My good friend Jay Delazier and I are going to be attending Virginia Two-Headed Giant Champs this coming Saturday. Last week, I asked if anyone would be interested in doing a practice 2HG draft by email, and I heard from teammates Amber Orr and Justin Miyashiro. They’re planning on attending Grand Prix: Massachusetts and hoping to make it to Massachusetts Champs. After hashing out the details (such as each different booster pack would have its own unique number in the subject field to avoid confusion), we got down to the email draft, so let’s follow that lead here.
TSP Pack #3 (which was the pack I opened)
Deathspore Thallid
Savage Thallid
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
Bonesplitter Sliver
Havenwood Wurm
Eternity Snare
Flamecore Elemental
Tendrils of Corruption
Ivory Giant
Coal Stoker
Celestial Crusader
Sudden Shock
Thick-Skinned Goblin
*Giant Oyster
*Ith, High Arcanist
This struck me as a high quality pack, but the rare and Timeshifted cards definitely jumped out at me. Both are relatively sturdy creatures with reusable and useful effects. Picking the big Oyster, I made a mental note to keep an eye out for tap effects so I wouldn’t have to rely on my opponents choosing when the Oyster gets fed, but even so he makes a great deterrent for small landwalking nuisances. So, I know I’m in U/W, or at least Blue with a White splash…
TSP Pack #2 (2 picks gone)
Jedit’s Dragoons
Skulking Knight
Ancient Grudge
Aetherflame Wall
*Slipstream Eel
Mogg War Marshall
*Nantuko Shaman
Glass Asp
Zealot il-Vec
Molten Slagheap
Opaline Sliver
Orcish Librarian
Unyaro Bees
Hmm, nothing in this pack leapt out at me like in the previous pack. Slipstream Eel seemed like a good late game fat creature and worth picking up for my U/W deck. I could have easily snagged the Zealot or Dragoons to further flesh out the one deck, but I wanted to go ahead and pick something for my second deck. Nantuko Shaman got the nod for being a cantrip creature.
TSP #1 (4 picks gone)
Castle Raptors
Cyclopean Giant
*Penumbra Spider
Feebleness
*Tendrils of Corruption
Drifter Il-Dal
Flickering Spirit
Traitor’s Clutch
Fungal Reaches
Wipe Away
Conspiracy
Castle Raptors called to me for my first deck, but I could not turn down Penumbra Spider for deck #2. Tendrils of Corruption and Wipe Away are mighty fine removal spells, but in a long, drawn out game as 2HG tends to be, I was leaning towards wanting a permanent solution to a problem creature, rather than the tempo advantage that Wipe Away presents. Picking Tendrils gave me the second color of my second deck. At this point, I had decision to make – do I forsake Red altogether? To make sure Tendrils is at maximum power, I’d probably want my second deck to be slightly more Black-heavy, and it wouldn’t do well to try and splash Red into that deck. For my Blue/White build, I could hope for some Dreamscape Artist to come around in my Planar Chaos packs, but that struck me as a little risky for two reasons – first, what if I never got a copy of the Spellshaper? There’s not nearly as much mana fixing as we’re used to in Ravnica, do I risk wasting picks on Red cards I can’t end up using? Second, I’d hate to risk mana screw with a three-color build when we only get one game per match. I decide to forego Red, no matter what. What do you think of that decision? I’m trying to learn something here, and I’d definitely like to hear the thoughts of people who’ve tested too.
TSP Pack #4 (6 picks gone)
Basal Sliver
Ivory Giant
Plunder
Dream Stalker
Jedit’s Dragoons
Celestial Crusader
*Faceless Devourer
*Haunting Hymn
Mindless Automaton
Nostalgia pulled me towards Automaton, and I was sorely tempted by Dream Stalker and Ivory Giant, but I ultimately decided to go with two Black cards. It occurred to me that Shadow would be a valuable evasive battleground second to landwalking, so Faceless Devourer seemed quite useful. Haunting Hymn just screams card advantage, and since games could turn on big spells cast later in the game, it seems being able to strip a few of those big spells from an opponent’s hand could be a game-breaker itself. It can also be a great test spell for when your partner has a big test spell to cast but you’re worried about a counterspell.
TSP Pack #3 (8 picks gone)
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
Bonesplitter Sliver
*Havenwood Wurm
*Eternity Snare
Flamecore Elemental
Ivory Giant
Celestial Crusader
Havenwood Wurm is huge, and I was happy to snap him up. Eternity Snare – tap effect for my Oyster, check! Cantrip to boot…
TSP pack #2 (10 picks gone)
Skulking Knight
Ancient Grudge
*Glass Asp
*Opaline Sliver
Orcish Librarian
Yeah, we’re getting into backwash territory here. Opaline Sliver might get time if we end up with a Sliver theme, but that’s not looking too likely at this point.
TSP Pack #1 (12 picks gone)
Drifter il-Dal
*Traitor’s Clutch
*Conspiracy
Speaking of Slivers… Conspiracy seems an interesting option to have though, in case we happen to get Screeching Sliver. Doubtful it’ll end up played but it’s something to keep in mind.
TSP Pack #4 (14 picks gone)
Plunder
Derf… Okay, on to fresh pack #2!
TSP Pack #7
Spiketail Drakeling
Crookclaw Transmuter
Goblin Skycutter
Wormwood Dryad
Savage Thallid
Thallid Shell-Dweller
*Tendrils of Corruption
Thrill of the Hunt
Chameleon Blur
Think Twice
Thick-Skinned Goblin
*Might Sliver
Return to Dust
Darkness
Pulmonic Sliver
Okay, so the dregs of the last round had Slivers in my mind, now we’ve got big daddy Might Sliver staring at me. Pulmonic Sliver looks kinda sexy too… but then I see the second Tendrils staring at me, and I go for the removal trump. I also want to mention Wormwood Dryad. Now, on its surface it seems like a great landwalking card to snag, especially since I’m running a deck with both Green and Black sources. But I also worry that there are a lot of “ping” effects in this format, and that spending three mana for a critter that can just get pinged off… well, at this point I’m not sure of its value. Right now I don’t hold it too high, but I’m willing to hear other people’s opinions, so please feel free to sound off in the forums about it.
TSP #8 (2 picks gone)
Ophidian Eye
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
*Tendrils of Corruption
Brass Gnat
Ancient Grudge
*Havenwood Wurm
Corpulent Corpse
Crookclaw Transmuter
Return to Dust
Calciform Pools
Haunting Hymn
Uthden Troll
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Doh! Tendrils #3!! I’m really starting to feel good about how deck #2 is now shaping up. Getting a second Haunting Hymn seems to be pushing it, and besides, Havenwood Wurm is still just as large and lovely as he was when I picked up copy the first. Transmuter was tempting too, as is Return to Dust.
TSP #5 (4 picks gone)
Ancient Grudge
*Fathom Seer
Sage of Epityr
Gaze of Justice
Subterranean Shambler
Bogardan Rager
Crookclaw Transmuter
Primal Forcemage
Haunting Hymn
*Nightshade Assassin
Withered Wretch
Mmm, juicy pack! Primal Forcemage is tempting in light of hasty green creatures in Planar Chaos and flash creatures in general, but I can’t ignore the raw card advantage presented by Fathom Seer. Nightshade Assassin seems like pretty good removal too, especially since we may be leaning more heavily Black in our Black/Green deck.
TSP #6 (6 picks gone)
Psychotic Episode
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
Flamecore Elemental
Thrill of the Hunt
Bogardan Rager
Mystical Teachings
Skulking Knight
*Urza’s Factory
*Sengir Autocrat
If I were playing Red, I’d be all over Bogardan Rager but alas… If I were in Blue and Black then the Teachings would be interesting. Urza’s Factory is a no-brainer, a great mana sink if the game goes long enough. Sengir Autocrat provides a bunch of chump blockers – I’m not sure if he’s worth it, but he might make the cut.
TSP #7 (8 picks gone)
*Spiketail Drakeling
Goblin Skycutter
Thrill of the Hunt
Chameleon Blur
Think Twice
Return to Dust
*Darkness
I had momentary regrets passing Darkness when I opened this pack, so I was certainly happy to see it make it around! Fog effects have got to be good when facing down an assault by two opponents, especially for so cheap. Spiketail Drakeling is a fine flier that can certainly force an opponent to hold off casting a late game big mana spell for a few crucial turns.
TSP Pack #8 (10 picks gone)
*Ophidian Eye
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
Brass Gnat
*Haunting Hymn
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Man, poor Mishra, getting no respect! I go ahead and snag another Hymn, and I suppose Ophidian Eye isn’t terrible.
TSP Pack #5 (12 picks gone)
Ancient Grudge
*Gaze of Justice
*Withered Wretch
Hmm, Gaze of Justice isn’t bad to pick up this late. Withered Wretch is a bear in my leaning-Black deck, and might prove to be randomly useful in some matches…? What do you think, worth running?
TSP Pack #6 (14 picks gone)
Ironclaw Buzzardiers
Buzz!
TSP Pack #11
Aetherflame Wall
Gorgon Recluse
Mindstab
Watcher Sliver
Gaze of Justice
Two-Headed Sliver
*Cloudchaser Kestrel
Wormwood Dryad
Spinneret Sliver
Molder
Assembly-Worker
Harmonic Sliver
*Spell Burst
Stormbind
Chronosavant
You know, I’m fine with Chronosavant in regular Limited… but effectively skipping two players’ turns… I just don’t know if it’s worth it. He is huge… but I ship him. What do you think? Assembly-Worker raised my eyebrow since I have an Urza’s Factory, but it’s definitely not a first pick. Stormbind breaks my heart! What a great card… but I stick to my no-Red pledge. Spell Burst seems like a great card to have in the late game, where you can pretty well shut down just about any spell you want and buy it back. Cloudchaser Kestrel gets the nod too, to give me a little help with a pesky enchantment, and of course flying is quite handy too.
TSP Pack #10 (2 picks gone)
Assassinate
Skulking Knight
*Strength in Numbers
*Screeching Sliver
Spiketail Drakeling
Psychotic Episode
Looter il-Kor
Thallid Germinator
Drudge Reavers
Blazing Blade Askari
Dementia Sliver
Wipe Away
Conspiracy
Another Conspiracy… and Screeching Sliver! I nearly go for the combo in light of my other Conspiracy… but then I realize just how ridiculous Strength in Numbers is and can’t let that go. Maybe I can snag Conspiracy on the way back.
TSP Pack #9 (4 picks gone)
Goblin Skycutter
*Mana Skimmer
Flowstone Channeler
Bewilder
Ground Rift
Divine Congregation
Ghitu Firebreathing
Assembly-Worker
Plated Pegasus
*Clockwork Hydra
Scragnoth
Clockwork Hydra! This pack must have been smoking hot for the Hydra to go fifth pick. Flowstone Channeler kicks my no-Red pledge a bit, but I go ahead and snag the Mana Skimmer. The Skimmer is great in draft, but I’m a little worried a four mana 2/2 might not be so hot in this format, even if it flies and has a decent ability if it connects. What do you think? I nearly took the Scragnoth instead.
TSP Pack #12 (6 picks gone)
*D’Avenant Healer
Flamecore Elemental
Ghitu Firebreathing
*Mindstab
Foriysian Interceptor
Sidewinder Sliver
Children of Korlis
Mindlash Sliver
Plated Pegasus
The healer / pinger-in-one combo critter is a decent element to add to the mix, and I was happy to have it. None of the other choices were overly exciting, I thought briefly about the Interceptor, but decided to go with Mindstab, again bolstering the hand destruction / card advantage element and to bolster the power of Spell Burst.
TSP Pack #11 (8 picks gone)
Aetherflame Wall
Mindstab
Gaze of Justice
Two-Headed Sliver
*Spinneret Sliver
*Assembly-Worker
Harmonic Sliver
Ah, Assembly-Worker comes back around! I go ahead and snag him on the off chance I might need another critter. Spinneret slides into the pile, keeping the Sliver option open.
TSP Pack #10 (10 picks gone)
Skulking Knight
Psychotic Episode
*Drudge Reavers
Blazing Blade Askari
*Dementia Sliver
Agh! Who took my second Conspiracy!! *shakes fist* I suppose there wasn’t much here to pick from anyway. Drudge Reavers doesn’t seem terrible, and I go ahead and snag Dementia Sliver as a hate pick.
TSP Pack #9 (12 picks gone)
Ground Rift
*Assembly-Worker
*Plated Pegasus
Whoo-hoo, another Assembly-Worker! Plated Pegasus is interesting, considering neither of my decks is playing red. Hmmm…
TSP Pack #12 (14 picks gone)
*Children of Korlis
Oof, a blank! On to a fresh new pack…
TSP Pack #15
Amrou Seekers
Glass Asp
Drifter il-Dal
Temporal Eddy
*Viscid Lemures
Wormwood Dryad
Lightning Axe
Shadow Sliver
Gorgon Recluse
Basal Sliver
Urza’s Factory
Locket of Yesterdays
Phyrexian Totem
Dragon Whelp
*Stronghold Overseer
My eyes bulge out in amazement at this pack – Stronghold Overseer is a ridiculous bomb, and since I’m already planning on heavy Black he fits in perfectly. Viscid Lemures is a joyful bonus, one of the best landwalkers in the block. And there’s still really good stuff left in the pack, especially for whoever’s been getting all the Red I’m passing!
TSP Pack #16 (2 picks gone)
Wormwood Dryad
Snapback
*Errant Doomsayers
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Cloudchaser Kestrel
Scarwood Treefolk
Corpulent Corpse
Gemhide Sliver
Orcish Cannonade
Gustcloak Cavalier
Fury Sliver
*Weatherseed Totem
Living End
Wormwood Dryad beckons again, and I worry if I may be underestimating her. However, Weatherseed Totem strikes me as an incredible late-game attacking machine, and Errant Doomsayers combines quite nice with my early Oyster. I pause a bit on Living End… it is a Wrath effect after all, even if it’s a delayed reaction Wrath. Still, without any real way to break the symmetry, or play with the time counters, I don’t think it’s as strong as the other two picks.
TSP Pack #13 (4 picks gone)
Pit Keeper
Drudge Reavers
Mindlash Sliver
Bewilder
*Dream Stalker
Drifter Il-Dal
*Amrou Scout
Shadow Sliver
Thrill of the Hunt
Truth or Tale
Auratog
I wouldn’t mind having a Pit Keeper in the mix, but I’d also wanted to snag a very handy Dream Stalker for my pool, and Amrou Scout is an efficient beater who can search out a few other rebels I may end up floating around in my deck. Auratog teases me a bit with promises of combining with Reality Acid in Planar Chaos, but I go with proven winners than ephemeral promises to come.
TSP Pack #14 (6 picks gone)
Mindlash Sliver
*Gaze of Justice
Sprout
Skulking Knight
Sidewinder Sliver
*Flickering Spirit
Glass Asp
Truth or Tale
Merieke Ri Berit
Gaze of Justice doesn’t seem like a bad piece of removal when you’ve got two armies at standoff, staring at each other and looking for a way to break through. Flickering Spirit is mana hungry but not a bad fellow. The remains here are pretty thin.
TSP Pack #15 (8 picks gone)
*Amrou Seekers
Glass Asp
Drifter il-Dal
*Temporal Eddy
Shadow Sliver
Basal Sliver
Locket of Yesterdays
Ah, speaking of rebels to search for – Amrou Seekers to the rescue! You know, it occurs to me at this point that “fear” effects might not be too bad assuming that many people go like me and end up passing up one color. For instance, that Red fear goblin would likely be a beating against my decks if I didn’t have an answer. Note to self: if you’re not playing a color, make sure you’ve got a couple of artifact critters that can tangle with fear dudes.
TSP Pack #16 (10 picks gone)
*Wormwood Dryad
*Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Scarwood Treefolk
Corpulent Corpse
Gustcloak Cavalier
Okay, okay – I go ahead and snag a Wormwood Dryad – happy now?! I almost go with the Corpse after my musings on fear from last pack, but end up deciding on the Acid-Moss – it’s possible that you might have an opponent who dares to run three colors with little to no mana fixing and you could royally hammer him, maybe even put a player so far behind as to steal a win. Plus, mana acceleration is a good thing.
TSP Pack #13 (12 picks gone)
Mindlash Sliver
*Drifter Il-Dal
*Shadow Sliver
Not much left here, though the Drifter gets a little more interesting now that we know starting life totals are thirty instead of forty.
TSP Pack #14 (14 picks gone)
*Glass Asp
Ass glasp… Okay, onward into Planar Chaos!!
PC Pack #19
Ghost Tactician
Synchronous Sliver
Deadly Grub
Shade of Trokair
Reality Acid
*Giant Dustwasp
Dreamscape Artist
Dawn Charm
Sinew Sliver
Skirk Shaman
Melancholy
Necrotic Sliver
Waning Wurm
*Serendib Sorcerer
Aeon Chronicler
Definitely some good stuff here! It was hard to pass up on Aeon Chronicler, but I thought the bomb in this pack was Serendib Sorcerer (even as a 1/1), and Giant Dustwasp is a formidable flier. I hate to pass Dawn Charm after hearing about how good it was at PT: Geneva, and Skirk Shaman taunts me some. Reality Acid, Dreamscape Artist – there’s still plenty of good stuff in this pack!
PLC Pack #18 (2 picks gone)
Deadly Grub
Fury Charm
Vitaspore Thallid
Brain Gorgers
*Mire Boa
Ghost Tactician
Dead / Gone
Spitting Sliver
Melancholy
Vampiric Link
Hunting Wilds
Dormant Sliver
*Dust Elemental
Speaking of fear… boy, is Dust Elemental huge! The drawback is tough, but seems like it would be much more manageable in 2HG than in any other format, and could even prove to be helpful in saving one or more of your creatures from certain death. Mire Boa is one landwalker I was really hoping to get; unlike the Dryad, Boa can protect himself from ping effects with regeneration.
PLC Pack # 17 (4 picks gone)
Dreamscape Artist
Whitemane Lion
Battering Sliver
Stingscourger
Deadly Grub
Reflex Sliver
Melancholy
Primal Plasma
*Sunlance
*Big Game Hunter
Shrouded Lore
Mmm, the Lion definitely called to me, but it was hard to not go with Sunlance since you can almost guarantee at least one of your opponents will have a non-white creature than needs killing. I also decided on Big Game Hunter because… well, again at least one of your opponents will have a large fat creature that needs killing!
PLC Pack #20 (6 picks gone)
Evolution Charm
Battering Sliver
Spitting Sliver
Dash Hopes
*Shade of Trokair
*Synchronous Sliver
Primal Plasma
Mana Tithe
Timebender
Mmm, Shade of Trokair can get out of hand pretty quickly! I think about Evolution Charm, but end up going with the big Sliver instead.
PC Pack #19 (8 picks gone)
Ghost Tactician
*Synchronous Sliver
Deadly Grub
*Shade of Trokair
Sinew Sliver
Skirk Shaman
Waning Wurm
Okay, if they were good enough last pack, I suppose they’re good enough again! Am I completely undervaluing Ghost Tactician?
PC Pack #18 (10 picks gone)
Deadly Grub
Vitaspore Thallid
Brain Gorgers
*Ghost Tactician
*Hunting Wilds
We’re getting down to the backwash here, though the acceleration provided by Hunting Wilds is nice.
PC Pack #17 (12 picks gone)
*Deadly Grub
Reflex Sliver
*Primal Plasma
In retrospect, I probably should have picked the Sliver just to keep it out of the hands of someone else rather than picking the nearly unplayable Deadly Grub.
PC Pack #20 (14 picks gone)
*Dash Hopes
Exactly…
Last pack!
PC Pack #23
Erratic Mutation
Ghost Tactician
Brain Gorgers
Blightspeaker
Shade of Trokair
Reflex Sliver
Cradle to Grave
Saltfield Recluse
*Rathi Trapper
Piracy Charm
Brute Force
Ana Battlemage
*Pongify
Hedge Troll
Volcano Hellion
Yikes, Volcano Hellion! Red, why have I forsaken thee?! I end up going with Pongify here, since a vanilla 3/3 tends to be much more manageable than many other creatures out there, and you simply can’t beat the casting cost. Rathi Trapper is an all around good (but evil) egg, and again helps support your first pick Giant Oyster.
PC Pack #24 (2 picks gone)
*Blightspeaker
Dust Corona
Battering Sliver
Keldon Marauders
Poultice Sliver
Ridged Kusite
Cradle to Grave
Primal Plasma
*Melancholy
Essence Warden
Hedge Troll
Spellshift
(unknown)
We had a little bit of a snafu for this pack, one of the other drafters computer crashed and a card was dropped from the decklist. Nobody noticed there was a missing card until the pack went around again. By then it was too much trouble to do a new pack and backtrack, and with my deadline looming we decided to just go with what we had. Blightspeaker I snagged for his search ability mostly (to go get Trapper or the Big Game Hunter), though the slow bleed is a little more interesting with the lower starting life. Melancholy seems like a fine removal spell too.
PC Pack #21 (4 picks gone)
Spitting Sliver
*Shade of Trokair
Brain Gorgers
Poultice Sliver
Dreamscape Artist
Sinew Sliver
*Revered Dead
Primal Plasma
Sophic Centaur
Waning Wurm
Dichotomancy
Mmm, another Shade! In retrospect I should have jumped on the Dreamscape Artist too, but, I ended up picking the Dead simply because he’s probably a decent enough blocker, and as a two-color deck I didn’t think I needed the mana fixing. Of course, even if I didn’t play him, denying another team the mana fixer probably isn’t a bad idea either.
PC Pack #22 (6 picks gone)
Battering Sliver
Spitting Sliver
Pallid Mycoderm
Aven Riftwatcher
Healing Leaves
*Seal of Primordium
*Essence Warden
Frenetic Sliver
Dunerider Outlaw
Worry over my artifact and enchantment kill capabilities steered me towards Seal of Primordium. I was also torn between Dunerider Outlaw and Essence Warden; the Outlaw likely makes a great blocker of large Green men, but relying on a 1/1 as a blocker seems risky. Essence Warden is equally as frail but at least she’ll likely net you a decent amount of life before she bites it.
PC Pack #23 (8 picks gone)
Ghost Tactician
Brain Gorgers
Blightspeaker
*Shade of Trokair
Reflex Sliver
*Cradle to Grave
Hedge Troll
Another Shade, awesome! It’s particularly nice that you suspend them, thus not tying your mana up in casting them (since they’re such mana hogs once they’re in play). I chose Cradle to Grave over Blightspeaker for the removal effect though it was a close call…
PC Pack #24 (10 picks gone)
Battering Sliver
Keldon Marauders
*Cradle to Grave
*Spellshift
(unknown)
Another Cradle is solid… Again, probably should have got the Sliver instead of the unplayable Battering Sliver.
PC Pack #21 (12 picks gone)
*Spitting Sliver
*Brain Gorgers
Dichotomancy
Ack, backwash!
PC Pack #22 (14 picks gone)
*Spitting Sliver
Derf…
Okay, so after that experiment, I think I ended up with a pretty interesting card pool. I’ll post the total pool in the forums for those who are interested in building their own deck from the cards and don’t feel like combing through this article and copying and pasting my picks. I also think Amber, Justin, and Jay will post their card pools there so those who really want to deconstruct the draft can dig in.
Here are my initial builds without yet consulting my 2HG partner:
Green/Black
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Blightspeaker
2 Cradle to Grave
1 Darkness
1 Giant Dustwasp
2 Havenwood Wurm
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Melancholy
1 Mire Boa
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Nightshade Assassin
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Strength in Numbers
1 Stronghold Overseer
3 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Viscid Lemures
1 Weatherseed Totem
1 Urza’s Factory
7 Forest
9 Swamp
A solid removal and creature control package, along with some quality creatures, landwalkers, and game-ending bombs Stronghold Overseer and Strength in Numbers (and to a lesser extent, Weatherseed Totem) makes for a deck I’m happy with here. I decided to go with the mana acceleration of Hunting Wilds, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss and Totem here to make it easier to get an early Havenwood Wurm into play and to start pumping out Urza’s Factory tokens.
Blue/White
1 Amrou Scout
1 Amrou Seekers
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Cloudchaser Kestrel
1 D’Avenant Healer
1 Dream Stalker
1 Dust Elemental
1 Errant Doomsayers
1 Fathom Seer
1 Flickering Spirit
2 Gaze of Justice
1 Giant Oyster
1 Ith, High Arcanist
1 Plated Pegasus
1 Pongify
1 Serendib Sorcerer
2 Shade of Trokair
1 Spell Burst
1 Spiketail Drakeling
1 Sunlance
1 Temporal Eddy
8 Island
9 Plains
Decent creature control to partner with Shade beatdown or a huge Hydra seems like a good plan. Spell Burst might not be quite as good late game without hand destruction from my partner’s deck and with the mana hog Shades, but I suspect it will still be good. Dust Elemental seems like it’s going to be really amazing, but I could be completely off base.
A few observations: First, the overall level of playables for each deck was pretty high, and I had to make some heartbreaking cuts (such as the 3rd / 4th pick Nantuko Shaman, and the hand destruction element). Which leads me to think there’s a little more wiggle room for hate-drafting or potentially wasting picks on a minor theme that doesn’t end up working out, but could pay off big if it does come together (like the Sliver / Conspiracy notion).
I asked my partners in crime any thoughts they had after our practice draft, and here’s what they said:
…
Amber: Don’t know how much my comments are going to help you, but Justin suggested I should tell you my thoughts anyway. I was really impressed with the way my removal turned out, but my decks were very creature deficient, I think mainly because I set myself in a few colors too early and passed on some good White creatures and slivers. In general the way Justin and I see my decks working out is the B/G deck will revolve around the Saprolings and Strength in Numbers. The R/U deck will focus on building storm for Empty the warrens, while using the strong removal to hold off threats. If there’s anything else you want to know, let me know. I hope I was helpful! [You were indeed, thanks Amber! — Bennie]
…
Justin: Without playing the decks, I can’t really tell if this is the case, but from playing the Prerelease 2HG, I felt like playing your bombs was imperative. This was the case even at the expense of having an incredibly ugly (if functional) manabase. As a side note, Dreamscape Artist, however slow or inefficient or whatever he might be in one-on-one draft, was nuts in 2HG when I played him, so I would certainly recommend using him to fix your mana for Dragons if possible [that’s Dragons as in more than ONE dragon?!? — Bennie, who remarkably never saw a single non-Whelp Dragon in his draft…].
On a more related note, I felt like the Sliver plan worked fine, as my deck ended up with quite a horde of slivers (including last pick Sinew Sliver?!), so despite the trouble it gives my manabase, I felt like it would work fairly well if anyone wanted to try it in a real draft. On the other hand, the Saproling plan was a bit of a bust. I had Sporesower Thallid, so I felt it would have worked in my deck (particularly with Pallid Mycoderm to make the Saprolings more effective), but on the whole, without that particular card or something that really benefits from a giant horde of creatures (like Strength in Numbers in Amber’s pool or Tromp the Domains in mine), I don’t know that a Thallid plan will actually be effective.
Also, the amount of splashing I’d be forced to do with my pool would likely reduce the effectiveness of Black cards that have heavy Black requirements, notably Tendrils of Corruption, so such cards may be dropped down in the pick order as a result. I had initially planned on avoiding White in the draft, but enough strong White came my way that I changed my mind fairly quickly (Pulmonic Sliver in particular).
One final note: The life-total change for 2HG, in my opinion, makes aggressive builds like the one I have much more viable. Although I had planned on running Dormant Sliver because of the ways I had to sacrifice it, the Sliver deck I had would have been very aggressive, and with Tromp the Domains, 2 Dragons, and 2 Pallid Mycoderms to make an attacking army very problematic for an opponent, it could be a very viable plan.
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Jay: Here are my primary observations on the format:
1) If you want mana fixing / acceleration then you must first / second pick it. I don’t think that I saw a single Prismatic Lens or Gemhide Sliver come by me, and there may have been a total of one Chromatic Star and one Totem (although I’d have to check these numbers).
2) Your first / second and third / fourth picks in each pack are extremely important. I’d recommend that teams take a moment to seriously think about these first two picks in each pack because the quality of card can drastically decrease after those first four are gone.
3) Because teams are likely to play at least four colors, removal in each color is at a premium. Think twice before passing removal spells since it’s unlikely that you’ll see many passed to you after the third / fourth picks unless it’s a high quality pack.
4) You need to open your storm cards. Good players will not pass them. If they are getting passed, they’re not making it by the second team.
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So, special thanks to Amber, Justin and Jay for their help in running this experiment for me, and I hope that some of you all find it as enlightening as I did. I’m definitely curious to see what you all think of how my draft went, mistakes I might have made, and any other observations on this very interesting new format.
Join me here next week as I talk about how Jay and I did at 2HG Champs—will I manage to improve from last year’s second place finish to take the prize? Will I be on the way towards going for the Triple Crown? I’ll also share two new decks – including my new Planar Chaos-updated Standard Dredge deck that I played to win last Friday Night Magic, and a deck that may be what I end up playing a Regionals this year. See you then!
Bennie