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  Pack 1 pick 1:

  My Pick:

For once I am not very happy to first-pick this card, as I'm passing the worst non-rare card my deck can face (Branching Bolt) and one of the strongest Esper commons (Sanctum Gargoyle), which is not exactly a great signal.

  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick:

Capsule is amazing combined with Sanctum Gargoyle, but I have already passed one, meaning I won’t have many opportunities to get another one. Arcane Sanctum is just better in this case.

  Pack 1 pick 4:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 5:

  My Pick:

I’m not a huge fan of Bone Splinters in Esper. The Panorama is just a lot better.

  Pack 1 pick 6:

  My Pick:

In ACR, I’d probably go with Canonist. But in AAC, I want Esper to be UB based.

  Pack 1 pick 7:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 8:

  My Pick:

Pretty close pick with Steelclad Serpent. Both cards are about as good as each other.

  Pack 1 pick 9:

  My Pick:

Never bad with two Capsules and a fetchland.

  Pack 1 pick 10:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 11:

  My Pick:

I’m not scared of Ridge Rannet at all. Let's see if I can try and pass the Sanctum Gargoyle/Courier's Capsule guy on my left some kind of message.

  Pack 1 pick 12:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 15:

  My Pick:

The first pack was excellent for me, but the signals I sent to my left were pretty bad. Maybe will I be forced to move to a more aggressive deck, or to five-color control in pack 2 if it becomes clear Esper is not coming back.

  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick:

Not even close to Infest with two Capsules in the deck.

  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick:

Switching to five-color seems risky and just bad. I’ll just take the best UW card when there is no Esper, meaning mostly flyers and exalted guys.

  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick:

Excommunicate could be good in the deck, but it’s not yet, as I’m not aggressive enough at the moment.

  Pack 2 pick 5:

  My Pick:

Sticking to Plan B.
  Pack 2 pick 6:

  My Pick:

The Serpent is fine too, but I love the 2/1 with many exalted creatures.

  Pack 2 pick 7:

  My Pick:

I don’t think I can play the Paladin on turn 2 on a regular enough basis. It still would be a fine turn 3 or 4 play, but I should still get good Esper from the last pack, meaning the Sculptor should be good too.

  Pack 2 pick 8:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 9:

  My Pick:

A good sideboard card, and a card I surely don’t want to face.

  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:

This pick sets exactly what I should be aiming at. An aggressive UWb Esper deck with a few aggro non-artifact guys.

  Pack 3 pick 2:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick:

In Esper, I usually like Slavedriver better, but being UW based and very aggressive, the Squire is a much better pick for me here.

  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick:

Once again ,this pick is determined by the cards I already have, as I would usually pick Strix over Cormorants.

  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 6:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 7:

  My Pick:

Traumatic Visions is good but I’ve fine fixers already and I’m aiming to be very aggressive, so I don’t feel like passing an Isamaru.

  Pack 3 pick 8:

  My Pick:

My splash gets bigger but stronger.
  Pack 3 pick 9:

  My Pick:

A sideboard card against the guy who received my Branching Bolt.

  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!

7 Plains
6 Island
3 Swamp
Arcane Sanctum
Esper Panorama
Court homunculus
Deft Duelist
2 Sighted-Caste Paladin
Aven Squire
Etherium Sculptor
Skill Borrower
Kathari Screecher
2 Sedraxis Alchemist
Esper Cormorrants
Sanctume Gargoyle
Tower Gargoyle
Executioner’s Capsule
Courier’s Capsule
Lapse of Certainty

ROUND 1: 5C Aggro (Limited rating: 1738)

In the first game I have a strong start with turn 2 Aven Squire, turn 4 Tower Gargoyle. He has Ring for the 4/4, but my pressure doesn’t drop, with turn 5 Cormorants and Executioner’s Capsule, and t6 Guardians of Akrasa plus Courier”s Capsule. Two turns later, as he can’t deal with the Cormorants, he concedes.

His start in game two is pretty impressive. Turn 2 Goblin Outrider, turn 3 Onyx Goblet (not making fun here... the card may suck in five-color, but it was quite good in this game), turn 4 Explosing Borders for 5, turn 5 Elder Mastery and make me discard two cards, making life totals 16 to 4, with Onyx Goblet on the board. I do have many guys, but I won’t be able to win this game if I don’t immediately draw one of my two Sedraxis Alchemists. Can you guess what I draw on my next two turns? Just to give you a clue, both of my draws are Black and 2/2s.

In the end, I barely win the game as Onyx Goblet put me down to 1!

Lucky lucky!

ROUND 2: 5C (1834)

In game one he mulligans, then plays Forest, Mountain, Plains, Island, Forest, and concedes.

Game 2 is, surprisingly, a little more interesting. I mulligan and can’t find a Blue for the first five turns, which is a little sad considering I have three Blue cards in hand from turn 2. Luckily, his turn 2 sphere into turn 5 domain allows him to play only Zombie Outlander in the meantime. What is that card doing here after boarding, by the way? I have no idea.

I play Aerie Mystics, which dies (Bloodpyre Elemental), and when I eventually draw my blue, I’m able to play a Sludge Stride, which sadly also dies (Resounding Thunder), but it comes back two turns later thanks to Sanctum Gargoyle. A few turns later, these two guys win the game.

ROUND 3: Jund (1772)

One of my most interesting matches in a while. In the first game, I start with a strong beatdown, and Lapse a Fiery Fall on Cormorants and sacrifice my Capsule on his Druid of the Anima as it is his only way to produce Red. If his next draw doesn’t offer him a Red, he is dead, but he draws the Mountain. He then starts playing one spell a turn while I draw several lands in a row. I may look like I’m just having consecutive bad draws, but I’m not. I am just pretending while accumulating luck for the moment when I will really need it. Like, for instance, when life totals are 10-2, and Skill Borrower faces Mosstodon, Beacon Behemoth, and Cavern Thoctar. That’s just the perfect timing to draw Welkin Guide and take the game, isn’t it?

In the second game, he decides to copy my “pretending to be drawing bad” tech. He masters it so well when he lets me play first, as he keeps a one-lander and discards on turn 2, then play 4 mana sources in the next three turns and doesn’t draw a land after that. In the meantime, he plays Branching Bolt on my best two guys to compensate for the tempo loss and take the game surprisingly easily.

The third game is the closest. He has amazing draws, as he is “stuck” on six mana for the whole game and plays one big guy a turn. However, at some point, the many tricks I’ve played (Lapse, Countersquall on Branching Bolt), and the card advantage I made with Sanctum Gargoyle and Etherium Astrolabe, makes me slowly catch up. With Tower Gargoyle, Astrolabe, and the control of the game versus Vithian Stinger and Druid of the Anima, with a hand composed of Lapse of Certainty, Sedraxis Alchemist, and Guardians of Akrasa, I feel like I am actually going to win this. Life totals are 6-14, and I have only two mana open, so he has one turn to play something better than a big guy. And he plays: Grixis Slavedriver. Fantastic, a creature I can’t bounce.

From then the game gets more complicated, and I’ve to try and go all in attacking with the 4/4 and chumpblocking with one small guy a turn. That’s when he plays Executioner’s Demon, another guy I can’t afford to kill. A freshly topdecked Agony Warp still gives me a very small chance to get back in that game, and three turns and no significant draws later, life totals are now 3 (him) to 1 (me). I’ve just blocked his 5/5 flyer with my 4/4, and I have only one guy left on the board: Guardians of Akrasa. I absolutely need him to mill my Screecher so I can unearth it and attack for three. Unfortunately, he doesn’t repeat the mistake he has made previously on the game, and I now have to draw my flyer to still have a chance, and I… don’t.

The exact moment at which I went from “I probably win” to “I’m almost dead” was hard to transcribe here, as I was so absorbed by the game that I didn’t have time to take any notes (as I usually do during my matches).

But I clearly remember feeling pretty proud about that game, as it was extremely complex, and I had the feeling I made an impossible-to-win game one in which I had a 5-10% chance to win at some point. It may not seem fantastic, and I know it didn’t get me anywhere, but I also know that if I play maybe 12 almost-lost games at that level, I’ll win one, and that means a lot more to me that winning my final because I’m drawing better than my opponent.

Until Friday...

Oli