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Some drafts go the way you want. Some don't. And some surprise you from pick 1 to round 3, just like this one...
Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Sedris and Charm are both excellent, but I like Grixis a lot better than Naya.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
The key pick of the draft. One may call it greedy, but being passed a very good rare when a common is missing is an incredible signal. I can either go WG or Jund, in which case I can still focus a little more on fixers as Sedris would fit the deck very well.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Beetle may be good and combo with my first two picks, but Gharial is still globally a better card.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
I love this card more and more since Reborn's induction. Almost all decks fall for it now. It seems like I won't be playing Sedris now.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Not a very good card at the moment, but the one I'm the most likely to play.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
No white cards coming, I might be Jund after all. Also, I love to have both Drake and Gharial in the same deck... it's a pretty good start to have some good synergy.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
It will be hard to use, but the combo with my two four-mana 1/1s is pretty good.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
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:
The pile I have after 15 picks is not very good, but it's very interesting. What can I be now? The Jund splash U seems to be the best option, as both Puppet Conjurer and Sedris make the deck really good, and as I've an Obelisk that could help.
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
With the scarcity of the removal with Reborn in the mix, Rakka Mar has clearly become better. It won't be easy to get a triple Red, but it seems good enough anyway to justify being picked over Drag Down.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Tough, tough pick. I can pick either Dragonsoul Knight, Zombie Outlander, or Traumatic Visions. As I don't have that much green after all, maybe playing Grixis would be more reasonable. I need fixers, but Zombie Outlander is great against about half the match ups and should buy time for me to draw my rares.
The Knight may be the card I've the best chance to play, but pack 2 should give me plenty of playables and it should be hard to use its ability anyway, so there's no need to go with the safest plan for now.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Weeeeee! A fixer!
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
Red cards are actually not coming, and I don't imagine my third color having 4 or 5 cards including a two-drop (Outlander) and a two or three Red mana spell (Rakka Mar). Not much time left, it's time to try and think about something new. If Grixis seems like it won't work, and so does Jund, I'll just go UGB, possibly splashing Sedris if I've Terminate, Bituminous Blast, or Bloodbraid Elf in pack 3. UGB is not a shard? True, but I already have many cards in these three colors, and there are good UB, UG and GB cards in pack 3.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Nacatl is good versus Esper in an aggro deck, but it doesn’t fit a control deck so well as it needs blockers, essentially. And as it can't block the flyers, the non artifacts, and the exalted guys, it's not very good here.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
It's good that it wheeled, my mana now looks fine.
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:
Four possible picks here: the safe one (Borderpost), a good one not so hard to splash (Backlash), and two excellent ones (Wurm and Triplets) that make the draft more complex.
As I've Esper Panorama, two landcyclers and Rupture Spire, the, the...
Oh my god, Alien VS Predator 2 is starting on TV. The first one is one of the worst movies I've seen, I hope that this one doesn't disappoint me, and is at least as bad!
So, where was I? Oh yes, it may make the draft more and more complex, but I've enough fixers to consider splashing for one of the white cards. The 3/3 wins game on its own, but so does the 5/5, which is more consistant.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Well well well, I guess my previous pick makes this one a lot easier. Now, however, having two 5/5s and already one Visions and one Obelisk, I will have to try and avoid cards that don't do much when they are cascaded, including Borderposts, even though I need them. I may play one more, but I won't go any further.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
I don't want too many cards to splash, but it is my first removal, an excellent card, and the other option (Borderpost) isn't a card I want too much as I've mentioned before.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Wrong pick here... the card is great, but I should have picked Deny Reality to comfort my tempo and my stability, even though the 4/3 is a better card.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
The 2/4 would be good, but I think the deck needs early drops even more than bad fixers now. Also, it is combo with both Parasitic Strix and Ember Weaver.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
With a pair of Enlisted Wurm and no cycling guys, the Blade is clearly better than Soul Manipulation here.
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
I wanted one Borderpost, and I got it. Surprisingly late, but I got it.
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.
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4 Island
5 Forest
4 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Rupture Spire
1 Esper Panorama
1 Mistvein Borderpost
1 Zombie Outlander
3 Grixis Grimblade
1 Puppet Conjurer
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Winged Coatl
2 Lorescale Coatl
1 Ember Weaver
1 Scavenger Drake
1 Algae Gharial
1 Etherium Abomination
1 Mycoloth
1 Giant Ambush Beetle
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
2 Enlisted Wurm
1 Terminate
1 Obelisk of Grixis
1 Traumatic Visions
1 Absorb Vis
Sideboard
1 Plains
1 Viashino Skeleton
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Qasali Ambusher
1 Yoke of the Damned
2 Molten Frame
1 Sigil of the Nayan Gods
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Undead Leotau
1 Unbender Tine
1 Scourge Devil
1 Rakka Mar
1 Worldly Counsel
2 Rotting Rats
1 Island
1 Vectis Silencers
1 Tortoise Formation
1 Goblin Outlander
1 Volcanic Submersion
In the end, the deck is very satisfying. It is short in removal spells, but it has a decent if not great mana, many powerful cards, a good synergy, and a pretty good mana curve as well. It's probably 2/1 worthy.
Round 1: Naya
Both games look pretty much alike. He puts some pressure on me with cheap early drops (Cerodon, Court Archers, Cylian Elf, Ember Weaver), but I've turn 3 Lorescale Coatl. As he can't deal with it, it takes me two more turns to make my guy big enough to stop his beating.
In the first game I play a pair of Enlisted Wurms to make sure he will never take control of the board, then I attack for the win with all my team, and answer his scary Anglesong with Traumatic Visions. I still had Mycoloth and Sedris in hand. I like this deck!
In the second, I play Enlisted Wurm again to establish a clearer control on the board, and when I'm convinced he doesn't have a removal spell, I play Mycoloth for an quiet win four turns later.
In the meantime, the first 30 minutes of Alien VS Predator 2 are quite promising. Bad teen movies scenes, bad horror movie scenes, and bad sci-fi scenes. Very promising indeed.
Round 2: 5C
In the first game, I am in a very difficult position as I have at some point drawn 11 lands and 3 spells (Traumatic Visions, Zombie Outlander, and Sedris). A spectacular play of his (Bone Splinters sacrifing his only guy, Naya Battlemage, on Sedris) while he draws no Blue mana gives me hope. Unfortunately, when I eventually start drawing spells, he finds his Blue mana (Jhessian Zombie) while I'm tapped and casts Maelstrom Archangel.
I just drew Winged Coatl, and I wonder whether I should play it on his turn or on mine. As I really want to kill his 5/5 as long as it seemed possible, I rather liked waiting for the last moment before playing the 1/1, so I pass. When I try and play it, he counters with Soul Manipulation, returns his 2/4, and puts Magister Sphinx into play. That should do for game 1...
The second game starts with him having the answer for all my early spells (turn 2 Blade with Blister Beetle, turn 3 Lorescale Coatl with Resounding Thunder, turn 4 Puppet Conjurer with Banquet). The good thing about his systematic one-for-ones is that when we run out of fuel, I still have Enlisted Wurm which reveals a second 2/2 Coatl. He tries to save time with Madrush cyclops (I'm not the only one into picking rares, apparently), but when he eventually plays his Sphinx, I have Traumatic Visions and conclude the game on the following attack.
The final game starts pretty well, because of a huge mistake he makes. Indeed, his board on turn 4 is Plains, Forest, a Borderpost, and Unstable Frontier. He plays a second Forest, which is his only untapped land when he plays Shard Convergence, meaning he manages somehow to have a 2/2 Rioters on my turn. Good news for me as my Giant Beetle devours his 2/2 on the following turn.
He then plays Maelstrom Archangel again, but I've a solid board including Winged Coatl so I still have the advantage. I'm also one Forest from casting Mycoloth, and a sixth land from playign Sedris. That's when he plays... Fireblast Dragon. Yep... Two turns later I haven't drawn Terminate, so I pass away.
The least I can say is I'm disappointed, I had fine mana draws but still lost to a deck that was not so stable but had amazing rares.
I start typing my report, when the Magic Online window pops up. I have another match, I apparently registered in the wrong queue, a "321Swiss" queue, meaning I have to play three rounds anyway and I can still win two packs if I can take down my last opponent. Weeee!
Round 3: 5C again
In the first game he plays Plains, Forests, and Swamps, which makes the game quite simple. The second one seems like it's gonna go pretty well again, until he plays Sens Triplet. It would be okay if my hand was not Enlisted Wurm and Mycoloth with UUUGB on the board. He plays the Wurm, but I fortunately draw Forest on the next turn, allowing me to make a 6/6 Mycoloth he will never deal with. The game takes another 5 or 6 turns, and then the saprolings take me to the win.
I'd like to apologize to you for drafting in a 321Swiss queue. I didn't do it on purpose, and the level is probably a little lower than that of an 8-4 queue. However, I still decided to post this draft because it seemed very interesting to me.
Talking about interesting... Alien VS Predator 2 is has just ended, and it was, as to be expected, pretty bad. Just when did that nerd turn into an Alien exterminator anyway? That will be my last strategic advice today: don't watch any movie that has both Alien and Predator in its title.
Have a great weekend!
Until Monday...
Oli
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