Trusty Machete

1 Grim Discovery
1 Blood Seeker
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir

2 Hideous End
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Giant Scorpion

2 Hagra Crocodile
1 Crypt Ripper
1 Bala Ged Thief
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Nimana Sell-Sword

1 Bog Tatters
2 Mind Sludge

18 Swamp

Match 1: My first opponent was playing a WR deck, but it seemed far slower than your usual WR deck. G1 I managed a turn 3 kicked Gatekeeper, which really disturbed his tempo, and followed that up with a turn 5 Mind Sludge. This effectively forced him into topdeck mode, while I still had removal in hand. He conceded on Turn 6. G2 was much the same, though I felt a bit more pressure being on the draw. But another T3 Gatekeeper and a Turn 4 Hideous End / Guul Draz Vampire pretty much consolidated the win.

I had a large break between Matches having won so quickly, so I scouted out my opponents. One guy was playing a mean BG Landfall.Dec and had beaten his opponents essentially in Turn 4. Another was playing RG allies with some Baloth backup. I could probably nuke the Ally player, but would likely have trouble against the GB player due to his high prevelance of black creatures and double disfigures.

Match 2: My opponent was neither of the people I scouted, but instead playing a UW Eel deck. I won the roll in the first game and effectively ripped through him with a Mind Sludge on Turn 5. It was an pretty brutal moment - he'd just used a Narrow Escape to prevent his flyer from dying to my Hideous End by return it to his hand, then promptly losing everything to the Sludge. Game 2 was a lot closer. He had a Sky Drake Ruin and two Eels on the board, plus a Trusty Machete. He was on 3 life, and I had a Guul Draz Vampire ready to finish him off. I was sitting at 11 life. He needed a single land to pump both Eels for the win... but didn't rip it, and he graciously conceded.

In between games I kept a careful eye on who was winning between Mr. Allies and Mr. BG Landfall. Mr. BG Landfall won. I knew my double Hideous Ends had very few targets in his deck, but that he had at least one himself that would be useless. I would have to come out fighting if I was to beat his adventuring gear. I also doubted my Mind Sludges would be much use, as he had generally dumped his hand by Turn 4 each game.

Match 3: G1 I have a perfect curve - Blood Seeker into kicked Gatekeeper into Nighthawk. Although he attempted a comeback, swinging in with a 9/9 Scute Mob at one point, Nighthawk's lifegain effectively put me too far out of reach and I won G1. I did manage to Mind Sludge him for 1 - as I suspected, my sludges were too slow to catch his cards.

Knowing I had so few answers for many of his critters - double Crypt Ripper, Nimina Sell-Sword, Bala Ged Thief - I decided to sideboard in my blue cards. The advantage of this was that he'd likely taken out his Hideous End(s), so he'd have less removal for them.

My new deck looked like this:

1 Soul Stair Expedition
2 Kraken Hatchling
1 Trusty Machete
1 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Hedron Crab

1 Welkin Tern
1 Blood Seeker
1 Grim Discovery
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir

2 Paralyzing Grasp
1 Hideous End
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Vampire Nighthawk

1 Nimana Sell-Sword
1 Bala Ged Thief
2 Hagra Crocodile

1 Bog Tatters
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Whiplash Trap

1 Jwar Isle Refuge
10 Swamp
7 Island

As I said last week, "If both of you can attack, but only one of you can block, who has the advantage?". My theory was that we were both equally aggressive, so anything that could slow my opponent down would be a good thing.

G2 I had a great starting hand. I went T1 Hatching, T2 Welkin Tern, then various forms of removal. He started with a Giant Scorpion in to a Crypt Ripper, but my Paralyzing Grasp stopped his Ripper cold. This was a perfect example of blue shutting black down in a way that black would of been unable to. By the time he'd dropped to 8 life he managed to Orin Reif Recluse my Tern, but I responded with a Grim Discovery, replayed it, and he promptly Burst Lightning'd it. I was left with a Hatchling and a Blood Seeker on the board, while he had a Scorpion, Recluse and the trapped Crypt Ripper.

He started wearing me down as I pulled land after land after land. He, on the other hand found his Adventuring gear, equipped the Recluse and started pounding in. Luckily, I found my Bog Tatters and put him on a Turn 2 clock. Unless he had removal, he was dead in the water. I knew he was carrying Harrow, so I started chump blocking the critter with the Adventuring Gear as I swung in with my Tatters. He didn't have the removal and I pulled out the win.

I felt I'd done a number of things right this draft. Firstly, I took the time to scout out my opponent's decks, giving me enough time to plan ahead. This allowed me to build a transformational sideboard for any deck faster than mine, or with creatures I could remove through Hideous End. My theory on the ability of 'walls' to slow down a race worked, with my opponent hitting me for 1 a turn, while I swung for 2. Over 5 turns this clearly makes a huge difference.

And, of course, it demonstrates the simple power of being in black in ZZZ draft.