After a few weeks off, taken up with learning CivFive, I was tempted again by the joys of drafting. KTK is not yet available, so I settled to a M15 Swiss draft. I wanted to try for a GW convoke deck, mostly to see what Tevish was about putting down Triplicate Spirits. And for once, I got my wish.
Pack 1 pick 3: Inferno Fist --> Triplicate Spirits Welkin Tern Peel from Reality Child of Night Wall of Fire Marked by Honor Vineweft Necromancer's Assistant Hot Soup Stab Wound Burning Anger Mountain
Pack 1 pick 5: Goblin Roughrider Ephemeral Shields Glacial Crasher Miner's Bane Invasive Species --> Carrion Crow Bronze Sable Negate Tormod's Crypt Caustic Tar Island
Pack 1 pick 6: --> Oppressive Rays Miner's Bane Wall of Fire Verdant Haven Marked by Honor Rotfeaster Maggot Act on Impulse Restock Stain the Mind Swamp
I wasn't sure if this was going to work. It certainly wasn't the fastest deck around, it was missing a few early drops to power out the convoke threats. But double Spirits and double Charge? Maybe I can make something with this.
Round one was against GB. He didn't have a graveyard theme, but he did have Restock and a few solid playables. I made a horrendous misplay in game one, almost pulled it back, but died to a restocked Covenant of Blood. Games two and three went more to plan, and a win almost at time.
Round two was against RU. Game one, my fears came true, and I died almost without playing a spell. He had Lynxes, Peels, Negate, some pressure, and I didn't find a cheap creature. Game two was better, and I won on tempo after Pillaring his freshly-cast Hoarding Dragon. And game three was chugging along nicely, with my little beaters whittling down his life total, when he dumped the Soul of Shandalar. Oh man. My next play was Spirits, which he countered, leaving him without mana to activate the ability. Then the Hornet Queen made its one and only appearance of the day, and Charge killed him just before he was able to take over. Achievement unlocked: beat the Soul!
Round three was against, you guessed it, GW. But not just any old GW. Spectra Ward, the Eminent Captain I passed, Battle Mastery, Spirit Bonds, and at least two Heliod's Pilgrim. Quite a package to fight through. I won game one with a Charge for 14 damage. I lost game two, where he kept dropping enchantment after enchantment (he only had the Ward game one). But wait, I seem to remember ... yes, here it is, my sideboard all-star: Back to Nature. An instant, no less. And I drew it, it killed three enchantments, and back-to-back Spirits and Golems made sure of the win.
What a format, when the finals always feature at least one GW deck. I had a high opinion of Wizos balancing ability, but this one is completely unbalanced. The UR guy had all the tricks, a lot of card draw, and a certified bomb, and it wasn't enough. White is simply insane in M15.