Introducing The Open Draft Project: Adventures In The Forgotten Realms Edition

The Infinite Monkey Theorem purports that, given infinite time and making random choices, a monkey with a Vintage Cube would draft Storm. Okay, maybe that’s not exactly it, but I’d be down to head to the local zoo with some proxies and try it out.

The Open Draft Project, on the other hand, is my version of the opposite of that. What would happen if you gave some of my favorite minds in Limited the same seat in a draft and finite picks? Where would they agree? Disagree? Would anyone go completely off the rails? Does anyone actually like Asmodeus the Archfiend?

When I brought the idea to Dan Troha at DraftSim, he was intrigued. It took a little time to create a repeatable draft with bots that would adapt based on user selections, but he pulled it off. A huge thanks to him and his team.

Below, you’ll find eight very different decks drafted by streamers, grinders, and pros: Alex Nikolic, Amazonian, BeersSC, Ben Stark, Deathsie, Ryan Saxe, Sam Black, and Semulin. You’ll read commentary on the initial picks before it Butterfly Effects out of control based on earlier selections and the evaluations make no sense relative to each other. The criteria were to treat picks as if this were a competitive Best-of-Three paper Adventures of the Forgotten Realms Draft, so there are no considerations for gems, vault progress, or what’s going to look dope in a binder.

Before checking them out, I would highly encourage you to draft the seat yourself and see which player you’re most similar to. It’s like a BuzzFeed quiz, only accurate!

Pack 1, Pick 1

Alex Nikolic: The three cards that stand out to me are Prosperous Innkeeper, Grim Bounty, and Deadly Dispute. Those are three cards I would not be upset about first-picking here. But I’ll just go with Grim Bounty here as better than Grim Dispute, just a good black card. And I like Innkeeper, but I think Grim Bounty is in a better color and it leaves me open to Rakdos, basically, which is a place I would love to be.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Amazonian: So Pack 1, Pick 1 has kind of a dud rare, nothing too fancy. Grim Bounty is great removal, but I hate having to compete for black and red in this format. So it’s going to be Prosperous Innkeeper. It’s the foundation for lifegain. It’s also some of the only fixing in green.

Pick: Prosperous Innkeeper

BeersSC: Well, for me, this is a pretty easy Grim Bounty. I think it’s the second-best common behind Dragon’s Fire and black is a color I actively want to be in. If it weren’t in the pack, I would probably lean to Deadly Dispute. I also like Innkeeper because I do like the Selesnya deck, but when I start off a draft I’m going to start off Rakdos as much as possible.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Ben Stark: I would definitely take Grim Bounty. I think it’s the best card in the pack in the best color in the set.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Deathsie: Wizard’s Spellbook is a cool card that is really hard to make work with not many good instants and sorceries in the format. For me, it’s between Innkeeper and Grim Bounty. I really value direction in this format.

Pick: Prosperous Innkeeper

Ryan Saxe: Wizard’s Spellbook is a card I’ve seen cast a few times and it was never particularly impressive. I understand how it can take over a game, but it’s not really something that I’m looking to start my draft with. This is a relatively close pick between the Innkeeper and the Grim Bounty and I have a preference for black significantly over green.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Sam Black: This is between Innkeeper and Grim Bounty. I suppose just the Bounty.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Semulin: Everybody’s taking the Grim Bounty out of this pack. And so am I. The difference is I am looking for the Spellbook to wheel and excited about it and no one else is, so that one’s easy.

Pick: Grim Bounty

Pack 1, Pick 2

Alex Nikolic: The current standouts to me here are Hexblade and then Deadly Dispute. Lucky that we took a black card last pack, because the rest of the cards in this pack are not very good. I don’t like Asmodeus or Green Dragon all that much. And I would just take Deadly Dispute over Hexblade here.

Pick: Deadly Dispute

Amazonian: I like Green Dragon here. Asmodeus is absolute garbage, would not take. Maybe if I had a way to sacrifice him instantly to turn him into cheap card draw, but he’s super-expensive and screws you over.

Pick: Green Dragon

BeersSC: To me, it comes down to Hired Hexblade versus Deadly Dispute. I want to stay black. I like both of those cards. Asmodeus has not been super-exciting, so I would probably lean towards Hexblade.

Pick: Hired Hexblade

Ben Stark: I would definitely take Asmodeus. I think it’s the best card in the pack in the best color in the set and it’s the same color as the card we first-picked.

Pick: Asmodeus the Archfiend

Deathsie: Again, I’m looking for direction here, and with no clear direction, the only card I’m considering is Evolving Wilds.

Pick: Evolving Wilds

Ryan Saxe: Given my first pick is a black card, I’m probably looking at either the Hexblade or the Dispute, which is interesting. They’re both best in the same deck, but different versions of that deck prefer different ones. I think Dispute is significantly less replaceable, but I don’t know if I’m necessarily supposed to take it this early. There is the benefit of passing three black cards increasing the probability that I wheel one, except the rest of this pack is bad enough that I might not. I know I’m higher on Dispute than most people, uh, but I think it’s just generally a good card.

Pick: Deadly Dispute

Sam Black picks Deadly Dispute.

Semulin: There’s one kind of comes down to Evolving Wilds or the Asmodeus. I also like the Air Elemental, but we’ve done some nasty things with Asmodeus. That actually seems pretty straightforward too.

Pick: Asmodeus the Archfiend

Pack 1, Pick 3

Alex Nikolic: Kind of weak-ish pack. Cards that stand out to me: Steadfast Paladin and Improvised Weaponry. I like Orzhov and Rakdos quite a bit. I would just take the Improvised Weaponry right here. Works with the Treasure stuff and helps you cast more expensive cards.

Pick: Improvised Weaponry

Amazonian: It’s between Steadfast Paladin and Dawnbringer Cleric. Early on, I’d rather take Dawnbringer Cleric because I don’t actually have payoffs for lifegain yet. So I’m going to say Dawnbringer Cleric here. That enchantment removal is stellar.

Pick: Dawnbringer Cleric

BeersSC: Here, it really comes down to Paladin versus Weaponry. And while I like Orzhov, I find Rakdos to be strong enough that until I’m forced off it I’m going to stay Rakdos. So I’m going to go Weaponry.

Pick: Improvised Weaponry

Ben Stark: I would take Steadfast Paladin. I think the best card in the pack is probably Hama, but it’s an Azorius gold card and we have two good black cards at this point. I don’t think Manticore is very good. It’s playable, but black’s not that aggressive in this format. So the best black card in the pack in Manticore is a lot worse than Steadfast Paladin.

Pick: Steadfast Paladin

Deathsie: I’m super-happy to pick up a Steadfast Paladin. Really, the only pick here for me, in part because Selesnya has the direction of gaining life something something. You almost always want to have a theme for your deck in this format.

Pick: Steadfast Paladin

Ryan Saxe: There’s the Hama Pashar, but I try to stay away from venturing. All the black cards are filler at best. This pick is between Steadfast Paladin, which is probably the best card in the pack, or Improvised Weaponry, to lean more towards a better pairing with my black cards and wanting to be Rakdos. So I’ll probably take the Weaponry right here.

Pick: Improvised Weaponry

Sam Black: This is between Steadfast Paladin and Improvised Weaponry. I’ll go with Improvised Weaponry.

Pick: Improvised Weaponry

Semulin: So which of these cards would be best in its own deck? It’s probably Dawnbringer Cleric and Arcane Investigator, but I don’t love any of these. Want a card that’s incredibly overrated? Improvised Weaponry. I’ll play it, but I don’t want to. I like the Investigator. It’s fine. And we don’t have a direction yet. We don’t even know what we’re doing until Pick 5.

Pick: Arcane Investigator

Pack 1, Pick 4

Alex Nikolic: I like Dungeoneer, I like Plundering Barbarian, and I like Deadly Dispute. If I had to choose a path, I would choose Rakdos over Orzhov. I like my first copy of Barbarian a little bit more than my second copy of Dispute.

Pick: Plundering Barbarian

Amazonian: Nothing seems to be super-cut-off yet. Nothing here super fits my theme. I am not happy with how I don’t have removal. So I am going to go with the Plundering Barbarian, and kind of hedge my bets into red here.

Pick: Plundering Barbarian

BeersSC: Okay. I really like Plundering Barbarian and I really like Deadly Dispute, so I’m happy to see those two here. Dungeoneer is obviously a great card. If I had taken the Paladin I’d probably lean towards the Dungeoneer, but as is, I’m probably just going to go Plundering Barbarian.

Pick: Plundering Barbarian

Ben Stark: I would take Veteran Dungeoneer. We already have a white card and the black cards of the pack aren’t great. Dungeoneer is the best card in the pack in my opinion. Not by a lot, like there’s a bunch of close commons, but basically Veteran Dungeoneer is the best card in the pack and the color we’re second-most in.

Pick: Veteran Dungeoneer

Deathsie: I think the best card in this pack is Plundering Barbarian, but it doesn’t make sense with what we have so far. I’m going to speculate on it, though.

Pick: Plundering Barbarian

Ryan Saxe: We’re gonna continue down this Treasure path with another Dispute. It’s really, really nice here because I can be any color pairing with black at this point, and given the number of ways that I have to produce Treasure, Dispute is just an instant-speed two-mana Divination with upside.

Pick: Deadly Dispute

Sam Black picks Deadly Dispute.

Semulin: None of these cards matter. You’ll start to determine what’s actually open on Pick 5, right? My sense of drafting is that your fifth pick is more important than your first. I’ll take the Barbarian here.

Pick: Plundering Barbarian

Pack 1, Pick 5

Alex Nikolic: I think at this spot we would like to pick up a two-drop creature ASAP. I’m aiming for at least six in this format, so locking them in is really nice. I think Hobgoblin Captain is a better two-drop than Grim Wanderer.

Pick: Hobgoblin Captain

Amazonian: Hobgoblin Captain is a homie. Hoarding Ogre’s a homie. Captain is very tempting. But I’m going Spoils of the Hunt here.

Pick: Spoils of the Hunt

BeersSC: I mean, this is exciting to see, because there are four cards I’m happy with in Rakdos. I’ve gone back and forth between Ogre and Captain, which one I like best right now, and I’m leaning towards Ogre. I just think it opens you up to splashing and also just finding Treasure in Rakdos, even if you’re just straight Rakdos, is just so powerful. So I think I’ll take Ogre.

Pick: Hoarding Ogre

Ben Stark: Easy Grim Wanderer. I think that card is really good. Black and white are the colors we’re most committed to at this point and Grim Wanderer’s the best card in the pack. I think Spoils is probably second.

Pick: Grim Wanderer

Deathsie: Spoils is the card that makes the most sense, since the Innkeeper and Paladin give us direction and that’s a good color combination, but it seems unlikely. This is a big crossroads because you don’t usually have a pack this good this late, but I’m really uncertain about this seat.

Pick: Spoils of the Hunt

Ryan Saxe: When you have multiple Disputes and stuff, I do really like Grim Wanderer because it’s effectively three mana with flash, right? You can use the Treasure to pay for it off of a Deadly Dispute and trigger the morbid clause. I think Zombie Ogre is okay, but again, I tend to avoid venturing. It’s interesting though because Hobgoblin Captain is definitely Pack 1, Pick 1-worthy over that Grim Wanderer. But I could still pair my black with really any other color with the Disputes. Again, I’d rather be red, but I think I’m going to take the Grim Wanderer.

Pick: Grim Wanderer

Sam Black: Grim Wanderer because my red card is not very good, but Grim Wanderer versus the red cards is close.

Pick: Grim Wanderer

Semulin: So here we get an indication. Four people looked at the Spoils of the Hunt and were like “nah.” There’s also this Hobgoblin Captain, but I think what people might want to do is take the Hobgoblin Captain or the Grim Wanderer and declare for Rakdos. But this is my opportunity to get hooked up in green and pair it with black, red, white, blue, who cares?

Pick: Spoils of the Hunt

Pack 1, Pick 6

Alex Nikolic: So now we get to a pack where I’m not super-happy about anything, to be honest. Not that I care too much. I think a lot of people get caught up in, “Oh man, there are no good cards for me, maybe I’m in the wrong lane.” And it’s like, well, maybe, but who knows what’s happening in this part of the draft? I think this is just a weak pack. I would just take the Armory Veteran. There’s a Blue Dragon, but I’m not looking to get into blue unless I’m very much pushed into it. So I wouldn’t look to speculate on Blue Dragon.

Pick: Armory Veteran

Amazonian: I want none of this. So Neverwinter Dryad. 

Pick: Neverwinter Dryad

BeersSC: This one I’m not super-thrilled with. I don’t love Armory Veteran in Rakdos. I mean, it’s playable as a bear. I don’t really love Herald either. I’d rather take the two-drop than the five-drop. Obviously, Blue Dragon is a blue signal, but blue is just so bad that I’m certainly not going to pick it over a playable red or black card when I’ve had this start. So I’m gonna take Veteran.

Pick: Armory Veteran

Ben Stark: I would take Blue Dragon. I don’t think Herald of Hadar is very good, it’s filler, and our black cards will lend themselves fine to a control deck. We already have Grim Bounty to make a Treasure. Obviously, no clue what we’re going to play with black at this point, but could just as easily end up Dimir as Orzhov and Blue Dragon I like a lot.

Pick: Blue Dragon

Deathsie: Even though I have a strong bias against blue, I think Blue Dragon is the only card I’m happy to play here. Scaled Herbalist is probably the worst card in the format. I’ve never been less happy to see a card in my hand.

Pick: Blue Dragon

Ryan Saxe: I don’t like the Dragons that much, but that’s a relatively late Blue Dragon. I started low on that card because I thought it was a 4/4. It’s a 5/5, which is much better. Herald of Hadar I like as a mana sink in my Treasure-based black decks, but I want to play only one. So I’m actually going to take Blue Dragon as a hedge, as a way to spend Treasures, and as a top-end for a Dimir controlling deck.

Pick: Blue Dragon

Sam Black: This pack is really bad. I’ll take You’re Ambushed on the Road.

Pick: You’re Ambushed on the Road

Semulin: So here’s a Blue Dragon. We could pair blue with black. We could pair it with red. We could pair it with green. I’m on board with this.

Pick: Blue Dragon

Pack 1, Pick 7

Alex Nikolic: Once again, we’re back on track where we’ve got some good black cards. Hexblade would be my pick here. Hexblade plays solidly and, again, going for those six or so two-drops.

Pick: Hired Hexblade

Amazonian: Not what I wanted. I actually am okay with things like Dwarfhold Champion and I like Delver’s Torch. But based on those previous packs, I’m eyeing red, but I’m going to take that Dueling Rapier.

Pick: Dueling Rapier

BeersSC: Here’s it’s just a Hexblade. I’ll play a Fates’ Reversal all day, but I’ll take a solid creature over a card like it.

Pick: Hired Hexblade

Ben Stark: The colors we’re in right now are black, white, and blue. Delver’s Torch is the best card in the pack. The black cards in this pack aren’t very good. Just an easy choice for me.

Pick: Delver’s Torch

Deathsie: This is another big question mark and a very important pick. I’m just going to pick up the Delver’s Torch and focus on better cards.

Pick: Delver’s Torch

Ryan Saxe: We’re just going to grab Hexblade as a great card to go along with all of our Treasures.

Pick: Hired Hexblade

Sam Black picks Hired Hexblade.

Semulin: What the heck am I supposed to take here? I don’t have enough of a pull into any direction yet, other than potentially green. This is the hardest pick of the draft because I feel like we’re getting signals that white’s open. But I’ve got to take the green card and see if I can pair that with something.

Pick: Circle of the Moon Druid

Pack 1, Pick 8

Alex Nikolic: So this is one I’m actually really happy about. Earth-Cult Elemental I think is a sleeper in this format right now. I think it’s a good red card. I’m happy to take it early, but I don’t have to because I get them later. I’m happy to play three copies of these in my Treasure decks. Slamming these on Turn 5 is is really powerful.

Pick: Earth-Cult Elemental

Amazonian picks Underdark Basilisk.

BeersSC: So with Earth-Cult Elemental, I do like it okay. I mean, I don’t love taking six-drops just because they’re so replaceable. But there’s nothing else here. I mean, the only card here that gives me some pause is Underdark Basilisk. I think that’s a “later than it should go” green card, but I’m not going to take it over a playable red card.

Pick: Earth-Cult Elemental

Ben Stark: I’m really not happy about this pack. There’s no cards with what we’re already doing. I think we take Underdark Basilisk because it’s a good green common, and I’m not going to miss Potion or Rimeshield Frost Giant or Feign Death at all. But if we do end up playing green, then I will miss Underdark Basilisk. I think it’s actually a good card, one of the better of the green common two-drops.

Pick: Underdark Basilisk

Deathsie: Feign Death I think is the best card here, but I’m taking Underdark Basilisk.

Pick: Underdark Basilisk

Ryan Saxe: There’s a world I play one copy of this Giant, but I really don’t want to. I guess the real question here is, am I ever going to put Feign Death in my deck, or will it ever be a valuable sideboard card? And if not, is there any other card that would most likely make my maindeck? I think I’m just going to say Feign Death, though. It could do things with the Deadly Disputes.

Pick: Feign Death

Sam Black picks Feign Death.

Semulin: Basilisk is nice. Plays well with the Spoils of the Hunt.

Pick: Underdark Basilisk

Pack 1, Pick 9

Five drafters select Deadly Dispute. Three select Arborea Pegasus.

After this, packs start diverging based on earlier picks, so let’s look at the remaining drafts individually.

Alex Nikolic

Draft Log

Defining pick: Chaos Channeler

In a loaded Pack 2, Pick 1, Nikolic selects Chaos Channeler over a number of solid black playables that others pounced on. Other mono-black with a splash strategies were then unable to capitalize on a Pack 3, Pick 1 Meteor Storm as effectively without serious mana concerns.

Final thoughts: “My baseline for this format is to draft Rakdos unless I can’t, and this definitely let me draft Rakdos, so I did that. [laughs] I’m really happy with the end version of the deck.”

Amazonian

Draft Log

Defining pick: Reaper’s Talisman

Picking up what has come to be seen as one of the mythic uncommons of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Draft, Amazonian picks up a Pack 3, Pick 5 Reaper’s Talisman to splash in an, up until that point, straightforward Selesnya deck. With eighteen creatures, she certainly isn’t lacking bodies to slap it on. It also dovetails nicely with a minor lifegain theme, with a single copy of both Trelasarra, Moon Dancer and Celestial Unicorn.

Final thoughts: “This was a weird one. There were no medium/high bombs at the table which makes it hard. I think they’re all going to be kind of low-power decks, but we’ll see.”

BeersSC

Draft Log

Defining pick: Chaos Channeler

BeersSC also winds up in more of a traditional Rakdos deck along the same lines as Nikolic, with Channeler being a key consideration in getting there. The two end up with incredibly similar decks, with BeersSC preferring a lower curve and aggressive approach.

Final thoughts: “Part of having good six-drops is that it helps you in the late-game kind of go over the top of similar decks, but I have Skeletal Swarming, I have Delina, and I have Meteor Swarm. I have plenty of ways to go over the top if the game stalls out.”

Ben Stark

Draft Log

Defining pick: Asmodeus the Archfiend

While every other player at the table wheels Asmodeus, Stark snags the Devil God second overall and winds up as the sole seat in Orzhov Adventures. An honorable mention goes to White Dragon, as committing to white early nets him the key uncommon in Pack 2, being the only player to select it.

Final thoughts: “White was the most open color in the seat and we started out with good black cards.  I don’t see how I don’t when we would have moved off Grim Bounty and Asmodeus into green cards. I would end up Orzhov in the seat a hundred percent of the time.”

Deathsie

Draft Log

Defining pick: Evolving Wilds

An early Evolving Wilds may be a controversial pick, but here it pays massive dividends as it enables a cleaner splash of Reaper’s Talisman in his Selesnya deck compared to Amazonian’s quite similar build. Where Deathsie differs is a larger focus on Equipment, boasting four pieces to complement early plays like Ranger’s Hawk.

Final thoughts: “Basically, this deck is missing an Owlbear or another random four-drop. The last decision is basically if I’m trolling by playing this Reaper’s Talisman. It’s probably still better than splashing the Minsc or a random filler card like You Find a Cursed Idol. Overall, I’m pretty happy with a deck that has direction. I just have to live with the bad mana.”

Ryan Saxe

Draft Log

Defining pick: Black Dragon

The only player at the table to wind up with Black Dragon, Saxe boasts two to create an incredibly powerful top-end that he can ramp to with a number of Treasure generators. It also makes Tiamat a viable card in his mono-black deck, being able to fetch a Dragon at will.

Final thoughts: “I feel like I’m missing some key commons to make this deck actually good. If I had a few Shambling Ghasts it would be actively fantastic. I could just jam Tiamat and even Blue Dragon and go all out. Based on the way I draft, the best deck I could have ended up would be a Golgari version of this deck.”

Sam Black

Draft Log

Defining pick: Precipitous Drop

While several players make serious commitments to black early in the draft, only Semulin and Black see a Pack 2, Pick 7 Precipitous Drop. This leads to a sub-theme of venturing for black, as he winds up with three Drops, two Fates’ Reversals, and a minor payoff in Dungeon Crawler.

Final thoughts: “The big question for me is whether I should be playing Tiamat, which is a vanilla 7/7 flyer. Which is good, but I don’t think I need it. I think I could cast it, but this deck doesn’t really want a random seven-mana big creature. It’s more of a value deck and I have the Skeletal Swaming to finish people off anyway. I’m expecting that no one else will have as many black cards as I do.”

Semulin

Draft Log

Defining pick: Owlbear

Still finding a lane in Pack 2, Semulin snags an Owlbear Pick 3 and locks in on green moving forward, with Werewolf Pack Leader and Long Rest as the payoffs later in the draft. The sole Golgari deck in the seat, this has solid midrange value with two sacrifice outlets for Asmodeus.

Final thoughts: “I’m relatively confident we drafted the right colors. I don’t know if this is the optimal build and I don’t remember what I took over the Bag of Holding (Werewolf Pack Leader), but I wish I bloody had it. I really enjoyed it. That was fun. And I felt like I won.”

Conclusion

My nightmare was eight identical decks. Instead, we wind up with two mono-black decks with a splash, two Rakdos, two Selesnya, an Orzhov, and a Golgari. Not too bad for a “solved” format, eh?

Every pick has a cascading effect and that can be hard to remember in the moment. Sometimes, a speculative Herdgorger gets paid off right away with an Owlbear. Other times, you’re stuck with a Blue Dragon in your sideboard and wouldn’t mind one more playable. These micro-decisions make great drafters special, so I hope you can take something away from this.