Team Draft 1: USA/Netherlands

By Randy Buehler

The Dutch Team drafts

The Netherlands came into Saturday with a 12-point lead in the team competition, but with the points increased for the Team Rochester Draft, that amounts to just a single individual match. They took on Team U.S.A. in the first of Saturday's four rounds. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were really just for positioning. It's the twelve matches on Saturday at twelve points each that will really determine which two teams get to play for the title on Sunday.

Each of the players on the Dutch and American teams had a decent amount of practice at Team Rochester, but each team had only one draft worth of experience together and for each team that practice draft took place yesterday. The seating order for each team in this competition is locked in by their finish order at their respective national championships - the champs/captains go into seat A, the runners-up sit in seat B, and the third place finishers are in seat C. They then play against the person from the opposing team who finished in the same place they did.

Netherlands:
A	Tom van de Logt
B	Jeroen Remie
C	Frank Karsten

United States of America:
A	Trevor Blackwell
B	Brian Hegstad
C	Eugene Harvey

The USA won the coin toss and elected to force the Dutch to open the first pack.


Remie	Assault/Battery	Capashen Unicorn
Karsten	Probe
Blackwell	Duskwalker	Ruby Leech
Hegstad	Wash Out	Worldly Counsel
Harvey	Serpentine Kavu	Benalish Lancer
Van de Logt	Hooded Kavu	Recoil

The Dutch, in unison, immediately pointed at the Probe and then at Frank Karsten. Clearly they wanted their blue-black (and probably white) control player on the left. They debated about their next pick and decided that Assault/Battery would fit into their middle seat.

The Americans had no trouble deciding what to do with this pack. They clearly wanted Blackwell to have the Duskwalker, because they wanted him to go black-red. They clearly wanted Harvey to have the Serpentine, because they wanted him to be the green mage. And their plan called for Hegstad to draft blue-white so Wash Out fit right in, especially against a budding green deck on the other side.


Karsten	Exclude	Llanowar Cavalry	Breaking Wave
Blackwell	Recoil	Scavenged Weaponry	Crown of Flames
Hegstad	Sky Weaver	Orim's Touch	Tainted Well
Harvey	Kavu Climber	Sunscape Apprentice
Van de Logt	Phyrexian Slayer	Sulam Djinn
Remie	Simoon	Quirion Trailblazer

Another straight-forward pack, but it indicated an interesting contrast between the two teams. While both teams agreed that the right-hand seat should go black-red and possibly splash blue, they disagreed about which seat was the better green seat and which was the better blue seat. The result was one mirror match shaping up - between the champs - and then a pair of green versus blue matchups. Remie seemed quite happy to get a Simoon for his upcoming battle with Hegstad's blue-white.


Blackwell	Ancient Kavu	Viashino Grappler
Hegstad	Faerie Squadron	Dismantling Blow
Harvey	Ordered Migration	Aura Shards
Van de Logt	Kavu Aggressor	Phyrexian Battleflies
Remie	Harrow	Lotus Guardian
Karsten	Galina's Knight	Wings of Hope

Harvey seemed very eager to draft Ordered Migration. At this point he expected to have a lot of different basic land types in his deck, so he expected it to produce 4 or 5 birds. His teammates gestured toward the Harrow and then shrugged, questioning him, but Harvey was confident and they seemed to trust him.

Hegstad Reckless Spite
Harvey Scorching Lava Rampant Elephant
Van de Logt Shivan Zombie Firescreamer
Remie Aggressive Urge Explosive Growth
Karsten Recoil Worldly Counsel
Blackwell Cursed Flesh Obsidian Acolyte

Knowing that he was playing against a green deck, and knowing that it wasn't possible to give the double-black Reckless Spite to his teams one real black player, Hegstad decided to shift his control deck into a blue-black splash white version so he could draft and play the Spite. Blackwell pounced on the Obsidian Acolyte, thinking he might splash white to break the symmetry of his black-red mirror. The Acolyte could be a wrecking ball in that match-up.


Harvey	Fact or Fiction	Metathran Zombie	Opt
Van de Logt	Nightscape Master	Quirion Trailblazer
Remie	Serpentine Kavu	Quirion Sentinel
Karsten	Razorfoot Griffin	Benalish Lancer
Blackwell	Soul Burn	Pouncing Kavu
Hegstad	Slinking Serpent	Recoil

This seemed like a great pack for team USA. They got five great cards for their decks, while surrendering only Nightscape Master and a couple playable creatures.


Van de Logt	Pouncing Kavu
Remie	Annihilate	Rogue Kavu
Karsten	Probe	Dismantling Blow
Blackwell	Viashino Grappler	Yavimaya Barbarian
Hegstad	Vodalian Serpent	Tidal Visionary
Harvey	Harrow	Fertile Ground

The US Team drafts I was a little surprised when the Dutch gave the double-black removal spell to their five-color green player. Five-color decks seem good at getting one of each color and a lot of green, but getting a second black mana might be challenging. I think they feared that the Annihilate would be wasted in van de Logt's deck since Blackwell is running black and the Annihilate only hits non-black creatures. However, Blackwell's creature-base was mostly red at this point so I thought they would have been better off with Annihilate in van de Logt's deck, Harrow in Remie's, and Pouncing Kavu heading over to the other team instead of Harrow. Harvey's wheel of Harrow-Fertile Ground helped his deck out tremendously as it was his first and he wound up with only one Quirion Explorer for mana fixing during all of Planeshift and Apocalypse.


Van de Logt	Magma Burst
Harvey	Thornscape Familiar	Aura Blast
Hegstad	Silver Drake
Blackwell	Strafe
Karsten	Stormscape Familiar	Dromar's Charm
Remie	Phyrexian Bloodstock	Singe

This is exactly what van de Logt was hoping to open: Magma Burst. The US got some decent cards, but nothing that compares to Magma Burst.


Harvey	Aurora Griffin	Horned Kavu	Gerrard's Command
Hegstad	Cavern Harpy	Dominaria's Judgment
Blackwell	Crosis's Charm	Pouncing Kavu
Karsten	Sea Snidd	Death Bomb
Remie	Bog Down	Darigaaz's Caldera
Van de Logt	Volcano Imp	Nightscape Battlemage

The Americans still weren't sure what Blackwell's splash color was going into this pack. Neither Hegstad nor Harvey could support Crosis's Charm, though, and they didn't want to pass it either. Meanwhile Blackwell had only the one Acolyte in white and he did already have a Recoil as a head start on blue. Thus they gave him the Charm and he started leaning toward blue.


Hegstad	Hunting Drake
Blackwell	Mire Kavu
Karsten	Lashknife Barrier	Sinister Strength
Remie	Questing Phelddagrif	Mana Cylix
Van de Logt	Cavern Harpy	Singe
Harvey	Samite Pilgrim	Disciple of Kangee

This was another tough pack for the USA, and it worked out to be a great pack for the Dutch. Blackwell and Hegstad considered putting Hunting Drake into Blackwell's deck, but Blackwell wasn't sure if he was playing enough blue to support it and he also didn't seem confident in how good it would be against van de Logt. At this point, van de Logt had about four red creatures that seemed destined for his main deck. If Blackwell takes Hunting Drake then Hegstad would get to take Lashknife Barrier. Both cards are good in Hegstad's match, but then they would have been passing a Mire Kavu instead of a Lashknife Barrier. As the Americans played it, they gave the Dutch both Lashknife Barrier and Questing Phelddagrif. Ouch.


Blackwell	Caldera Kavu
Karsten	Silver Drake	Sawtooth Loon
Remie	Quirion Explorer	Pollen Remedy
Van de Logt	Phyrexian Bloodstock	Mogg Jailer
Harvey	Aurora Griffin	Thornscape Familiar
Hegstad	Hobble	Terminal Moraine


Karsten	Aurora Griffin
Remie	Allied Strategies	Treva's Ruins	Stone Kavu
Van de Logt	Caldera Kavu
Harvey	Quirion Explorer	Amphibious Kavu
Hegstad	Confound	Silver Drake
Blackwell	Phyrexian Bloodstock	Marsh Crocodile

Karsten made an interesting pick for his black-blue-white control deck here: Aurora Griffin over Silver Drake. With one Silver Drake and a Sawtooth Loon already in his deck I guess he was worried about getting too much gating.


Remie	Thornscape Familiar
Van de Logt	Magma Burst
Harvey	Phyrexian Bloodstock
Hegstad	Stormscape Familiar	Sawtooth Loon
Blackwell	[nothing helpful]
Karsten	Silver Drake	Arctic Merfolk

This was probably the most controversial pack of the draft. Hegstad insisted that he wanted Stormscape Familiar for his deck while both his teammates kept pointing at the Silver Drake. Hegstad already had two Silver Drakes and a Cavern Harpy, so he ignored his teammates and stuck by his Stormscape Familiar. He was still defending his decision during deck construction while Blackwell kept pointing out that now Harvey would have to play against another Silver Drake.

Magma Burst #2 for van de Logt gives him a tremendous leg up on Blackwell, who didn't get any.


Remie	Dead Ringers
Karsten	Living Airship
Blackwell	Fire/Ice	Guided Passage
Hegstad	Reef Shaman	Dega Disciple
Harvey	Standard Bearer	Temporal Spring
Van de Logt	Quicksilver Dagger	Urborg Elf


Karsten	Emblazoned Golem
Blackwell	Minotaur Illusionist
Hegstad	Phyrexian Rager
Harvey	Illuminate	Helionaut
Van del Logt	Quagmire Druid	Squee's Embrace
Remie	Lay of the Land	Goblin Legionnaire

Blackwell didn't seem excited about it, but he followed Hegstad's instructions and took Minotaur Illusionist so Harvey could draft the Illuminate. Hegstad seemed to slid into a captain-like role during the draft. The combination of his seat (in the middle) and his personality resulted in him dictating picks to his teammates while they rarely dictated to him.


Blackwell	Jilt
Hegstad	Manacles of Decay	Tranquil Path
Harvey	Dodecapod	Angelfire Crusader
Van de Logt	Razorfin Hunter	Dwarven Patrol
Remie	Llanowar Dead	Glade Gnarr
Karsten	Reef Shaman	Llanowar Wastes

Hegstad and Blackwell smiled at each other as Blackwell's blue splash finished taking shape with this Jilt. Meanwhile Harvey was delighted to get a Dodecapod since he remembered that Karsten (his opponent) had two Probes and a Bog Down already.


Hegstad	Living Airship
Harvey	Coalition Honor Guard
Van de Logt	Grave Defiler
Remie	Consume Strength
Karsten	Whirlpool Warrior	Life/Death
Blackwell	Tundra Kavu	Savage Gorilla

Team USA's first instinct here was to give the Coalition Honor Guard to Hegstad and they were debating Consume Strength versus Savage Gorilla for Harvey. However, after Hegstad watching Harvey thumb through all his cards, they realized that Harvey didn't really have any reason to play black and they shouldn't really add black cards at this point, especially since the Dutch would be unable to play both the Gorilla and the Consume Strength anyway. Thus they decided to give Harvey the Honor Guard (it's better against Karsten's blue-white than Remie's green anyway) and Hegstad got to take a solid flier for his own deck.


Harvey	Temporal Spring
Van de Logt	Quicksilver Dagger
Remie	Dead Ringers
Karsten	Whirlpool Drake
Blackwell	Raka Disciple	Orim's Thunder
Hegstad	Ceta Disciple	Dega Disciple

Here van de Logt used an early pick on a second Quicksilver Dagger. They don't seem all that impressive against a black-red deck full of removal.


Van de Logt	Jilt
Remie	Penumbra Wurm
Karsten	Manacles of Decay
Blackwell	Dwarven Patrol	Emblazoned Golem
Hegstad	Haunted Angel	Llanowar Dead
Harvey	Gaea's Skyfolk	Glade Gnarr

Van de Logt evened up the Jilt count in his matchup at one each with this pick.

All in all, Blackwell's deck seems better than van de Logt's if you look at card number three through card number twenty-three. However, those two Magma Bursts are just a lot better than anything Blackwell got to draft. Hegstad's deck also looks deeper than Remie's, but again the Dutch player is the one with the bomb: Questing Phelddagrif. Harvey wound up with a lot of white cards so his deck is more of an aggressive green-white that's splashing blue than a five-color deck. The Americans seemed very confident after the draft - delighted with how the draft had gone. The Dutch seemed nervous, saying "maybe it's 50-50." However, I think those are cultural differences showing for, with the Americans being typically brash and the Dutch more reserved. I think either team could win this and play skill is going to make a big difference.

The United States

Trevor Blackwell

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (15)

1 Duskwalker 1 Ancient Kavu 1 Pouncing Kavu 2 Viashino Grappler 1 Phyrexian Bloodstock 1 Caldera Kavu 1 Mire Kavu 1 Thunderscape Familiar 1 Emblazoned Golem 1 Raka Disciple 1 Tundra Kavu 1 Ceta Disciple 1 Minotaur Illusionist 1 Dwarven Patrol

Sorcery (2)

1 Soul Burn 1 Strafe

Instant (2)

1 Recoil 1 Jilt

Enchantment (2)

1 Cursed Flesh 1 Scavenged Weaponry

Land (18)

6 Swamp 7 Mountain 5 Island

Other (2)

1 Crosis' Charm 1 Fire/Ice

41 Cards

Sideboard (20)

1 Raka Disciple 1 Holy Day 1 Obsidian Acolyte 1 Crown of Flames 1 Ruby Leech 1 Searing Rays 1 Diabolic Intent 1 Keldon Mantle 1 Sleeping Potion 1 Falling Timber 1 Primal Growth 1 Pygmy Kavu 1 Daring Leap 1 Malicious Advice 1 Marsh Crocodile 1 Last Caress 1 Savage Gorilla 1 Strength of Night 1 Guided Passage 1 Squee's Revenge

Deal Another Hand

Brian Hegstad

Decklist Stats Sample Hand