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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Bonfire of the Damned

When I woke up today I felt way better than in the past few days. I'm still ill but I collected some strength. I worked for a while, drank coffee and got something to eat. Then it was time to rush for the bus. I had to be there in less than 9 minutes and I managed that. Not good time for me as I could be there normally much faster but at least I found out that I can still run the whole distance (1.5 km).

After I arrived to the game store I started working. Meanwhile a modern tournament for beginners was starting. At first there was 5 players. Later two more came which still wasn't a good number. 8th player came but he said that a ninth player would come as well. I volunteered to play in the tournament even though I didn't have a deck that would suit the tournament. I checked my cards hoping I would find some cards from drafts but I gave them all away so I picked my Solar Flare. This deck is pretty slow and should give some time for my opponent to play something and not be consistently under pressure.

Modern for Beginners
In the first round I played against a UW deck. I played T3 Lingering Souls that were countered and yet once more countered. After this experience I decided to wait for my opponent to play something. I wasn't prepared for counterspells at beginners' tournament. He tried few cards and I decided to counter few of them with my mana leaks. Later he played Venser. All his lands were tapped though (except the exiled one) so I decided to play Gideon. Gideon later managed to kill both Venser and my opponent. Game two looked completely different. Elite Vanguard, Ajani's Sunstriker and Latch Seeker were nothing I would expect after such a first game. I copied the Sunstriker so I would have some lifegain and let my opponent be chewing at my life total. I knew that the 'turn of day of judgment' would come. After Day of Judgment there were few walkers and oblivion rings involved, but my Gideon managed to win once again. At this point I thought that DoJ would the card deciding each game (but it wasn't as I found later)

In round 2 my opponent showed me lots of spiders and Vampire Nighthawk. He was playing black removal so my creatures were dying and my 1/1 Spirits couldn't attack as each spider had reach and was simply bigger. My Lingering Souls were waiting for Nighthawk to attack but that never happened (my three souls were prepared to block the vampire)

In round 3 I played against some Angel deck. At first I thought that it would be mono white but then Gisela surprised me. My opponent was gaining life and playing lands. And then the bigger creatures came. None were good enough for my Titans though. In game two I needed a bigger blocker that could handle bigger angels so I copied one and that won me the game. Fortunately I drew Go For the Throat and that solved my Nighthawk problem.

Round 4 was interesting. I played against another player with 3:0 so I was wondering what he could be playing. First thing I found out is that he played naya and the first card he played was Grim Lavamancer. I did not like that much. Later he played more creatures and among them was also Loxodon Hierarch. I was unable to draw a fifth land for some time but I managed to draw Restoration Angel so I played it (one of in the deck). The card was exiled with Path to Exile which helped me a ton. I got my fifth land and I only needed to wait for the sixth. I got to that point and played my Titan. It was exiled with another Path To Exile. I wasn't happy about that. Later I managed to play Tamiyo, but she was killed with two burn spells. Some time later (when my opponent was still not hit by my creatures) I played another Titan and Phantasmal Image copying it. Both died but my last Sun Titan with army of Phantasmal Images managed to deal lethal damage. Game two was quite fun as well as I saw few new cards. One of them was Archon of Justice. I did not want this card to die as it would exile my Gideon. Tamiyo was there to save me. These two walkers were cooperating quite well. Gideon was killing creatures and Tamiyo was tapping them.

Avacyn Restored Booster Draft
After the tournament I continued working. Later I was asked if I'm going to draft. I said no, as there was too few people for me. One more player came though (being sixth) and it was decided we would actually play. The TO though found out that there's not enough boosters for us. We could draft Avacyn Restored or Innistrad + Dark Ascension. In the end there was 8 of us and we decided to draft AVR as there are better cards^^ (Bonfire, Cavern of Souls).

I opened my first booster pack and checked the rare. It was some Otherworldy or whatever Atlas. Then I went through the cards starting with the first common. Hanweir Lancer and Riot Ringleader caught my eye, but the last card was way better. My first pick was Wolfir Avenger. My second pick was Mist Raven. My third pick was picked from among lots of black and red cards (including Homicidal Seclusion). Similar booster with many black cards passed once again. After the firt booster I had 4 playable cards. That did not seem good.

Booster packs from the other side did not help much. Even though player sitting left of me was sent into red there was still not much from green or blue (I suspected he was taking green). I started picking white cards but from time to time a blue creature came (Fettergeist - passed to me twice). In the last booster pack serie I managed to get Wingcrafter, Nephalia Smuggler, Mist Raven, Wandering Wolves and YEW SPIRIT which helped me a ton (I managed to get 21 playable cards). After booster pack number two I thought I would have to play bant.

Round one was against RG humans with BIG creatures like 7/7 and 6/4 Soulbond wurm. I lost game one - being overwhelmed by humans and Malcontents dealing more damage I counted with. In game two I had cards following the curve and won easily. In game three my opponent kept a hand he probably shouldn't. I mulliganed as well. The cards on my hand were good but they needed one more card - Forest. The six cards were better.

Next I played against white/black deck. Once again I lost the first game. Terminus dealt with my creatures and Gloom Surgeon wasn't making things anything easier. But due to this card I knew what my opponent played in his deck. The second game was really long. Dealing with 3/3 and 4/4 flyers took me quite some time. But Nephalia Smuggler and Wingcrafter + Wolfir Avenger made everything possible. In game three my start was pretty good and I eventually won.

Last round. This was the game that decided who would get Bonfire of the Damned. I played against black-green deck with two Seclusions and creatures that were capable of sacrificing themselves or another creature. As usual the first game did not turn out well. But the second one went much better. My opponent did not really have much removal (if any) so it was about drawing the right creatures and then doing everything to stay alive. Nephalia Smuggler + Mist Raven or Timberland Guide were just too good. I have to admit that having 3 copies of Sheltering Word was actually good in the end as it was saving my Smuggler. Still the best creature was Wolfir Avenger with Flying (and counters from the Gudie)

After all that time that I drafted M13 I have to say that I changed my point of view on Avacyn Restored. It was a nice change to draft this set. I hated AVR before, because if the format being pretty fast and about creatures but I really enjoyed this draft. It was fun even though some draws (like 4 islands in a row followed by two forests when my opening hand was 4 islands, borderland ranger and nephalia smuggler) were really irritating. Way better than any M13 draft. I left with 4 boosters (nothing good in them) and Bonfire of the Damned.

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