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I'd planned to write a report of what happened during GP: Fitchburg, or what they prefer to call “GP: Massachusetts.” I guess I would have had enough interesting things to say, if my bag hadn’t been stuck in JFK... with the decks and notes I had taken from the tournament in it!

Our Sealed Deck is worth talking about, as the build was a bit tricky and some interesting issues may come out of it. I’ll keep that one for next week.

When the format for PT: San Diego was announced, I must say I was really looking forward to it. I loved 2HG... until they changed the rules. I’m not going to complain too much about it, as I know how annoying it is to read such things, but in my opinion, 2HG is both the most skillful as well as the most unbalanced format. I still don’t know if that makes it “good” or “bad,” but it seems that I’m not the only one wishing the team PT was a three-man Team Limited this year.

For the record, Geoffrey and I opened decent decks on Day 1 and posted a 3-2 record with them, which was enough to make Day 2 with the two byes we had... then we went 1-4 in draft with decks that we thought were really good. When you open Stormbind and Bogardan Hellkite in the first booster, and Void in the second, only to go 0-2 in the draft, you really wonder what went wrong. We lost the first round of the last draft, on a table that only held three teams (if you haven’t tried that yet - drafting with only two other teams - don’t bother), and we got the bye in the last round to end up 54th.

Fortunately, I had recorded a test draft with Yohan from a few weeks ago, when we were working on the concept of Pimp my Draft, so I have something for you today!

The following draft is not as easy as the previous ones. I hope you enjoy it!

Pack 1:

Urborg Syphon-Mage, Cloudchaser Kestrel, Thallid Germinator, Terramorphic Expanse, Snapback, Rift Bolt, Divine Congregation, Jhoira's Timebug, Chameleon Blur, Subterranean Shambler, Undying Rage, Calciform Pools, Assembly-Worker

Pick: Rift Bolt

Pack 2:

Pentarch Ward, Bonesplitter Sliver, Dark Withering, Ashcoat Bear, Cyclopean Giant, Screeching Sliver, Psychotic Episode, Jedit's Dragoons, Sprout, Celestial Crusader, Smallpox, *, Teferi's Moat, Foriysian Totem

Pick: Dark Withering

Pack 3:

Amrou Seekers, Search for Tomorrow, Corpulent Corpse, Cancel, Empty the Warrens, Foriysian Interceptor, Aetherflame Wall, Detainment Spell, Thallid Shell-Dweller, Thunder Totem, Locket of Yesterdays, *, Grinning Totem

Pick: Corpulent Corpse

I pretty much agree with all the picks there. The first pick is an obvious one. Rift Bolt is by far the best card, and there’s nothing else you‘d be excited to take.

From Pack 2, you have a couple of options. Dark Withering, Celestial Crusader, Teferi’s Moat, and Foryisian Totem are potential picks. I believe Dark Withering is the best pick there. Picking a Celestial Crusader would commit you to White, so unless you really like this color, I wouldn’t take it. Foryisian Totem is quite a weak pick, and even if it’s the only card in the color of your first pick (not considering the Bonesplitter Sliver here), it’s not sending any signal to your left, and you have better cards to take. So that leaves you with Teferi’s Moat and Dark Withering. I’m not a big fan of Teferi’s Moat; it sure is a good card against certain decks, but the color commitment is annoying, especially at this stage of the draft. You don’t really want to be drafting a deck around a card that isn’t powerful enough to justify your two colors, just like opening a Stormbind would pretty much set you in Red/Green, and you want that even less as you first picked a Red card. Dark withering is probably just better than Teferi’s Moat as far, as the power level is concerned. Starting a draft with removal spells allows you to be able to take a good/powerful creature over a decent removal spell later, one that you would have had to take otherwise.

Pick 3: Corpulent Corpse or Empty the Warrens. Empty the Warrens is a must in Red/Green or Blue/Red Storm decks. As you started the draft, you probably want the solid Black card that you will play for sure if you run Swamps, than a card that may end up mediocre if you follow your first picks.

Pack 4:

Zealot il-Vec, Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Temporal Eddy, Jedit's Dragoons, Savage Thallid, Ancient Grudge, Flickering Spirit, Call to the Netherworld, Opaline Sliver, Krosan Grip, Flagstones of Trokair, Pandemonium

Yohan: Ruins of Trokair or Pandemonium
Raph: Zeolot il-Vec

There’s absolutely no card you want... at all. No noticeable signal. In this case, just take the best card. But even that is hard to say here...

Pack 5:

Bonesplitter Sliver, Think Twice, Errant Doomsayers, Bewilder, Call to the Netherworld, Cyclopean Giant, Brass Gnat, Savage Thallid, Outrider en-Kor, Paradox Haze, Fire Whip

Yohan: Outrider en-Kor or Fire Whip
Raph: Fire Whip

This booster may tell you two things: Red and White are open. Fire Whip goes fine with your first three picks. Going into White now would mean giving up a great pick. Taking the Whip would mean that you’re sending the “I’m not White” signal to your left...

Pack 6:

Aether Web, Amrou Seekers, Mogg War Marshal, Screeching Sliver, Momentary Blink, Ancient Grudge, Phyrexian Totem, Quilled Sliver, Academy Ruins, Clockspinning

Yohan: Mogg War Marshall or Phyrexian Totem
Raph: Phyrexian Totem

At this point, you have pretty much set your draft on Red/Black. If there had been no pick for you in the previous booster (Fire Whip), you may have seriously considered going into White. But you didn’t, and there are still picks for you. I like the Phyrexian Totem in Red/Black, and I’m fine with the fact that I’m passing good White cards to the left.

Pack 7:

Mogg War Marshal, Think Twice, Ashcoat Bear, Sage of Epityr, Ghitu Firebreathing, Greenseeker, Pit Keeper, Aspect of Mongoose, Sol'kanar the Swamp King

Yohan: Mogg War Marshall or Sol’Kanar the Swamp King
Raph: Sol’kanar the Swamp King.

While the goblins may be a safe pick that will be likely to make it to your main deck, Sol’kanar has a lot more potential. If you manage to get hold of a Prismatic Lens or Terramorphic Expense, he might be an MVP in your draft. Not to forget that you may play Blue as a primary color and splash Red or Black later.

Pack 8:

Zealot il-Vec, Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Temporal Eddy, Call to the Netherworld, Drifter il-Dal, Havenwood Wurm, Basal Sliver, Fury Sliver

Yohan: Basal Sliver or Fury Sliver
Raph: Fury Sliver

Nothing really interesting for you here. I’m never excited about picking / playing Basal Sliver, unless I need it to cast my Phthisis (if I have one), and there might be a chance the two Bonesplitter Slivers come back (a very slim chance, admittedly).

Pack 9:

Divine Congregation, Jhoira's Timebug, Chameleon Blur, Undying Rage, Calciform Pools, Assembly-Worker, Angel's Grace

Yohan: Undying Rage
Raph: Undying Rage

A card that you’re not likely to play, but the best in the pack.

Pack 10:

Pentarch Ward, Cyclopean Giant, Screeching Sliver, Psychotic Episode, Jedit's Dragoons, Sprout

Yohan: Cyclopean Giant or Psychotic Episode
Raph: Cyclopean Giant

You don’t have any Madness enablers yet and are very light on creatures. A 4/2 for four isn’t great, but he could be of the “big” guy in your deck.

Pack 11:

Cancel, Aetherflame Wall, Detainment Spell, Thunder Totem, Locket of Yesterdays

Yohan: Cancel or Thunder Totem
Raph: Thunder Totem

Might be annoying.

Pack 12:

Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Temporal Eddy, Ancient Grudge, Call to the Netherworld

Yohan/Raph: Ironclaw Buzzardiers

Yay, a dude!

Pack 13:

Bewilder, Call to the Netherworld, Paradox Haze

Pick: Bewilder

Pack 14:

Ancient Grudge, Clockspinning

Pick: Ancient Grudge

Pack 15:

Ghitu Firebreathing

Pick: Ghitu Firebreathing

So far, you have three good quality removal spells - Dark Withering, Rift Bolt, Fire Whip - plus a Corpulent Corpse, a Sol’kanar if you manage to draft fixers, and fillers in case things go wrong. You’re kinda set on Red/Black, and open to Blue if interesting cards show up.

Pack 16:

Grapeshot, Scarwood Treefolk, Slipstream Serpent, Gaze of Justice, Strangling Soot, Viashino Bladescout, Mystical Teachings, Thrill of the Hunt, Shadow Sliver, Bogardan Rager, Stormcloud Djinn, Volcanic Awakening, Thick-Skinned Goblin, *, Dodecapod

Yohan/Raph: Strangling Soot

No real question here. Grapeshot just isn’t as good.

Pack 17:

Chromatic Star, Looter il-Kor, Gorgon Recluse, Herd Gnarr, Fortify, Coal Stoker, Two-Headed Sliver, Prismatic Lens, Clockspinning, Sidewinder Sliver, Fury Sliver, Aspect of Mongoose, Magus of the Jar, Shadowmage Infiltrator

Yohan: Gorgon Recluse or Prismatic Lens
Raph: Shadowmage Infiltrator

Safety against potential. So far, you’ve drafted fine cards, but nothing that won’t make you sleep at night. My guess is that you will be drafting a few Blue cards and playing some Islands. You should be getting more Red and Black cards in this pack, as you haven’t passed any interesting cards in any of the two colors. Finkel is a great card, even as a splash, and will justify the Islands you’re going to play for Sol’kanar.

Pack 18:

Flamecore Elemental, Feebleness, Castle Raptors, Chromatic Star, Traitor's Clutch, D'Avenant Healer, Glass Asp, Prismatic Lens, Brine Elemental, Assembly-Worker, Celestial Crusader, Funeral Charm, Ashcoat Bear

Yohan: Brine Elemental or Primatic Lens
Raph: Prismatic Lens

As I said above, you haven’t given up Red nor Black yet, and you need the Lens to fix your mana to be able to play all your cards. Picking the Brine Elemental would be fine too, if you want Blue to be one of your primary colors, especially if you're planning to pick Dreamscape Artists to splash the third color. In this case, the splashed color would be the Red, as you’d rather splash for a Rift Bolt than for a Corpulent Corpse.

Pack 19:

Keldon Halberdier, Mindstab, Slipstream Serpent, Ophidian Eye, Molder, Children of Korlis, Viscid Lemures, Ground Rift, Plated Pegasus, Truth or Tale, *, Eron the Relentless

Yohan: Mindstab or Keldon Halberdier
Raph: Mindstab

Keldon Halberdier is not as good as it used to be in TTT. You also want to leave your options open to be able to switch to plan B, which is giving up Red for Blue as a primary color. Mindstab is both the safer and the better pick.

Pack 20:

Spiketail Drakeling, Flamecore Elemental, D'Avenant Healer, Glass Asp, Prismatic Lens, Ground Rift, Eternity Snare, Harmonic Sliver, Pull from Eternity, Weatherseed Totem, Mindstab

Yohan/Raph: Prismatic Lens

Mindstab and Spiketail Drakeling are options here, but the Lens is what will make your deck work. You will be able to splash your two Blue cards easily, or your two Red cards if Red doesn’t show up later in the second pack.

Pack 21:

Nantuko Shaman, Coral Trickster, Feebleness, Skulking Knight, Sidewinder Sliver, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, Viashino Bladescout, Skittering Monstrosity, Conflagrate, Orgg

Yohan/Raph: Conflagrate

Conflagrate is still underrated. It’s the pick here for a few reasons:

• You will have between 19 and 20 mana sources in your deck (the Totem and the Lenses) and want to take advantage of that.
• You have Dark Withering and no Madness outlet yet.
• It’s the best card of the pack

Pack 22:

Nantuko Shaman, Scarwood Treefolk, Orcish Cannonade, Dream Stalker, Wormwood Dryad, Venser's Sliver, Clockspinning, Saltcrusted Steppe, Primal Forcemage

Yohan/Raph: Orcish Cannonade

There’s no real choice for you here, and you pick a great card for your deck. Had you taken more Blue cards, you would have had to pass on the Cannonade and its RR cost.

Pack 23:

Keldon Halberdier, Bogardan Rager, Sangrophage, D'Avenant Healer, Wormwood Dryad, Mystical Teachings, Quilled Sliver, Goblin Snowman

Yohan/Raph: Keldon Halberdier

You’re cruelly missing creatures. This one should do the job just fine.

Pack 24:

Gaze of Justice, Viashino Bladescout, Mystical Teachings, Shadow Sliver, Stormcloud Djinn, Volcanic Awakening, Thick-Skinned Goblin

Yohan: Stormcloud Djinn or Thick-Skinned Goblin
Raph: Thick-Skinned Goblin

The Djinn is a fine card to splash in Red/Black, but I think I prefer the goblin here, as it gains a lot of value if you get Stingscourgers in Planar Chaos.

Pack 25:

Chromatic Star, Gorgon Recluse, Two-Headed Sliver, Clockspinning, Sidewinder Sliver, Aspect of Mongoose

Yohan: Chromatic Star or Gorgon Recluse
Raph: Gorgon Recluse

A fixer or a good creature? I opted for the creature here. Looking back at what you drafted, it’s likely that you will be missing some.

Pack 26:

Flamecore Elemental, Feebleness, Traitor's Clutch, Glass Asp, Assembly-Worker

Yohan/Raph: Feebleness

Pack 27:

Ophidian Eye, Children of Korlis, Ground Rift, Truth or Tale

Pick: Ophidian Eye

Pack 28:

Flamecore Elemental, Glass Asp, Ground Rift

Pick: Flamecore Elemental

Pack 29:

Viashino Bladescout, Skittering Monstrosity

Pick: Skittering Monstrosity

Pack 30:

Clockspinning

Pick: Clockspinning

The last couple of picks provided us with Flamecore Elemental and Skittering Horror, which might make it to our deck if we’re missing ways to deal damage.

Pack 31:

Aven Riftwatcher, Stingscourger, Saltfield Recluse, Firefright Mage, Wistful Thinking, Keldon Marauders, Dash Hopes, Shade of Trokair, Seal of Primordium, Healing Leaves, Simian Spirit Guide, Riftmarked Knight, Cautery Sliver, Reckless Wurm, Jedit Ojanen of Efrava

Yohan : Stingscourger or Reckless Wurm
Raph: Reckless Wurm

With two Lenses and a Totem, a 4/4 for five can be online on turn 4. With some removal backup, that can be an easy way to win the game.

Pack 32:

Midnight Charm, Needlepeak Spider, Shaper Parasite, Utopia Vow, Spitting Sliver, Shade of Trokair, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Melancholy, Piracy Charm, Primal Plasma, Shivan Meteor, Psychotrope Thallid, Body Double

Yohan/Raph: Shivan Meteor

It seems like an obvious pick, but it’s not. You could be playing Shaper Parasite as easily as Shivan Meteor. Passing Jedit Ojanen of Efrava helped me to make up my mind and pick the Meteor, but that really was a close call.

Pack 33:

Ridged Kusite, Saltfield Recluse, Needlepeak Spider, Poultice Sliver, Giant Dustwasp, Dust Corona, Reality Acid, Essence Warden, Mana Tithe, Bog Serpent, Kavu Predator, Serra's Boon

Yohan: Ridged Kusite of Bog Serpent
Raph: Giant Dustwasp

There’s no cards in this pack that you want, and except for the Dustwasp, none will really annoy you.

Pack 34:

Veiling Oddity, Midnight Charm, Shaper Parasite, Battering Sliver, Vitaspore Thallid, Brain Gorgers, Fury Charm, Gossamer Phantasm, Bog Serpent, Revered Dead

Yohan/Raph: Shaper Parasite

What I love about the Parasite in this deck is that it’s a Blue card without really being a Blue card. The 2/2 body is fine, and the surprise effect is huge when you unmorph it for the first time of a Lens.

Pack 35:

Dawn Charm, Shaper Parasite, Cradle to Grave, Stingscourger, Deadly Grub, Aquamorph Entity, Firefright Mage, Simian Spirit Guide, Lavacore Elemental

Yohan/Raph: Shaper Parasite

Same as above. You’re probably not going to play the Thick-Skinned Goblin, and the effect the Parasite provides is just better than the Stingscourger’s.

Pack 36:

Synchronous Sliver, Blightspeaker, Ghost Tactician, Fury Charm, Reality Acid, Piracy Charm, Fa'adiyah Seer, Necrotic Sliver, Venarian Glimmer, Life and Limb

Yohan: Fury Charm
Raph: Necrotic Sliver

You’re not going to play Fury Charm. Might as well pick a card that can be MVP in your opponents’ decks.

Pack 37:

Mire Boa, Utopia Vow, Veiling Oddity, Wistful Thinking, Firefright Mage, Pallid Mycoderm, Uktabi Drake, Healing Leaves

Yohan/Raph: Mire Boa

Classic counterdrafting.

Pack 38:

Dreamscape Artist, Ridged Kusite, Fury Charm, Vitaspore Thallid, Piracy Charm, Healing Leaves, Timebender, Brain Gorgers

Yohan: Fury Charm or Ridged Kusite
Raph: Ridged Kusite

I personnaly like this little fella. He might be playable here (probably not).

Pack 39:

Firefright Mage, Wistful Thinking, Keldon Marauders, Dash Hopes, Seal of Primordium, Healing Leaves, Simian Spirit Guide

Yohan/Raph: Simian Spirit Guide

Pack 40:

Midnight Charm, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Melancholy, Piracy Charm, Primal Plasma

Yohan: Melancholy or Midnight Charm
Raph: Midnight Charm I'm not a big fan of Melancholy, although it might have been a better pick here as you already have many ways to deal with small creatures (the two Parasites, Feebleness).

Pack 41:

Needlepeak Spider, Dust Corona, Reality Acid, Serra's Boon, Keen Sense

Pick: Needlepeak Spider

Pack 42:

Veiling Oddity, Brain Gorgers, Gossamer Phantasm, Bog Serpent

Pick: Bog Serpent

Pack 43:

Aquamorph Entity, Firefright Mage, Simian Spirit Guide

Pick: Aquamorph Entity

Pack 44:

Reality Acid, Fa'adiyah Seer

Pick: Reality Acid

Pack 45:

Firefright Mage

Pick: Firefright Mage

Until the middle of pack 2, we never really knew how much Red we were going to play. The Conflagrate and Orcish Cannonade were decisive to support our choice. It would have been quite weird that Red didn’t show up at all in pack 2, but we got decent picks nonetheless.

Decklist:

Rift Bolt
Dark Withering
Corpulent Corpse
Fire Whip
Phyrexian Totem
Solkanar the Swamp King
Strangling Soot
Shadowmage Infiltrator
2 Prismatic Lens
Mindstab
Conflagrate
Orcish Cannonade
Keldon Halbardier
Gorgon Recluse
Feebleness
Skittering Horror
Reckless Wurm
Shivan Meteor
2 Shaper Parasite
Needlepeak Spider
Aquamorph Entity
2 Island
8 Swamp
7 Mountain

This is the kind of deck I badly want to play 41 cards in. I’ve been called heretic in Avoriaz when I was playing with 41-card decks, but I believe it would be better with an extra card. Twenty mana sources (17 lands, 2 Lenses and 1 Totem) is a lot, but you don’t want to cut any of them and would like more active cards. The correct build should have an extra creature, maybe a Thick-Skinned Goblin or a Flamecore Elemental.

I believe the Aquamorph Entity is better than any of the two creatures above, as it can work as a bait so you Parasites survive, and a high-powered creature is what the deck needs.

The Blue isn’t that much of a pain to play. Only two cards will require the Blue mana to actually be played.

The deck overall is solid, has a lot of potential with cards like Sol’kanar and Finkel, and has access to explosive draws with turn 1 suspend (any of the three you have), and turn 4 Reckless Wurm or Skittering Horror, thanks to the artifact mana.

The deck “fizzled” in the semis, drawing too many mana sources and very few active spells (a problem that was foreseeable, but that could have been fixed “a little bit” by playing 41 cards). We lost to a mediocre White/Black deck.

I’m back in France for now, and will do my best to have one of you drafting with me for the next issue!

Until then,

Raph

Draft recording done by Blargware's MTGO DraftCap. Support Blargware!