It's a pleasure for me to join the ranks of TCGplayer and to give you my personal insight about the game we all love so much.
For those who don't know me, let me introduce myself quickly. I'm Raphaël Lévy, Magic Pro Player since Pro Tour Paris 1997. I was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006 and am currently holding the record for the most Pro Tours played consecutively (70+, since Worlds ‘98).
Let me tell you what you can expect from my writings:
I'm not a constructed specialist. I very rarely build successful constructed decks. However, I'm often happy with the deck I play at tournaments and would most of the time play them again if I had to play the tournaments again. I can tweak a deck for a tournament to make it more competitive even though I can't build one from scratch. So most of the constructed advice you will get from me will be tournament reports with decklists and sideboard plans along with my thoughts on the given formats.
As for limited, I'll be glad to share my opinion about the current draft formats. I'm not sure yet which media I want to use for that. Would you prefer written reviews? Video walk throughs? Let me know!
I like to tell stories when I talk about Magic. Sometimes they are relevant, sometimes they're not. I feel that delivering decklists and special techs without weaving a little around them is a bit tasteless. If you don't want to read about how I plan my trips, what makes me play which deck, who I work with and how, just skip those parts!
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A week before Christmas, at a PTQ held in my hometown, Toulouse in France, I was approached by three local players: Remy, Vincent and Yoann. They planned to go on a trip to the US to play in the US GPs, Austin and Orlando. They had also planned to travel around Florida, ride rollercoasters at Universal Studios, go watch a Basketball game...
At that time, WotC hadn't changed the OP policy back, and they were hoping to grind PWP in order to qualify for Barcelona. I had just reached Pro Level 7, but had no real intention to travel to GPs in 2012, since I didn't really have anything to play for. Their plan sounded fun though.
Then everything changed when they announced the new system: a new Pro Level system, awarding incredible benefits to whoever would reach 40 PT points, in a period of time starting from after PT Nagoya last year until PT Barcelona in May 2012. With 18 points at the “beginning” of the new season, I thought I would give it a shot, and decided to tag along.
Austin was our first destination and the format would be Innistrad Limited. Innistrad had been offering a lot of depth and that's why it has become my favorite draft format of all time. Many different archetypes, mostly playable cards, meaning that you might end up playing with your 12th or 13th pick, which wasn't the case with most of the last formats: Alara, Scars of Mirrodin, M11 or M12.
In October last year, I lost in the finals of GP Milan in the same format. Even though it was a very good result, it was extremely frustrating. It was the third limited GP finals I lost, seeing once again the trophy at hand's reach slipping away. I missed day 2 of GP San Diego last November, and that was also very frustrating. Austin was the last opportunity to draft triple Innistrad.
Before I move to the draft portion - the interesting part of this report - here is the deck I had on day 1 for the 9 rounds (6+3 byes):
The deck wasn't great but definitely good enough. The bomb rares made up for the bad quality of the removal spells (two Corpse Lunges, Sensory Deprivation) and the lack of fast creatures. While I did not expect to 9-0 with this deck, 7-2 was a minimum.
With that 7-2 record, I started day 2 ranked 57th, drafting on a very tough pod that included Martin Juza (drafting on my right), Eric Froehlich, Brian Kibler and Brandon Sheel. With the high attendance (1058 players) the number of byes awarded in the tournament and only 9 rounds on day 1 (only a few players were missing to make it a 10-round day 1), 12-2-1 was likely not to make top 8. A 6-0 was needed in order to draft at the final pod.
My strategy going into the draft portion was to draft whatever was open but also keep in mind the fact that I wanted to be the WU aggro player. If it came together, good for me, if it didn't, I would switch to something else.
How did I come up with that strategy? I have been practicing Innistrad draft since it came out and had most of my wins from U/x aggro decks. As people were beginning to understand how the format actually worked, they started to draft more specific strategies, trying to abuse the self mill mechanic for example, or fight over what's been said to be the best archetype: WG Travel Preparation. I don't want to be fighting for a deck that everyone knows about. WG is a very powerful draft archetype when it comes together and in the beginning, it was “easy” to come up with an insane WG deck when no one first picked Travel Preparations. Most strategies didn't include the cards I wanted to take.
Invisible Stalker has been getting a bit more love lately, and is to me one of the best first picks you can make. Martin who passed me the pack couldn't believe I did that. My explanation was simple: Invisible Stalker is a very unfair card. It just wins on its own along with any piece of equipment. Draft that guy early, make sure to pick up one piece of equipment or a Bonds of Faith and you know you'll be winning at least one game thanks to the 2-card combo. “You'll get one later in the draft!” Martin told me. Hmm, sure maybe, but I'll be even happier with two...
The rest of the draft went according to plan and I got most of the cards I wanted:
- Two Feeling of Dread: This is a card that only really shines in WU, and that no one is going to take from you. I like to use it for its offensive value, to clear the way of all blockers while protecting you from potential attackers.
Except for Silent Departure that a lot of decks are going to fight for, you get the other cards quite easily. And that's why this strategy is so efficient. It's mostly commons no one will want that when put together, make a very good curved and aggressive deck with evasion creatures and answers to almost everything.
The plan of this deck is to play a bunch of weenie creatures and sneak in as much damage as possible using either evasion (Intimidate, Flying or just unblockability) or tricks (Moment of Heroism, sacrificing Elder Cathars with Stitcher's Apprentice) to make your guys survive battles and eventually clear the way of blockers with Feeling of Dread to deal the last damage.
In Round 11 vs Ricky Sidher running a UB deck, something interesting happened. I was feeling quite confident in game one, attacking with my Invisible Stalker equipped with a Butcher's Cleaver. I attacked for 6 with the help of Moment of Heroism to win the game on the spot. Ricky admitted he would have won the game had I not played the white instant, drawing the card he needed on the next turn (and by winning, he meant, killing the stalker. He was pretty much ahead on the board). Can you find out what he was talking about? It's a two-card combo that doesn't include: Curse of Death's Hold, Lilliana of the Veil or Tribute to Hunger (*answer at the very end of this article).
You can find my round Round 12 vs. Brian Kibler covered *here*.
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Another sweep would put me into the Top 8. At 10-2 on pod 2, 2011 Rookie of the Year Mattias Hunt, MOCS Champion Reid Duke would fight for the one Top 8 slot open along with 5 other contestants.
The draft went differently this time. I did open Mikaeus, the Lunarch in a pack that included relevant other white cards like Avacyn Priest and Slayer of the Wicked. My left neighbor opened a Mayor of Avabruck. For many reasons including me not wanting to pass a Mikaeus to someone who opened a Mayor (only one of us can make Top 8), and Mikaeus also being the best pick overall, I picked the mythic rare. White was flowing in pack one so I expected my left neighbor(s) to play white also. Blue was nowhere to be seen. In a very dry 4thpack, I picked a Victim of Night, just in case. At the end of pack one, I mostly had white cards, a Victim of Night and a Selhoff Occultist (not the best WU card).
I proceeded to open a Bloodline Keeper in pack 2 which forced me to consider going into WB. I'm not a big fan of WB because of the awkward manabase you usually end up with, with card with double white and double black in their cost. The pack didn't really have anything interesting for me, maybe a white flyer, but nothing appealing enough to keep me away from taking the vampire.
I had a big decision to make in the next pack though: Moan of the Unhallowed or Mindshrieker. Moan is another double-black card. Mindshrieker is an extremely good blue flyer. That might have been a mistake, but I went for the bird, wanting to keep my options open. Black was in fact open in pack two and three, and I ended up getting a late Dead Weight, a Tribute to Hunger and a 3rd or 4th pick Sever the Bloodline in pack 3.
Unlike my first draft, that deck included very powerful rares: Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Bloodline Keeper and Sever the Bloodline. I was as I said, a bit worried about the manabase, but the abundance of removal spells made sure I would survive long enough to play my bombs.
Just a few words about Altar's Reap. It's not a card I like very much, but it has a few uses with Fiend Hunter (sacrifice in response to the trigger), Elder Cathar and most of all, it helps dig for either Mikaeus or Bloodline Keeper.
I beat Mattias Hunt and his very aggressive BR vampire deck in round 13, then Reid Duke and his UG self mill deck in round 14 (You can read the coverage here).
William Pritchard offered me to draw in round 15. After a close look at the standings, I was sure I would draw myself out of the top 8. In a breathtaking 3-game match, I managed to pull off my second Top 8 in the format and was thrilled to get a shot at the title.
My plan had been working so far, and I saw no reason to give it up now. When wishing me good luck for the Top 8, Martin told me: “Open lots of Invisible Stalkers!”
And guess what... I did open one. Check out the draft pick viewer *here* to see how my draft went and if you would have done things differently.
I was indeed a bit worried when I saw David Ochoa, two seats on my right, picking a Cloistered Youth pick 6 after he had picked a Civilized Scholar first. Cards in WU kept coming, so I had no reason to deviate from my initial plan.
My pack two was the turning point of the draft, when I committed to WU for good with a Feeling of Dread over Bloodgift Demon (and Kruin Outlaw). I didn't have much in Blue yet, but I didn't want to mess up my draft for a rare that sure is good, but overall, while being two totally different cards, Feeling of Dread is one of the best cards in the format that I really wanted to have in my deck.
After the draft, when people asked me how I felt about my deck, I casually answered that it was ok, so I didn't get my hopes too high. Deep inside, I knew I ended up with exactly what I wanted. Pretty much the same deck as my first draft with two Stitcher's Apprentices and the creature outlet to go with it (two Elder Cathars, Doomed Traveler, Unruly Mob), two Feeling of Dread, a few counterspells, evasion creatures, a couple of removal spells, Invisible Stalker along with a Silver-Inlaid Dagger.
Delver of Secrets wasn't the most exciting card, but it fitted the curve well, would allow a really fast draw with Champion of the Parish or just turn into a 2/2 with the Apprentice in case it didn't do anything.
Winning was such an awesome feeling. Some people, after they've been playing Magic for so long, lose their drive to accomplish great things. Coming into Austin, I wanted to get a few points in my quest to reach Platinum Level, solidify my 1st place in the race for the French slot at the WMC and hypothetically take part in the Players' Championship. Round after round, I could see *this* coming true. This is my first limited title (the three others have come from extended GPs), and it couldn't come at a better time.
If there's something to learn from all this, it is the way you should go to a draft tournament. I'm not going to talk about it too much in details because otherwise this article will never end. Feeling confident about your knowledge of a given draft format is the key to success. Talk to people about what they think of specific cards, commons, or archetypes. Compare it to your experience with them.
From what I was hearing, I knew that no one liked the cards I wanted. Take Abbey Griffin for example. People don't really rate this card very high and it is an important part of the UW strategy. Same goes for Stitcher's Apprentice. UG Self Mill and Burning Vengeance decks which were my favorite archetypes in the first place raised in popularity, making them very dangerous decks to draft since there's no real backup plan when you commit to them. And the good thing is, UW has a very good matchup against both thanks to fast fliers - that UG can't really deal with since they rely mostly on Armored Skaabs and Fortress Crabs to hold the fort - and Disenchant effects along with graveyard control (Purify the grave that you will be able to pick up late if any is opened) against Burning Vengeance.
The question is: should you force the deck you want to have? The answer is no. You should always keep your options open, depending on what you open and what you think your neighbors are drafting. However, it is best if you know exactly what you're doing, know which cards go in which archetype, which archetype works best, to know exactly where you can go at each step of the draft. If your plan works and you haven't gone back and forth between colors/strategies, you should be able to have a deck that “makes sense” with a minimum of wasted picks. In the best case, you end up with the deck you were shooting for.
***
I had a blast on my trip to the US. GP Orlando didn't go too well (day 2, no money). Playing WU Humans may not have been the best deck choice after all. But overall, I can't complain about my results...
Universal Studios was a lot of fun, the “Rock It,” the “Hulk,” and the “Dragon Challenge” are three rollercoasters from the park are worth running a couple of times each, especially when there's no line! I got to know new people that I probably wouldn't have met in other circumstances and my travel companions were also good fun. We ended our journey in Miami where we spent two days hanging out and celebrating two weeks of good times.
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