Tourny Report from Cameron Miller

This is a report of the Tuesday booster draft. First I will discuss the initial stages of the draft. I began the draft with two Twaurog brothers to my left. I think Tim went green/white? and Eric went Red/White/Blue. In the end I ended up with a deck which I felt was average to below average. Here it is: 1 Keldon Battlewagon (Never attacked/ will probably not use again 1 Ribbon Snake 1 Coastal Hornclaw 1 Primeval Shambler 1 Vicious Hunger 1 Agent of Shaku 1 Dominate 1 Chimeric Idol 1 Rishadan Airship 1 Ensnare 1 Deathgazer 1 Rishadan Footpad 1 Phyrexian Prowler 1 Stronghold Biologist 1 Battlefield Percher (helped me to many game wins) 1 Blockade Runner 1 Deepwood Ghoul 1 Soul Strings 1 Fen Stalker 1 Withdraw 1 Trade Routes and probably one Carrion Wall

Here are the matches:

Round one: Ray Placious v. Cameron Miller

Ray had 2 REALLY AMAZING cards in his deck. They were Avatar of Fury and Flowstone Slide. He also had a decent creature base (Spider, Beast, Wurm). He was playing a green, white and red deck. In this game he did not draw any bombs and my creatures, combined with Ensnare aided me in the win.

Game two: Ray plays some good spells, gains some control, and then I think I have evened out control. He then plays a Slide, which calls all the creatures except his bracered Wurm, and my Ribbon Snake. He casts the Avatar and quickly wins.

Game three: I think that Ray failed to draw a green mana source, and my small creatures overpower his Crossbow Archer. He did play Distorting Lens to counteract the Fen Stalker's ability, and actual killed it via archer this game. Still, failing to draw a need mana source can really impact the game.

1-0

Round two: Scott (Forgot his last name) v. Cameron Miller

Game one: Scott was playing mono-green. He had DECENT creatures such as Wumpus, 2 Darba's, Gahr, Beats, and small beatdown creatures. His huge construction mistake is that he was playing 21 land which aided in his drawing of excessive amounts of forests. In this game I had Shaku, and a Percher, which aided in the win, and the Shaku gave me extra defense which helped against his Darba. I think the Biologist aided in my win/ I countered one or two big creatures.

Game two: I have a fairly good draw, and so does he. We each cast creatures (his are a lot bigger), and I use Withdraw to return two to his hand, which gives me some control. The Idol inflicts some damage, and it comes down to a close game when I just kill him before he can topdeck a treetop bracers in time.

2-0

Round Three: Les Hayes v. Cameron Miller

Les is playing a very good blue/black deck. He has cards such as a Bribery, Cateran Slaver, Zeppelin, Flowstone Armor, Belbe's Armor, Outrigger, Greel, Mind Raker, Seal of Doom, and other decent creatures.

Game one: In this match Les mulligans, and is severely mana screwed. I quickly win. While sideboarding for Game two, Les notices that he was missing 4 land via displacement, lost, stolen, etc. Nothing else was missing from his deck.

Game two: We each cast decent cards, and I gain some control until Les TD's a Cateran Slaver. I lose three turns later.

Game three: The game is going better for Les until he briberies, he takes a blockade runner. He remarks that my deck is not very good, and I agree with that. Fortunately I was holding the Shambler in my hand or I would have quickly lost. The game then proceeds to be close as he is attacking me with the Runner, while I am mounting a creature defense (for a short time) and am using Withdraw to slow him down. Eventually I Ensnare, and then hit him down to one life. Eventually Les makes an error which is to cast the Outrigger instead of a Flowstone Armor. Les had the Belbe's Armor out which was giving me real problems. I then attack for one and win the game.

3-0

Round four: Ruff v. Miller

Ruff had a decent deck which was composed of Linn Sivvi, both Bringers, a small rebel, removal, and decent creatures.

Game one: Ruff double mulligans and still wins (while playing)!!! He managed to draw decent creatures, and I failed to reach five land so I lost.

Game two: Ruff keeps a one land hand (while playing) and doesn't draw any land for a few turns. That gave me the time I needed and when he does get a small defense my creatures manage to kill him.

Game three: This was a interesting game. The pivotal turn came when I needed to use Ensnare's alternate ability to return an Island (2) to my hand, while tapping it for mana, play it and Dominate his Linn, Sivvi. If I had drawn a land I would have been in good shape, but the lost Ensnare lost me the game. He decked me with about 1 extra turn, and with him holding only one card left in his deck. Very interesting match.

3-1

Semifinals: Eric (I think) Twaurog v. Cameron Miller

Eric was playing a deck which was mediocre to below mediocre with some cards like Cave-In and Fault Riders for backup. His deck was lacking power in the flying department and that cost him the match. His deck was Red/White/and Blue.

Game one: Eric wins this game with a Kyren Sniper, and a Spiketail 1/1 flying hatchling. I almost managed to win, but his ground creatures were pivotal blockers.

Game two: Eric draws a lot of land, and plays Cave-In. I whink that Dominate makes an appearance, and some flyers come in quickly after.

Game three: This was a decent game, Eric cast Cave-In for the Percher, and we each proceeded to build our defenses. Finally with him at 14 but with a High market out, I cast Ensnare. I figured he was holding Excise so when he tapped out to excise the Shambler I cast the technology which is Alexi's Cloak for the first time. This surprised him and I won the match.

Finals: Ruff and myself split since it is about 12:20.

Props: For all the people trading their cards To myself for going 4-1 with this deck

Slops: Pat Albro for being disruptive in the Ray Placious match.

That's all for now

-Miller