Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Akrasan Squire and Bone Splinters would be other options. However if I have to take a card that is great in one specific archetype and so-so in any other deck in which I would run it I’d pick Tezzeret. The card seems better and it would definitely make my deck funnier.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
Infest is great but I want to go for synergy. If I manage to get two copies of Executioner’s Capsule and Courier’s Capsule Tezzeret will be very good.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Bloodpyre Elemental could be fine too and it fits both five-color and Grixis but Metallurgeon is a key card in Esper the deck in which Tezzeret will reveal all its power.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
Even though it is “only” a dual land it already helps the mana a lot.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Resounding Silence is tempting here since I already have a Green land. But in the end I am much more likely to play Esper than Bant if I want to play an artifact-based deck. And as I like the 1/2 better than a non-cycled Silence I go with the creature again.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Lots of cards I’d like for the deck but Kiss is just one or two levels higher than any other card in this pack.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
This pack is unbelievable. I may give wrong signals to my neighbors but it doesn’t matter as it is probably too late for them to switch. Also it means my last pack should just be amazing.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
I never play Obelisks that produce only two colors I can use in my deck (even though I can make an exception when playing cards that make mana flooding slightly better such as Martial Coup Banefire or Hellkite Overlord).
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:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
Covenant is good as well but I need removal spells pretty badly while I am already confident of my deck’s capacity to produce card advantage.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
This draft is going just fine. One common is missing so just as I thought there is no way the guy on my left is on Esper.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Probably a double pick as Windwright Mage should be wheeling. I pick this over the Drake as I think the card is better even though I have double Sculptor as I need removal and it is almost that. Also Strix is pretty cheap to fetch with Tezzeret.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
There is nothing I will play here (Resounding Silence at most but it is likely to come back considering how few players seem to be on Esper here) so I just take Skeletonize and I’ll maybe splash it if I get two copies of something like Crumbling Necropolis Landcyclers or Rupture Spire.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Fixing is the only thing left my deck was truly missing.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
I am very tempted by both the 2/1 and the Astrolabe but right now I think my deck is good enough to win as long as I draw the right mana.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
I pick it over the Drake which I usually like a lot better just because I now have enough fixers to think I will be able to play it on turn 3 most of time making it really good.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Excellent in my deck even though I regret not being able to pick the Serpent. My curve is too low at the moment and my two Etherium Sculptors don’t do anything amazing yet.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
Even though I love the Mage I have by now realized my curve is too low… this time I’ll go for the 3/3.
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:
I am passing a great rare plus the common I’d like to face the least (Nacatl Savage). I just hope that last one wheels so I can cut it.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
I don’t have any combo with Esperzoa yet making the Mechanist better. Well I guess if it wheels I will have actually have a combo now.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Banquet is pretty bad when I already have so many small creatures and Aven Squire is great in an aggro deck which is not exactly what I am right now. At least if I play against a deck with a broken bomb I can now board in Cancel and Visions against him.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
There’s not a single card I would play here so I pick the most annoying one.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
A card with many uses. Not only my curve is getting higher but also the Sphinx-Mechanist combo reinforces my card advantage productivity and make my Sculptors a lot better.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
A very close pick but I went for the small guy as when combined with Metallurgeon it can hold back almost any guy on Earth and in the Sky for a very cheap cost. This pick is wrong and I’ll come back to it in my Round 1 analysis.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
It usually is close with Strix but I believe I should be able to play it on turn 3 with my Sculptors. Unfortunately I have to pass a Nacatl Savage again.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
Stop here kitty.
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pretty amazing now that I have two Faerie Mechanists. I forgot about it in the first place but Sphinx Summoner is a good combo as well! This is now one of the best decks I’ve had in the format.
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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2 Arcane Sanctum
Seaside Citadel
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Plains
Darklit Gargoyle
2 Etherium Sculptor
Glaze Fiend
Tidehollow Strix
2 Metallurgeon
Puppet Conjurer
Vedalken Oulander
Windwright Mage
Esper Battlemage
Esperzoa
2 Faerie Mechanist
Esper Cormorrant
Cloudheath Drake
Sphinx Summoner
Agony Warp
Courier’s Capsule
Obelisk of Esper
Scourglass
Tezzeret the Seeker
Kiss of the Amesha
My deck is great and it would be about perfect with an Executioner’s Caspule and a Sanctum Gargoyle. But you never have everything. I have bombs (Scourglass might be better than Martial Coup in my deck) mana fixers and card advantage… that should do.
ROUND 1: White/Green (Limited rating: 1691)
Turn 2 Nacatl Savage. Not exactly what I wanted to see. Furthermore I draw lots of lands and the only real good card I draw in the first turns is Tezzeret. Luckily enough I find Agony Warp and kill his guy during his attack. Usually I play removal during my turn but here I have two good reasons not to:
a)He has a Rhox Charger on the board which will attack me if I kill the 2/1 during my turn. As he has Akrasan Squire as well and I’m willing to cover my Tezzeret on next turn I won’t block and it will cost me 5 life if I play my removal on my turn.
b)That Rhox Charger would have attacked me on the previous turn as well if he had a pumps spell as I tapped out to play Cloudheath Drake.
Agony Warp resolves and his guy dies. Then I play Tezzeret and untap to get to five counters so I’ll be able to search for Scourglass on the next turn and get rid of all his little guys. On the following turn he swings with the 5/5 Rhox Charger whom I block using my two guys (Drake + Outlander) but he drew Gleam of Resistance putting Tezzeret on 4 counters and killing all my guys.
His draws aren’t even great but his topdecking – drawing 7 lands when I drew 11 and playing Nacatl Savage on turn 2 – was a little too much.
For game 2 I take out my Obelisk (I have enough lands and fixers anyway) for Kathari Screecher so I have one more out to the annoying kitty.
Once again he plays Nacatl on turn 2 and even though we play lots of guys (I have 10 and he 8 at some point) it’s very late in the game and only two guys have attacked so far my turn 6 Glaze Fiend and his cat. Life totals are 10 for me and 3 for him and I’d finally just drawn my white Mana to start playing flyers and activating Esper Battlemage. The game is close… he can deal me one damage per turn (he has a Exalted guy) but I’m one topdeck from destroying him as the rest of my board is superior to his. And when I draw Kiss of the Amesha I am pretty sure the game is going to be mine. When it gives me a second white and Scourglass I am convinced I have it.
On the following turn I play my Disk he attacks me with all his flyers and I do multiple bad-looking blocks as I want to make sure I take a little damage. Once my board is almost clean at his end of turn I press the upkeep icon so I get priority to blow Scourglass. Unfortunately drawing makes me realize I pressed HIS upkeep icon.
“Oops misclick…”
“No Worry you probably still have it… Oh that’s a nice draw.”
And he attacks with all his guys plays Gleam of Resistance and deals me exactly lethal damage while the board should have been 5 guys to 0 and 8 life to 3 in my favor if I had clicked correctly.
That draft was slightly frustrating but I can’t complain much as I threw away the first game and as I could have won them both anyway if I had been drafting better. One of my pick was awful: the Darklit Gargoyle over Sedraxis Alchemist. Of course the Gargoyle is very good but I had enough synergy in my deck to pass it and pick the 2/2. My deck had one major problem: it would almost die to a single common in this format and that shouldn’t happen. To avoid taking 25 points or so overall in two games from Nacatl Savage I should have made sure I’d drafted a few non-artifact creatures at least for my sideboard. I could have taken Brackwater Elemental over Leotau for instance as I could have boarded it in against any Green deck. With Alchemist main deck and Elemental and Screecher in the sideboard I would have won at least one of the two games.
I will have to learn from that mistake next time I play Esper.
Until Wednesday…
Oli