Draft Coverage: David Williams and Dennis Bentley

There were several very interesting draft tables to watch, and table two was particularly impressive. The following players are all undefeated to date and were seated in this order:

• David Williams - qualified at the very last meatgrinder, at 4am yesterday
• Mark Justice of team PCL fame, 1996 U.S. National Champion.
• Jon Finkel - PT player of the year
• Mark Le Pine - 2nd, GP DC
• Mike Bregoli - top Boston area player
• Brian Selden - World champion
• David Lewis
• Dennis Bentley - 1997 U.S. National Champion

I elected to watch David Williams and Dennis Bentley. Williams has an established reputation as an excellent drafter and Bentley has recently made a comeback, doing well at the tournaments he chose to attend.

Williams was the first seed in the draft. Bentley, to his right, was 8th.

Urzas Saga

Picks	Williams	Bentley
1	Corrupt	Goblin Raider
2	Absolute Law	Priest of Titania
3	Wall of Junk	Drifting Medaow
4	Looming Shade	Vebulid
5	COP Black	Goblin Spelunkers
6	Cathodian	Horseshoe Crab
7	Dark Ritual	Pendrell Drake
8	Blood Vassal	Endless Wurm
9	Parasitic Bond	Bull Hippo
10	Blood Vassal	Spire Owl
11	Power Taint	Veiled Serpent
12	Bog Raiders	Symbiosis
13	Hidden Herd	Thran Turbine
14	Phyrexian Ghoul	Venomous Fangs
15	Cloak of Mists	Blanchwood Armor

Williams opened excellent red cards in his pack - Shiv's Embrace, Heat Ray and Steam Blast. Taking one of those would lead to possibly having to fight for the color with Mark Justice sitting to his left. Williams drafted a Corrupt instead, the only black card in that pack.

Williams did not get many choice cards in Saga, but he did pick up some decent creatures and left himself open to potentially switching his second color, having drafted few white cards.

Bentley had the luxury of just taking what came as the 8th seed. He let most of the players around him choose their colors and went heavily into green. Blue wasn't as easy, Bentley had to fight for this color with David Lewis sitting to his left. Having drafted several creature enhancements as well as a few very solid green creatures, Bentley commited heavily to this color but his second color was yet ot be finalized as well.

Urza's Legacy

Picks	Williams	Bentley
1	Expendable Troops	Rancor
2	Defender of Law	Treefolk Mystic
3	Snap	Silk Net
4	Engineered Plague	Intervene
5	Plague Beetle	Repopulate
6	Radiant's Judgement	Cloud of Faeries
7	Martyr's Cause	Bouncing Beebles
8	Hope and Glory	Rancor
9	Crawlspace	Aura Flux
10	Sick and Tired	Weatherseed Faeries
11	Iron Maiden	Crop Rotation
12	Phyrexian Broodlings	Cloud of Faeries
13	Burst of Energy	Multani's Presence
14	Phyrexian Plaguelord	Yavimaya Scion
15	?	Plague Beetle

The Legacy pack was really good to Bentley. The pack he opened presented a choice between Rancor and Might of Oaks (Bentley correctly chose Rancor) and another Rancor showed up later in the draft. Although Bentley would need to draft some more creatures in Destiny, his deck was looking solid already.

Williams picked up a first-pick quality Plaguelord (taking it over Radiant's Dragoons) and some removal. He too, would need a solid Destiny pack to have a good draft.

Urza's Destiny

Picks	Williams	Bentley
1	Voice of Reason	Multani's Decree
2	Chime of Night	Illuminated Wings
3	Fend Off	Covetous Dragon
4	Capashen Templar	Mental Discipline
5	Soul Feast	Goliath beetle
6	Relinquiry Monk	Bubbling Beebles
7	Braidwood Cup	Plow Under
8	CapashenTemplar	Fledgling Osprey
9	Taunting Elf	Heart Warden
10	Tormented Angel	Fatigue
11	Storage Matrix	Plated Spider
12	Scent of Nightshade	Rescue
13	Fledgling Osprey	Plated Spider
14	Field Surgeon	Metathran Soldier
15	Fatigue	Kingfisher

Williams' draft ended up being decent, but not great. He did get some solid fliers but he would also probably end up playing with several weaker cards like Blood Vassal. Bentley managed to draft some of the much needed creatures. His deck is powerful but lacks direct removal to deal with creatures like Field Surgeon or Weatherseed Elf. He will have to rely on raw power to punch through.

Mike Bregoli drafted what may be the best deck at the table. His Green-Black strategy benefted from being passed cards like Deranged Hermit and Might of Oaks.

In an update to a previous draft report, Mark Justice defeated Andrew Cuneo in the final match of the first draft. His gamble paid off with the Sligh-like strategy sweeping the draft.