Please hold while we load your cart...
[SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE ARTICLE!]
Become a StarCityGames.com Premium Member and receive exclusive access to top-level strategies, new decklists and entertaining reports from many of the best players and writers that the game has to offer! This includes "The Innovator" & Worlds finalist Patrick Chapin, 2010 Player of the Year Brad Nelson, Classic Theorist Mike Flores, Hall of Famer Brian Kibler, GP and SCG Invitational Champion Gerry Thompson, StarCityGames.com Director of Sales Ben Bleiweiss ...and many, many more!
PLUS! StarCityGames.com Premium members now have an EXCLUSIVE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER sent just to them with the latest tech, exclusive content and exclusive deals along with unprecedented access into America's largest Magic: the Gathering sales database, and can view lists of StarCityGames.com's top-selling items - broken down by category, format legality, and rarity - in real time! When it comes to trading, increased knowledge equals increased profits - and increased knowledge is just one click away for our Premium members!
A StarCityGames.com Premium Membership gives you exclusive access to the best Magic: the Gathering content available and is an amazing bargain for just pennies a day! When you're ready to start getting more out of this game, click here to join StarCityGames.com Premium today!
If you are a valid StarCityGames.com Premium member and still cannot view the article, please consult this FAQ.
Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Visit the draft converter today!
There are a lot of possible picks here: Squadron Hawk, Deathmark, Awakener Druid, and Mana Leak are all good options depending on your personal preferences. As much as I can, I just try to avoid going Green - it's not unplayable, but it is still pretty bad. Blue is the color I've had the best results with by far, so I'd rather go with it and pick the Leak.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
The more removal you can play, the better the Ophidian gets. With the three first picks I have, there are pretty good chance it gets excellent.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
I usually like Strongbox in control decks, but Combust is excellent in a format in which six players a table usually play Blue or White.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
No idea what that Squadron Hawk is doing here - but I could play the Tunneler, so I won't counterdraft here.
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
There are three options here: Ingenuity, Doom Blade, and Cloud Elemental. When I play Blue control decks (usually U/B or U/R), I like using the scry cards as fixers to splash removal from a third color. Here the Doom Blade could be an option - but with no scry cards and two other pretty good cards, I'll pass it for now. Then my deck probably won't be very aggro, and Cloud Elemental wouldn't shine in it as it would in a U/W deck. If I was indeed U/W, I'd go with the 2/3 - but in a control deck, I'd rather pick the card drawer.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Another illustration of what I said about the last pick. Cloud Elemental would be excellent in some matchups, but it's not that good in even more matchups - and I shouldn't have much trouble splashing the Pacifism. Also, I had many playables after Pack One, so it wouldn't be too annoying if it was to remain in my sideboard.
However, I'm not saying Pacifism is necessarily the right pick here. It mostly depends on the orientation you want to give the draft. With so many removal spells you could try and go super-aggro, in which case Cloud Elemental would be pretty good. It's just that with many card drawers (Ingenuity, two Scroll Thieves, and the strong possibility of getting more), I want to build a control deck in order to make better use of my card advantage.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
If I didn't already have an Ice Cage, I'd pick it. While the card may be excellent, I don't really like having two in the same deck.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
I'm not sure about this one. I do like Augury Owl a lot, and it would make my chance to have Scroll Thief on turn 3 higher, but if I get a third Thief, Sleep will be pretty good as well.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick:
No matter how good Adept would be, my deck shouldn't lose to any non-super-fast deck. And against those, there is no better card than Pyroclasm. (Also, the card is excellent with Scroll Thief.)
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Bang!
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
The Elixir could be playable but Terramorphic Expanse makes the Pacifism splash possible.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
This is now close to being the strongest deck I've had in the format.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Visit the draft converter today!
1 Augury Owl
1 Azure Drake
1 Cancel
1 Foresee
1 Harbor Serpent
1 Ice Cage
1 Jace's Ingenuity
2 Mana Leak
4 Scroll Thief
1 Sleep
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Unsummon
2 Chandra's Outrage
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroclasm
1 Volcanic Strength
1 Pacifism
1 Gargoyle Sentinel
1 Plains
7 Mountain
9 Island
1 Terramorphic Expanse
Sideboard:
1 Silvercoat Lion
1 Disentomb
1 Lava Axe
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Mind Rot
1 Swamp
1 Combust
1 Vulshok Berserker
1 Swamp
1 Maritime Guard
1 Bloodcrazed Goblin
1 Swamp
1 Back to Nature
2 Goblin Tunneler
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Canyon Minotaur
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Demolish
1 Fiery Hellhound
Round 1 vs. U/W
Scroll Thief, removal, bounce, Scroll Thief, Pyroclasm. 1-0
Stormfront Pegasus? Augury Owl. Another one? Scroll Thief. Removal, counter, removal, Foresee, Scroll Thief, bounce, removal. 2-0
Round 2 vs. U/B
In theory, this is the archetype I want to face the least, as it could both have answers to my Thieves and card drawing to counterbalance my card advantage. However, the first game goes pretty much like the previous two. By the time he deals with my 1/3, I have already drawn two cards with it and cast Foresee. He tries to play his own Foresee, but I play Mana Leak, and my early card advantage gives me full control of the tempo.
Usually, you have either tempo or card advantage - but Scroll Thief keeps the opponent from attacking, making it a very rare type of card.
In game two, I don't have an early Scroll Thief for the first time. However, things turn out pretty good, as he doesn't play any two-for-one cards like Liliana's Specter, Mind Rot, Gravedigger, or Foresee - so once again, I just deal with the problems one by one until turn 7, when I play Harbor Serpent. He assassinates it one turn later, but he doesn't have removal left when I cast Scroll Thief, forcing him to keep his two guys back on defense. I’m holding Sleep, but I’d rather wait for a second Thief to make sure the card will be lethal. Two turns later I get what I wanted, and my Sleep gives me four cards, from which I get Stormtide Leviathan for the win.
Round 3 vs. R/G
In this match, none of my Scroll Thieves dealt a single point of damage. However, they still helped a lot in winning both games. Indeed, in the first game the two I played were killed instantly - leaving my opponent with no removal when I cast Stormtide Leviathan. In the second game, it forced him to hold two creatures back on defense for the whole game, allowing me to finish the game on twenty when I didn't even have a strong defense. In the end, only Azure Drake and Augury Owl would attack, and I finished my opponent with a Chandra's Outrage on Cudgel Troll.
