Well, I went to my real-life draft at my local games store for the first time since Gatecrash last night! Prior to this I've only done occasional real-life drafts as part of my international travels, and done virtual drafts through Magic Online. Magic 2015's really roped me back into playing more frequently though, and having 3 draft pods going last night felt great - a vast improvement back from 3 years ago when the same store on a similar night would only have 1 pod going!

I was able to run a great G/W deck that made it to a three-way tie for first place, having gone 3-0-1 (3 wins, 0 losses, 1 tie).

Here's my deck;

1x Ajani Steadfast
1x Spirit Bonds
2x Dauntless River Marshal
1x Oreskos Swiftclaw
2x Triplicate Spirits
1x Sanctified Charge
1x Selfless Cathar
1x Geist of the Moors
1x Seraph of the Masses
1x Runeclaw Bear
1x Charging Rhino
3x Hunt the Weak
1x Invasive Species
2x Netcaster Spider
1x Siege Wurm
1x Venom Sliver
1x Wall of Mulch
1x Ranger's Guile

1x Evolving Wilds
2x Island
7x Plains
7x Forest


Sideboard:
1x Mass Calcify
1x Solemn Offering
1x Ranger's Guile
1x Ephemeral Shields
(plus other stuff that didn't matter)


I had opened Ajani Steadfast pick 1, pack 1, so wanted to force white. I was able to grab some white in packs 1 and 3, but I knew it was being cut by people nearby. Perhaps it was my local meta, but I still felt I was receiving great white cards, even though there were few. Most of my bomb-whites though came from pack 2, as I think the 4 people to that side were NOT in white, and I got both Triplicate Spirits that pack, and the Spirit Bonds. The people to my right weren't in Green though, so most of my green came in packs 1 and 3.


Round 1, vs Red/Blue artifact-aggro;

Game 1 he was able to bring me down to 6 or so life using lots of Welkin Terns, but a turn 2 Spirit Bonds was able to eventually stop his motion, and then I just powered up while still making a Spirit every turn to grab the win.

Game 2 I again stabilized around 8 life, but then Ajani came down while I had a Siege Wurm and Geist of the Moors out, which allowed me to balloon back to 18 life and take the game again with hard-hitting threats.


Round 2, vs Red/Black removal;

Game 1 my opponent drew almost no removal, and his few threats were quickly outpaced by mine. Game 2 he got more removal, but I sided in an extra Ranger's Guile to prevent a critical Stab Wounds from sticking. It's unfortunate, because these games would've been much more difficult against a more experienced opponent - this guy made a huge mistake in Game 1. He cast Stab Wound on Netcaster Spider, then attacked with Carrion Crow thinking it was safe. He 2-for-1'd himself after I blocked, due to Netcaster Spider's +2/+0 ability.


Round 3, vs Green/Red aggro/ramp;

My most fun games in ages! Both my opponent and I were naturally smiling people, and we really just fed off each other's enthusiasm and good will to the point of hilarity. I'll definitely go next week if I can just in hopes of playing with this guy again.

Game 1 my opponent was able to ramp into big threats, but I had curved out my threats so by the time he cast on turn 5 Miner's Bane, I was responding with Triplicate Spirits and a dominant board presence.

Game 2 I mulligan down to FOUR cards - Invasive Species, Hunt the Weak, Forest + Forest, while he curved out Foundry-Street Denizen turn 1 & 2, turn 3 Krenko's Enforcer, turn 4 Goblin Roughrider, and turn 5 Krenko's Enforcer. I draw a Runeclaw Bear, then Forest, Ajani, and a Plains, and even though I lose tempo casting Invasive Species, it slows down his attacks with the Street-Denizens and Roughrider, due to Hunt the Weak eating one of his Enforcers. It buys me just enough time to put down Ajani and gain 4 life off the Species, but Ajani is taken out the next turn by an all-in attack. I am able to get down a Triplicate Spirits and a Selfless Cathar, followed by Seraph of the Masses, but each turn I'm being hit for 2 by the remaining Enforcer, and I know it's going to be a close race made ever more frightening by the prospect of a burn-spell off the top. After being brought down to 1 life, I'm able to attack and sac my Cathar to pump my team for the win.

What a game!


Round 4, vs Green/Blue tempo-ramp;

Game 1 I have to mulligan down to 5. I get down some good early threats, but my opponent's turn 1 Mystic powers out double-Frost Lynxes, keeping my forces from applying pressure, and then puts out Ancient Silverback, Seige Wurm, and Hornet Queen. I lose swiftly after that.

Game 2 I side-in Mass Calcify, since my opponent's deck is trying to force a long game. I get a good start against his more rocky start, then get out Ajani and power through the air for the win. I have Mass Calcify in my hand the whole game, but never need it.

Game 3 starts out much like Game 1, but my opponent doesn't have the turn 1 Mystic to power out his Lynxes, allowing me to apply early pressure. He casts a Mind Sculpt (!) on me, and while he doesn't hit too much, he does remove Mass Calcify, which would have been my next draw! Things progress much like Game 1, but this we're much more even as I was able to apply the early pressure, and was able to ride that advantage into a matched board state. My opponent gets down Hornet Queen, and without a Hunt the Weak in my hand he follows that up with Invasive Species to bounce it and recast. That Mass Calcify would've been very useful now! However, despite being behind on board position, I'm able to provide enough defence to keep my opponent on guard - never letting him go all-in while we both draw through our decks for an edge. Time gets called and we're down to 5 turns and even though I was shuffling from cracking an Evolving Wilds at the end of his turn when time was called, we decided that my turn would be "turn 0", allowing him the last turn in the sequence. I don't mind though, and it doesn't end up mattering, because neither of us are dead at the end of the 5th turn.


At the end, even though my opponent and I were undefeated and no one else was, that tie lead to another player joining in on the tie for first place (I know he must've lost 1 game, because in Round 3 he was paired against my Round 2 opponent and they played their game beside us). Didn't realize a last-round tie would have affected us that much!

Great post and great deck thanks for sharing!

Yeah nice deck! What did you think of wall of mulch? Did the 2 islands help with the river marshal (and wilds obv.)

I sided it out almost every single game, except in my last round (though I never did see it in those games). Everything else in the deck was so strong in the early game, that it never was effective then. Actually, part of the reason I took it was just so I had some extra convoke bodies, and then could "cycle" it in the later stages of the game - which happened in my Game 1, Match 3. I would still keep it in my Main though, since 4 toughness can block almost everything in this format (hence why I think Divine Shield performs much better than it normally does right now), and I don't know what to expect game 1, so it was a perfect card to side out for the right option each game. The cards I listed in the sideboard were what I brought in over the course of the games. Against my Round 1 opponent I brought in Solemn Offering, though never drew it. Round 2 I brought in Ranger's Guile. Round 3 I brought in Ephemeral Shields. Round 4 I brought in Mass Calcify.

The 2 Islands helped A LOT! I definitely had a shakier base for it though, and Evolving Wilds put me off tempo a couple times, but I was always able to do something, even if those couple times it wasn't the optimal thing. I have a more aggressive view of Magic 2015 than most players, and am happy to play the Marshalls as 2/1's, though they become very powerful once you have an Island out. They saved me during Match 4, Round 3 by keeping his Silverback and Siege Wurm tapped down, and during Match 2, Game 2 I won after clearing his blockers, as I had 6 lands and both Islands out (due to the Wilds) and just attacked through for the win. The Marshall and the Murk Lurker are probably the best off-colour splashed in M15, since they come down early and massively impact the game. The Marshall's definitely best in the aggressive blue/white deck though, since it can tap down your opponent's methods of blocking your own fliers.

I am very confused by all of this. How big was your pod? (I'd normally assume a pod was 8, but 8-pods don't usually have 4 rounds of play; 3 is enough to ascertain a champion).


And does this store not use the normal tiebreaking procedures? The odds of the three top players in any tournament all finishing with identical match win percentage, opponents' match win percentage, game win percentage, and opponents' game win percentage... must be hit-the-lottery low (if it's even mathematically possible at all).

It was cross-pod action (first match against people in your same pod, but wasn't the case afterwards), and after thinking about it some more, I think he got a bye on his first round instead of a loss, which *might* explain what happened. Still, was surprising