My randomly (yes, local policy) assigned wedge for the 2015-01-17 prerelease was Sultai. However, after having studied my card pool, I went for a Mardu deck (mainly Black, with big Red and White splashes, for which my land base was just good enough, i.e. 1 Bloodfell Caves, 1 Scoured Barrens, 7 Swamp, 4 Mountain, and 4 Plains). Deck highlights : Archfiend of Depravity, Ghastly Conscription (mostly in sideboard), Merciless Executioner, Orc Sureshot, Goblin Heelcutter, and Sandsteppe Outcast. I usually go for 9 hard removal spells, if at all possible, in addition to 14 creatures (in case of 17 lands), and that's exactly what happened again this time. I started by drawing 1-1 against a 4-color BGRW deck (unfortunately unable to timely play out my winning position in the 3rd game). After that, I won 2-1 (despite some of my removal getting rendered obsolete by a Qarsi High Priest) during the very last turn after time was announced in game 3, against a somewhat mirroring Mardu deck, whereby my opponent only included a small Red splash. I lost the 3rd round 0-2, against a genuine Sultai deck with many nasty fatties (and a well-timed Will of the Naga). I easily won the last round 2-0, against a Jeskai deck with way too many bounce tricks (i.e. too low on creatures). All in all, not a bad start of the new Magic year, especially after a 2+ months break ...
The 2015-01-23 Fate Reforged release Booster Draft went fine for me, in the sense that I did not get defeated. On the other hand, both 1-1 draws during the first 2 rounds (against a BU and a BRW Mardu deck, respectively) implied a below average score. I won the last round 2-0 against a Jeskai deck. Although I had no real upfront colors/archetype preference, an unusual UW splash G deck (i.e. not a 'wedge') emerged from my weird drafting effort. My deck's core consisted of 5 'manifest' cards (3 Ethereal Ambush and 2 Soul Summons), 4 'morph' cards (2 big Glacial Stalker, plus 1 small G and 1 small W one). Completing this theme, I very happily played a Ghostfire Blade, and (particularly against opponent morph/manifest creatures) a Secret Plans. I successfully used my overpowered Citadel Siege bomb on several occasions, both offensively and defensively. My 'real' creatures were mostly low-CMC and in White, including 2 Mardu Hordechief, significantly increasing Rush of Battle impact. I managed to draft 3 Blossoming Sands and 1 Tranquil Cove at times when no other pick would fit my deck's theme, hence my G splash was almost free from a mana base perspective (adding 2 Forest, 5 Plains, and 6 Island for a total of 17 lands). My 6 mostly pseudo removal (including 2 Singing Bell Strike) plus a couple of cantrip/protection spells completed my surprisingly well-performing deck. Oh yes, I never turned any manifested cards face up ...
Apparently, no typical Friday the 13th for me on 2015-02-13 : I won my FNM Fate Reforged Booster Draft pod. I played Mardu (Black/Red, splashing White). First, I defeated my brother's GR train wreck 2-0. After that, I defeated a 5-color deck (which lacked enough Morph creatures and was plagued by wrong mana), also 2-0. Finally, I won 2-1 against a Jeskai deck (after losing the first game due to a couple of mulligans and not being able to get rid of a Soulfire Grand Master enchanted with Siegecraft). I simply followed my default style : drafting 9 hard removal spells (of course abundantly available in Mardu colors), plus this time only 13 creatures (including more removal under the form of Mardu Heart-Piercer) and Tormenting Voice acceleration. My creatures were mostly solid and small (except for Mardu Roughrider, preventing a blocker) : a Deathtouch creature and a couple of Outlast creatures (buying time to get to my removal), a Haste creature and a couple of 3-power Dash creatures (suddenly hitting while also preventing a blocker), a couple of creatures triggering additional creature spawning (for board presence advantage), and some curve fillers (including evasion). My sideboard contained an additional Throttle, and an extremely useful Diplomacy of the Wastes (happily used during rounds 2 and 3). To make all this possible, I drafted 5 multi-lands (whenever candidate spells weren't that great) in order to stick to a healthy 17 lands total, providing 9 sources for each main color plus 5 sources for the splash color : 1 Nomad Outpost, 2 Bloodfell Caves, and 2 Scoured Barrens, completed by 4 Swamp, 6 Mountain, and 2 Plains. I don't recall having hate drafted before, but I really couldn't pass on a Abzan Guide, nor (to a lesser extent) a Snowhorn Rider, especially when nothing else mattered for those picks. In summary of this nice victory, what was the saying again ? Indeed, 'dies to removal' ...
The 2015-03-22 Dragons of Tarkir prerelease must have been my worst MTG tourney ever : 1 bye and 3 losses, all 0-2. I created a GW deck out of my pseudo-randomly assigned UW Ojutai card pool, hence bypassing the promo dragon. After my chanceless first round defeat against a GRW deck, I also went for GRW : G as main color plus big (5 spells each) R and W splashes, mainly for removal purposes. I lost rounds 2 and 4 against BU Silumgar decks, despite getting both opponents to 1 life during each first game. My deck contained no rares, only 4 uncommons, and just commons, hence no highlights worth mentioning. Unfortunately, that's about it ...
My 2015-03-27 Dragons of Tarkir release draft went reasonably well. Although I'm not extremely fond of Blue, I did end up with a UW Ojutai low-curve/tempo deck (White being the main color), forcing breakthroughs by means of core freezing tricks such as 2 extremely powerful Ojutai's Breath, an additional Will of the Naga, and Dromoka Dunecaster, plus occasionally a well-timed Great Teacher's Decree, Pacifism, or Valorous Stance (for which I actually passed up a Mastery of the Unseen while drafting). Also unmorphing a Silumgar Spell-Eater and an offensive/defensive Center Soul proved quite useful. I also played a couple of Soul Summons and a Write into Being, but never flipping up any one of them. Not exceeding total cost 4 for my spells (also including 2 CMC 3/1 creatures for trading up, some flying/bolstering synergy, etc.), I quickly abandoned my Cunning Breezedancer. Even after repeated mulliganing to 5 cards a couple of times (despite playing 17 lands), my deck consistently performed very well, except during round 1, which I lost 1-2 against a BR Kolaghan removal/fatties deck (including the cheap Qal Sisma Behemoth and an unfortunately not so random Lightning Shrieker). I relatively easily won rounds 2 and 3 against a BGR and GR Atarka deck, respectively, happily repeatedly freezing a non-dashed Pitiless Horde during both round 2 games. Stranger things have happened, but it was especially nice to get a first solid drafting feel for the new 'only 2 most recent sets from last block' setting.
On 2015-04-10, I went to Outpost Brussel to participate in the 'Super FNM' Dragons of Tarkir Draft (exceptionally providing more prize support than usual). I started drafting Red, which luckily wasn't entirely cut off to me from the start. Halfway the first pack, I necessarily tried a couple of unclear secondary colors (Black, Green, and White). During pack 2, a reasonable amount of Red logically came to me, but I started pack 3 with only 10 creatures selected. However, I kept picking good Red removal over cheap creatures, luckily completing my deck by means of reasonable Green creatures and pump spells. Unfortunately, my 3 Bathe in Dragonfire, nor my otherwise useful Draconic Roar (e.g. showing Shockmaw Dragon) helped overcoming my first round BUR opponent's Torrent Elemental and multiple Ukud Cobra. I never saw my Roast, and I unfortunately stayed short of mana for a surprise Lose Calm + unmegamorphing Atarka Efreet + Green pump spell blowout. Hence, 0-2 loss. I easily won the second round 2-0 against a rather inexperienced UW Ojutai opponent, and I finally won the mirror match 2-1 (overlooking a route to a potential close 2-0 win). Coming up next weekend : a PPTQ at the third and last Belgian Outpost location : Outpost Gent (after already having played a PTQ at Outpost Antwerpen last year).
My 'Milwaukee' Sealed Deck (i.e. Fate Reforged + Dragons of Tarkir) 2015-04-19 PPTQ result was not what I had hoped for, scoring only 2-3-1 (42 contestants). During deck construction, I finally settled on a GW +1/+1 counters (i.e. megamorph and bolster) synergy strategy, but I was contemplating a slightly more removal oriented BW build to the very end. Indeed, also forgoing later Palace Siege opportunities might not have been the right decision in retrospect. Clearly not having been fully awake yet during the first of 6 Swiss rounds (having received a couple of official warnings in the process), I eventually overlooked a trivial Elite Scaleguard triggered win during called time (against a BW opponent), thereby stranding at 1-1. I was relatively chanceless during the 2nd round (0-2) against URW Jeskai, but I had a couple of easy 2-0 wins against a GR Atarka opponent (who completely switched to BU Silumgar during the 2nd game) and a BGRW deck, respectively. I was paired twice against BR Kolaghan opponents during the remaining rounds, unfortunately clearly demonstrating my deck's unexplosive power (i.e. 0-2 loss on both accounts, never seeing a Plains and getting stuck on 5 White spells during the first of those games, and taking a couple of borderline mulligan decisions afterwards). Out of my 0 rares, 5 uncommons, and otherwise just common deck cards, I unfortunately didn't often see any of my 2 Pacifism (despite their limited usefulness against exploit based strategies). The same goes for some of my relatively low-curve creatures support, a.o. 2 Artful Maneuver. On the other hand, both my Green fight spells were pretty useful on multiple occasions. Next Sealed Deck time, I just might revert to my more comfortable 'junk' deck building style (especially under competitive event related time pressure) ...
I remained undefeated at the 2015-04-24 Booster Draft, unfortunately drawing 1-1 against a 'big bottoms' BU Silumgar deck during the first round. Thereafter, I easily won 2-0 against UW Ojutai and URW Jeskai decks, respectively. I managed to draft a BR Kolaghan deck (never running into card picking problems), sticking to my 17 lands + 14 creatures + 9 mostly hard removal spells preference. My only rare card was a very useful Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury. All other cards were commons, with honorary mention to a couple more dashers, both my Atarka Efreet, 2 small (Black) deathtouchers, and a Goblin Heelcutter. Almost all my (mostly Black) removal revolved around low (i.e. 2) damage, completed by 2 Defeat, a Flatten, and a Butcher's Glee combat trick. Straightforward low mana curve aggression suited the circumstances just fine, since we had to move and play the initial Swiss rounds outside due to lack of space at the regular venue.
I drafted a rather new 'Red Deck Loses' archetype deck together on 2015-05-08, despite a first pack first pick Thunderbreak Regent. My couple of Goblin Heelcutter, a Temur Battle Rage, and a couple of cheap pump spells apparently did not compensate enough for my relative lack of hard removal (consisting of only 3 low-CMC spells and 2 Sarkhan's Rage). With a mediocre curve (topped at 5 CMC) and without 'bad cards' as such, I tried playing 16 Mountain during round 1, losing 0-2 against an interactive GW Dromoka deck (after my several Mulligans). Reluctantly having added 1 land, I won round 2 (2-0) against an in principle stronger BR splash G Dragons deck which had tons of (unfortunately for my opponent) not materializing removal, but which IMHO lacked an 18th land. I partially got mana flooded and partially (when getting stuck on 4 lands while drawing my top end) couldn't overcome my last opponent's reinforcing auras in his GRW deck, resulting in another 0-2 loss. In retrospect, I perhaps should have remained more open-minded while drafting, since I passed an early pack 1 Pacifism (and a pack 2 Flatten), trying to completely cut off Red during the first pack (despite my right-hand side neighbour visibly also drafting some Red) in order to continue this process in pack 2. I might have gone for a big B splash (which would have lowered my curve, and which would also have increased my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death 's value). Oh well, perhaps in retrospect I'm a bit biased by the occurred statistical mana deviations/anomalies ...
It's now proven : Magical Christmas Land does exist ! My exceptional 2015-05-22 Modern Masters 2015 release draft first picks from the 3 booster packs were Tarmogoyf, Noble Hierarch, and a foil Tarmogoyf ! Unfortunately, because of these obvious value picks, I had to pass 2 Lightning Bolt, which otherwise clearly would have reinforced my BR (Bloodthirst themed) aggro deck (with sideboard W splash for more removal, which I actually boarded in against both last matchups). I easily won the 1st Swiss round against a mediocre 5-color deck, but convincingly lost 0-2 against a very strong UW based (4-color) affinity deck (which eventually won our draft pod). Last round, I lost 1-2 against an interesting UG Graft/control deck (overwhelming me during the last game by means of big flyers). Some highlights of my (again) 'commons + couple of uncommons' deck : 2 Goblin Fireslinger, 2 Duskhunter Bat, 2 Blood Ogre, a Gorehorn Minotaurs, a Skarrgan Firebird, a Daggerclaw Imp, 2 Sickle Ripper, a Ghostly Changeling, 2 Inner-Flame Igniter, a Brute Force, 2 Blades of Velis Vel, and some hard (some of which color-conditional) removal. Let's wait and see what the upcoming Sealed Deck release event will bring us ...
The good thing about my 2015-05-24 Modern Masters 2015 Sealed Deck participation was a foil Noble Hierarch. The bad thing was my very mediocre card pool. I tried to make the most of it by means of a shaky UG splash B Graft concoction. After my (1-2) round 1 loss against a RW deck, I used my subsequent 'bye' time to configure a sparse BR splash W deck (including a couple of powerful Eldrazi), sharing only Spread the Sickness and Evolving Wilds with my 'mandatory game 1 deck'. Observing way too much opposing synergy in my opponents' decks (BUG, GW, and UW) during Swiss rounds 3, 4 and 5, I desperately applied my inconspicuous 38 cards sideboarding trick 3 times in a row. Alas, to no avail : 0-2 loss, 0-2 loss, 0-2 loss. Lights out.
Fuzzy MM2015 FNM 'fatigue draft' on 2015-06-05 : after initially going for a controllish BR setup, I settled on an aggro version (including an additional spot removal sideboard splash in W). So far, so good. However, after the last drafting pick was over, I noticed an unopened booster pack still in front of me. Presumably, I must have been sorting/looking at my cards after the finalized 2nd booster pack, while fresh 3rd booster pack cards already got passed to me (after which I must have followed the flow). No major harm done, because this last booster pack simply ran around the table after all the rest, but this is the kind of thing probably only happening at sloppy FNMs. Anyway, after I managed an easy 2-0 win against BGW, I more or less gave away victory against GRW during a close 3rd game topdeck war. I realized I had boarded out some creatures instead of a Swamp and a Mountain for my 2 Plains, and I should have killed my opponent's last creature a turn earlier (while still being at 6 life instead of 3, to avoid a fatal kicked Burst Lightning). I lost the last round 0-2 against my brother's UW deck, after getting hopelessly mana screwed (not mulliganing a very playable 2 lands hand on the draw) and getting mana flooded (not mulliganing a borderline playable 5 lands hand on the play), respectively. A confusing conclusion to a confusing evening ... Nevertheless, a couple of low-curve deck highlights : an Evolving Wilds and 2 Alloy Myr (to support potential W sideboard splashing), 2 Daggerclaw Imp, 2 Duskhunter Bat, 3 Sickle Ripper, various mainly 3 CMC first strike, pumpable, and other blooodthirst creatures, and my first-picked Hellkite Charger. In addition to various cheap R Lightnings, I also played 2 Wrecking Ball, 2 Spread the Sickness, and a Nameless Inversion, initially keeping 2 more Sunlance in my sideboard (which also contained 2 Smash to Smithereens). I never used my 2 Bone Splinters, nor both Shrivel, nor both Sign in Blood. I found it too awkward to splash G for a single Savage Twister, although in retrospect it might have been better to actually draft a 2nd copy, thereby having persisted in a more controllish approach, instead of actually repeatedly having gotten train-wrecked by this card, when my 2nd opponent used it against me.
I obtained a moderate 2015-07-12 Origins prerelease Sealed Deck result (2-2-0), randomly getting assigned the only color pack I actually didn't want upfront : Blue. My moderate card pool consisted of a bit of everything : hard removal mainly in my short B color, many double W spells, only 1 R burn spell, no G pump spells, missing Goblin/Elf synergies, barely any Renown/Menace spells, etc. I went for the good medium-curve U bounce creatures as my deck's core, supplemented with some small G mana acceleration, medium blockers, and large hitters, plus a B splash for mentioned removal. In later rounds, I swapped out some green for slightly more B removal and small deathtouchers. Only playing basic lands, this led to a couple of expected mulligans, but I doubt a more consistent weaker bicolor deck would have played significantly better. I managed 2 initial victories (2-0 against UR, and 2-1 against BG after repeated mulligans), but my opponents weren't the most seasoned players. As more or less expected, I lost both last rounds against strong consistent midrange decks : 1-2 facing GR, and 0-2 facing RW. Some of my deck/sideboard highlights : a Languish (only used in later rounds), 2 Cruel Revival, 2 Fetid Imp, a Harbinger of the Tides, a reasonably playable Skaab Goliath, a useful Whirler Rogue, 2 even more useful Claustrophobia, 2 Separatist Voidmage, 2 quite often played Hitchclaw Recluse, 2 Leaf Gilder, and a Rhox Maulers. My Sigil of Valor and 2 Touch of Moonglove remained unused (which is debatable). Next Friday : first FNM Magic Origins draft ...
My 2015-07-17 Origins release Draft started with a debatable 'mispick' : Kytheon, Hero of Akros / Gideon, Battle-Forged instead of Sentinel of the Eternal Watch. I was in BW very soon, and managed to establish a reasonable mana curve. However, in retrospect I lacked enough midrange power, topping at Patron of the Valiant (without many Renown creatures in my deck). My (unfortunately mostly situational) 7 hard removal included a Suppression Bonds and 2 Weight of the Underworld, searchable via my Totem-Guide Hartebeest. Some illustrative creatures from my deck (in the sense of 'below midrange') : 2 Fetid Imp and 2 Topan Freeblade. I barely used my 3 Nantuko Husk, nor did I use my 2 Infernal Scarring. Perhaps 'not going for Blue' and 'hoping for Red/White', in addition to the usual metagame articles and primarily the ever entertaining The Magic Show's Complete Set Review, wasn't enough preparation for this event. Result : 2-0 against a UR deck (which was too high on the curve), 0-2 against GW (mulliganing both games, still without the hopefully soon 'Scry 1' compensatory rule introduction), and 0-2 against GR. Let's do better next time ...
The 2015-07-31 Origins Booster Draft was relatively interesting. After my fist pick Pharika's Disciple, I built a BG semi-Elves deck, in the sense that I only drafted 7 Elves (out of 15 creatures, 3 of which were dumb fatties). However, Gather the Pack, Sylvan Messenger, Llanowar Empath, and 2 Infernal Scarring ensured my 2 Shaman of the Pack mostly turned into payoff cards. I don't remember why I didn't pick a 2nd Orchard Spirit (or e.g. a couple of Elvish Visionary), but I must have had good reasons. Admittedly, I also got some nice juice out of my (initially sideboarded) Eyeblight Massacre ... As it happened, one of my 2 Cruel Revival incidentally also once returned my Nantuko Husk to the battlefield, so it was a pleasure experiencing all kinds of deck synergies. I also had enough available pump spells : Yeva's Forcemage, 2 Titanic Growth, and 4 Might of the Masses (of which I mostly used only 1, or none, to keep room for my Black hard removal and sometimes very useful 2 sideboarded Aerial Volley, respectively). My Conclave Naturalists and out of necessity mainboarded Caustic Caterpillar came in quite handy against multiple Claustrophobia and the like. I additionally kept a sideboarded Zendikar's Roil against grindier matchups. In short, I was extremely happy with my deck. Alas, fate decided my 2-1 win against BW, then my 2-1 win against UW artifacts, and then an unfortunate 1-2 loss against GR midrange. Well, in reality I probably warped my own fate by perhaps misjudging a couple of difficult/close Mulligan decisions (e.g. keeping 5 lands + a 1-drop + a 3-drop, or even once, after my opponent's mulligan, boldly keeping a 1-lander which included a Forest, a Gather the Pack, and one of my 2 Gnarlroot Trapper, plus a couple of other useful cards, like a Reave Soul). Anyway, as a usually more 'junk' oriented player, this time I might have learned a couple of things about synergy (irrespective of my usual Friday night fatigue minor errors). Let's see whether I will be able to enjoy a similar experience in 2 weeks ...
My first pick of the 2015-08-14 Origins Draft was a Priest of the Blood Rite, soon thereafter leading me to play a relatively anonymous BR Kolaghan deck, consisting of many (multiple copies of) filler cards like Deadbridge Shaman and Eyeblight Assassin. However, I managed to slightly exceed my expectations, in that I scored 1-2 (versus a UR deck), 2-1 (versus a BW deck), and 2-1 (versus a GR deck). Unfortunately, my 3 sideboarded Smash to Smithereens plus a Demolish were insufficient to overcome my first opponent, especially after mulliganing and getting completely mana screwed during game 3 (rendering my otherwise very reasonable mana curve obsolete). Well, that's just the way things sometimes go ...
After 3 rather nightly preparations towards (Standard format) PPTQ Madrid at the ever friendly Demo-Spel Leuven, I managed to obtain a 2-2-1 result, however missing top-8. During both side events, I also failed to qualify for WMCQ Belgium (scheduled the day thereafter). As a side note, I didn't automatically qualify for the latter by means of Planeswalker points, because I don't play competitive (as opposed to regular) tournaments very often. I played the same 'HangarSweeper' (see my (Archived) Decks repository) Abzan Aggro-/Control-ish rogue deck the entire day, keeping my fatigue induced errors to a reasonable minimum. I lost the first round 0-2 against Abzan Rally (unfortunately missing a close kill, being stuck on only 1 W via 8 lands). Another 0-2 loss followed, this time against Mono Red (unfortunately having removed Nyx-Fleece Ram from an earlier playtesting sideboard build against this very same playtesting buddy). After that, I relatively easily won 2-0 against a less experienced Abzan Control player. During round 4, I very happily drew (1-1) a close match against Abzan Aggro, even getting slightly ahaead in the undecided 3rd game. Finally, I beat my own brother's Mono White (instead of his earlier Selesnya Scales playtesting candidate) deck 2-0. In the knock-out side events, I twice lost 0-2 (against a stronger G splash R Midrange deck, and against a stronger Abzan Aggro deck, respectively). Most games took relatively long, except main event rounds 2 and 5, since Abzan control-ish decks usually involve lots of sequencing decisions (somewhat like playing chess). Anyway, I had a lot of fun, and most games were very interesting, so that I learned quite a lot in the process, but ...
... as probably the only cardless MTG live player in the world (mostly donating past Limited event cards to my brother), finding proxying/playtesting/borrowing/etc. becoming too cumbersome (and also generally not getting enough satisfactory return on invested rogue deck building time/effort), I have decided to fully switch to Limited. Hence, this was my last Standard tourney, but I'm pretty sure all future (primarily Booster Draft) Limited tourneys will keep generating quite a bit of very serious fun !
Underwhelming 2015-09-27 Battle for Zendikar prerelease experience (and 1-3-0 result) ... I molded my 'bit of everything' Sealed Deck card pool into a RW build (consisting of mostly on-curve reasonable W evasive creatures, a.o. 2 Shadow Glider, a couple of reasonable R creatures, e.g. 2 Shatterskull Recruit, and 5 solid R or W removal), plus initially a U mini-splash (Roil Spout, and sometimes Cloud Manta or Exert Influence), plus later also a debatable B splash (Malakir Familiar), enabled via 1 Prairie Stream and 2 Evolving Wilds. More in detail: round 1 was a close 1-2 loss against Temur colors, I obtained an easy 2-0 win against Abzan, I lost horribly (hence 0-2) against Grixis, and finally lost weirdly (0-2) against RW aggro. Horribly = opponent ingesting nearly all my removal spells. Weirdly = getting my opponent to 1 life, after which he recovers up to 20 life via Felidar Sovereign, and (after finally having removed this fattie) me unfortunately not having enough cards left in my deck to speed up the damage clock (despite several Valakut Invoker activations and a large Rolling Thunder), thereby getting self-milled due to my earlier 2 Evolving Wilds usage. That must have been the first time I ran out of cards for no specific deck strategy reason. Anyway, this experience (in addition to the ever useful Battle For Zendikar Complete Set Review and the like) at least provided some card feel for the upcoming Booster Draft sessions.
Apparently, the 'Battle For Zendikar' set is more complex than a first/second/third sight would suggest. After biting the bullet in the 2015-10-02 release draft (first-picking a Drana's Emissary over a Zada, Hedron Grinder, and later reluctantly passing a Rolling Thunder, hence immediately sticking with both initial colors), I ended up with an all-round removal-heavy WB flyers deck (including some supplementary life gain, landfall, and rally shenanigans). However, I couldn't get more out of my deck than a 0-2 loss against BUg, a 0-2 loss against UW, and a close (= last turn during called time) 2-1 win against UR. One of my afterthoughts definitely is the power of the Blue tempo (bounce/countering) swings in this relatively slow format. Perhaps the metagame is polarized after all, i.e. one might need to go all-in on the specific BFZ draft archetypes. Anyway, again some additional highlights from my deck (some of which as sideboard options): 3 Complete Disregard, a Grip of Desolation, 2 Roil's Retribution, 2 Sheer Drop, and a couple of low-CMC instant removal spells; some typical creatures were 2 Shadow Glider, 1 Malakir Familiar, 1 Courier Griffin, 1 Angel of Renewal, 2 Ondu Greathorn, and 2 Geyserfield Stalker. Drafting only 1 non-basic land (Sandstone Bridge) convinced me to stay away from any potential splash color. I did pass up a Rising Miasma, but unsure whether that would have aided my cause. Let's see what happens next time ...
Another FNM draft on 2015-10-16 provided more evidence about the BFZ necessity for synergy. I primarily started in R with some U (a.o. a couple of early Eldrazi Skyspawner picks, a Incubator Drone, and a Ugin's Insight, after some reasonable but not exceptional R cards, like Stonefury, a couple of Shatterskull Recruit, Vestige of Emrakul, Akoum Stonewaker, and eventually 3 Touch of the Void). I was relatively happy when I could extend into G : Woodland Wanderer, a couple of Grove Rumbler, and some preliminary sideboard cards. I also picked 2 Turn Against (= perhaps 1 too many), and in the hopes of getting my mana curve back on track also 2 Outnumber. However, with most focus on 4-drops (and higher), without too much (Scion-based) ramping possibilities, the latter turned out not to be too useful. Also, my costly Serpentine Spike mostly proved too be too situational (e.g. only 2 4-toughness opponent creatures on the battlefield, with me in a disadvantageous attackers casualties situation). My 3 Looming Spires arrived either too early, or either too late. A couple of mediocre Belligerent Whiptail killed my cause further, so in retrospect I should have picked a lot more U and/or R (aggressive) 2-drops. Luckily, I did pick a Coralhelm Guide, which actually top-decked the decisive strike in an immediate win-or-loss situation (getting the last 1 Scion damage through). My off-curve inconsistent deck/sideboard also included a Eldrazi Devastator and a Aligned Hedron Network, just in case of slow matchups. Anyway, let's quickly forget this 0-2 defeat against BG, (after having reconfigured my main deck to pure UR) the too close 2-1 win against BU, and the only lucky game win within the 1-2 loss against BR. I'm pretty sure I'll go for some Green/colorless based ramping next time (even though G is considered the weakest BFZ color), just to come full color pie/circle. I saw 2 Plated Crusher passing by during the draft, one of which actually did crush me during the first (hopeless matchup) round. Another thing to remember : always add an 18th land to any drafted Battle for Zendikar deck (unless already being solid on ramping and/or no need for landfall and/or exceptionally being mono-color or low-curve bi-color); BFZ indeed is not linear ...
The 'third time lucky' saying definitely didn't apply to my 2015-11-09 (6-player) Battle For Zendikar draft. After the first picked Woodland Wanderer, I convinced myself to go for a Green based 'converge' deck (actually splashing some Blue counterspells, some Red landfall creatures, and some White fillers), mainly powered by several dual lands, a Evolving Wilds, and a couple of Lifespring Druid. Forcing some Green landfall creatures was still OK, but filling up with mediocre Scion generators (like Blisterpod and a couple of Eyeless Watcher) without high-end Eldrazi (like Breaker of Armies, which I shouldn't have passed earlier on) didn't make a lot of sense. I completed this improvised trainwreck by relying on just a couple of pump/fight spells instead of hard removal. This got translated into a 1-2 loss against a similar but more powerful BUGW deck, a 0-2 loss against a fully focused UR 'devoid' deck, and a 1-2 loss against a RW Allies deck. I'm sure stubbornly ignoring all draft signals whilst doubting most picks might also not have been the brightest idea. Last but not least, I seem to have a hard time acknowledging the to-be-expected negative consequences when deviating from the polarized BFZ archetypes ...
Finally, on 2015-11-13, despite the 'Friday the 13th' phenomenon, I obtained a reasonable BFZ draft result (playing some weird BU mix after quickly abandoning some Green options, topped by 2 Breaker of Armies). First pack first pick was Deathless Behemoth instead of Drana's Emissary, clearly intending to go for the (more open) colorless options. My deck consisted of on-curve but debatable aggro elements (a Sludge Crawler, 2 Culling Drone, a Dominator Drone, 2 often boarded out Skitterskin, and a - due to not enough ingest capability - borderline Ulamog's Nullifier), reasonable other flying creatures (2 Malakir Familiar and a great Silent Skimmer), some ramping support (a Carrier Thrall, 2 Incubator Drone, and 2 Kozilek's Channeler), some lands/awaken utility cards (a Blighted Cataract, a Blighted Fen, a Rush of Ice, and a Coastal Discovery), some mediocre removal (Bone Splinters and Scour from Existence), plus remaining fillers. Result: 0-2 loss against UR (i.e. the best BFZ draft archetype), keeping a double Breaker of Armies opening hand because the rest was on-curve (and actually getting ahead during the first 5 turns, but then not seeing enough of my 18 lands, nor ramp support), then 2-0 win against a kind of UG swarm deck, and finally winning 2-1 against a GR ramp deck (where this time I did mulligan another double Breaker of Armies opening hand but got smashed by Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger during the 2nd game). After all previous BFZ disasters, I'm quite happy about this moderate result, especially considering I kind of succeeded in slightly mixing up the archetype landscape, sticking to my rogue mindset !
Last FNM (BFZ) draft of the year (2015-12-11) : RW Allies, topped by the ever useful Deathless Behemoth ... If memory serves me well, my pack 1 pick 1 was a Resolute Blademaster, after which Allies luckily stayed wide open. I played 12 of those (leaving out 1 of both Shatterskull Recruit for mana curve reasons), plus a Retreat to Emeria. My only rare was a Angelic Captain. I unfortunately only encountered 1 super Firemantle Mage, but drafted 3 (in my view) strong Ondu Champion. My only 3 CMC Ally Makindi Patrol proved great whenever racing with my opponent, and even both Cliffside Lookout were quite helpful for this very same reason. A couple of Reckless Cohort filled the ranks, augmented with semi-synergy creatures like 2 Akoum Stonewaker. Some Red direct damage + 2 Sheer Drop, a Tandem Tactics, and a Smite the Monstrous completed my deck, keeping a situational (but likely Devoid encoutering) Lithomancer's Focus in my sideboard. Result : 0-2 loss against UW fliers (mainly due to severe mulligan issues during game 2), a bye, and a 2-0 win against a low-curve UGR Devoid deck. I actually didn't mind ending my MTG draft year by eventually winning this last match during the 5th = last turn after time was called ...
For the sake of completeness : on 2015-07-03, I participated in a Chaos Draft (i.e. randomly chosen booster packs from many sets). I got stuck on an underwhelming bombless aggro-ish GRb deck, with barely any removal and just a couple of pump spells. Result: 0-3-0 (0-2, 1-2, 1-2).