Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
In ACR what I like the most is stability because the format seems pretty fast. This is why I’m not willing to pick a three-color card (Thrinax) nor a slow card (Covenant of Minds so early). The only true options are Fatestitcher Strix and Knight of the Skyward Eye. As the deck I’ve had the most success with so far is UW aggro I’ll go for the 1/2.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
I could follow my strategy and pick the Sorcerer over the Capsule but the difference in quality between both cards is too important for me to do it.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
A card as good as this is hard to optimize as most Esper decks are UW based and you don’t really want to splash for an early drop. I’ll have to pick fixers very high if I want to make it work.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
The card as got a lot better since Reborn. It seems better that a Mage which is good in theory but which jeopardizes your mana too much.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Not a card I’m planning on playing but a good sideboard option.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
My deck has now more raw power and synergy than stability; I’ll have to do my best to fix that in the next two packs.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
More proof it’s one of the most underrated cards in the format.
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:
Right now I’m facing quite a problem. I’m playing three colors with no fixers. The next pack should give me a lot of powerful cards (Court Homonculus Vedalken Outlander Sedraxis Alchemist Parasitic Strix Faerie Mechanist Esper Cormorants) that will make my deck more aggressive. The problem being that in an aggro deck losing one turn for fetching through Traumatic Visions or Gleam of Resistance or paying for Rupture Spire (three cards I’m looking forward to getting passed as well) is pretty bad for the tempo. Therefore I should probably focus more about power once again and gamble for the last pack to be rich in Borderposts.
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
Slightly better than Cormorants as Esper has many more 2- and 4-drops than 3-drops.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Kaleidostone could be needed for the Transmuter but the card is broken on its own anyway. I don’t need to pick a card for a combo that will be bad if I draw it on its own.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
An extremely close pick. I don’t have any Obelisks to accelerate the 5/5’s arrival in play but the combo with the Transmuter should be an instant win. However once again the 1/2 is great on its own while the Strix fits the curve perfectly.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
I’m eventually giving the deck a strong UW basis that should make it more stable and thus I’ll need the removal less.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Not exactly a card I want to face.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Not exactly an excellent fixer but I’m pretty likely to hardcast it anyway.
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:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick:
It hurts a bit to pick a dual land and pass Thoctar Renegades and Rebirth but it’s a card I needed so much that I won’t complain.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
It’s pretty good in the deck but it won’t help the deck stability as it’s Black and not an artifact.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Did you know the card has three different misprints in French? It doesn’t cost 1 it requires you to tap it and it makes non-artifacts tokens. Sweet isn’t it?
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
Another “excellent but Black” card… I really need another borderpost!
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Jhessian Zombie fits – as do as the Landcyclers – into the category of the “not so good” fixers for an aggro deck. You want to play a guy on turns 1 through 4 in this deck not to lose one of those turns fetching land. I mean if I had it I would play it but I won’t draft it over Ethercaste Knight.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
I could play a one-color-only Borderpost to combine it with Foundry and with my Homonculi but not the white one else it could keep me from casting a turn 1 guy.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Okay I went too far there. I should have taken the Zombie.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Could actually be good here.
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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5 Swamp
5 Island
7 Plains
1 Mistvein Borderpost
3 Court Homunculus
1 Esper Stormblade
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Ethercaste Knight
1 Deft Duelist
1 Sighted-Caste Sorcerer
1 Vedalken Outlanderv
2 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Parasitic Strix
1 Fatestitcher
1 Sewn-Eye Drake
1 Master Transmuter
1 Architects of Will
1 Kathari Remnant
1 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Excommunicatev
1 Deny Reality
1 Gleam of Resistance
Sideboard
1 Constricting Tendrils
1 Blister Beetle
2 Vectis Agents
1 Magefire Wings
1 Grixis Sojourners
1 Vectis Silencers
1 Brainbite
1 Cancel
1 Forest
1 Goblin Outlander
1 Guardians of Akrasa
1 Obelisk of Bant
1 Illusory Demon
1 Cumber Stone
1 Suicidal Charge
1 Island
1 Esper Sojourners
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Winged Coatl
You may have noticed the draft could have gone in two very different directions. One plan was the strategy I followed picking the most aggressive cards to take advantage of pack two and the other to build a more control version of the deck. The latter would have been short in removal but it would have had Magister Sphinx Wall of Denial and a few more fixers (Traumatic Visions and one or two Jhessian Zombies). Right now I’m not sure which choice was the best. After all the pair of Scullers were an indication that going for a stable aggro deck would be very complicated but only Magister Sphinx and the poor level of UWs card in Reborn made the strategy I didn’t go for more in this draft.
I can’t really complain about my deck as I’ve excellent cards and I’ll definitely be very hard to stop if I can draw my three colors in every game.
But will I be able to do so?
ROUND 1: Jund
In the first game I do have my three colors and it’s a slaughter. Court Homonculus and Parasitic Strix start the beatdown which he tries to slow down by playing Drag Down on the flyer. Sanctum Gargoyle and soon Thopter Foundry give me enough evasion and card advantage to keep him from ever getting back into the game.
The next game is pretty similar with the Plains/Island/Swamp combo on turn 4 and the game down on turn 8.
ROUND 2: Esper Control
This was a very interesting match against the deck I could have had myself. In the first game my draws are once again excellent and he can’t stop them. I use Transmuter four times before he finds an answer. In the next one though I eventually have mana problems which I knew would happen at some point and Sharding Sphinx punishes my inconsistent draws.
Nothing interesting so far must you think. But there’s still game 3. I have one of those god draws except that this time it won’t be enough. My turn 1/2/3 guys are first slowed down by Wall of Denial and then stopped for good by Sphinx Sovereign when he’s on four life. I had Thopter Foundry as a means of pressure but the flow of the game switches to him. Covenant of Minds gave him 5 cards (as I didn’t really want to give him three spells including the very annoying Scepter of Dominance) and he definitely stopped my team with Sharding Sphinx. The game is stalled from now as none of us can move and I come to think I could actually deck him considering the depth of his deck (10 cards) and my life (16 life). That’s when he plays Glassdusk Hulk a very serious threat as my deck has only one way left to deal with it (Capsule) and as from now any time he will draw an artifact he will make a 1/1 flyer for free as well as give me much damage.
Three turns and two artifacts later I know I pretty much can’t win if he has more than 2 artifacts left in his deck. At some point what always happens when a control deck and an aggro deck go long happens: he draws better and more expensive cards than I do his big flyers can start coming in and he makes the difference with only 4 cards left in his deck.
Until Monday…
Oli