“When I was little, my father was famous. He was the greatest samurai in the empire. And he was the Shogun’s decapitator…” These were the words that started off my draft last week against team Bromoka who is comprised of Monique, Kadar, and Gabe. I needed start this draft off right and nothing gets the good pack vibes going better than the Gza’s amazing album “Liquid Swords.” If you haven’t heard this album, do yourself a favor and download it, you won’t be disappointed.
I started off with a Silk Wraps and continued to take aggressive white cards. I was mostly white after pack one with a couple of decent blue cards and a Tail Lash. In pack my decision for a second color was made for me when I opened up Dragon Whisperer. Whisperer is not only a bomb, but in some circles he is considered to be a body dropper and heart beat stopper. I continued to draft white and red cards and splashed the FRF Dromoka (is that irony that got him against team Bromoka or coincidence?) Here is what I wound up with:
Sorry for the glare, but that’s a Daghatar who is just a 4/4 for four in this deck.
I know what you are thinking, but I still haven’t had the opportunity to draft a deck archetype that I wrote about in my last article a couple of weeks ago. Maybe team draft is just different than regular eight person drafts (it is) or maybe I am just really bad at evaluating a format (I am).
Before my first match against Kadar I offered him a choice: Choose the sword and join me or choose the ball and join his teammates…in death. He arrogantly chose his teammates figuring his mostly blue deck with a light splash of black could take me down. His deck, however, was a little too slow for mine so he wasn’t able to capitalize on his Skywise Teachings strategies. His deck really needed to operate on four or more mana and my deck was suited to beat these slow kind of strategies and it ran him over.
Kadar chose the ball and joined his teammates.
Monique was next and also drafted UB and but splashed white for a bomb dragon. I beat her game one but in game two she started using an old style and I wondered where she learned it from. She reminded me that it was my own. Game two started off decently for me, but Monique soon got the upper hand when she cast Silumgar, the Drifting Death. I couldn’t overpower her board and the Silumgar beat me shortly. Game three was a real duel of the iron mics and I thought she was going to beat me until I top decked one of my War Flares and sent my buffed squad for the win. I suspect in our next match Monique will employ her tiger style to try and defeat me.
Monique teaches chess but I gave her a clinic in the mysteries of chess boxin’
My third match was against Gabe and he came to live out his name and perform against me. His BW deck featured a Monastery Mentor, Anafenza Kin Tree Spirit, and some good removal. His deck was a little slow though and I would try my best to exploit that weakness. I beat him game one due to him not having many early drops, so once I got the advantage I kept it. Game two I kept a weak hand (but not one that I would ever mulligan) and he started off great with Anafenza into a Monastery Mentor. The game was basically over after that, but it took him a few more turns to close it out. In the next game I checked my side board for any secret evidence or documents, but I decided that not much would help me so I didn’t make any changes. The final game was a slug fest, we were attacking past each other and both of our life totals were getting dangerously low. He overextended one turn and I was able to send my team into the red zone and closed it out a War Flare to finish him off.
Against Gabe I kept it low key like seashells.
Dan and Dylan both got a couple of wins, so my 3-0 meant that we won our TDL week. It really goes to show that when we swing our swords, they are all chop-able. Going into the fourth week undefeated is starting to prove that the Longhostface Killah’s ain’t nothing to fudge with.