Throne of Eldraine is not a format where you put on blinders in Pack 1. In many formats, starting off with good black and green cards means that, by about Pack 1, Pick 7, it’s hard to justify any deviation. In Throne of Eldraine I frequently change my entire archetype according to what wheels in Pack 1. Given that there are so many viable strategies, there’s always something open, and positioning into that lane will be more fruitful than putting on blinders because of a good start.
Pack 1, Pick 6
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
I took Garenbrig Squire out of this pack, which I believe is a mistake. My logic was that it’s a fine “Bear” that fits the strategy corresponding to Edgewall Innkeeper, which is my best card. However, it’s replaceable in basically any green deck. If it’s correct to bias towards Edgewall Innkeeper, then the correct pick is Maraleaf Rider. While it isn’t directly the same strategy as Edgewall Innkeeper, It’s going to be better than Garenbrig Squire in almost every Golgari deck. It also combos quite well with the Sorcerer’s Broom in my pool. While the Squire is likely better than the Rider in Selesnya, I’m not likely to end up there given this start, and Maraleaf Rider is still a fine two-drop in that archetype, especially since it can function like a Lure.
So this pick boils down to Maraleaf Rider and Brimstone Trebuchet. I wouldn’t fault anyone for taking either of these cards. But only one of them is irreplaceable: Brimstone Trebuchet. It’s rare that a deck cares to have more than one copy of Maraleaf Rider in the same way that red Knight decks will take any number of Trebuchets they can get. I certainly wish I’d drafted the Trebuchet given what happened next, but I’m not certain if it was correct.
Then, this draft took a turn following a speculation on an incredibly late Scorching Dragonfire. It’s that pack did also have a Wandermare but given that I already passed a Wandermare Pack 1, Pick 3, I didn’t want to risk fighting for Selesnya. Scorching Dragonfire can pair with either green or black just fine and is by far the best red common. With already three commons missing from the pack, I took it as a strong signal that red would flow and it did.
Pack 1, Pick 11
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
All right, I think this fully solidifies that I should be red. But before you decide what the pick is, I know the following seven cards have been taken from this pack:
The Pick:
Rimrock Knight is 100% to make my deck at this point. But Inspiring Veteran this late is an incredible signal. The only way Boros Knights isn’t open is if the person directly to my left is in the archetype, and given the cards I passed in this pack, I believe that’s unlikely. I think this is telling me to draft Boros and so I’m taking Inspiring Veteran. It’s still possible that passing this Rimrock Knight swerves a player downstream into red, and that I won’t be as incredibly rewarded in Pack 2, but I know Pack 3 will have all the goodies.
Pack 2, Pick 1
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
Given how Pack 1 went, it’s much more likely that I end up Boros than Izzet, but The Royal Scions is a much better card in general, especially on the splash out of a mono-red deck. I honestly think it’s possible to argue either way, but I went with The Royal Scions for the following reason: if Boros Knights is really so open that I should draft that over mono-red, Inspiring Veteran will wheel just like it did in Pack 1. Note that this actually informs how I navigate Pack 2, as I will take fliers on very good white cards and very good blue cards, but for the most part, I’ll bias mono-red just in case.
The deck below went 3-0! It was a bit of an unfortunate scenario where I accidentally submitted a 43-card deck with twenty lands, which is what you see below. No, I would not recommend building it that way, and a very important lesson is: pay attention. Also, if you’re curious, here’s the full draft log.
