Chaos Draft: 4-0

Lauriel had a birthday event and her request: Chaos Draft.

There were packs of Magic: Origins, Weatherlight, Conspiracy, Homelands, Ice Age, Modern Masters, Planar Chaos: you get the idea.

I opened terrible rares: my first pick was Rix Maadi Guildmage, FFS! It didn't matter though, because about halfway through the round I realized that nobody was taking green or red in a serious way and went full on into those colors. I figured, when in doubt, go red/green beatdown.

This is the deck I settled on:

Gnarlid Pack
Drudge Beetle
Outland Colossus
Timberpack Wolf
Bloodrock Cyclops
Skitter of Lizards
Simian Spirit Guide
Pharika's Disciple x 2
Rhox Maulers
Borderland Marauder
Volcano Hellion
Sawtooth Ogre
Scab-Clan Charger

Kitesail

Madcap Skills

Lightning Javelin
Orcish Cannonade
Cone of Flame
Chandra's Fury
Retribution
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Lose Calm
Titanic Growth

There were maybe 10 cards, maybe less, that I took outside my colors: Oblivion Ring (early on when I thought White might be viable), Moor Fiend (when I thought Black might be useful) but for the most part, I was able to stick to my colors-or deal with that last card chaff.

One of the nice things about playing weird cards in constructed decks is that I have worked with very strange (or bad) cards that I might've overlooked otherwise. Madcap Skills, for example, is a pretty sweet deal in a format that is so creature combat driven and I know that because Fuz plays a deck with it. Retribution as removal is another sweet deal. I'd played enough of Origins that I knew Pharika's Disciple was going to be a problem. Volcano Hellion was a surprisingly useful card-I had hoped but this was my first time really using the card.

My first matchup was against a BG deck that was trying to use some lifegain and discard to extend the game. My creatures were just better though, and she played a little too aggressively: attacking me for 3 and taking 6 isn't as good as chump blocking and living to see another turn.

My second game was against a UW flyers deck. Game one I was on the GR swarm plan but in game two, I stalled out on finding a second Mountain and I had a hand full of cards that cost XRR. Game three had me capitalizing on the advantage of my opponent mulliganing to five cards. Madcap Skills on a Borderland Marauder did some heavy lifting for me in this game.

By game three, I was starting to get antsy. My opponents was a fellow I'd played a few times in League last year; a good player who knew how to build solid decks. Plus, I was winning. For whatever reason, winning creates some anxiety in me and I haven't figured out how to manage that without going for a brisk walk or having a stiff drink.

Still, I sat down against a WBR control deck and, in game one, found myself overrun by my own forests. It wasn't an easy game for him but I never really felt in it. Game two, however, was more of a contest. I'll let my opponent sum it up: "You had one more creature than I had removal spell." I'd also like to give Retribution the nod for MVC there. Game three had me storming out of the gate quickly with my bears and by the time he could stabilize at three life, I was casting an Outland Colossus.

My final matchup was against a UR artifact deck. I was very surprised to see this archetype available, considering the chaos draft format but she had all the basics to get it going! Unfortunately, she didn't have much removal and without removal, lots of 2/2 creatures will get the job done.

I wish I could translate this kind of general skill into play more often. 4-0 is a good record, no matter how you cut it and I feel like I should be able to leverage this kind of experience into better play.