Drafting Disappointment

Last night I got together with friends to do an actual Throne of Eldraine Limited Draft! I was so excited! Here's how we did it: there was four of us, we each go four packs (not three as per usual), opened one, draft a card, pass around. After four rounds we had ~56 cards to make a 40 card deck (basic lands free of course). Then we played each other in a Best of 3 match.

After all the games were played, we will put all the rares and alternate art cards back in a pool and take turns picking them with the winner picking first, second going second, etc.

I have never drafted with real people so it was a very different experience compared to drafting against 7 Arena bots. For one thing, with only 3 other people the cards wheeling around a lot faster, and there was definitely a feeling of what the other people were picking that I did not feel online.

I started off drafting a blue rare, Midnight Clock, not because I wanted it but mainly because I was afraid of what my friend Andrew could do with it. Bad start already. Then I settled into Green and White cards for the first pack and a half but at Pack 3 I was faced with a Murderous Rider and had a couple decent black cards already so I starting snapping up black cards. The question because was I going Green White, Green Black, or Black White?

Then I drew Wintermoor Commander followed by Resolute Rider, I knew I had found my signpost. Black White Knights it is!

My deck was basically aggro based on Knight tribal synergies and recurring them from the graveyard using Barrow Witches and Forever Young, and a smattering of removal from In a Tower and Bake Into A Pie. I felt pretty good overall.

Boy, was I mistaken.

My first match was against Ben who was sporting an artifact/food deck, splashing in Grumgully who made his creatures bigger. First game did not go well, but second game I got my enchantments going and beat him down before he setup. In the tiebreaker, I was pushing hard but a Cauldron Familiar gave him enough life to hold on and win with 1 life point left. I probably screwed that up by attacking aggressively at the end when a slower approach might have been better, but it was that kind of night.

Next match was against Aaron and his Black Blue flyers/control deck. First game he easily beat me with more fliers in the air than I could stop, second game I got more creatures going but he still tied me up and beat me. We had time for a third match and this time my enchantment combo showed up in full force and I beat him down.

Finally I faced Andrew who had defeated Aaron and Ben in the previous rounds. He was sporting a White Red aggro knights deck with lots of combat tricks. First game my deck was doing what it was supposed to with lots of recurring knights but he had the mythic rare Outlaw's Merriment was just insane. Every upkeep, he just gets a new creature. Life, for free. I was able to get him down to four life but he kept getting the Clerics with lifelink and just boosted his health back up to 12. Eventually he just overwhelmed me.

How is that a card?!?!

Next game I never got going as my deck just gave up and he rolled over me.

At the end of the night I was offically 1-6 and by far the bottom of the ranking. Very disappointing.

We put the rares and alternate art back in the middle and picked them in the order of Andrew, Ben, Aaron, and me. I ended up with Clackbridge Troll, Resolute Rider, Lochmere Seprent, and alternate art Foulmire Knight.