Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Now that’s a bad pack! I could first pick the fetchland but it isn’t very sexy. Same goes for Cloudheath Drake a card that is only good in Esper. I feel like taking the rare and trying something. I’ll try and go for a super aggro deck or an Unearth deck if that fails.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
I could go aggro picking Nacatl but the best uncommon in Alara is still here when a common (probably Branching Bolt or Resounding Thunder) is missing. I couldn’t ask for a better signal.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pretty good pack for me as I have a precious triple land and probably an Astrolabe wheeling as no one seems to like that card on MTGO. At worst it should be the Sculptor.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
The signals aren’t very clear here. I could take Guardians of Akrasa or Cancel and play them but I rather like taking another triple land so I can be more flexible in this draft which had started in a strange way.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Well well well… The good point is I can pick pretty much anything I want from now. However the signals could hardly be worse.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Sigil is the best card but I’m likely not to play many guys. In this archetype Leotau or Ridge Rannet will be more valuable. I’ll go for the cycling guy who is more flexible and who has better chance to make the cut. it is important to go for the playables when you pick several lands and/or cards that won’t fit in the same deck in the first pack.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Jhessian Infiltrator only has small chance to make the cut so it’s either the Obelisk or the Gift. Considering I already have pretty good fixers for a first pack I pick the card that does something besides fixing.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Creeper fits my lands well and I have to pick guys at some point.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
It’s unlikely that I play it but the other cards won’t make the cut and it’s the one I want to face the least.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
This is fine I guess but I’d better have a great pack 2 as this is looking pretty bad.
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
As predicted but I was expecting artifacts in the picks between.
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:
Infest would be great as well but as it is now my deck cannot win a game and Battlegrace Angel is certainly one of the Top 10 rares in Alara.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
If you read my Reflecting Ruel column last week you must know I don’t think five color should be aggressive in the format. But it is also very important to adapt to all situations. Here The best cards I’ve got are all guys and fixers and they are both better when playing lots of creatures so I’ll do my best to build my deck around them.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
A pick I am not happy with. I was hesitating until the last second and almost random picked in the end. The correct choice would probably have been Deft Duelist and not the Marauder (which is horrible in a Battlegrace/Mycoloth deck) nor Welkin Guide (I already have enough 5 drops).
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
I don’t know yet if I’ll be able to play it on turn 2 but I have to work on my quick curve.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
High in the curve but great with Mycoloth.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
By far the best card now that I’m likely to play WG with UB splash.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
In a red deck I pick Thoctar. Otherwise the Weaver seems stronger to me.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Not a good card but remember that the whole point of this draft from pack 2 pick 2 is to make the deck work for the best around the two rares (no I’m not talking about Hell’s Thunder) making them two game breakers.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
I usually like the drake more but I need early drops here.
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:
For a long time I’ve not opened a five-mana rare. This one is pretty good in my deck as it searches for the Gargoyle. Of course I’d like my splash to contain a minimum number of cards so I will have to restrain from drafting many other Black cards.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Not a card I often pick over Drag Down but the Black removal will be worse with zero Swamps and I need guys to make my rares better.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
This both fills the hole in my four-mana curve and is a second artifact creature for the Summoner.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
Fills pretty well in the creature-only control deck I’m trying to build.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
I don’t have enough green cards yet to justify picking a second Meditant over an Artifact creature.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
I’m not a huge fan of Sylvan Bounty as Green is not my main color and the card doesn’t do much by itself.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Over Traumatic visions without a doubt as I need Green permanents pretty badly for my Rhinos.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
I almost picked the Thalid for the same reason but the card doesn’t have any other synergy with my deck. [I dunno it sacrifices well to your Mycoloth… – Craig amused.]
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Over the Nacatl because I’m counting on it to hold the ground when my flyers attack decks full of Black and/or one-power guys.
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
I might play it for once as it will fix my mana and it can be recycled to Mycoloth when it becomes useless.
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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Considering that deck was almost made from only two packs I can’t complain about the result.
6 Plains
4 Forest
4 Island
2 Savage Lands
Bant Panorama
Arcane Sanctum
Cylian Elf
Sigiled Paladin
Valeron Outlander
2 Aven Trailblazer
Dawnray Archer
Sacellum Archer
Esper Cormorant
Faerie Mechanist
Tower Gargoyle
2 Rhox Meditant
Sphinx Summoner
Battlegrace Angel
Knight-Captain of Eos
Mycoloth
Waveskim Aven
Jungle Weaver
Sigil Blessing
Excommunicate
Gift of the Gargantuan
Gleam of Resistance
In the end as Blue was the color with the least playables I ended up leaving Grixis Illusionist and Traumatic Visions in the sideboard. The deck has two bombs (Battlegrace Angel and Mycoloth) two great cards (Tower Gargoyle and Sphinx Summoner) and a lot of flyers and its fixers and curve are pretty fine.
It is probably worth a 2/1 result and its only fault is it is nearly unable to deal with a creature. If I was to face Flameblast Dragon or any bomb of this level I would die instantly.
ROUND 1: Red/Black (Limited rating: 1600)
This was his first online tournament. He ran 43 cards in game 1 and 45 in game 2 Red/Black with Salvage Slasher Onyx Goblet Quenchable Fire and Wandering Goblins. Do you need to know any more?
ROUND 2: Jund (1821)
1830 in composite is an extremelely rare thing on Magic Online. He is probably a pro which will contrast with my first round opponent.
His draw in game 1 is pretty annoying with turn 2 Druid of the Anima turn 3 the very annoying Sprouting Thrinax and turn 4 Hissing Iguanar plus Bone Splinter on my first guy (Tower Gargoyle) sacrificing the Thrinax. A little rude but my deck was very cooperative as well. Knight Captain of Eos was coming to stop his army at first two turns before Jungle Weaver would definitely stop the beating. But with Iguanar still on the board and only 8 life left I surely wasn’t feeling very comfortable. That was until I drew Battlegrace Angel. A few turns later I was back on my original twenty life and the only card I could think of that would make me lose the game Naya Charm (he had one Plains on the board apparently for a splash) never showed up.
Game 2 was a lot easier as I drew both my bombs while he was unable to draw as many spells as lands.
ROUND 3: 5CC(1759)
Despite the fact that he drew lots of lands and no less than four Obelisks he was totally controlling the first game with a combination of two rares: Glitspire Avenger and Worldheart Phoenix. As I feared I am unable to answer great creatures. Thankfully I draw a lot more guys than him (including Summoner for Mechanist Mechanist into Gargoyle) allowing me to take a huge advantage on the board and giving me plenty of time to draw Excommunicate or Sigil Blessing to try and go for the final blow or Mycoloth to make infinite tokens. When I eventually draw Sigil I have the game if his only card in hand is not a removal spell. I guessed that the chances were about 50/50 here so I decided to go for it. Actually the chance will get higher on every turn and even a guy he would draw would make things a lot more difficult as I have exact lethal damage.
All his guys block mine except for four of them who go through. I play the Blessing on Aven Trailblazer the only one who would survive to Jund Charm Magma Spray or Naturalize. He does play Magma Spray in response on another of my guys and barely survives the attack but his next draw won’t change a thing game 1 is mine.
The second game couldn’t start any worse. I make a 10/10 Mycoloth (with a bunch of useless guys on the board and I saw no answers to Big Mike in a long game 1). He bounces it. I play it again he Cancels and plays Esper Charm to make me discard my last two cards. The game is going pretty badly when I make the brilliant play of topdecking… Battlegrace Angel. This time he has no removal left and can’t stop my Angel from winning me 8 packs.
I wasn’t exactly hoping to go 2-0 three times with that deck. Why did that happen? At first I must admit I got pretty lucky drawing at least one of my bombs nearly every game. But the deck was pretty good and it was a surprise considering the first 15 picks. Aggressive but not so vulnerable to Pyroclasm effects filled with flyers and well curved it was only vulnerable to bad mana draws and bombs. Luckily I didn’t face any and I took one mulligan in six games but I always drew my four colors in the first five turns.
Until Friday…
Oli