Just a week after the release of Dark Ascension, Tournament Organizer Rei decided to hold an 8-man draft for that week’s Sunday tournament. We’ve invited players, old and new, via Facebook to sign up in the event. A lot confirmed that they are playing but during the time of the actual event, a few did not show up so we had to fill some to complete the eight persons.

I personally do not prefer to draft all three DKA boosters but stick to the original Dark Ascension / Innistrad combination. Unfortunately, I had to join to complete the eight so on to the picks.

First pick of the first pack offered me a Blood Feud as the best card. In my observation of the spoiler, Red and Black is DKA’s best color combination so I had to linger around those cards. The second pick changed that though, as Jay passed me a Requiem Angel to my surprise.

I shifted to White for a bit but still maintaining my picks for best cards as the first booster rounded up. It is basically the first pack picks were pretty messed up, me almost picking all of the colors.

The second booster’s first pick nailed me with White as I opened a Thalia, which I obviously chose right away. I followed those picks with more cards like Loyal Cathar, Burden of Guilt and Midnight Guard. At that time, I am still opting for my second color. It was still in the decider between black and red. So far the goodies being pass were Black cards so I got quite a lot with Highborn Ghouls and a Tragic Slip.

The third pack finally shaped up Black as my second color. Limited bombs like Vault of the Archangel and Lingering souls were my best picks at that round, while filling up the curve with Black Cat and Gather the Townsfolk.

As for the deck building, I’ve decided to splash Red for additional removals and I could not get myself of not playing Nearheath Stalker.

Here is my final list:

Lands
8 Plains
6 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Vault of the Archangel

Creatures
1 Nearheath Stalker
1 Black Cat
1 Farbog Boneflinger
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Vengeful Vampire
1 Chosen of Markov
3 Highborn Ghoul
1 Requiem Angel
1 Midnight Guard
4 Loyal Cathar
1 Thraben Heretic

Spells
1 Tragic Slip
1 Fires of Undeath
1 Wrack with Madness
1 Heavy Mattock
1 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Burden of Guilt
1 Lingering Souls

My match summary is as follows:

Round 1 vs Rino (Red Green) – Won 2-1

Round 2 vs Emilio (Mono Green) – Won 2-1

Round 3 vs Franco (Black Red) – Won 2-0

I am happy the deck turned out just fine with the color splash. The best part of the games was beating up your opponent with a Heavy Mattock equipped Loyal Cathar. That equipment is a sure pick if you are going on a White splash other color Humans draft plan.

To conclude, I am rooting for more draft tourneys maybe after Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully at that time, Innistrad boxes will be back on stock.

Here are a few pics during the draft (courtesy of Mao).

Until next post.