At the Magic Shop where I play, tonight was the last draft before the release of SOI. We were 10 or 11 players. I took a gamble when making this deck but it paid out. 1st pack had the Dread Defiler, usually I pass it because it costs too much but I really wanted to try it since it was the last draft. 2nd pack had Kozilek, the Great Distortion, BFZ pack had Conduit of Ruin. Also, not many people were playing colorless or black so I was able to get mine pretty easy. I got Sanctum of Ugin that passed through 3 hands before I took it.

I decided to do a more defensive-control play style, meaning that I wouldn't attack as much, but would deny card resources to the opponent. I was grabbing cards that could do decent damage with Dread Defiler's ability, sort of a more quality over quantity. I rarely had creatures to play on turn 1 and 2, and often I took a beating until turn 4-5. I never had land problem though, I was able to cast Kozilek 5x during the night. The games that I lost were the ones where I didn't get to draw Witness the End. Looking back, it was my most valuble card for OGW drafts. I feel that many people underestimate it.

Deck breakdown:

Creatures - Black
01 Sludge Crawler
02 Dominator Drone
01 Kozilek's Shrieker
02 Essence Depleter
01 Dread Defiler
_________
07 Black Creatures


Creatures - Colorless
01 Kozilek's Channeler
01 Conduit of Ruin
01 Bane of Bala Ged
01 Breaker of Armies
01 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
_________
05 Colorless creatures

Non-creature - Black
01 Transgress the Mind
01 Complete Disregard
03 Witness the End
02 Oblivion Strike
_________
07 non-creature Black spells

Non-creature - Colorless
01 Spatial Contortion
_________
01 non-creature Colorless spell

Lands
01 Sanctum of Ugin
03 Unknown Shores
02 Holdout Settlement
01 Blighted Fen
01 Wastes
12 Swamp
_________
20 Lands

Creatures: 12
Non-Creatures: 08
Lands: 20
Total:
40 Cards


Game Results
Me-Opponent

Round 1 Opponent played with splashes of and , had 3 Drana's Emissary
Game 1: 1-0
Game 2: 1-0
Game 3: ***
Round 1 Result: 2-0

Round 2 (Opponent played Support)
Game 1: 0-1
Game 2: 1-0
Game 3: 1-0
Round 2 Result: 2-1

Round 3 (Opponent played Ingest with splash of for abilities)
Game 1: 0-1
Game 2: 1-0
Game 3: 1-0
Round 3 Result: 2-1

Final Result: 1st place, 10 boosters


Do you think the high mana cost was too big of a risk? Any comments are accepted. At the end when I showed my deck, people thought it had too much land and high cost creatures. I'd love to see what you guys think.


V.

I actually like ramping in this format, but you usually need some green or hedron archives. I guess 20 lands is one way to do it...