My record for the draft was 2-4 and I am not sure of my exact differential but it surely was in the negative! First game I lost to TX Jonathan at timeout and I think it was 4-3. My second game I lost 5-2, maybe? My third game was the first game I won and it was a timeout win by 1, I think 4-3 and I think it was Ray that I played but I might be remembering the name incorrectly. My 4th game was a loss, I don't remember the score but it was a timeout loss against Robin who I had drafted with as well. The 5th game was a time out loss 3-2. The last game was a win but not sure if it was 5-2 or 5-3.
The unfortunate part of my draft is that I really think I used the wrong offense as I had a good amount of Blue that I really should have used instead of the white or royalty or combination of both. My offense ended up setting up OK because of the hero pulling from deck but the biggest thing that held me back was lack of ability to make rescues due to drought which would have been solved with Mahalalel. Harvest Season worked well but it just wasn't fast enough being the only way for me to get Lost Souls out of my opponent's deck and the couple games I got it I didn't really need it. Most of the rescues I won were with Boaz's Offspring or Root of Jesse and Appointing Judges worked very well to protect them when I was using my kings.
The defense was decent. My biggest trouble with it was lack of enhancements. Interestingly, if I had gone with the royalty plus Blue offense I had drafted Land Dispute, 3 of the blue and crimson enhancements and 2 Beasts of the Earth so I could have just added those Beasts and had a much easier time. I had drawn Queen M and Rehoboam in most games but never really had a legitimate opportunity to use them because the numbers would not have been big enough. Most of my blocks came from the chump kings or Goliath. I was also able to get Hooked and Shackled in each game except maybe 1 but I think I got it in all of them. However, it never worked! It got negated every time
I definitely allowed myself to get distracted by 'shiny" things while drafting. I really should have focused on 1 or 2 colors instead of picking up additional cards even though they were rares. I had gone in hoping to get mostly royalty and that worked until I let myself pick up the Ruth heroes. And once I got a couple Ruth heroes I also pulled Marriage Covenant and then Boaz so my mind was on that instead of getting back to my original goal. My biggest regret though after relooking at the cards was not playing High Places. I realized that since you draw every time a meek LS is put down that would have given me an additional draw almost every turn because of all the meek LSs in both decks.
In hindsight, I definitely would have gone with Blue + Royalty instead and only gone with 50 in the main deck. I probably still would have included Goliath but probably would not have used Doubt as I only used it once and it really wasn't a good block option, it was just all I had. I also probably would not have used Hooked and Shackled with Assyrian Forces because I didn't have any negates to back it up and it failed every time. I also never used Ride on Victoriously/Awesome Things or the add to battle from Gates. Distressing People was also a disappointment because my opponent never really had to discard from hand but 1 game. But I had a great time anyway. Was fun to see Ginger's kids all growed up!
Thanks everyone who played me and or drafted with me for helping me have a great first National tournament and happy return to Redemption.
