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Drafting With Nick – Shards of Alara #16

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Tuesday, November 18th – Nick continues his Drafting With series, bringing us a triple Shards of Alara draft from the 8-4 queue on Magic Online. Along with Rich, he shares his pick process and draft thoughts with each one, and supplies more detailed analysis in the forums.

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P1P1 – Flexibility simple as that.
P1P2 – Let’s try something different since nothing seems to be working for me in this format.
P1P3 – I’m sure this is controversial amirite?
P1P7 – It worked for LSV right?

P2P11 – This deck has a super low curve and the Powder should act as another Gargoyle.

P3P3 – I considered Ambusher here with a low commitment to Black at this point in the draft.

1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Courier’s Capsule
1 Sighted-Caste Sorcerer
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Windwright Mage
1 Puppet Conjurer
1 Etherium Astrolabe
1 Steelclad Serpent
2 Sanctum Gargoyle
2 Deft Duelist
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Protomatter Powder
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Master of Etherium
1 Kiss of the Amesha
1 Executioner’s Capsule
2 Metallurgeon
1 Guardians of Akrasa
1 Tower Gargoyle
4 Island
1 Forest
3 Swamp
5 Plains
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Bant Panorama
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Arcane Sanctum

Sideboard
1 Soul’s Grace
1 Obelisk of Grixis
1 Marble Chalice
1 Swamp
1 Welkin Guide
1 Cancel
1 Mountain
1 Savage Hunger
1 Hindering Light
1 Carrion Thrash
1 Resounding Scream
1 Call to Heel
1 Onyx Goblet
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Vectis Silencers
1 Tortoise Formation
1 Thoughtcutter Agent
1 Keeper of Progenitus

The last cut here was Call to Heel for Obelisk of Esper. I really didn’t want to run the Obelisk as my overall curve is very low but the colors were a bit unsavory without it and it definitely helped smoothing the manabase. Round 1 was against BRu. Game 1 was a total blowout as I played turn 2 Deft Duelist turn 3 Guardians and also snuck in a hit with Rafiq before it died on the following turn. Duelist easily went the distance. Game 2 took a lot longer and involved him having a triple pinger draw against my double Metallurgeon and Master of Etherium. He eventually stabilized at 5 life with Sedris the Traitor King working overtime. At that point I started digging with Kiss and Astrolabe plus Puppet Conjurer and found my second Sanctum Gargoyle for the win.

Round 2 was against Five Color. Game 1 his draw seemed pretty bad despite the fact that he achieved natural domain on turn 5 without any fixing. I played out a couple of fliers backed by Metallurgeon and took it home easily. Game 2 was a little tougher as he made a huge guy early with Lightning Talons and Sigil of Distinction for five. The race was clearly on but my Tower Gargoyle easily won it since I stuck a few chump blockers in the way before getting Puppet Conjurer online again.

In the finals I played against BRG. Game 1 he started with two Rockslide Elementals and a Devour guy which was very annoying. Somehow I slowed him down with Executioner’s Capsule and Tower Gargoyle and started fighting back in the air. Knight-Captain of Eos came down on a key turn to Fog and I won the race in the air. Game 2 he had the nut draw with turn 2 Fodder turn 3 Rockslide turn 4 7/7 Thunder-Thrash Elder. I tried to stall and fight it but eventually he got me. Game 3 he had a similar draw but I was ready with Call to Heel from the board as well as Oblivion Ring and fliers. The game ended up being close because I accidentally F2ed and manaburned for two one turn and my clock was also low because my internet lagged out and I had to reboot it. Nevertheless I finally got there and won a draft! Nothing to brag about obviously but I’ve been in quite a rut so it definitely felt good.

See you tomorrow.

Nick