Theros Draft #4 - Match Report

Last time I described the draft of my green blue deck. Here's how it went.

Round 1: My opponent was super quite, he was rocking solid pink sleeves. The whole time it felt like something was wrong. Like his pet just died. Anyway I didn't say anything, perhaps he just has a bizarre game face. Regardless this guy was a total douche. Card flicking, playing quickly and unclean - ly, etc. So I really wanted to crush him.

After the first few turns it was clear we were in the mirror. Every card I saw him play I also had in my deck. I was on the play and attacked in with a Leafcrown Dryad offering a trade. He declined and therefore declared that the race was on. (20-18)

We were trading damage but my turn 5 Nessian Asp brought his plan to screeching halt (14-10). He responded with a bow of Nylea and was able to keep pushing damage through (8-10). I suited up the asp with a bestowed Nylea's Emissary and rumbled into the red zone.

 

gross!

I was regretting not main decking an answer to artifacts but that's a problem to worry about when I get to sideboarding. I swung in with my huge dude and he was forced to block to soak up some damage (8-6). The game was pretty close here. Then I dropped another creature and hoped my opponent didn't have something huge. He didn't. All he could do was crumble under the pressure.

For game 2 he chose to be on the draw and the game played out rather similarly to the previous one except that this time I got my Bow of Nylea. 

I played out a solid stream of beats and used a timely Time to Feed that was absolutely back breaking. The scores went like this.  20-18, 17-18, 17-15, 14-15, 17-14 (time to feed), 17-11. At that point the game was over. I had a great board presence and my opponent could only delay the inevitable 17-5. He managed to suit up a 3/3 with a Nimbus Nyad. And thought he had stabilized.

 

oh that's how you spell naiad!

I had a 6/6 out and rocked a Time to Feed 20-5, then used the bow to remove the Naiad. My 6 power flyer sailed in for the victory. W 2-0 (1-0)

Overall I feel really good about this match. I recognized that the way to go was to race. My opponent did not, his decisions were incoherent. His early actions said "let's race" but then he didn't follow it up, so the early damage forced him into a tough spot late in the games. I'm really not sure what his plan was. But he did leave me with some awesome quotes after the match.

"I could have won game one but I made a mistake." What scintillating insight bro. He said it with such disgust. The vibe I got was ~"I cannot believe I lost to this luck sack." It really made me happy to crush him.

"Are you going to the pro tour?" He said this _ because I was making a couple notes after the game. I responded with a cool, "I just learned how to play draft." Man people who think they are better than you hate to hear that.

Round 2: My opponent this round was a Commander player through and through. So much fun to play against. He was there for a part and to have some great games. Timmy city. His buddies has just talked him into drafting and he was giving it a shot. He clearly didn't value any removal in the draft which is hilarious because he was playing Red/Black. So I curved out and smashed him. 20-18, 18-18, 18-16, 18-7, win. He just couldn't handle the pressure of ever increasingly large beats.

Game two he dropped some early stuff and was laying some beats, but he stalled on 3 lands while I just kept dropping dude after dude. We were in a race situation but I had a Nylea's Disciple in hand, I played it on turn 5 and the life swing from 10 to 15 for me put me ahead on the race and he had no way to dig out. W 2-0 (2-0)

Round 3: My opponent was names Wesley and totally didn't get my Wesley Crusher joke, bummer. Anyways this guy was a super douche. Like when he had no cards in hand he would pick up his graveyard and flick it to pretend like he had cards in hand. Needless to say I wanted to obliterate him.

Game one he got off to a blistering start and crushed me. It was strange because his lands went RW/G/R. Three color and two early missed drops and I still lose. Hmmmmm. So I realize that he is just playing a million small dudes. So I take out the high end of my curve because I don't need it, and I load up on more Nessian Courser and early stuff. 

Game two he mulligans and our mana goes like this. Him: RRR/RG/. Me: GU/GU//. Normally that would be a recipe for a loss but he just didn't have much gas. He got me down to 3 but ran out of steam. My strategy of taking every trade possible played off, but still he was a burn spell or pump spell away from winning.

Game three. I needed this win hard. He's on the play. No mulligans. Mana was perfect for both of us. But he didn't get to attack until turn 3 and I had a 2 drop and it traded with his attacker. Turn 4 for him he drops a dude and says go. I'm still at 20. This feels great. I felt invincible. Eventually we are at 17-10. Then he attacks for 15, blowing his entire load 2-10, uh oh. I respond with a Time to Feed on my turn which he really didn't plan on 5-10. He totally planned on burning me out. Bummer for him. W 2-1 (3-0)

After he lost the guy was bummed. he just kept talking about how sweet his deck was. 14 lands 9 1 drops. Vomit. What a cheese deck.

There were several sweet plays this game but I cannot remember the precise details because I waited too long to write the report. sorry.

Round 4: My opponent this round was my favorite kind of guy to play against. Very good, and polite. Clean player, clear communicator. Sadly this round I played poorly ... and had back luck. I was playing so bad that even average luck wouldn't be enough for me to win. I think I was feeling fatigue. Anyways...

Game one started off clean. No mulligans. Fair mana from both of us. My opponent was on the play and had the front foot. He was playing all the same green dudes as me with some black mixed in. He dropped an Ordeal of Erebos on his Leafcrown Dryad and swung. I had no answer so I took it. 

 

swing on turn 3. Gross.

The next turn he attacked again and I had a choice. Double block and trade with it (a two for two). Or take it and hope to draw an answer on my turn. I chose not to double block and I didn't draw an answer (of which there were only two in my deck). So I had to discard two cards - they were both forests and I still had another in my hand, but still. And then I double blocked because I couldn't handle the 5/5. doh! Total disaster. I had drawn more than my fair share of lands so I didn't actually feel the discard but I still played incorrectly.

Then post combat my opponent dropped Arbor Colossus. I had no answer. I lost in short order.

 

Game two I had a one lander and snap-mulled to 6. I had a two lander with a two drop and was on the play. I kept it. The curve was solid with 2,3,4,5. I just needed to draw lands. It felt better than going back for 5 and hoping for the nut draw. Sadly land 3 never came until my opponents Reaper of the Wilds already hit the table. He then followed it with an Arbor Colossus. I didn't have anything big enough or deathtouchy enough to deal with it. L 0-2 (3-1)

Game one I drew way more lands than spells. Game two I mulled and kept a 2 lander (which I think is right). And didn't get timely lands. It felt like there really wasn't much I could have done. Especially when his bombs came down.

Wrapup: Well the 4-0 eluded me again. I was really happy with my play early and made solid moves. However in the last match I played poorly and had bad luck. My opponent's deck showed up both games. Mine certainly did not in game 2. In game one I could have played smarter and maybe given myself the time needed to draw into my answers. Maybe I could mulled better. Not really sure.