Went 3-0 with UG. Thought I was going to do a Core Set 2019 draft, but most of the regulars there didn't want to so we drafted Dominaria instead. Eleven people showed up, so instead of breaking up into small draft pods, we did a massive eleven person pod. I sort of like being a part of giant pods like this because I think your deck quality really improves with the shear number of packs opened. Pack 1 pick 1 was Tatyova, Benthic Druid. I don't remember the exact order after that, but I was able to get off to a good start with 2x Yavimaya Sapherd and Cloudreader Sphinx. I was able to pick up either U or G cards pretty much the entire time so I had a nice selection for deckbuilding.

MATCH 1 vs RB (2-1)

Game 1 was rough, I mulliganed down to 6 and kept a hand with 2 islands and no forests in my largely green deck. I had Syncopate to buy myself a little time (countered a T3 Valduk, Keeper of the Flame), but even with 10 green sources I struggled to find any and lost to Keldon Raider and friends.

Game 2 was very close. I don't remember exactly how everything went. We traded off a lot of creatures and both of us were at low life totals. I had been chipping away with a Academy Drake equipped with a Jousting Lance and needed one more attack to win. She had lethal on board with Keldon Raider, Rampaging Cyclops, Bloodstone Goblin, and my Tatyova, Benthic Druid (who was brought back from my graveyard with The Eldest Reborn) against my lone Cold-Water Snapper. Fortunately, she didn't attack with everything, I blocked and killed Keldon Raider and then she cast a 2nd Main Phase kicked Goblin Bombardment which I Syncopated. I won next turn with my flier.

Game 3 was tense. Syncopate was clutch once again countering a kicked Skizzik while I was trying to stabilize. Later, I was able to kill an attacking Keldon Raider equipped with a Short Sword by blocking with my Cold-Water Snapper and cast a Wild Onslaught for the blowout (and pump up my other Cold-Water Snapper and saproling token in play). However, time ran out and we ended up in turns. I started out by kicking a Krosan Druid to bring me back to 20 life. This cushion allowed me to be aggressive with my Cold-Water Snappers and other creatures, especially since I had a Jousting Lance. I was able to get the concession and a few turtle attacks.

MATCH 2 vs UB aggro (2-1)

Game 1 my opponent shot up to 26 life with 2x Navigator's Compass and deployed 2x Rat Colony. One rat got equipped with Forebear's Blade and the other was enchanted with Arcane Flight. Fortunately I was able to prevent many attacks with my Mammoth Spider followed up by Cold-Water Snapper. Soon both Rat Colonys attacked and I was able to blow them out by flashing in Merfolk Trickster targeting the rat wielding Forebear's Blade. We consulted some of the other players and what happens here is that the Rat Colony with the blade was a 6/1 Vilgilence and Trample, but because the Merfolk Trickster removed all abilities it became a 5/1. It lost Vigilience, Trample, and the Rat Colony power-boosting ability. So my Mammoth Spider killed the flying Rat and my saproling token traded with the now 5/1 rat. Next turn I attacked with everyone and cast an unkicked Wild Onslaught dealing 22. They conceded after that.

Game 2 was interesting. I was a little behind and he had multiple Rat Colonys in play as well as Artificer's Assistant and a Forebear's Blade. I think I had a chance to stabilize, especially with a Krosan Druid in hand I was about to kick, but then he cast Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive and all of a sudden I couldn't bock any of his creatures and I was down to 1 life. I was actually really close to overcoming anyway with the 10 life coming. I drew a Merfolk Trickster my next turn and I might have been able to turn the tides if I had had it earlier.

I don't remember exactly what happened in Game 3. I think this was the game where I was trading off creatures for Rat Colonys like crazy. He was taking hits from my saproling token carrying Jousting Lance and I was being beaten down by Aesthir Glider. Eventually I was able to amass enough creatures to deal 14 damage after blocks via Wild Onslaught for the win.

MATCH 3 vs RGB artifacts (2-1)

Game 1 seemed like it was going alright for me, my opponent struggled to hit land drops and I countered their Traxos, Scourge of Kroog with Syncopate. I had a Cold-Water Snapper and some other stuff in play, but then my opponent was able to get Pardic Wanderer in play and attach Jousting Lance. Now I was being attacked by a 7/5 Trample First Strike which was being untapped by Voltaic Servant. I held off death for a bit but then Bloodtallow Candle shrunk my blocker and the kicked Untamed Kavu trampled over lethal damage.

I now sideboarded my first card of the day in. I knew that I was light on removal and would have a hard time dealing with his large attackers so I sided in Arcane Flight. My reasoning was that my opponent didn't seem to have much defense against fliers and it might be a way to punch enough early damage through. Well this game I was able to go T2 Jousting Lance, T3 Krosan Druid, T4 equip Jousting Lance cast arcance flight attack for 5 flying. My opponent then cast Traxos, Scourge of Kroog and already had a Voltaic Servant in play so we were off to the races. I cast Tatyova, Benthic Druid, but my opponent cast Karn, Scion of Urza and used p2 to make a Karnstruct. We attacked back and forth, but I was able to muster enough blockers to keep the Karnstructs from killing me. My opponent was stuck on only forests, so I knew my enchanted and equipped up Krosan Druid wasn't likely to die and it gave me the win.

Game 3 was weird. I had a pretty good start with a T3 Grow from the Ashes to help me ramp into bigger stuff. I don't quite remember the order all of this happened but sometime after T5 I was able to cast Tatyova, Benthic Druid and play a land immediately to gain 1 and draw a card, but it was cut down by Eviscerate on the opponent's turn. I also cast a kicked Saproling Migration and a Cold-Water Snapper. My opponent had a bunch of 1/3's (like Caligo Skin-Witch, Voltaic Servant, and Llanowar Scout) holding back my attacks and cast a Karn, Scion of Urza and his +1 put a Forest into his hand exiling a Jousting Lance with a silver counter. I couldn't let Karn get out of control so I began attacking it with Cold-Water Snapper next I attacked enough creatures to kill Karn and lost a couple saproling tokens in the process. Not long after that my opponent conceded, I think they were flooding out.

BONUS MATCH 4 vs Nolan on BW aggro (2-0)

Game 1 was sweet. He was attacking early and often with Benalish Knight enchanted with Demonic Vigor. I attempted to trade with it during blocks multiple times but my creatures kept getting cut down with stuff like Gideon's Reproach. I took some hits but Tatyova, Benthic Druid gained me a couple life and drew me a couple of cards. Eventually Chainer's Torment came down for him and soon he had a 13/13 Horror. Fortunately I was able to kick Saproling Migration and buy myself tons of time with a slew of chump-blockers for the massive Horror. I also kicked a Krosan Druid to cushion my life total. After a while I started attacking back with a Cold-Water Snapper. Soon I was able to cast amass enough creatures to attack with everyone with a Wild Onslaught to complete the kill.

Game 2 I had a much slower hand and was soon being attacked by Adaptive Automaton, Serra Disciple, and Sergeant-at-Arms. My first play was a T3 Grow from the Ashes so I took a bunch of damage. I cast a T4 Mammoth Spider which should have helped a lot, but I stupidly blocked serra disiple and my spider got hit with Gideon's Reproach so the first strike damage killed the spider outright. T5 I cast Tatyova, Benthic Druid and played a land to draw one and gain one. A T6 Cold-Water Snapper helped blunt the assault while Tatyova, Benthic Druid kept giving me life and cards. Things stalled out hard core as he kicked two Sergeant-at-Arms and I added a few more creatures. Chainer's Torment did it's thing again and released a 13/13 Horror. I was not super worried because I had Wild Onslaught in hand, so I just had to figure out a way to leverage that. Unfortunately he had more creatures than me. So I started attacking in with Cloudreader Sphinx to get him to lower life. After kicking two Krosan Druids and getting above 20 life I finally got to attack with everyone. He lined up his blocks letting a couple creatures through and I kicked Wild Onslaught for the win.

THOUGHTS

2x Tatyova, Benthic Druid were amazing. I didn't bring them up that much in the matches, because the opponent's usually killed them ASAP, but these were great. Both the life and cards were important and when I got one into play unchecked it was pretty bad for my opponents.

2x Syncopate really impressed me. I was fortunate to get two of these as forms of early interaction that scale well for the late game. I was able to counter spells like crazy and once my opponents got hit by it once they tended to be a bit gun shy and try to play around it. There were many times where I left up Syncopate mana when I didn't have it once my opponents were aware of it that I think deterred certain plays and bought me time.

2x Cold-Water Snapper was great. They are great blockers that are hard to mess with and they carry equipment and auras very well. I think UG is where they shine the most because with green's ramp it's pretty trivial to cast them.

2x Yavimaya Sapherd are just solid. I always love drafting these. Three power across two creatures on one card is just great. They help you swarm, or have extra blockers.

It's always great to have one Mammoth Spider. It's a nice defensive creature and helps against fliers which green is usually soft to.

Llanowar Elves was nice in this build. I had a lot of payoffs at 4+ mana as well as ways to use my mana late in the game. It's especially casting Tatyova, Benthic Druid and Cold-Water Snapper ahead of schedule.

2x Krosan Druid were pretty great for me. They are creatures that I can cast for blocking early as well as ultimate stabilizers when you kick them. I was able to kick them many games which was absolutely back-breaking against aggro.

2x Jousting Lance worked very well. These help turn your lame creatures into respectable attackers. Very nice to turn an expendable saproling token into a 3/1 first striking attacker.

2x Grow from the Ashes did some nice work. This deck has some expensive creatures as well as many ways to use its mana. These are what helped make kicking Krosan Druids possible as well as casting Cold-Water Snappers and kicking Wild Onslaught. Not to mention the insane combo with Tatyova, Benthic Druid.

Wild Onslaught was possibly the most important card in the deck. It is such a great card. It allows you to destroy people while blocking and especially when attacking. It helped that I had decent capability of going wide with 2x yavimaya saperd and Saproling Migration, but it's a good card anyway. This card was usually how I won most games.