I was really excited to play some full-block limited, as I've just had the most miserable time with Theros and There/Born limited. Plus, I haven't been playing as much, because my budget's been entirely focused on finishing my Melira Pod deck--which has finally happened. I look forward to posting more limited tournament results from here on out.

One of the reasons I was excited about JOU is that I think it gave some depth to the Theros block that the block really needed. The strive mechanic is very good because it scales as the game goes on, and as a player who looks aggressive strategies and a polished curve, that's a huge plus for me. I managed to snatch up 4 playable strive spells, and my friends proceeded to tell me they were all mediocre to unplayable, and I proceeded to crush the draft, which always feels nice

I p1p1'd a Mana Confluence bc of money, and an Ajani's Presence p1p2. I stayed in white, and switched over to red, as I was getting some low-surve red playables, even though I found out later red was being cut from my right and white from further right. (They were building green, then blue-based decks, so it wasn't too bad.)

The rest of the draft was on auto-pilot. Black was wide open, but I made the decision to not draft it because a lot of the high-powered cards came with a high curve, and the black removal just wasn't coming with the gorgons and such. I did hate draft some black in weak packs, tho... and I may have opened a Thoughtseize! Here's the deck:

1 x Satyr Hoplite
2 x Impetuous Sunchaser
1 x Sigiled Skink
1 x Vanguard of Brimaz
1 x Mogis's Warhound
1 x Observant Alseid
1 x Minotaur Skullcleaver
1 x Elite Skirmisher
1 x Rageblood Shaman
1 x Akroan Mastiff
2 x Pharagax Giant
1 x Forgestoker Dragon

3 x Ajani's Presence
1 x Rouse the Mob
1 x Chosen by Heliod
1 x Deicide
1 x Excoriate
2 x Portent of Betrayal

1 x Mana Confluence
8 x Mountain
8 x Plains


Sideboard:
1 x Springleaf Drum
1 x Hero's Podium
1 x Thoughtseize
1 x Abhorrent Overlord
1 x Viper's Kiss
1 x Warchanter of Mogis
1 x Deathbringer Lampads
1 x Ritual of the Returned
1 x Vanquish the Foul
1 x Epiphany Storm
1 x Demolish
1 x Reckless Reveler
1 x Font of Ire
1 x Commune with the Gods
1 x Nessian Demolok
1 x Pheres-Band Thunderhoof
1 x Swan Song


Match 1 vs. WG
2-0'd. She had only 12 creatures or so, her curve was all over the place, lots of combat tricks that became useless when I Ajani's Presence'd my creatures in response.

Match 2 vs. UB
2-1'd. We took turns losing to flood/screw, but once I got my Akroan Mastiff going and used it to lock down her Herald of Torment she slowly killed herself.

Match 3 vs. UR
2-1'd. Lots of tempo plays and removal, but I wasn't the heroic deck and I wasn't the monstrous deck, so was able to bounce back.

EDIT: 8 rares is kinda awesome too

Congratulations on the win. I'm doing a full block draft in a few hours, so I'm pretty excited about it. Strive is indeed really good in Limited, especially Presence and the one the grants flying, so hopefully I can nab some of those!

Mastiff is also a really good card in this format, I think.

1: What cards were better than you expected?
2: What cards were worse than you expected?
3: How did excoriate end up working out in an aggro deck?

1. The skink and impetuous sunchasers were really clutch. Suiting up the skinks with the chasers in the air won me half my games when paired with my ajani's presences when people tried to use removal on them. Sunchasers in particular averaged about 4-6 dmg per game. Mana Confluence was really helpful for playing all my things and being able to activate strive as well. Akroan Mastiff was also really, really good, probably went from a p5 to a p3 to me. Lyre on a beatstick is excellent in this format.

2. Portent of Betrayal felt kinda meh when I drew them. I usually boarded these out first. They helped me win one game faster than I would have. I was never able to cast Vanguard, but I think that's just bc I got some weird draws.

3. Exactly like I wanted, namely that I'm kind of a jerk. Oh hey super bomby deathtouch vigilance whatever thing. Meet Excoriate and Akroan Mastiff.

Akroan mastiff is cool, because it's removal in a format where removal was really important, and tapping down a voltron without giving them their bestow guys back is big game. Skink is good because it's the red Bob.

Portent of Betrayal is such an odd limited card. I am always either starting with it out and always boarding it in, or like you, leaving it in, having it do nothing, then boarding it out. It Betrays me!

I also had good success with Mastiff... the only problem I had was when I was so beat down (ironically by strive) that I had to chump with it before I could hold something down.