Magic: The Gathering Booster Draft Tournament At Anime Boston

Magic tournaments were a big deal at science fiction, comic, and gamine conventions when the game first became popular. Over the years, though, Magic became something of a specialty, with dedicated tournaments happening every weekend for the really serious players. At the same time it suffered a bit of a backlash from the convention crowd so that these days you don't find that much in the way of Magic events at many cons.

Anime Boston, though, is so big that it has been able to maintain a pretty decent gaming area even though gaming is not really a focus of the con. The Magic events were run by Pandemonium Books & Games, and they were Lorwyn-Block booster drafts. I played in one draft, and it ended up going pretty well for me. I got into goblins pretty early in the draft, and picked up some decent elves as well. I wasn't sure how mixing two tribes would go, but the result proved to be pretty strong. Here is the complete report:

Tournament Location: Anime Boston Convention, Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA
Tournament Format: Lorwyn-block booster draft, DCI sanctioned. Three rounds, single elimination.

My Deck

Forest x6
Mountain x5
Swamp x5
_______________
16 Lands

Elvish Warrior x1
Facevaulter x1
Fertilid x1
Frogtosser Banneret x1
Heritage Druid x1
Hornet Harasser x1
Jagged-Scar Archers x1
Lightning Crafter x1
Lys Alana Bowmaster x1
Lys Alana Huntmaster x2
Mudbutton Torchrunner x2
Winnower Patrol x1
Wren's Run Vanquisher x1
_______________
15 Creatures

Boggart Birth Rite x1
Consuming Bonfire x1
Elvish Promenade x1
Fodder Launch x1
Lace With Moonglove X2
Tarfire X2
Thornbite Staff X2
_______________
10 Other Cards

Sideboard had nothing of note. As you'll see below, the games all went pretty much the same way.

Round 1

We go back and forth with creatures early on. Lightning Crafter comes out to play. Opponent has no creatures with toughness bigger than 3. Second game is a repeat of game 1.

Result: I win 2-0.

Round 2

Pretty much the same thing. In addition to the Lightning Crafter, who is dominant in this format, the Mudbutton Torchrunners provide some great board control, especially in combination with Thornbite Staff and Fodder Launch. Hornet Harasser serves a similar purpose, and the elf cards keep me supplied with 1/1 tokens for defense until board control is established.

Result: I win 2-0.

Final Result: 2-0-1 in matches, 4-0-1 in games. Tie for 1st place. My winning streak (Ha! That's a phrase I don't get to type often about myself and Magic tournaments!) is extended to two!

Opponent for Round 3 offers a draw and we split the prize, which works out to $20 in store credit each.

For those interested, I will be posting a complete report on the rest of Anime Boston here soon, complete with photos. If you're interested in keeping up with reports from conventions and other geeky events as well as lots of great travel articles, check out my Geek Travel group here on Gather.