Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
Topan Ascetic is as good and fits in more decks but I don’t like drafting green on MTGO as Naya is extremely overrated here.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pretty great pack again. And once again the best card is not the one I pick. Branching Bolt is not Infest but this card is good enough for me not to switch after only one pick.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
This is the only archetype in which I would play Grixis Battlemage a card I don’t like much in general but Screecher is just better.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
As in most packs since the draft started there are uncommons missing making the signals difficult to read even though I think a Courier’s Capsule is gone as well. I like the Prince and would have picked it over an Obelisk of Grixis for instance but it is worse than a Panorama to me.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
One of the most underrated cards in the format. It almost kills any deck that doesn’t have a removal for it which is unusual for a four-mana guy!
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Relic of Progenitus could be annoying for me but not enough for me to pick it over a card I have a great chance to sideboard in.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
The Creeper is very tempting too as it is strong and survives Infest but I’d like to have cards I can cast if I don’t draw the right mana and I already have two UBR cards. Also this is my first two-mana guy and it is great with hypothetical Bone Splinters and Devour creatures.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
The Serpent is good too but I don’t have Obelisks or Strixes yet and Ridge Rannet as a cycler is naturally more flexible anyway.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
I am not much of a counter-drafting fan as I want to pass clear signals but I still cut cards I really dislike facing.
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick:
Somebody on the forum asked in one of my previous draft why I would pick lands and pass spells. It’s simple: I pass spells I want my opponents to be running.
Pack 1 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick:
I could have picked Jund Charm and found a way to sneak it in the deck but having a deck that doesn’t always lose to very aggresive decks isn’t good enough to justify having mana troubles. If I want to be very good against aggressive decks Blood Cutlist will just do even though it’s a close call with Magma Spray.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
The best common or uncommon I could get.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
Magma Spray is great but I have to pass it once again.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Soul’s Fire may be one of the best card you can get in big guy Naya but it goes from passable to bad in the other archetypes. It would be fine here but still no match for Blood Cultist.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
The Obelisk would have been nice and so would Deathriders but the Beetle combined with Infest and double Cultist is worth a removal spell.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
Two cards I wanted very much and they’re in the same pack. Connoisseur is really good but I don’t have any super combo with it yet while Cultist/Cultist/Beetle/Infest all make the Stinger excellent.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Dragon Fodder would be cool but I now know Devour guys and Bone Splinters are not coming any more.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
As Red and Black are my two main colors it will probably make the cut.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
The Archer is the best card but I am not putting this one-toughness guy in my deck.
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:
The best card I can get on turn 3 or the best one to search out with Corpse Connoisseur. Sincerely I don’t know what the good pick was. And I don’t know either how I will possibly deal with that wall.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
I am probably not playing it. It has no synergy with the rest of the deck and he is a two mana guy in my third color. But I still pick it as for now green dudes are my biggest problem and it will be an excellent sideboard card.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
Once again many options but nothing so sexy. The Alchemist would be good but I don’t have enough Blue guys meaning considering the pack I have to add another Blue card to the deck. It will be Brackwater Elemental as I can go for it with Connoisseur and as it is pretty good to block the big guys as well.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
Dreadwing maybe the best card in the deck but my deck lacks two things at the moment: fixers and ways to deal with big guys. Fiery Fall is both.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Banquet is really bad in my deck as I’ve lots of small guys and I don’t need anything more to defeat aggro decks. As I have enough playables I pick a Ziggurat that may help fix my mana.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
It is Blue again but it should drain my opponent most of the time.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Sideboard card or sideboard card? Molten Frame is easiest to play in my deck and Cycling ig good as well but I think big guys will be giving me more trouble and I don’t want my opponents to play this on my pingers.
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:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
If I had thought I would definitely get one of these in the last pack I would probably have first-picked the Slavedriver.
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
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6 Swamp
6 Mountain
4 Island
Ancient Ziggurat
Grixis Panorama
Blister Beetle
Dregscape Zombie
Goblin Deathraiders
Rotting Rats
Parasitic Strix
2 Blood Cultist
Brackwater Elemental
Kathari Screecher
Sedraxis Specter
Shambling Returns
Vithian Stinger
Fire-Field Ogre
Corpse Connoisseur
Skeletal Kathari
Ridge Rannet
Magma Spray
Infest
Drag Down
Covenant of Minds
Skeletonize
Fiery Fall
Playing Ziggurat or not was the most important decision in the build. With three expensive non-creature spells (Fiery Fall Covenant of Minds Skeletonize) “not” may sound like an obvious answer. But if you have a look at the manabase 17 lands could just do. As there are only 22 cards I really want to play (Dreg Reaver could make the cut but I don’t feel like cutting a land for a five-mana spell and I consider Zombie Outlander a sideboard card) I’ll play Ziggurat to improve my starts.
ROUND 1: Grixis (Limited Rating: 1766)
In the first game everything goes fine for me. He plays Executioner’s Capsule and I have a Black guy. He plays Tidehollow Strix I play pinger and eventually I play a Fire-field Ogre he has no way to deal with.
In the next he is a little harsh with me. Double Blightning is not nice. Cruel Ultimatum when I thought I still have the game is not nice either. I wish I had a chance to come back from that but the Prince of Thralls on next turn crushed the hope my Specter could manage a great come back on its own.
The third game is the closest by far. Once again Fire-field Ogre is my MVP but once again he has double Blightning getting three cards including Skeletonize and Covenant. I’m still ahead in the game as the turn when he plays his seventh land he taps his mana not to cast Ultimatum but Kederekt Creeper and Zombie Outlander. That’s all he has no cards left in hand while my board is a 2/2 Blood Cultist and the Ogre. I draw land and attack with the 4/2 putting him on 5. He attacks with his two guys put me on 12 and plays another 2/2.
I draw another land and choose to only attack with the 4/2. I don’t feel like swinging with the pinger as otherwise a double block will kill the Ogre. Life totals are now 12 to 1. He attacks with his three dudes. What did he draw? Probably a guy or an instant speed removal spell I suppose. If he drew a big guy or an Unearth guy I may not want to attack on the next turn. If he drew a one-toughness monster he needs to push me to trade. And eventually if he drew a removal spell he’ll just wait for me to attack to kill my guy. Oh yes and if he drew Ultimatum I win by not blocking. So I decide to let his guys hit me.
“Hooray”
“?”
Seven mana is tapped; Ultimatum will only put me done to one and I have the game on my next turn… does he know maths?
Banefire for 6…
I liked my deck. It wa nothing brilliant but it was pretty solid and excellent versus any aggro deck. But solid decks don’t go 3-0. Solid control decks often just lose to better decks. And no matter if I was topedecked out or not his deck was just better than mine and he played well so there is not much I can say.
Until Wednesday…
Olivier