Drafting With Olivier - Shards/Conflux/Reborn #10
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Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Pretty close pick, as the Paladin is slightly better but fits fewer archetypes than Thunder. I go for the 2/2, which is better in the archetypes I like the most (basically any white aggro deck).
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
Qasali Ambusher suits the first pick better, but I rather like taking another excellent card. One of them will definitely go to waste, but at least I keep options open, and I’m sure my deck will feature a very good card anyway.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
A pretty incredible number of possible picks here. Strix if I want to go with Infest, and any of the white cards or Topan Ascetic will do if I want to go white. As one white card is definitely wheeling, I pick the one I’ve the strongest chance to run and wait for the wheel.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Having picked Knight of the Skyward eye, there are better chances I'll go WG than WU, which is why I don’t pick Duelist even though I believe the 2/1 is a better card.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Even if I’m WG, I’m willing to play aggro so there is not a chance I would play Platoon.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
I am now very likely to be UW, but I am still pretty unlikely to go Esper (no fixers, no artifacts yet), which is why the 2/2s are not real options.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
The card I wanted to wheel.
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:
UW is a good archetype, but it often lacks removal. Even though I’d love to first pick the Mechanist and probably wheel the Homonculus, I’ll go for the Purge.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Scepter of Insight is way too slow for an aggro deck, and it doesn’t fit a two color deck, so it’s hard to say, but the 0/1 is a pretty obvious pick.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
A pretty good tempo spell if my deck can be a little more aggro (Homoculus then Ethercaste Knight and the Blades?) in the second half picks of the draft.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
It’d be tempting to pick the Alchemist, as it would be just fantastic in the deck, but I don’t have any fixers nor other Black cards that would make me want to risk a splash.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Homonculus would be, in theory at least, excellent as far as tempo is concerned, with several 2 drops and double Lapse of Certainty, but I don’t have many artifacts yet. And when there are 5 or 6 artifacts in the deck, I’d rather have a flyer that makes me draw a card 50% of the time than a guy which will usually simply be a 1/1. Also, my 4 and higher curve stands pretty empty at the moment.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
Not a card I’m willing to face. It really has gotten a lot better with Conflux.
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:
Artifact, aggro and early drop: a better first pick that it may seem.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
I don’t have enough artifact guys to consider picking the Shieldmage. I’ll the pick the removal and remember not to attack straight into the 2/2.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
With now 2.5 removal spells, the deck nearly has everything it needs.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pretty good in aggro decks you want to race.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
I need good guys a lot more than a dual in my two color deck.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
Hmm… what’s the best to counterdraft?
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Actually a card I’m probably playing. I don’t have enough artifacts to make the Thresher playable.
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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8 Island
8 Plains
2 Ethercaste Knight
1 Sigiled Paladin
1 Deft Duelist
1 Sighted-Caste Sorcerer
1 Vedalken Outlander
1 Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Ethersworn Shieldmage
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Talon Trooper
2 Frontline Sage
1 Faerie Mechanist
2 Welkin Guide
1 Celestial Purge
1 Call to Heel
2 Crystallization
2 Lapse of Certainty
2 Offering to Asha
Sideboard
1 Scepter of Insight
1 Captured Sunlight
1 Infest
1 Arsenal Thresher
1 Stormcaller's Boon
1 Unsummon
1 Gather Specimens
1 Scornful Æther-Lich
2 Esper Sojourners
1 Cancel
1 Gleam of Resistance
1 Suicidal Charge
1 Steelclad Serpent
1 Coma Veil
1 Forest
1 Bone Saw
1 Spell Snip
1 Island
1 Infectious Horror
1 Brainbite
1 Plains
ROUND 1: RGWb
In the first game he makes a lot of bad decisions, as he decides to race with Nacatl Savage against Ethercaste Knight, trading blows in my advantage (2 for 3 after I played Frontline Sage, 2 for 3 again, and then 2 for 4). In this condition, the race is already pretty uneven, and it gets impossible for him when I play Offering to Asha on Bloodpyre Elemental.
1-0
In game 2 he keeps seven and opens with Forest and a pair of Swamps. He doesn’t see another land. Also, and despite knowing I’m running a counter, he lets me untap before playing the two removal spels he drawa, which I counter on my turn.
2-0
ROUND 2: Jund
The first game is a close race until he plays Breath of Malfegor when I’m on 5. As I’m holding Lapse of Certainty, I manage to win on the next turn.
1-0
In the second game I’m totally unable to deal with his Leech/Jund Blade/Goblin Outlander start, and in game 3, the same happens again as I find myself unable to draw blockers for Putrid Leech, nor flyers to attack above the 2/2 Pro white guy. I had simply been facing a deck that was able to stop my tempo for two games.
1-2
Until Monday...
Oli





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