Player A from the last draft ended up with a fairly solid Green-White-Black ("Junk") deck with strong mana fixing, and some reasonably sized creatures.
Player B ended up with a Red-Blue (Black) ("Grixis") deck, with quite a few early creatures, and some early interactive spells. Things didn't look good for player B if the game went late, because while they had card drawing, their creatures weren't the best.
Game 1:
Player A won the roll, and decided to play first. They opened a hand of Ambition's Cost, Goblin Piker, Unsummon, and four blue-red lands. This is playable, but they sent it back, to a one-lander, with a bunch of two drops, but in a three color deck, playing any of them might be problematic. The Four card hand had a Child of Night (2/1 lifelink for 1B) and again all blue and red lands, but we basically had to keep it at that point.
Player B kept a hand with all three of his colors, Youthful Knight (2/1 first strike for 1W), Assault Griffin, and a Jayemdae Tome.
Player A's Youthful Knight, did a good job of holding off player B's little guys, due to his first strike.
Player A got his Child out on turn two thanks to a "lucky" draw of a Swamp off the top, but was left with no good options when Player B deployed their Youthful Knight. Player B drew some more two-drops off the top, but the Youthful Knight held them all off, while an Assault Griffin beat down in the air for player A, and the Tome drew him more cards.
Player B did draw into some card drawing, which drew him into even more two-drops. He eventually found a Blisterstick Shaman, which killed off the Youthful Knight and allowed an attack for 8 damage, but it just was not quite in time, and player A managed to fly over for lethal the next turn.
Looks like the mulligans, and the good defensive creature were enough for player A to hold on for the win, all in all an inauspicious start for player B, to be sure.
Game 2:
Player A was on the play again, and started with a much better hand of Ambition's Cost, Goblin Raider (2/2 can't block for 1R), Aven Fisher (2/2 flyer for 3U), Unsummon, Volcanic Dragon (4/4 flyer with haste for 4RR), and all three of his colors.
Player B had only black and white lands, but had a Ravenous Rats (1/1 for 1B) to slow the early game down, a Centaur Courser (3/3 for 2G) a Tome, and a Siege Mastodon (3/5 for 4W) for later-game plays.
Player A led out with lands, and the Raider, while player B drew a Forest off the top, making his early game look significantly better with the Centaur on turn 3. Player B drew some lands off the top, one of which was discarded to player A's Rats, and just developed his board with the Aven Fisher.
Player A liked his position, and drew some more big creatures off the top, so he started to attack with his Centaur, leaving behind the Rats, and a freshly-drawn-and-cast Roaring Primadox (4/4 for 3G with a "drawback") on defense.
Yup, Roaring Primadox's "ability" is a "disadvantage"... more like an "engine"...
Player B drew a card, and just had to run out the Ambition's Cost, drawing three and losing three in the process, but the cards he drew would turn out to be pivotal: A Island, a Flame Slash, and a 2-drop. He had an Unsummon in his hand at the time, so he used the Island and the Unsummon to bounce the Roaring Primadox back to player A's hand, and attacked for 4.
Player A drew a land, so they played the Siege Mastodon, which should put the brakes on player B's attacks, and allow player A to continue to play out cards from their hand, without worrying about the Primadox's disadvantage for the time being. This was rough for player B, since their Flame Slash does 4 damage for a single R, but the Mastodon has 5 toughness.
Knowing the Primadox was likely to show it's face again, player B swung for two in the air, dropped a Phyrexian Rager (drawing a card and losing a life), and followed up with a Dragon Fodder (generating two 1/1 goblins), but held off on using the Flame Slash on the Centaur, or to finish off the Mastodon. Player B had 6 land in play at this time (drew a land off the Rager), so the Volcanic Dragon was about to come online...
Player A drew another land, making 6 total, and recast the Primadox, then attacked in with his two three-power guys. Player B thought for a while, before throwing one of his goblin tokens under the bus for three life.
Player B had plenty of lands from all their draw spells, but needed to draw one more to do both of these in the same turn!
Player B tapped the top of his deck, and drew the land he needed to play both the Flame Slash on the defending Primadox, and to cast the Volcanic Dragon. He sent in for 6 in the air, and 2 on the ground from his Goblin Raider (can't block), taking player A down to 4 (dead on the next turn without a removal spell), and even with a Glorious Anthem, player A couldn't muster the 5 damage he would need to kill player B through the few terrible creatures player B left back to block. Player B sent his flyers over the top for the final 6 damage it would take to finish off player A.
Victory for player B! Card drawing, and terrible, somewhat evasive creatures for the win this game...
Game Three:
This would be for all the jelly beans, and player B would have to win a game on the draw for the first time....
Player A kept a hand of Forest, Swamp, Plains, Sunpetal Grove (land, taps for G or W), Birds of Paradise, Primal Clay, and Smite the Monstrous (Player B's deck isn't overloaded with four power creatures, so this might not be the solid removal spell it typically is...) Player A will need to draw some good-sized creatures to not get run over, but the Clay as wall or 3/3 should hold the fort for a while.
Player B keeps a hand of Island, Island, Swamp, Phyrexian Rager, Ambition's Cost (draw 3 lose 3 for 3B), along with a pair of uncastable red spells in Goblin Piker and Wave of Indifference. Hopefully with a land or two, and so many draw steps, we'll find what we need to give player A the beating he so richly deserves...
Player As first few draw steps were quite good to him, providing a solid defender in the form of Bottle Gnomes, and a stalling creature in the form of Master Decoy. Player A of course did not draw his fourth land until the 6th turn, developing his board with 2 power dorks for 2 and 3 mana, and getting in for some pathetic beats, enabled by his Squee's Toy. (All of player A's creatures had 1 power, so he would have to trade off his Master Decoy in a double-block to kill even player B's pathetic Coral Merfolk (2/1 for 1U).
Squee's Toy + Coral Merfolk, why don't we see more articles about this interaction =P
Player B didn't have much to play, and drew some more red spells, but eventually got his fourth land for Ambition's Cost (draw 3, lose 3, for 3B). It of course, drew him no more lands, but he got some cheap interaction, with Unsummon, and Divination among the cards drawn. He eventually started hitting some lands, and a Siege Mastodon being bounced, and a 3/3 Primal Clay being Flame Slashed destroyed player A's defensive board position, and allowed attacks for 2, 4, and 6 to head in. The following turn, he unleashed a Wave of Indifference to get through even more damage!
Sorry boss, I'm "busy"...
Amazingly, though player B had around 9 power in creatures, he had nothing with more than 4 power, so the Smite the Monstrous in player A's hand was not looking to smite-worthy.
Eventually player A drew some creatures, and Player B's beat down was halted, until a Essence Drain ensured that the Master Decoy would not hold off player B's Welkin Tern. Player A of course top-decked a Feral Shadow (2/1 flyer for 2B) to hold it off instead. Player B eventually drew a Blisterstick Shaman to kill the Feral Shadow, and the Welkin Tern beats commenced anew, with player A on a precariously low 5 life after the first swing.
Player B had only a Essence Scatter and a land in his hand, with 8 in play, but held off using it on a Borderland Ranger, since it would not prevent the Welkin Tern from beating down.
Bottle Gnomes are great on defense, but they couldn't keep up with the massed hordes from player B...
A turn or two later, player B drew a Volcanic Dragon, and sent everyone in. Player A was glad to Smite the Monstrous Dragon, but still had to block with everything, and sacrifice his Bottle Gnomes before damage to just stay alive, leaving player B with ~5 creatures to player A's lonely Siege Mastodon. With Essence Scatter in hand, player A had no outs.
Victory for the improbable player B, and a solid end to Winchester Draft 1!
