Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Thunder is a little stronger in both Jund and Grixis than Capsule. However I like Esper a lot more than Naya so I feel more comfortable with picking the Artifact.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
Even though I’m pushing my left neighbor to go Jund I can’t pick anything else here even though I considered Resounding Silence for one second to have a funkier deck. But don’t worry funky this will get.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Cancel is not great in Grixis while Cylian Elf is fine in Jund so I go for the Elf. However as my three first picks don’t go well together (two early drops and a “double colored” removal spell of three different colors) I almost picked the Knight here.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
One more pack which seems to be advising me to go white. I’ll follow the path of Wisdom and consider a switch here. I don’t feel that comfortable with it yet as I haven’t seen much Blue so far but it also means I haven’t passed any. And as the good UW stuff is in pack 2 I should be okay.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Once again no Blue card and Excommunicate is not great in an Esper deck that doesn’t seem like it’ll be very aggressive.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Glze Fiend can’t possibly be good in my deck.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
That second Duelist is probably here not because it is any kind of a signal UW is open but because it’s highly underrated. However with two Blue early drops I’ll try and make my deck what it should naturally be a UWb build.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 13:
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Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
A deck that is short in playables removals and stability so which sucks as mine does at the moment has two options. It can try and be more stable (by picking the much easier to cast Slavedriver for instance) or to rely on a certain number of key cards. Considering how bad my deck is right now stability alone won’t be enough. I need game breakers.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
With those three first picks my deck can now produce card advantage and a bomb. That’s better.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Frontline Sage would be fine in the deck but I want many artifacts to make the Mechanists stronger as I didn’t receive many in pack 1.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
I’ve been disappointed by Purge lately and even though I only have one removal spell I’d rather pick another good creature.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
My deck is too slow to deal with that and I don’t see myself playing Wretched Banquet in that deck.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 14:
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Pack 2 pick 15:
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Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick:
At least one fixer won’t hurt I guess.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
One of the most underrated card in the format it is one of the best rares Esper can hope for. With him Extractor Demon and the card advantage flyers I have a solid control core to build my deck around.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
I could pick Finest Hour which my 2 Kaleidostones could probably support but the Shieldmage is just better in my deck. I just hope I won’t have to face the enchantment now.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
Excellent against removal it also makes the Kaleidostones much better. Also a fun combo with Extractor Demon to deck an opponent in no time.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Thresher would be nice too as I’m starting to get many artifacts. However I need fixer and the 2/2 is so underrated that I’d not even be surprised if it was to wheel.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pretty much the best deck for that card I’ve been wanting to test for a while.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
The one or two Bant mages at the table should reread the card. This is pretty much Rafiq… you know the card you take over ANY common and uncommon.
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
It wheeled. I can’t even rare draft now.
Pack 3 pick 13:
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Pack 3 pick 14:
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Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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6 Plains
4 Swamp
5 Island
1 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Mistvein Borderpost
1 Court Homunculus
2 Deft Duelist
1 Zombie Outlander
1 Ethersworn Shieldmage
2 Ethercaste Knight
1 Talon Trooper
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Arsenal Thresher
2 Faerie Mechanist
1 Grixis Slavedriver
1 Extractor Demon
1 Filigree Angel
1 Executioner’s Capsule
2 Kaleidostone
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Excommunicate
1 Etherwrought Page
1 Deny Reality
1 Finest Hour
Sideboard
1 Cumber Stone
1 Shield of the Righteous
2 Gustrider Exuberant
1 Mountain
1 Shambling Remains
1 Hindering Light
1 Breath of Malfegor
1 Forest
1 Cylian Elf
1 Vectis Agents
1 View from Above
1 Vithian Stinger
1 Resounding Scream
1 Skeletal Kathari
1 Scornful ther-Lich
1 Rotting Rats
1 Onyx Goblet
1 Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 Jhessian Lookout
Round 1: 5CC
In the first game I mulligan he plays Banquet on my first two guys and casts Fusion Elemental on turn 6 when all I have is a pair of 2/2s and no card in hand. In the second game I’m in big trouble once again as I’ve had a very slow start. When I eventually play my first good spell Finest Hour I have a Deft Duelist but his board is Sprouting Thrinax and Stoic Angel. I keep on drawing lots of lands but I hope my Faerie Mechanist/Sanctum Gargoyle hand can help me come up with a comeback plan. And it does. I play the 2/3 returning Ethercaste Knight and the 2/2 and revealing Filigree Angel which I use on the following turn to get my life back from 2 to 14 (thanks to Sanctum Gargoyle and a Borderpost). One turn later he is forced to concede.
Game 2 is super long but it isn’t very close. This time I’m having absolutely no trouble with my mana and I manage to play Thoptar Foundry and Etherwrought Page in the early game. Then I just keep playing defensive and waiting for my bombs while the Foundry almost annihilates his removal and the Page nearly keeps me from drawing any land. At some point I draw my Angel go up to 40 and the the match is over.
Round 2: Naya
I’m playing versus a friend who is playing regularly on the PT and the least I can say is he’s not being very friendly to me. Beating me with Mycoid Shepherd and Goblin Razerunners while I have only played a Borderpost is not so nice! In game 2 though I make him pay as I play turn 5 Extractor Demon and t6 Finest Hour. Quite an unlikely combination right?
The third game though is pretty great. He plays first and opens with Woolly Thoctar Rhox Brute Wild Leotau and Goblin Razerunners. In order to stop the squad I keep all my spells in hand until turn 4 when I play a 6/6 Thresher and think I have the control when I play Executioner’s Capsule with Sanctum Gargoyle backup. Unfortunately that’s the moment he chooses to draw Dispeller’s Caspule and get rid of my big guy. The few guys I have played block and manage to kill the 4/4 while I keep a Homonculus but my life total is now pretty low. As I draw a seventh land I’m able to sac the Capsule Regrowth it with the Capsule and play it again. Soon both boards are clean but he has a huge life advantage (18-2). The last card I’m holding Faerie Mechanist reveals Thopter Foundry. As I had a Borderpost and a Stone in play I am able to both rebuild a board and get my life a little higher. Pretty quickly even though he plays bigger guys I take the game as I was able to produce chumpblockers who will end up reinforcing my beating team by becoming flyers.
Before conceding he tells he still loves me and we can be bff no matter what. I feel relieved.
Round 3 or finals. (Yes “Finals” sounds better I’ll say that from now on.)
Finals: Grixis
His first two turns are spent cycling pretty bad cards. I have a bad feeling about this. Either he doesn’t have enough playables or he wants to draw his best cards pretty fast.
In both case as he has made his way to the final it smells like a rare is coming. I could hardly be more correct as I had to endure Blood Tyrant and Cruel Ultimatum in the first game. On the turn following his second rare I believe I may actually have the game when I draw Deny Reality but that’s until I realize I don’t have a Black mana source. In game two I open with a 6/6 Thresher on turn 4. He has Molten Frame and starts draining my life total with a draw more aggro than in the first game. The good news when he kills me on turn 9 is that it happens one turn before I must face the humiliation to discard from not drawing a single White source.
But I won’t complain about it. The first picks I’ve wasted made me short in playables which I’ve tried to compensate by picking strong cards over more stable options. The bet was rewarded as Extractor Demon won a game and Filigree Angel two but it’s also normal that I’ve lost several games to mana problems.
Until Monday…
Oli