Author Topic: 2012 Booster Draft 2nd Place (Read 2275 times)

Professoralstad · « **on:** August 16, 2012, 07:16:32 PM »

Player: Jordan Alstad

This is the deck that led me to second place. I didn't draft any great cards, just a lot of ok-good ones that happened to work out well together. Then with a little luck, a little help from my opponents, and a few sweet plays from cards that are only seen in Booster Draft, I was able to sneak into second. I'll provide commentary along the way, so hopefully my advice will help people in future drafts.

57 Cards (I always do 57, which theoretically gives me the best chance of going first. Sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't. I think I went first once in 5 rounds)

Lost Souls--8 (Yes, it seemed no one else at my first table wanted LS's with SAs. I got to use the beggar once or twice, never the shut door, and I used the anti-angel once I believe)
-NT Only
-Shut Door
-Beggar
-Anti-Angel
-Generic Pigs LS x4

Sites--2 (I hate drafting Sites. They take up deck space, and at least someone will have access to them. So I usually let everyone else draft the sites, while I focus on the access cards. I was able to nab two of them here which was nice)
-New Jerusalem
-The Ends of the Earth

Artifacts--1
-Samaritan Water Jar (My loathing for this card in T2-2P knows no bounds, but it was a nice draft. I used it thrice, twice it gave me a LS to rescue, but the third time it didn't...even though my opponent had Woman at the Well in territory allowing me to reveal top nine...ridiculous. That whole game just went horribly).

Curses--1
-Unsuccessful (Only used it once in the tournament, and never as an Artifact. But it was nice as a negate with huge toughness)

Heroes--11

Blue:
-Ehud (I never had any support for Ehud, but the ability to choose any male EC in a territory with FS is nice so I took him when I had nothing better to take)

Silver:
-Swift (Big Angels are nice, since a majority of evil battle winners target humans, and BD is often a game of numbers. Angel Wars also have a ton of big enhancements that aren't great outside of draft but 9/9 plus 4/2 or 3/3 x multiples will win more often than not)
-Angel in the Path (I really wish this was the Warriors version with my white offense, but I mainly took him for his site access. I think he may have won one rescue in the tournament, but he was mostly overshadowed by Swift).

Green: (I included Hur with no support primarily to hopefully get free early souls with generation, but I don't think I ever used him, as I never got him early enough to hope to get past established defenses)
-Hur

Red: (My red Heroes were the cornerstone of a fairly key play that I used a couple of times. Once when I was in the lead with an Unholy Writ active, I chose an opponent's EC with Jael to give me initiative. I was banking on the player with Writ not using it right away. I got initiative and played Wheel Within a Wheel to exchange for Swift, for which I had more support, and got around Writ. Jashobeam also used Wheel effectively in a later game.)
-Jael
-Jashobeam

White: (White was my main brigade, and my superstars were Enoch--really hard to get rid of in Draft, he is one of my all-time favorite heroes for drafting--and Ethan with an accompanying Passover Hymn--recurrable negate? Yes please. Nicodemus, John and Philip's Daughters were nice as NT Heroes who could use The Ends of the Earth, and Covenant Keepers provided big numbers, though I never drafted any Covenants).
-Enoch
-Nicodemus
-Jochebed
-Ethan
-Covenant Keepers
-John the Baptist
-Philip's Daughters

Professoralstad · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2012, 07:17:30 PM »

Good Enhancements--15

Dual:
-Passover Hymn (As mentioned previously, this card was great as a recurrable card with Ethan, and just a good negate in general with Ethan in play)

Red: (Surprisingly, I used Wheel Within a Wheel 2-3 times successfully, while I never got a chance to use Battle Cry. I always use mass banders when I can, but I only had two red heroes and either didn't need Battle Cry or didn't have it. Wheel was an awesome draft though)
-Wheel Within a Wheel
-Battle Cry

Silver: (I drafted these mostly for numbers, but as it turned out, Angel Chariots actually won a battle vs. an Ananias who had tons of support, and would have stalemated my Swift had I not used Chariots' ability. Only in Booster.)
-Angel Chariots (As mentioned, this was one of my battle winners. Who knew?)
-Hammer of Heaven (The weapon was nice because it basically increased the numbers on Swift. I never had to use the ability, though it could have come in handy vs. a PotW or a banding demon.)
-Eyes Open (4/2 is nice, and the ability to look at an opponent's hand is always good)
-Eaten by Worms (again, 4/2, and while I never got to use the decrease ability, there was one game where another player's Eaten by Worms killed off a very nasty King Ahaz).

White: (Back to my main brigade, I drafted a few nice enhancements. I used all of them to good effect at least one during the tourney, except for Wall of Fire--I would have but the one time I had it my opponent chose not to block with his black EC and instead ceded me the LS)
-Wall of Fire (As I said, never used it, but I've had drafts where I've won multiple battles with this card so I included it)
-Lion Dwelling with the Calf (Won me two games. No joke. In my first round, it withdrew the only EC my opponent had for the fifth soul. In the second to last round, Enoch withdrew the opposing Claudius, and my opponent's next best EC didn't have the numbers to beat him so I got 5.)
-Spear and Shield (Increasing from 2/5 to 3/7 isn't that huge, but it did work a few times)
-Scarlet Line (With Jochebed and Philip's Daughters to use, I figured this would be a great battle winner. I ended up only using it once, but I did win that battle).
-Banner of Truth (I figured it might help against someone who drafted a Deceit of Sapphira, but I also figured that another enhancement that Ethan could recur would be nice. I played it a couple of times for numbers, but that's all)
-Blessings (Covenant Breakers + Blessings can be devastating in Booster, and that combo won me a couple of souls. Most of the time though I was able to use my other battle winners. Still nice to have.)
-Moses and Elders (I used this once to get back my best battle winner--Lion Dwelling with the Calf--but it wasn't a crucial part of my deck or any of my games. Overall a nice grab though).
-Consider the Lilies (I used this a few times to get out Passover Hymn which helped a ton, and I even recurred Hymn once as well so I didn't have to attack with Ethan and could use Enoch instead. I wish I had drafted more NT white enhancements though, as Hymn was my only one.)

Evil Characters--9

Orange: (I couldn't believe when I saw not one but two Wandering Spirits passed to me. In a draft with Angel Wars and all the accompanying Panic Demons and Obsidian Minions, I had to take them both. Turned out to be a good choice, as Wandering Spirit plus a Panic chain got a few blocks)
-Wandering Spirit x2

Black: (I didn't have a lot of support for these guys, but I figured Cain might be a good way to get rid of an annoying hero. Jehoahaz had good initiative with which I could steal Sites with Danites Attack--to open the souls for my heroes, and use the sites if I chose--I never blocked with either of them though)
-Cain
-King Jehoahaz

Gray: (Some okay blockers, but nothing great. Orpah never got a block, but Stone Throwers was excellent. I had a few good NT gray enhancements and got to make a couple of blocks with his ability. Though he did stop my Nicodemus from getting rid of a Writ in one game, which was annoying. I had quite a bit of support for the others).
-Orpah
-Stone Throwers
-Obsidian Minions

Crimson: (Archers of Kedar was an excellent draft...I was able to band to a King Ahaz, and to a Herod the Great. I also got rid of a Michael in territory)
-Archers of Kedar

Professoralstad · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2012, 07:17:47 PM »

Evil Enhancements--8

Black: (Drafted them to open up LSs to attack for if necessary, but I never got to use them)
-Danites Attack x2

Gray: (A few nice cards to be sure. Banishment was in there strictly for Stone Throwers, and Separate Ways did actually break up a banding chain which increased my Orpah to 7/8. Otherwise, banding cards and negates are always nice, and Idle Gossip--the best card in my Women's pack--helped a few times by making the attacking Hero fight an opponent's Gabriel which killed two Heroes not my own and got the block, which is always nice)
-Water Shaft
-Begging For Grain
-Separate Ways
-Banishment
-Idle Gossip
-Stolen Blessing (note on this card: it may have saved me the last game. The opponent to my left attacked me. I had the only available LS except the one in his site. I didn't have a good block, but that opponent only had 3, so I was able to give him the Soul. Before I did though, I played Stolen Blessing and targeted the guy to his left, so that he wouldn't draw a soul for the guy for my right to rescue. It turned out to win me the game, as neither of the other opponents could attack and I got the LS in the site. I never did ask if the guy would have drawn an LS or not, but there had been a pretty substantial drought up to that point so I figured he might.)

Overall I went 4-1. The loss was a terrible game where I only had LSs available to me on 3 of my 8 turns. My first turn, my John the Baptist got blocked by an early Claudius, then I faced Soul drought (even with the previously mentioned Water Jar with Woman at the Well in play). I got a couple of LSs toward the end, but it was too late. Frustrating, but such is draft. The rest of my games were all good, with some nice plays, and for the most part good play by my opponents. It was a great tournament, and a great end to my drafting season.

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Author Topic: 2012 Booster Draft 2nd Place (Read 2275 times)

Professoralstad

2012 Booster Draft 2nd Place

Professoralstad

Re: 2012 Booster Draft 2nd Place

Professoralstad

Re: 2012 Booster Draft 2nd Place