Top 8 Draft - Najada League

On Tuesday the top 8 players of Najada's Tournament League gathered to determine the winner of the league. We played Theros block double draft.

The week before I participated in a friendly draft in order to find out what the set looks like and how it feels drafting it so I wouldn't end up last or similar place due to not knowing the cards. After that draft I had general idea of the cards I can encounter so I actually expected a good record at this draft. My first pick was Dictate of Heliod, followed by Golden Hind, Supply-Line Cranes, Akroan Mastiff, Pheres-Band Thunderhoof and Oreskos Swiftclaw. In the next pack I opened Hero of Iroas. My second pick was Glimpse the Sun God! Then I wanted to pick as many 2 or 3 drops as possible but I did not really manage that (Elite Skirmisher and Oreskos Sun Guide). I picked some blue cards, few combat tricks and mana fixing. In Theros pack my first pick was Nessian Asp followed by two Horizon Chimeras, Evangel of Heliod, Centaur Battlemaster and then some removal (no 3 drops either...). In the end my deck looked something like this (I played 41 cards):

2 Horizon Chimera
1 Evangel of Heliod
1 Staunch-Hearted Warrior
1 Nessian Asp
1 Centaur Battlemaster
1 Divine Verdict
1 Feral Invocation
2 Supply-Line Cranes
1 Golden Hind
1 Dictate of Heliod
1 Akroan Mastiff
2 Pheres-Band Thunderhoof
1 Oreskos Swiftclaw
1 Oreskos Sun Guide
1 Hero of Iroas
1 Glimpse the Sun God
1 Karametra's Favor
1 Elite Skirmisher
1 Pheres-Band Tromper
1 Ephara's Enlightenment
1 Aspect of Hydra
1 Unknown Shores
+ lands

In the first round game one I mulled to five and died to gruul aggro. In the second game I would be able to win if I drew a plains card. My deck decided not to give it to me so I had to listen to my opponent telling me how his deck is good and that I could never win. Unfortunetaly the land I needed did not show up. Otherwise my opponent would see what my deck could actually do.

I don't really remember the second round as a storm came and my brain stopped working for some time. I won the match somehow though. In the last round I played against monoblue flyers. My opponent tapped out (played all his cards) so I tapped all his creatures with the Glimpse and overran him. In the second game I forced him to play counterspells or tricks early and then beat him with my Cranes.

The second draft was worse. After opening the first booster pack I knew that nothing good will come out of it. The best card in the pack was Bladetusk Boar so I picked it. In the second pack I also picked that card, Flurry of Horns followed and then I was picking more or less random cards that would kill me. I made sure though to pick Riddle of Lightning and Rouse the Mob that I wanted to play in my deck. Those cards looked cool. In the BNG pack I first picked Fall of the Hammer, followed by Nyxborn Rollicker (I needed some Heroic enablers) and Kragma Butcher. The rest of BNG cards were more or less offcolor (Blue, I picked some flyers + Arbiter of the Ideal). I hoped that Theros would bring me cards so I could actually play RG deck. First pick was Stoneshock Giant, followed by Nessian Asp, Spearpoint Oread, Ordeal of Nylea and few more creatures.

In the fourth round I played against the winner of the previous draft. This time his deck was not so insane and I beat him quite easily (because my creatures weren't hit by Sudden Storm or Sea God's Revenge). In the fifth round I played against UWBr deck. My opponent's top deck though killed me and that meant I wouldn't be able to win the tournament but be second at best. In the last round I played against opponent from my first round and won. I had to listen to his insults, musings and remarks about how other players are not playing well etc. There are things I hate during a game of Magic and this is one of them. I don't care about people ranting but I hate people being persuaded that they are the best players of the world that will just tell you how stupid you are even though they have no idea how to play. I would slap him in the face but I couldn't do that. Instead I just beat him due to his misplays and such and then was sad that I did not win because of him being lucky in round one. (I can blame my deck construction as well but 10 white sources seemed fine - to be able to have two white sources during the game). The second draft was really a terrible experience. The majority of players were just insulting each other, yelling at each other and were angry when they lost. I'm not sure if any of them wanted to really win but it was really unpleasant and solely for that reason I'd rather be the winner. I hoped to open some 'money' so that it would help me in my financial situation but in those 18 packs I opened I didn't really get anything expensive.-_-. I played two drafts though and had some fun. But it was more because I played Legacy in between rounds.

So this post is a form of my own rant because I really can't stand players like this. Meeting those day after day makes me wonder how come people can be so naive, ignorant, arrogant and disrespectful. Unfortunately it's not only magic players that are like this. Many people in this country behave like this and I wonder what the reason is.