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Drafting with Kenji – Scars of Mirrodin #5!

Wednesday, December 8th – Join your favorite Japanase Limited pro for a Scars of Mirrodin draft – he has all the tech for mastering the format, so follow along with his picks! Train with the masters in our Drafting With series.

  Pack 1 pick 1:































  My Pick:

This was a kind of weak pack – the only cards in the pack that are even worth looking at are Sky-Eel School Instill Infection Dispense Justice Horizon Spellbomb and Acid Web Spider.

I like the Spider a lot because it can stop the majority of the creatures in the format – the body and the ability to block fliers alone would generally be worth the five mana – and its ability can be very good.

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Sometimes the triple-red casting cost can be annoying but it’s still a very nice card.

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  My Pick:

There are many good cards like Mindslaver Volition Reins and Shatter. I’m pretty sure that the player to my right isn’t playing red because he has already passed me Kuldotha Phoenix and Shatter. So Shatter seems like the best card for me.

Not only does it seem like red is open to my right but after I took the Shatter there were no good red card left in the pack (making the pick even stronger).

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  My Pick:

Slice in Twain and Arrest are the two best cards in the pack. I have these two cards ranked very similarly so I took the green one to go with my first-pick Acid Web Spider.

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  My Pick:

There is nothing special for me in this pack. Fume Spitter is a good card if I wanted to move into black but Leaden Myr is better because I can play it in any deck and it can help me with metalcraft.

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  My Pick:

I don’t like Panic Spellbomb in control decks like the one that I seemed to be drafting.

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This card is really good in games that go long. If there was no good on-color card to pick I would’ve taken the Fume Spitter.

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  My Pick:

Should I have taken Arrest or Snapsail Glider? I felt like maybe I should’ve taken Arrest but Snapsail Glider seemed like the wrong pick. Finally I already had Shatter and Slice in Twain and I thought I could get more Shatters (and I felt like I might need some help to get metalcraft) so I took the Liquimetal Coating.

I think that Liquimetal Coating is a very underrated card. It goes very well with Shatters it helps a lot for metalcraft and it combos well with Barrage Ogre and Tel-Jilad Fallen.

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  My Pick:

I think Trigon of Corruption is better than Shatter even if I don’t have any black mana in my deck.

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I’m a not as big a fan of Galvanic Blast as most people are. Sure it’s very nice to have but I think Axe is the better card most of the time.

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No good card for me. So I hate-drafted it because I felt like there was only one player who was playing poison.

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  My Pick:

Contagion Engine is such a bomb. I don’t need any explanation about that do I?

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  My Pick:

If I had more artifacts I would’ve taken the Darksteel Juggernaut.

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Golem Artisan is the best card in the pack but my deck already has tons of expensive threats. Instead I took the on-color Copper Myr (which can help a lot with my double green spells).

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Such a great gift again! Spikeshot Elder is a very good card on its own but fortunately I have a Darksteel Axe.

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On-color Myr are very good for this deck. This deck needs RRR and GG so this is really good card for me to get eighth.

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1 Acid Web Spider
1 Alpha Tyrranax
1 Barrage Ogre
1 Copper Myr
2 Darksteel Myr
1 Iron Myr
1 Kuldotha Phoenix
1 Leaden Myr
1 Molder Beast
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
1 Spikeshot Elder
2 Wall of Tanglecord

1 Contagion Engine
1 Darksteel Axe
1 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Shatter
1 Slice in Twain
1 Tower of Calamities
1 Trigon of Corruption
1 Untamed Might

9 Mountain
8 Forest

Sideboard
1 Neurok Invisimancer
1 Melt Terrain
1 Mountain
2 Sky-Eel School
1 Whitesun’s Passage
1 Silver Myr
1 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Vedalken Certarch
1 Auriok Replica
1 Oxidda Daredevil
1 Salvage Scout
1 Mountain
1 Carrion Call
1 Tel-Jilad Defiance
1 Swamp
1 Golem’s Heart
1 Putrefax
1 Revoke Existence
1 Dross Hopper
2 Assault Strobe

Round 1 U/W

Game 3

The first two games were fairly uneventful – both being decided by mana problems.

I boarded in Tel-Jilad Defiance and Silver Myr instead of a Darksteel Myr and an Untamed Might.

He chose to draw but he led the game off with Vedalken Certarch and Iron Myr while I merely played Tel-Jilad Defiance to draw a card.

I played Silver Myr and passed my third turn. He then played Tumble Magnet and Flight Spellbomb (giving himself metalcraft). He tapped my Myr during my upkeep but I had a fourth land and Trigon of Corruption. On his next turn he played two more Tumble Magnets. This gave me time to activate my Trigon again and again to decimate his board.

He didn’t cast any good creatures so I kept some threats in my hand so I wouldn’t get blown out by Sunblast Angel (remember he still had the Tumble Magnets so I couldn’t just leave my creatures on defense). I didn’t see the Angel in either of the first two games; though this is the only way to lose the game. Fortunately he didn’t play the Angel and the game was over pretty soon after.

Round 2 G/R Poison

I chose to play first. I had a good start with Darksteel Axe Wall of Tanglecord and Leaden Myr while he played Cystbearer Tumble Magnet and Bladed Pinions. I answered the equipment with Acid Web Spider.

He tapped my Spider and my Leaden Myr (which was equipped with Darksteel Axe) with his two Tumble Magnets and carried on attacking with his lonely Cystbearer. I blocked his Cystbearer with Wall of Tanglecord twice then he cast Arc Trail to get rid of my Leaden Myr and the Wall.

Luckily I drew Spikeshot Elder the next turn (which is awesome with my Darksteel Axe). He didn’t have any more removal so I was able to win the game pretty quickly thanks to my Spikeshot Elder.

Sideboarding

I boarded in Silver Myr instead of Darksteel Myr because he was playing a poison deck. I wanted to board out the second Darksteel Myr but I didn’t have any other good card to board in and I thought there was a good chance that he might have a couple of big creatures like Alpha Tyrranax.

Game 2

He chose to play first and I quickly discovered that he had changed his second color from red to black. I led this game with Silver Myr and Trigon of Corruption. His first play was a Contagious Nim on turn 3 then he played Mimic Vat the following turn.

I played Barrage Ogre and blocked his Contagious Nim. I then destroyed his Mimic Vat with Slice in Twain and killed his Moriok Replica with Barrage Ogre while he was still tapped out. He played Molder Beast next turn but I drew Spikeshot Elder and attached Axe to it.

He killed my Elder with Flesh Allergy but he seemed to be out of gas at that point. I attached my Axe to my Ogre and attacked every turn. When he attacked with Putrefax I blocked with my two Walls of Tanglecord. He cast an Untamed Might on his Putrefax but he could only make it a 9/6. Without any blockers he died the next turn.

Round 3 W/R

Game 1

I chose to play first and I started the game with a Leaden Myr on turn 2. I also had a Copper Myr that I could’ve cast but because I only had Mountains for lands I didn’t want my Copper Myr to die so I played the off-color Myr in case he had a kill spell that he wanted to use.

In fact he killed my Leaden Myr with Revoke Existence on his turn.

I then played Copper Myr while he played Golden Myr. I got a Forest next turn and my board was a Copper Myr a Forest and three Mountains. At this point the cards in my hands were Alpha Tyrranax Wall of Tanglecord Shatter and Slice in Twain. I wanted to draw another land as fast as I could (so I could cast my dinosaur) so I used Slice in Twain on his Golden Myr. I drew two more lands directly so I was able to cast Alpha Tyrranax pretty quickly.

He played Vulshok Heartstoker and Precursor Golem which I answered with my Shatter. He then added Blade-Tribe Berserkers to his team.

I chose not to attack with Tyrranax because I didn’t want to trade it for his 2/2 and his 3/3. I played Darksteel Myr and he played Oxidda Scrapmelter to kill my Wall of Tanglecord. At this point we were at a stalemate and we both drew tons of lands.

We both had nine lands when he suddenly attacked with Oxidda Scrapmelter. This attack was a mistake because I had Darksteel Myr on my board. However it told me that he had Galvanic Blast. If I’d used Tyrranax to block my board would’ve crumbled. He didn’t attack again.

For those of you reading remember that even a single action can reveal your hand to your opponent. Be careful about your actions at all times. If you do something suspicious your opponent will probably ask himself “why would you make that play” – and if there’s an obvious reason he’ll probably be able to figure out what’s in your hand.

I then proceeded to draw Liquimetal Coating Barrage Ogre and Spikeshot Elder. Spikeshot Elder died to his Galvanic Blast but not before it killed his Kemba’s Skyguard.

At this point I felt like I was very favored because neither of us could attack but I could deal two damage with Barrage Ogre and Liquimetal Coating every turn. When he cast Razor Hippogriff (getting back Precursor Golem) then cast Glint Hawk he seemed to be ahead in the game.

But my Barrage Ogre and Oxidda Scrapmelter with Liquimetal Coating killed his fliers giving me enough time to draw and use Tower of Calamities to slowly decimate his board. It seemed like I was going to win the game… until he drew and used Mindslaver

Mindslaver is Mindslaver. And just like that the very long game was over.

Sideboarding

I didn’t do any sideboarding this time but I decided that I wouldn’t use my Oxidda Scrapmelter Shatter or Slice in Twain unless he played a great threat. I was particularly interested in holding Slice in Twain as it would be so good when my opponent cast Precursor Golem.

Game 2

I had a really good start with Copper Myr Wall of Tanglecord and Spikeshot Elder which was unfortunately killed by Galvanic Blast. He then played Etched Champion and Vulshok Heartstoker before adding Precursor Golem to the board.

Precursor Golem can be a pretty scary card but I was ready with the best answer – Slice in Twain. I drew Kuldotha Phoenix and Contagion Engine off of the many Slice in Twains and my Kuldotha Phoenix with Untamed Might was able to seal the game very soon after.

Game 3

He started the game with Gold Myr while I played two Forests and a Wall of Tanglecord. I had kept a decent hand but by this point I was afraid of mana problems.

The cards in my hand were Darksteel Myr Alpha Tyrranax Kuldotha Phoenix Trigon of Corruption Contagion Engine and a Forest.

When he cast Oxidda Scrapmelter on his third turn I knew that I needed to draw another land as soon as possible. Happily I drew a Mountain next turn and it allowed me to cast Trigon of Corruption. The fact that he didn’t have any play on turn 4 was also good news for me.

He cast Mindslaver on his turn 5 though. When he used Mindslaver I then got some luck again. I was still stuck on the four lands and I topdecked Horizon Spellbomb. He decided just use my Spellbomb to get nothing so Mindslaver does almost nothing.

Then he cast Razor Hippogriff to get Mindslaver. But I drew a fifth land and cast Acid Web Spider. He attacked with both Oxidda Scrapmelter and Razor Hippogriff next turn; I blocked with Darksteel Myr and Acid Web Spider. He lost Razor Hippogriff and Galvanic Blast in combat while I only lost the Spider then he cast Mindslaver again with no card in his hands. I drew Darksteel Axe and just attached it to my Darksteel Myr and passed the turn. He activated his Mindslaver and dropped his topdeck which was Kemba’s Skyguard. I was stuck on five lands so he used my Trigon for my Myr and finished.

He killed my Alpha Tyrranax with Oxidda Scrapmelter and Galvanic Blast but did almost nothing after that. When he cast Precursor Golem I was able to answer with Contagion Engine. Soon after my Kuldotha Phoenix allowed me to fly to victory.

Thanks for reading!