With Fate Reforged being released a new season of drafts is upon us and everyone has been champing at the bit to crack the new set and start drafting. The Dojo was lucky enough to host a few spicy drafts this weekend with some heavy and medium hitters.
Drafting a new format is extremely exciting to me. Not only does a new set add excitement to a format you have been drafting for months, it also gives you an excuse to experiment with cards you may not normally use after a format has been established. However, there didn’t seem too much variety or experimentation in the first three of my drafts since they were all some kind of Jeskai mess. All of the decks looked decent to me (they had removal and good creatures), but they didn’t work out for some reason, which led to a 4-5 record in the beginning of the week. Since I’m no stranger to a losing record this didn’t dissuade me from drafting again on Friday night and all day on Saturday.
The weekend drafts were a little more intense since they featured four players who have Top 8-ed a Pro Tour (Jamie Parke, Zvi Mowshowitz, Gaudenis Vidugiris, and Craig Wescoe)—two of them also Pro Tour winners. The remainder of the draft was filled out with myself, Chris Manning, and three players who qualified for their first Pro Tour last season (Friends of Hipsters Hugh Kramer, Abe Lusk, and Richard Tan). Even though it was snowing in the morning, everyone made it here safe and sort of on time (the tardy know who they are).
2-1 Sultai; after passing a Wingmate Roc I was gifted a Sagu Mauler and Icefeather Aven
For whatever reason, the drafts over the weekend went much better for me then they had earlier in the week, and I wound up with a winning record of 9-3 (huzzah!) which I was pretty happy with. However, the most interesting thing happened in the final draft. Usually after the draft we randomly select the teams but Abe (young buck that he is) had the great idea to select the teams based on “Bros”: Hugh, Abe, me, and Richard versus the “Pros”: Zvi, Jamie, Gaudenis, and Craig (just in case that wasn’t obvious for the home reader). Not only was this a fun thing to do, but it would also give the green “Bros” a chance to play against the seasoned “Pros,” something they normally wouldn’t get playing at a local store.
2-1 Abzan; seemed to be open when the Guides kept going around
Well, as you might *not* have expected, the “Bros” crushed the “Pros” and it didn’t seem at all fair. It was basically a bloodbath filled with trophies. Although the “Bros” were in good spirits afterwards these wins hopefully won’t inflate their egos since called drafts, not looking at your picks, and the pressure under the lights are a totally different environment to listening to the David Bowie radio channel, eating Chipotle, and talking smack at the Dojo’s draft table. Difficulties aside, I have a feeling they will do fine, as they drafted well and didn’t fold over to some of the masters of the game.
3-0 Honor Defending Sultai deck, when in Rome draft 3-drops
Andrew Longo has been playing Magic: The Gathering at a mediocre level since 1994. He managed to get lucky on the backs of his teammates to win Grand Prix Providence. When not playing Magic he runs a D&D campaign, plays video games, and reads comics (a real triple threat for the ladies).