Return to Ravnica Bloc Draft #1 - Disaster

I head into my first full bloc Return to Ravnica draft with a plan to draft a tight, single-guild deck, preferably Gruul aggro, but Rakdos and Boros are not far behind, along with Simic and Selesnya. If a two-color deck isn't in the cards, I will try to stay light on the third color with the goal to increase consistency and avoid mana issues. And if everything goes all wrong, I wouldn't be opposed to drafting four- or five-color madness, picking up early gates, late cluestones and any bombs I happen across.

First Pick:

Power or Versatility + Consistency?

For about 5 seconds I debate sticking to my plan and taking the Maaka, but my love of extort ends up pulling me to the rare. If the pontiff gets going, there is no stopping him.*

My next few picks are Armed//Dangerous, a couple of black gatekeepers, a late Krasis Incubation, and a Profit//Loss. I cement myself into black, despite not having any real signal that would be a good idea. I tell myself I will pick up any gates that make black, but still manage to finish this pack without a single one.

Pack 2:
I first-pick One Thousand Lashes, then grab a bunch of Orzhovian cards, including two Basilica Screecher, Knight of Obligation and a wheeled Vizkopa Confessor. Unfortunately, each of those packs with one extort creature also featured either a Basilica Guards or a Syndic of Tithes or both, while the other packs were lacking in extorters. I took the fliers over the 1/4s, which i stand by as correct. Little removal is passed my way, only an Executioner's Swing. I do manage to pick up one on-guild gate.

Pack 3:
This pack figured to be less exciting and sure enough first pick Azorius Arrester. I develop a minor token  subtheme, with Security Blockade**, Eyes in the Skies, and Trostani's Judgment. This pack features only two gates that are either black or white, both in the same pack. Not good for the gatekeepers.

The masterpiece:

Some tough decisions here, including gatekeeper (or 2) as a vanilla 2/4? Golgari Guildgate to offer the (slim) chance of triggering the 'keeper***? How many mana sources for a two-color, five-extorter deck?

My plan is to gum up the ground, save my removal for big threats, ping the villain in the air, and extort them out with Hired Torturer and One Thousand Lashes help.

Round 1, Fight!

Villain, playing BUG, gets a trio of unblockable/tough-to-block guys while i stall at two land after a mull to 6. Sewer Shambler, Deathcult Rogue, and Korozda Guildmage do me in before I find rogues or removal. In game 2, I mull again and keep a three-swamp hand with black castables. I play Screecher, Screecher, Bane Alley Blackguard, then stall at three mana for two pivotal turns while he sets up an Experiment One and a Sewer Shambler. I Loss as a one-for-one on the swampwalker, then Beckon Apparition to keep it from being scavenged, which is a nice sequence, until villain drops the second Mr. Shambles. I pack it in to the unblockable guy against my removal-light black deck.

This round was not great, but I feel like I mulliganned twice and saw the weaker parts of my deck.

Round 2:
What a beating this was. No mulls, but villain's turn-two Skargg Guildmage, wearing turn-three Madcap  Skillz + Ethereal Armor = 7/4 first-striker that can only be chumped by two guys. For extra insult and injury, a Mountain hits me in the face on his turn four. I scrape to hang on and hope to draw Executioner's Swing or One Thousand Lashes, but no dice.

Game two, villain gets another quick start with Ash Zealot and Bomber Corps but i have some 2/4s to perhaps stem the tide. No luck as bloodrush x2 powers through my defending forces. At the end of this game, I hold my mana open, keep my last land in hand, and even though I am dead on board he does not attack for two turns in a row. Unfortunately, I draw two more land with my extra draw steps and still lose.

Round 3:

One last match to scrape my pride off the floor and win back a pack. I keep four land and two castable spells, and villain drops Swamps, Island, Prophetic Prism, Kingpin's Pet against my Skyjek and Knight of Obligation. All seems to be going pretty smoothly until Mirko Vosk hits.

Take a look at that deck again and you'll see that I need to find one of my three hard removal spells or else I am dead in three hits. I come up with what I think is a decent plan of Maw of the Obzedat + Basilica Screecher to chump as many turns as I have extra useless creatures sitting around, but villian foils that by bouncing my bat and getting there.

Game two, I keep a two-lander that stumbles on mana but still manages to play Screecher, Screecher, Arrester, missing a few extrort triggers, but building a board presence. He has Keening Apparition, Sunspire Griffin, Vassal Soul and Mortis Strider, so our armies stare at each other while my two, then three extorters grind him down.

Game three, for all the loser's marbles heads toward a stalemate, with each of us having multiple extorters in play and no good attacks due to our big-butt, small power teams. My stupid guys are barely beating his stupid guys, and I get him down to 6 at one point but my attack won't quite kill him but will leave me vulnerable on swing back, so I hold back, then he drops his third extorter. The game ends as you see below.

Really not good.

What you see here is me making a last ditch attack with a removal spell and three extort triggers on the stack when time runs out on my chess clock, making me the biggest loser. I counted it up after the fact and it looks to me that as long as villain makes all the right blocks, he survives this turn at the very least.

Conclusions:

• I think i got a little worse luck than I deserved from my two-color deck with a reasonable curve. Mulligans and getting stuck on land hurt me, but my deck was underpowered by my estimation. Check out an opening hand that seemed very typical:

Keep... I guess

• How many times did i draw Actually Zero Lashes? Zip
• Next time, I am going to stick with my gut. I love the flexibility that bloodrush allows and I want to get an aggressive two-color deck going while others are fiddling around with their kluged mana bases. Or go crazy five-color. Definitely one or the other.

* How many times do you think the Pontiff got going? Zero

** How many times did I miss Security Blockade shields-up? Twice

*** How much did that comes-into-play-tapped swamp cost me? One activation of Hired Torturer. How many times did the Gatekeepers actually trigger? Zero.