Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
A surprisingly close first pick this time around. The valid options here are Quag Sickness Juggernaut and Condemn (or I guess Garruk’s Companion if you’re a masochist). I think Juggernaut is weaker than both Condemn and Quag Sickness but in the end decided that not by so much that I want to commit myself to a color. If black were better in the format I would’ve picked Quag Sickness. If Condemn were good in all white decks I would’ve picked that.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
A really weak pack and Cloud Elemental is probably the best card and it’s blue so you know I’ll take it.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
I guess the pick here is Spined Wurm but I just can’t bring myself to draft green again. Maybe I should’ve picked Negate though; I’m not sure.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
A much stronger pack again and it really felt like this pack would decide the rest of my draft… which is kind of annoying since I don’t really know what the best pick is. Or rather I don’t really think anyone can know what the correct pick is. In my mind I can either go for red by picking Chandra’s Outrage (which is better than Magma Phoenix) or I can pick the Stormfront Pegasus. I quickly dismiss the Quag Sickness after having passed one already and it’s just worse than the Outrage. In the end I go for the weaker card in the better color hoping good old U/W would treat me well again.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Of course another Quag Sickness but now I really can’t pick it. Diminish edges out Leyline since I don’t have the luxury at this point to pick up cards that don’t do anything. It also edges out Stone Golem because that card is awful.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Excommunicate is just a better card than Unsummon most of the time. It does give me my second white card though narrowing my options but Unsummon is just so unexciting.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
At this point my draft’s looking like a complete mess with basically no good cards. Roc Egg isn’t a great combo with Juggernaut and maybe I should’ve picked Warlord’s Axe but that card isn’t exactly exciting either.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
The way this draft is shaping up I’ll be playing many cards as bad as or worse than Phantom Beast so I don’t think I can afford hate-drafting Combust here.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
I pick Ingenuity here because my deck looks like it’ll be a slow U/W deck and by picking a blue card I might wheel the Vanguard which could make my slow deck even more awkward. Yay!
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pacifism is just a clear pick here. Water Servant isn’t as good and we don’t want to start drafting some crazy Destructive Force deck.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Another weak pack where the choice is Strongbox Alluring Siren or Inspired Charge. I’m not exactly thrilled by any of these options but the Strongbox I can pretty much always play.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
At this point I only have one white creature so I can’t really see picking Honor of the Pure. Taking the first Squadron Hawk this late isn’t awesome either but if I can get multiples maybe that can save this draft. The other option here is to pick Cancel but I really don’t like that card in this format.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Elite Vanguard is clearly the best card here even if it may not be a perfect fit in my deck.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
Wow. If we had more packs like this one our deck would be great. Angelic Arbiter is a pretty sick card but seven mana is a lot in M11 and Blinding Mage is usually ridiculous.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Another Squadron Hawk is pretty lucky and definitely better than Assault Griffin. 3/2 fliers that cost four are usually very good but in M11 it just stacks up very poorly against all the other fliers.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Another Vanguard and now our deck is actually looking more aggressive.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
And more Vanguards. Weird how much these last few picks have changed my outlook on what kind of deck I’m drafting. After pack 1 there’s no way I’d think that my deck would turn out aggressive and in most cases it wouldn’t but now it definitely looks like we’re aiming at a fast white beatdown deck.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
A nice sideboard card and there’s nothing else here. (Arc Runner counts as nothing.)
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
After getting those Vanguards I was obviously regretting not picking the Inspired Charge over Strongbox. Guess it doesn’t matter though.
Pack 2 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick:
Infantry Veteran is usually worse than Azure Drake or Cloud Crusader but in this deck I want the card that lets me attack not the card that defends well. If we’re lucky we could wheel an Inspired Charge too.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pretty much the same pick again; in many decks I wouldn’t pick Scroll Thief here but I want to keep my curve low and my creatures aggressive.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Even bad Time Walks are Time Walks.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
Can’t really have too many two-drops in this deck.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
What looked like a disaster in pack 1 is now actually looking pretty good. Now I’m getting the best cards in the packs instead of the worst ones.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Looking at the card count I shouldn’t have to play the Cancrix so I just pick the card that’s best against my deck.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
What’s better than one White Knight?
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Palace Guard won’t get played but it’s also the best card against us.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
And the Charge wheeled too. Everything is just going my way it seems.
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Fog might ruin us while I’m happy if my opponents play cards that cost seven. I could go for Merfolk Spy here but don’t think my mana can afford boarding them in against blue anyway.
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Wall of Vines buys a lot of time for our opponents.
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Guess I should’ve picked Naturalize here but figured the Missionaries might get boarded in.
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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1 Ajani’s Pridemate
1 Blinding Mage
1 Cloud Elemental
3 Elite Vanguard
1 Infantry Veteran
1 Juggernaut
1 Phantom Beast
1 Scroll Thief
2 Squadron Hawk
1 Stormfront Pegasus
2 White Knight
1 Diminish
2 Excommunicate
2 Inspired Charge
1 Jace’s Ingenuity
1 Pacifism
Sideboard
1 Manic Vandal
1 Blood Tithe
1 Fog
1 Hornet Sting
1 Ajani’s Mantra
1 Solemn Offering
1 Roc Egg
2 Tireless Missionaries
1 Wall of Vines
1 Angel’s Feather
1 Palace Guard
1 Stabbing Pain
1 Harbor Serpent
1 Bloodcrazed Goblin
1 Naturalize
1 Runeclaw Bear
1 Holy Strength
1 Goblin Tunneler
1 Sorcerer’s Strongbox
Weird just how much this draft changed in pack 2. After pack 1 I wasn’t very optimistic about the outcome feeling like the choices I made had
all turned out wrong. But through blind luck (that’s what it feels like at least) I got a bunch of good cards in pack 2 and then even more in pack 3
and in the end my deck turned out pretty good.
I did end up a little low on playables and playing Jace’s Ingenuity with six Islands isn’t awesome but it felt better than the alternatives. I also
could’ve played only seventeen lands but once again the options were just not very good so I’d rather improve my chances of hitting land
drops. I did almost play Holy Strength and I guess if there’s one deck for it this is that deck. Still it’s just a very bad card and I hadn’t
seen any Ice Cages so in the end it got cut.
Quarters:
Game one:
I win the roll and keep two Plains Infantry Veteran Diminish Blinding Mage Squadron Hawk and Juggernaut.
I draw Island on turn 2 and play Squadron Hawk over Blinding Mage just so I won’t draw the other one next turn. My opponent does nothing on turn 2
with a Mountain and Plains in play but has Lightning Bolt for my Blinding Mage. On turn 3 he summons Arc Runner and gets me for five.
I draw land and summon Juggernaut which he then tries to block with Assault Griffin. Sadly Infantry Veteran makes that block unprofitable for him.
Sometimes you play against people that just aren’t that good (even in 8-4s) and sometimes you play against people that aren’t really paying attention
to the games (maybe they’re playing several drafts or doing something else at the same time).
Anyway at this point he’s so far behind that only something like Day of Judgment will save him. He doesn’t have it and soon dies to Juggernaut
and pals.
I sideboard nothing. I don’t really have many good sideboard cards this time and he didn’t show me anything special.
Game two:
My opponent chooses to play first and I mulligan five Plains Squadron Hawk and Pacifism. I think this decision is pretty close but not having any
blue mana makes this hand much worse. My six-card hand is two Islands Elite Vanguard Ajani’s Pridemate and Blinding Mage. This hand is actually
slightly worse than the first one but being on the draw with twelve white sources I felt this was keepable at six cards.
I luckily draw a Plains for turn 2 and cast Ajani’s Pridemate which he wastes no time killing with Lightning Bolt. Once again he gets me for five on
turn 3 with Arc Runner and I play Elite Vanguard on my turn. I could play Blinding Mage instead but with only one white mana it won’t do
anything and the Vanguard deals more damage.
He casts a Cloud Crusader and I draw and play Excommunicate on it since I still only have the three lands. He recasts the Crusader and I topdeck a
second Plains and cast both Blinding Mage and Infantry Veteran. He has Assault Griffin but Cloud Crusader has to stay back since the race isn’t
looking good for him.
I draw another Plains meaning I can cast Juggernaut and still have mana to use the Mage. His only answer is Volcanic Strength on the Griffin which
isn’t great but I’m now forced to tap that over the Crusader which can block my smaller creatures.
He has another Arc Runner that puts me to ten but Hidetsugu’s Second Rite isn’t in M11. Even though he finds his seventh land to cast Angelic Arbiter
it’s too late and I can just tap one creature on his turn and one on mine to kill him.
Semis:
Game one:
I win the roll and mulligan three Islands Ajani’s Pridemate White Knight Phantom Beast and Jace’s Ingenuity. White Knight and no Plains at seven
cards makes this a mulligan but if this were a six-card hand (let’s say without Phantom Beast or Ingenuity) I’d keep. The six card hand
has no lands at all so I mulligan again and then keep three Plains Squadron Hawk and Phantom Beast.
I summon Hawks on turns 2 and 3 and on my opponents third turn he accidentally clicks away his whole turn with F6. On turn 4 he plays a Bog Raiders
that I Excommunicate since I have nothing better to do. He recasts the Bog Raiders next turn while I just attack with my two Hawks. On turn 6 he
casts Acidic Slime killing one of my many Plains. On my turn I finally draw an Island to cast Phantom Beast. Sadly he has Triskelion for turn 7 and
he doesn’t even have to kill my Hawks since I just keep drawing lands.
Once again I don’t sideboard anything.
Game two:
I keep Plains two Islands Diminish Stormfront Pegasus Inspired Charge and Jace’s Ingenuity.
My opponent has a turn 2 Black Knight but then misses his third land drop. He hits land on turn 4 though and kills the Blinding Mage I’ve drawn with
Quag Sickness. I cast Ingenuity on turn 5 and drop three creatures into play on turn 6 while he can only manage Mind Rot which leaves me with Inspired
Charge in hand. I attack with everything and Charge is lethal.
Game three:
My opponent goes first and I keep three Plains two Islands Stormfront Pegasus and Scroll Thief. Another borderline hand but this time I have the
mana to play all my spells.
My opponent has a turn 1 Wall of Vines while I draw two consecutive lands. On his turn 3 he plays his third Forest and just passes back so he
probably is mana-screwed or at least color-screwed. I also draw Excommunicate and when he doesn’t do anything on his fourth turn I get to
Excommunicate his Wall and attack with Thief and Pegasus. I draw an Inspired Charge which lets me kill his Wall when he blocks the next turn.
Although I’m mostly drawing lands he’s stuck on only Forests unable to cast anything. A couple of turns later he concedes.
Finals:
Game one:
I win the roll and keep three Plains Elite Vanguard White Knight Squadron Hawk and Scroll Thief.
My opponent plays Duress on turn 1 also known as “The Black Peek.” I counter by drawing my second Hawk (just to make it fair you know). I drop a turn
2 Black Knight and on turn 3 I have Hawk and another Elite Vanguard but he has Child of Night and then turn 3 and 4 Aether Adepts (one of which
trades for Vanguard) that slow me down a lot.
He then drops Liliana Vess on turn 5 and makes me discard a card. At this point I’m holding two blue spells and I have no blue mana so
it’s not that big a deal. My two Hawks and White Knight attack Liliana and he elects to chump-block the Knight with Adept bringing Liliana down
to four loyalty.
I follow up with a topdecked Stormfront Pegasus and on his turn he tutors with Liliana and plays Rotting Legion. I kill Liliana and deal four damage
to him bringing him down to twelve. Next turn he empties his hand casting Bloodthrone Vampire and Azure Drake.
Pretty nice feeling when the best thing he can tutor for is a Drake. The Drake does stall the board for a couple of turns until I draw an Island to
cast Cloud Elemental to hopefully use Diminish to kill his Drake. I could’ve just attacked earlier and hope he doesn’t have anything when I try
to Diminish but it felt better to just develop my board and get a creature out that can safely attack into the Drake.
Next turn I draw Pacifism so I play that instead but he has Negate. This leaves him with no cards in hand though and Diminish takes out the Drake.
He fails to draw anything relevant and my Hawks and friends kill him in a couple of turns.
Once again I choose to not sideboard anything but this time it was very likely the wrong decision. Keeping Phantom Beast in against a deck with two
Aether Adepts isn’t great and I have a Harbor Serpent that actually can do some harm here.
Game two:
My opponent lets me play first. Not really sure what his reasoning is since this just has to be wrong given the information he had. I keep two Plains
two Islands Elite Vanguard Diminish and Phantom Beast. Not a great hand but it has all the mana I need and a nice one-drop.
My Vanguard goes unopposed for three turns and his first spell is Mana Leak on my Phantom Beast. On turn 4 he plays Azure Drake that stops my beats
since I don’t want to trade Diminish and Vanguard for it; although I’m holding Excommunicate I’d much rather just play a Cloud Elemental.
My opponent plays a Wall of Frost on turn 5 and Diminish kills his Azure Drake post-combat after it blocks my Cloud Elemental. My last two draws have
been another Excommunicate and Juggernaut (pretty much the best possible cards I could draw) and I’m able to play the Juggernaut on the same
turn.
Still stuck on four lands with only one Swamp my opponent casts an Augury Owl to try to set up the coming turns. I topdeck my sixth land though and
when I Excommunicate both his creatures he’s literally drawing dead.
One of the weirder drafts I’ve done in M11 for sure — just seemed like a total train wreck after pack 1 and I thought there was no way
I’d end up with this kind of deck. The draft did have several close picks and I can easily see myself ending up with something completely
different especially if I didn’t have as big a bias against some colors.
The games played were more weird and awkward than informative I guess with many games being decided on mana-screw or mulligans but that’s just what
Magic is like sometimes. Winning the draft is obviously lucky (winning is always lucky) but it feels like I had a better deck than all of my
opponents and some of them played less than optimally.
As always questions and comments in the forums.