It’s been a while since we took a walk together, and Future Sight isn’t even online yet, so this should help those of you who haven’t had a chance to draft with the new set. I’ve been drafting a lot and playing Legacy the past couple weeks, and I feel I have a pretty solid handle on the draft format. This walkthrough is from a local live draft I did about a week ago.
Pack 1
Conflagrate, Coral Trickster, Deathspore Thallid, Divine Congregation, Errant Ephemeron, Flowstone Channeler, Herd Gnarr, Ivory Giant, Jhoira’s Timebug, Pit Keeper, Urza’s Factory, Riftwing Cloudskate, Skittering Monstrosity, Gauntlet of Power, Zhalfirin Commander
This pack is sort of a dilemma, in that the best cards are Ephemeron, Cloudskate, and Conflagrate. If we take one of the Blue cards we could be sending a bad signal here.
Taking Conflagrate here isn’t the worst pick in the world, as Red is one of the strongest colors in the TPF format and you could set yourself up for lots of good picks in pack 2, as the next two picks will almost definitely be both fliers. I’m not sure what is technically the correct pick from this pack due to these factors, but I do have a preference for Blue so I went with the Cloudskate.
My Pick: Riftwing Cloudskate
Pack 2
Castle Raptors, Chromatic Star, Fathom Seer, Feebleness, Flamecore Elemental, Gemhide Sliver, Molder, Plunder, Traitor’s Clutch, Vampiric Sliver, Fool’s Demise, Eternity Snare, Kher Keep, Unstable Mutation
Fathom Seer could easily be my favorite card in the entire format, and I just first picked a Blue card to boot. I see no reason to branch out for Castle Raptors here even though U/W has become very good with the addition of Future Sight into the mix.
My Pick: Fathom Seer
Pack 3
Cancel, Cloudchaser Kestrel, Divine Congregation, Drudge Reavers, Ghitu Firebreathing, Goblin Skycutter, Greenseeker, Momentary Blink, Penumbra Spider, Pit Keeper, Sporesower Thallid, Paradox Haze, Consecrate Land
I’m certainly not picking Cancel third. It has, however, increased dramatically in value now that Sprout Swarm has reared its ugly head. The same goes for something like Psychotic Episode, which is also capable of stopping the Swarm.
This pack doesn’t present any good options in Blue, so it’s time to start looking for another color. The best choices seem to be Blink or Sporesower / Spider. I like U/G and U/W about the same in TPF, so it’s not a matter of color preference at this point. I think the main driving factor is that I have Cloudskate already, and even though I already passed a Castle Raptors, I think Blink is the stronger pick. I also have two packs to pick up more good Blink targets.
My Pick: Momentary Blink
Pack 4
Bonesplitter Sliver, Clockspinning, Errant Doomsayers, Prismatic Lens, Sidewinder Sliver, Spinneret Sliver, Think Twice, Viscid Lemures, Truth or Tale, Locket of Yesterdays, Angel’s Grace, Safe Haven
This pack is pretty bad. The only real options are Lens, Think Twice, and Doomsayers, and I am not taking the last option this early. I end up splashing for a lot of things in this format so the Lens is always a good card to have. I also already have Fathom Seer, and Future Sight gives Blue a lot of new options for card drawing or Scrying.
My Pick: Prismatic Lens
Pack 5
Bogardan Rager, Gorgon Recluse, Mindstab, Mystical Teachings, Nantuko Shaman, Shadow Sliver, Slipstream Serpent, Thrill of the Hunt, Viashino Bladescout, Firewake Sliver, Dauthi Slayer
Okay… what now? I could branch out into a different color here with Nantuko Shaman or Mindstab and just plan on splashing the Blink. That wouldn’t be the worst idea ever.
I did just take a Lens last pick, which facilitates the Flashback on one of the most underrated cards in the format: Mystical Teachings. There are a huge number of diverse targets for Teachings now, and I really love building around the card. I see no reason to branch into Green yet.
My Pick: Mystical Teachings
Pack 6
Aether Web, Divine Congregation, Jhoira’s Timebug, Mindlash Sliver, Mogg War Marshall, Terramorphic Expanse, Thallid Shell-Dweller, Dreadship Reef, Locket of Yesterdays, Stupor
This deck is heading in the direction of “doing nothing,” as my friend Steve would say. What that means is that the deck is shaping up to be a slow control deck with lots of card draw and little impact on the board at this point. I suppose I could take Stupor from this pack but I really don’t like the card all that much, and I’d rather have another guaranteed way to Flashback Teachings that also can power out bigger spells.
My Pick: Dreadship Reef
Pack 7
Ashcoat Bear, Bonesplitter Sliver, Dream Stalker, Ground Rift, Venser’s Sliver, Wormwood Dryad, Gustcloak Cavalier, Fungal Reaches, Curse of the Cabal
Looks like I’ll be continuing on the path to doing nothing. Dream Stalker has some nice interactions with Blink and Cloudskate though, and it’s a great blocker for a control deck.
My Pick: Dream Stalker
Pack 8
Icatian Crier, Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Ophidian Eye, Plunder, Watcher Sliver, Saltcrusted Steppe, Leviathan
With all of the Bonesplitter Slivers going around, this Watcher could prove useful. There also just aren’t any better options.
My Pick: Watcher Sliver
On the lap I get Urza’s Factory, Eternity Snare, and not much else.
At this point my deck is looking somewhat weak, though it can basically go in any direction since it is still essentially mono Blue.
Pack 1
Cradle to Grave, Dash Hopes, Dead / Gone, Fa’adiyah Seer, Ghost Tactician, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Poultice Sliver, Reality Acid, Reflex Sliver, Sunlance, Wistful Thinking, Calciderm, Phantasmagorian, Hammerheim Deadeye, Heroes Remembered
This was a really tough pick for me.
I suppose the main reason for this is that I can go a number of ways and justify each of them. The options are Dead / Gone, Sunlance, Cradle to Grave, and Calciderm.
The first thing I did was eliminate the ‘Derm since the only White card I currently have is Blink and they don’t work so well together. As far as choosing which removal spell to take, I can Teachings for Dead / Gone. Cradle to Grave is the worst of the bunch. I ended up trying to maximize my Momentary Blink and just took the Sunlance.
Also, don’t read too much into my explanation of not taking ‘Derm because it doesn’t work with Blink. My reasoning is that I could still possibly splash Blink and Sunlance, whereas I couldn’t do so with the 5/5 and I wasn’t sure I was ready to jump in yet for what is maybe a slight increase in card quality.
My Pick: Sunlance
Pack 2
Citanul Woodreaders, Firefright Mage, Midnight Charm, Pallid Mycoderm, Fury Charm, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Gossamer Phantasm, Whitemane Lion, Skirk Shaman, Wistful Thinking, Aether Membrane, Big Game Hunter, Groundbreaker, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
One pick later and I’m already wishing I could go back and redo the last one. I must’ve had a brief Memory Lapse when I passed the Calciderm, because I forgot that I had Dream Stalker to return it. That alone might make it worth taking the risk with the knowledge that I might also get Whitemane Lion. A recurring ‘Derm is very difficult to beat. At any rate, I’m obviously taking Lion here as I can even Teachings it up.
My Pick: Whitemane Lion
Pack 3
Aven Riftwatcher, Cradle to Grave, Blightspeaker, Dreamscape Artist, Dead / Gone, Dust Corona, Melancholy, Mire Boa, Prodigal Pyromancer, Reality Acid, Sunlance, Stonecloaker, Timbermare
This is quite the pack.
It always seems that you get subtly punished for errors after you make them. Sure, Sunlance and Calciderm are roughly close in quality. When you have ways to bounce your 5/5 and give it a new lease on life though, the difference in quality is enormous. Suffice to say that at this point in the draft I was very angry with myself as I took the Stonecloaker. Oh, and Sunlance over Stonecloaker is only a close pick if your deck has literally no other removal. Now that Blue and White have plenty of options though, like Leaden Fists and Second Wind in the third set, I’d rather have the Flier / Combat trick.
My Pick: Stonecloaker
Pack 4
Dawn Charm, Dismal Failure, Essence Warden, Firefright Mage, Ghost Tactician, Gossamer Phantasm, Seal of Primordium, Spitting Sliver, Synchronous Sliver, Utopia Vow, Lavacore Elemental, Temporal Extortion
It seems that the guy to my left really liked that Errant Ephemeron and couldn’t get off it, as I’m getting no Blue in this pack. This pack offers a decent combat trick in Dawn Charm but not much else besides Dismal Failure.
My Pick: Dawn Charm
Pack 5
Battering Sliver, Deadly Grub, Dismal Failure, Evolution Charm, Healing Leaves, Midnight Charm, Reality Acid, Reflex Sliver, Skirk Shaman, Vampiric Link, Numot, the Devastator
Woah. I’ve heard of getting Dragons late before, but this is pretty crazy. In a team draft this would almost never happen, but I guess the guys to my left just couldn’t support the Dragon. I’m happy to take it, and I’m already in two of the colors.
My Pick: Numot, the Devastator
Pack 6
Blightspeaker, Aven Riftwatcher, Healing Leaves, Brute Force, Dreamscape Artist, Firefright Mage, Ghost Tactician, Revered Dead, Sulfur Elemental, Keen Sense
I have no Rebel searching so the Riftwatcher is marginal here. The Dreamscape Artist is exactly what the doctor ordered though, as I can run Numot off of Prismatic Lens and one Mountain now, and possibly even splash a Swamp if necessary for Mystical Teachings and something like Ichor Slick.
My Pick: Dreamscape Artist
Pack 7
Simian Spirit Guide, Dust Corona, Brain Gorgers, Essence Warden, Sinew Sliver, Synchronous Sliver, Vitaspore Thallid, Needlepeak Spider, Waning Wurm
While I don’t have a strong Sliver following in this deck, Synchronous is still a fine man, especially if I end up running Watcher Sliver. I don’t like taking Sinew here as the prospects in pack 3 aren’t all that great, and it seems like Sinew would help my opponents with Bonesplitters more than it would help me as a two drop. The truth is that neither will probably make my deck, but I’d rather have Synchronous in combination with Watcher if they did.
My Pick: Synchronous Sliver
Pack 8
Firefright Mage, Ghost Tactician, Ridged Kusite, Healing Leaves, Veiling Oddity, Whitemane Lion, Saltblast, Kavu Predator
This pack is still awesome for this late. I guess absolutely nobody on my left is in White. While I think Whitemane Lion is the better overall card of the two options here, I ended up taking Saltblast because I wanted another piece of removal. I already have plenty of tricks with Mystical Teachings, Momentary Blink, Lion, and Stonecloaker, and a straight up removal spell just seems better at this point.
Picks like these are why I don’t value “pick orders” as much as I used to. Someone could tell you that abstractly Whitemane Lion is way better than Saltblast, and you’d simply make the wrong pick here as this deck needs a Saltblast and won’t gain much from a second Whitemane Lion. The good news is that the number of draft walkthroughs has gone up tremendously in the past few years, so that you can teach yourself to recognize these types of situations and handle them appropriately.
My Pick: Saltblast
On the lap I got a Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Gossamer Phantasm, and an Aven Riftwatcher as notable on-color cards. This set of packs really made a difference and I like the direction my deck is headed in with Future Sight still to go. I forgot to mention earlier that Riftwatcher is actually awesome in this deck with all of the bounce creatures (and also Momentary Blink) to gain a lot of life and make sure he stays around. With so many going around in the packs, I was almost positive I’d table one and possibly even end up playing multiples.
Pack 1
Saltskitter, Rift Elemental, Mass of Ghouls, Lost Hours, Leaden Fists, Ichor Slick, Grinning Ignus, Gift of Granite, Gathan Raiders, Emberwilde Augur, Cutthroat il-Dal, Reality Strobe, New Benalia, Centaur Omenreader, Quagnoth
This pick is pretty simple, as Gathan Raiders is ridiculous. I see now reason to mess with my mana for Ichor Slick when there is a fairly comparable “on-color” option. One card that seems to confuse players as to whether it is good or not is Saltskitter, and I can say that from my experience it is a pretty solid beater and something you have to play with to really evaluate on your own. Definitely an interesting card, and there are lots of tricky things you can do with it.
My Pick: Gathan Raiders
Pack 2
Virulent Sliver, Vedalken Aethermage, Rift Elemental, Patrician’s Scorn, Nessian Courser, Mesmeric Sliver, Lost Hours, Knight of Sursi, Henchfiend of Ukor, Grave Scrabbler, Ghostfire, Tolaria West, Second Wind, Minions’ Murmurs
Hmm. So I can take a good aggressive creature or I can take Ghostfire for the splash. A friend of mine who loves White in this format has told me that he values the Knight more than even Shade of Trokair, which is saying something. With Mystical Teachings to fetch up Ghostfire, and plenty of good mana fixing options, I decided to go with the burn spell. It may even make me run a second Mountain maindeck so that I could hardcast Gathan Raiders (however unlikely that situation may be) if I wanted.
My Pick: Ghostfire
Pack 3
Sarcomite Myr, Samite Censer-Bearer, Mass of Ghouls, Lucent Luminid, Kavu Primarch, Judge Unworthy, Infiltrator il-Kor, Grave Peril, Gift of Granite, Aven Augur, Street Wraith, Aven Mindcensor, Magus of the Future
Wow. I suppose I got quite the hookup in this draft, getting all of the White pack 2 and now a third pick Magus here. Even if Magus wasn’t in this pack I’d have the choice of Aven Augur, Infiltrator il-Kor, or Lucent Luminid, and I’m not even sure which one I’d take! In this deck I think I’d have to go with the Infiltrator as he is a quick clock which I can protect with Whitemane or Stonecloaker, and he actually kills my opponent while I am screwing around with card draw and other things.
My Pick: Magus of the Future
Pack 4
Wrap in Vigor, Petrified Plating, Samite Censer-Bearer, Lymph Sliver, Llanowar Augur, Leaden Fists, Homing Sliver, Frenzy Sliver, Edge of Autumn, Augur il-Vec, Dryad Arbor, Grove of the Burnwillows
If only I could’ve picked two cards from the last pack and none from this one. I suppose complaining is probably a bad idea though, after a third pick Future Sight and a fifth pick Dragon earlier. Leaden Fists is easily the pick here.
My Pick: Leaden Fists
Pack 5
Vedalken Aethermage, Oblivion Crown, Nessian Courser, Marshaling Cry, Infiltrator il-Kor, Henchfiend of Ukor, Deepcavern Imp, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Augur of Skulls, Char-Rumbler, Glittering Wish
This pack offers up the Infiltrator that I wanted. My deck is looking very strong now, with good control elements, and ways to kill people instead of just sitting around.
My Pick: Infiltrator il-Kor
Pack 6
Unblinking Bleb, Sarcomite Myr, Petrified Plating, Henchfiend of Ukor, Kavu Primarch, Emberwilde Augur, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Augur il-Vec, Sword of the Meek, Storm Entity
Here the choice is between Blade of the Sixth Pride, Unblinking Bleb, and Sarcomite Myr. I know many people would take the Blade here, but I favor slower, more control-oriented decks, and this deck already has great synergy with the Bleb in Fathom Seer, Gathan Raiders, Whitemane Lion, Dream Stalker, and Stonecloaker. Yep, a whole lot of Scrying and essentially doing nothing seems to be in order.
My Pick: Unblinking Bleb
Pack 7
Venser’s Diffusion, Quiet Disrepair, Lymph Sliver, Henchfiend of Ukor, Deepcavern Imp, Bogardan Lancer, Logic Knot, Stronghold Rats, Bridge from Below
This deck would much rather have a bounce spell than a counter at this point, so Venser’s Diffusion is exactly what I’m looking for. This doesn’t mean Logic Knot is a bad card or anything, but this build just isn’t the place for it. The only real synergy I’d have is that I would be keeping mana up sometimes for the White flash creatures, and I could also keep up counter mana, but it seems like I’m going to be tapping out quite a bit and I’d like to be able to get a threat off of the board with something other than Riftwing Cloudskate. Oh, and yeah, I can Teachings for it.
My Pick: Venser’s Diffusion
Pack 8
Rift Elemental, Marshaling Cry, Knight of Sursi, Homing Sliver, Llanowar Augur, Grave Scrabbler, Vedalken Aethermage, Narcomoeba
I’m very lucky indeed to get a Knight this late.
My Pick: Knight of Sursi
To round out the draft I got a Lymph Sliver, Sarcomite Myr and another Leaden Fists on the lap, neither of which will likely make the cut.
The Deck
Riftwing Cloudskate
Fathom Seer
Prismatic Lens
Mystical Teachings
Dream Stalker
Dreamscape Artist
Gossamer Phantasm
Magus of the Future
Leaden Fists
Infiltrator il-Kor
Sarcomite Myr
Unblinking Bleb
Venser’s Diffusion
Momentary Blink
Sunlance
Whitemane Lion
Stonecloaker
Saltblast
Aven Riftwatcher
Knight of Sursi
Numot, the Devastator
Gathan Raiders
Ghostfire
2 Mountain
Dreadship Reef
6 Plains
8 Island
I decided that I was going to run two Mountains even though I had Magus of the Future in my deck, as I also had Dreadship Reef to help power it out and it didn’t have to come out right away. Casting Numot ASAP seems like a good plan, as well as having access to Teachings into Ghostfire. Nothing really good didn’t make the maindeck as I felt the Slivers weren’t good enough to play on their own. Overall I was very happy with how the draft played out, and felt that I was in the right colors.
I wish the matches were interesting to talk about, but they really weren’t. My first round opponent stumbled on mana in two games while I assembled recurring Fathom Seer and beat him down with fliers. When it seemed like he would stabilize, I just cast Numot in game 2 and he scooped.
In the second round, I was the victim of mana problems as I mulliganed to five in game 1 and got crushed, and got stuck on two lands (and had my Prismatic Lens Fury Charmed) in game 2. Not a whole lot you can do about that, and I still feel like I drafted and played well overall.
I’ll see you in Columbus this weekend!
Nick Eisel
[email protected]
Soooooo on MTGO