A weird one. There was absolutely no fixing to be had. Maybe because I met three five-color decks in three rounds. But first, the draft.



Seems like the table wanted me to go Mardu, and I was happy to oblige. The deck was fairly atypical for Mardu, mostly midrange, with a few rares to make the difference.

1 x Disowned Ancestor
1 x Mardu Hateblade
1 x Defiant Strike

1 x Seeker of the Way
1 x Debilitating Injury

1 x Ainok Tracker
1 x Ponyback Brigade
1 x Ruthless Ripper
2 x Mardu Charm

1 x Bellowing Saddlebrute
1 x High Sentinels of Arashin
1 x Mardu Warshrieker
1 x Timely Hordemate
1 x Unyielding Krumar
1 x Rush of Battle
1 x Smite the Monstrous

2 x Krumar Bond-Kin
1 x Mardu Roughrider
1 x Take Up Arms
1 x Zurgo Helmsmasher
1 x Sultai Scavenger

1 x Nomad Outpost
6 x Plains
6 x Swamp
4 x Mountain

Sideboard

1 x Trumpet Blast
1 x Briber's Purse
1 x Lens of Clarity
1 x War Behemoth
1 x Rite of the Serpent
1 x Throttle
1 x Raiders' Spoils
1 x Dragon-Style Twins
1 x Venerable Lammasu
1 x Bloodfire Expert
2 x Salt Road Patrol
2 x Mardu Warshrieker
1 x Krumar Bond-Kin


There is a ton of playables in the board, like the Twins, two Warshriekers, two removal spells, maybe even the Spoils. I had a really hard (but fun) time building this. The Twins went out for mana reasons, and there is not enough of a Warrior theme for me to maindeck Spoils over some other solid card.

Round one was a fully commited five-color deck, with lots of walls and land searching. His win condition? Double Necropolis Fiend. Mostly it just killed me in the air, he hardly ever used the ability. He had some other good cards, enough to keep parity until the big flyer hit. I might have won on time, he had under a minute left on the clock at the end of the match, but I conceded game one too fast. He went on to win the tournament.

Round two: I was in a foul mood, and turn three Savage Knuckleblade from my opponent didn't improve things. He was pretty solidly Temur, but had some swamps for I can't remember what. Not a very experienced player, though, and I managed to kill the Knuckleblade with the Charm after he tapped out to play some more threats. And the other game, I just blocked it to death. Pretty easy 2-0 in the end.

Round three: another five-color special, with lots of delve, digging, removal. We went back and forth, in three tight games, and the final one was won for me with the Arms-Rush combo. We even chatted a bit, which is a big surprise online.

This set keeps on surprising me with the power level of draft decks. Zurgo? No problem. Chump, removal. Knuckleblade? Sure, I'll give you two of my commons for that. Removal? I'll just swarm you with lifelinked soldiers. And so on. Admittedly, I haven't drafted a lot yet, but it feels like there is a lot to learn, and some very interesting games ahead.

They did a really good job crafting this draft format. I've yet to win (or lose) a game based on time. Every other draft I've played online I've been able to squeeze out a victory here or there by running down the timer.

This always seems like you can, but something throws it at the last minute. I've been taken from 40 life to 0 in the last 2 minutes of the game.

That looks like it was hard to pair down. I can see some justification for Timely Hordemate, especially with Rush, but I think something else would have been better main deck based on how few 1/2 drops you have to recur. It probably would have been worth putting the Twins in there based on their interaction with High Sentinels and your various pumps/combat tricks.

Spoils is amazing in token swarm deck...its pretty much an anthem that has a marginal bonus ability. Turns all your guys into pikers and make blocking very tricky, not sure what would have come out for it though, so it's probably better in the board, but Defiant Strike has never been worth the card for me and Spoils grants a permanent +1/+0 and occasional card draw. You had a lot of ways to get a warrior past for the draw and 12 warriors not including the token makers.

Yeah...Spoils should have been in there.

I did count my Warriors after I posted, and yes, there's thirteen of them. Fifteen if you count the Charms, but those were always used as removal. Seems like Spoils would do something. Problem is what to cut. Not the Strike, that one is very very good-a combat trick that allows critters to trade up, and replaces itself. Probably Smite, with the option of boarding it in against things I can't kill in combat. Or maybe Injury, but based on games, Smite.

Hordemate always brought back a deathtoucher, which was well worth the slot, together with 3 power. Thing is, you don't have to draw it turn four, it works even on turn 10.