s we did with Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, the Wizards Draft Club did a Rotisserie Draft with a full set of Shards of Alara. The set is a little smaller, so we only had six people in the draft instead of eight. It might just be me, but in hindsight I think it would have been better with eight. There would be have been more competition for the good cards, but I like Limited formats in which you are forced to play cards you might otherwise avoid putting in a deck.

I am not the best drafter in R&D. I know this, so I prepared for the draft by making a list. It's several lists really—I put all the cards in the set into categories, and within each category the cards are in order of how much I wanted to draft them.

Game-Winners	Solid Spells	Three-Drops
Flameblast Dragon	Necrogenesis	Sedraxis Specter
Predator Dragon	Gather Specimens	Hell's Thunder
Elspeth, Knight-Errant	Courier's Capsule	Woolly Thoctar
Broodmate Dragon	Cancel	Rhox War Monk
Battlegrace Angel	Gift of the Gargantuan	Manaplasm
Mycoloth	Sigil of Distinction	Kederekt Creeper
Hellkite Overlord	Titanic Ultimatum	Sprouting Thrinax
Sphinx Sovereign	Kiss of the Amesha	Qasali Ambusher
Empyreal Archangel	Blightning	Jund Battlemage
Godsire	Esper Charm	Naya Battlemage
Prince of Thralls	Sigil Blessing	Esper Battlemage
Cruel Ultimatum	Resounding Roar	Windwright Mage
Sarkhan Vol	Spell Snip	Topan Ascetic
Sedris, the Traitor King	Minion Reflector	Court Archers
Sharum the Hegemon	Naturalize	Rockslide Elemental
Mayael the Anima *	Call to Heel	Vithian Stinger
	Dispeller's Capsule	Thunder-Thrash Elder
Serious Threats	Relic of Progenitus	Kathari Screecher
Rafiq of the Many	Tezzeret the Seeker	Blood Cultist
Feral Hydra	Ooze Garden	Dawnray Archer
Vein Drinker		Hissing Iguanar
Kresh the Bloodbraided	One-Drops	Vectis Silencers
Algae Gharial	Akrasan Squire	Sacellum Godspeaker
Quietus Spike	Wild Nacatl	Guardians of Akrasa
Realm Razer	Death Greeter	Shore Snapper
Sharding Sphinx	Goblin Mountaineer	Sunseed Nurturer
Tar Fiend	Cathartic Adept	Skill Borrower
Master of Etherium *	Angel's Herald	Death Baron
	Sphinx's Herald	Grixis Battlemage
Artifacts	Demon's Herald	Bant Battlemage
Scourglass	Dragon's Herald	Gustrider Exuberant
Sphinx Sovereign	Behemoth's Herald	Exuberant Firestoker
Sanctum Gargoyle		Cunning Lethemancer
Tower Gargoyle	Two-Drops
Salvage Titan	Metallurgeon	Removal
Sharding Sphinx	Tidehollow Strix	Scourglass (mass)
Metallurgeon	Deft Duelist	Oblivion Ring
Master of Etherium	Sigiled Paladin	Ajani Vengeant
[Tezzeret the Seeker]	Knight of the Skyward Eye	Caldera Hellion (mass)
Executioner's Capsule	Tidehollow Sculler	Resounding Silence
Tidehollow Strix	Blister Beetle	Soul's Fire
Etherium Astrolabe	Goblin Deathraiders	Bant Charm
Courier's Capsule	Elvish Visionary	Executioner's Capsule
Tidehollow Sculler	Jhessian Infiltrator	Bone Splinters
Windwright Mage	Steward of Valeron	Violent Ultimatum (mass)
Glaze Fiend	Druid of the Anima	Grixis Charm
Puppet Conjurer	Rip-Clan Crasher	Branching Bolt
Esper Battlemage	Knight of the White Orchid	Infest (mass)
Steelclad Serpent	Dregscape Zombie	Resounding Thunder
Cloudheath Drake	Cylian Elf	Bloodpyre Elemental
Filigree Sages	Dragon Fodder	Agony Warp
Protomatter Powder	Puppet Conjurer	Resounding Wave
Etherium Sculptor	Sighted-Caste Sorcerer	Naya Charm
Dispeller's Capsule	Etherium Sculptor	Jund Charm (mass)
Naturalize	Jhessian Lookout	Fleshbag Marauder
Vectis Silencers	Thoughtcutter Agent	Magma Spray
Thoughtcutter Agent	Bloodthorn Hunter	Skeletonize
Ethersworn Canonist	Ethersworn Canonist	Excommunicate
	Glaze Fiend	Where Ancients Tread *

Some of the categories are in approximate order, and you should be aware that I am not one of the people they allow to do pointing of card power level. I'll tell you briefly about some of the categories you can see in my lists. In Shards Rotisserie, I feel that the best way to win games is by using the most devastating creatures. The removal just isn't strong enough to contain them, and most of them win in one or two turns. This made me want to focus my early picks on them. There are sixteen on my list, meaning that almost everyone could get three of them if they so chose. Five of these game-winners cost eight mana, however and I wasn't sure our decks would be slow enough for them to come out to play. You have probably also noticed the * after Mayael the Anima. That's because while I think she could win games in the right deck she requires a lot of support from the rest of the cards you draft. There are a *s next to Master of Etherium and Where Ancients Tread for the same reason.

On to the next most important category: removal. One of the best reasons to make a list like this before a Rotisserie Draft is to remind yourself of each and every one of the removal cards. I paid special attention to removal cards that could deal with the game-winners (as opposed to a card like Magma Spray, which is solid removal, but often useless against the bigger creatures). Fleshbag Marauder and Where Ancients Tread are two good examples of cards you might forget about when trying to find a removal card late in the draft. Even if you don't check your list every pick, just making the list increases the chance you will think about the less obvious cards.

One final thing I would like to note about my list before we get to the draft itself: the two-drop and three-drop categories. Knowing all the cheap creatures in whatever colors you end up in, and especially taking time to evaluate which ones are the best beforehand, will help you out a lot in the heat of the moment. It can also show you whether there is a solid aggro deck available and what colors you need to be drafting to play that deck.

Draft Time!

The drafters for this event were Alexis Janson, Dave Guskin, Gregory Marques (that's me), Ken Nagle, Lee Sharpe, and Tom LaPille. While waiting for Ken and Lee to arrive, the rest of us talked a bit about what we might pick first, but being sly drafters we were also trying not to give away our plans to the enemy. We joked about the triple-lands and how there might be a run on them—as soon as one person picks one, the next four people have to grab the others. We decided they would last until about fourth pick. Our stragglers walked in, and we rolled d20s to decide the pick order. Ken was up first.

Ken: Jungle Shrine

Guess we were wrong—ha ha, but don't act too shocked. You know the triple-lands are very good in Shards of Alara Limited. Also, by choosing a land Ken was declaring his intention to draft that shard. Picking a triple-color monster might do the same, but you would leave yourself vulnerable to someone else taking your land.

I was in the fifth-place spot, so I could only watch helplessly for a few more picks:

Alexis: Sigil of Distinction

Tom: Flameblast Dragon

Dave: Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Damn—Flameblast was at the top of my threats list, and I really wanted to put myself into red. Also, my backup plan of taking Elspeth, Rafiq, and a pile of exalted cards was blocked by Dave. I made a move for Ajani Vengeant, but after a minute of consideration I decided it was a bad idea. The Naya land was already gone, and I knew there was no way I was going to kick Ken out of his favorite shard. Looking at my list, I also knew that Jund has more of the game-winners than any other shard, and red and black combined have some of the strongest removal.

Greg: Predator Dragon

Predator Dragon is a serious game-winner, sometimes clobbering an opponent for 10 out of nowhere. I would not normally recommend taking a card with in its casting cost as your first pick, but in this case I wanted to scare Lee away from red (and hopefully into blue, as it looked really open at this point). I thought that if Lee went into opposite colors from me, I could feel like I was on the wheel because his picks would almost never affect me.

Lee: Prince of Thralls
Lee: Crumbling Necropolis

Greg: Broodmate Dragon

Lee clearly had a plan—not the plan I wanted him to have, unfortunately. For my second pick, I tried to claim Jund with one of its best creatures. Broodmate Dragon is especially good because it creates two flying threats that the removal selection in the format has a hard time dealing with.

Dave: Battlegrace Angel

Tom: Sharuum the Hegemon

Alexis: Master of Etherium

Ken: Savage Lands
Ken: Ajani Vengeant

Alexis: Arcane Sanctum

Tom: Executioner's Capsule

Dave: Oblivion Ring

I was already envious of Dave's plan and his success in executing it. You couldn't hope for a better first three picks for a white-centered deck. For Ken's picks, he stole my land and a removal-type planeswalker. He must have known the format is almost flooded with game-winners and believed he could easily still pick up two or three of those in his four colors, no rush. Alexis decided to fight Tom, who seemed to abandon (or plan to splash) his first pick. I honestly expected both Scourglass and Hellkite Overlord to be gone by this time. I almost took the Hellkite myself for my next pick, but because no one else had touched any eight-mana cards I began to doubt my evaluation of them. That, and I couldn't pass up my favorite planeswalker!

Greg: Sarkhan Vol

Lee: Infest
Lee: Grixis Charm

Greg: Jund Panorama

Infest—a very solid mass removal pick by Lee here. I knew I couldn't make my deck work without some fixing and couldn't risk Ken taking this land for his next pick.

Dave: Rafiq of the Many

Tom: Scourglass

Alexis: Sanctum Gargoyle

Ken: Naya Panorama

See! I told you! He'd have taken my panorama too if it had still been there.

Ken: Resounding Thunder

Alexis: Sharding Sphinx

Tom: Agony Warp

Dave: Seaside Citadel

Greg: Vein Drinker

Lee: Blood Cultist
Lee: Tidehollow Strix

I was wondering for a moment if Alexis was going to take any creatures that could win her a game, but she picked up the flying beater of a Sphinx on the return pass after the efficient, card advantage–generating gargoyle. Maybe her creature selection would matter less with Sigil of Distinction in her deck to pump any creature up to Nayan proportions. After taking Vein Drinker (removal and flying attack power in one sexy package!), I wanted to acquire some removal spells. Ken's second pick this pass made me worry that he would be competing heavily with me on the red cards I wanted. I also saw him eyeing Caldera Hellion, which was the best removal spell on my list still available to me.

Greg: Caldera Hellion

Dave: Kiss of the Amesha

Tom: Courier's Capsule

Alexis: Bone Splinters

Ken: Branching Bolt
Ken: Sprouting Thrinax

Branching Bolt is, obviously, another spell I wanted that Ken took. Sprouting Thrinax, on the other hand, I did not think was worth taking so early. Even with my Predator Dragon to eat it or its tokens I just knew I would rarely have on turn three to play it. Ken clearly felt he could leave the Naya cards for later, as nobody was going to threaten them. I began to worry that Dave's deck would be completely unbeatable because he wasn't getting enough competition from Ken in white, and Alexis and Tom were both too busy fighting over artifacts to notice. I was wrong about the latter, of course ....

Alexis: Tower Gargoyle

Tom: Cloudheath Drake

Dave: Bant Panorama

Greg: Grixis Panorama

Lee: Sedraxis Specter
Lee: Magma Spray

Argh, now Lee's getting in on my red removal too?

Greg: Jund Charm

This was an important pick, giving me my second "mass removal" effect. I might not have needed to take it so highly, as Ken was the only other player who might have taken it. His pick of Sprouting Thrinax made me think he just might, however.

Dave: Bant Charm

Tom: Etherium Sculptor

At first I thought Tom's pick here was a little weak, but perhaps he was afraid of not having any two-drops and wanted to get the best ones for his deck ASAP. It can be hard to find enough cheap creatures when there is only one of each common available. Still, my list has a lot of fine blue and white two-drops on it much higher up than Etherium Sculptor.

Alexis: Esper Battlemage

Ken: Mycoloth
Ken: Jund Battlemage

This was one of so many, many times I felt like Ken was stealing my picks right before I made them. The battlemage was definitely the card I had planned to take next. So I had to come up with a new plan fast. I decided that I needed to start threatening him back in Naya a little bit. This kind of pressure happens constantly in rotisserie, and it's one of the things that makes it fun. You have to figure out which other players will take the cards you want, and in what order, so that you can get them first.

Alexis: Esper Panorama

Tom: Obelisk of Esper

Dave: Steward of Valeron

Greg: Soul's Fire

Mind you, while I want to begin pressuring Ken, I have to watch out for Lee sniping my red cards too, so I used my first pick to take one of the few remaining removal spells that can kill a player as well as having some chance to take out a game-winning creature.

Lee: Viscera Dragger
Lee: Fleshbag Marauder

Greg: Druid of the Anima

Dave: Topan Ascetic

Tom: Sphinx Sovereign

Alexis: Call to Heel

Ken: Violent Ultimatum

Ken: Obelisk of Jund

Well, okay then ... I guess Ken is just in Jund and that whole Naya land first thing was a fake out. He later told me that he actually wished he had just stuck to Naya and not competed with me. We each would have had a shard to ourselves, and Alexis and Tom would have be the only two players in direct competition. While I sure would have liked it better that way, I still feel that Jund is the deepest shard and that I could have a strong deck despite the competition. The only reason I wished Ken had been more Naya at this point was that someone needed to compete with Dave before he ran away with it any more than he already was. For example, why was Resounding Silence still lying there? It is one of the very few ways to deal with any threatening bombtastic creature.

Alexis: Deft Duelist

Tom: Windwright Mage

Dave: Qasali Ambusher

Greg: Obelisk of Naya

Lee: Skeletonize
Lee: Kathari Screecher

Greg: Resounding Silence

Hah! Nobody saw that coming, let me tell you. Between Druid of the Anima and Obelisk of Naya, I felt I could easily splash this one white card. Furthermore, if no one else would compete with Dave for white I could switch to a heavier white plan, splashing my Charm and Dragon. I would have to abandon Vein Drinker, but it was only one card.

Dave: Akrasan Squire

Tom: Tezzeret the Seeker

Alexis: Sigiled Paladin

Ken: Naya Charm
Ken: Necrogenesis

Alexis: Excommunicate

Tom: Metallurgeon

Dave: Rhox Charger

Greg: Elvish Visionary

Lee: Grixis Battlemage
Lee: Obelisk of Grixis

Greg: Feral Hydra

We have a saying in R&D when we draft, courtesy of Dave Guskin: "Two-drops, two-drops!" I realize the Hydra isn't a two-drop, but this is the point when I started thinking a lot about getting early creatures for my deck.

Dave: Obelisk of Bant

Tom: Ethersworn Canonist

Alexis: Knight of the White Orchid

I should note that with the last three picks (including this one), Alexis had moved directly into white, taking many of the best two-drops out from under Dave's deck. Naturally, they are good for her deck too. Good move.

Ken: Manaplasm
Ken: Sigil Blessing

For Dave's last few picks he'd been wandering over to the green section and taking some solid creatures that Ken may have wanted. When he made a sad face as Ken picked these two cards up, Ken assured him that it was only because there were very few combat tricks available and he simply had to have at least one for his deck. I laughed, mostly pleased that they had finally started competing with each other.

Alexis: Tidehollow Sculler

Dave mused out loud about the possible troubles Alexis might have with her mana base. She projected nothing but confidence in it. Personally, I love Tidehollow Sculler on turn two, but like Dave, I find it hard to have the ideal mana base for it (and the rest of the deck to go with it).

Alexis clearly had a plan, though, which is always something you should worry about when she's your competition. Dave later told me that at first he thought his deck would be hurt by Alexis taking his early creatures, but that he found plenty of them in green, and it only served to make her mana more difficult and his easier.

Tom: Esper Charm

Dave: Wild Nacatl

Greg: Court Archers

Lee: Blister Beetle
Lee: Scavenger Drake

Greg: Dragon Fodder

I was a little puzzled with Dave's pick here, as he wasn't likely to get more than a 2/2 out of the kitteh. Then I realized that a 2/2 for one mana is practically a legendary creature, and much better than the Cylian Elf he was eyeing. I almost picked up that bear Elf myself at this point. It suddenly struck me that Court Archers is one of the very few reach creatures, plus it has exalted. Dragon Fodder is much better for my Predator Dragon than a single creature, so I grabbed that too. I was very pleased with these two picks, and they both proved to be excellent in my deck.

Lee's pick of Scavenger Drake got me thinking about the "Khabál Ghoul" creatures in the set. The first-striker and shrouder were still there, and they can both be extremely hard to deal with. Combined with Hissing Iguanar they might be the perfect midgame for my deck.

Dave: Knight of the Skyward Eye

Tom: Steelclad Serpent

Alexis: Dregscape Zombie

Ken: Jungle Weaver
Ken: Woolly Thoctar

Alexis: Resounding Wave

Tom: Cancel

Dave: Stoic Angel

Dave was still picking up some very powerful cards this late in the game. I began to wonder if I could do much against him. Also getting an awfully late power pick this pass was Alexis with Resounding Wave. What was that still doing there?

Greg: Gift of the Gargantuan

I realized this was mana-fixing, duh, and it could also get me my game winners a little faster. The middle picks are all so very valuable in these drafts, it's really hard to get what you want; but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you can get what you need.

Lee: Kederekt Creeper

Lee was clearly the only one in Grixis, but even so he couldn't just leave the best cards of his shard on the table forever. Someone might hate-draft them, and now was a fine time to take this very solid attacker.

Lee: Sedris, the Traitor King

Greg: Bull Cerodon

This 5/5 is sometimes underrated. Ken and Dave had both been eyeing on their prior picks. By taking it I was perhaps making a questionable decision about my mana base, but I did not regret it.

Dave: Naya Battlemage

Argh! I meant to take this guy earlier. Perhaps it would have been better to take instead of Dragon Fodder—I bet the sorcery would have lasted a while longer. When Jund Battlemage was taken, it somehow made me think this Battlemage was gone as well.

Tom: Fatestitcher

Alexis: Cunning Lethemancer

Ken: Hissing Iguanar
Ken: Rip-Clan Crasher

Ken debated taking Cylian Elf over the haste 2/2 here. The mana is easier to get on turn two, but with his two triple-lands he felt he was good for it. At this point, Dave suggested we make some achievements for the draft. He wrote things like "first vanilla," "first in all five colors," and "most hate drafts" on the whiteboard.

Alexis: Covenant of Minds

Tom: Filigree Sages

Dave: Cylian Elf

And there you have it! We nearly gave Dave the "first vanilla" achievement, but then we realized that Woolly Thoctar was also a vanilla. During the celebearations, I realized that there was still a powerful removal spell available. Maybe it was still there because it couldn't necessarily kill the game-ending creatures. Maybe we'd just all missed it. So I took it. Lee took a similarly overlooked removal-ish card.

Greg: Bloodpyre Elemental

Lee: Vithian Stinger
Lee: Rockslide Elemental

Greg: Algae Gharial

Earlier I mentioned the creatures that gain counters when things die. I took the shroud guy here more because I was afraid of facing it than because I thought it might be good in my deck. I should have left it on the table. While the next few players took cards I told myself to take Hellkite Overlord next, it was still out there and even at eight mana it was likely to make my deck.

Dave: Resounding Roar

Tom: Dreg Reaver

Alexis: Knight-Captain of Eos

Ken: Goblin Deathraiders
Ken: Hellkite Overlord

Sigh.

Alexis: Dawnray Archer

Tom: Salvage Titan

Dave: Naturalize

Alexis had threatened hate-drafting Naturalize to protect her deck when Ken and I discussed it a pass or two previously. In this format, you certainly should keep an eye on cards that devastate your strategy, but it's hard to sacrifice deck quality for them.

Greg: Carrion Thrash

It's no 8/8 dragon, but it does have some built in card advantage. I have seen 4 toughness go an awfully long way in regular Shards of Alara drafts.

Lee: Jhessian Lookout
Lee: Blightning

Greg: Rakeclaw Gargantuan

This pick might have been more to spite Ken than for my deck. It's a little too much white for me, but I was still thinking I might leave out my Vampire and then white could be my third color and black my fourth instead of the other way around. I certainly had a few 5- power creatures to give first strike to.

Dave: Rhox War Monk

Ugh. More running away with it. This is the moment when I became certain that eight people would be better than six for this format. More forced competition for the shards would make for a more fair draft. I have also always felt that a few subpar cards in decks can make for good stories.

Tom: Punish Ignorance

Alexis: Welkin Guide

Ken: Kresh the Bloodbraided
Ken: Tar Fiend

Side story: In a regular booster Shards of Alara draft just two days prior, I gave Ken a bit of a thrashing with Tar Fiend. His deck had two Jhessian Infiltrators, along with a Quietus Spike. He had killed me with unblockable Quietus action in Game 2, and I was suddenly facing down both of the unblockable bears in Game 3. I drew my sixth land and played Tar Fiend, sacrificing two creatures to make it an 8/8 and forcing the last two cards out of Ken's hand. I was extremely relived to see him put Quietus Spike into his graveyard. Still, if he had had enough blockers to chump with, his unblockables would have killed me quickly anyway.

The next turn (after taking 4) I dropped Welkin Guide and sent Tarry-poo to the air for ten. Pow! Ken laid out some more guys, however, and I wasn't going to deal more than 2 (with the Welkin Guide) on my next turn. Down below 10 life myself, when it came to my turn, I drew and cracked a huge grin. It was Elspeth, Knight-Errant, who sent the Fiend to the sky for 11 more! Magic is fun, isn't it? Okay, now back to our Rotisserie Draft.

Alexis: Spell Snip

Tom: Skill Borrower

Speaking of cool game stories; in a game against Dave (in this draft), Tom had Skill Borrower in play and the top card of his deck was Scourglass. There's not much better than destroying all of the opponent's non-lands and none of your own. Not much ... except doing it twice in the same game!

Dave: Mosstodon

Greg: Hell's Thunder

Lee: Cruel Ultimatum
Lee: Shore Snapper

Greg: Godsire

While I did not have Hissing Iguanar as a three-drop, I felt I could get the same damage output from Hell's Thunder. It would set me up to win right after casting Broodmate or Predator instead of having to two or three times with my finisher. Of course, against someone with early fliers I would have to side it out. Godsire, while not as powerful up-front as Hellkite, certainly can kill you very fast if you don't get rid of it.

After this point most of us had completed our decks and the picks were a lot less important. You can review them (and the entire draft) by checking out the pick sequence, with cards played highlighted:

Ken	Alexis	Tom	Dave	Greg	Lee
Jungle Shrine	Sigil of Distinction	Flameblast Dragon	Elspeth, Knight-Errant	Predator Dragon	Prince of Thralls
Savage Lands	Master of Etherium	Sharuum the Hegemon	Battlegrace Angel	Broodmate Dragon	Crumbling Necropolis
Ajani Vengeant	Arcane Sanctum	Executioner's Capsule	Oblivion Ring	Sarkhan Vol	Infest
Naya Panorama	Sanctum Gargoyle	Scourglass	Rafiq of the Many	Jund Panorama	Grixis Charm
Resounding Thunder	Sharding Sphinx	Agony Warp	Seaside Citadel	Vein Drinker	Blood Cultist
Branching Bolt	Bone Splinters	Courier's Capsule	Kiss of the Amesha	Caldera Hellion	Tidehollow Strix
Sprouting Thrinax	Tower Gargoyle	Cloudheath Drake	Bant Panorama	Grixis Panorama	Sedraxis Specter
Mycoloth	Esper Battlemage	Etherium Sculptor	Bant Charm	Jund Charm	Magma Spray
Jund Battlemage	Esper Panorama	Obelisk of Esper	Steward of Valeron	Soul's Fire	Viscera Dragger
Violent Ultimatum	Call to Heel	Sphinx Sovereign	Topan Ascetic	Druid of the Anima	Fleshbag Marauder
Obelisk of Jund	Deft Duelist	Windwright Mage	Qasali Ambusher	Obelisk of Naya	Skeletonize
Naya Charm	Sigiled Paladin	Tezzeret the Seeker	Akrasan Squire	Resounding Silence	Kathari Screecher
Necrogenesis	Excommunicate	Metallurgeon	Rhox Charger	Elvish Visionary	Grixis Battlemage
Manaplasm	Knight of the White Orchid	Ethersworn Canonist	Obelisk of Bant	Feral Hydra	Obelisk of Grixis
Sigil Blessing	Tidehollow Sculler	Esper Charm	Wild Nacatl	Court Archers	Blister Beetle
Jungle Weaver	Dregscape Zombie	Steelclad Serpent	Knight of the Skyward Eye	Dragon Fodder	Scavenger Drake
Woolly Thoctar	Resounding Wave	Cancel	Stoic Angel	Gift of the Gargantuan	Kederekt Creeper
Hissing Iguanar	Cunning Lethemancer	Fatestitcher	Naya Battlemage	Bull Cerodon	Sedris, the Traitor King
Rip-Clan Crasher	Covenant of Minds	Filigree Sages	Cylian Elf	Bloodpyre Elemental	Vithian Stinger
Goblin Deathraiders	Knight-Captain of Eos	Dreg Reaver	Resounding Roar	Algae Gharial	Rockslide Elemental
Hellkite Overlord	Dawnray Archer	Salvage Titan	Naturalize	Carrion Thrash	Jhessian Lookout
Kresh the Bloodbraided	Welkin Guide	Punish Ignorance	Rhox War Monk	Rakeclaw Gargantuan	Blightning
Tar Fiend	Spell Snip	Skill Borrower	Mosstodon	Hell's Thunder	Cruel Ultimatum
Dragon's Herald	Outrider of Jhess	Dispeller's Capsule	Sighted-Caste Sorcerer	Godsire	Shore Snapper
Guardians of Akrasa	Ranger of Eos	Vectis Silencers	Angel's Herald	Goblin Assault	Demon's Herald
Gather Specimens	Yoked Plowbeast	Thunder-Thrash Elder	Angelic Benediction	Behemoth's Herald	Fire-Field Ogre
Drumhunter	Empyrial Archangel	Waveskimmer Aven	Jhessian Infiltrator	Quietus Spike	Deathgreeter
Ridge Rannet	Titanic Ultimatum	Realm Razer	Relic of Progenitus	Exuberant Firestoker	Swerve
Angelsong	Puppet Conjurer	Bant Battlemage	Skullmulcher	Incurable Ogre	Volcanic Submersion
Thorn-Thrash Viashino	Sphinx's Herald	Hindering Light	Kederekt Leviathan	Goblin Mountaineer	Lightning Talons
Keeper of Progenitus	Onyx Goblet	Cavern Thoctar	Lush Growth	Skeletal Kathari	Resounding Scream
Death Baron	Mayael the Anima	Spearbreaker Behemoth	Coma Veil	Sunseed Nurturer	Where Ancients Tread
Corpse Connoisseur	Marble Chalice	Scourge Devil	Ooze Garden	Bloodthorn Taunter	Archdemon of Unx
Sacellum Godspeaker	Sangrite Surge	Protomatter Powder	Lich's Mirror	Minion Reflector	Rockcaster Platoon
Etherium Astrolabe	Clarion Ultimatum	Undead Leotau	Savage Hunger	Crucible of Fire	Brilliant Ultimatum
Mindlock Orb	Glaze Fiend	Thoughtcutter Agent	Shadowfeed	Godtoucher	Soul's Might
Immortal Coil	Invincible Hymn	Soul's Grace	Gustrider Exuberant	Tortoise Formation	Viashino Skeleton
Mighty Emergence	Memory Erosion	Ad Nauseam	Cathartic Adept	Cradle of Vitality	Vicious Shadows
Banewasp Affliction

I feel it's worth noting that while some others tried to hate-draft anything that might be a threat to them, I continued to look for sideboard cards or alternate cards for my deck. Incurable Ogre, Skeletal Kathari, Exuberant Firestoker, and Goblin Mountaineer are good examples of this. In fact, I immediately pulled out Algae Gharial for Exuberant Firestoker as it fit much better with my deck's overall strategy.

Games

My first match was against Alexis. In the first game, Jund Charm caught her perfectly, wiping out her small creatures. I played out a couple of big creatures after that and ended it quickly. In the next game she had a weak draw and didn't see enough smaller creatures. Broodmate Dragon made an appearance, along with his other brother, Darryl, to finish the job.

Against Dave I had a bit of a poor mana draw the first game and couldn't keep up with his exalted attacks. In Game 2 I made a strategic mistake on turn two. I had a Forest and a Grixis Panorama and a choice between playing Elvish Visionary or fetching a Swamp. I played the Visionary, thinking I would have a chance to get the swamp later.

Unfortunately, his Qasali Ambusher and Rhox War Monk put on so much pressure I had to keep playing creatures just to stay in the game. When he played Elspeth, Knight-Errant, I thought it was over, but I saw a very narrow out. If I fetched a Mountain with my Panorama and then top-decked any land after that, I would be able to play Predator Dragon and hold off the flying 6/7 for a turn—after that, who knows, but at least it was one turn. I went for it and indeed, drew the land. The next turn got me Broodmate Dragon off the top. Dave sent in an alpha strike, and I was forced to block with every creature I had. He killed my other Dragon with Resounding Roar, and I was again backed up against a wall. I might have had one more turn to draw something like Resounding Silence, but Dave dropped Angelic Benediction and tapped my Court Archers while attacking in the air for the win. Even with better draws, I was clearly not favored in the matchup.

My third match against Lee included this almost comical play: He had out Blood Cultist and Rockslide Elemental. I had Druid of the Anima and Rakeclaw Gargantuan. His creatures already had one counter each, so an attack with the Gargantuan wouldn't put me ahead. Instead I decided to play Caldera Hellion. I sacrificed only one creature, not both. This was because his elemental would gain counters from my sacrifices before it took damage and two more counters would make it a 4/4. Fortunately, he didn't have any tricks to save his creatures and I wiped them out.

In the next game, Jund charm was just as effective as it had been against Alexis. I was only sad that I hadn't seen Sarkhan in a single game. I had a lot of fun and was very happy that my strategy was well planned and worked out well despite being in heavy competition for some of my cards.