Draft 013 6-3

1st picked Relentless Gorehorn. Goes well with Tavrod in constructed. And the rest of the pack was unremarkable. Stonepowder Alchemist and Stormcrasher are the alternatives. 2nd picked Sand Viper. Justice was open. Primal and Fire had some late picks but I had enough decent picks to not deviate from Combrei.

Overall, deck had good units but minimal interaction, which means I have to trade a lot to survive until the late game. I expected to win 3-4 games off of the stronger fliers, but to lose horribly to bombs.

G1: Good opener. Valkyrie Aspirant into stranger into Copperhall Herald. Silenced his 1st Awakening Student. His 2nd Awakening Student caused all sorts of issues. I played Sand Viper but he countered with Duelist Blade. Oddly, he killed the Copperhall Herald instead of the Sand Viper. So I ultimated the viper and attacked with everything forcing him to chump block the viper. He did kill it with the blade next turn. His Awakening Student and buffed Brightmace Paladin hit me once before I chained Prosecutors at Arms to neutralize his paladin and clog the ground. I drew Fourth-Tree Elder who killed him quickly.
G2: Good opener. One of each sigils. Never drew a 4th.
G3: Good opener. 3 sigils. Didn’t draw a 4th sigil for about 7 turns. His Oni Ronin got to attack 3 times due to combat tricks. Traded as evenly as possibly but fell behind on the board. I blocked his Rebel Illuminator with my Towering Terrazon to absorb fire but he played a 5/5 Outlands Sniper instead. I countered with Fourth-Tree Elder. I didn’t block the 5/5’s 1st attack because he still had the Torch. He did the same attack again. This time I had power open for Victor’s Cry for the blowout. Fourth-Tree Elder ended the game quickly.
G4: My opponent was stuck on 2 power.
G5: Solid opener. My opponent used Pummel to kill my stranger, which I was happy about as I had a bunch of other units to clog the ground. My fliers wore him down until he found Predator’s Instincts to kill them. But those in combination with his units being smaller than mine forced him into too many 2 for 1s.
G6: Solid opener. The ground stalled. I got stuck on 4 power so I couldn’t cast my bigger fliers. Probably should have kept back the Valkyrie Aspirant. Died to Strength of the Many.
G9: Solid opener. Valkyrie Aspirant into Copperhall Herald. His Lifedrinker killed my Sand Viper. The Herald held off his attacks for 2-3 turns until the Disciplined Amanera grew large. His Trigger Happy disrupted my double block but fortunately was only 1 for 1. I took 2 big hits until Roosting Owl into a 3/5 Awakening Student clogged the ground again. But he countered with Plated Goliath. I played Gemblade onto the owl and traded. Prosecutor at arms shrunk his Disciplined Amanera. I finally stabilized long enough to ultimate the Valkyrie Aspirant and finish the game.
G10: Slow opener. My opponent used Xenan Initiation on his Cannonbearer to kill my Awakening Student but I had Victor’s Cry for the blowout. Roosting Owl created a 7/7 Amaran Archeologist. Back to back Prosecutor in Arms shrank his Awakening Student and Horned Vorlunk. He drew a decent amount of tricks to stem the tide but his shrunken units could only delay the inevitable.
G11: Good opener. Valkyrie Aspirant into Copperhall Herald into Treasury Guard. He went Excavation Assistant into Oasis Seeker into Cobalt Assistant absorbing my ground attacks and hitting me in the air consistently. I had two Hooru Fledglings but was stuck on four power. My opponent was stuck on three power but kept adding air units. His Humbug Swarm sealed the game.

Overall, the deck performed its control role exceptionally well considering the dearth of removal. The Prosecutors at Arm were MVPs and enabled way more board control than I expected. Several lucky draw sequences also helped.