PT Kuala Lumpur, part II

So, I guess I'll pick up where I left off. I wonder if anyone still cares, but hey, I promised a second part... However, due to the x month span of procrastination, my memory is a little fuzzy (I have some notes though).

I was busy feeling pretty 8 Mile. The fact that my first draft got covered, confirmed that this PT was going to be epic.

The first draft

You can find the coverage here , but it's down while I'm writing this...

EDIT: It's up and when I look back at the draft 6 months later, I think I drafted like shit.

The draft left me pretty confused. The Guile in the first pack especially. In the end, I was pretty pleased with the deck nonetheless. Crib Swap is godawful in WG beats though.

Round 1
Taru, Genki [JPN] UW Merfolk
I lost a first to the synergy of infinite merfolks and Fallowsage made sure no comeback was possible. The other 2 were a different story. One I can't remember.

1-0

Round 2
Nakano, Yoshitaka [JPN], UB Rogues
In the first game, he had rogue nuts, prowling a Latchkey Faerie on turn 3. And 4.
In the second, his start was a bit slower. And it appeared like I was going to take that one down, but I was lacking more gas. Yoshitaka found Latchkey Faerie again, and combined with an evoked Aethersnipe and 2 Disperses, he won an extremely close race.

1-1

Round 3
Tsumura, Kenji [JPN] BG
A covered draft, but this wasn't even a feature match!
I started off by being the aggressor, but Kenji stabilized and began 2-for-1'ing me with his Dreamspoiler Witches. But I managed to keep drawing spells and eventually overwhelmed him. In the second he mulliganned and was mana screwed.

2-1

The second draft
I ended up with a GB deck. During the draft, I felt like I was really going with the flow, and drafted what I should have drafted. Also, 4th pick Oblivion Ring in pack 1, really?

Although I thought I had a good read, I didn't end up with a real tribal focus that is characteristic for the really broken decks of LLM. The morningtide part of the draft was also kind of unfortunate. I had some shallow packs which made me doubt that I was in the right colors, followed up by some really deep packs with 4 picks for my deck! But ok, I'm sure we've all been there.

Of particular interest was Obsidian Battle-Axe. I think this card is sick. But obviously you need to have enough Warriors. I picked the first Axe pretty early (1-3th pick). I got another one soon after that (4th?), and after a long time I chose to pick it instead of Elvish Warrior. Sixth pick, I received another Axe... This time I had no other options. It made me regret met Axe > Elvish Warrior pick, but I can't predict which exact cards will be passed to me. I figured it was more likely to receive Elvish Warrior, Treefolk Ambassador, Winnower Patrol or Game-Trail Changeling. All warriors, and the way the draft was going, I seemed like I was in a good position to get green.

But the packs weren't cooperating the way I wanted. Here's what I ended up with:

1 Vivid March
1 Vivid Grove
5 Swamp
10 Forest

2 Elvish Warrior
2 Blightspoil Druid
1 Leaf Gilder
1 Wren's Run Vanquisher
1 Wolf-Skull Shaman

2 Fistful of Force
1 Fertile Ground
1 Nameless Inversion

1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Battlewand Oak

2 Obsidian Battle-Axe
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Oblivion Ring

1 Moonglove Winnower
1 Leaf-Crown Elder
1 Cloudcrown Oak

1 Warren Pilferers
1 Orchard Warden
1 Oakgnarl Warrior

(with Axe #3 in the SB).

Round 4
Nassif, Gabriel [FRA] UB Rogues

He kept a 2 lander and missed land drops on turn 3 and 4. I guess he had a really good rogue start, if he'd draw a land. But he didn't and I won an easy first game. The second was a lot closer. Warren Pilferers was crucial here, being a 2 for 1 and blocking creatures with fear. Orchard Warden put the game out of Nassif's reach.

3-1

Lookin' good.

Round 5,
Lombardi, Paolo [ITA] UW Merfolk
I won the first versus a couple of mediocre Merfolks. I was also winning the second, versus a couple of better Merfolks (Judge of Currents, Stonybrook Schoolmaster), but Paolo didn't have a way to tap them. Until in one of his last drawsteps of the match, he mised Summon the School. Gaining like a gazillion life & tokens every turn made it hard for him too lose at that point. In the final game, I was battling versus Jace Beleren, and it seemed like I was winning an uphill battle. Sower of Temptation put a halt to that, and when I couldn't draw one of my outs in time...

3-2

Time for the bubble match...

Round 6
Barra, Giulio [ITA] BR
Giulio had himself a weird looking deck, part Elemental/part Goblin, with mediocre cards in both tribes. Both unfortunately he also had some good ones. Both games were pretty much the same: turn 3 Tauren Mauler, turn 5 Shriekmaw, and that was the end of my PT.

3-3

I was very disappointed, since I came pretty prepared to the PT, but it wasn't meant to be.
Kuala Lumpur was an awesome experience though (see pics in part 1 of the report). And that's what it's all about.

Although winning some $$$ at a PT adds a lot to the fun. I can't even remember the last time I cashed a PT...