Rocky Mountain Yetis

I love cubing. This is now a not so well kept secret. I got into old school playing constructed and since then, have leaned more and more into cubing as the primary way to get my cardboard fix. There is something truly Johnny about cubing; both from a cube construction perspective, a drafting perspective and a playing perspective. Whenever I have five hours to kill and seven other willing Yeti’s, cube is where I always end up.

My cube journey started with this very cube two years ago. My first ever draft that ended with me losing all my best cards to ante, going 0-3 and discovering that I had NO IDEA what I was doing, not to mention drafting a white/green deck that was terrible. At the end of that day after I was able to get out of the fetal position of self pity I told myself, “I need to get better at this.” My cube journey began and now, 10 cubes later, I can definitely say, this is the way to play Magic!

On to the event!

We had a full Yeti pod get together on Saturday for a draft of the Old School Ante Madness Cube. This is a 93/94 cube focused on how Magic was originally meant to be played… with gambling!

All players received a copy of Jeweled Bird which doubles as a five color mana rock and all ante cards were available to draft in the pool. The person with the most birds at the end gets to sign their bird!

Great games and a great afternoon for everyone! Thanks to MeH Games for hosting us and decks can be seen below:

Jim’s Control Deck Wins – 3-0 – The man of the hour. A beautiful deck photo and a hell of a deck. Counter magic, discard and beaters work well in old school!

Matt’s RB Damage – 2-1 – This deck worked really well and ended up in the finals. Turns out taking all the burn not only annoys other drafters but creates a really functional deck! Matt also dropped out of photography school after learning that setting up the shot is not his cup of tea.

My Erhnam, no Burn’Em – 2-1 – This deck was super fun. I missed all the burn thanks to Matt and didn’t realize Living Plain + Dwarven Catapult is a killer combo…. Learning still…. I was also excited to adopt a Lord of the Pit that my deck was fully able to cast because of the Jeweled Bird!

Brian’s BW – Ante + – 2-1 – Serra Angel is good.. who knew! Brian’s Lesson to Drafters: If someone asks if you want to concede to demonic attorney, you should….

Chad’s RG Salty Dog – 2-1 – Manabarbs caused some serious salt and really ended up making a lot of memories. Who thought, casting walls and watching your opponent kill themselves trying to attack around them is a viable strategy! This deck certainly picked up the Spice Award. Chat also scored his first winning record with the group this draft!

Starr’s UG Combat – 1-2 – This deck was a tribute to Starr’s improvement as an old school drafter! She has only drafted with us a few times and got her first match win this week! Flyers, removal and counters…. Beautiful!

Zach’s URB – 1-2 – Three colors with very limited fixing is always a challenge and losing strip mine to ante in the second match was tough!

Kevin’s White Weenie – 0-3 – Plenty of low to the ground threats and a huge deck size of 47! The new guys (first time drafter with us) finished with the usual record. Us grizzled OS veterans take no prisoners!

Jim’s Victory Bird. Not only 3-0 but also ended up with two birds!

Special rules for the playing Ante. Jeweled Bird got its place in the sun this weekend!

Stoked for the next draft at the end of September. The goal is to get at least three more in before I head across the pond!