M10 Draft Tournament Report for the M10 Launch Party
July 18, 2009
I just played in an M10 draft for the M10 Launch Party.
We had eight players and we did three rounds of swiss with a cut to the top two. Basically, it was single elimination unless people get draws. The two undefeated players after round two can just draw and be the top two players after the three rounds.
I opened Shivan Dragon. For pick two, I got passed a Serra Angel. In pick three, I took Doom Blade. Pick four was Howling Banshee. By this time, it definitely felt like black was open.
Sure, enough black was open. I got a bunch of good black cards including more removal and a late Nightmare. Luckily, red was also open since I wanted to play my dragon. I got passed three Seismic Strike, Prodigal Pyromancer, and Dragon Whelp.
The rest of my draft was pretty straight forward. For most of my picks, I just took the best card in my colors. I did take Elvish Archdruid first pick in the last pack since it’s worth some money. Also, I’m thinking of building the Green/White Elves combo deck. Fortunately, that pack didn’t have a really good black or red card.
We were definitely playing with some inexperienced players. I passed two Overrun (!) in the last pack. One was third pick and the other was fourth.
Here’s the decklist I played.
| Black/Red Midrange | |||||||||||
Creatures (13) | Spells (10)
Lands (17) Notable Sideboard Cards (10) |
| |||||||||
Rebuilding My Deck
In hindsight, I definitely misbuilt my deck. If I was to build it all over again, I would cut these cards:
Disentomb is fine but I already have Gravedigger. Plus, playing a creature instead of Disentomb makes my deck more aggressive. Aggression seems to be important in the M10 draft format because there are so many bombs running around. You want to be able to kill your opponent quickly before they draw their bombs.
That’s also why I would cut Diabolic Tutor and Rod of Ruin. They are both pretty slow cards. They are fine in sealed but draft is a faster format.
I would cut Sparkmage Apprentice because it’s situational. I can always side it in if my opponent has a lot of one toughness guys.
Instead of those four cards, I would play these cards:
Whispersilk Cloak
Fiery Hellhound
Dread Warlock
Warpath Ghoul
Whispersilk Cloak breaks creature stalls and it also protects my creatures.
Fiery Hellhound is a great combo with Whispersilk Cloak. And in the late game, it can trade with most ground creatures.
Dread Warlock has evasion against most decks.
Warpath Ghoul is just another creature to make my deck more aggressive. Also, it works well with Whispersilk Cloak.
Anyways, onto the games.
Match 1
Game 1
He had Raging Goblin and Soul Warden but I killed them both with Prodigal Pyromancer.
I played Howling Banshee on turn four. He couldn’t deal with it.
Game 2
I had Howling Banshee again on turn four. I was beating him pretty easily, but a couple turns later, he played Master of the Wild Hunt.
I couldn’t let him have two wolves since he could kill my 3/3 flyer. Therefore, I killed his first two wolves with Prodigal Pyromancer, Sparkmage Apprentice, and Disentomb (after chump blocking with Sparkmage). This allowed me to fly over with Howling Banshee for the win.
Match 2
Game 1
I was slightly mana screwed while he got out Viashino Spearhunter. Next, he enchanted it with Oakenform. I couldn’t deal with his 5/4 first striker because I didn’t have enough Mountains for Seismic Strike.
He hit me twice and I was down to 10 life.
I played Drudge Skeletons to block but he still had Mist Leopard. I took three damage from his 3/2 to go to seven life.
I found Kelinore Bat to block Mist Leopard. However, he drew Windstorm to kill it and deal me four damage. Then, he attacked for the win.
Game 2
He mulliganed to four while I kept my first seven cards. He took a while to reach three mana. With the card advantage and his mana screw, I won quickly a turn 4 Dragon Whelp and three Mountains to pump it up.
Game 3
This was a fun game because my deck worked like I hoped it would.
I had an early Child of Night that took him to 16. He played some creatures to block including Stampeding Rhino.
I summoned Drudge Skeletons and Wall of Bone. With those two regenerators, I had the ground locked up.
Then I played a 5/5 Nightmare. It attacked three times to bring him to one life. After that, I killed him with Tendrils of Corruption.
Finals
My friend, Andrew, won his first two matches. We drew for the third round and met in the finals. Before we played, I offered a split, which he accepted. We both got five booster packs of M10.
Game 1
The early part of the game was a standstill but I had Prodigal Pyromancer to bring down his life total. Then, I played a 4/4 Nightmare, which he couldn’t deal with.
Game 2
This was an epic game that lasted probably over 40 minutes. I had the early advantage with a fast draw. I brought him down to 13 life but then he locked down the board with two Blinding Mage, Deadly Recluse, and Wall of Faith. I couldn’t even attack with Looming Shade because of Wall of Faith.
I thought I had an opening to attack since I had more creatures and they were bigger. However, he destroyed me with Safe Passage.
Finally, with less than 12 cards in each of our libraries, he played Captain of the Watch. Then, he played Overrun and Might of Oaks (!) to take down all my 26 life.
Game 3
He had a good start with a turn three Centaur Courser. I had Child of Night, but he played Serra Angel on turn five.
I played Shivan Dragon but he had Divine Verdict. I played Gravedigger and replayed my red dragon.
Then, I played Dragon Whelp. At seven life, it look like I had stabilized. I had a read that he didn’t have any more removal, so I attacked with Shivan Dragon and left Dragon Whelp to block.
However, he topdecked Pacifism for Dragon Whelp. Then, he played Overrun for the win, since Dragon Whelp was my only untapped flyer.
I looked at the next card in my library. It was Seismic Strike, which could’ve killed Serra Angel.
Oh well, it was a good match. He had a sick green/white deck with 2 Giant Growth, 2 Divine Verdict, Serra Angel, Harms Way, 2 Safe Passage, Overrun, Captain of the Watch, 2 Blinding Mage, 2 Pacifism, 2 Borderland Ranger, Deadly Recluse, and Centaur Courser.
And against me, he had 2 Celestial Purge from his sideboard.
Oh yeah, Andrew, if you’re reading this. Good game but stop playing 42 cards decks and Fog 
7 Responses to “M10 Draft Tournament Report for the M10 Launch Party”
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I don’t know that Rod of Ruin is even good enough in sealed. I had one in my pool at the prerelease, and after siding it out a couple times, just kept it out and was happier for it. It never swung a game for me, nor against me when it turned up.
Thanks for the info. I guess I’m thinking for past sealed core set formats when Rod of Ruin was solid. However, you’re probably right since M10 seems like a much different format. It seems faster with early aggressive creatures and bombs that can end the game quickly (Overrun, Fireball, Shivan Dragon, Baneslayer Angel, etc.), which makes Rod of Ruin worse.
Well from the start i knew we were going to have a pretty good match. i went to a six pack sealed tournament today. I played green/white again. It was really solid but i couldn’t handle blue/black. Mind control is a pretty good card. I went 3-1 for the matches and made it to top eight. After that i won the next to matches 4-0. At finals i lost to blue/black. I got 2nd out of 20. But i listened to what you said and didn’t play with fog. But still played with 42 cards. lol i’ll get there
Good job, man!
tendril of corruption only targets creatures so in round 2 you cheated.
Oh, whoops. I totally missed that. But still, he had to topdeck something to stop a 5/5 Nightmare.
“However, he drew Windstorm to kill it and deal me four damage.”
Windstorm DOES NOT deal damage to players.