Grand Prix Copenhagen 2000 - 1st draft table 1

Results 1st draft table 1 (but read this report first!)

Position

1. Sigurd Eskeland
2. Tom Van de Logt
3. Niels Sanders Jensen
4. Franck Canu
5. Haakon Monsen
6. Marcus Angelin
7. Mattias Jorstedt
8. Thomas Dall Jensen

The first boosters:

The players' perspectives.

Sigurd: It is commonly known that being in first or last position is not a great place to be. He made a old statement with his double blue first pick of the Stinging Barrier and stayed blue for the rest of the draft. This turned out ok for him - by the end of the boosters there were only 2 and a half blue players. In the second booster he got a Balloon Peddler and a Ramosian Rally, but was soon pushed out of white, as Thomas (to his left) took every white card available from that point. Half way through the Masques he noticed that there were only two red players and started taking s many red cards as he could to make a point to the rest of the players. Unfortunately for the new slimline Norwegian, even though no one else moved into red, no good Nemesis red showed up and his deck was looking like a bunch of Sprites, Skates and Wandering Eyes. Mercifully he managed to get a Flowstone Thopter in the last booster of this set. First picking a Keldon Beserker in the Prophecy he might have seemed potentially ok, but again the red was surprisingly weak, so 3 Rethinks, a Spur Grappler and a Barbed Field were the only good cards he could get from then on. Sigurd is a great player, but he will find these matches very tricky.

Tom: His first pick was a Sergeant, then in the second booster he took a Lieutenant over a Charmed Griffin which is a questionable choice. The rebels then seemed to fall into his lap from this point though - 2 Steadfast Guards, 1 Falcon, 1 Lightbringer, 1 Lawbringer, 1 Mercenary Infromer and aTrenching Steed. However, there was no glider. He got a second pick Avatar of Hope in the Prophecy, but other than that his deck does not pack much punch. I believe he will have to splash a little black to make a full 40 cards. His one Silkenfist Order might prove to save him in many situations.

Niels: His first choice of Shock Troops will not be played. His first few relevant picks were Shock Trops, Vendetta, Cateran Brute, Flaming Sword, Deepwood Ghoul, Spidersilk Armour, Deepwood Ghoul, Spidersilk Armour!, Vendetta. Unsurprisingly he ended up playing a black/green deck. His red dried up as Sigurd moved in on his right and it became an unlikely choice to continue trying to draft it as Franck strangely first picked a Hired Giant in the fourth booster. In Nemesis the black and green did not fall that well for him although a few good cards like a Seal of Removal and Intimidator showed up. The Prophecy was more kind though, with two Living Terrain, Steal Strength and a Thresher Beast. He certainly has enough cards to build a solid deck here.

Franck: Airship, Griffin, Waterfront Bouncer then Hired Giant. The Giant surprised me as there was an equally good (imo) Blockade Runner which really could have shut out the blue, and there was not a white player to his right at that stage. Maybe he just refuses to draft white and wanted to move into red even though the two players to his left had taken playable red cards. This was the upsetting move of the game for the rest of the players as colours shifted hugely as a result. Haakon (to his right) left his Wild Jhovall for dead, but more confusion followed as Franck then proceeded to take Gush, Kyren Sniper Warmonger (over Wild Jhovall) Trap Runer, Fresh Volunteers, 2 Defiant Falcons, 2 Crushers (the red fell well for him in Nemesis), Ancient Hydra, Machinist, Seal of Cleansing, Flame rift, Defender-en-Vec, Withdraw, Scoria Cat, Troubled Healer, Glittering Lion, Ribbon Snake, Minatour and Sword Dancer. So - it turns out he is going to end up with a U/R/W deck with lots of strong cards, but there seems to be a huge problem with the mana base - there are a huge amount of double colour casting cost cards.

Haakon: It seems his drafting strategy was to pick the best cards, then think about colours later. After a few early colour changes (he took an Overtaker and Wild Jhoval) he moved into black/green - the only two colours Franck was not drafting, but his card count will be short, as Marcus, to his left, played green too, but had better earlier picks in Masques and swiped a Blastoderm in the Nemesis. Basically, his deck has some strong cards like Slaver, Pit Raptor and Massacre, but will have to run some weak ones too.

Marcus: This guy really stuck to his guns. Lightning Hounds, Collective Unconsciousness, Blaster Mage, Irregulars, Invigorate, Kris Mage, Thunderclap, Jhovall, Dragonfly, Cave Sense, Revive, Grunt, Blastoderm, Arc Mage, etc etc. By this stage his deck was looking quite strong, but his red and green were cut of pretty badly in Prophecy by both Haakon and Franck. Even so, I should turn out ok.

Mattias: He tried to stamp on black from the outset - Deepwood Legate, Bog Witch (he was making a point here - there was a Collective Unconsciousness in the booster remaining), Maggot Therapy, Kidnappers, Brute, Nether Spirit and Bog Smugglers. He was looking heavy black, but had also taken a Footpad and a Counterspell. A Dominate then found it's way to him in the first nemesis booster and his colours were decided. The second booster then handed him a Rathi Assassin. He also picked up a Viscious Hunger, Seal of Doom and Plague Witch! The Prophey was just as good for him - 2 Spiketail Hatchling, Withdraw, Rethink, Fen Stalker, Rebel Informer and Avatar of Woe. This deck should be really good.

Thomas: Like Marcus he stayed in hi colours from the outset. He drafted green/white hich looked weak to begin with until the latter part of the Masques where he picked up Noble Purpose, Invigorate, Ballista Squad, Nightwind Glider. By the end of the 3 sets he had a reasonable white/ green deck with some fat, a few tricks and a Faith Healer. The fat might well cause problems for some of the other players.

Mattias is my favourite to win this draft, but hey - he is on my team, so I would say that.

- Written by Ben Ronaldson.