Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
This is a pretty good pack featuring three of the best commons in the format. I chose the Ring as the other two are Red and I don’t want to pass bad signals.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
Excommunicate would be great in an aggressive Exalted deck but I rather like taking the strong card and seeing what happens. Even if I don’t play Five-Color Control I have a good chance to play both picks made so far if I focus on the fixers.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
Bant Panorama is the best card here for the Five-Color archetype but Corpse Connoisseur is great if I play Grixis. Tidehollow Strix is the best Esper pick but I haven’t received any signal that the archetype is open.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
There’s a strong signal for the Unearth archetype here but I can’t see myself going for this while passing two strong black cards. Picking the Capsule leave my options a little more open.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
This is definitely an interesting draft with another difficult pick. If I do draft Grixis then Scavenger Drake is the stronger card a little higher than both Panorama and Iguanar. However if I go for Five-Color the land is the right option. Pressed for time I chose the flyer but I should have gone for the land. Indeed the Panorama is pretty good in Grixis as well while Scavenger Drake is unlikely to make the cut in Five-Color.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Sprouting Thrinax is one more signal that either Jund and Grixis are open but I have already passed a lot of such cards and I haven’t received any Unearth guy except for the Connoisseurs. Therefore I rather like taking the draw spells and going Five-Color.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
I’ll not make the same mistake again!
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
Resounding wave is good too but you need card advantage when playing Five-Color Control and Blightning is one card you absolutely do not want to face. Two good reasons to pick it.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
This was nice to see.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
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:
Savage lands and Vithian Stinger are two tempting picks. I am not a huge fan of fragile guys in Five-Color Control but my deck’s current inability to handle aggressive White decks as well as the combo with Corpse Connoisseur and the possibility to pick Bone Splinters at some point make me go for the Unearth guy.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
This is great as my archetype is pretty bad when you don’t have Wrath-like spells or huge spoiling monsters.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
I don’t have enough artifacts to pick the Gargoyle and I just like Capsule more than either War Monk and Gharial.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
My fixers are not ridiculous but they are not sufficient either.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Five-Color cards are simply not coming… let’s take the Battlemage.Aat least my deck will be great versus the “small guy” decks.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick:
I love counters and lifegain in Five-Color decks and I am a little short on playables to pick the land at this point.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
More card advantage. And what is this Nacatl doing here by the way?
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
I am not planning to play more than one Forest so the Ambusher pick is excluded right now.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
Two straight decent picks.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
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:
Probably the best rare in the format and a perfect fit for my deck. All of a sudden with two Wrath effects and a great spoiler my deck is becoming pretty good.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
Matca Rioters is a little too Green for me to first-pick it as I highly doubt I‘ll be able to cast it on turn 3. Rupture Spire is pretty great but my fixers are okay at the moment and I don’t feel like refusing wrath effect number 3.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
The best Paragon in this archetype but also a guy that’s a little too fragile when I can just pick a removal spell and a fixer in the same card.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
I pick the rare as it’s pretty great in the Five-Color archetype and then realize it is pretty insane combined with Corpse Connoisseur!
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
A card I needed a lot… good news!
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
Both a winning card in my deck and a card that kills me instantly. Even more than Blightning two good reasons not to pass it.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
A super kill condition in my deck simply better than Spore Burst in the same archetype. Wordly Counsel to help me get my Coup could have been tempting but the Elemental is just too good.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
I am not playing any of these cards so I take the one I dislike facing the most.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
I’ve so much removal that it should be a true creature killer.
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Likewise.
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
I’ll board this in for the Bant matchups.
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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As you can see I’ve heavily expanded the pick-by-pick analysis in the draft. I’ll also be giving much more detail on the games I play plus sharing any insights on the format in general that I pick up during the draft. Of course this more extensive analysis is much more time-consuming so to compensate for that the Drafting With Olivier series will now be updated on a Monday / Wednesday / Friday basis. I hope the extra analysis and explanation is worth it as I’m dedicated to bringing you guys the best information I can!
Okay let’s move onto the decklist.
Decklist:
3 Plains
2 Island
4 Swamp
5 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
2 Wretched Banquet
2 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Wordly Counsel
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Obelisk of Naya
1 Vithian Stinger
1 Worldheart Phoenix
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Fusion Elemental
1 Blightning
1 Grixis Charm
1 Jund Charm
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Voices from Above
2 Kiss of the Amesha
1 Fiery Fall
1 Martial Coup
In the end my deck is very strong and I feel extremely confident about it’s chances in the draft. I have infinite removal including three mass removal spells a super MVP and a deck built around it to ensure I draw it every game. The only worry is the lack of great fixers but the ones I have should be fine.
You may notice I have only four guys but it should be more than enough here as three of my kill conditions (Martial Coup Worldheart Phoenix and Fusion Elemental) are extremely hard to handle in any conventional way.
Round 1: Jund (Limited rating: 1867)
Game 1 may be the best game I have played in the format. At first it looks like a bloodbath as I’ve stopped his board with a Corpse Connoisseur and Worldheart Phoenix he doesn’t want to kill while my Voices from Above get rid of his hand. A few turns later he still hasn’t attacked; I am at twenty I have tons of land on the board and my hand is Martial Coup Fiery Fall Grixis Charm and Executioner’s Capsule. When he eventually decides to attack I block with Connoisseur and Phoenix and he Jund Charms them both alongside with my graveyard. Ouch. Could be worse… he has only one card left in hand when I play Martial Coup for 9. Game? I don’t think so… his last card was Volcanic Fallout. And I see my four guys deck lose to two Pyroclasms despite having both of these cards in my deck! At this point I still have control but I have only one card left with which to win with 14 cards in my deck.
13 12 11…
Come on…
I still have enough removal to clean the board twice one time killing a Fusion Elemental!
Kiss takes me to 9 cards then the second Kiss to seven…
6 5 4…
Come on be the next one…
I can kill all his guys plus the ones he could draw in the next two turns but I need you to be something special…
Jund Panorma.
Errrr not quite. So I lose game 1 ladies and gentlemen for being unable to draw in my zero-card deck.
Game 2 is less fun. I mulligan then find only three lands for the first 6 turns which is not enough for my deck to develop and I die before being able to cast my Martial Coup for value (I actually died while three mana away from it).
In the end the draft was very difficult but the deck ended up pretty good and not only because of Martial Coup. I lost to a pretty good player with the worst matchup for me (his best creatures were Capsule proof and he had Volcanic Fallout and Jund Charm to deal with Martial Coup and Worldheart Phoenix). There was just not much I could do about it. As a consolation I am pretty sure this deck would have been at least a 2-1 in a sanctioned event.
That’s it for today. Sorry my first extended draft walkthrough ended up with my worst performance yet but c’est la vie. I hope you can see the value in this increased walkthrough information and I’ll see you on Wednesday!
Olivier.