"Can't Stop the Clock" - KTK, November 14, 2014

So it finally happened. After all this time, even after conceding last week to avoid it, we finally lost a round to the clock. If that doesn't dissuade you from watching, you should be in for a fairly entertaining main event.

As I said, we lost not one, but two rounds to the clock, though one wasn't exactly our fault. A connection issue in round three ate about four minutes of our time.

Despite all that, this draft had a lot going for it. Our deck was strong, and we piloted it fairly well. The one thing that I want to point out about the construction process was the Kheru Lich Lord. I didn't think our deck wanted it, but I wasn't sure. As it turns out, we sided it out in almost every game. Maybe it would have been better to leave him out of the deck to begin with, but I didn't know. If we hadn't run him, we never would have known. I now have a better personal understanding of when that card is good, and when it isn't. To me, that's worth a card.

In round one we made a single bad attack which turned the tide against us. Even then, if we'd played out a creature that turn, rather than waiting until the turn after, we probably would have won the round. Giving our opponent enough of an edge to stall us out was annoying to say the least.

Round two, paradoxically, was both the only round we won, and the round in which I feel we played the worst. If it weren't for our slow playing, I really feel we could have gone 3-0 with this deck, so stay tuned in future while we strive to find a middle ground between "just swinging in" and dragging our feet.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time,


-Step.

"Marzan Warriors" - KTK, November 7, 2014

After last week's haiatus, I wasn't surprised that we didn't win much. What did surprise me was the quality of our deck, and the quality of our play. If you're looking for an engaging experience, this draft should satisfy.

We started off open, and then sort of took a left turn into warriors, but not "The Warrior Deck", which is something I'd like to try at some point. What we end up with is a solid deck with a good curve, and very enjoyable to play.

A few things I noticed upon review were that we still talk a lot. As we've finally lost a round to the clock, I've decided to make a concerted effort to make faster play decisions. The flip side of that is that sometimes I run the client on autopilot, and that has left me unable to play a land or make an attack, simply because I "F2" through the option. I really need to clean up these areas of play. Something to work on.

All in all I think the deck was solid, and I'm looking forward to building the next one.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time,


-Step.

"MarDerp" - KTK, October 06, 2014

It's finally up! Our original Khans Sealed event. We've been holding on to this one ever since the prerelease.

I'd actually meant to have this one up that very weekend, and then every Monday thereafter, but unfortunately in life, as in Magic, you have to play with the cards you're dealt.

A lot of time and energy lately has gone into another project that Tams and I have on the go (send us an email or find us on twitter if you want details) and we haven't had much time for more than getting the weekly draft up. That isn't likely to change any time in the next month either, because NaNoWriMo is coming up! In any event, we're here to entertain and educate, so let's get things rolling.

While I was reviewing this for posting, I was gratified to see just how much I've learned about the set since this initial event. I'm honestly not sure why we were so scattered that day, but we even forgot that there was a fourth round until two minutes into it.

Even with all that, 2-2 isn't a bad record and I think it was fun to watch. I hope you agree.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time,


-Step.

"Sulky Sultai" - KTK, 24 October, 2014

Sometimes, you just have a bad day, and despite not looking like professionals, we've decided to post this draft. After all, we're here to teach.

We'd hoped to go Sultai, and we should have known that this draft was ill fated when it started off by passing a rare in our colours.

In any case, if you want to learn, this draft is full of mistakes and foibles which should prove educational.

Between sending the drafter to our left directly into our colours, not seeing any fixing in our colours, and not wanting to draft this clan in the first place, we ended up with something of a mediocre Sultai deck, and yet there was hope.

There was a time (at the beginning of pack three) which we could have chosen to jump colours in order to play our planeswalker. We could have made the switch into Temur at that point, but it would have been a huge gamble.

 One thing we definitely should have done is paid more attention to the board state.

In round one, I don't think there was anything to do but be on the defensive, but in round two there was a point at which we should have stopped worrying about the Rakshasa Deathdealer, and started racing our opponent. Even if it wasn't likely, the game could have swung in our favour eventually, whereas just taking the hits every turn left us with nowhere to go once we finally had plays to make.

 Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.


-Step.

"Work your Abzan" - October 17, 2014

Good day! This week's draft landed us in the Abzan Houses. Check out whether we managed to Outlast our opponents.

Sometimes playing magic is like farming. You live off the land, and she is a harsh mistress.

Still, even playing through mana issues, it's possible to learn some things. This week we learned that it is a good idea to take a good hard look at the Instant spells in the set so that you know what to look for when your opponent has mana open.

Pretty basic, right? Well it turns out that the simple things are what really improve your game in the long run. Sequencing and knowing every colour, knowing what combat tricks and counter spells are in the set can greatly improve your performance during combat.

As far as set specific information, I had expected from the beginning that expensive creatures were going to be less useful in this set if they didn't have morph, and I can confirm that. The Venerable Lammasu should be a solid curve topper, but with all the Morph creatures which can be dumped onto the field by turn three, having a big thing stuck in your hand just isn't where you want to be.

We've got two clans left to draft (not counting the sealed pool which we've yet to post), and I'm looking forward to trying the all morph deck at some point. This set still has plenty of life in it, and we hope you'll be along with us for this ride.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!


-Step.

"Trouble with Temur" - October 10, 2014

Here we are once more on a beautiful Friday. So far we're three for three on the clans of Tarkir (sealed series forthcoming), and we haven't quite been able to master the speed of the format.

Land troubles aside, I think I've discovered a tendency in myself to devalue my life total. I'm used to playing a deck in Constructed which tends to stabilize around 4. Unfortunately, you can't be assured of stabilizing in a Limited game, and a few more early game trades might have helped us last long enough to get something big out.

I'd also have liked to try taking the red out of the deck in order to add the black. I feel that against an aggressive deck, like the one we faced in round one, it would have proven effective. We could have held down the ground early on much better, but maybe that's best case scenario mentality.

Either way, the deck was at least fun to play with, and I'll look forward to another stint amongst the Temur clan in the future.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time,


-Step.

"Which Way to Jeskai?" - October 03, 2014

So here we are! Khans has finally arrived on MTGO, and what better way to celebrate than with a clan themed draft? We may not have quite settled into the new set, but at least it's entertaining!

We very quickly landed ourselves in Jeskai, and it seemed to work well enough, though next time I'd focus a little more on mana fixing earlier in the draft, and probably more non-creature spells. Jeskai may not be as strong as the three more straightforward clans (Abzan, Mardu, and Temur), but the Prowess mechanic is definitely powerful. This was made clear to me in round 1 when we lasted a whole three turns longer than we should have, simply thanks to our prowess creatures.

It would have been much nicer to have been on the offensive with them, but maybe next time.

We fared better in rounds 2 and 3, and at the very least I can say that it was fun. There was some back and forth, and we got to see almost all of the set's mechanics in play. I'm very much looking forward to next week.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time.


-Step.