iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This was a fun and edifying exercise as I feel my way around drafting and learning new sets. Kind of like a fantasy league for draft formats -- an idea that's crossed my mind, and I suspect I'm not alone there. Looking forward to seeing how my picks do.

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One near mirror-match. Almost no Kithkin or Vivid on either side of the board all evening. More Merfolk, though not as much convoking I might have expected; faced a few Elementals. Looking forward to more kitchen table and Draft play.

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Unwelcome Sprite was a welcome two-drop, but the deck didn't feel up to the kind of tempo/interactive play it wants. Probably a skill issue, as well. Unbury saw some play, and Unforgiving Aim mostly served to put Elf tokens on the board. Blossombind ran removal duty a few times.

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Notable cards: Glen Alendra Guardian came out in most games and did a bunch of heavy lifting on the board. Scarblade Scout, too. Maralen, Fae Ascendant was a lightning rod. Formidable Speaker lived up to the name. Chronicle Of Victory, too, though it sadly didn't see much light.

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...the Sultai deck I ended up in, GB Elves with a bunch of U Faerie support and a few changelings. I was not thrilled with the deck going into matches, but I ended up grinding out a lot of close, slow games with some similarly-skilled, casual prerelease players. Ended 1-1-1 sans embarrassment.

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I opened a pool that was light on cards at the low end of the curve. Very little Vivid. Some interaction in Red but very few creatures. I need to play around with the cards more, but felt like I had a choice between a top-heavy UW Merfolk with not nearly enough convoke or...

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Good time at Lorwyn Eclipsed Prerelease on Friday, visiting Omar's World of Comics in Lexington. My first time there; a packed house, a well organized event, and a pleasant crowd.

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My deck (with Raiyuu sitting in the wrong pile):

A Magic: The Gathering 40-card draft deck from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

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Of memorable impact on these games: [Rabbit Battery], [Kami's Flare], [Era of Enlightenment], [Touch the Spirit Realm], and [Imperial Oath] for a punchy finale. [Raiyuu, Storm's Edge] saw more time on the board, too.

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I drew and got to play a bunch of good cards this time, very unlike my first showing! This makes me think simple Bo3 really isn't a great match format for learning/improving through this kind of kitchen-table draft.

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I think the cuts were [Kindled Fury] and [Dragonspark Reactor], both very poor in 17L stats. The latter of these had seen repeated play (to little positive effect) in our first Bo3. I subbed in some filler-level bodies -- [Scrapyard Steelbreaker] and a second copy of [Kitsune Ace], iirc?

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We played a few games of rematch after some minimal sideboard swapping from our Christmas NEO Winston draft pools. Much better results for me (2-1) than the first match, and more enjoyable balance in all three games.

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I'm still finding my draft legs, but the Winston method felt great, and I look forward to more of it, hopefully with a little better sense of the set format and data.

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Pone loves playing soupy-splashy decks and ran BGU (Sultai). Took me down twice with both [Boseiju Reaches Skyward] and [Tribute to Horobi]. Good times!

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I did cast [Raiyuu, Storm's Edge] in both games, but didn't manage enough board presence to stand up to pone's or make the most of the attack-alone theme.

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...but in retrospect I had mediocre removal/interaction and suffered some rough draws, too; never saw some of my better cards. Such as: Imperial Oath; Eiganjo Exemplar; Touch the Spirit Realm; Kami's Flare; 2x Era of Enlightenment.

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I had listened through most of the LR C/U set review; he had not. I felt like things were going OK during the draft and landed in RW Samurai...

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I got trounced in Bo3, 0-2, though I'm hoping we'll rebuild and rematch with the same pools over the break. Or just draft again.

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At the time, I was first learning about cubes and cube design, too, and there's something about this set that draws me to that. But I wanted a bit more gameplay experience before diving further into that.

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Christmas night: my first Winston Draft, ~as RG intended~. Eldest and I opened a box of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty that I got a few months ago, after learning about NEO's lore and reputation as a draft set, in hopes of drafting it myself and possibly seeding a set cube.

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And the deck. For basics I think I ran 8/7-Island/Forest? Constructive feedback welcome, be nice or face removal. Now off to see if Quandrix is hiring adjunct faculty. (14/eof)

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I got to cast Multiple Choice for both 2 and 5 mana, that was fun. (13/N)

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Other recollections: I ran Cogwork Archivist but don't think I ever drew it. Reflective Golem came out a few times, didn't have a ton of impact. Reckless Amplimancer was a removal target for its doubling ability. (12/N)

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Notable and memorable cards: Biomathematician; Bayou Groff; Cultivate; Divide By Zero; Eureka Moment; Growth Spiral; Leyline Invocation; Multiple Choice; Quandrix Apprentice; Quandrix Pledgemage; Reckless Amplimancer. (11/N)

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Other lessons: Got absolutely flooded with 2/2s in match one, game one. Needs: Bigger and maybe fewer creatures; Work on IDing and enabling wincons; Remember my triggers better and resolve them before the triggering spell's effects. Luckily I got a lot of help and friendly reminders there. (10/N)

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I cast Divide by Zero, saw the Learn text, and then scrabbled up the first Lesson I could find, Teachings of the Archaics, to draw 2... could be worse! Fifty minutes for deckbuilding was a lot of pressure without set familiarity, and I didn't get a chance to think about Lesson prep. (9/N)

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Fun with ramp and counters, as mentioned, but I didn't get to copy any spells. I did get to Learn a Lesson the Strixhaven way (cast it from the sideboard) in contrast with Avatar's Lesson decks, but I wasn't well prepared for it... (8/N)

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My TLA Prerelease was like that, too (which is what I get for picking Katara and playing Izzet, I guess). Cursèd attraction to Blue! But I'm improving, and didn't spend nearly as much time just reading cards as in past events. (7/N)

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I was pretty happy with my pool, and ended up with a deck that I felt OK about, but not for the first time one that made for long games, by both turn count and my own thinking time. Two of three matches went to turns in game two. (6/N)

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Quandrix felt right up my alley for both flavor and gameplay. Fractals and patterns and biomathematics and academia? Yes, please! It was my first time doing rampy/countery stuff in paper MTG; I got to cast a Leyline Invocation with 8 or 9 lands on board once... I think that was the game I won? (5/N)

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Unlike many games I've played at paper limited events, most of my losses still felt like real games, an impression my opponents reinforced. That's progress being made. Hilarious sidenote: the player who got the SPD box got a haul of bombs and trophied easily. (4/N)

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I got a Strixhaven Quandrix box (Simic spells & ramp/counters), and my kid got a New Capenna Cabaretti (Naya) one. We lost all our matches as usual, but I did win a game, wahoo, and I'm starting to feel things congeal in both deckbuilding (awareness of card templates and roles) and gameplay. (3/N)

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Basic Yankee Swap: Each player may either choose and unwrap a box or steal one that someone else already opened. Overall lots of fun, but daunting given our lack of familiarity with all but a few recent sets. Also it was a long night! Registered at 7pm; we left after midnight. (2/N)

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I took my kid to a "White Elephant Sealed" event at our LGS last night, something they're doing in lieu of FNM Draft for the holiday season. Random assortment of wrapped Prerelease kits from the past ~5 years. Reflections incoming! (1/N)

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