Innistrad Draft 1

Magic Online is running three PTQs for Honolulu this weekend. One Friday, one Saturday, one Sunday. I managed to sleep through the start of the Friday one but I'm going to give the Saturday one a shot. I figured I should play a bit with the interface and such, so I did a draft today. Here's what happened! (This was a 4-3-2-2 draft, for reference.)



  Pack 1 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 7:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 8:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 9:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 10:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 11:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 12:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 13:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 14:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 15:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 7:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 8:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 9:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 10:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 11:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 12:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 13:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 14:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 15:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 7:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 8:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 9:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 10:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 11:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 12:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 13:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 14:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 15:




  My Pick:






This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.

Visit the draft converter today!


And the deck:


1 Unburial Rites
1 Cackling Counterpart
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Fortress Crab
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Armored Skaab
2 Silent Departure
1 Kessig Wolf
2 Deranged Assistant
1 Shimmering Grotto
2 Stitched Drake
1 Dream Twist
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Runic Repetition
1 Burning Vengeance
5 Mountain
1 Skaab Ruinator
2 Swamp
9 Island
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Makeshift Mauler
1 Blazing Torch
1 Lost in the Mist

Sideboard
2 Curse of the Bloody Tome
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Lumberknot
1 Ghostly Possession
1 Altar's Reap
2 Purify the Grave
1 Memory's Journey
2 Curse of the Nightly Hunt
1 Paraselene
1 Woodland Sleuth
1 Forest
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Moonmist

I was desperately searching for ways to fill my graveyard and mostly kept finding things that wanted to go in my graveyard instead. I left the two blue curses in my sideboard but that really might have been wrong. I did play the dream twist as it has flashback and I was hoping I could proc my burning vengeance with it. The deck is incredibly powerful once it gets going but I have an awful lot of cards that simply do nothing if the game isn't set up for them. (The 4 zombies, the runic repetition, the clone, the zombify, etc...)

Match 1 - Game 1

My opponent wins the toss and chooses to go first. My opening hand is M,I,I,I,armored skaab, pitchburn devils, balefire dragon. Spells that do things when I play them! Run it!

He plays a swamp and says go. I draw forbidden alchemy, play island, and say go. He plays a mountain and a village ironsmith. Frown. I draw a mountain, play it, and say go. His guy flips, he cracks me for 3, and says go. I draw a swamp and bust out the skaab. He mills two islands, a blazing torch, and unburial rights. My opponent casts a moon heron and says go. 

I draw silent departure and have no 4 drop so I figure my best plan is to bounce the heron to buy some time and cast forbidden alchemy. But since it's an instant I wait until his turn. This is wrong since I should cast 2 spells on my turn to unflip his werewolf. Sigh. At any rate, his turn is civilized scholar and go. Alchemy finds me a lost in the mist and puts cackling counterpart, island, and swamp in the bin. On my turn I draw a second silent departure and bust out my pitchburn devils. He discards a selhoff occultist on his turn, flips, and doesn't attack so he unflips. He also replays the moon heron. 

I draw stitched drake (still no dead dudes in my bin), play my 6th land, and cast the fresh silent departure on his moon heron. he casts desperate ravings and then tries to recast his heron. I counter it and bounce his looter. On my turn his werewolf unflips. I draw skaab ruinator (still no dead dudes let alone 3), bash for 3, and say go which reflips his werewolf. He casts a pitchburn devils of his own on his turn. 

I draw shimmering grotto on my turn which opens up a world of possibilities. I can now flashback clone, or alchemy, or I can bust out my dragon. The grotto was particularly good as I can also flashback my zombify if he happens to kill the dragon. So I play dragon. On his turn he debuffs it with sensory deprivation and dead weight and busts out a fortress crab. 

I draw kessig wolf, swing for 1 (killing his werewolf, and then flashback clone on my dragon. The real one might be 1/4 but the clone is 5/5. He scoops in response. 

Match 1 - Game 2

He starts off with a mulligan to 5. My opener is S, M, blazing torch, dream twist, cackling counterpart, stitched drake, balefire dragon. I'm not sure why I kept to be honest. I guess I had my dragon! he plays island and says go. I draw a mountain and play it and the torch. He plays a mountain and says go. I draw island and play it. He plays a third land but no spells. I mill myself for 3 at end of turn and hit unburial rights, silent departure, swamp. I draw island and play it and say go. He plays a 4th land and a kessig wolf. I twist myself at the end of his turn and mill forbidden alchemy, island, fortress crab. On my turn I draw burning vengeance, bust out the stitched drake, and equip him with the torch. My opponent plays a fortress crab and says go. I draw an island, bash for 3, and make a clone of my drake. He scoops.

Match 2 - Game 1

My opponent wins the toss and chooses to go first. My opener is I, S, silent departure, desperate ravings, kessig wolf, skaab ruinator, lost in the mist. He plays a swamp and says go. I draw cackling counterpart on my turn and play a land. He plays an island and says go. I draw fortress crab, play my land, and say go. He plays a third land and casts curse of the bloody tome targeting me! Woo! I almost played two of those myself so I could target me! I mill off my dragon and a mountain and draw shimmering grotto which I play and say go. He plays a land and village cannibals. I desperate ravings at end of his turn, drawing mountain and deranged assistant and discarding kessig wolf. On my turn I mill island and runic repetition. I draw stitched drake, which I play along with the mountain. He plays a 5th land and sturmgeist on his turn.

I mill pitchburn devils and swamp and draw island. I swing for 3 and bounce his flyer. On his turn he bashes with the cannibal and I clone my drake and block. He recasts sturmgeist. On my turn I mill mountain and blazing torch and draw island. I flash back silent departure and bash for 6. He replays sturmgeist and says go. I mill forbidden alchemy and island and draw an island which I play. I'm out of bounce which isn't attached to a counterspell so I say go. He casts stitched drake during his first main phase so I counter it and bounce his sturmgeist. He follows up with a one-eyed scarecrow. 

I mill deranged assistant and island and draw another island. Milling the assistant means I have 3 dudes in the yard so I finally cast skaab ruinator and deranged assistant. He recasts sturmgeist and says go. 

I mill burning vengeance and silent departure which I use to bounce his sturmgeist again and kill him. 

Nice curse of the bloody tome!

Match 2 - Game 2

He's on the play again and chooses to keep. My opener is I, M, M, burning torch, deranged assistant, deranged assistant, sever the bloodline. He plays an island and says go. I draw an island, play it and torch, and say go. He plays a swamp and says go. I draw a mountain and bust out an assistant. He main phases a think twice on his turn and then plays a third land. I draw unburial rites, mill an island, and play the second assistant. I give him a torch. He doesn't have a fourth land but he does have curse of the bloody tome for me. It mills runic repetition and stitched drake. I draw skaab ruinator. I decide he's going to mill me enough so I swing for 2 with my assistants instead of milling myself for 2. He still has no land but plays a village cannibals to shut down my assistant beats. I mill kessig wolf and makeshift mauler and draw swamp. His curse managed to mill 3 dudes in 4 cards so I get to bust out the ruinator! He casts sensory deprivation on it and says go with no land. 

I mill island and lost in the mists and draw balefire dragon. Ok, I'll mill myself for 1 to get him out. He has a 4th land now and casts a second think twice. (A different one, so he now has 2 in the bin.) I mill island and forbidden alchemy, draw island, and bash for 8. He casts stitched drake on his turn. I mill island and swamp, draw island, and kill his dude with sever. Then I kill him with my dudes. 

Nice curse of the bloody tome!

Match 3 - Game 1

I win the coin toss and choose to play. My opener is M, dream twist, silent departure, kessig wolf, forbidden alchemy, runic repetition, makeshift mauler. I send it back. The next hand is I, I, blazing torch, cackling counterpart, runic repetition, fortress crab. I keep and play an island and the torch. He plays a mountain and a torch. I draw mountain and play it. He plays a swamp, a stromkirk noble (yikes!) and equips it. I draw stitched drake, play a land, and say go. He cracks for 1 and a counter and plays screeching bat. I draw mountain (yay!) and play the crab. He plays a land, hits for 2, and says go. I draw an island, equip the crab, and say go. He transforms his bat on upkeep and swings with just it, leaving the vampire with the torch back. I considered torching the bat but I decided I'm happy to have him spend a turn doing that when I can make a clone and block anyway. I decide to kill the noble before cloning in order to keep the token alive. Not sure why I valued my 1/6 over his torch and think I should have made that trade. I misplay and didn't so I end up with a pair of 1/6s and he has a 5/5 and a torch which he equips after playing a 5th land. (It's especially a misplay since I have a stitched drake in hand!)

I draw an island, play it, and say go after swinging for 1. He transforms back into a bat and swings for 2. He has a 6th land but no spell. I draw kessig wolf, swing for 1, and play it. I probably should have swung for 2 and chumped if he transformed again to power up the drake. He swings for 2 and then blows me out by casting skirsdag high priest, bloodcrazed neonate, bloodcrazed neonate, and equips the torch to a neonate.

I draw another island and play it. I bash for 3 and say go. He kills my wolf with his torch (I make a copy in response) and then he makes a demon. And a pitchburn devils. If I draw a bounce spell I can stay in the game. I draw skaab ruinator. I play my drake and repetition back my clone. He swings with the 2 neonates and the demon token. I kill the neonates with crabs. He makes another demon. 

I can still stabilize with a bounce spell. Instead I draw another island. I'm at 3 so I'm forced to make a clone and chump both demons when he attacks. He makes another screeching bat and another demon. 

A bounce spell won't even save me now. Which is ok, since I drew a mountain.

If I'd kept the torch around the priest can't get played and I'm pretty sure I win this game. Misplay causes loss.

Match 3 - Game 2

I'm on the play again. My opener is I, M, shimmering grotto, burning vengeance, curse of the nightly haunt, stitched drake, fortress crab. I sided in the curse to try to deal with the high priest. (Actually, I sided in 2 of them...) I play island and say go. He plays mountain and says go. I draw runic repetition, play mountain, and say go. He plays swamp and disciple of griselbrand. I draw a second stitched drake and opt for the curse. If I draw a 4th land I can play my 1/6 and kill his disciple next turn is my thinking. He hits for 1 and plays a screeching bat. I draw mountain and play my crab. He has crossway vampire (preventing crab from blocking) and hits for 3. I draw kessig wolf and play him out. He has another crossway vampire (preventing crab from blocking) and bashes for 6. I decide to trade wolf for the first vampire instead of waiting for first strike mana. The thinking is losing the 3 life is going to hurt and I can play a drake with the wolf dead.

I draw lost in the mist and play a drake. He sacs his disciple to himself to gain a life, plays morkut banshee to kill my drake, and bashes in. I block vampire and take 2 down to 11. I draw desperate ravings and make another drake. He transforms into a 5/5 and swings. Drake blocks and kills vampire, crab stops the 5/5, and I eat 4 down to 7. He follows up with stromkirk noble. 

I draw island. I could hold back on lost in the mist mana or I could bust out burning vengeance and cast desperate ravings. This would set up a flashback for a shock next turn. I opt for that plan. He plays tribute to hunger and I'm blown out. I sac the drake, block the 5/5 with crab, and go to 2. Noble becomes a 2/2. He also has another disciple of griselbrand. I ravings at end of turn just in case. I draw deranged assistant and island and discard runic repetition. 

I draw unburial rites. I could bring back drake but then I'm dead. My only play seems to be to flash back ravings, kill noble, and hope to draw bounce. Ravings turns up pitchburn devils and swamp (discarding devils). I play derabges assistant to chump and live one more turn. He transforms back into a bat so I don't have that one more turn and die.

As in game 1 if I play differently I might win this game. If I save counterspell mana up (I can ravings if he does nothing) I don't lose all that much and I'm able to stop him from blowing me out with removal if he has it, which he did. And as an added bonus when I counter the removal spell I get to bounce his bat (or his banshee) and I get to block and kill the noble while taking no damage. Being at 7 life with an extra dude in play and him with 2 fewer dudes in play might well be good enough. Especially if my draws go as they did and I can unburial rites the pitchburn devils into play. I had grotto so I could even flash it back for a shock.