Draft 031 4-3

1st picked Beckoning Lumen over Noble Firemane, Clan Hero, and Dragonbreath. 2nd picked Slimespitter Slug. Forced Xenan lifeforce after that. Fortunately the pair seemed open.

This deck is mess, but has dominant end game. Will need to be defensive, which will be difficult with its anemic early units. I anticipate 2 wins off of the bombs.

G1: My Stonescar Magus and Sanctuary Priest held off his attacks for a while. I drew a lot of power. The units I did draw were low impact. Good removal kept me alive. My Skeeter + Morningstar looked to turn things around, but he had Predator’s Instinct. I proceeded to draw more power and insignificant units.
G2: We both had early units but couldn’t profitably attack. He played Cobalt Acolyte and Serpent Trainer. I raced with Horned Vorlunk while looking for power for Slimespitter Slug. I eventually found Seek Power. The delay was super fortunate as he added 2 more fliers on his subsequent turn. The slug ate all 5 of his fliers.
G3: I kept an awkward opener with 3 Time sigils but 3 Time units. I was predictably slow to start, but so was my opponent. His Journeyman Armorer buffed up his Striped Araktodon for 1st blood. I Executed it on my turn. I kept pecking at him with my Amber Acolyte because he didn’t want to trade for fear of allowing my bigger units to attack. Eventually his Cannonbearer ended that. The ground was stalled. I was pecking at him with an Archive Curator. Slimespitter Slug was in my hand, but I was the only one with fliers. I almost got him to Extract range when he played Lumen Protector and Morningstar. So we started a pathetic race: my 1 damage vs his 4. I was winning the race, but I drew Venomspine Hydra, which wiped his board enabling an alpha strike next turn.
G4: Slow, awkward opener. I started with Cabal Slasher and Praxis Displacer. My opponent’s Ageless Mentor hit 4 units! His buffed Awakened Sentinel and Horned Vorlunk got me down to 10 before I played Venomspine Hydra. He continued to attack since none of his units could kill it and trigger its ability. I dropped to 5. He played a buffed Plated Goliath and Predator’s Instinct forcing me to use Devour to destroy his units. He had another buffed Plate Goliath to follow. I had to use Morningstar on a Beckoning Lumen just to trade. Then he followed up with Adaptive Predator, which I had to trade with Slimesplitter Slug and another unit. Those trades felt awful, but I survived. The only units left on board was my Archive Curator and his Sauropod Wrangler. I drew more units than he did over the next 6-8 turns and started pecking with Archive Curators. Eventually he got low enough so I A spaced. He had Bolster. But my Execute and Extract were enough to finish him. Must have been a frustrating game for him.
G5: I was stuck on 3 power for 2-3 turns with a hand full of 4 drops. Fortunately my opponent was just hitting me with a stranger. However, his board grew quickly with Oni Ronin, Thunderhoof Warriors, and Twinbrood Sauropod. My units all had 1 attack so I couldn’t block effectively and died quickly.
G6: We both had early units, but his Xenan Cultist held off my units. I took a bunch of damage from 2 Infernuses and Piercing Grief needing to chump block the second wave of attacks. But he ran out of big units. My Beckoning Lumen held the ground while I pecked for 2 damage in the air for about 10 turns. Eventually I found a Skeeter that provided tons of card advantage. He never found an answer.
G7: He played Bloodletter on a stranger. I tried racing, but he found more ground units. I took a couple of hits until the ground stalled. I was pecking in the air until he played Ageless Mentor then a 5/5 Valkyrie Denouncer forcing me to use Slimespitter Slug killing my own fliers. He had more big units to follow while I did not.

The deck performed as expected. The bombs and removal were great. The rest of my units were not. Still one of the better Xenan lifeforce drafts I’ve had.

Gold Paid = 2320
Shiftstones Gained = 1511 (dust) + 800 (Venomspine Hydra) = 2311
Base = 0.340 shiftstones/gold
Shiftstones Profit = 1522
Pack Profit = 4.48