Magic Origins Draft #9: Take to the Skies!

The Draft and the Deck

After rolling my eyes at opening yet another painland in my first pack, I excitedly slammed down the bomb uncommon... Anchor to the Aether.

Okay, I might be showing a bit of sarcasm here.  But fortunately my second pick was a true bomb uncommon: Whirler Rogue.  So I was almost definitely going Blue.  But what about my second color?  I flirted a bit with both Green and Black before I decided that passing a third Topan Freeblade was just asking for trouble.  Not the best reason to go into White... but although I didn't pick up any bombs, I did draft a pretty solid deck.

CREATURES (16)   Aspiring Aeronaut Chief of the Foundry Guardian Automaton Maritime Guard x2 Patron of the Valiant Ringwarden Owl Scrapskin Drake x2 Separatist Voidmage Stalwart Aven Thunderclap Wyvern Topan Freeblade x2 War Oracle Whirler Rogue

ENCHANTMENTS (1)   Knightly Valor   INSTANTS (5)   Disperse x2 Enshrouding Mist x2 Send to Sleep   SORCERIES (1)   Anchor to the Aether   LANDS (17)   Foundry of the Consuls Island x8 Plains x8

SIDEBOARD   Blessed Spirits Bonded Construct Calculated Dismissal Charging Griffin Deadbridge Shaman Dreadwaters Exquisite Firecraft Guardians of Meletis Ravaging Blaze Reave Soul Scrapskin Drake Stratus Walk Timberpack Wolf Totem-Guide Hartebeest Unholy Hunger Veteran's Sidearm Wild Instincts

Note my sideboard, which displays my worst drafting habit: the tendency to instinctively hate-draft cards that have beaten me over the head in the past.


Round 1

My first round opponent was playing a Black/Red deck that had some cheap creatures leading into heavy 5-mana removal and Kothophed, Soul Hoarder.  In the first game I jumped out into an early lead, only to watch my dominating board get wiped away by a well-timed Chandra's Ignition.  But fortunately I had a Foundry of the Consuls in play, enabling me to quickly establish a few Thopters that grew in strength once my Chief of the Foundry came down.

But my opponent cast Kothophed to stall, and we stared at each other for a few turns while we each slowly played creature after creature.  In the end I barely won with an attack that just managed to be lethal after he was forced to block and kill one of my attackers, triggering Kothophed and losing him his last life.

Game 2 played markedly different, with both of us eschewing blockers, instead swinging with our cheap creatures.  My opponent's Acolyte of the Inferno and Scab-Clan Berserker did serious work, but in the end my flyers combined with my tempo tricks won the day.

Result: W (2-0)


Round 2

My second round opponent was fairly new to drafting, as evidenced by the fact that he had two copies each of Akroan Jailer and Yoked Ox.  This led to fairly straightforward victories.

Result: W (2-0)


Round 3

As this was the last round and my opponent and I were the only undefeated players left in the pod, we agreed to an intentional draw.  However we learned that the winner of each pod also received a StarCity Games pin, so we decided to play for that.

The first two games played similarly for me, with him playing 2- and 3- drops on curve while I was forced to wait until turn 4.  But in the first game, my turn 4 creature was a War Oracle that I managed to sneak through his defenses to turn the time.  I was not so fortunate the second game, and my opponent created a stalled board state with two Hitchclaw Recluses before utterly smashing me with Hangarback Walker and Gaea's Revenge.

And then there was game 3, in which I curved perfectly - a Chief of the Foundry into Whirler Rogue into Thunderclap Wyvern.  There was little my opponent could do against that.

Result: ID; played for bonus prize, W (2-1)


Summary

Well, there's nothing really exciting in my deck.  It's 'just' solid cards implementing a solid plan, and I think a lot of times that's all you really need.

Oh, and here's the pin (and token) that I won!