  Pack 1 pick 1:
  My Pick:
This is an easy pick, as Manor Gargoyle is not only the best card in the pack but also colorless. Three of the next four best cards are blue, so I’ll try to avoid blue if possible, but I’m not going to go far out of my way to do so. If I get passed a Murder of Crows, I’m taking it.
  Pack 1 pick 2:
  My Pick:
Evil Twin is the most powerful card in the pack, but it would commit me to specifically blue/black, force me to splash (which I loathe), or sit on the sidelines. Ordinarily I’d be fine with the first option, but I wanted to shy away from blue this draft, and the Juggernaut is strong enough to keep me on track. Also of note is that the two other best cards in the pack are both blue. Between this pack and the last, it’s possible that people see some pretty good blue late and that the table becomes oversaturated with people drafting that color. Ordinarily I just “take the good cards” and don’t try to game the system, but these circumstances are unusual.
  Pack 1 pick 3:
  My Pick:
Villagers and Alchemy are close to a tie, so obviously, I take the Villagers here.
  Pack 1 pick 4:
  My Pick:
Surprise surprise, the best card in the pack is blue. Darkthicket Wolf and Orchard Spirit aren’t that far behind, though.
  Pack 1 pick 5:
  My Pick:
The first three packs had strange color distribution, so it’s even harder than usual to tell what the person to my right is taking. I’m not sure whether the Geistflame is a signal, but it’s the best card in the pack, and it’s fortunately not blue.
  Pack 1 pick 6:
  My Pick:
Woodland Sleuth is a charlatan who doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Gravedigger, and Boneyard Wurm is too slow and small outside of dedicated graveyard-filling decks. Many of the remaining cards are pretty close to a tie, so I took the curve filler that’s the same color as my previous pick.
  Pack 1 pick 7:
  My Pick:
I have mostly creatures at present, and there are plenty of arbitrary 5-drops to choose from as the draft progresses. Guile is certainly playable; it just often gets cut because the non-creature slots are better filled with removal.
  Pack 1 pick 8:
  My Pick:
I’d said at one point that Skaab Goliath was overrated. Well, at this table, I guess the opposite is true. It’s a little clunky, but it’s extremely unlikely it should still be here 8th. The Interloper is a bit of a hedge. Because Geistflame is quite good, I’d rather be red than black, but the two colors seem about equally open. The direction of my draft will probably be decided by whether I open a Brimstone Volley or a Bloodgift Demon (or what have you).
  Pack 1 pick 9:
  My Pick:
I’m starting to respect the Feral Ridgewolf a little more. Sure, just about any blocker will trade with it and force you to spend mana, but sometimes the opponent will get Lava Axed in the process, and sometimes he/she won’t have a blocker at all.
  Pack 1 pick 10:
  My Pick:
Strictly speaking, this probably should have been Manor at least Skeleton to keep with my hedge plan, but I’d be pretty disappointed if the Manor even the Skeleton made the final cut in what I hope to be a G/X aggro deck.
  Pack 1 pick 11:
  My Pick:
  Pack 1 pick 12:
  My Pick:
Flail is decent IF you have evasive creatures and IF there’s room for it in your deck. While I have Vampire Interloper, it’s not clear how many more fliers I’ll end up with even if I am forced to play black. Thus, I chose to take a sideboard card at a relatively low opportunity cost.
  Pack 1 pick 13:
  My Pick:
  Pack 1 pick 14:
  My Pick:
  Pack 1 pick 15:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 1:
  My Pick:
Prey Upon is the real deal. Obviously it’s conditional, but unless your draft went horribly awry, having a big enough creature is a condition you should be able to meet most of the time you draw it.
  Pack 2 pick 2:
  My Pick:
This was an unnecessary audible. Falkenrath Noble is the best non-rare black card in Innistrad (followed closely by Banshee) and one of the best non-rares overall, but Watchkeep/Geistflame/Ashmouth/a Ridgewolf or two still beats out Noble/Interloper/Corpse.
  Pack 2 pick 3:
  My Pick:
Here I paid the price for waffling, as I could have had another Geistflame. I’m pretty sure I’d rather have Villagers than Corpse Lunge if I end up green/black; thus, while disappointing, this pick wasn’t the worst hedge.
  Pack 2 pick 4:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 5:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 6:
  My Pick:
The curve was looking okay, and Hamlet Captain would rarely be better than a Grizzly Bears here.
  Pack 2 pick 7:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 8:
  My Pick:
As you can see, at this point, I’d decided to leave the red behind. My hope here was that I’d pick up some more creatures and ways to thread Spawning, Noble, and other death triggers together. Had I correctly taken Watchkeep, I would have taken Geistflame 3rd and now Pitchburn Devils. Do as I say, not as I do, kids.
  Pack 2 pick 9:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 10:
  My Pick:
  Pack 2 pick 11:
  My Pick:
Fits with my newly adopted graveyard subtheme. It’s not like I wanted another Ranger’s Guile or Bramblecrush anyway.
  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:
After all, the Waffle House is open 24-7. Even with my push toward black in the last pack, the window to play red is still open, and nothing in the pack but Midnight Haunting even comes close to the Cultist.
  Pack 3 pick 2:
  My Pick:
Another Evil Twin, eh? That’s adorable.
  Pack 3 pick 3:
  My Pick:
Just because I took the Cultist first out of a blank pack doesn’t mean I’m back on the red plan.
  Pack 3 pick 4:
  My Pick:
  Pack 3 pick 5:
  My Pick:
This maybe could have been Avacyn’s Pilgrim, but that would basically tap for colorless, and my deck doesn’t really need to accelerate or play another half-mana-source.
  Pack 3 pick 6:
  My Pick:
  Pack 3 pick 7:
  My Pick:
With the draft winding down, it was looking like I’d be obligated to play red as my second color. My red and black were of comparable quality, but the black wasn’t going to be deep enough.
  Pack 3 pick 8:
  My Pick:
  Pack 3 pick 9:
  My Pick:
  Pack 3 pick 10:
  My Pick:
  Pack 3 pick 11:
  My Pick:
A godsend, basically. Cobbled Wings are at their best in red/green, and there were definitely a lot of Makeshift Maulers floating around.
  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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DECKLIST
3 Darkthicket Wolf
Ashmouth Hound
2 Villagers of Estwald
2 Feral Ridgewolf
Crossway Vampire
Galvanic Juggernauts “other” three-drop creature, is an absolute beating against red decks, and simply crushes current iterations of red-based control (i
Skirsdag Cultist
Manor Gargoyle
Hollowhenge Scavenger
Pitchburn Devils
Night Revelers
3 Prey Upon
Geistflame
Blazing Torch
Cobbled Wings
2 Spidery Grasp
The key pick of the draft, of course, was Falkenrath Noble vs. Hanweir Watchkeep. If the power disparity between the two had been greater, it would have been totally defensible, and the handful of awkward picks I made to try to stay in black would have been justifiable. My deck still ended up fine, but it would have been several cards superior if not for the critical misstep.
ROUND ONE vs. BLUE/BLACK
Game 1: I went first and played Darkthicket Wolf and Villagers of Estwald, and he responded with Walking Corpse and an Armored Skaab that milled, among others, two more Armored Skaabs. His Civilized Scholar showed up in time to give my Night Revelers haste, and he was unable to mount sufficient defense.
Here, I should have boarded out Ashmouth Hound (all those 1/4s) for Tormented Pariah.
Game 2: I mulliganed five lands and both equipments into something I had to keep, awkward though it looked. He played some fliers and Butcher’s Cleaver, and I used Prey Upon in conjunction with Juggernaut to take down Battleground Geist. Thanks in part to Armored Skaab, he was going to win the race, but then he changed gears and decided to block my Juggernaut with his 6/2 Moon Heron. A Ghoulcaller’s Chant for two Zombies further clogged the ground, and he found Invisible Stalker to put the Cleaver on, thus making racing impossible.
Here, I did board out Ashmouth Hound for Tormented Pariah.
Game 3: I once again hit my patented Darkthicket Wolf, three-drop (Ridgewolf this time), Night Revelers curve. I had a Blazing Torch to make a creature unblockable if things got out of hand, but they never did. When he tried to take down Darkthicket by double-blocking with two Walking Corpses, I had the Spidery Grasp to destroy him. It was academic from there.
ROUND TWO vs. BLUE/BLACK
Game 1: After some trades, I took a hit from a Fensnake, then used Torch on Juggernaut to kill it without having to miss my attack. With life totals at 15 apiece, he slammed down Skaab Goliath and next turn attacked me with it and played a Stitcher’s Apprentice and a Typhoid Rats. I Preyed Upon the Stitcher and Crosswayed the Rats, enabling me to attack my opponent down to 6. I had to wait a turn to Prey Upon a Morkrut Banshee because I needed my Villagers to flip for the attack to be lethal, and I thought I was in the clear, but he had Cackling Counterpart for his 6/9 to destroy me. One Skaab Goliath is tough for red/green, but beatable. Two, on the other hand…
Game 2: I had Villagers and Juggernaut, while my opponent had the fairly slow start of Rats into Forbidden Alchemy. He made the horrible blunder of putting Claustrophobia on Juggernaut, and then I played Night Revelers. One of my guys fell to the Rats, but my Spidery Grasps ensured they would push through everything else my opponent played.
Game 3: He played a turn 3 Civilized Scholar, so I had to waste my third turn killing it with a topdecked Geistflame instead of playing a creature. I drew lands for several turns with only Crossway Vampire and Skirsdag Cultist as creatures, and eventually we arrived at the following board state:
HIM: Tapped Makeshift Mauler, untapped Rotting Fensnake and Stitcher’s Apprentice, 6 tapped lands; 2 cards in hand, Cackling Counterpart in the graveyard, 18 life.
ME: Skirsdag Cultist, Crossway Vampire equipped with Blazing Torch, 6 lands; two Prey Upon and Night Revelers in hand, Geistflame in the ‘yard, 16 life.
Since he hadn’t missed a land drop, I assumed that next turn Cackling Counterpart was going to make another Mauler. That being the case, I figured that I wanted to keep my Torch around to make my Revelers unblockable. I had to kill the Stitcher’s Apprentice before it went active, so that meant Prey Upon. With those factors in mind, I wouldn’t be able to both kill the snake and play Night Revelers. I couldn’t afford to take 5 from the snake, and I didn’t want to trade it for one of my few creatures (though maybe I should have been willing to trade my Crossway Vampire for it), so this meant Geistflaming it. I then attacked him to 13 with my two guys.
His next turn…didn’t go quite the way I’d planned. Rather than playing a land and maybe attacking, he Corpse Lunged my Cultist and put Sensory Deprivation on my Crossway, thoroughly neutering my squad. I decided to chump his Mauler in case he could kill it before I got another opportunity to do so, but he had Morkrut Banshee to turn my probable loss into a definite one.