Ravnica Rotisserie Draft Pick Orders

I had the opportunity to Rotisserie Draft Ravnica yesterday. It was really fun and I would recommend it to anyone with a complete set of Rav available. I don't know how many times you could draft a whole set like that before it became rote, though. Anyway, I managed to record the first 8 or so picks for all eight drafters. After that the picks became too fast to record. I make no assertions that these are "correct" pick orders, but at least people can see them and judge for themselves. Caleb, who was in Seat 7, decimated the competition with his mill strategy, not dropping a single game. This is interesting since it was Dale's Glare of Subdual tokens deck, in Seat 1 that was the favorite going into the draft (though it did go 2-1). I was in Seat 5.

Seat 1: Pick 1 Glare of Subdaual, 2 Selesnya Guildmage, 3 Vinleasher Kudzu, 4 Watchwolf, 5 Char, 6 Privileged Position, 7 Doubling Season, 8 Hour of Reckoning, 9 Selesnya Evangel

Seat 2: Pick 1 Disembowel, 2 Dimir Guildmage, 3 Vedalken Dismisser, 4 Ribbons of Night, 5 Mausoleum Turnkey, 6 Helldozer, 7 Cerulean Sphinx, 8 Mindleech Mass

Seat 3: Pick 1 Firemane Angel, 2 Boros Signet, 3 Golgari Signet, 4 Brightflame, 5 Devouring Light, 6 Sunhome Enforcer, 7 Auratouched Mage, 8 Razia's Purifiaction

Seat 4: Pick 1 Civic Wafinder, 2 Loxodon Hierarch, 3 Tolsimir Wolfblood, 4 Blazing Archon, 5 Seed of Strength, 6 Seed Spark, 7 Razia Boros Archangel, 8 Selesnya Sagittars

Seat 5: Pick 1 Sunforger, 2 Lightning Helix, 3 Faith's Fetters, 4 Skyshroud Legionnaire, 5 Flame Fusillade, 6 Rally the Righteous, 7 Galvanic Arc, 8 Viashino Fangtail, 9 Flamekin Zealot

Seat 6: Pick 1 Dream Leash, 2 Hex, 3 Gleancrawler, 4 Keening Banshee, 5 Moroii, 6 Brainspoil, 7 Spectral Force, 8 Graveshell Scarab 9 Carven Caryatid

Seat 7: Pick 1 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, 2 Szadek, Lord of Secrets, 3 Glimpse of the Unthinkable, 4 Belltower Sphinx, 5 Mark of Eviction, 6 Remand, 7 Compulsive Research, 8 Vedalken Entrancer, 9 Twisted Justice

Seat 8: Pick 1 Plague Boiler, 2 Moldervine Cloak, 3 Putrefy, 4 Last Gasp, 5 Golgari Grave Troll, 6 Siege Wurm, 7 Necroplasm, 8 Scatter the Seeds, 9 Golgari Rotwurm, Vulturous Zombie

Draftstravaganza 3 update

The first draft will be Ravnica Rotisserie (buyin=1 pack of anything). I have confirmed the existence of the complete set. I even got an extra Chorus of the Conclave, which might be added to the "prize" pool. Maybe last place could get some love.

Draftstravaganza 2: The Revenge

Nine planeswalkers step into a bar...

We were just about to Cube when...

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We didn't do any particularly wacky formats yesterday. We were going to Cube but then a 9th person showed up. That was not technology because I have resisted expanding the Cube. No longer. I guess the Cube is going up to a 12 player. I think Tabasco is going to post his suggestions for additional inclusions later this week. Feel free to chime in on that thread once it is created. So people were up for a Shadowmoor draft and I have had a box for drafting sitting around my house for the last two months. Off we went.

I drafted like complete trash, first picking a Thistledown Liege over Flame Javelin, even though I knew UW was never in a million years going to be open at this table. It was precisely the train wreck I deserved though I did manage to coerce the captain into scooping round 4 by having Tabasco play my deck. Jonathan Brostoff brought 3 of his friends and they went first through fourth place in the draft. Awkward. Actually, they were all awesome and it was a pleasure drafting with them.

The second draft was an 8 person RGD draft. This was a blast (best. format. ever.) and Brostoff won again, despite claiming that he was choosing by art (not a half bad idea in RGD). I managed second on the power of trips Rakdos Ickspitter and 3 Karoos. four color manabases for the win. I originally intended to be GBr, but I ended up splashing U as well for the goodness that is Steamcore Weird + Ogre Savant.

Thanks again for coming everyone. It was tons o fun.

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Who's up for a free Ravnica rotisserie? Actually, maybe we will ante packs since we always say fuck the third round when there's nothing on the line. I will provide the set.

Quick Draftstravaganza Recap

I am currently laid low with a virus of some sort, so I will be making this post a short one. It doesn't seem fair to leave the Draftravaganza un-commented, so I will do some quick recapping from my perspective. First off, thanks to CBG for hosting. It was awesome. Second, boo to Wizards for fucking up our Rotisserie draft. Who would have thought the company that makes the cards can't send out an accurate full set to someone who has redeemed it on MODO? And it wasn't just one or two cards off, this sucker had a duplicate common run and no uncommons, to say nothing of the missing rares. I know lots of us were really looking forward to this, and it sucks that Wizards is directly responsible for screwing us out of the opportunity to use the product they sell in the way we had planned. Great marketing, WOTC.

First up was Carroll draft, Which I really do enjoy as a format. Can you imagine a draft where players open packs 360 unique cards? It is still possible to get doubles of a spell, but even that is a rarity in Carroll draft. It totally gets you back to the basics of drafting. It didn't go as I had hoped. I ended up taking B/W weenies, which did not seem like a great strategy. At least I managed to pick a color with some removal. During one early pick from the Guildpact pack I had to choose between a Douse in Gloom and Pillory of the Sleepless. I tried to wheel the Pillory, which was a little too greedy. It would have been great because I was lacking unconditional removal, and I had to be the only one in B/W. I did end up picking up several other "pacificism" effect, the strongest of which turned out to be Cowed by Wisdom. It really forced my opponents into some bad choices. I was surprised. What ended up saving my ass from a 1-2 or 0-3 record was the combat tricks. Guided Strike was cantrip removal all morning, and Douse in Gloom turned out to be pretty good at instant speed as well. Since I had almost no fatties, keeping my little guys swinging was the only way for me to have a shot at winning. Masked Gorgon was the only big guy I had, and he was obviously swingy (but turned out to be good). I did lose to Swizz, as is recapped here. I was happy with 2-1 because I did not expect to do that well with the deck.

Second format was 2HG Rav-Gpt-Dis draft. It was super fun remembering how the pick orders changed based on playing two opponents. Major Luck and I did pretty well in 2HG with this format, I was looking forward to it again. But my partner this time around was CBG. We argued a lot, took too many bouncelands (hard to play six in a single deck...) and generally figured we'd lose. We did have Sunforger and Lightning Helix (in my W/U/R deck- I guess I heart Numot even in different formats!) and double Mortipede (in CBG B/G/W/R? deck, I don't remember which color he didn't play). Those Mortipedes kicked ass all day for us. Not only did they usually give us a two for one trade, they also let the rest of our team get in there. We lost our first match, but the joys of round robin play dictated that if we beat our final round opponents we still take first. Sunforger on a Mourning Thrull is all business, let me tell you. We got there and with a 2-1 record took first. Too bad there was only one dual land in the pool.

We ended by with EDH 2HG. I was really tired by this time but luckily partner Swizz did not need very much help after powering out Niv-Mizzet on turn 2. His deck is sick. After we won one game it was Swizz's turned to be distracted- by the thought of leaving soon to party with a lady. He decided to jet, and surprisingly, none of our opponents seemed to mind that the team with the turn-2 Legendary Dragon was disbanding. I was ready for bed, and packed it in as well.

I would love to hear other people's experience of the night. I would also heartily recommend Carroll draft and limited 2HG to anyone looking for a different way to spend their draft night. I wish I could recommend Rotisserie because it sounds like it would be awesome, but... you know.
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Lorwyn Rotisserie Strategy

I am posting this a scant hour prior to doing my first Rotisserie draft ever. No idea if these ideas will play out as I expect, but that's why I'm posting it now; so I won't be tempted to rewrite it when I'm wrong. I wasn't looking to point out the best tribal cards for each tribe, just the ones that may prove to be good signals for drafters. The "Other Drafters May Hate" section is to remind myself what cards I will need to take more highly to avoid them being stolen from me.
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Elementals 35 total

Signal Picks: Ashling the Pilgrim, Horde of Notions I guess, Smokebraider, Incandescent Soulstoke

Other drafters may hate: Everything! All the non-red elementals are great.

Two ways to go here. Awesome five color elementals or aggressive red (splash blue?) beats. 5-color seems unviable, since you need Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter-caliber cards to make it worth it. Good luck with that, Fugie. On the upside, you have about 12 cheap red Elementals that no one else (maybe giants are the exception?) will ever care about. Can it be a full deck? Doubt it. Stay away unless it’s handed to you. And grab the red removal HIGH.

Elves 24 total

Signal Picks: Elvish Promenade, Immaculate Magistrate, Imperious Perfect, Wren's Run Packmaster,

Other drafters may hate Nath's Elite, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Masked Admirers, Gilt-Leaf Ambush, Eyeblight's Ending

Good news: plenty of scalable playables that no one else will care about. The only reason people will be hating you is because some of the high end elves are so good on their own that a treefolk or goblin deck might splash for them. But realistically they probably have better things to take. Bad news: You have no natural removal. You die to any mass removal spell, and you will be playing against all of them, even the rares. Is your splash color black for certain? What about red?

Goblins 27 total

Signal Picks: Mad Auntie, Wort, Boggart Auntie, Fodder Launch

Other drafters may hate: Warren Pilferers, Caterwauling Boggart, Stinkdrinker Daredevil, Tarfire

Lots of ‘em, most of them are useless to other tribes, and they come with their own built in removal. Seems strong. But don’t expect to get any other non-goblin removal spells. Black and red will both be at a premium. Keep an eye out to see if this is open.

Treefolk: 16 total

Signal Picks: Doran, the Siege Tower, Dauntless Dourbark, Timber Protector,

Other drafters may hate: Cloudcrown Oak, Lignify, Rootgrapple

So nobody wants your good stuff. Rootgrapple murders all five planeswalkers and it might go late. But you’ve only got 16 total treefolk spells! What are you going to play in your deck? A lot of changelings and removal I hope. Good luck with that. If you draft good stuff early, this mught a good audible if Doran and Dourbark are still around. The other stuff you will want should go even later. Take your mana fixing high, then too.

Kithkin: 22 total

Signal Picks: Wizened Cenn, Thoughtweft Trio, Militia's Pride?

Other drafters may hate: Kinsbaile Balloonist, Goldmeadow Harrier, Galepowder Mage, Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile, Kithkin Greatheart, Plover Knights,

Okay so some assumptions. You’re obviously a gamblin’ man, because you will need to be mono-white maybe with a light splash for removal to have any chance of this deck working. And merfolk and giants want lots of your best stuff. But if you get it together (maybe with some blue bounce?) you will be kicking ass. God help your opponents if you used your first pick for Mirror Entity.

Merfolk 22 total

Signal Picks: Drowner of Secrets, Merrow Reejerey, Summon the School,

Other drafters may hate: Stonybrook Angler, Silvergill Douser

Faeries may hate your doods. They like a lot of the early drops to hold the ground, and you will be playing against your own Stonybrook Angler and Silvergill Douser if you don’t take them early enough. The good news is there are plenty of playables. Plenty. This will be one of the more robust decks (but watch out for the all rare mass removal floating around), and somebody’s going to draft it. Grab your blue bounce and white removal highly. Not a bad tribe to be in.

Faeries: 19 total

Signal Picks: Wydwen, the Biting Gale, Scion of Oona, Mistbind Clique

Other drafters may hate: Faerie Trickery, Marsh Flitter, Oona's Prowler, Peppersmoke, Sower of Temptation, Pestermite?

Man, everybody wants your goodies! Expect a fight unless they’re wide open. You will need to be drafting the Fae pretty high, with a few exceptions. Go all in. Keep an eye on the black removal, and blue instants lest they dry up.

Giants 16 total

Signal Picks: Thundercloud Shaman, maybe Stinkdrinker Daredevil.

Other drafters may hate: Cloudgoat Ranger, Brion Stoutarm, Axegrinder Giant

Seems really bad. I mean really bad. Don’t do it. Can you live until turn seven? I hope so. Draft Kinsbaile Balloonist, Goldmeadow Harrier, Knight of Meadowgrain, and Kithkin Greatheart. You’d have a decent deck then. Or cheap goblins. It’s bad when your tribe needs another tribe to make it any good.

Changelings

There are 19 of these guys in Lorwyn. Of those, 16 are absolutely maindeck material, while the other 3 are merely playable. Expect to take these pretty high. Green only has 2, while blue has 5, so keep it in mind if you are nudged toward Merfolk or Faeries (or Treefolk or Elves).

Lorwyn Rotisserie Draft Resources

Texans have already posted their Lorwyn Rotisserie picks. Wizards' Lorwyn Rotisserie draft. Proto-Rotisserie (circa Invasion block). Bone up for the Draftstravaganza,boys!
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Draftstravaganza thoughts. T-72 hours.

The first format is Lorwyn Rotisserie draft. A complete set of Lorwyn is laid out and the first person chooses. Then drafting continues clockwise to pick 8. The person who picks 8th also picks 9th and the draft goes counter clockwise back to drafter #1. Drafting continues like this until Bog Hoodlums is taken*. I am curious what people think is the first pick. The_captain felt pretty strongly that Mirror Entity was it. I do like that pick, but could see taking a planeswalker or a command there as well. How early do you think removal will be taken? Will Fugie 1st pick Horde of Notions? Here's a good article with some stuff to chew over by Chad Ellis. Rotisserie bears a lot of similarities to Rochester but I would think is a more powerful format due to the number of rares.

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. The first time we ran this format, it was awesome as heck, despite the presence of Skullclamp. Fricking Skullclamp. To me, this format is all about sticking to your basic drafting principles of remaining open to colors as long as possible and reading signals very carefully. I think this is an incredibly skill-intensive format due to the constantly shifting foundation.

The third format will be Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension Two-Headed Giant. We will randomly assign teams and draft as normal for 2HG, with each team taking 2 cards from each pack. Note, mana fixing=very, very important. Just saying.

Any further thoughts? I am psyched.

* That's a joke. Drafting Bog Hoodlums will not just end the draft, so don't take it just because you want to screw with someone.