Draftstravaganza!: The Metalcraft Yule Log Edition

I'm planning another Christmas Draftstravaganza this year. CBG is probably not going to make it, which is sad, but I will try to do some documentation myself to post up on this here site. I feel like the formats were somewhat uninspired this year, but I am going to try to spice things up with some smaller prizes that should hopefully make things more interesting. I'll spoil one of the contests to give you an idea of the flavor of what I want to do; I'm going to give a prize immediately after drafting Scars of Mirrodin to the player who drafted the least number of artifacts and Infect cards combined. The idea is that it's sort of a "pre-event" consolation prize, because the field is so dominated by those two strategies, and everyone knows it. But because I will announce the prize prior to drafting, the prize itself may affect the draft. I expect to see more last pick Golden Urns and Vector Asps instead of Assault Strobes and Turn Asides. Also, there are some tier 2 strategies (e.g. Furnace Celebration.dec and G/x "Dinosaurs") that don't buy into Infect or artifact cards, and I'd like to see if people push those archetypes more. Ultimately I'm trying to make things a touch less competitive and more a touch more unique.

Here's the schedule of events, if anyone is interested.

---

Three drafts. One day. DCI tiebreaks, timed rounds.

Prizes! Each draft will have a 1 pack ante in addition to any packs drafted. As long as there are at least 8 people, prize packs will pay down to 3rd. For drafts where packs are opened, Mythics/Rares/foils can be drafted afterward, assuming there is enough time to do so (So, TBD prior to each draft, you'll know before drafting). A draft set will be awarded to the drafter with the best record over all three events! Other prizes may be awarded throughout the day as the TO sees fit!

Food! Free brunch will be provided at about 11 AM! We can then order food and split the cost around 4 or 5 for dinner. Free snacks and beverages will be available throughout!

Formats!

Draft 1: Scars of Mirrodin Draft
Time: A noon HARD START will be enforced for this event. Sorry guys, but with three events we've got to start the day on time or we'll never finish! I suggest coming at 11 AM and eating some FREE BRUNCH! At 12 PM seating will assigned and at 12:05 PM the draft will begin. For realz.
Cost: $12 OR a draft set of Scars and one pack ante.

Draft 2: Chaos! Draft
Time: Roughly 5 PM. We may be willing to hold the draft a little to accommodate drafters coming from work.
Cost: $12 OR 4 tournament legal packs (3 packs for drafting, one pack for ante). Players choosing to pay $ will get three pulls at random from a bag containing packs from Magic's history!

Draft 3: Cube Draft (16 person max)
Time: Roughly 10 PM. The start time on this draft could be significantly earlier if there are fewer than 9 people at the other drafts. I HOPE this will be the latest start time likely for the final draft!
Cost: $3 OR 1 pack ante.

Pirate Draft League

Hey all! We've had two new drafts on the pirate ship One Eye so let's go to the updated standings.

Name	Record	Points/Event
Jacob B Tim N Jonathan B Thomas C Greg O Brendan H Alexis R Matt R Rob B Caleb R Ash O	8-1 9-3 7-4 3-2-1 6-7-2 3-4-2 3-5-1 5-12 2-5 1-5 1-4	7.62 6.75 5.50 5.00 4.34 4.00 4.00 3.22 3.00 2.22 1.57

Some notes: I had made a mistake in the tiebreakers for the December 1st event, so Alexis R and Chris W both lost a point from that event and Greg O gained 2. The latest RGD draft was awesome, though a Madison player came in and pwned (boo! (actually, just kidding, he was a very nice houseguest)). While I am still keeping complete standings, the only draft league standings shown are from players with at least 2 events, to simplify things and try to keep the data a little less outlier prone. Finally, my ship was referred to as the HMS One Eye in the last Pirate post, which is obviously incorrect, as it implies my ship is in the Royal Navy, which it is not. We fly a pirate flag around here, and the sea is our home, you salty dogs, er, cats.

I 3-0'ed a 4-3-2-2 (and raredrafted a Jace)

This is a story about a man with a dream. This man had never in his life won a 4-3-2-2, despite the constant urgings of his Magic buddies.

"What? 4-3-2-2s are easy."

"You are totally good enough to win a 4-3-2-2."

"Stop whining so much."

Back in the day, I had drafted maybe a dozen times in different formats but the ridiculous problems with MTGO 2.x, the expense and my divorce conspired to keep me away from regular drafting for awhile. I once reached the finals with a UW TPF deck but got rolled. A more typical event was (1) draft something that seems good (2)get killed in 10 minutes. When I started playing paper magic again in the late summer, my magic buddies (y'all) informed me that WoTC had finally implemented Swiss drafts. This caused much excitement as I could finally spend my $17 or so and get the same 3 rounds I get in real life. No longer would mana screw keep me from getting to know my deck a little better.

Anyhow, I've done quite a few Swiss drafts since SOM came out in both the SOM and M11 queues. I'm way better at M11 since it's easier. I don't know if it's more fun but I understand what's important. This morning, I got up early as is my habit, and the M11 queue just wasn't filling. Fine, I would peruse the competitive Pauper decklists as there is a daily event coming up and maybe I could play that. As I was assembling a monoblue list (Islands appeared in 6 of the top 8 from the last PE) I noticed the M11 4-3-2-2 queue was at 6. Maybe I could do that? I joined and the draft fired immediately as somebody else had just hopped in. Here we go.

Event #: 1822121
Time: 11/27/2010 7:01:15 AM
Players:
--> bat_matt
Barbelith
rokumonsen
Jazziefran
nothing_mirage
satsubatu
Nicoskywalker
Liptonik123

------ M11 ------

Pack 1 pick 1:
Unholy Strength, Safe Passage, Palace Guard, Solemn Offering, Forest, Harbor Serpent, Ancient Hellkite, Liliana's Specter, Liliana's Caress, Hunters' Feast, Crystal Ball, Chandra's Outrage, Volcanic Strength, Fireball, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Wow, that Ancient Hellkite was tempting to me but then I remembered my personal rule for M11. Stop passing Fireball. Yes, I know there are picks above it (Titans, Planeswalkers). Ancient Hellkite is not one of them. The color commitment could cause me to abandon it and Fireball is so amazing. Spoiler alert: All 6 wins ended in a lethal Fireball. Admittedly, one of those is because I had never cast Fling before and managed to target my own Mitotic Slime, but still. Yes that really happened.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Holy Strength, Unholy Strength, Safe Passage, Act of Treason, Ornithopter, Plains, Primal Cocoon, Cultivate, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Preordain, Æther Adept, Mitotic Slime, Brindle Boar, Back to Nature

Well, here's where the rubber meets the road. If I take the Æther Adept, I am on the road to my preferred archetype for M11, U/R control. On the other hand, Mitotic Slime is pretty freaking bomby and I have felt green is pretty underdrafted in this format. Nothing else in this pack calls to me. I felt like the Slime was a safer pick at this point.

Pack 1 pick 3:
Unholy Strength, Safe Passage, Sleep, Act of Treason, Island, Voltaic Key, Harbor Serpent, Cultivate, Æther Adept, Leyline of Vitality, Hunters' Feast, Blood Tithe, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Ugh. You probably think I should have jumped ship here and you might be right. A couple of things go into this. (1) Veteran Armorer is often surprisingly relevant. (2) Essence Warden is often surprisingly relevant. You may now commence telling me I should have jumped ship.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Tome Scour, Goblin Piker, Mountain, White Knight, Bloodthrone Vampire, Tireless Missionaries, Plummet, Manic Vandal (FOIL), Mighty Leap, Back to Nature, Naturalize, Flashfreeze

Conditional removal is still removal and this was likely to be relevant if I made it to rounds 2 and 3.

Pack 1 pick 5:
Mountain, Negate, Goldenglow Moth, Nature's Spiral, Spined Wurm, Wall of Vines, Leyline of Anticipation, Armored Cancrix, Manic Vandal, Vulshok Berserker, Kraken's Eye

I am finally seeing cards for the deck I hoped would be there. I took the Wurm because he's bigger. Such an insightful thought process I have.

Pack 1 pick 6:
Giant Growth, Tome Scour, Swamp, Mind Rot, Safe Passage, Arc Runner, Chandra's Spitfire, Maritime Guard, Temple Bell, Naturalize

I have nothing other than the Fireball that makes this card good and almost took the Temple Bell, but belief is a powerful thing and I believed I was going to get a G/R deck despite a lot of info to the contrary at this point. Maybe this should have just been the Giant Growth?

Pack 1 pick 7:
Runeclaw Bear, Prized Unicorn, Palace Guard, Swamp, Preordain, Incite, Elixir of Immortality, Dryad's Favor, Nightwing Shade

Lure would have been reasonably powerful in the deck I was trying to draft, but I keep ending up with too many 4s in this format. The Grizzly Bears was surprisingly relevant.

Pack 1 pick 8:
Island, Duress, Jace's Erasure, Goblin Tunneler, Tireless Missionaries, Phantom Beast, Inspired Charge, Call to Mind

Here's where I really regretted not going U because I will slam dunk Phantom Beast in the second half of a pack. Why was I convinced I was going to get G/R? I don't know.

Pack 1 pick 9:
Unholy Strength, Palace Guard, Forest, Liliana's Caress, Hunters' Feast, Volcanic Strength, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Ugh.

Last Picks:
Ornithopter
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Goblin Piker
Kraken's Eye
Naturalize
Incite


------ M11 ------

Pack 2 pick 1:
Silvercoat Lion, Tome Scour, Holy Strength, Giant Spider, Mountain, Ice Cage, Armored Ascension, Goblin Tunneler, Harbor Serpent, Nether Horror, Primal Cocoon, Destructive Force, Ajani's Pridemate, Sorcerer's Strongbox, Terramorphic Expanse

This is a clear mispick. Should have been Spider. You can't have enough flying hate in this format and the last thing my hopefully topheavy deck wants to do is destroy five lands.

Pack 2 pick 2:
Sign in Blood, Dragonskull Summit, White Knight, Plains, Jace's Erasure, Thunder Strike, Arc Runner, Tireless Missionaries, Roc Egg, Plummet, Sorcerer's Strongbox, Naturalize, Llanowar Elves, Goblin Balloon Brigade

In my defense, it's not like I was passing the goods here.

Pack 2 pick 3:
Infantry Veteran, Fog, Goldenglow Moth, Unsummon, Black Knight, Disentomb, Forest, Cultivate, Pyretic Ritual, Chandra's Outrage, Juggernaut, Volcanic Strength, Call to Mind

I'm really not sure why I passed the Juggernaut here. Removal is good and I was removal light but this seems wrong to me. OTOH, it got to my round 1 opponent. Hmm...

Pack 2 pick 4:
Infantry Veteran, Fog, Silvercoat Lion, Sylvan Ranger, Lava Axe, Disentomb, Lightning Bolt, Demolish, Forest, Liliana's Caress, Crystal Ball, Viscera Seer

Strangely, this Bolt and that Juggernaut would meet one another in round 1.

Pack 2 pick 5:
Giant Growth, Unholy Strength, Ice Cage, Palace Guard, Mountain, Preordain, Hunters' Feast, Chandra's Outrage, Dryad's Favor, Ember Hauler, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Belief is a very powerful thing.

Pack 2 pick 6:
Berserkers of Blood Ridge, Mountain, Siege Mastodon, Demolish, Ajani's Mantra, Merfolk Spy, Garruk's Companion, Quag Sickness, Hornet Sting, Diminish

I was briefly tempted by the Hornet Sting but there's a lot of x/2s in the format. It's terrible right?

Pack 2 pick 7:
Silvercoat Lion, Goblin Piker, Plains, Goldenglow Moth, Disentomb, Act of Treason, Demolish, Wall of Vines, Hornet Sting

Threaten is fine, if unspectacular.

Pack 2 pick 8:
Tome Scour, Mind Rot, Island, Goblin Tunneler, Brindle Boar, Incite, Inspired Charge, Flashfreeze

Oh, Brindle Boar. If only you were pre-rules update.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Silvercoat Lion, Tome Scour, Holy Strength, Mountain, Goblin Tunneler, Harbor Serpent, Nether Horror

And here we are. Hatedrafting 9 picks in.

Last picks
Arc Runner
Pyretic Ritual
Demolish
Dryad's Favor
Merfolk Spy
Plains

------ M11 ------

Pack 3 pick 1:
Prodigal Pyromancer, Diabolic Tutor, Infantry Veteran, Fog, Silvercoat Lion, Sylvan Ranger, Jace Beleren, Lava Axe, Ice Cage, Disentomb, Lightning Bolt, Demolish, Swamp, Combust, Viscera Seer

Obviously this is a rare draft in case of washing out in the first round. Still, what's the pick here? I personally would rather have the Lightning Bolt due to the aforementioned dearth of relevant x/1s. I don't know.

Pack 3 pick 2:
Azure Drake, Mind Rot, Prized Unicorn, Wall of Frost, Swamp, Solemn Offering, Bloodthrone Vampire, Barony Vampire, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Sacred Wolf, Maritime Guard, Cyclops Gladiator, Dryad's Favor, Manic Vandal

It's too late to pick that Azure Drake right?

Pack 3 pick 3:
Gravedigger, Fling, Wild Griffin, Bog Raiders, Negate, Lava Axe, Canyon Minotaur, Mountain, Thunder Strike (FOIL), Fire Servant, Armored Cancrix, Relentless Rats, Assassinate

You know what's really good? 6 damage for one mana.

Pack 3 pick 4:
Azure Drake, Cloud Elemental, Island, Merfolk Sovereign, Voltaic Key, Thunder Strike, Cultivate, Barony Vampire, Liliana's Caress, Inspired Charge, Yavimaya Wurm, Cloud Crusader

It's too late to pick that Azure Drake right?

Pack 3 pick 5:
Diabolic Tutor, Solemn Offering, Swamp, Harbor Serpent, Mass Polymorph, Tireless Missionaries, Blood Tithe, Diminish, Naturalize, Vulshok Berserker, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Hasty!

Pack 3 pick 6:
Bog Raiders, Excommunicate, Nature's Spiral, Berserkers of Blood Ridge, Forest, Merfolk Spy, Garruk's Companion, Demon's Horn, Terramorphic Expanse, Child of Night

I was a little hesitant because of the GG. Terramorphic was tempting but I was pretty sure I was going to play 18 lands at this point so access to both colors wasn't going to be a problem.

Pack 3 pick 7:
Silvercoat Lion, Unholy Strength, Cancel, Awakener Druid, Swamp, Primal Cocoon, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Preordain, Angel's Feather

I've never played with this. Is this good? I feel like it's about the same power level as Phantom Beast.

Pack 3 pick 8:
Cancel, Palace Guard, Sign in Blood, Forest, Hunters' Feast, Maritime Guard, Blood Tithe, Call to Mind

Pack 3 pick 9:
Diabolic Tutor, Fog, Disentomb, Demolish, Swamp, Combust, Viscera Seer

Combust is strong simply because blue and white are strong in the format.

Pack 3 pick 10:
Swamp, Bloodthrone Vampire, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Maritime Guard, Dryad's Favor, Manic Vandal

I had passed the Juggernaut earlier

Pack 3 pick 11:
Fling, Bog Raiders, Mountain, Thunder Strike (FOIL), Armored Cancrix

See here I think I am being rewarded for believing earlier.

Pack 3 pick 12:
Voltaic Key, Cultivate, Liliana's Caress, Inspired Charge

I'm sorry. Is Kodama's Reach not good anymore? I suppose if there's only one other green drafter at the table and he took the pack one Cultivate, then that explains this. Still, I can't believe it's here.

Last Picks:
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Demon's Horn
Swamp

Here's my build:

Deck	Sideboard
1 Fire Servant 1 Cyclops Gladiator 1 Mitotic Slime 1 Leyline of Vitality 1 Vulshok Berserker 1 Brindle Boar 1 Awakener Druid 1 Fling 1 Chandra's Spitfire 1 Garruk's Companion 1 Runeclaw Bear 1 Fireball 1 Plummet 1 Chandra's Outrage 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Act of Treason 1 Spined Wurm 1 Berserkers of Blood Ridge 1 Ember Hauler 1 Llanowar Elves 1 Cultivate 1 Yavimaya Wurm 9 Mountain 9 Forest	2 Goblin Balloon Brigade 1 Demon's Horn 1 Dryad's Favor 1 Goblin Piker 1 Arc Runner 1 Naturalize 1 Pyretic Ritual 1 Kraken's Eye 1 Swamp 1 Incite 1 Harbor Serpent 1 Combust 1 Merfolk Spy 1 Goblin Tunneler 1 Call to Mind 1 Manic Vandal 1 Destructive Force 1 Demolish 1 Volcanic Strength 1 Plains 1 Ornithopter 1 Jace Beleren

Interesting Game
I mull to 6 and my opponent drops a turn 2 Stormfront Pegasus and hits me with it. I chose not to Bolt it because I had a Spined Wurm in hand who can end things quickly. He hits 3 colors on turn 3 and plays an Augury Owl turn 4. I respond with Runeclaw Bear (ugh). I am glad I let the Stormfront hit me because it means I have the Lightning Bolt in hand for the Juggernaut on turn 5. I then drop Fire Servant and life totals are 18-12 in his favor. He alpha strikes, I choose not to block since he's representing a pump spell and Giant Growth would kill my Fire Servant and only take me to 5. Unfortunately, it's Inspired Charge and I am at 2 instead. I attack with the Fire Servant and ship the turn. He attacks with his 2 fliers and I Chandra's Outrage the Pegasus, taking him to 10 and I fall to 1. He drops Whispersilk Cloak and a dude, but it's irrelevant because I have a lethal Fireball (x=5). Fire Servant is good. For your reference, I played my first spell (a vanilla 2/2) on turn 4 and killed him on turn 7.

Match one had the aforementioned game against UGW tempo. 2-1
Match two was against UB with multiple Æther Adept and a Conundrum Sphinx. I won a close game 1 on the back of a lethal Fireball. I lost game 2 when he Man'o'wared my 4/5 forest and I drew 5 lands to start the game. I won Game 3 on the back of 4 large threats in a row and a lethal Fireball.
Match three was a horrendous beatdown against BW Vampires/Fliers. This was the game where I misplayed the Fling but it didn't matter because I had lethal Fireball. Game 2, he kept a 2 Plains hand and never saw a swamp. I put him out of his misery with a lethal Fireball.

I sold the Jace for 7, putting me up 9 tix on the morning. Plus I got a post out of it! Sweet.

Scars of Mirrodin Sealed Lesson

GP Nashville is still going strong on day two, but the sealed decks have done their work. The coverage team took a look at the undefeated Sealed decks for Day 1, plus a few 9-1 decks that the coverage team liked. Of the 7 decks shown, what percentage do you think played Mountains? 100%. How about the percentage that played Islands. Big old goose egg. Limited deck lists are notoriously tricky to learn from since, compared to Constructed, players have less control over their final card pool. However, as a blunt instrument I think we use this data as evidence for some conclusions that you may have already guessed: Red is the strongest color in Scars Limited and Blue is the weakest. Oh, yeah. And if you want to go undefeated in a 10 round sealed event, you might want to open a pool with some strong red.
T

M11 draft

God I love core sets. What a wonderful match for my skill set. They are the one format I can consistently expect to go 2-1 and sometimes 3-0 vs hoping to go 2-1 and never going 3-0 (Hi Scars!). They obviously attract a less experienced crowd but I think I am also a little better at identifying the things that are important in core sets. Things like, "play blue" and "don't pass Fireball". Here we go.


Event #: 1770830
Time: 11/13/2010 6:17:23 PM
Players:
william291077
Poker Player
--> bat_matt
bfreeman10033
bcampbell
JonLi
mario91234
Xzista2025

------ M11 ------

Pack 1 pick 1:
Diabolic Tutor, Azure Drake, Unholy Strength, Cancel, Dragonskull Summit, Swamp, Primal Cocoon, Barony Vampire, Maritime Guard, Blood Tithe, Roc Egg, Sorcerer's Strongbox, Inspired Charge, Yavimaya Wurm, Squadron Hawk

So here's my first problem with this set. I remember reading that they had pushed vampires a little bit but I can't remember if (1) they were successful and vampires were actually good and (2)which vampires I should take and which ones were bad. I took the Azure Drake because it's awesome and I wheeled the Barony vampire so obviously that pick was right.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Mountain, Runeclaw Bear, Black Knight, Bloodthrone Vampire, Harbor Serpent, Mana Leak, Earth Servant, Primal Cocoon, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Time Reversal, Autumn's Veil, Diminish, Vulshok Berserker, Terramorphic Expanse

Obviously this gets sided out vs aggro but I don't get to play with Wheel of Fortune very often.

Pack 1 pick 3:
Ice Cage, Act of Treason, Mountain, Jace's Erasure, Goblin Tunneler, Bloodthrone Vampire, Nether Horror, Cultivate, Water Servant, Tireless Missionaries, Plummet, Reassembling Skeleton, Pyroclasm

I'd really kind of like that Water Servant but the Fireball rule also applies to mass removal.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Palace Guard, Glacial Fortress, Mountain, Armored Ascension, Spined Wurm, Preordain, Incite, Inspired Charge, Dryad's Favor, Shiv's Embrace, Goblin Balloon Brigade, Flashfreeze

I was so far from a monowhite deck at this point that i was glad to let it go (and I saw it on the other side of the table and just fireballed the pants wearer round 2). Embrace won me both games round 3.

Pack 1 pick 5:
Unholy Strength, Lightning Bolt, Forest, Ornithopter, Mass Polymorph, Nether Horror, Primal Cocoon, Brindle Boar, Call to Mind, Mighty Leap, Naturalize (FOIL)

There were seriously 4 better cards in this pack? You people realize they were afraid to print this card for a decade, right?

Pack 1 pick 6:
Diabolic Tutor, Unsummon, Island, Wall of Vines, Ajani's Mantra, Rotting Legion, Stabbing Pain, Pyretic Ritual, Augury Owl, War Priest of Thune

Look at this pack. Now look at me. Look at this pack, now back to me. Yep, still a sixth pick Unsummon. I suppose I could have taken the Island.

Pack 1 pick 7:
Safe Passage, Swamp, White Knight, Siege Mastodon, Combust, Greater Basilisk, Leyline of Punishment, Volcanic Strength, Llanowar Elves

Ok, what's going on? Had somebody taken a Fireball over the Bolt? I started to lose faith here for a minute.

Pack 1 pick 8:
Celestial Purge, Duress, Jace's Erasure, Arc Runner, Tireless Missionaries, Manic Vandal, Demon's Horn, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Is Icy in this set? Because if so, that's why I took this. If not...uh...

Pack 1 pick 9:
Diabolic Tutor, Swamp, Primal Cocoon, Barony Vampire, Blood Tithe, Sorcerer's Strongbox, Inspired Charge

no comment

Pack 1 pick 10:
Runeclaw Bear, Earth Servant, Primal Cocoon, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Autumn's Veil,Terramorphic Expanse.

This is when I started to feel okay about the draft again. 10th pick colorless mana fixing. Things that got taken over this Expanse include Black Knight, Bloodthrone Vampire, Harbor Serpent, Mana Leak, Diminish and Vulshok Berserker. Wait, that's only 6. Oh, right. Mountain. No, nobody got disconnected this draft. Maybe he really had to pee.

Last picks:
Plummet
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Ornithopter
Pyretic Ritual
Volcanic Strength

------ M11 ------

Pack 2 pick 1:
Gravedigger, Wild Griffin, Plains, Bog Raiders, Negate, Corrupt, Excommunicate, Fiery Hellhound, Merfolk Spy, Destructive Force, Garruk's Packleader, Yavimaya Wurm, Relentless Rats, Assassinate, Terramorphic Expanse

I desperately wanted to draft the Destructive Force because it's essentially Jokulhaups and you know how I love Jokulhaups. Still. The Corrupt calls out to me but I'm skeptical of B/R and that's what I'd have to do to support it. I take the splashable Assasinate.

Pack 2 pick 2:
Giant Growth, Foresee, Canyon Minotaur, Ice Cage, Doom Blade, Island, Siege Mastodon, Spined Wurm, Greater Basilisk, Liliana's Caress, Crystal Ball, Chandra's Outrage, Nightwing Shade, Fireball

For all of you who are still drafting M11 online. Stop passing Fireball. Just...stop.

Pack 2 pick 3:
Azure Drake, Sylvan Ranger, Rise from the Grave, Act of Treason, Swamp, Thunder Strike, Inspired Charge, Yavimaya Wurm, Necrotic Plague, Volcanic Strength, Angel's Feather, Relentless Rats, Child of Night

Finally, another blue flier. I was frankly a little worried that U/R wasn't going to come together at this point, as blue hadn't been flowing like I wanted it to, and I wasn't picking up the midrange red dorks that get you to the win cards.

Pack 2 pick 4:
Goblin Chieftain, Swamp, Jace's Erasure, Arc Runner, Tireless Missionaries, Jace's Ingenuity, Blood Tithe, Naturalize, Wurm's Tooth, Llanowar Elves, Goblin Balloon Brigade, Assassinate

Eh, why not? I already had the one Expanse. I guess I could have taken the Arc Runner but that seems terrible.

Pack 2 pick 5:
Tome Scour, Holy Strength, Forest, Mind Rot, Safe Passage,Goblin Tunneler, AEther Adept, Steel Overseer, Brindle Boar, Rotting Legion, Juggernaut

For all of you who are still drafting M11 online. Stop passing Juggernaut. Just...stop.

Pack 2 pick 6:
Canyon Minotaur, Demolish, Forest, Ajani's Mantra, Merfolk Spy, Hornet Sting, Ember Hauler, Angel's Feather, Assassinate, Child of Night

Ok, I should have taken the third Assassinate here, if no other reason than I didn't want anyone else to have it. Still, Canyon Minotaur is fine and...yeah. I should have taken the third Assassinate.

Pack 2 pick 7:
Fog, Elite Vanguard, Bog Raiders, Excommunicate, Plains, Wall of Vines, Earth Servant, Merfolk Spy, Terramorphic Expanse

Ugh, really? I mean, I can't take that Excommunicate but there's going to be a nutty White Skies deck at this table.

Pack 2 pick 8:
Nature's Spiral, Berserkers of Blood Ridge, Duress, Swamp, Greater Basilisk, Incite, Dryad's Favor, Squadron Hawk

There we go. This is perfect for my deck and naturally nobody else wants a 4/4 for 5 with an irrelevant downside.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Plains, Bog Raiders, Fiery Hellhound, Merfolk Spy, Destructive Force, Yavimaya Wurm, Relentless Rats

Maybe I should have taken the Destructive Force here but I only had 6 on color creatures and pack 2 was almost over. Board control only goes so far.

Pack 2 pick 10:
Canyon Minotaur, Island, Siege Mastodon, Greater Basilisk, Liliana's Caress, Chandra's Outrage

So, there's nothing quite like wheeling instant speed removal plus direct damage. That is all.

Last picks
Relentless Rats
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Rotting Legion
Demolish
Plains

------ M11 ------

Pack 3 pick 1:
Pacifism, Wild Griffin, Goblin Piker, Corrupt, Runeclaw Bear, Sign in Blood, Fiery Hellhound, Island, Conundrum Sphinx, Liliana's Specter, Quag Sickness, Diminish, Mighty Leap, Kraken's Eye, Condemn

An amazing White Skies deck.

Pack 3 pick 2:
Giant Growth, Duress, Jace's Erasure, Goblin Tunneler, Forest, Water Servant, Tireless Missionaries, Plummet, Chandra's Outrage, Augury Owl, War Priest of Thune, Squadron Hawk, Mighty Leap, Dragon's Claw

Operation:Focus on Dudes is working so far.

Pack 3 pick 3:
Forest, Awakener Druid, Forest (FOIL), Solemn Offering, Deathmark, Siege Mastodon, Bloodthrone Vampire, Bloodcrazed Goblin, Garruk's Companion, Quag Sickness, Maritime Guard, Dryad's Favor, Diminish

Should have been Maritime Guard.

Pack 3 pick 4:
Tome Scour, Island, Mind Rot, Prized Unicorn, Stormfront Pegasus, Ornithopter, Bloodthrone Vampire, Thunder Strike, Arc Runner, Phantom Beast, Naturalize, Llanowar Elves

I love Phantom Beast. Immune to Threaten!

Pack 3 pick 5:
Goldenglow Moth, Unsummon, Stormfront Pegasus, Disentomb, Forest, Demolish, Barony Vampire, Sacred Wolf, Temple Bell, Manic Vandal, Call to Mind

Plenty of solid targets for this. Not to mention a round 2 opponent who will completely forget I Called to Mind my Fireball and rawdogged a Vengeful Archon late game. Awk.

Pack 3 pick 6:
Tome Scour, Holy Strength, Goblin Piker, Mind Rot, Plains, Goblin Tunneler, Harbor Serpent, Primal Cocoon, Autumn's Veil, Mighty Leap

I'm not going to lie and pretend I was happy to see this, but dudes are dudes at this point.

Pack 3 pick 7:
Silvercoat Lion, Unholy Strength, Goblin Piker, Celestial Purge, Act of Treason, Mountain, Solemn Offering, Hunters' Feast, Goblin Balloon Brigade

Threaten sucks but I need dudes. Your dudes are fine. Also, round 2, my opponent let me steal his Brindle Boar and hit him with it...yep, that's a ten point life swing.

Pack 3 pick 8:
Silvercoat Lion, Mountain, Runeclaw Bear, Act of Treason, Ajani's Pridemate, Cloud Crusader, Vulshok Berserker, Demon's Horn

It would have been the Berserker but I was SO heavy at 4 already. Maybe I should have just hated the Crusader.

Pack 3 pick 9:
Runeclaw Bear, Fiery Hellhound, Island, Liliana's Specter, Diminish, Mighty Leap, Kraken's Eye

I felt like one Hellhound was enough but maybe I should have taken the second one here, since it's at 3.

Last Picks:
Tireless Missionaries
Bloodthrone Vampire
Arc Runner
Sacred Wolf
Primal Cocoon
Hunters' Feast

The list I played

Main Deck	Sideboard
1 Berserkers of Blood Ridge 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Azure Drake 1 Phantom Beast 1 Time Reversal 1 Manic Vandal 1 Conundrum Sphinx 2 Swamp 1 Shiv's Embrace 7 Mountain 7 Island 1 Fireball 1 Juggernaut 1 Harbor Serpent 1 Pyroclasm 1 Water Servant 2 Assassinate 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Chandra's Outrage 1 Canyon Minotaur 1 Act of Treason 1 Unsummon 1 Fiery Hellhound 1 Call to Mind	1 Plummet 1 Arc Runner 1 Ornithopter 2 Goblin Balloon Brigade 1 Sacred Wolf 1 Relentless Rats 1 Volcanic Strength 1 Tireless Missionaries 1 Plains 1 Combust 1 Hunters' Feast 1 Bloodthrone Vampire 1 Goblin Tunneler 1 Barony Vampire 2 Diminish 1 Act of Treason 1 Pyretic Ritual 1 Demolish 1 Primal Cocoon

Lost a tight match 1 where I misplayed a lethal Fireball into a Mana Leak in the R/U mirror match. My Assassinates should have given me the edge, but it was not to be. Won match 2 versus White Skies with Green (hence the Brindle Boar misplay). The only thing I remember about match 3 is playing the Juggernaut turn 4 each game, followed by a Shiv pants, followed by a concession. Stop passing Juggernaut.

Draftsies!

Event #: 1763664
Time: 11/11/2010 8:38:52 PM
Players:
TheHappyRedDoll
--> bat_matt
FaddyJosh2
agrammalech
Jasfer
Pokiita_sk
j1mgpratt
sharksNurmouth

------ SOM ------

Pack 1 pick 1:
Wing Puncture, Melt Terrain, Halt Order, Blight Mamba, Dross Hopper, Loxodon Wayfarer, Slice in Twain, Plague Stinger, Vulshok Replica, Echo Circlet, Auriok Replica, Stoic Rebuttal, Mountain, Sunblast Angel, Skinrender

Ooh! An interesting choice right away. There are some ok choices in this pack, but it really comes down to Sunblast vs Skinrender. I chose Sunblast due to the higher upside and the fact that I think white is stronger in the format in general than black. Certainly, I wouldn't fault anybody for going the other way and I made this pick with 3 seconds left on the clock.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Memnite (FOIL), Neurok Invisimancer, Darkslick Drake, Kuldotha Rebirth, Vulshok Heartstoker, Contagion Clasp, Infiltration Lens, Blunt the Assault, Carapace Forger, Flight Spellbomb, Disperse, Chrome Steed, Mountain, Fulgent Distraction

I probably should have taken the Chrome Steed here on the "take a good guy over good removal" rule that Jake B taught me. I am super enamored of Contagion Clasp and, in my defense, he won me a game that I never would have taken in a million years with Chrome Steed.

Pack 1 pick 3:
Ghalma's Warden, Culling Dais, Untamed Might, Leaden Myr, Oxidda Daredevil, Moriok Reaver, Ferrovore, Silver Myr, Cystbearer, Bladed Pinions, Darksteel Sentinel, Golden Urn, Plains

U over B on the potential WU fliers plan and the "I passed a ridiculous black card in pack one" plan.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Plated Seastrider, Iron Myr, Barrage Ogre, Ferrovore, Inexorable Tide, Tel-Jilad Fallen, Salvage Scout, Auriok Sunchaser, Tainted Strike, Razorfield Thresher, Trigon of Mending, Plains

This was kind of a sad pack, but I like red, and he helps splash random red removal later in the draft. Was hoping to wheel the Sunchaser. Check pick 12 to see how that worked out.

Pack 1 pick 5:
Copper Myr, Oxidda Daredevil, Blistergrub, Infiltration Lens, Salvage Scout, Withstand Death, Moriok Replica, Screeching Silcaw, Golden Urn, Mountain, Scrapdiver Serpent

I took the dude, as he says "draw two cards" and I still had no idea what color I was in. Could be Infiltration Lens I suppose.

Pack 1 pick 6:
Halt Order, Kuldotha Rebirth, Copperhorn Scout, Furnace Celebration, Dissipation Field, Vedalken Certarch, Bleak Coven Vampires, Disperse, Swamp, Fulgent Distraction

Ok, I admit I am overly enamored of Furnace Celebration (probably because I undervalued it when the set came out. Still, what would you rather take in there?). <---Obnoxious punctuation alert!!!

Pack 1 pick 7:
Neurok Invisimancer, Tel-Jilad Defiance, Alpha Tyrranax, Psychic Miasma, Flesh Allergy, Razorverge Thicket, Razorfield Thresher, Scoria Elemental, Mountain

Yeesh. Invisimancer maybe? I don't know. I had the Celebration, and removal is nice. This didn't end up getting played but I can't say it was necessarily the wrong pick.

Pack 1 pick 8:
Melt Terrain, Vault Skyward, Golem Foundry, Blunt the Assault, Loxodon Wayfarer, Flameborn Hellion, Molten Psyche, Plains

Hellion will occasionally get played, depending on the deck. I probably should have taken the Wayfarer to sideboard vs Infect.

Pack 1 pick 9:
Wing Puncture, Melt Terrain, Dross Hopper, Loxodon Wayfarer, Plague Stinger, Echo Circlet, Mountain

Because then I would have taken another Wayfarer. As it was I was still trying to live the Celebration dream. Also, yes, that is a Plague Stinger. Ugh.

Pack 1 pick 10:
Kuldotha Rebirth, Blunt the Assault, Flight Spellbomb, Disperse, Mountain, Fulgent Distraction

Wayyy too enamored of Furnace Celebration. Also, Flight Spellbomb is amazing, which I found out later in the draft.

Pack 1 pick 11:
Culling Dais, Oxidda Daredevil, Ferrovore, Golden Urn, Plains

Maybe I should write a song about Furnace Celebration. Actually, I shouldn't hate. Ferrovore definitely won me my awesomest game since I restarted MTGO

Last Picks
Tainted Strike (Yeah Sunchaser wasn't going to happen)
Golden Urn
Fulgent Distraction
Mountain

------ SOM ------

Pack 2 pick 1:
Sky-Eel School, Melt Terrain, Blight Mamba, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Necrogen Censer, Bloodshot Trainee, Copperhorn Scout, Blackcleave Goblin, Golem Foundry, Silver Myr, Loxodon Wayfarer, Trinket Mage, Ezuri's Brigade, Liquimetal Coating, Swamp

This is the type of pick where you tell your friends about it later and they say "that's fine." So much 3rd-8th pick quality in here. The Brigade is a house, if only you are green, which I'm not. Not even remotely.

Pack 2 pick 2:
Glimmerpoint Stag, Glint Hawk Idol, Blight Mamba, Lumengrid Drake, Vulshok Heartstoker, Corpse Cur, Trigon of Thought, Glint Hawk, Arrest, Sylvok Replica, Painful Quandary, Chrome Steed, Forest, Fume Spitter

I could actually hear Jake B shedding a tear as I once again took quality removal over a Chrome Steed. And a Glimmerpoint, Glint Hawk and Glint Hawk Idol. I'm not going to defend this pick, but given how the draft was going, it's not necessarily wrong.

Pack 2 pick 3:
Neurok Invisimancer, Lumengrid Drake, Ichorclaw Myr, Razor Hippogriff, Corpse Cur, Corrupted Harvester, Tel-Jilad Fallen, Plague Stinger, Bleak Coven Vampires, Sunspear Shikari, Molder Beast, Saberclaw Golem, Forest

I feel a little bad for whomever is to my right, because they were obviously cutting white in the first pack and the only reason I am hosing it now is due to Sunblast. See the post about Signaling.

Pack 2 pick 4:
Sky-Eel School, Painsmith, Moriok Reaver, Riddlesmith, Blistergrub, Glint Hawk, Tainted Strike, Heavy Arbalest, Saberclaw Golem, Golden Urn, Mountain, Fume Spitter

No white for you. Evil laugh.

Pack 2 pick 5:
Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Necrogen Censer, Copperhorn Scout, Dross Hopper, Goblin Gaveleer, Golem's Heart, Auriok Replica, Exsanguinate, Saberclaw Golem (FOIL), Forest, Fulgent Distraction

This doesn't feel wrong to me, but I like Lava Axe....

Pack 2 pick 6:
Assault Strobe, Blackcleave Goblin, Alpha Tyrranax, Infiltration Lens, Snapsail Glider, Moriok Replica, Flight Spellbomb, Soul Parry, Swamp, Scrapdiver Serpent

If you told me Infiltration Lens should have been the pick here, I wouldn't argue with you. I'd still pick the Snapsail, but I wouldn't argue.

Pack 2 pick 7:
Glint Hawk Idol, Gold Myr, Cystbearer, Carapace Forger, Flameborn Hellion, Bleak Coven Vampires, Copperline Gorge, Island, Ogre Geargrabber

Plan "get a ton of playable white in pack 2" is in effect.

Pack 2 pick 8:
Wing Puncture, Steady Progress, Loxodon Wayfarer, Flesh Allergy, Sunspear Shikari, Echo Circlet, Heavy Arbalest, Swamp

I was still feeling a little removal light. I could see the Shikari if I had picked up one or both of those Infiltration Lenses.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Melt Terrain, Necrogen Censer, Copperhorn Scout, Blackcleave Goblin, Golem Foundry, Loxodon Wayfarer, Swamp

Given how sucky my first pick was, I am happy to wheel the very playable with Glint Hawk Censer here.

Pack 2 pick 10:
Glimmerpoint Stag, Glint Hawk Idol, Blight Mamba, Vulshok Heartstoker, Painful Quandary, Forest

Ohhhkay then.

Last picks
Tel-Jilad Fallen
Tainted Strike
Goblin Gaveleer (actually going to play this for some reason)
Assault Strobe
Island

------ SOM ------

Pack 3 pick 1:
Neurok Invisimancer, Shatter, Untamed Might, Embersmith, Carrion Call, Alpha Tyrranax, Trigon of Corruption, Psychic Miasma, Bladed Pinions, Sylvok Lifestaff, Putrefax, Screeching Silcaw, Razorfield Thresher, Scoria Elemental, Island

Somebody's going to have to hate that Putrefax, but it's not going to be me.

Pack 3 pick 2:
Ezuri's Archers, Melt Terrain, Lumengrid Drake, Embersmith, Dross Hopper, Ferrovore, Steady Progress, Silver Myr, Trigon of Rage, Necrogen Scudder, Cystbearer, Darksteel Juggernaut, Nihil Spellbomb, Plains

Okay, so that was a foil missing from this pack right? Sheesh. This is the pick in the draft that took me the longest. I desperately wanted to take a second Embersmith, the Juggernaut is a house, especially in my deck so far and the Trigon is awesome and I can add counters. I landed on the Trigon, but I'd love to hear arguments about what else to take. I'm not sure there's a wrong pick here.

Pack 3 pick 3:
Turn Aside, Corpse Cur, Tangle Angler, Salvage Scout, Arc Trail, Whitesun's Passage, Vedalken Certarch, Auriok Edgewright, Neurok Replica, Accorder's Shield, Molder Beast, Scoria Elemental, Plains

I only saw Arc Trail once, but I am pretty sure he won me an unwinnable game, getting 2-for-1 on a Myrsmith and Palladium Myr with my opponent on two lands.

Pack 3 pick 4:
Leaden Myr, Kuldotha Rebirth, Copperhorn Scout, Dross Hopper, Riddlesmith, Glimmerpost, Heavy Arbalest, Nihil Spellbomb, Saberclaw Golem, Mountain, Fume Spitter, Fulgent Distraction

Not sure what I was thinking here other than "weak pack" and "offcolor Myr are good".

Pack 3 pick 5:
Contagious Nim, Ichor Rats, Steady Progress, Abuna Acolyte, Goblin Gaveleer, Alpha Tyrranax, Loxodon Wayfarer, Loxodon Wayfarer (FOIL), Carapace Forger, Glimmerpost, Island

Here's to uninteresting picks.

Pack 3 pick 6:
Copper Myr, Untamed Might, Seize the Initiative, Turn Aside, Vulshok Heartstoker, Wall of Tanglecord, Psychic Miasma, Bladed Pinions, Golem Artisan, Forest

I so wish there was a way to do a windmill slam online.

Pack 3 pick 7:
Seize the Initiative, Turn Aside, Tel-Jilad Fallen, Vulshok Replica, Withstand Death, Grafted Exoskeleton, Tainted Strike, Saberclaw Golem, Mountain

I like Vulshok Replica a lot, but I think this is clearly the pick here, right?

Pack 3 pick 8:
Assault Strobe, Blackcleave Goblin, Ferrovore, Vigil for the Lost, Echo Circlet, Flight Spellbomb, Soul Parry, Island

In my last draft walkthrough, someone mentioned how awesome Flight Spellbomb was so I picked it here over a second Ferrovore. It is awesome. I have been undervaluing these, though pick 8 seems about right for it. I just wasn't picking them at all.

Pack 3 pick 9:
Neurok Invisimancer, Untamed Might, Carrion Call, Alpha Tyrranax, Psychic Miasma, Razorfield Thresher, Island

I do love hating the infect deck, not that it would help me in round 1.

Last Picks
Nihil Spellbomb
Scoria Elemental
Fulgent Distraction
Goblin Gaveleer
Psychic Miasma
Mountain

Round 1 was a quick death, round 2 was awesome sauce and round 3 was a win as well, but the story will have to wait. How'd I do?

Edited to add:

Here's what I played

1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Necrogen Censer
1 Trigon of Rage
1 Flight Spellbomb
1 Glint Hawk Idol
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
1 Snapsail Glider
1 Golem Artisan
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Leaden Myr
1 Silver Myr
1 Embersmith
1 Furnace Celebration
1 Glint Hawk
1 Goblin Gaveleer
1 Abuna Acolyte
1 Arrest
1 Iron Myr
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Arc Trail
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Ferrovore
7 Mountain
8 Plains
1 Heavy Arbalest

Sideboard
2 Fulgent Distraction
1 Kuldotha Rebirth
1 Moriok Replica
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Goblin Gaveleer
1 Mountain
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Scoria Elemental
1 Golden Urn
1 Psychic Miasma
1 Carrion Call
1 Flesh Allergy
1 Flameborn Hellion
1 Tel-Jilad Fallen
1 Assault Strobe
1 Dross Hopper
2 Tainted Strike

I will happily admit the Furnace Celebration is wrong, right as soon as you tell me what in that train wreck of a sideboard you play over it.

New Cube adds and cuts (through Scars of Mirrodin)

I was procrastinating on this, sorry. It turned out to be less work than I expected. A full list will be up sometime, maybe this weekend. Lots of sacred cows were slaughtered this time around, and only a few fistfights occurred. Thanks especially to Russ for stepping up and loaning dual lands to the Cube again, as well as de-proxying Mana Drain, among other cards. I personally think some of these adds are stinkers, but this is a democracy and I voted, so I get to complain, right? The new Scars Replicas in particular seem not good enough, but eh. We killed a full cycle of multicolor lands, plus the signets, in addition decreasing multicolor by 20 cards, including all the 3 color cards. I'll be interested to see if we actually hosed multicolor, finally. We moved artifacts with colored activations to that color, hence Memnarch being "In" in Blue and "Out" in artifacts. The only downside to adding so many mono-colored cards is we couldn't cut as many stinkers from each of the five colors as I wanted to. If we are missing any good mono-colored cards, let us know in the comments. I think midweek next week will be the first time I will have time to host a Cube. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to 2 headed giant Lorwyn/Shadowmoor draft hosted by CBG this weekend. My team will forcing giants... in 2HG draft! Get it? ...Ugh.

IN
U Frost Titan
U Scroll Thief
U Aether Adept
U Jace's Ingenuity
U Preordain
U Conundrum sphinx
U Quicksilver Gargantua
U Memnarch

G Primeval Titan
G Fauna Shaman
G Garruk's Packleader
G Obstinate Baloth
G Cultivate
G Gaea's Revenge
G Genesis Wave
G Mitotic Slime
G Overwhelming Stampede
G Garruk's Companion
G Cudgel Troll
G Sylvok replica
G Ezuri's Brigade
G Bellowing Tanglewurm
G Tower Above
G Sylvan Ranger

Chimeric Mass
Contagion Engine
Moltentail Masticore
Crystal Ball
Brittle Effigy
Wurmcoil Engine
Precursor Golem
Ratchet Bomb
Mimic Vat
Infiltration Lens
Nim Deathmantle
Trusty machete

R Inferno Titan
R Ember Hauler
R Chandra's Outrage
R Reverberate
R Hoarding Dragon
R Chandra's Spitfire
R Arc Slogger
R Kiln Fiend
R Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
R Arc Trail
R Vulshok Replica
R Koth, the Hammer
R Spikeshot Elder
R Magma Phoenix
R Oxidda Scrapmelter
R Wildfire

Mystifying Maze

W War Priest of Thune
W Elspeth Tiriel
W Sunblast Angel
W Glimmerpoint Stag
W True Conviction
W Dawnglare Invoker
W Soltari Champion
W Indomitable Archangel
W Kor Aeronaut
W Knight Exemplar

B Liliana's Specter
B Carnifex Demon
B Grasp of Darkness
B Geth, Lord of the Vault
B Painful Quandry
B Skinrender
B Moriok Replica
B Necrogen Scutter
B Grave Titan

WU Venser, the Sojourner

OUT
Lightkeeper of Emeria
Story Circle
Admonition Angel
Twilight Shepherd
Pristine Angel

Corrupted Zendikon
Corpse Connoisseur
Lord of the undead
undead warchief

Sulfur Elemental
Frenzied Goblin
Tribal Flames
Crusher Zendikon
Sudden Shock
Kamahl Pit Fighter
Reckless Wurm
Heat Shimmer
Dragonmaster Outcast
Goblin Matron
Johkulhaups??

Golgari Grave troll
Caller of the Claw
Vinelasher Kudzu
Iwamori of the Open fist
Scryb ranger
reach of branches
Simian Grunts
Defense of the Heart
Awakening Zone
Berserk
Seal of Primordium

Ophidian
Cache Raiders
Lighthouse Chronologist

All signets
etched oracle
obelisk of alara
memnarch

The Ravnica "Karoo" bouncelands
Urza's Factory

Putrid Leech
Swans of Brynn Argoll
Mistmeadow Witch
Goblin Legionnaire
Burning-Tree Shaman
Shambling Remains
Soul Manipulation
Temporal Spring
Nucklavee
Tidehollow Sculler
Armadillo Cloak
Rafiq of the Many
Bant Charm
Doran, the Siege Tower
Lightning Angel
Woolly Thoctar
Lavalanche
Broodmate Dragon
Rhox War Monk
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Sphinx of the Steel Wind

Draft gone wrong, or just bad packs.

So I had an interesting draft last week. It ended in a 1-2 record, like so many of my drafts do, but I felt really lost during the draft. Maybe you all can help. Follow along and let me know how I screwed up please.


Event #: 1742268
Time: 11/5/2010 9:06:56 PM
Players:
kashiosu
Jonb86
--> bat_matt
Dark Circle
sadisteck
Shoo
murajin
alecs0

------ SOM ------

Pack 1 pick 1:
Seize the Initiative, Turn Aside, Abuna Acolyte, Wall of Tanglecord, Whitesun's Passage, Sylvok Lifestaff, Carapace Forger, Vedalken Certarch, Withstand Death, Neurok Replica, Myrsmith, Tumble Magnet, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Liquimetal Coating

Ok, so...first pick easy. Tumble Magnet and Myrsmith are nice but no, I am not passing Skithiryx.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Necropede, Leaden Myr, Barrage Ogre, Tel-Jilad Fallen, Glint Hawk, Auriok Sunchaser, Galvanic Blast, Arrest, Neurok Replica, Rust Tick, Molder Beast, Saberclaw Golem, Swamp, Fume Spitter

Ok, so I am reaching a bit here for a midlevel infect card over Tel-Jilad because I didn't want to commit to GB infect so early. Galvanic Blast is nice and I like playing it but Necropede is solid removal too. Passing an Arrest for the same reason.

Pack 1 pick 3:
Ezuri's Archers, Assault Strobe. Blackcleave Goblin. Abuna Acolyte. Sunspear Shikari. Vulshok Replica, Echo Circlet, Turn to Slag, Flight Spellbomb, Soul Parry, Liquimetal Coating, Saberclaw Golem, Plains

Here again, I am still comfortable on the Black infect plan, splashing either green or red, depending what flows.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Untamed Might, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Iron Myr, Turn Aside, Wall of Tanglecord, Twisted Image, Darksteel Myr, Vulshok Replica, Heavy Arbalest, Auriok Replica, Golden Urn, Swamp

And here is where we start going off the rails. Untamed Might is obviously a house in the infect deck, but at this point I've only seen the Tel-Jilad and the Blackcleave to make me think it might be open. I really don't want to blow a 4th pick on a common I will likely see three more times in this draft, so I take the Replica. I think you can make a good case that i should have taken the Heavy Arbalest here. It's certainly good in the infect deck and it's colorless removal. Thoughts?

Pack 1 pick 5:
Halt Order, Ghalma's Warden, Vault Skyward, Ferrovore, Bonds of Quicksilver, Soliton, Blunt the Assault, Loxodon Wayfarer, Snapsail Glider, Exsanguinate, Forest

I think this is the pack that convinced me I shouldn't go infect. What a pile. In the format, I take the artifact whenever I can, hence Snapsail.

Pack 1 pick 6:
Vector Asp, Kuldotha Rebirth, Ichorclaw Myr, Vault Skyward, Trinket Mage, Glimmerpost,Turn to Slag, Panic Spellbomb, Soul Parry, Plains

This pretty clearly should have been a Turn to Slag but I was still holding out hope, and Ichorclaw is fine if unspectacular at making combat math bad in a normal deck.

Pack 1 pick 7:
Vector Asp, Ezuri's Archers, Wing Puncture, Assault Strobe, Viridian Revel, Corrupted Harvester, Relic Putrescence, Horizon Spellbomb Island

Colorless fixing over ugliness.

Pack 1 pick 8:
Copper Myr, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Iron Myr, Twisted Image, Darksteel Myr, Vulshok Replica, Auriok Replica, Swamp

I'm fine with this. Infect is fading as a dream.

Pack 1 pick 9:
Seize the Initiative, Turn Aside, Abuna Acolyte, Whitesun's Passage, Withstand Death, Liquimetal Coating, Plains

Apparently no one likes metalcraft at this table.

Pack 1 pick 10:
Glint Hawk, Auriok Sunchaser, Neurok Replica, Molder Beast, Saberclaw Golem, Swamp

Last five picks

Liquimetal Coating
Auriok Replica
Vault Skyward
Glimmerpost
Island

------ SOM ------

Pack 2 pick 1:
Vector Asp, Ezuri's Archers, Wing Puncture, Assault Strobe, Lumengrid Drake, Ferrovore, Thrummingbird, Silver Myr, Cystbearer, Precursor Golem, Lifesmith, Relic Putrescence, Horizon Spellbomb, Swamp, Ogre Geargrabber

Ok. If I am committed to the infect plan, I obviously take the Cystbearer, mediocre first pick though he is. I take the Precursor.

Pack 2 pick 2:
Glint Hawk Idol, Perilous Myr, Contagious Nim, Blight Mamba, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Ichor Rats, Glint Hawk, Galvanic Blast, Flesh Allergy, Bleak Coven Vampires, Heavy Arbalest, Sylvok Replica, Island, Fume Spitter

This is where I started to become convinced my deck sucked. I am pretty sure the Blast is wrong but I really don't know what is right. If I can guarantee I will see a Throne of Geth or Contagion Clasp, I think the Ichor Rats is right. Blight Mamba and Fume Spitter are fine for the infect deck but I don't want to take them second pick. Same with Glint Hawk and its Idol. Help!

Pack 2 pick 3:
Neurok Invisimancer, Barrage Ogre, Vulshok Heartstoker, Infiltration Lens, Salvage Scout, Carapace Forger, Withstand Death, Bellowing Tanglewurm, Screeching Silcaw, Razorfield Thresher, Chrome Steed, Golden Urn, Swamp

I think I thought the infect deck was gone, having forgotten how awesome Bellowing Tanglewurm is in it. Chrome Steed is fine and I am suddenly on the path to monobrown.

Pack 2 pick 4:
Rusted Relic, Wing Puncture, Melt Terrain, Ichorclaw Myr, Tel-Jilad Fallen, Loxodon Wayfarer, Plague Stinger, Sunspear Shikari, Echo Circlet, Stoic Rebuttal, Saberclaw Golem, Island

And monobrown is why I ended up taking the 5/5 over the 3 solid infect cards in this pack. See, this is why I hate Magic. If I had taken that fourth pick Untamed Might in pack one, I'd be solidly infect right now, but because I "wanted to leave my options open" I am stuck thinking I should still be taking the "better card" rather than diving into an archetype that is obviously flowing.

Pack 2 pick 5:
Neurok Invisimancer, Oxidda Daredevil, Turn Aside, Golem Foundry, Thrummingbird, Lifesmith, Bleak Coven Vampires, Moriok Replica, Golden Urn, Swamp, Ogre Geargrabber

Or is it? See now I just don't know what the heck is going on. Maybe it's just an awful pack. I love the replica but yuck.

Pack 2 pick 6:
Glint Hawk Idol, Kuldotha Rebirth, Instill Infection, Furnace Celebration, Blunt the Assault, Flameborn Hellion, Relic Putrescence, Stoic Rebuttal, Forest, Fulgent Distraction

Monobrown it is.

Pack 2 pick 7:
Turn Aside, Tel-Jilad Defiance, Psychic Miasma, Whitesun's Passage, Withstand Death, Moriok Replica, Bellowing Tanglewurm, Scoria Elemental, Mountain

Do I take that wurm and try to run back to the infect deck at this point? I don't know.

Pack 2 pick 8:
Plated Seastrider, Trigon of Corruption, Salvage Scout, Sunspear Shikari, Withstand Death, Razorfield Thresher, Golden Urn, Plains

Colorless (if slow) removal seems fine right now.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Ezuri's Archers, Wing Puncture, Assault Strobe, Ferrovore, Lifesmith, Relic Putrescence, Swamp

So monobrown goes well with this guy I guess.

Pack 2 pick 10:
Contagious Nim, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Flesh Allergy, Bleak Coven Vampires, Island, Fume Spitter

This was probably wrong. Either Blade-Tribe or Bleak Coven will usually be on, and one Galvanic Arc and a couple of Vulshok Replicas is not enough to pull me out of heavy black for my Skithiryx.

Last 5 picks:
Carapace Forger
Echo Circlet
Oxidda Daredevil
Blunt the Assault
Mountain

------ SOM ------

Pack 3 pick 1:
Glimmerpoint Stag, Kemba's Skyguard, Shape Anew, Kuldotha Rebirth, Carrion Call, Instill Infection, Gold Myr, Bonds of Quicksilver, Blunt the Assault, Clone Shell, Flight Spellbomb, Panic Spellbomb, Disperse, Mountain, Fulgent Distraction

Ok, so I probably should have taken Glimmerpoint as the strongest card in the pack or Carrion Call as the very late better infect card. I don't think Clone Shell is very good, although there are some very strong plays with it.

Pack 3 pick 2:
Glint Hawk Idol, Blight Mamba, Untamed Might, Blade-Tribe Berserkers, Ichor Rats, Seize the Initiative, Glint Hawk, Flesh Allergy, Accorder's Shield, Tainted Strike, Heavy Arbalest, Sylvok Replica, Island, Fume Spitter

Monobrown over infect just seems worse and worse the further I get into this draft. Ugh.

Pack 3 pick 3:
Glimmerpoint Stag, Kemba's Skyguard, Contagious Nim, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Bloodshot Trainee, Golem's Heart, Soliton, Auriok Sunchaser, Flameborn Hellion, Vedalken Certarch (FOIL), Neurok Replica, Origin Spellbomb, Mountain

Now, I decide to go white? Ugh. In my defense, Contagious Nim is pretty filler-y

Pack 3 pick 4:
Melt Terrain, Halt Order (FOIL), Ichor Rats, Bloodshot Trainee, Vulshok Heartstoker, Steady Progress, Vedalken Certarch, Echo Circlet, Molder Beast, Nihil Spellbomb, Stoic Rebuttal, Island

This is getting a little creepy. I'm starting to have PTSD flashbacks. 4th pick Nihil Spellbomb? The horror.

Pack 3 pick 5:
Plated Seastrider, Neurok Invisimancer, Ghalma's Warden, Moriok Reaver, Alpha Tyrranax, Cystbearer, Sylvok Lifestaff, Origin Spellbomb, Trigon of Mending, Forest, Ogre Geargrabber

No comment.

Pack 3 pick 6:
Blight Mamba, Seize the Initiative, Ichorclaw Myr, Wall of Tanglecord, Throne of Geth, Whitesun's Passage, Withstand Death, Auriok Replica, Clone Shell, Island

No, seriously. No comment.

Pack 3 pick 7:
Ghalma's Warden, Seize the Initiative, Trigon of Infestation, Bonds of Quicksilver, Salvage Scout, Vulshok Replica, Accorder's Shield, Turn to Slag, Plains

Um. Removal is fine. Right? Right?!?

Pack 3 pick 8:
Copper Myr, Neurok Invisimancer, Ferrovore, Vulshok Heartstoker, Silver Myr, Glint Hawk, Semblance Anvil, Swamp

I don't know.

Pack 3 pick 9:
Shape Anew, Kuldotha Rebirth, Bonds of Quicksilver, Blunt the Assault, Disperse, Mountain, Fulgent Distraction

Pack 3 pick 10:
Blight Mamba, Untamed Might, Seize the Initiative, Flesh Allergy, Accorder's Shield, Island

Yes. I get it. I should have gone infect.

Last 5 picks
Auriok Sunchaser
Bloodshot Trainee
Trigon of Mending
Whitesun's Passage
Plains

The one thing I will say in my admittedly pathetic defense is that I never saw the cards that make me excited to play infect. No Tangle Anglers, no Corpse Cur, no Contagion Clasp. But yes, I should have gone infect, even if it would have been infect with little reach. Here's what ended up playing...

1 Trigon of Corruption
5 Swamp
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Wall of Tanglecord
1 Rusted Relic
2 Moriok Replica
2 Vulshok Replica
1 Necropede
2 Glint Hawk Idol
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
1 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Snapsail Glider
2 Glint Hawk
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Precursor Golem
1 Liquimetal Coating
4 Mountain
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
8 Plains
1 Chrome Steed
1 Auriok Sunchaser

Sideboard
1 Disperse
1 Vault Skyward
1 Ichorclaw Myr
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Glimmerpost
1 Echo Circlet
1 Mountain
1 Oxidda Daredevil
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Turn to Slag
1 Island
1 Whitesun's Passage
1 Trigon of Mending
1 Plains
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Blunt the Assault
1 Ferrovore
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Clone Shell
1 Blackcleave Goblin
1 Auriok Replica
1 Carapace Forger

I never saw the Skithiryx and interestingly, I went 1-2 (3-5) with it, so it's obviously not a horrendous pile. Arc and Turn to Slag came in post board each match because why the fuck were they out in the first place? Other than not playing infect, what did I do wrong?

Signaling in a world of good picks

I think this article by Gavin Verhey really hits the nail on the head when it comes to our modern Magic draft. He basically says that sending signals in packs full of good picks is not nearly as important as picking the best card for your deck. This is something that I've struggled with in the current format and the uncommon print runs have been the source of endless bitching as well. I am going to post a couple of drafts that I captured on MTGO later tonight hopefully and we can talk about where I went wrong (or less likely, where I went right).

Pirate Draft League update

Alright, alright, alright everybody. We've had two more drafts on the HMS One Eye and the latest standings are as follows...

Name	Record	Points/Event
Owen T. Jacob B. TooSarcastic Kurt K. Nate L. Tim N. Jonathan B. Brendan H. Matt F. Greg O. Ryan S. Alexis R. CBG Nick P. Ash O. John D.	3-0 8-1 2-0 2-1 2-1 4-2 7-4 3-2 2-1 3-5 1-2 1-4 2-9 0-2 1-4 0-2	8.00 7.62 7.00 7.00 6.00 6.00 5.50 5.00 4.57 3.57 3.00 3.00 2.82 2.00 1.57 1.00

Some reminders: points are awarded per event with 8 points for first down to 1 point for 8th. Events with more/fewer players are normalized to this scale (hence the weird totals for some people).

Finally, I still suck. Drafted a terrible red/green metalcraft deck this last time. Deservedly went 0-2. Maybe I need to get a hook to be more intimidating.

M11 MTGO

Pick one, pack one. Day of Judgment or Foil Day of Judgment?

Force Spikes and increasing Magic's popularity.

So if you haven't checked out Force Spikes, the new podcast by Milwaukee locals Jon and Greg, you really should. They are fun to listen to, regardless of whether or not you agree with them! Case in point, this last episode I had some things to say about their suggestions for how Wizards should continue to increase Magic's popularity. I put a post in the MTGcast forums explaining my... point of view, but for some reason it never made it past moderation. Hm. I didn't think it was TOO much of a flame. See for yourself below. But first listen to this week's ForceSpikes podcast to draw your own conclusion!

"I think that you may have been a bit off base with your suggestions for how Magic could expand its player base.
First of all, I believe that the biggest factor in Magic's recent growth has been the Xbox Duels of the Planeswalkers game. I feel like this was mentioned somewhere on the mothership, but I don't know where I read it, so I'll call it my opinion since I can't cite my source.
Second, I think this example is indicative of a weakness in your thinking; Magic grows most when CASUAL players are introduced from other CASUAL gaming media, not from other competitive avenues like Poker. You're thinking a little too much like Spikes. Please remember that most of Magic's profit will come from the massive number of less engaged, casual gamers, not the tiny percentage of players who participate in PTQ and higher level tourneys.
Take your collective musings on having a spokesperson from the Magic/Poker community. This seems like an awful idea. First, most Magic players (who recall are casual players) don't know ANYONE who plays Poker or Magic professionally. Wizards would have to convince them to care. Second, and much more of an issue, is that Wizards would have to find some sort of perfect human who is well spoken, photogenic, one of the best gamers alive (i.e. doesn't fall off the train the next year being a paid spokesperson) AND has a reputation squeaky clean enough to be on the payroll of a company owned by Hasbro. I'll guarantee you the last point ain't trivial. Making one or several people the public face of your product is a huge PR liability! Don't you think that Wizards has thought about this before? Even if a guy like maybe Kibler could fit all the criteria at THIS MOMENT, if over the next year his clandestine cake-sitting prostitute fetish, or one of a million far less humiliating "personal interests" comes to light, Hasbro takes it sleazy from every conservative alarmist looking to paint Magic as the next thing for parents to freak out about. It's way too much of a liability. This is fundamentally a kid's game, remember.
So I think that Wizards should keep doing what they're doing- make further inroads into another, far more popular gaming arena than pro Poker: video games. This was also a a medium that was considered geeky a few years ago, but now has mainstream appeal. Magic does well to align itself with such a massively popular, mainstream medium. When Wizards wants to address potential new players they can turn to public shills for hire like the Frag Dolls (for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQbZUGXad4), who are not employed per se by Wizards and who are still easy on the eyes. Then Wizards can promote it all on Facebook, another medium over which they can exert perfect control.
Sorry for the rant, but that part of the podcast really grated on me. Also, the second part of the show about tourney reports was great, and as is the case so often, things that are already great are much less exciting to write about!"
T

Wait, what?

WoTC has declared it and it is so. Starting with Mirrodin Besieged, small sets will be drafted before large sets so starting in early February, you'll be drafting Besieged/Scars/Scars.

Honestly, I like this change a lot. It was always a bit random to have your deck 80% complete and then see what delightful goodies did or did not await you in pack three. The new set should have a much greater effect on the environment now. Plus, it should be easier to adjust to the new set, since packs two and three will be familiar to you. Overall, I'd say this is all to the good, though it throws yet another wrench in the philosophical perfection of Carroll Draft. Oh well, that ship really sailed a long time ago.

So, Scars colors?

Well, what colors would you like to be when playing Scars? Me, I 2-1'ed in another draft with a red deck so I think I am gonna say red. Turns out removal is still good and with solid interactions with the main theme of the set (artifacts), red is very strong. Black has great removal as always (hi, Skinrender and Carnifex Demon!), white has a nice weenie metalcraft deck, green has infect and elves (what up, Ezuri?) and blue is blue (although it seems less blue to me than usual...).

It's actually starting to get to the point where I'd like to force red, but it's easy to end up with a pile of Ferrovores and Goblin Gaveleers in that situation. Better to let it come to you. I think.

Agrees with Tabasco

In the case, the agreement would be synergy. I've drafted twice more since the last time we spoke and went 1-2 and 3-0, but both times, I managed to draft a synergistic and powerful deck. Finally. My first 3 drafts in the format netted only 2 match wins between them and I constantly felt like I was missing out during drafting. The key to the format appears to be getting in to the right strategy early on and sticking with it. I have yet to successfully see something "open" and be able to switch into it. There are too many holes to fill without focus. The nice thing about this is you will get some awesome gifts late if the table is likeminded in its focus.

On Thursday night, I drafted what I thought was a killer infect deck, but I lost 1-2 twice to solid midrange/tempo decks that were able to disrupt me just enough to win. I was pretty salty about losing (especially since I had seen the possibility of not being 2-7 in the format anymore) but that's the correct strategy for beating infect so yay.

Last night, I opened Ezuri, Renegade Leader pick one pack one and decided to value Ezuri's Archers and Carapace Forgers highly. I solidified green with Molder Beast and a Slice in Twain, and also grabbed a late Blade-Tribe Berserkers and a very late Turn to Slag. Incidentally, this would put me in conflict with TS who was trying to find colors and eventually played RW. I passed him some solid but unspectacular Black cards in pack one, but by the time he realized it was open, the player to his left was solidly in Black, squeezing him for removal from both ends. Highlights of packs 2 and 3 were double Arc Trail (including a 5th pick!), a Myr Propagator and a total gift Ezuri's Brigade. I filled it out with some mediocre equipment, two mana myrs and the best spellbomb

Creatures	Spells	Land
Blade-Tribe Berserkers Carapace Forger Copperhorn Scout Ezuri, Renegade Leader Ezuri's Archers Ezuri's Brigade Iron Myr 2 Molder Beast Myr Propagator Perilous Myr Silver Myr 2 Sylvok Replica	2 Arc Trail Galvanic Blast Horizon Spellbomb Liquimetal Coating Slice in Twain Strider Harness Sylvok Lifestaff Tel-Jilad Defiance Turn to Slag	10 Forest 6 Mountain

I went 6-0 with this deck and while there were a couple close calls, I felt pretty much in control, even after I mulled to 6 in games 5 and 6. It's a very powerful deck. Favorite play was four lands, U Myr and Sylvok Lifestaff in play, tap 3 to play Strider Harness, tap Forest to play Copperhorn Scout, tap the Myr to attach Strider Harness, attack for 2, untap the Myr, use the Myr attach the Lifestaff in second main. Close second was Turn 6 hasty 9/9 trampler (Ezuri's Brigade with Strider Harness and metalcraft) with the promise of more to come since Ezuri, Repeatable Overrun was on the table. Yay for winning a draft for once.

"Synergy" is the strongest draft archetype

This week I am back with a deck I went 3-0 with in a 6 man draft (I wish we had gotten 2 more) because my deck was streamlined and synergistic. First the list and then some interactions.

Sylvok Lifestaff
Kuldotha Rebirth
Galvanic Blast
Liquimetal Coating
2x Shatter
Revoke Existance
Myrsmith
2x Perilous Myr
Contagion Clasp
Arc Trail
2x Ferrovore
Furnace Celebration (foil)
Vulshok Replica
Arrest
Rust Tick
Chrome Steed (foil)
Oxxida Scrapmelter
Golem Artisan
Saberclaw Golem
Wurmcoil Engine
10 Mountain
7 Plains

There are a few things going on here that are awesome, Liquimetal Coating is by far the MVP of the deck, and every time it was in play I won. It really shone when it turned my 2 Shatters, Revoke Existance, and Scrapmelter into Vindicates as well as allowing me to lock down any permanent with Rust Tick. It also served as a way to turn lands into fodder for Ferrovore and the Kuldotha Rebirth. Speaking of Ferrovore, he is why synergy is important. In a vacuum he is just a grey orge with and ability to trade one of your permanents for 3 damage, but when you throw in Furnace Celebration and 2 mana you get a shock in as well, you start to build incremental advantage. If that artifact happens to be Perilous Myr, you turn 2R into 7 damage, 4 of which can be used as 2 shocks or even go straight to the face.

I was lucky enough to begin the draft with Wurmcoil Engine, and picked up early removal, of which this deck has 4 removal spells (not counting the shatter effects). The solid removal allowed me to survive long enough for some Golems to clean up. Luckily my first pack paid for the draft even if I hadn't won, and it is even sweeter that I did.

Mirrodin Besieged

Hey all, look. Shiny new Mirrodin Besieged previews. Not there. Scroll down. There. So, this is apparently part of WoTC's continuing attempts to make colors irrelevant, right? Because Hill Giants with a life loss/gain are totally colorless. Monobrown ftw!

Announcing the Pirate Draft League!

My enjoyment of Magic has combined with my selective OCD to make me want to keep track of the 8 mans at my apartment. Who benefits from this? I have no idea. Nonetheless, I have started keeping track of all the juicy statistics from the Scars drafts and will be posting about them occasionally, in addition to using them for a really awesome purpose. I hope to host some Team Rochester later in the year and these rankings will be used to seed the teams in the hopes of a little competitive balance for "the most skill-intensive format ever", as J-Bro keeps referring to it. The damages so far...

Name	Record	Points/Event
Jacob B TooSarcastic Kurt K Brendan H Tim N Jonathan B Alexis R Ryan S CBG Ash O Greg O	6-0 2-0-1 2-1 3-2-1 2-1 3-3 1-4-1 1-2 1-5 1-2 0-2-1	8 7 7 5 5 4.5 3 3 2.5 2 2

I have pseudo-anonymized the data so it doesn't show up on Google, but if there is an a/k/a you'd like associated with your data or you'd prefer to not be included in the public data, please let me know. I'm also going to look into a venue for larger than 8 mans, though it's difficult to find a place for evening play.

Edited to clarify: Points are not match points from the event, but event points awarded by me. 8 points for 1st right on down to 1 point for eighth. Just in case you were confused.

Finally, I got a match win last night and actually drafted a deck (U/W fliers) instead of a pile of shit, so I'm happy, despite my 1-5 in Scars draft so far.

Tabasco's first Scars draft

Ok, so I finally get a chance to draft the set and upon opening my pack decide what strategy I want to employ. I opened on Geth, Lord of the Vault (must be nice). Yes! I am definitely in black, but do I still try for the poison deck or just play my bomb and pick other good cards? Geth is the kind of card that goes in an infect of a non-infect deck because his ability to stall the board is so good 5/5 walls that mill your opponent are fine especially since I get to take stuff in the process. My next few picks are solid artifacts and I start to develop a solid metalcraft strategy. I will post the list and then go over a few choices I had to make building the deck.

Memnite
Vedalken Certarch
Plated Seastrider
Disperse
Culling Dais
Leaden Myr
Perilous Myr
Trinket Mage
Snapsail Glider
Strider Harness
2 Tumble Magnet
Neurok Replica
Chrome Steed
Rusted Relic
2 Bonds of Quicksilver
Lumengrid Drake
Argent Sphinx (foil)
Golem Artisan
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Argentum Armor
Myr Battle Sphere (foil)
6 Swamp
11 Island

Sideboard (only on color cards):

Exsanguinate
Necrogen Scudder
Sky-Eel School
Stoic Rebuttal
Halt Order
2 Instill Infection
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Sylvok Lifestaff (these three
Flight Spellbomb are potential
Origin Spellbomb trinket mage targets)

Yes, that is 5 ridiculous rares I cut the Gargantuan because my high end was already high enough and he is the only one who doesn't quite win the game on his own (Geth, Battlesphere). I opened very well in this draft, P1P1 Geth, P2P1 foil Myr Battlesphere, P3P1 Argentum Armor, I also received the foil Argent Sphinx and Quicksilver Gargantuan P2P2 and P2P3 respectively. I also noticed that it was good I was U/B because all the late commons I was getting were still on color.

I initially chose to run the Bonds of Quicksilver over Instil Infections because they kept a creature tapped that I used tumble magnet on. I boarded the instills against infect deck though. My curve was pretty bad, so I ran things like plated strider to ensure I could get to the late game where (I assume) my bombs would dominate them. I would be interested in hearing what people would have built differently.

Round 1: I played Caleb and he has a pretty good infect deck with solid infecters like Ichor rats and some cystbearers. I end up losing to Contagion Engine + Trigon of Infection after he flooded (turn out those two permanents just win it when I had 1 poison counter from an Ichor rats) I had boarded in my counterspells and instills against him as well as swapped an island for a 7th swamp but it proved to be not enough.

Round 2: I play Garth with a mono-white deck that had some fog effects and solid flyers as well as Golem foundry, I end up winning it with bombs and had a board on turn 4 of one of our games consisting of Vedalken Certarch and 2 Tumble magnets.

Round 3: I play Will with a W/U metalcraft deck. His deck doesn't really have a strong central theme except he has a bunch of stuff that is good with Metalcraft and the same stuff that is bad without. He has a few cute interactions like Neurok Invisomancer + Trigon of rage as well as a few other evasive guys. He also has a Contagion Engine

I end up 2-1 which is good for 1 Pack (kinda lousy), but I lost round 1 and Caleb went 2-1 so he had better tie breaks. I open the Pack and it turns out to be a MOX OPAL!!! turns out it doesn't matter how many packs you get as long as you open a sweet mythic worth some money. I definitely learned that the draft format is not as quick as I thought it was (it doesn't quite rival that of Zendikar). Contagion Engine is stupid good, and slops to the guy who PASSED IT to Caleb. There are only a few cards I can accept being taken over CE and they are all mythic and have the card type planeswalker, maybe Mox Opal although it is worth less than the planeswalkers and doesn't win you the game like they do.

Scars Draft #1 - Birthday Draft

So I had seven of my closest Magic buddies (i.e. those who were able to check attending on Facebook) over last night for birthday brownies, school fundraisers and some Scars booster draft. How did it go? For me, not well, other than the fact that I had a lot of fun. I drafted poorly and the deck drew poorly, which is a recipe for 0-3. Recipe was a success. Obviously I have no control over how the deck drew, but where did I make the mistake in drafting? Read on, gentle walker of the Blind Eternities.

...Ok. I am going to admit something to you. I am going to reveal my first pick from the draft and I am going to take the abuse that comes with it. Just remember, I freely admit this was wrong, wrong, wrong. I fan the opening pack and first pickable cards include Spikeshot Elder, Oxidda Scrapmelter, Volition Reins and Myr Galvanizer. I took the Scrapmelter. This was a fucking stupid pick. In a vacuum, Spikeshot is better. Shipping it left indicates Red is wide open, something I don't want to do if I am taking Scrapmelter. Volition Reins is very strong and was the only Blue in the pack. Myr Galvanizer is strong and leaves my options open. Scrapmelter was wrong, wrong, wrong and it only got wronger. Ordinarily, I wouldn't focus on the first pick so much but this was so clearly where my draft went completely on tilt. Picks 2 and 3, I get 2 Turn to Slag and then Red completely dries up. No Red cards appear in the packs for at least six picks. Black is reasonably open and so I start going that way, but I'm not getting any equipment, mana myrs, infect cards or really anything I am excited to play. About the only playable thing the rest of pack one was a Necrogen Scudder around 6th or 7th.

So pack two starts and I open Carnifex Demon! Okay, here I am on the Black/Blue plan but without anything super solid. Of course, there is no Red coming from my left due to the horrible first pick, but I get a couple Bonds of Quicksilver and a couple reasonable Blue fliers. Still no good equipment (got a Strider Harness but that's it) and I am sad panda. Oh! I got a Volition Reins too.

Pack 3 and here we are, still no good stuff flowing and somewhere around 6th pick a Shatter is in the pack...gah...what? I should have picked it. Especially because the next pack had another. Somewhere in there was another Oxidda Scrapmelter too. My deck would have been so much better if I had taken these three cards and played a Black/Red deck with Carnifex, Scudder, and 2 each of Scrapmelter, Shatter and Turn to Slag, with random artifacts filling out the low end of the curve. As it was I ended up with a pile of anti synergy that failed me to the tune of 0-3 in matches, 1-6 in games. There's nothing to be learned from a recap of the matches because my fate was sealed when I took the Scrapmelter over Volition Reins pack 1, pick 1.

On the other hand, it was super fun to get to do my first non cube booster draft in over a year (yes, that's me being defensive) and I loved having people over, despite the cozy surroundings of the apartment. Thanks everybody for coming and watch my Facebook for an invite to a very special RGD draft in the next couple weeks (still trying to figure out the perfect night, can people do Mondays?).

Carroll Draft

Let's talk about the best draft format to come out of our play group, Carroll Draft. First, a reminder of the format, stolen from our own Draftstravaganza post...

The second format is Carroll draft. Carroll draft is a normal 8 man format which uses 24 different packs. The intention is to use the 24 most recent expert-level expansions, though the release of two-set blocks requires a little rejiggering (we are adding a pack of Coldsnap for this version). First everyone opens a big set (Lorwyn through Invasion). Drafting proceeds as normal. You will travel backwards in time as you go through the packs so if your first pack is Lorwyn, your second pick will be from Time Spiral, then Ravnica, and so on. The second pack you open will be from a second set (Morningtide through Planeshift). Again, you will travel back in time as drafting moves to the right. Finally, the third pack will be all 3rd sets, though Coldsnap will be in the mix due to Lorwyn being a 2 set block.

So where is the format now? First, Shadowmoor managed to screw it up a little more and Rise of the Eldrazi (a large third set) makes decisions a little more difficult. The general consensus is also the Coldsnap includes far too many linear mechanics to play nice with the rest of the sets. Rise of the Eldrazi on the other hand, points a way to a solution to the two set block problem, though it is a little inelegant. We can stick a large set in for the 3rd set of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks. I kind of like the idea of throwing Scars of Mirrodin in for one. The other can be a core set, older large set or Coldsnap, if you really feel you must. If I were hosting one right now this is what it would look like

Seat	1st	2nd	3rd
1	Zendikar	Conflux	Scars of Mirrodin
2	Shards of Alara	Worldwake	X/M10/M11
2	Shadowmoor	Darksteel	Future Sight
4	Lorwyn	Betrayers	Dissension
5	Time Spiral	Guildpact	Saviors
6	Ravnica	Planar Chaos	Fifth Dawn
7	Champions	Morningtide	Rise of the Eldrazi
8	Mirrodin	Eventide	Alara Reborn

I'll be the first to admit this is basically a Chaos draft without as much chaos, but what an enjoyable trip through time. The strategies are basically the same as Chaos, though of course you can plan a bit for things like Ravnica bouncelands, Mirrodin artifacts and Alara multicolor madness. The other nice way the format is evolving is that WoTC has been developing for draft a lot more in the late aughts than they were around the time of Invasion so the drafts get better as those sets age out. God help us, Nemesis was in the format the first time we did this and man, was that set ever terrible for Chaos drafting.

The other great thing about Carroll drafting is finding the packs. Usually you can get about 80% of them on one website, but shopping around for different sources and trying to get the best deal is a fun little treasure hunting challenge that increases anticipation for your draft. Try Carroll draft out today. Or next week. Whenever you can round up the packs. I guarantee you'll be turning potential drafters away.

Cube Comparison Thread

Just a quick note for Cube drafters out there. In her weekly article Thea Steele mentioned a pretty cool resource- the MTG Salvation Cube Comparison Thread. Think of it as a meta analysis for Cube cards. Posts include a "Winners/Losers" analysis that tracks which cards are trending hot and which ones are losing value, tools to evaluate an "average" 360 or 720 card Cube (based on 100 Cube lists), and a card ranking based on the number of times all those Cubes included individual cards. There is an Cube list entered into the data by the name of "Fugitive Wizard," it is NOT ours.

I can see consulting some of this data when making cuts or adds to the Cube.

Do you think I should submit our list?

T

Cards I missed at the Prereleases

So I was talking to TS about the Prerelease and I realized very quickly that cards I had seen over and over were cards he had pretty much missed and vice versa. I figured I could take a look through the spoiler and find a few of these and talk about how awesome/awful they are. Oh, one quick note. Steve Sadin appears to be just as in love with Tel-Jilad Defiance as I am. So wooo!

First, TS mentioned some golem which I originally thought was Precursor Golem but was actually Golem Artisan. So, which would I rather in my sealed pool? Precursor is more of a put my opponent under pressure card, where Artisan kind of says, "Alpha strike for the win". I think infect decks would clearly rather the Artisan, but aggressive decks that want to kill with damage would prefer the Precursor. Certain cards (cantrips) are a serious blowout against Precursor, but it's such a deal that I think the chance is worth it.

Clone Shell - 5, Artifact Creature, Imprint — When Clone Shell enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
When Clone Shell is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, turn the exiled card face up. If it's a creature card, put it onto the battlefield under your control.

I like this, especially at uncommon. I wish is dug a little deeper than four cards. Even five would give you a significantly better chance of a hit. Another nice thing would be to let you get a land, but I suppose that's not flavorful.

Culling Dais - 2, Artifact,
Tap, Sacrifice a creature: Put a charge counter on Culling Dais.
1, Sacrifice Culling Dais: Draw a card for each charge counter on Culling Dais.

Here's a fun one that I wouldn't pay more for, but I think this is costed right and I like playing games with it. Especially because you can proliferate once you've got the first counter. I wish they had brought back Doubling Season for this environment, but I guess it might have been a little(lot) broken.

Strata Scythe - 3, Artifact-Equipment,
Imprint — When Strata Scythe enters the battlefield, search your library for a land card, exile it, then shuffle your library.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each land on the battlefield with the same name as the exiled card.
Equip 3

I am trying to avoid rares, because one will run into them less, but this is one of the cards TS mentioned. This is obviously such a bomb. Even if you could only imprint a card from hand it would be good, but the flexibility to search makes it out of sight.

Tower of Calamities - 4, Artifact, 8, Tap: Tower of Calamities deals 12 damage to target creature.

Basically, it's an Aladdin's Ring for creatures and just about as playable. Maybe in a metalcraft deck with tons of mana Myrs? I don't know, even then, it just eats a Shatter...

Abuna Acolyte - 1W, Creature-Cat Cleric,
Tap: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
Tap: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target artifact creature this turn.

Now that's a Samite Healer with some guts.

Myrsmith - 1W, Creature-Human Artificer,
Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may pay 1. If you do, put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the battlefield. 2/1

Ok, this seems good because 2/1s for 2 are generally playable as are 1/1 artifact creatures for one. I'll fully confess that I could be wrong about this since x/1s are so vulnerable in the environment.

Twisted Image - U, Instant,
Switch target creature's power and toughness until end of turn.
Draw a card.

As a trick, I don't think power/toughness switching is awesome in the environment (except against white) but cantrips for 1 are pretty much always playable.

Fume Spitter - B, Creature-Horror,
Sacrifice Fume Spitter: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.

Festering Goblin holds a special place in my heart. This isn't quite as good, or at least, it wouldn't be without proliferate.

Barrage Ogre - 3RR, Creature-Ogre Warrior, Tap, Sacrifice an artifact: Barrage Ogre deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

I would play this if I was playing red, but it would pull me into red at 2RR. Which it isn't. Boo.

Acid Web Spider - 3GG, Creature-Spider,
Reach
When Acid Web Spider enters the battlefield, you may destroy target Equipment.

Yes, yes, yes. This is the kind of card I love. It's got all kinds of utility in the environment. It eats blue fliers. It eats infect guys. Also, props to creative for not naming this Acidweb Spider. They seem to love the "smash two words together" school of naming and this one is dead on.

Finally, Tangle Angler - 3G, Creature — Horror, Infect
Green: Target creature blocks Tangle Angler this turn if able.

I have nothing to say about this card other than that it appears to be the clear favorite card name amongst casual players. Tangle angler, tangle angler, tangle angler. It is fun to say.