If you've read my articles and you know me at all, you can bet I was prepared for this event. I'm not the type to make a ten hour flight half-way across the world for nothing, and drafting at the professional level is never easy.

Coming into the event I knew I wanted to draft red. Not only do I believe that red is the strongest color in the format (though white and green are close), but it is also the color that fits my preference the most. I planned, however, to have enough self-control to play the packs and draft whatever color was coming to me. If the red wasn't there, then the red wasn't there.

I met up with some of my pro friends from California at the event site the day before the event for some last minute practice drafts. I went 3-0 which for a table full of professionals was pretty good, I thought. I stayed out late doing money drafts, quite possibly my favorite thing in the world, but still managed to get a fair amount of sleep, and in the morning after going through all the boring rules and regulations talk, it was game time.

POD 1

I wasn't thrilled that my first pod has two people I knew in it, but you can't control that. One was Zac Hill, a nice guy who I'd met and drafted with a couple times the day before. Zac qualified for this event on rating. We kept in touch throughout the event and checked on each others progress, always being very friendly and polite to each another. The other was my friend of a few years, Tim Galbiati. I was unhappy with this for two reasons. First of all, I didn't want to play against a friend, and second of all, I was 0-2 against Tim coming into this pod, including him beating me to win a money draft at nationals last year. We both wished each other luck and just hoped that we could avoid being paired. You only play against three opponents out of an eight man pod, so there was a chance.

Walking through the draft pick by pick is probably not the most exciting thing for you, the reader. But here it is anyway!

I'm just kidding. In short, I first and second picked bomb green cards, quickly moved into red because it was open and my preference. Then I just concentrated on focusing my deck and making the mana curve work. In the end, I had a really nice looking red/green deck with lots of aggression and removal and a couple of bombs. I predicted a 2-1 or 3-0 with the deck.

ROUND 1

I played against a teenager maybe a year or two older than myself from Germany in round one. He was very friendly, made a strong effort to communicate in English, and played well throughout the match. Long story short: he picked an early Lightning Angel, putting him into three colors. This made his mana base a little rocky. It also made his deck a bit slow. Mine was faster. I beat him 2-0 and put myself in the winners bracket.

ROUND 2

So, of course, I got paired against Tim. Even worse, he was paired against Zac the previous round. Tim had drafted green/white, a popular color combination. But unlike most straight aggression and combat trick decks, Tim drafted slivers. Tim splashed red for a couple of strong cards, like Bonesplitter Sliver and Battering Sliver.

Getting a very removal heavy draw, I managed to take game one by dealing with all his important slivers - the one that lets all slivers regenerate, for example - and just forcing through damage. It was obvious to both of us that I had the early game advantage, but time and the late game was on his side. I had to be the aggressor and keep doing damage. I had to avoid stalemate situations. Game one I was able to do that, and won.

Game two my draw was fine, but he was on the play, and sometimes slivers are just too good. Turn two Gemhide Sliver let him ramp into an early Watcher Sliver. On the following turns, when Bonesplitter Sliver, Battering Sliver, and Spike Tiller came down, the game was pretty much over. I fought on and made him go through the motions just to see more information about his deck. It's important to learn how your opponent attacks and blocks in certain situations, as well as what tricks he might have. Eventually, I was at zero life and we were off to game three.

Game three, I came out quickly, putting him on the defensive from the start. Around eight life, he started to gain control. I played my own Spike Tiller to match his which created an extremely long, messy combat. Both of us took literally five minutes to think, and both of us were relaxed and casual about it. "Go ahead bro, take all the time you need. You just tell me when you're ready," Tim said to me. When the dust cleared, I had two creatures, a land that became a creature from Spike Feeder, and two cards in hand. He had a Weatherseed Totem that he'd have to replay next turn and a land he'd also turned into a creature via Spike Tiller. Next turn he dropped the totem again, added mana with it, and played a watcher Sliver. I dropped the Spike Feeder from my hand (those were the first picks I referred to earlier, Spike Tiller, and Spike Feeder), cast Gone on the Watcher, and swung for lethal, earning myself a handshake. And my first match win against Tim.

We stepped outside together while he smoked and talked about the cards we'd seen and passed in the draft, trying to help each other out for the next round. Apparently, the guy to his left had a really nice black deck with multiple Strangling Soots and Dark Witherings and some red removal that could give me problems. We also talked about future plans, but nothing worth boring you with. A few minutes later the round three pairings were up.

ROUND 3

I was against the only other 2-0 in the pod, fighting to start off flawlessly and draft next round in the elite 3-0 bracket. I was paired against a friendly player about my age from Brazil. While he spoke little English, communication was rarely a problem. He was friendly and clearly happy to be there.

He had been to the right of me in the pod. This meant that he was passing to me - or feeding me, in magic terms - two out of three packs. Because of this, I could figure out his colors based on what I hadn't seen. I figured correctly that he was very heavy white. He dipped into green for a couple of guys and combat tricks like Thrill of the Hunt, but his deck had to be at least 75% white.

I won the roll, chose to play, of course, and Mulligan'ed my hand down to six cards. I suspended a 4/1 first striker turn one, played Mire Boa turn two, and played Spike Feeder turn three. On his first turn, he suspended Durkwood Baloth, turn two he suspended two Shade of Trokair. This made me very unhappy. Not only was his deck very good, but also just as fast as mine with bigger creatures. This was probably a really bad matchup for me.

I had gotten him really low - five, actually - when his stuff started to come in. At this point I needed to force five points through, somehow. I used Gone on one of his blockers that he'd held back, which allowed me to trade one card for two damage on my next attack. Skillfully, I drew Rift Bolt that turn. The two damage I had forced in, plus three more from my skillfully drawn Rift Bolt, was five! My opponent shook his head at my luck (skill!) but lost game one.

Game two he chose to play, I mulled to six again, and off we were off. He had more suspend action, only this time it was Ivory Giant followed by a Shade of Trokair. I didn't have a play until turn three where a 1/1 pinger (aka, Timmy) came down. His 2/2s plowed past mine as I feared combat tricks. Eventually, I went for plays like using two removal spells on one creature. But he just saved it with random combat tricks, like the previously mentioned Thrill of the Hunt or Momentary Blink on Ivory Giant Sadly, this taps all my blockers and lets him swing in and kill me.

I was on the play for game three, and, once again, mulled to six. This time, he came with me, and mulled to six as well. This earned an "About time" from me and a "You were supposed to go to four" from him. I'm not gonna lie, it was just about the best six card hand my deck could have gotten.

Turn one suspend 4/1 first striker, he misses his suspend. Turn two Gemhide Sliver, he again makes no play. Turn three play Lavacore Elemental, smash with Gemhide, add a counter to Elemental. He plays a Thalid Germinator on turn three. I draw, Dead it, smash in for six, and play Spike Feeder. He draws and plays some random 3/3 that doesn't actually matter, as I untap, draw, Rift Bolt his blocker, and smash. He just shakes his head, scoops. We shook hands and wished each other luck in our next pod, mine being the 3-0 bracket!

POD 2

I first picked Sudden Death because it was the only card in my pack even close to the power level I wanted. But I wasn't at all happy about it. Not only is black considered the weakest color in this format, but it's also my least favorite. None the less, I promised myself before the tour that I'd play the packs and not make bad picks based on my own preference, so black it was.

And the black kept coming, so much so that I was actually mono-black at the end of pack one. The mono-black deck continued (including a real goodie in Plague Sliver) until pick three or four where I got a very late Shadowmage Infiltrator and happily added it to my pile. Even if I didn't end up blue I'd probably splash for it off of my storage lands. In pack three I was fairly happy to pick up a Shaper Parasite and an Ovinize. I was a little uncomfortable with the deck I'd drafted. I predicted a 2-1, a 3-0 if I got lucky.

ROUND 4

I played against a nice guy from Spain named Saul. Saul had been playing at a high level for a while, but was fairly new to the pro tour. We were both pretty happy to be drafting in the 3-0 bracket. Game one, against his red/green deck, I won the roll and came out really fast with a 2/1 flyer on turn two, the Shadowmage Infiltrator on turn three, and a Nightshade Assassin on turn four. I was trying to come out too fast for him to deal with. He seemed to have a slow, land heavy draw. The only play he made was suspending Greater Gargadon on turn one, and I was trying to race it. Unfortunately, he out foxed me, making me think his draw was slow and lousy, when in fact I simply walked right into his Sulfurous Blast. After the blast I was out of gas and he unloaded two cards from his hand per turn and I lost quickly afterwards.

In game two I was on the play again, he suspended Greater Gargadon turn one again. This time I sat back on removal, trying to be the control deck plan. I had Ovinize ready for the turn the Gargadon entered play, so I was trying to bluff him into either pitching lands to the gargadon or to sit back while my Shadowmage Infiltrator drew cards. The wizard died on untap though, and a long waiting game started. On the critical turn when the 10/7 finally came in, I played the Ovinize as planned, but he had Might of Old Krosa waiting. When I declared gang blocks on the gargadon in response to his alpha strike, he showed me Strength in Numbers and I scooped my cards.

ROUND 5

I'm never happy to lose, but I felt confident that I could take two in a row in the 0-1 bracket pretty easily with my deck. I played against Brad Taulbee, who is friends with some friends of mine. Brad would also be my future money draft opponent. Both games, I had turn three Shadowmage Infiltrator, and with him being white/green, there was little he could do with no removal. Game two, he tried side-boarding in cards like AEther Web and some random artifact creatures. But I just 2-for-1'ed him with cards like Sudden Death. On top of my really good draws, he was forced to Mulligan down to five cards in game two, and the matchup was just bad. So as good as I hear Brad is, I was able to take this one easily.

ROUND 6

I played against a very friendly Asian man. I'm not sure if he was from Asia or not, his English was very good and we had no communication issues. A nice change for this tournament for me. Game one was one of my favorite stories of the tournament. I have the game absolutely in the bag with lethal flying damage on the board for the next turn. He only has three cards after his draw, and I'm at 9. He attacks with his only creature, a 3/1 and I have no blockers, so I say that it's fine. He goes for Brute Force, so I respond with Midnight Charm. He responds with Brute Force #2, which was amusing, but still a point short as I gained a life off the Midnight Charm. I ask him if it's game, and he laughs, flashes me the last card in his hand, Fortify, winks at me, and says yes....

My jaw was still on the floor from game one. I still have absolutely no idea how I managed to lose from that position. None the less, I knew my deck was quite a bit better than his and if I tightened up and didn't let game one put me on tilt I'd be fine. If you read my regionals report, you might remember that I'm really good at losing game one and somehow still winning the match. Game two involved turn three Plague Sliver on the play from me, then an infinite stream of removal to clear a path for it and avoid one of the many tricks that were in his deck. Plague Sliver dealt all 20 to him, and off we were to game three.

I'm not gonna lie, my draw was nasty and his was just fine. He came out really aggressive, but I think he was hesitating to play his tricks as I'd shown him a Sudden Death in game two. I finally gained board control on the back of lots of removal at about 4 life. Which was not at all high enough for my taste. I started to gain it back and sap him with Urborg Syphon Mage. Soon the game got close. We each had about 10 life to play with, and a very large crowd had gathered around our match. I think this made him nervous, as not only did he make an obvious mistake on one turn, but he started to slow down in his play by a good amount. I'm pretty good under pressure and didn't mind a bit. I just didn't want anyone behind me watching from the rail to give away any information about my hand. I was playing very conservatively; holding back lots of removal and trying to play around his tricks. My plan was to win with the mage.

At one point when the only non-land permanent on the board was Urborg Syphon Mage my hand was all gas, including Nightshade Assassin, Shaper Parasite, and Tendrils of Corruption. Even though I had like 11 lands in play plus a storage with several counters, I refused to play any of them. I just pitched land to the mage and sat back on my removal. I could tell a lot of the people behind me were talking about it in other languages and either thinking I'm a magic master or a complete idiot. Either way, I eventually made him blow the Desolation Giant on just my mage. I killed it at the end of the turn with Tendrils of Corruption and unloaded my hand with him on 4, and I didn't even have to go through the motions. He had like 4 cards in his hand, but didn't even bluff at it, he just untapped, drew a card, and scooped.

POD 3

I was pretty content being 5-1 coming into this pod. Other than that, I wish i could just not write about this pod. If we were having a private conversation on AIM, I'd probably just cry instead of actually telling the story. But I suppose I have to tell what happened as I'm writing a tournament report. I'll keep it short since it pains me to talk about it.

My deck had Call of the Herd, Spectral Force, Stonewood Invocation, Thornscape Battlemage, and every good aggressive common I could hope for, plus mana ramp and good red removal. I thought the deck would be an easy 3-0, probably not dropping a game. Every single friend I showed my deck to, told me congrats on your 3-0, your deck is ridiculous. It really was too, but magic just happens sometimes. I really felt like I drafted this one perfectly and couldn't do a thing when I lost.

ROUND 7

If I'm gonna lose with a completely ridiculous deck, why not lose to a friend? Osyp is a friend, a very nice opponent, and in my opinion the best constructed player in the United States. His draft deck, while in no way as good as mine, was still solid. Game one he played first, had turn three Hedge Troll and turn four Calciderm in his green/white deck. When I blocked to kill the Calciderm and gain control of the board, he had Celestial Crusader and just crushed me.

Game two we both had normal draws and he wasn't on the nuts so I beat him easily. Game three I mulled to five cards and he had the Hedge Troll, Calciderm, Crusader draw again while I stalled on two land because of my mull. Exciting story. Next round...

ROUND 8

I played against Antoine Menard. Antoine is an old time pro whose played on tour a million times and is one of the highest rated limited players in all of Europe. He wasn't especially pleasant to play against though. Anyway, I won.

ROUND 9

Here's another exciting story. Game one I mull to five on the play, completely flood on land, and get smashed. Game two I play a land and pass and turn one he suspends Durkwood Baloth. My turn two is a Gemhide Sliver where his is suspending a Corpulent Corpse. I play Call of the Herd and smash for one, he plays a land and passes. I attack, play Spectral Force, and pass. He plays land and passes. I smash for a lot, flashback Call of the Herd, and pass. He untaps, plays Damnation, obviously, and passes. I'm out of gas, next two turns all his stuff comes in and he smashes me.

Sigh, I'm still in good position going into the next pod. But 1-2ing with by far my best deck of the weekend still makes me feel sick. I had drafted three very solid decks so far and was very happy with all three. I planned to do it one more time and get back on track. That's the plan, got it? I'll just stick to the plan!

POD 4

Remember the plan? Yeah, it failed. I drafted a lousy black/white deck. Rebels with very little punch, late game and the potential to get some really sketchy draws. It also could get some really ridiculous draws, but to be fair I'd have to get lucky to do so. My friends liked my deck a lot better than I did, but I predicted anywhere from 0-3 to 2-1. Probably a 1-2 cause I could outplay someone, and 2-1 if I do that and then get lucky, as unlikely as it was.

ROUND 10

I played against a top European pro, David Brucker, and there's little to be said about this match. His deck had like ten creatures in it and a complete mountain of removal, including at least two, possibly three Strangling Soots. The matchup was as bad as it gets for me and his deck was miles better. I went through the motions and enjoyed playing against someone so well-mannered, but the outcome was never in doubt.

ROUND 11

I played against a highly respected and talked about Dutch pro. His deck was lousy and all over the place. Five color slivers actually. My deck sadly was probably even better than his, as bad as that is. But to be fair, he was playing Wistful Thinking, and that card is just terrible. He needed to not get boned by his horrible mana base and to draw his Necrotic Sliver to beat me. As my luck that day would have it, that's what happened, and I took a discouraging loss to a good player with a really crappy deck.

ROUND 12

For the first and only time in the event, I was fighting not to 0-3 the pod. This time I was playing against a kid about my age with a green/black thalid deck. It was like a battle of who could draw fewer terrible cards. That turned out to be me, as I won with Triskelavus in game three and managed to salvage the 1-2. I was, as you could understand, not at all happy, as my 5-1 start was suddenly 7-5.

POD 5

In the final pod of the tournament I ended up once again in red/green as I prefer. This red/green deck was not nearly as exciting as my previous two, but still had two of Herd Gnar, which I consider Time Spiral's top green common, and lots of aggression. I could probably take a match or two with my unexciting deck based on just coming out quickly. I also had decent late game punch in Tromp the Domains.

ROUND 13

I got paired against Sam Black, from Wisconsin. Sam was another future money draft opponent and a really quiet and composed type. Apparently, I wasn't the only one at the table who thought the packs were just bad and all the decks at the table would be crappy. I was stuck with Sprout in my deck, but he had some real stinkers like Drifter Il-Dal and random, unexciting green creatures. My Herd Gnar tricks, and playing Sprout to destroy his entire blocking team won me this match. That is the point at which I made a very interesting decision.

One more match win from the next two with my deck and I would make money from the tour. Win both of the next two and I would get even more money and qualify for the next pro tour. So what did I do? To the shock and horror of a lot of my friends at home - a lot of whom still harass me about it - I won, and chose to drop from the tournament. Even though I was one win away from making money.

I did it for a lot of reasons. I didn't think my deck was good. Not that anyone else at the table had a bomb deck either. But still, I knew I'd gained a lot of rating points on the weekend and wanted to cut my losses right then and there. With my new 2004 limited rating, I have three byes at any limited GP. If I work at it I can maybe qualify a bit down the road from my rating for future pro tours. Looking back, I think if I'd played it out I could have taken another match with my deck. But the four hundred dollars or whatever small amount I would have won wasn't worth the risk of losing my rating to me. So I made the move that cut my losses and set me up the best for the future.

A lot of my friends think I should have stayed in and just gone for the money, but I want the last line on this topic to be, even though I probably could have taken another match, I do not regret my decision.

So the final result, 8-5, which is fine, but not great. It is not a happy number for me. My 5-1 start and then ridiculously good deck in the third pod could have meant really great things had my luck on day two been better. But magic is what it is, and the luck just wasn't there this time. But I'm happy with how I drafted and most of the play decisions I made. I'm confidently looking forward to next time. With luck on my side, count on seeing me in the money consistently or the top 8 sometime in the future.

Of course the usual, questions, comments, and anything I can help you with, send 'em here:

melokuthecloudedbeatstick@yahoo.com