This past week, Magic Online has been running Coldsnap release events, and I’ve been having a blast playing Draft queues and a 2x Sealed Premier Event. Since I’ve been having a great deal of success drafting the set, I figured that I would use DraftCap to do a walkthrough of a draft queue that I played in on Monday.
This is an 8-4 queue, and while I did record each card in each pack, I’m only going to list the relevant cards for each decision. For the first set of packs, I’m going to include the best cards in the pack, no matter what color they are. After the first set, I’m just going to include the cards that I would consider picking, even if there’s a high-quality card in a different color (unless the card is so good that I would consider switching colors for it).
Finally, I’m using a "normal" draft. I’ve been drafting the Life deck about half the time, but it doesn’t make for a good walkthrough. When you draft the Life deck, you are essentially operating on autopilot, with a very straightforward pick order (Martyr, Harvest, War Cry, Outrider, Unicorn, Sentinel). As such, there are very few decisions to be made as you go through the draft. In addition, you usually only decide to go for it when you open a pack that gives you a reason to do so, which usually means you open Sunscour, Darien, or a pack with both Harvest and Martyr in it.
The Draft:
Pack 1: Goblin Rimerunner; Gelid Shackles; Frost Raptor; Skred; Phyrexian Ironfoot; Kjeldoran Gargoyle; Scrying Sheets
Normally when you open a Skred, that’s the card that you’ll be picking. Shackles is another one-mana removal spell, but it requires a constant mana investment and operates at sorcery speed, so it doesn’t really compare. However, both Phyrexian Ironfoot and Scrying Sheets are cards that can be better for you than Skred. The Ironfoot will immediately lock the ground up against the War Cry decks, and is the best you can hope for in a defensive creature for a control deck. The Sheets, on the other hand, is a constant card drawing engine, though not necessarily the most reliable one.
My previous experiences with Scrying Sheets weren’t too amazing. In the late-game I got to draw an extra card a little over once every other turn. In the early game it didn’t do anything that an off-color snow land couldn’t do, and off-color snow lands certainly aren’t first picks. However, rares can be hard to evaluate, since you don’t get to play with them too often, and I didn’t want one bad experience with the card to stop me from ever drafting it again, which could potentially be a mistake.
Pick: Scrying Sheets
Pack 2: Kjeldoran War Cry; Surging Sentinels; Frost Raptor; FOIL Frost Raptor; White Shield Crusader
After picking the Sheets, I almost have to take a Frost Raptor out of this pack. The danger here is that the person to my left will see that I passed a Raptor in my first and second packs, and he might move into Blue and cut me off in the second round of packs. However, we can apply the same argument to taking a White card: I passed two very strong White cards in my first pack, and taking either White card will leave yet another very strong White card in my second pack. Given that the risk of getting cut off exists for both colors, the fact that Blue will make the Sheets stronger, and my personal preference for Blue, and the Raptor is an easy pick for me.
Pick: FOIL Frost Raptor
Pack 3: Feast of Flesh; Into the North; Icefall; Surging Sentinels; Frost Raptor; Disciple of Tevesh Szat
Given the danger of getting cut off in Blue in the next round, I need to take the Raptor here so that my neighbor doesn’t see three in a row. The only card in the pack that I would consider taking over Raptor, if signaling wasn’t such a concern, is the Disciple, but I would still take the Raptor to keep my colors and options open.
Pick: Frost Raptor
Pack 4: Rune Snag; Simian Brawler; Gelid Shackles; Ohran Yeti; Frozen Solid; Deepfire Elemental
The on-color picks for me in this pack aren’t very exciting: Rune Snag is certainly playable, and very good when your deck is slow to start rolling, but the way my deck looks after just three picks, I won’t have trouble coming out of the gates. Frozen Solid is a great removal spell for Blue, since it deals with the Ronom Hulks that will give you so much trouble, but I still am not thrilled about taking it at this point, mostly due to snow considerations. The Shackles is not really an option, since I would love for my neighbor to draft White; the Brawler isn’t strong enough to pull me into U/G (which I dislike drafting quite a bit); and the Elemental requires me to add two colors to my deck in one pick.
So the choice, to me, is between Frozen Solid and Ohran Yeti. Blue/Red Snow decks come in two flavors, aggro and control, and the Yeti is amazing in the aggressive deck. Since I have two cheap fliers and the Sheets in my stack, I’m definitely looking to move into Red to draft an aggressive deck.
Pick: Ohran Yeti
Pack 5: Snow-Covered Mountain; Kjeldoran Outrider; Rimewind Taskmage; Chilling Shade; Boreal Centaur; Martyr of Ashes
When you’re in the Blue snow deck, the commons you most want to see are Skred and Taskmage. The Shade, Centaur, and Outrider won’t pull me out of U/R, so the Taskmage is an easy pick.
Pick: Rimewind Taskmage
Pack 6 (lost by DraftCap): Snow-Covered Mountain
Unfortunately, DraftCap failed to record this pack, but it was not very exciting. I know that the only potential picks for me that weren’t a snow land were Drelnoch and Chilling Shade. I’ve essentially decided not to draft a Black deck at this point, so I’ll certainly pass on the Shade for an on-color snow land. Drelnoch only makes the cut when I have a marginal deck, so I’m happy to grab a snow land here.
Pick: Snow-Covered Mountain
Pack 7: Snow-Covered Forest; Chilling Shade; Krovikan Scoundrel; Tresserhorn Skyknight; Cryoclasm
The snow Forest in this pack is usually the pick that I would make, but I think that there’s a better one here. Cryoclasm is very good against opposing Snow Control decks, since it slows them down, messes up their snow count, and is a burn spell. When you’re really lucky, the Cryoclasm will take out not only their snow land but a Ronom Serpent too. Even given all that, if I didn’t already have two snow lands at this point, I would take the Forest. However, since I’m on track to get 5+, I’ll take the land destruction spell.
Pick: Cryoclasm
Pack 8: Simian Brawler; Ohran Yeti; Frozen Solid; Lightning Storm
We have already seen that I will take the Yeti over Frozen Solid, so the pick here is between him and Lightning Storm. Lightning Storm is certainly very powerful, but that’s assuming that you can count on having two or three lands in your hand to protect it. In seven cards drafted so far, I have five that want me to play all of my lands, so the Storm risks being hijacked by my opponent. Given that risk, I’ll take the great aggressive creature yet again.
Pick: Ohran Yeti
Pack 9: Frost Raptor; Snow-Covered Forest; Chilling Shade; Ronom Unicorn
The Frost Raptor from the pack I opened tabled, which I certainly didn’t expect. This means that Blue is wide open, since the only other playable Blue card in the pack was Perilous Research. The Research is very good, since there are so few ways to draw extra cards in this set, but I think that the Raptor is a better card in general. Add this to the fact that I’m drafting what is essentially an Aggro-Snow theme deck (and the fact that the Research was taken already), and I’m thrilled to add the third Raptor to my pile of cards.
Pick: Frost Raptor
Pack 10: Martyr of Ashes; Snow-Covered Plains; Sound the Call; Flashfreeze
The Martyr is a strong card, but I only have two other Red cards to go with it, so I don’t think that I’ll be able to abuse it as well as a different Blue/Red deck could. Flashfreeze is a spell that I’ll maindeck since it stops the Aurochs Herd chain from starting, stops Hulk from hitting the board, and counterspells Red removal, but my cards all want me to max out my snow count. Therefore, the off-color snow land is an easy pick.
Pick: Snow-Covered Plains
Pack 11: Swift Maneuver; Icefall; Sound the Call
Icefall could be bad if someone plays it against me, and it could be good for me to board in against a top-heavy snow deck or the Aurochs Herd deck.
Pick: Icefall
Pack 12: Martyr of Bones; Sun’s Bounty; Martyr of Spores; Freyalise’s Radiance
Martyr of Spores is the only card in this pack that does something. The Black Martyr is a better hate-draft when you’re drafting the Life combo deck, but that’s not what’s happening here.
Pick: Martyr of Spores
Pack 13: Snow-Covered Mountain; Chilling Shade; Steam Spitter
An amazing gift.
Pick: Snow-Covered Mountain
Pack 14: Martyr of Spores; Karplusan Wolverine
The Wolverine is essentially a snow land that can chump block. Sometimes he’ll get in there for a few points, but mostly he exists to increase your snow count.
Pick: Karplusan Wolverine
Pack 15: Martyr of Sands
Guess no one is drafting the Life deck.
Pick: Martyr of Sands
Pack 16: Krovikan Mist; Martyr of Ashes; Snow-Covered Plains; Frost Raptor; Void Maw
If there was ever a time to hop into Black, this is it. However, I passed so much Black in the first pack that I doubt I’ll get much of it in this pack. Besides, there’s a fourth Raptor waiting for me.
Pick: Frost Raptor
Pack 17: Skred; Snow-Covered Plains; Krovikan Whispers
I said before that Skred and Taskmage were the two commons that you most want to see when you’re drafting Blue/Red snow. However, I believe the Whispers is a stronger card that either of those two. The strength of Skred in my deck is that I have a ton of snow permanents and can curve out with Raptor into Raptor plus Skred, running my opponent over. Krovikan Whispers, on the other hand, is the two-for-one that every Control Magic has been, and it deals with giants that might be out of reach of Skred. It’s true that Skred can take down Ronom Hulk, but that’s difficult to assemble in all but the very best Snow decks, and the Whispers can kill Hulk every time. In addition, it stops two Aurochs Herds rather than just one. Plus you can always just take your opponent’s blocker and start smashing them with it.
Pick: Krovikan Whispers
Pack 18: Snow-Covered Swamp; Frost Raptor; Boreal Shelf
Off-color snow lands certainly aren’t as attractive as my fifth Raptor.
Pick: Frost Raptor
Pack 19: Surging Aether; Orcish Bloodpainter; Martyr of Ashes; Thermopod
Surging Aether may be an extremely overcosted bounce spell, but it’s still a bounce spell. Given how few tricks there are in this set, a mid-combat Aether can be a game-winner. However, I don’t think that it is as good as any of the three Red cards in the pack. The Bloodpainter is a good card for a Black/Red control deck, since you have Grim Harvest to abuse with it and Disciple of Tevesh Szat to combo with it. However, my deck doesn’t have any cheap creatures it will want to turn into pings. The Martyr, as I mentioned above, needs a large number of Red cards in your deck alongside it to be as good as it can be. Thermopod, on the other hand, is a large hasty creature that can fizzle spells like Feast of Flesh or Krovikan Whispers. It also combos well with the Whispers already in my stack, turning it into a guaranteed removal spell. Oh, it’s snow too.
Pick: Thermopod
Pack 20: Snow-Covered Swamp, Icefall
I am not in the Icefall/Martyr of Ashes combo deck, and as such won’t be taking a fifth-pick Icefall. A snow land, on the other hand, is exactly what I’m looking for.
Pick: Snow-Covered Swamp
Pack 21: Krovikan Mist; Orcish Bloodpainter; Snow-Covered Mountain
Krovikan Mist is a dangerous card, in two ways. The first is that some draws will go Mist, Mist, Mist plus Mist, and the opposing player will be dead nearly instantly. The second way in which it is dangerous is that it leads you down the path of filling your deck with 1/1 flyers for two mana. Even if you have six of them, you’ll draw two by turn 4 just under half of your games. And unlike Kjeldoran War Cry, Sound the Call, or Feast of Flesh, you need to have all of your Mists in play at the same time, or even the fourth one you draw will still be just a 1/1. Since I would rather not risk the Mist deck at any point in the draft, and don’t have any other Mists at all halfway through, I’m going to pass on this one.
Pick: Snow-Covered Mountain
Pack 22: Surging Aether; Orcish Bloodpainter; Survivor of the Unseen; Thermopod
This pack is essentially the same as the one three picks before it, with a Survivor replacing the Red Martyr. Survivor of the Unseen can be good in a control deck that can use it to draw two or more extra cards over a few turns, and it can be good in any deck packing a large number of Taskmages. However, my deck is already mana hungry without adding an expensive cumulative upkeep to it, and I only have one Taskmage at this point.
Pick: Thermopod
Pack 23: Survivor of the Unseen; Orcish Bloodpainter; Rimewind Taskmage
Speaking of Taskmage… The fact that there’s one in this pack at eighth pick reinforces my belief that there is at most one other Blue drafter sitting at this table.
Pick: Rimewind Taskmage
Pack 24: Drelnoch; Phyrexian Snowcrusher
Both of these guys probably won’t make the cut, but one is twice as big as the other and a snow permanent. You’d rather finish with Ronom Serpents than the Snowcrusher, but since I don’t have any Serpents, I’ll take what I can get.
Pick: Phyrexian Snowcrusher
Pack 25: Surging Dementia; Frostweb Spider; Drelnoch
Frostweb Spider is one of the most dangerous cards for a deck that relies on 2/2 fliers to win the game, so I’m happy to pass yet another benchwarmer for this hate-draft.
Pick: Frostweb Spider
Pack 26: Drelnoch; Frostweb Spider
Same deal. The Spider beats me if I don’t have an answer ready, and the Drelnoch will sit in my board anyway.
Pick: Frostweb Spider
Pack 27: Martyr of Bones; Thermal Flux; Sun’s Bounty; Wall of Shards
Thermal Flux is the only card in this pack that I would ever consider having in my deck at this point. It’s pretty awful as a "cycler." but it might counter a Chill to the Bone or allow any Ronom Serpents I pick up to attack.
Pick: Thermal Flux
Pack 28: Drelnoch; Martyr of Sands; Luminesce
You can’t pass every Drelnoch in the world.
Pick: Drelnoch
Pack 29: Martyr of Spores; Wilderness Elemental
Wilderness Elemental is basically unplayable, since it’ll be a 1/3 if you’re lucky.
Pick: Martyr of Spores
Pack 30: Martyr of Sands
Yep, no one is drafting Life.
Pick: Martyr of Sands
Pack 31: Ronom Serpent; Snow-Covered Island; Boreal Shelf; Balduvian Frostwaker
The Frostwaker can be deadly, but it requires you to put your lands at risk. This isn’t really a problem when you have ten snow lands, but I only have six, and they’re already earmarked for protecting my flyers, giving my creatures first strike or haste, and drawing me cards. Add that to the fact that I need a finisher or two, and the Serpent is an easy pick.
Pick: Ronom Serpent
Pack 32: Ronom Serpent; Snow-Covered Island; Krovikan Mist; Stalking Yeti; Garza Zol, Plague Queen
Stalking Yeti is often a little worse than Flametongue Kavu, and every so often a complete game-breaking bomb. Either way, it usually kills a guy on the way in and then either trades off with another or sits on the board until you have a chance to start bouncing it. Reusable removal is definitely better than a second Serpent or a snow land, so the pick is between the Yeti and the Plague Queen. Garza Zol is a bomb in the Snow Control deck, since you’re usually U/B/r or R/B/u already. If I had Black cards in my deck at this point in time, I’d probably take Garza Zol here, since she’s basically a Rorix that draws you cards. However, I don’t think that splashing for her is worth it where a card as good as Stalking Yeti is also in the pack.
Pick: Stalking Yeti
Pack 33: Ronom Serpent; Icefall
The second Serpent means I won’t have to play the Snowcrusher I picked up last pack.
Pick: Ronom Serpent
Pack 34: Surging Flame; Snow-Covered Swamp; Frozen Solid; Magmatic Core
Magmatic Core is another card that shines in the Snow Control deck, since not only can you afford to take the time to get it rolling, but you can sustain it by shooting a Zombie Musher or Rimebound Dead when your opponent has no more creatures. Here, though, I won’t be able to shoot a regenerator or even really afford the upkeep cost. If I didn’t have Krovikan Whispers in my pile at this point, my pick would likely be the Frozen Solid, since I would have only Taskmages to handle Ronom Hulk. However, since I do have the Whispers and two Taskmages, I’d rather take the removal spell that sometimes finishes your opponent off.
Pick: Surging Flame
Pack 35: Survivor of the Unseen; Thermopod; Snow-Covered Forest; Goblin Rimerunner; Surging Aether
There are few cards better for an aggressive deck than Goblin Rimerunner. His usual home is in the Green/Red deck, but he does just as well here, allowing my Raptors to get past whatever happens to be in their way. Plus he’s yet another surprise attacker. If I didn’t have two Thermopods here, I might be tempted to take the larger man, but since I do I want the utility guy.
Pick: Goblin Rimerunner
Pack 36: Icefall; Surging Flame; Frozen Solid; Flashfreeze
The second Surging Flame is better than the first, and I already took the first one over Frozen Solid. Again, this is only because I feel that I have enough cards in my deck to handle Ronom Hulk that I don’t need the Frozen Solid to fill that role.
Pick: Surging Flame
Pack 37: Survivor of the Unseen; Snow-Covered Forest; Goblin Rimerunner; Surging Aether; Highland Weald
If the Highland Weald were a snow Mountain, I would likely be picking it. However, since I’d have to wait a turn to get Red mana out of the dual land, the Rimerunner is much more attractive. With a deck filled with Raptors, Rimerunners, Yetis, Thermopods, and burn, I’m building a very strong aggressive deck.
Pick: Goblin Rimerunner
Pack 38: Boreal Griffin; Simian Brawler; Karplusan Wolverine; Rimehorn Aurochs
Boreal Griffin could be a problem for my Raptors, but it costs five mana, dies to Surging Flame, and gets hit by both Taskmage and Rimerunner. I already have a Wolverine in my stack, and I don’t see a situation where I’d want to run two of them, so I have to decide which green card I want to hate-draft. The Brawler is a potential problem for me, since a 4/4 blocker goes a long way against my deck, but my flyers and Rimerunners can handle that. The Rimehorn Aurochs, on the other hand, are dangerous in any situation, and an amazing card for the Aurochs Herd deck that must be developing somewhere at the table.
Pick: Rimehorn Aurochs
Pack 39: Sound the Call; Into the North; Icefall; Balduvian Frostwaker
The Frostwaker from the first pack is back. While I still only have six snow lands, the chance that it will make the deck outweighs the benefit of hating a Sound the Call or Into the North off of someone I may not even play.
Pick: Balduvian Frostwaker
Pack 40: Sound the Call; Ronom Serpent
Ronom Serpent 10th is not something I expected to see, but I knew it might happen given how open Blue has been all draft. A 5/6 that holds the ground while my flyers attack, or gets in there when the time comes, is always a great addition to my deck.
Pick: Ronom Serpent
Pack 41: Icefall; Swift Maneuver
Another LD spell for my sideboard.
Pick: Icefall
Pack 42: Rite of Flame; Martyr of Frost; Kjeldoran Javelineer; Frozen Solid
Same deal as the Serpent: I didn’t expect to get the Frozen Solid back, but I did hope for it.
Pick: Frozen Solid
Pack 43: Krovikan Scoundrel; Martyr of Sands; Sheltering Ancient
The Ancient is unplayable, and we’ve already determined that no one is drafting the Life deck.
Pick: Krovikan Scoundrel
Pack 44: Krovikan Scoundrel; Martyr of Sands
See above.
Pick: Krovikan Scoundrel
Pack 45: Survivor of the Unseen
The Survivor is probably better than a 15th pick, but it’s probably not going to make my deck.
Pick: Survivor of the Unseen
The playable cards that I picked up during the draft were
1 Balduvian Frostwaker
1 Cryoclasm
1 Drelnoch
5 Frost Raptor
1 Frozen Solid
2 Goblin Rimerunner
2 Icefall
1 Karplusan Wolverine
1 Krovikan Whispers
2 Ohran Yeti
1 Phyrexian Snowcrusher
2 Rimewind Taskmage
3 Ronom Serpent
1 Scrying Sheets
3 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Stalking Yeti
2 Surging Flame
1 Survivor of the Unseen
1 Thermal Flux
2 Thermopod
From this, I built my final deck:
1 Frozen Solid
5 Frost Raptor
1 Krovikan Whispers
2 Rimewind Taskmage
3 Ronom Serpent
2 Goblin Rimerunner
1 Karplusan Wolverine
2 Ohran Yeti
1 Stalking Yeti
2 Surging Flame
2 Thermopod
8 Island
4 Mountain
3 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Scrying Sheets
Snow Count: 22 permanents.
The only card that I wasn’t happy about having in my deck was Karplusan Wolverine, but like I said before, he’s essentially a snow land that can chump block. Plus, he’s the only creature in my deck that I’d want to engage in combat before turn 4.
The matches themselves were very straightforward. The first round was against the table’s Herd deck, and while he had a few Simian Brawlers and at least two Ronom Hulks, I was able to take two quick games off of him. In the second game, both my opponent and I were at six life. He had me scared, since I was facing a tapped Hulk and a tapped Druid, with just a Frost Raptor in play and a Surging Flames in my hand. To live through the turn and still be able to win on the next, I needed to draw any non-land card in my deck, with about seven lands in play already. Luckily, I drew my second Flame, and killed him on my turn. This was the only close game that I’d play, as I faced a snow control deck in the second round that couldn’t remove my Raptors or stabilize against my Rimerunners and Taskmages. For game 2 I brought in the three LD spells, and he had another slow draw. I ended up Rishadan Porting him out with Taskmage while I hit for four in the air every turn. In the finals, my opponent offered me the prize split before I’d even realized the round was starting, and I accepted.
The matches themselves may not have been informative, but I did get some extra information about Scrying Sheets. I drew it both games in the first round, and one game in the second. I activated it about five times over the course of those three games, and I got an extra Frost Raptor for my fifteen mana. This is about what I had seen when I used it on the beta. Given this, I would recommend that you take Skred in Pack 1, instead of the Sheets like I did. The only reason to draft Scrying Sheets over something like Skred is the value of the card itself on the secondary market. Even so, two tickets isn’t really worth it when you can take a card that will actively contribute to your gameplan and help you win the draft.
The only other thing to notice is that I ran eighteen lands, even in an aggressive deck. It is rare that I will run less than eighteen lands in this format, since there are so many good ways to spend mana. The exception to the rule is the Life deck, where I usually run seventeen lands and sometimes sixteen. Even there, you’re hoping to get to seven mana so that you can loop every turn. This is a mana-intensive format, and you can be punished by the fast decks if you hiccup on your development.
If you have any questions about my picks, please feel free to ask in the forums, send me email, or IM me.
Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
ben at mundy dot net
SlickPeebles on AIM