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Drafting With Rich – Shards of Alara #7

Draft With Rich Hoaen every day... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, November 18th – Canadian Draft maestro Rich Hoaen returns to the pages of StarCityGames.com. Each day, he brings us a triple Shards of Alara draft from Magic Online, from pick 1 to pick 45, sharing his insight on the more difficult picks along the way. For more in-depth analysis, visit the forums!

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3 Viscera Dragger
Executioner’s Capsule
Necrogenesis
Dregscape Zombie
2 Jungle Weaver
Cylian Elf
Carrion Thrash
Magma Spray
2 Vithian Stinger
Algae Gharial
Court Archers
Jund Charm
Resounding Roar
Elvish Visionary
Branching Bolt
Cavern Thoctar
Agony Warp
Blister Beetle
Obelisk of Jund
1 Island
3 Mountain
5 Forest
6 Swamp
Grixis Panorama
Crumbling Necropolis

The first pick of this draft was fairly interesting. Nothing really jumped out at me. Grixis Charm is obviously a superior card but not enough that it’s worth taking over a solid single-colored card. After that there weren’t any interesting picks until the 11th where I took Carrion Thrash over Jund Panorama. This is a general strategy pick that I’m not really sure about. What do you think? Is it better to take the spell or the fixer there?

After two picks in pack 2 I was regretting taking the spell. In pack 3 I was almost a solid three colors and had to use some early picks on manafixers although I didn’t have to sacrifice much in terms of quality for them. The deck ended up solid but unspectacular and a little on the inconsistent side with a bunch of cyclers to help with that.

Round 1 I played against another Black Red deck. He didn’t play a third land in the first game. His first turn Relic of Progenitus was excellent in game 2 since nearly every creature I played had unearth. He also got Blood Cultist into play before I could cast either of my Vithian Stingers which meant he had pinger advantage for a long time. He played a couple Blightnings which got a bunch of Unearth guys in the yard so he sac’ed his Relic. I drew Branching Bolt before the Cultist got out of hand and had a Viscera Dragger to his creatureless board but he had five cards in hand and it looked like he was missing a color. He eventually found a Green source and played Carrion Thrash but I was able to attack into it thanks to a Court Archers I drew. I drew into some more Draggers and eventually overwhelmed him with Necrogenesis despite the fact that Relic removed about ten creatures.

Round 2 I played against a Blue White exalted deck. Neither game was particularly close. Both games I had Stinger on turn 3 which killed a couple of his guys. I won game 1 with a nasty Branching Bolt two-for-one. Game 2 I simply drew much better than him and ended the game with a bunch of good spells in hand. I don’t think he could ever really win if I drew Branching Bolt and sufficient mana to cast it.

Round 3 I played against another Black Red deck and this time it was Algae Gharial doing all the work. Game 1 he played a couple Hissing Iguanars and killed all my blockers except the Gharial I played on turn 4. When it got up to a 3/3 I played Jund Charm to kill his Iguanars putting me to eight and leaving me with a giant dude he could do nothing about. Game 2 he played some less than impressive cards like Deathgreeter and my two Stingers both traded with a removal spell and an Iguanar all the while growing the Gharial. Once again the Gharial sat on the sidelines watching until he grew too big to be dealt with.

Until tomorrow…

Rich