Draft Report - Aug 18, 2012

Group A

- Érico (WUG Control) 5-0, 10-0
- Naka (UR Aggro) 4-2, 9-4
- Vitinho (UB Aggro-Milling) 3-2, 6-4
- Sam (G Midrange) 2-2, 4-5
- Kam (BR Aggro-Control) 1-3, 2-6
- Jão (WU Aggro) 1-3, 2-6
- Caio (WU Midrange) 0-4, 1-8

The lone control deck dominated an otherwise balanced draft with several atypical builds. My UR Aggro was supposed to be an aggro-control, only I could not pick bounce, counterspells or any sort of tempo cards. Blue was spread very thin over 5 out of 7 people, while green, black and red were run by only 2.


WUG Control
Érico

Lands
5 Forest
4 Island
4 Plains
Stirring Wildwood
Urza's Factory
Halimar Depths
Simic Growth Chamber
Krosan Verge

Defense
Memnite
Steel Wall
Carven Caryatid
Wall of Blossoms
Ohran Viper
Cathodion
Wonder

Ramping
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wayfarer's Bauble
Expedition Map
Rampant Growth
Khalni Gem
Defense of the Heart

Mass Removal
Oblivion Stone
Wrath of God
Planar Cleansing

Finishers
Scute Mob
Razormane Manticore
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Steel Hellkite
Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Disruption
Aeolipile
Complicate
Forbid




What's cool about this deck is that its average card quality is probably the lowest between all decks, but the worse cards work to make sure that the big guns have maximum impact when they are brought out. At the start of the game, the deck just stalls with its defensive creatures (including 3 walls) and develops its mana base. This forces aggro opponents (that is, all the other 6 decks) to stretch and cast a lot of threats, which plays right into the deck's mass removal. Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Steel Hellkite and Akroma, Angel of Wrath come out next, as the amazing win conditions they are.

While too slow to punish opponents that had mana troubles at the beginning, the card drawing and deck thinning cause the draws to improve turn after turn, creating a pretty cohesive, consistent and predictable control deck.


UB Aggro-Milling
Vitinho

7 Swamp
7 Island
Creeping Tar Pit
Duskmantle, House of Shadow

Aggro
Carnophage
Vampire Lacerator
Bloodchief Ascension
Oona's Prowler
Manriki-Gusari
Fallen Askari
Vampire Hexmage
Hypnotic Specter
Howling Banshee

Milling
Mesmeric Orb
Ambassador Laquatus
Traumatize
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Curse of the Bloody Tome

Card Advantage
Night's Whisper
Dusk Urchins
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Sword of Light and Shadow
Faceless Butcher

Control
Crypt Rats
Royal Assassin
Platinum Angel
Rend Flesh
Orochi Hatchery

Disruption
Duress
Inquisition of Kozilek
Smallpox
Spite//Malice
Recoil

Other
Animate Dead




While the previous deck was extremely focused, this one attacks in two completely different angles. Rathering than defending during the first turns like a "normal" milling deck would do, the portion of the deck that would be dedicated to defense is actually a very aggressive curve of black critters. This is atypical, but not meaninless, since: 1 - an opponent with a slow start will outright lose; 2 - the opponent will have to spend resources to control this first attack wave, putting himself in a defensive position.

If the opponent controls this first angle of attack, the deck will switch to attacking by milling. In limited, after 10 turns of play each player has at most 23 cards in his deck, and usually around 20 due to their own draw/searching effects. This makes the 5 milling cards in the deck very scary by themselves and a fine win condition if more than one sticks.

The deck's strength is that it is very versatile, running a handful of aggressive cards, another of classic control cards, but mostly wildcards that can be used either way. It has enough card advantage and individual quality to attack well in two dimensions in the same game, turning out quite chaotic and unpredictable both to play with and against.