| Well, I am fresh off the prerelease of CHK and I couldn't be happier with the set. First of all, the whole "massive amounts of legends" call to fame is not that noticeable when you are playing sealed deck. First of all, there are only 5 uncommon legends and the rest are rare so you don't come across multiples very often. Second of all, it is a MUCH slower format. Most of my games went: Land, go Land, go and so on until turn 3 when most people had enough mana to play spells. This makes Mirrodin look like Pro Tour Rome! (For those who don't know, PT Rome was when Urza's Saga was first released. To get a sense of how fast the matches went, one played described it as: "The beginning of the game was the opening dice roll, the middle of the game was the dice roll to see who went first and the endgame was the first few turns.) Now before I continue, I have to say something. I used to get really pissed off when I played Magic. I was no fun to play with and this bothered me. So after a while I had gotten my temper under control and I am happy with what has become of me. Also, to be a better player, you must not make mistakes. So every match I tallied all my mistakes. Although I did not write down what they were, (I did not have the time during the match and could not remember what they were afterwards, all I have are tally marks. So that's all I have to go on. Oh well. On to the first flight! For those who do not know, a flight is just another word for separate tourneys. There was a bunch going on at the same time. They color coordinated them to tell them apart. (I was in the green flight if anyone cares.) But of course, I did not know this because I had never played with the set before! So when I opened my tourney pack and boosters, I thought I had cracked a dud. The stuff was expensive! I had one or two one-drops and the Red/White deck rounded out at 3 mana for most of the spells. So I put in 18 land to be safe. Looking back, I feel for drafting purposes, everyone should. As I sat down to play my first game, I was sure I was going to lose. My opponent was a friendly fellow named Felix who put me at a slight ease with his cheery demeanor. He was playing Green/White with a lot of Soulshift guys. We exchanged luck and began. But when we started, I played a 1-mana creature first turn: Kitsune Diviner - W Creature - Fox Cleric T: Tap target spirit. 0/1 and then we just traded off land-drops for the next four turns! Finally we started dropping creatures back and forth and created an immense stand-off that lasted for so many turns it was sickening, boring and made my head hurt. The other interesting thing was that I wasn't drawing lands and at the end of the game my opponent stated he had drawn all the lands in his deck! Then I finally got the lands to play my savior: Konda, Lord of Eiganjo - 5WW Legendary Creature - Human Samurai Vigilance (Attacking does not cause this creature to tap.) Bushido 5 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +5/+5 until end of turn.) Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is indestructible. 3/3 And to make the situation worse, my opponent was facing down this as well: Innocence Kami - 2WW Creature - Spirit W,T: Tap target creature. Whenever you play a spirit or arcane spell, untap Innocence Kami. 2/3 So with my guy not tapping to attack and becoming an 8/8 whenever he was blocked and his two biggest guys being tapped down, he was stuck. I won the game shortly after, but this one match took almost all of the time and we barley started game 2 (He had a huge start and I was going to lose, good thing we timed out. So I felt better with my deck going 1-0 in the first round. So I won even though I had made three mistakes during the match. Oh well, live and learn. Mistake Count: 3 The second round was crazy. My opponent was some kid named Joe and he was playing Red/White as well, but he did not draw many plains I got a double Stone Rain grip and easily won. The second game was closer. Threw down my 2/2 hasted and first striking bushido guys. He had land at this point and he fights back well. From my notes, (okay just the life totals) I won at 6 life when my opponent had only 4. So at this point I am 2-0 and feeling good. Plus, I made no mistakes! Woo! Go me! Mistake Count: Still 3 My next match was against someone who had been playing a LONG time. He stated that the only sets he had never drafted were Antiquites and Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. I was in trouble. He had a speedy deck and he applied early pressure. I got back but I was being too aggressive and he was letting my guys go through. They were close matches as I recall be he just had the better deck, played a little better than me (from experience of course, and he drafted more. I never draft but after playing in this, I am considering doing it more.) and won. So I am 2-1 and I only made one mistake. This one I remember, in the first game I was not holding back blockers and he was able to outrace me. But the most frustrating thing was that he mulliganed twice in game one and once in game 2! With the whole flight in mind, I only had to mulligan once Mistake Count: 4 Forth round. Big pressure. The first game I drop Konda seventh turn and won from there. The second game he overpowered me. The third game made me mad. I was losing but I had Konda down and was destroying his defenses. But then he played: Dosan the Falling Leaf - 1GG Legendary Creature - Human Monk Players can play spells only during their turn. 2/2 So, I was losing and was going to lose because I could not play any of my white spells in my hand that would have allowed me to win! I had: Call to Glory - 1W Instant Untap all creatures you control. Samurai you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. Ethereal Haze - W Instant - Arcane Prevent all damage that would be dealt by creatures this turn Both of which would have allowed me to do a full on attack and then have cover and this: Reciprocate - W Instant Remove from the game target creature that dealt damage to you this turn. That would have removed his: Moss Kami - 5G Creature - Spirit Trample 5/5 So I lost and was 2-2 just because of ONE freaking creature! Also, had 3 mistakes so it was a bad match for me. Mistake Count: 7 So afterwards, I just traded for a while waiting for the next flight. Also, Felix from the first round informed me that he went 3-1 and I was his only loss. I felt a little bad because if I went 1-3 it would be the same prize as going 2-2. So, as a redemption, I gave him the two tappers that caused him his loss and he simply laughed and went on. So, I had lost but I was feeling good so, who cares! On to the next flight! This was the black flight. This one was 3 rounds because of time constraints and it was a bonus flight. As I opened by stuff, I once again I thought I had a bad deck. But the crazy thing was I got ANOTHER Konda! In two separate flights! I made a W/G deck with a mish-mash of random fliers and such. I only got 2 Soulshifters so I was disappointed. The only thing I liked that it had some cheaper creatures and I had this: Commune With Nature - G Sorcery Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. My deck had only 3-4 non-creature spells so I was confident that it would hit a creature every time (as a side note, it did.) My first match was all right. I was against another person who was named Steve and was playing G/W as well. (It was a popular color at my table. To put this in perspective, the middle of the table where all the extra lands went, I think everyone's islands were there! As a welcome change, my opponent made a mistake of his own. I had attacked with: Orochi Eggwatcher - 2G Creature - Snake Shaman 2G,T : Put a 1/1 green snake creature token into play. If you control ten or more creatures, flip Orochi Eggwatcher. 1/1 /flip/ Shidako, Broodmistress Legendary Creature - Snake Shaman G, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +3/+3 until the end of turn. 3/3 and my opponent had used Reciprocate on it and after a while I played Konda. (I want to play with him in standard now because he was so good to me) I proceeded to win from there. But the thing was, it was a creature standoff and I only won because I had the fliers advantage. Konda was no help! He had this in play: Kashi-Tribe Warriors - 3GG Creature - Snake Warrior Whenever Kashi-Tribe Warriors deals combat damage to a creature, tap that creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. 2/4 So with my Konda only useful as a blocker I had to rely on my flyers to win. This really shows how important flying is in draft. Also, I want to remind everyone that these were: Kabuto Moth - 2W Creature - Spirit Flying T: Target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn. 1/2 so I won with poke damage! Then with the next games I was rolled over quickly. This was also the first game where I used the Legend rule! He was beating me down with: Nagao, Bound by Honor - 3W Legendary Creature - Human Samurai Bushido 1 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.) Whenever Nagao, Bound by Honor attacks, Samurai you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. 3/3 And I simply played one of my own to kill it off. To be honest, the new rule actually helped me opposed to creating a more balanced rule! (And a note to the judge I bothered to show him this, I am sorry but it was too cool to pass up showing you.) Another thing that was interesting was that in the 2nd game during my last turn, you know, the pity turn where you are going to lose unless you topdeck a Wrath of God, I had topdecked Konda with nothing but lands in my hand. At this point I was holding back lands to bluff that I had cards in hand. So I simply let out a chuckle slapped him on the table and extended the hand. So, I needed to win the next 2 matches to get the maximum prize. Also, this was another 3-mistake match. I think I was starting to degrade and was not thinking properly. Or maybe I just suck. Only time will tell. Mistake Count: 10 Round 2: My opponent was a kid named Eric who had R/B deck with a bunch of cheap creatures. The first match was easy to say the least. He had a bunch of weenies and I had larger creatures. I slapped down whom else? Konda. I won that match with perfect health. To return the favor he beat me with almost perfect health with a fear creature! This is definitely the block where fear will rule the day. The last match made me mad though. He was beating me down with fliers after I had played Commune with Nature and picked Konda over my Kabuto Moth. I had topdecked my two Cage of Hands, used one again to stop a 2/3 flier he and played and got my other flier off a lucky Commune with Nature. So I was in the clear. I was going to win but it was going to take time. Then time was called. I had asked my opponent to concede because he was going to lose eventually and I wanted the max prize. Like an ass he denied so I had to take a gambit on my last turn and managed to attack for five unblocked damage when he was at 4. Thanks a lot ass! But I was now 1-1 in close contention for my max prize of 3 packs and I had only 1 mistake. Go me! Mistake Count: 11 Last Round: Some little kid named Julian who had a G/W deck with a black splash. That match was fun. As a side note, In the first round I played this charged to 3: Orochi Hatchery - XX Artifact Orochi Hatchery comes into play with X charge counters on it. 5,T: Put a 1/1 green snake creature token into play for each charge counter on Orochi Hatchery. But he dealt with it quickly with a: Wear Away - GG Instant - Arcane Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Splice onto Arcane 3G So I had no idea how great it was. So with my Orochi Eggwatcher in play and me getting three snakes a turn with the Hatchery, my Eggwatcher quickly flipped. Plus Konda found himself into play. I also had a flier and quickly won with a quadruple giant growthed Kabuto Moth. the second round found me with a first turn Commune with Nature that forced me to bottomdeck my Hatchery but I got my Kabuto Moth. Then I played another Commute with Nature and what I saw pissed me off. It was: Land, Land, Konda, Land, Land. The reason for the anger was I had 5 lands in play, none in hand, and I was going to lose the lands I needed to play him. Oh well. But then, he played a Konda of his own! Needless to say that I had an uncastable one in my hand and I was going to be beat down with what I had been abusing all day! It was not a good feeling to be on the wrong side of a Konda. Worst of all it was foil and he would not trade it for anything less than my Verdant Force, which was never going to happen. There is a good story attached to it that I never want to lose the memory of. * Now my only mistake of the match was leaving my Cage of Hands on his weaker flier when I had the almighty Kabuto Moth in play! Oh well. I only too 6 damage until I realized my mistake. So I decided to Legend rule away both Kondas and I won from there with the Kabuto Moth. That's all my tourneys! I went 2-1 in the black flight and 2-2 in the green flight. I won 4 packs and sold a bunch of cards I didn't need anymore for some good common/uncommons that I needed and finally got a playset of Vedalken Shackles. Final Mistake Count: 12. Not great, but not horrible. I am getting better but I think that I could not concentrate so well because I literally had nothing to eat that day. For the whole time I was there, all I had was an energy bar and a big bottle of water. But that might be just excuses. MVP's of the Day: -Konda, Lord of Eiganjo -Konda, Lord of Eiganjo (One for both drafts) -Kabuto Moth -Commune with Nature -Harsh Deceiver - 3W Creature - Spirit 1: Look at the top card of your library. 2: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land, untap ~this~ and it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn. 1/4 (Unmentioned MVP of the day. I cracked 2 each draft and they served me well) WTF cards of the Day: -Mindblaze - 5R Sorcery Name a non-land card and choose a number greater than 0. Target player reveals his or her library. If that library contains exactly the chosen number of the named card, Mindblaze deals 8 damage to that player. Then that player shuffles his or her library. (I got a foil version) -He Who Hungers - 4B Legendary Creature - Spirit Flying 1, Sacrifice a Spirit: Target opponent reveals his or her hand. Choose a card from it. That player discards that card. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. Soulshift 4 3/2 I have no idea if this is playable, but waiting until turn 6 for a Coercion that requires a sacrifice sounds pretty terrible to me. So with my story complete, all I can say is CHK is a great set, it is fun to draft, and I really like Konda. In a few days I will have speculation on some ideas for CHK block decks and some of my predictions for what cards will see play. I will leave you with this last note and a story that has to do with Verdant Force. Trade of the Day: Some kid who liked Legends wanted my Crovax the Cursed and Kor Haven. I got in return a Gilded Drake! He didn't mind. he said he never used it and he got it for nothing. So we both came out on top! Quote of the Day: Jay: So Dayquil mixed with Nyquil will just make you the same, right? Vergo: No. That'll make it Noonquil. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *I played emperor with my friend Sean on my team. We were both playing versions of reanimator. I had a version with a green splash for Uktabi Orangutan and his green splash was for Survival of the Fittest. Me: Swamp, Entomb-Verdant Force in the grave. Emperor: Island, Go Sean: <to me> you have Exhume? <I nod> Ok, I don't play a land, discard Verdant Force at end of turn. <Turn Rotation> Me: Swamp, Exhume. Hello dual Verdant Forces that create 12 1/1 tokens every turn rotation! Mr. Pink out. |
First Impressions of Champions of Kamigawa sunday, September 19, 2004 - 9:57 PM |
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