For the draft, I really wanted to draft Esper or Grixis. I've drafted so much Jund and Naya that I've been wanting to try something new. For the two drafts we had in MN before the tournament, I went Exper/Grixis and I really liked it and did well with it. But for some reason, I got passed no Esper cards, when trying to go Esper, I draft only artifacts. Even if there is a decent blue creature available, I don't care, I just want artifacts, in my opinion, that's what makes a good Esper deck. I went 4-0 for the draft portion, my only lost came from Obie because I got mana screwed in that game. Overall, I went 8-1, my deck was a little slow but it was okay, I had plenty of removal and lots of mid-to-late game threats.
Creature Removal:
2 Magma Spray
1 Branching Bolt
1 Soul's Fire
1 Path to Exile
1 Fiery Fall
Creatures:
2 Hissing Iguanar
2 Mosstodon
1 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
1 Welken Guide
1 Scourge Devil
1 Vithian Stinger
1 Wild Leotau
Bombs:
1 Battlegrace Angel (one of my rares)
1 Sigil of Distinction (my other rare, one of the best cards in SSC draft!)
I don't remember the rest of my cards but I do remember that I played with 17 lands and that my deck was pretty consistent. My MVP of the draft was definitely Hissing Iguanar. I showed Josh this card during draft because having two of these with all of the removal that I had was going to be a problem for my opponent. This card is incredibly pesty and it being 3/1 makes it a beat stick as well. Yes, Hissing Iguanar is a great card, don't pass it up.
I don't remember much from the draft except that I got lucky a bunch of times because my opponents would get stuck with not enough lands or the wrong kind.
I did a horrible job of keeping notes but here are some of the bits and pieces that I remember from the Standard tournament.
Match 1 vs. Vipat's W Kithkin Deck
I won the the first game because of a Volcanic Fallout and was able to resolve Cruel Ultimatum.
I lost the 2nd game because I accidentally sideboarded in Celestial Purge for my Terrors. I'm so used to play testing against R/W Boat Brew that I did it out of habit. I lost this game because he had a Forge-Tender and my Celestial Purge was not a Terror. I deserved this lost.
After a 20 minutes dinner break we started our third match. I Wrathed the board and then patiently waited till he had three cards left in his hand and played Cruel Ultimatum. He discarded a pretty powerful hand as well, I think there was a Cloudgoat Ranger & PtE in his hand. I was able to resolve a 2nd Cruel Ultimatum as well.
1-0
Match 2 vs. Xay's W/B Tokens Deck
The first game was pretty epic. I got a pretty good draw and when Xay Tidehollow Scullered my hand I think he knew that all I had to do was hit 6 or 7 mana to resolve my spells. I was pretty lucky that Xay didn't play with Thoughseize maindeck. That card plus Tidehollow Sculler kills control decks. Eventually I was able to gain the advantage and eventually won. This game was epic. It got to a point where we were drawing cards and saying "Go."
In the 2nd game, I was able to get a turn two Scepter of Fugue. I slowly took damage as I continually removed land after land from Xay's hand. Xay got mana flooded hard in this game and I was able get the win.
2-0
Match 3 vs. Isiah's Bant Agro-Control Deck
These are the kind of decks that 5CC has trouble against. Decks that can lay down threats turn 1-4, and then on turn five, they sit back with counterspells and battle tricks. I lost like crazy the week before against Blong's Realm Razor deck that would lay down early threats and control the game with Realm Razor. Usually 5CC takes 5 turns to really get going.
Game 1 Isiah smashed me with an exalted Mimic & Rhox War Monk. I even made a comment about how at FNM, this deck always beats me because they Cryptic Command my Wrath of God. I think I tried to play Cruel Ultimatum and then Isiah Cryptic Commanded it. Hahaha, I should of taken my own advice!
Game 2, Isiah had a slower start and I was able to slow him down with a Scepter of Fugue. It was funny, he had a Cloudthresher and 2 Cryptic Commands in his hand and he had to throw away both Cryptics! Haha, we were all laughing! Eventually, this game went a little long, and the longer the game, the better it is for 5CC to stabalize and win.
Game 3 I got stuck on 2 lands, eventually drawing my 3rd land but by that time I was already down to 1 life. But hey, Magic is a game of economics and sometimes this happens.
2-1
Match 4 vs. Tsheng's R/G Agro Deck
I don’t remember much from this match because it was such a long day. I remember that I got pretty lucky because in the first game I was able to Wrath the board away.
In the second game I was able to play Wrath early in the game and then I top decked another Wrath after Tsheng exploded his Sarkhan Vol. Whew, that was scary! After Sarkhan Vol exploded, I thought he was going to play another one but I was lucky. Wrath of God was the MVP in this match.
3-1
Limited: 4-0 (8-1)
Constructed: 3-1 (6-3)
Overall 7-1 (14-4)
Overall I’m really proud of how well I did, I’m also very proud of the MN guys. It seems like Cheng and Chong are loving this friendly competition. I know that us guys up here will continue to work on our games and get better. Congrats to everyone and congrats to IL!
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