Top 8 Draft: Jelger Wiegersma and Anton Jonsson

These 2 established Pro's sat down at the top 8 table with their reputations firmly established. Both have PT and GP top 8's, both have GP wins, Jelger in Cologne, Anton, more recently, in Seville. They are here for the money, and for the gaming of course.

Jelger's first booster had Lavamancer's Skill, Dragon Roost and Cruel Revival. From earlier I knew that Jelger always took Revival over Skill, but as it happens, he takes Dragon Roost over both of those. Anton first picked Improvised Amrou, and when passed the Skill and Revival, he reneged on his earlier statement and chose the Revival, obviously not willing to give up his Amrou for Red Blue. Jelger's second pick was a Screeching Buzzard, mainly due to a lack of Red and Green cards. He then took both a Krosan Tusker and passed a Wirewood Savage, which confused Anton enough into taking it. Jelger went on to pick up a number of red and green cards, including 2 Explosive Vegetations and a Charging Slateback, passing Daunting Defender, Gluttonous Zombie and Frightshroud courier to fix Anton in Black White.

Booster 2 saw the plan all go wrong however, as Jelger, passing the other way, opened Akroma's Vengeance, while Anton opened Slice and Dice. Each took the respective Wrath of God, irrespective of color. Anton's next pick was Aven Brigadier, and Severed Legion, Frightshroud Courier and Grinning Demon followed in quick succession. Jelger took some more green red cards to go with his 1st pick Vengeance, namely Spitting Gourna, Erratic Explosion and Skittish Valesk, but then he also started taking some white cards, clearly planning on playing his Akroma's Vengeance. This would no doubt hurt Anton in booster 3, unless every good white card was paired with a good Black card.

Jelger's first pick from Legions was the uninspiring Macetail Hystrodon, which he followed with Gempalm Strider and Skirk drill Sergeant in an attempt to lower his curve. Anton opened and took a Goblin Clearcutter, apparently he also wanted to play with his Wrath of God. His next 4 picks were all ridiculous, with Spectral Sliver, Crested Craghorn, Skinthinner and a 6th pick Aphetto Exterminator! Jelger's picks on the other hand, were much more ordinary, with Hundroog, Macetail number 2 and Branchsnap Lorian.

In the end the pair settled into their colors very quickly, as you may expect from Pro's of their level. The opening of the 2 Wraths in booster 2 however put a different spin on things, and both wasted very little time in making the decision to take it, and to play it. They ended up Anton as Heavy Black splash Red for Slice and Dice, Clearcutter and Craghorn while Jelger built Green-Red-White, with 2 Explosive Vegetations. It turned out that the clash of Red didn't hurt either player particularly, since Jelger ended up 3 colors, and Anton was very heavy black.