We had a 10-man Shadowmoor draft last night and I believe a good time was had by all (though feel free to speak up in comments if that wasn't the case). I ended up 4-0ing with an aggro-ish nearly mono green deck. Pack one started me down the green road, with a second pick Kitchen Finks and multiple Safehold Elites. I kept taking 2-4 drops through pretty much the whole pack. I think the only non-creature card I took out of this pack was a Giantbaiting, which does a pretty good impression of a creature. Pack two presented the choice between Oona, Queen of the Fae and Boggart Ram-Gang. I ended up resisting a strong urge to hate the Oona and was rewarded a pick or two later with my second Finks. The only cards I ended up needed red for were the activation on Tattermunge Witch and Flame Javelin. The witch was a superhero for me.
Overall, my deck had the ability to produce a ton of damage very quickly and that seemed to be the case across several of the decks. I played separately from the rest of the crew for the whole night and at least one match was done in less than 15 minutes every time. There were certainly matches that went to time, but I really feel like aggro has a leg up in the format. That would be even more the case if not for Consign to Dream. There were five in our pool and man is that card ever a beating.
Let's see...don't draft mill. Or maybe I should say, if there's is a mill deck, Pseudonymous Drama Student didn't draft it. CMC 3 is the new 4. There are a ton of great creatures at 3. There are definitely controlling decks out there of wall-ish guys with untap effects. Time will probably show us how to draft them to beat aggro. If I am drafting control in the format, I am definitely on the bounce wagon, because Shield of the Oversoul is almost format defining. There are a ton* of solid GW drops at every point in the curve and indestructible fatties with flying tend to get there. I was always finding my Lorwyn drafts getting bogged down at 4 but had no such issues with Shadowmoor.
First was G/r, second was G/W, third was U/B, fourth was U/W, fifth was U/B/r, sixth was major_luck with I am not sure but U-something, seventh was G/W, eighth was R/B, ninth was U/B/R, I think, and tenth was the mill deck, which was base blue I believe.
*1-Elvish Hexhunter, Seedcradle Witch
2-Safehold Elite, Medicine Runner
3-Kitchen Finks, Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
Theses are just the commons and uncommons.
6 comments:
This format is very fast in draft because green has so many efficient beaters at every turn. There seems to be a lack of common removal like terror. So far, every where I look, green is the color beating faces.
I think you are slightly over-looking the strength of your non-creature uncommons:
Firespout, Flame Javelin, and Flourishing Defenses (you probably had others…)
Correct me if I am wrong but I think Firespout 2-1 if not 3-1'd me every game, and Flourishing Defenses, well it’s kind of busted in Shadowmoor. Combine these things with good creatures (which seem to be in just about every color) and you had a great draft deck.
(This is from my limited memory, I was overly tired last night…)
Shadowmoor is going to be fun and challenging. Control is there, trust me. Like you, I am in need of adjusting my thoughts on mana-curve and what cards make the 20-23range.
I look forward to the next draft.
I also had another thought. What do people think of running like a mini 4-8 person tourney using the Shadowmoor precons (randomly distributed) to kill a Sat. afternoon, with EDH sprinkled in? I like doing stuff like that with new sets, as it helps you learn the fundamentals via play not theory, and its just plain fun playing pseudo constructed.
Wow, I am a little emabarassed. I totally forgot about the Firespout and Flourishing defenses and yes, they were AMAZING for me. I meant to post the list but had to leave the house in a hurry this morning. Maybe later.
Oh and I should correct you, in that Firespout was like a 3 for 3, but the creatures of mine that I was killing had been obsoleted by your better ones. So virtual card advantage, I guess?
I second Sizz. It wasn't the creatures that got me game one (I had turned the corner), it was the Flame Javelin with me at three life. And even though it was technically the creatures that got me game three (actually the lack of land #8 to cast the Din of the Fireherd to wrath you) the fact that you had Flame Javelin as the next card on top of your library also would have made that irrelevant. It was your spells that made the deck awesome instead of just really good.
Hmm. I think your deck was better than mine. I think my deck was better than it showed. I think g/w is sick in limited. I think i drafted a TERRIBLE deck friday night. Word to the wise- if you're going to try and force yourself out of your limited comfort zone in a format you don't know yet, don't do it when the colors aren't even there to force. I went 0-1 drop. It was that bad.
Post a Comment