Know that feeling you get when you’re going to say something and then someone interrupts you and suddenly you forget what you were just about to tell them?
C’mon, I know you do.
Well I’m havin’ that feeling right now. I’m sitting here trying to come up with some clever intro while my mom is yelling things across the house to me and my cell phone is constantly ringing. So scrap that idea, it’s not happening.
Before I get into the stuff I wanna talk about this week, I’d like to make some comments in regard to some of the things posted in the forums concerning my last article. I didn’t get a chance to post a response until Sunday night about some of the comments since I wasn’t home during the weekend, and while a few people seem to have read what I said, I know most you probably didn’t get a chance to.
Basically, I responded in regard to the Murderous Spoils vs. Skullclamp pick from last week’s article, and how it is quite possible that I was in error in taking the Spoils. I explained most of my reasoning in the actual article as to my rationale for taking the Black removal spell over the powerful Equipment, but I would like to elaborate here as well. Skullclamp is definitely broken; it’s just that in past drafts with the 5c archetype, it hasn’t really done anything for me. It would usually come out and not really affect the game that much because of the way the 5c deck usually functions. Thinking back more on this, I realized that since I’ve had so many good experiences with Spoils in the archetype, that I might be heavily biased on the matter by past draft experience.
So I apologize for making a strong argument for the Spoils when it does appear that Clamp was probably the better pick. With that said, I certainly don’t think it’s as clear cut as some of you guys are making it to be with your”how could you pass Clamp, ur stainz, n00b” comments.
Oh, the other thing that some of you commented on too was my pick of Tel-Jilad Archers over Leaden Myr. I don’t even think that is close, and maybe I value the Archers much higher than most of you, but I’ll take and play as many of them as I can get. Would any of you take a Myr over a Neurok Spy? Obviously not. Well I view Archers as almost as important as Neurok Spy, so hopefully that makes things a little clearer.
Now we get to move on to new and better things.
What’s the Build?
Let’s begin with one of the more difficult draft decks I’ve had to build in the past few weeks from MTGO. I was constantly getting good cards late, but the problem was that they were all heavy on the mana requirements and in three different colors to boot. I’m gonna list all of the relevant picks in order first and then go over some of the builds I went through during deck construction after some discussion about the draft.
Mirrodin
Molder Slug
Blinding Beam
Skyhunter Patrol
Iron Myr
Fangren Hunter
Pyrite Spellbomb
Tel-Jilad Exile
Auriok Transfixer
Goblin Dirigible
Chromatic Sphere
Ancient Den
So my deck was looking pretty hot at this point after cracking Slug and then getting the Fangren that late. Not to mention how absurd Beam is in G/W and having a good flier in Patrol. Darksteel is when the goofy stuff started to happen.
Darksteel
Pristine Angel (Yes, I know, soo lucky)
Loxodon Mystic
Hoverguard Observer
Spire Golem
Neurok Transmuter
Fangren Firstborn
Spire Golem
Arcbound Stinger
Arcbound Bruiser
Tangle Spider
After the second pick of this pack, I was sitting there wondering what had happened.
There was not a single good Green, White, or Artifact card for a few packs after my first two picks. Somehow I got cut even though I took only Green and White cards in Mirrodin. Honestly, I have no explanation for it and I was left scratching my head. What really bothers me though is that somehow I got Fangren Firstborn (which is bombtastic), sixth after not seeing a Green card for a few packs. Maybe there just weren’t any? Who the hell knows.
And before you start heckling me in the forums about using broken draft decks as examples, let me tell you that the reason I’m talking about this one is because the final deck was very difficult to build.
Think about it, if your deck is terrible, how many decisions do you really have to make during deck construction? You basically have to jam every slightly playable card into your deck until you hit the magic number. You don’t have the luxury of making difficult cuts.
And yes, that Pristine was incredibly lucky.
So going into Fifth Dawn, my deck is essentially split almost evenly among the three colors and I’m hoping that the third pack will offer some solution to the dilemma. Actually, my plan at the time was to just run U/G and splash the Pristine and Blinding Beam by taking fixers high, but as you’ll see, that plan didn’t end up materializing.
Fifth Dawn
Vedalken Mastermind
Trinket Mage
Eternal Witness
Loxodon Anchorite
Leonin Squire
Leonin Squire
Conjurer’s Bauble
Thermal Navigator
Anodet Lurker
So I open Mastermind, which is fine because I wanted to go UGw right? Yeah well there was a Dawn’s Reflection in each of the first two packs and neither of them made it back to me. Frown. Anyway, I’m happy to get both the Mage and Witness as well, but in the end my deck is still in the same state that it was after Darksteel: A solid three-color mess.
First let’s take a look at the final compilation of options before discussing the possibilities.
Green
Molder Slug
Fangren Hunter
Fangren Firstborn
Tel-Jilad Exile
Tangle Spider
Eternal Witness
White
Pristine Angel
Loxodon Anchorite
Blinding Beam
Leonin Squire
Leonin Squire
Skyhunter Patrol
Loxodon Mystic
Auriok Transfixer
Blue
Vedalken Mastermind
Trinket Mage
Neurok Transmuter
Hoverguard Observer
Spire Golem
Spire Golem
Artifact
Chromatic Sphere
Pyrite Spellbomb
Anodet Lurker
Thermal Navigator
Arcbound Stinger
Arcbound Bruiser
Iron Myr
Goblin Dirigible
Conjurer’s Bauble
Land
Ancient Den
Relevant Sideboard Stuff (Didn’t list these above because they didn’t make any build of the deck that I tried)
Turn to Dust
Regress
Darksteel Brute
Battlegrowth
Fill with Fright (hate drafted 10th )
Grinding Station
Hrm. Where to start, where to start.
To begin, you should try building this one yourself before you read into my analysis.
The real problem I have here is that most of my cards are really powerful and have a lot of synergy together. But they’re in different colors. Opening that Mastermind really threw a wrench into things after I was passed Trinket and Witness as well. Another potent combo is Transmuter plus Molder Slug which essentially kills everything from Trolls of Tel-Jilad to Tel-Jilad Exile. Not to mention that it protects your own creatures from the Slug’s ability at the same time.
Before coming to a final decision on the build of this monster, I went through about five different variations trying to get the power level as high as possible without diluting the mana to a point where the deck would just stumble too often and get run over.
The first build is the incredibly obvious G/W one that includes all of the broken rares, but fails in a number of other areas. This build was simply all of the Green, White, and Artifact cards and a land base of 8 Forests, 7 Plains, 1 Mountain (for the Pyrite since it is really good with the Squire). One thing I really liked about this deck was that the curve was really smooth and it incorporated most of the really powerful cards I had drafted. One of the weak spots though was dealing with fliers, with only Pristine, Patrol, and Tangle Spider serving to guard the air (you could count Thermal Navigator too, but since when does he ever gain flying and block). The other problem is that most of the artifacts aren’t at their highest potential in the straight G/W deck since you don’t have the Transmuter to protect them from Slug, and also can’t search for the Spellbomb or Sphere with Trinket.
While this build looked solid, I still wanted to explore the other options and see if I couldn’t create something better.
My next shot at the deck was an attempt to splash Blinding Beam and Pristine in the U/G build like I had originally intended before the Fifth Dawn pack was even opened. Take a look:
Conjurer’s Bauble
Chromatic Sphere
Arcbound Stinger
Vedalken Mastermind
Iron Myr
Thermal Navigator
Eternal Witness
Trinket Mage
Neurok Transmuter
Hoverguard Observer
Fangren Firstborn
Tel-Jilad Exile
Spire Golem
Spire Golem
Molder Slug
Fangren Hunter
Anodet Lurker
Arcbound Bruiser
Tangle Spider
Goblin Dirigible
2 Plains
Ancient Den
8 Forest
6 Island
Okay, a few things..
This version of the deck has a few nice features that are noticeably absent from the straight G/W version. First off, we’re able to play the Ancient Den, and also be able to tutor for it with Trinket Mage, which is excellent since it’s our splash color anyway. The Pyrite Spellbomb got cut since we’re no longer playing the Squires (though they too are sweet with Mastermind and Pyrite together), and I upped the land count to seventeen since our mana symbols are now much more concentrated. Also this deck brings with it all of the extremely annoying combos I listed above with Mastermind and Transmuter in combination with some of the Green cards. Spire Golems help to solidify the airforce, and we’re playing essentially the maximum amount of power cards we can possibly fit into a single build from this pool.
The next attempt was the U/W build. This is the exact same build as the straight G/W construction discussed earlier if you drop the Green cards and add the Blue ones. The only difference is that the manabase would now be 7 Plains, 7 Island, 1 Mountain, Ancient Den. This deck also looks really good on paper, and hopefully you’re starting to see why the build of this set of cards was really tough. The nice thing here is that the Squires can go off with Mastermind like nobody’s business. In exchange for that, we’re giving up the power of Molder Slug, Eternal Witness, and Fangren Firstborn. The deck is also less mana intensive, and also quicker with the added early drops.
The other variations I tried include an attempt at splashing Trinket Mage and Transmuter into the G/W deck, and also a straight U/G deck that didn’t end up having enough power behind it in comparison to the other builds I’d already tried.
In the end, I decided that I wanted to play either the G/W, or U/G/w builds and I just really couldn’t decide which was better. The U/W was also promising and was easier on the mana since I didn’t have to support Mr. Firstborn and his triple Green requirement. To play U/W though would be giving up on some of the best spells in the card pool and I didn’t really feel like doing that.
I ended up almost timing out on deck building on MTGO though, and scrambled to rebuild my original G/W, list since it felt like the most reliable way to go. Honestly though, I’m not really sure I ended up playing the best build, and while any way you put the deck together it’s going to be extremely good, there’s still one correct way to do it.
One weird thing I didn’t really notice until after the draft – during deckbuilding was that I’d somehow managed to draft almost all creatures. This is something that’s been happening a lot recently and I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m valuing some creatures too highly. In this case I don’t really think I was, since the only pick that could go either way was Thermal Navigator vs. Opaline Bracers, and I didn’t think the Bracers added anything to the deck really, especially since at that point in the draft I still didn’t know what colors I was going to end up playing.
What do you think?
For reference, the final build I ended up using was:
Auriok Transfixer
Chromatic Sphere
Pyrite Spellbomb
Conjurer’s Bauble
Arcbound Stinger
Iron Myr
Leonin Squire
Leonin Squire
Thermal Navigator
Eternal Witness
Blinding Beam
Loxodon Anchorite
Skyhunter Patrol
Fangren Firstborn
Tel-Jilad Exile
Loxodon Mystic
Molder Slug
Fangren Hunter
Anodet Lurker
Arcbound Bruiser
Goblin Dirigible
Tangle Spider
Pristine Angel
8 Forest
7 Plains
1 Mountain
A Close Call
So I was reading Aten’s article the other day, and really enjoyed the part where he was talking about going on tilt and drafting awful decks. You see, I can relate to it since I do this quite often, but when I’m doing it I don’t really consider myself to be on tilt, but rather trying to have a good time by beating people with terrible cards. I have to take my hat off though to Tim’s attempt to”assemble Kaldra,” as it’s something I had never even considered before reading it.
My latest”on tilt” experience was last Saturday at the local card shop when I drafted a deck centered around Door to Nothingness. This is something only a complete idiot would do, since the card is just Godawful. Unfortunately I don’t have the decklist since most of the cards just went into my common bin, but what I do remember is that the main reason I 3-0ed was using Scry to find the Gemstone Array plus Ion Storm combo, or Ion Storm plus Serum Tank. I did manage to get the Door off twice as well, which made the draft worthwhile even if I lost.
After looking at all of the awful cards that had made my maindeck (I almost tried out Lich’s Tomb), my good friend Aric went off on my as to why his favorite card, Wirefly Hive, was sitting in my sideboard.
Aric :”60% of the time, it works all the time”
Me:”That doesn’t make sense..”***
But yeah, getting back to the matter at hand.
I had to make a particularly difficult pick early in the Darksteel pack of a draft the other day. I figured I’d share it with you guys and see what you had to say about it.
After Mirrodin and one pick in Darksteel, my deck looked like this:
Great Furnace
Seat of the Synod
Skullclamp
Copper Myr
Iron Myr
Shatter
Skyhunter Cub
Skyhunter Patrol
Cobalt Golem
Looming Hoverguard
Myr Enforcer
When I was passed the second Darksteel pack, which still contained:
Neurok Transmuter
Quicksilver Behemoth
Arcbound Crusher
Emissary of Hope
Vulshok Morningstar
Loxodon Mystic
As you can see I’ve been experimenting with some different types of decks of late. My deck at this point really needs to decide where it’s going, and fast, as U/W Affinity isn’t really my cup of tea. I think this booster will provide some help in that area though.
Since all of these cards are definitely possible candidates for the pick, I’ll do a small section on each and then give the full analysis of what I took what I did.
Neurok Transmuter
We all know how good this guy is, and also how much I like him, so no point in rehashing all of that. The real question here is what benefit he brings to our deck as it stands already.
So far we’ve already got Shatter and Looming Hoverguard to fuel the transmutation, and we’re quite likely to find at least a few other things before all is said and done. The other nice thing about this guy is that if nothing else, he will at least always protect your important artifact men, and also save your team from Terror.
Quicksilver Behemoth
Fatty? This guy looks excellent in our deck right now, with two Myr, two Artifact Lands, and a good base on the way to an Affinity deck with the Myr Enforcer. Only problem is, well, I said I’d be choosing a more determinate path for the deck with this pick. This guy, while very good, isn’t likely to be one of the top candidates for the pick here simply because there are other cards that do the same job he does and do it better. For instance..
Arcbound Crusher
The daddy of all Arcbounds, this guy gets out of hand quickly if he isn’t dealt with. This guy is at a premium in combination with the other cards I’ve already drafted since I have two mana Myr that can get him out on turn three. He’s also helped out by the dual Artifact Lands, but that goes without saying. The last thing he provides (which is unlikely to happen unless an emergency situation comes up) is a body that’s capable of being cashed in for two new cards with Skullclamp.
Emissary of Hope
All of the guys above this would lead us to possibly abandon the White in our deck and go for a more Artifact centered build. This guy and the next two cards are all viable choices if we decide to stay in White.
{begin aside}
It’s really sad how much worse this guy is than his Black twin. He’s still a solid flier, and the lifegain ability will come into play every once in a while during a damage race, but let’s face it, the usual response to someone gaining a couple life per turn is”not a problem, I’ll deal with it later.” Nobody cares about the few life you’ll gain from this guy before he’s shot out of the sky by a Vulshok Sorcerer, or halted by a bigger flier or Archers. The Emissary of Despair, on the other hand, not only has Black removal to help get him through to do his job, but also leaves a more lasting impact on the game. If he hits for four or five damage a few times, that’s a good chunk of the enemy life total, and it also will usually put him more on the defensive so that even if he does deal with your Emissary, he’ll be slower in retaliating than usual.
{end aside}
So yeah, solid flier that’s able to be Clamped easily, but he is also double White and will only further commit us to the color.
Loxodon Mystic
Ah, Master Decoy, where have the days gone? Apparently the design team decided that you needed to be able to attack in addition to your usual duty of tappity tapping. I personally don’t agree, but that’s another story.
One thing I’ve noticed as the format has gone on, is that I’ve continually been moving this guy up in my pick order because he shines time and again when he gets into play and takes control of the board. Sure, he’s cumbersome as all hell, but he’s still a tapper and he does help when you eventually decide to alpha strike or if you just need a blocker the turn before his ability comes online.
Vulshok Morningstar
Here cubby cubby cubby. This one, while still a possible pick, is highly unlikely since several of the other candidates are definitely better choices than a cardboard mace. It does make Cub go crazy though, but the truth is that there are plenty of playable equips that we can pick up later in this pack or in Fifth Dawn (Headdress, Horny Helm, etc).
So now that I’ve gone over each card individually, the real decision seems to be split in two based on what direction the deck should take. If we go the Affinity route we have the Behemoth, Crusher, and Transmuter to consider, while staying with a more U/W base offers the choice of Emissary, Mystic and Morningstar.
One thing I want to mention also is that it is possible to still just keep the deck the way it is, and draft a U/W Affinity build (though I’m not sure how good it will be since I’ve only tried it like once). Among the White cards I think I would take the Emissary over the other two simply because it’s a sleek flier that goes well with the Clamp and Patrol that we’ve already picked up. You could make an argument for the Morningstar here because of the two Myr that will accelerate it out and then end up becoming little 3/3 beaters in the late game.
As for the Affinity side of the pick, as I said earlier I ruled out Behemoth right away because Crusher just gets the job done better. So the real pick comes down to Transmuter vs. Crusher. This is a real toughie, since both cards add so much to the deck.
Transmuter powers up the Shatter and Looming, but Crusher comes out early with Myr and gets huge and then sacrificed to something like a Thermal Navigator for the kill.
In the end I went with the Crusher simply because I have the two Myr to power it out, and the ability is just so good. It also seemed better to take it because I could then abandon White if no more good stuff came to me in that color. The Crusher is also making the deck no matter what, since it’s artifact and will help to influence my later picks by grabbing small artifact guys to power it up as well as be fed to the Skullclamp (Myr Servitor or even a Moonvessel or two for instance).
That’s about all I’ve got for this week.
Later.
Nick Eisel
[email protected]
Soooooo & ThatsGameBoys on MODO
*** If you don’t know what movie that’s from, you need to crawl out from under the bubble you’ve been taking residence in and go find out.