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Welcome back to the second part of my EUCC report. This time I’m going to take you through my limited play experience and share some thoughts on the pod 1 drafting. I will show you both of my draft decks and give you through my strategies and games, so that you can laugh *cough* give me some feedback. Enjoy!
Deck number 1 – an Alliance Warlock.
Hero: [Victor Baltus]
1x [End of the Supply Line]
1x [Mystery Goo]
1x [The Torch of Retribution]
2x [Aessina’s Miracle]
1x [Elemental Energy]
1x [Locked Away]
2x [Dread Touch]
1x [Fel Covenant]
1x [Fel Flame]
1x [Tattered Dreadmist Mantle]
1x [Sardok]
1x [Grimdron]
1x [Nami Dabpox]
1x [Jerrick Valder]
1x [Fenton Guardmont]
1x [Ruby Flameblade]
1x [Terina Calin]
2x [Maazhum]
1x [Cadric Talworth]
1x [Axar]
1x [Dagin Bootzap]
1x [Azure Enforcer]
1x [Watchman Visi]
1x [Elmira Moonsurge]
1x [Wazix Blonktop]
1x [Shadowseer Calista]
1x [Erama]
Notable side deck cards:
1x [Grimdron]
1x [Nathar Wilderson]
2x [Bronze Warden]
While sleeving the deck I was actually pretty happy with my choices and build. My 2 best cards were [Fel Flame] from booster 2 and [Elmira Moonsurge] from booster 3. To see the exact numbers let’s have a look at the breakdown:
Hero: [Victor Baltus] – his flip is amazing. It works perfectly with [Sardok] and [Maazhum], giving you an early advantage that can win you the game.
7 Quests: too much, I should’ve cut 1 of them. Most of them were solid.
1 Cost Cards: 3 allies – 2 x fire, which went well with [Fel Flame].
2 Cost Cards: 3 allies + [Fel Flame]. [Jerrick Valder] and [Fenton Guardmont] were very good.
3 Cost Cards: 4 decent allies + 3 removal cards and armor. That’s a lot of cards in this slot, but removal cards are mostly left for the later turns.
4 Cost Cards: 4 allies – unfortunately not very strong ones, but 3 of them were arcane.
5 Cost Cards: 3 strong drops. [Shadowseer Calista] working very well on her own and in synergy with [Fel Flame]
6 Cost Cards: 1 ally - [Erama]
Total: 30 cards
The deck had 3 key points which I built around. The first one was the flip and 4 demons, the other was [Fel Flame] supported by shadow and fire allies and the last one was [Elmira Moonsurge] with arcane allies. So I had 3 decent strategies supported with a carefully selected curve and some good Warlock removal in a form of 2x [Dread Touch].
The first pod was tough and the quests were dried out very quickly. Also it was hard to pick any beefy allies as there were none to pick. There was an abundance of abilities and low drops wheeling with no one keen on picking them. Even though I knew that Alliance would be over drafted it seemed that players next to me were drafting Horde, so I was able to pick my share of good allies easily.
Round 12 vs Dubber, Hans-Wilhelm – Zimzi the Trickster
Wilhelm had a neat Rogue with [Shadow Dance]. His deck was abusing his hero’s flip and Stealth cards. He was also able to make a very strong strike with [Ruby Enforcer] followed by other allies pumped up with [Infiltrate]. Basically he had a combo deck in limited. In one of our games he started counting if he can kill me, while I was at 13 points of damage! He did something similar while playing against Jonas Skali Lami. Overall while talking with Jan and Jonas and discussing what are we to face in our pod, we were very impressed by this deck.
Game 1: Wilhelm won the roll, but I quickly took lead on the game with [Sardok] T1 and [Fel Flame] T2. My opponent was trying to get the tempo back, but even with [Inflitrate]s and [Shadow Dance] on the table it was a hard task. He got me to 16 points of damage, but was not able to defend against an elusive [Grimdron] pumped up by my Warlock ability. I was also bouncing my own [Maazhum] with [Shadowseer Calista] to get rid of [Sap] and so some more damage.
Game 2: It was a very close game with lots of ally removal put online. Wilhelm managed to get 3 x [Sap] on my Team during this game and I used both of my [Dread Touch] cards, where the one actually top decked won me the match. This time I was left at 21 points of damage, which was very dangerous and I managed to pull this off only because my opponent’s [Timriv the Enforcer] never saw play. At one time there was a situation on the board where I had 3 damaged allies and the prodigious goblin would totally flip the board position. He didn’t show up and it was a game for me with [Elmira Moonsurge] and [Axar] attacking and pinging for 2 from T5.
10-2
Round 13 vs Palys, Jan – Kadus Frosthand
Jan managed to build a really strong deck. Combined with his hero’s flip and the masses of removal that he’d got it was very hard to get through. The top card I daw was [Bound Vortex] and the rest of the deck supported its existence on the board. Cards like [Gully Rustinax], [Flash Freeze] and T4 protectors could totally defend it till T6, when [Kadus Frosthand] became flipped to seal the game.
I didn’t take any notes apart from my life score, but both games followed the same pattern. Jan was playing [Bound Vortex] on T3 and I was unable to kill it. In Game 1 I was able to put only 6 points of damage on him and on Game 2 I’ve improved it to 7. I remember my [Maazhum] Flash Freezed and my T6 [Erama] doing nothing thanks to the flip. My hand had dried out very quickly in both games; leaving me with no options to win them. [Dread Touch] and [Fel Covenant] looked like a joke and [Bound Vortex] was laughing at my face while killing me.
10-3
Round 14 vs Skali Lami, Jonas – Victor Baltus
A mirror match with the World Champ is always a pleasure. I was not sure what exactly Jonas had in store as I was actually counter picking what he could take. Eventually the abilities didn’t have much meaning it both games.
Game 1: In this game I was shown just how powerful [Dominic Kandor] is. I knew it was a great card, but Jonas had 2 copies and managed to get so much tempo by abusing their power that I was in no way to catch up. I ended up crashed, while putting only 3 points of damage on Jonas’s hero. I’m not sure but there probably was also 1 [Shadowseer Calista] that sealed it for Jonas on T5.
Game 2: This time I tried to fight back and not fall to the fearsome Worgens again. Jonas totally surprised me with another card combination though. He was not only able to heal the initial 12 damage that I put on him, but quickly regained his board position with cards like [Abyssal Maw] and [Zooti Fizzlefury]. Overran with water elementals. I was quickly put down.
10-4
Draft 1 has ended and I was very upset about my score. I thought my deck was good, but it seemed not good enough after all. I was trying to quickly analyze my games and drafting to prepare for the second draft and to not make any more mistakes. I was still very high on the list and needed only 2 more wins to get into the top 8.
Deck number 2 – an Alliance Paladin
Hero: [Gundek Hammerguard]
1x [A Matter of Time]
1x [Something that Burns]
1x [Entrenched]
1x [Aessina’s Miracle]
1x [Locked Away]
1x [Elemental Energy]
1x [Nathar Wilderson]
1x [Jerrick Valder]
1x [Gully Rustinax]
1x [Nessera Gildenrose]
2x [Xeris]
1x [Emerald Tree Warder]
1x [Poisonfire Greatsword]
1x [Arisa Sarum]
1x [Ruby Protector]
1x [Dominic Kandor]
1x [Crown of Chelonian Freedom]
1x [Vincent Brayden]
1x [“Zooti” Fizzlefury]
1x [Azure Captain]
2x [Furan Rookbane]
1x [Neptulon the Tidehunter]
1x [Bayner Cogbertson]
2x [Flash of light]
3x [Inquisition]
Total: 30
Notable side deck cards:
2x [Censure], 1x [Holy Light], 1x [Flash of Light], 2x [Arvos Jadestone], 1x [Garret Vice], 1x [Nessera Gildenrose], 1x [Arisa Sarum], 1x [Brimi Tinkerblade], 1x [Blessing of Faith], 1x [Stasis].
“This is THE Deck” I thought. I might’ve been happy with my Warlock deck on the first draft, but this Paladin deck was just amazing. I was able to wheel all 3 [Inquisition]s getting them at 9th+ pick. I opened [Neptulon the Tidehunter] on booster 2 and got [Poisonfire Greatsword] somewhere on pick 3. [Crown of Chelonian Freedom] combined with all the neutral allies I had was not too shabby either.
Let’s have a look at the curve just to make sure that I didn’t mess up the most important part of the deck.
Hero: [Gundek Hammerguard] – 29 health, good flip for 4 that can help you keep your allies intact, which was important for the Crown to work properly and enter play with many counters.
6 Quests: the number was fine and they were quite good, especially [A Matter of Time]
1 Cost Cards: 3, only 1 ally [Nathar Wilderson]. That might’ve been a mistake, but 1 drops are not shining in this format. I also had [Garret Vice] and 2 x [Arvos Jadestone], but decided to leave them in the sideboard. The other 2 cards here were 2 x [Flash of Light], which is also debatable as I was mostly switching them for 2 x [Censure].
2 Cost Cards: 5 total - 2 very solid allies and 3 x [Inquisition]. It was perfect for me.
3 Cost Cards: 4 decent allies + blade. [Emerald Tree Warder] was my first pick; it’s not only a good ally, but can also draw you a couple of cards. 2 protectors that can stash for a good effect were only adding to the strength of T3 plays.
4 Cost Cards: 3 protectors + [Crown of Chelonian Freedom]. This time I was able to get my hands on 1 copy of [Dominic Kandor]!
5 Cost Cards: 3 allies. I picked the dragonkin mostly to support the Crown.
6 Cost Cards: 2 x [Furan Rookbane], they just rock.
7 Cost Cards: 2 - [Neptulon the Tidehunter] and [Bayner Cogbertson]. Both of them are finishers and game breakers.
The overall curve seemed fine to me. This deck had everything I would like to have in a limited deck. The only change that I would do now is to put 2x [Censure] into the main deck instead of [Flash of Light]. I initially kept [Flash of Light], because it can always cycle for a card regardless of the board position.
I’m also a bit shocked about how many cards I had in my pool while deck building. Did I neglect counter picking? I will have to mind it more next time.
Below you can find a brief description of the last 3 matches that I had performed. My notes from that time are not very good as the stakes were getting higher and higher with each game.
Round 15 vs Cremagnani, Michele – Baxxel Geartooth
Michele was able to build a really good aggro hunter. He had all the Horde allies that were missed by me and Jonas as he was sitting next to us. He even got Timriv, which I thought Jonas would counter-pick. All in all he had lots of Ferocity guys and Hunter weapons. In the last game he was able to get both [Stakethrower] and [Lightningflash] on the table.
The games were really fast. In the first game I was able to stabilize and win with the big guys. In the second game I was crushed by Ferocity package coming my way, before I had a chance to defend myself. The last game was really close. Timriv played its role in stabilizing the game for Michele first. Then I managed to take control with the big guys and push for the win.
An interesting fact is that I didn’t get to [Neptulon the Tidehunter] in any of the games, so Michele was not even aware that I had it. I was able to win without the help of my greatest card, which increased my confidence even more.
11-4
Round 16 vs Palys, Jan – Caleb Pavish
When we sat down Jan had a miserable look on his face. He was not very happy about his deck and he’d just lost to Stuart Wright. I had asked some of the onlookers of their battle if there is anything important that I should be afraid of and everybody told me “nope, Jan’s’ deck sucks”.
Game 1: I won a roll and with a smirk on my face started to abuse my strategy. I got an early [Poisonfire Greatsword] and started to kill Jan’s allies with my hero. I wanted to get to T6-7 and finish the game without problems. It was going well and I thought that I’m having an upper hand till T7, when Jan placed [Soridormi] with one resource open. He had a bomb! I quickly reassessed the situation on the table and it was looking grim. I couldn’t kill the dragon lady as Jan could immediately given her an Elusive power. My one copy of [Inquisition] in hand was useless as she was a 5/6. My life score was 18 points of damage on me and [Caleb Pavish] was already flipped - pinging me for 1 each turn. 2 short turns later I was killed by the bronze dragonkin after it granted itself Stealth. The thing that I could’ve done was to keep the weapon ready which would give me a chance to draw one or two more cards, but I was very unlikely to defend myself anyway.
Game 2: The second game was ruled by [Neptulon the Tidehunter]. It was pretty even on both sides till the Elemental Lord hit the table, then the stakes were turned in my favor. Jan had immediately put [Sap] on the big guy, but even with that the possibility to heal myself and continually produce water elementals for free overwhelmed Jan. I was also able to play [Crown of Chelonian Freedom] with 7 counters on it, which totally sealed the game.
Game 3: This game was really close. We were both bashing each other with damage as I’ve put [Poisonfire Greatsword] in good use. Finally on T6 I got board control and Jan was mostly burned out. I had around 20 points of damage on my hero by then. The last moments of the match looked as follows:
On T7 Jan is placing a resource and playing his last card from hand, which is [Bayner Cogbertson]. I didn’t have my [Inquisition] and I didn’t have [Neptulon the Tidehunter]. What I had was a bunch of allies like [Xeris], [Gully Rustinax] and [“Zooti” Fizzlefury]. Jan has no cards, but can topdeck many that can kill me ([Soridormi], [Sap], [Infiltrate], etc). I decide to push for the win and risk that Jan will draw something meaningless. I get allies on the table and instead of playing [Gully Rustinax] I attack with my hero to get Jan to 15, which will be enough to kill him next turn. I have [Xeris] ready to stop the big guy. Jan draws a card, shouts “LIKE A BOSS!”, plays [Sap] to exhaust my protector and attacks for 7, which is enough to kill me!
I must admit those games with Jan were amazing. Following our games from the World Cup thay was one of most exciting matches I had in limited so far.
11-5
Round 17 vs Skali Lami, Jonas – Victor Baltus
Jonas really loves his Warlocks. Oh and by the way, it’s the third time in this event that we face each other. There is definitely something wrong with the system! Luckily I was not taking pictures of my opponents; because this report would be flooded by the exact same faces every round!
Game 1: I won the roll, but I was not able to get any tempo. Jonas steadily returned all my allies to my hand with [Dread Touch] and [Shadowseer Calista]. He had a couple of good trades that in general stopped me and got him a win. There was nothing remarkable happening, just steady good play on his side and using his deck to the fullest.
Game 2: It was very similar to the game I had with Jan. I managed to keep my tempo up and to get [Neptulon the Tidehunter] on the board. Paired up with some other allies like [“Zooti” Fizzlefury] and a [Crown of Chelonian Freedom] I was able to start bashing Jonas’s allies and getting board control. Jonas was digging for an answer, but couldn’t find any. He was also afraid not to over extend as he thought that I had a [Holy Wrath] in my hand. I was slow to kill him, but I finally managed to get the last point of damage.
Game 3: The time was over and we had a sudden death situation. I was not very happy about it, because Warlock has an advantage here. Jonas was also starting the game. We drew our 7 card sand Jonas kept. I had 2 x [Censure] in hand, but no 1 drops, so I decided to ship it. My second hand was promising. I had [Censure], [Garet Vice] and [Jerrick Valder]. Jonas opened with T1 [Sardok]. I drew a card, made a disgusted expression and passed my turn with 1 resource free. Jonas drew, placed a resource and attacked me. I asked in despair if he attacks for 3 and he nodded. He flipped his hero and started to note the damage. I asked for a halt and casted [Censure]! On my second turn I placed [Jerrick Valder] in hopes that there won’t be any [Maazhum] coming to the field and crushing my small moral victory, [Jerrick Valder] was also perfect for going through any protectors that could join the field. There weren’t any [Maazhum]s or protectors though; Jonas had something better. [Cadric Talworth] came to the field with a roar, instantly attacking my defenseless hero. I was powerless and could only watch the 2 points of damage being dealt and taking away my top 8 entry.
11-6
After final results were announced I found myself to be 17th. I finally had a chance to check my private messages. There was one in particular that really cheered me up.
It was from Tim Rivera and he was basically telling me to NOT draft a Paladin deck.
Also after looking at my [Neptulon the Tidehunter] I had a feeling that he is mocking me, because of the smiley face stamps on the text box.
So my final score in limited was 2:4, which is pretty bad if you ask me. To make sure that I still know how to play drafts I joined an ipod draft on Sunday and won it. I was playing a Horde Death Knight with one good weapon and [Bound Vortex], which seemed to be enough. I still have much to learn about limited play and I need to practice more. Even though I lost only to Jan Pałys and Jonas Skali Lami I can’t deal with myself going 1:2 at any draft in the future. If you have any comments about this report or found something that I’ve missed I will be more than happy to hear it.
After all we had much to celebrate again as Jan has finished second and it was his birthday! On the other hand Piotr „Eerion” Kraskiewicz managed to get into the top 8 of the DMF Rimini.
Below you can find a photo from a party where both Polish and German teams were celebrating together. We all had a great time!
Finally I hope to see you all again in Poznan. We will have a wonderful Core DMF with many ipod drafts along the way during the 4-day event. I’ve heard that Poznan is beautiful at this time of the year, so you definitely should visit!
Yours trolly,
Gnimsh
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