My Run at the Dragon's Maze

I'm a morning person, so my usual prerelease ritual is get up at a reasonable hour (something before 8am), have a decent breakfast and some coffee, head over to the Twenty Sided Store, get my game on, and be done at an hour when it is still acceptable to have "brunch." 

Dragon's Maze did not follow that plan. Work conspired to keep me busy Saturday and cheering on the significant other at a race took up Sunday morning. This meant if I was to play with the new set, I would have to sign up for the Sunday afternoon event.

So I did, of course.

I arrived to the store with a few minutes to spare and joined the milling masses outside. I confirmed my team for Grand Prix: Providence (rapidly approaching) and tried to defend Lyev Decree as a reasonable card in draft. 

Finally, the doors open.

I line up and get my guild pack (Golgari) and end up with my preferred secret ally (Simic). But I also get this:

Really happy my LGS @20sidedstore had these printed twitter.com/nerdtothecore/…
— Alex Ullman (@nerdtothecore) April 28, 2013

After some offensive comments at a recent Commander event at the store, making light of crimes against women, I found this card a much needed step. Twenty Sided Store does a great job of fostering a welcoming community, and now as more people flock to the store, they are taking steps to make sure that community persists.

Good on them.

Here is the pool I opened:

Boros Mastiff
Haazda Snare Squad
Lyev Decree
Riot Control
Steeple Roc (2)
Gridlock
Keymaster Rogue
Metropolis Sprite
Mindstatic
Murmuring Phantasm
Opal Lake Gatekeepers (2)
Scatter Arc
Uncovered Clues (2)
Wind Drake
Bane Alley Blackguard
Crypt Incursion
Dark Revenant
Destroy the Evidence
Maze Abomination (2)
Mind Rot
Perilous Shadow
Terrus Wurm
Ubul Sar Gatekeepers
Awe for the Guilds
Clear a Path
Riot Piker
Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers
Weapon Surge
Adaptive Snapjaw
Battering Krasis (2)
Centaur's Herald
Crocanura
Drudge Beetle
Forced Adaptation
Giant Growth
Gobbling Ooze
Maze Behemoth
Mending Touch (2)
Miming Slime
Skylasher
Spire Tracer
Stonefare Crocodile
Thrashing Mossdog
Verdant Haven
Azorius Cluestone
Dimir Cluestone (2)
Golgari Cluestone
Rakdos Cluestone
Selesnya Cluestone (2)
Jelenn Sphinx
Deputy of Acquittals
Legion's Initiative
Far//Away
Deathrite Shaman
Drown in Filth
Gaze of Granite
Golgari Longlegs
Rites of Reaping
Sluiceway Scorpion
Gruul War Chant
Zhur-Taa Druid
Blast of Genius (2)
Fluxcharger
Turn//Burn
Maw of the Obzedat
Tithe Drinker
Carnage Gladiator
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Alive//Well
Bioshift
Give//Take
Shambleshark
Species Gorger
Unexpected Results
Zameck Guildmage
Azorius Guildgate
Gruul Guildgate (2)
Golgari Guildgate
Izzet Guildgate
Simic Guildgate

Just imagine there's blank space here. Here is the deck I settled on:

Ubul Sar Gatekeepers

Adaptive Snapjaw
Battering Krasis (2)
Crocanura
Drudge Beetle
Skylasher
Stonefare Crocodile
Thrashing Mossdog
Verdant Haven

Dimir Cluestone
Rakdos Cluestone

Far//Away
Deathrite Shaman
Gaze of Granite
Golgari Longlegs
Rites of Reaping
Sluiceway Scorpion

Blast of Genius (2)
Turn//Burn
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Give//Take

Gruul Guildgate (2)
Golgari Guildgate
Izzet Guildgate
Simic Guildgate
Island
Forest (5)
Swamp (6)

I was really pleased with the amount of removal and fixing I opened. Seeing the two Blast of Genius basically dictated that I was going to want to stretch my mana, but with so many Gates, the Verdant Haven, and the Cluestones, I never lost due to my mana.
Actually, I never lost. I went 3-0-1 without dropping a game.
The combination of solid creatures and great removal meant I was able to out-power my opponents. Because of my color spread I also elected to draw when given the choice, and was rewarded with smooth sailing all day.

Round 1 was against Owen with Rakdos/Boros. He was not using sleeves and did not really shuffle his deck. Not sure what to expect, I pile shuffled his deck to count. 44.
Okay.
He had elected to play and came out quickly with Rakdos Shred-Freak, Splatter Thug, and Gore-House Chainwalker. He gets me very low with the combination of Punish the Enemy and Warleader's Helix before I stabilize at two life. From that point my Blast of Genius and solid, if unamazing creatures, put me in the winner's circle.
Game two Owen gets me low again, but I make it a point to keep my life total high and take him out easily.

Round 2 I play against Kyle, who I had apparently met before and forgotten the occasion. Sadly, this is common with me - but after the second time, I remember.
In game one Kyle mulligans to five and is never really in it. Game two he floods. He goes to kill my Exava, which had just evolved a Battering Krasis, but I save her with Far and replay to evolve Krasis again. Not much he could have done.

Round 3 I am paired with Matt (two junk players in a row). In game one I correctly play around Common Bond to take out a Syndic of Tithes and leave him with a 5/5 centaur token, which summarily dies to Blast of Genius discarding Rites of Reaping (the only time I used Rites to kill a creature all day). Game two he manages to actually populate, but I get them all with Gaze of Granite. I had a feel bad moment of using my Ubul Sar Gatekeepers with only one Gate in play to evolve my Snapjaw so it would require a double block. It was absolutely the correct play, but it felt bad.

I had a blast and am excited for full block draft. I also have a great appreciation for how the block was designed, specifically the seeding of two rainbow fixers in the first two sets (Transguild Promenade in Return to Ravnica, Prophetic Prism in Gatecrash).

Of course the question now is, can Wizards keep it up?