The Open Draft Project: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Episode #2

If we’re being honest, I was a jerk last week. 

No one walks into a Innistrad: Midnight Hunt draft hoping for a Pack 1, Pick 1 Falcon Abomination. The packs were trash and people were all over the place. That is the chaotic evil energy of the Open Draft Project and I am solely responsible. I sustain myself on the groans of drafters.

This week, we have a significantly higher power level to the pool. That is, of course, if our drafters get a little lucky. They’re also going to do something we’ve never seen before at the ODP: make the same decision. I’d tell you more, but I know you’re dying to try the draft first and see how you stack up.

As always, players are given the same seat in a Best-of-Three pod draft with no considerations for gems or vault progress because they’re all cold-blooded Magic assassins. I don’t say anything that could influence the picks, although I do occasionally laugh at their dismay. At the end of the column, you’ll have your chance to vote for your favorite.

Joining us this week: Alex Nikolic, AliasV, Arya Karamchandani, Cedric Phillips, Deathsie, Michael Sigrist, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, and Ryan Saxe. Let’s get to the packs.

Pack 1, Pick 1

Alex Nikolic: Okay, so we open a pretty unexciting pack. Cards that stick out to me are Rootcoil Creeper, Burly Breaker, and Shipwreck Sifters to kind of a lesser extent. I think I would just take Rootcoil Creeper here. I’ve been a big, big fan of Simic lately. I think it’s one of the most under drafted archetypes at this point in the format relative to how good it is. You could take the Burly Breaker as well. I think that card is fine, but I’m not that fine with most of the green archetypes.

Pick; Rootcoil Creeper

AliasV: This pack is shit. [laughs] I don’t like it very much. The things I’m leaning to most: the Breaker, even though green is terrible in this format, and the Galedrifter. Rootcoil Creeper is cool but I’m not a fan of Simic in the format. There’s also Shipwreck Sifters. I’m gonna take a Galedrifer.

Pick: Galedrifter

Arya Karamchandani: I’m not very happy with this as my first pack. There aren’t any premium-level cards. Maybe Galvanic Iteration is a lot better than I’m giving it credit for? I haven’t played it in Limited but based on my understanding, it’s not a very good card. Two of the stronger cards in this pack are both green: Rootcoil Creeper and Burly Breaker. I think if I’m green, I’m incentivized to be Simic and I do think Creeper is a stronger card than Breaker.

Pick: Rootcoil Creeper

Cedric Phillips: I think most people would take Faithful Mending first because a lot of people like Azorius Disturb. I don’t like it as much as other people do and I actually like Simic decks. I’m not in love with taking a first-pick gold card, like ever, but the single-color options don’t really impress me very much. So taking Burly Breaker first, I’m not going to do. I just don’t think it’s that great of a card and all the five-drops are replaceable. Sifters I don’t like as much as other people and Galedrifter doesn’t feel like a first-pick-quality card, so I’m going to speculate here with Rootcoil Creeper as my pick.

Pick: Rootcoil Creeper

Deathsie: Basically, the only card I like here is Rootcoil Creeper. Then, outside of that, Ritual of Hope and Burly Breaker are fine. The rest of these cards, I don’t even want them in my deck.

Pick: Rootcoil Creeper

Michael Sigrist: Cards that I’m considering here: the gold cards. Specifically, Rootcoil Creeper I think is the strongest card in the pack and Shipwreck Sifters might be the strongest single-colored card. I’m expecting to maybe table something like Dawnhart Rejuvenator and if I have both those cards I can kind of do the Simic splashy thing.

Pick: Rootcoil Creeper

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: This pack is horrible. I really don’t want to take any of these cards first. The two things that cross my mind: Rootcoil Creeper is the best card in the pack by a lot, but it is a two-color card, and the best single-color card is Burly Breaker. I think that Burly Breaker is just so replaceable, with so many five-drops in this set, that I would lean towards taking the Creeper first here. I’m not giving up that much not picking Burly Breaker because it’s not that good and I can find other fives. I’m taking Rootcoil Creeper here knowing I’m likely not to play it, but if I do play it, that list is going to be great.

Pick: Rootcoil Creeper

Ryan Saxe: Galvanic Iteration is a card that I think people generally don’t understand well because previously when we’ve seen cards kind of like it, they’ve been mediocre even in the spells decks. Flashback completely changes that dynamic. The main question is, “Do I think I can wheel it?” Because if I’m looking at this pack, the most powerful monocolored card is Burly Breaker but it’s five-mana and there are a lot of good, expensive things. The best commons here are Shipwreck Sifters and Neonate’s Rush. Rootcoil Creeper is another great gold card.

Generally, I think I’d Pack 1, Pick 1 take Galvanic Iteration over Rootcoil Creeper because I like Izzet over Simic and I think it’s a little more powerful. I’m going to end up, though, I think on Shipwreck Sifters. I know that might sound weird given everything I’ve said, but if there was more to wheel from Izzet I would probably end up taking that Iteration. But there’s not, and instead, I think I’d rather take the card that has the highest upside in multiple blue decks, although leaning to Azorius.

Pick: Shipwreck Sifters

Pack 1, Pick 2

Everyone selects Organ Hoarder. It’s an ODP first, with the best common in the set representing a clean sweep.

Pack 1, Pick 3

Alex Nikolic: Three cards that stick out to me: Startle, Baithook Angler, and Olivia’s Midnight Ambush. I would just take Baithook Angler. I really love Baithook Angler, I think it’s still a little underrated at this point in the format, honestly. It’s a premium, premium two-drop and works really well with both our Creeper and our Organ Hoarder so I’m thrilled to pick it up here. I think this is a pick where some people might be like “Ooh, removal spell!” with the Ambush but I don’t value removal spells that highly in this format. The premium creatures are a bit better, especially because you can pick up a few removal spells.

Pick: Baithook Angler

AliasV: I’ve seen two Olivia’s Midnight Ambushes, and yes, they’re quite good, but people fight over blue so I’m stamping my authority and taking all the good blue cards while I can. 

Pick: Baithook Angler

Arya Karamchandani: This pack I think there are a few strong cards. I don’t think I’m ever taking any of the uncommons in this pack. Silversmith is fine. Startle is quite good. I think I’m taking Olivia’s Midnight Ambush. Particularly early in the pack, what I like to do in Draft is just take the best card every pack and remain open until I can start to read signals proper. I like to waffle a lot early and I think Olivia’s Midnight Ambush is probably the best card in this pack.

Pick: Olivia’s Midnight Ambush

Cedric Phillips: I’m going to take Ambush and maybe I splash, maybe I don’t. It’s just good to stay open.

Pick: Olivia’s Midnight Ambush

Deathsie: Another Olivia’s Midnight Ambush here. Something to note. I guess it just makes sense to pick another blue card here since nothing is exciting. 

Pick: Baithook Angler

Michael Sigrist: This is a difficult pick because the most valuable card in the pack is Olivia’s Midnight Ambush and the next-best cards are both Startle and Baithook Angler. I would rather have Baithook Angler specifically in Simic and lean more towards Startle in Dimir. But I’m just going to take the strongest color because it’s still early and I’m in no way committed to green so I’m just going to take Olivia’s Midnight Ambush here.

Pick: Olivia’s Midnight Ambush

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: In this pack, one card is just miles better than everything else, and that’s the Olivia’s Midnight Ambush. I don’t care that it’s a different color than my first two picks. I don’t like committing that early so I’m just taking the best card. 

Pick: Olivia’s Midnight Ambush

Ryan Saxe: So the best card in this pack is Olivia’s Midnight Ambush. It’s the only black card and a common is missing but we don’t know what color because every color is present. But starting with two blue cards and a Shipwreck Sifters, I think this is definitely just a Baithook Angler. 

Pick: Baithook Angler

Pack 1, Pick 4

Alex Nikolic: Very sadly, there are no blue cards in this pack, which is of note because there’s a common of every color in every pack in this set, meaning somebody took a blue common out of this pack. Which is not that big of a deal if we are hoping to get into Simic still, because blue is deep enough that you can kind of bully your way into it a lot of a time. Hungry for More is good; I actually like that card quite a bit. I’m actually into the Up Dawg a little bit. I don’t even want to call it a sleeper, but a card that I’m not that sad to play, especially in Simic. You often end up with a lot of instants in Simic that you can Turn 3 hold up a Flip the Switch and cast whichever one you want.

Pick: Bounding Wolf

AliasV: And then blue dries up. Haha! Fun. There’s a lot of red, also not a super-great color. I will take the Deserted Beach here.  

Pick: Deserted Beach

Arya Karamchandani: Most of these cards are not making my deck. I’m not a huge fan of the green-based decks that splash a bunch of stuff. I feel like Rejuvenator is just not a great card and you get much better rate in things like blue and black, so I don’t really want to go into one of those decks. In general, in this format, I’m leaning towards Esper colors. In those colors, I don’t think Revelry or Outlaw are particularly good cards. Flare of Faith is fine in some decks but it has zero synergy with anything we’re doing so far. Splashing in this format is very hard and very costly, so picking up a fixing land in this pick where it’s close to free because everything else is so bad is pretty valuable and might let us splash where I normally wouldn’t be comfortable doing that.

Pick: Deserted Beach

Cedric Phillips: This pack is terrible? I hate Sunset Revelry. I don’t want to take Crossroads Candleguide. All right, give me the land. Maybe I wind up splashing something.

Pick: Deserted Beach

Deathsie: For me, Simic often does become some kind of spells deck, but Dawnhart Rejuvenator is awkward because there aren’t that many big blue or green spells. I’d probably pick up the Deserted Beach and try to go for some kind of pile here.

Pick: Deserted Beach

Michael Sigrist: Quite a weak pack for what we’re doing here. I could just take Dawnhart Rejuvenator because it takes me back into the Simic splash type thing. I could just take the dual land because that’s the best card to enable a splash in a Simic deck or even a Dimir deck, which is certainly possible if you get enough fixing to get a Rite of Oblivion. The overall strongest card in the pack, I think from a raw power level perspective, is Harvesttide Infiltrator but not by much. I don’t think there’s much to be gained here. 

Pick: Deserted Beach

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: This pack’s pretty bad again. I don’t really want to play any of those cards. I think the Infiltrator is probably the best card here but it’s pretty mediocre. At this point, I would probably just take the Dawnhart Rejuvenator just because of what I already have. The four-drop slot is very, very crowded but I would just take the Rejuvenator here. I might regret not taking Infiltrator, but not by a lot.

Pick: Dawnhart Rejuvenator

Ryan Saxe: So Deserted Beach is actually interesting. I think Sunset Revelry is fine, but not incredibly exciting. Sacred Fire is a potential splash in Izzet anyway, and again, this pack doesn’t have any good cards. I could really be any blue deck from this start. If I had taken the Iteration, I’d probably just make sure I had a Stolen Vitality here, but I didn’t so I’m just taking Deserted Beach.

Pick: Deserted Beach

Pack 1, Pick 5

Alex Nikolic: It’s close between Deathbonnet Sprout and Startle here. If we take Startle, we get deep into the best color and then we can easily pivot to something that’s not Simic. But I would just take the Sprout here, I think it’s enough better and it’s premium green.

Pick: Deathbonnet Sprout

AliasV: Ooh, that’s not so bad. I like the Trapper. He’s a good little tappy boy. Another Galedrifter is also enticing. Let’s take another Galedrifter here. Extra flyer, extra value. 

Pick: Galedrifter

Arya Karamchandani: Shadowbeast Sighting is the only card that’s making me think a little here in terms of being a good green card and making me maybe want to veer towards green a little. The other two good cards in this pack are Trapper and Startle. I’m more comfortable with blue-based decks than I am with green decks, but I do think Shadowbeast Sighting is a stronger card than Startle is.

Pick: Shadowbeast Sighting

Cedric Phillips: Hell yeah. Shadowbeast Sighting, let’s go. In a runaway, the best card in the pack by so much. 

Pick: Shadowbeast Sighting

Deathsie: Sprout is okay. I’m not that big fan of it. I think it’s matchup-dependent. We have some filler blue cards here. I’m very happy to see a Shadowbeast Sighting. 

Pick: Shadowbeast Sighting

Michael Sigrist: This is actually a very close pick and I’m going to end up taking a green card here. Green looks pretty open. I think both Shadowbeast Sighting and Deathbonnet Sprout are excellent cards in Simic. Four-drops are much easier to come by. I do think, from a raw power level perspective, Shadowbeast Sighting is a little bit stronger than Deathbonnet Sprout but one-drops are much harder to get, especially higher-value ones.

Pick: Deathbonnet Sprout

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: I think the two green cards here are very good: Deathbonnet Sprout and Shadowbeast Sighting. I think Shadowbeast Sighting is a little bit better. It is a four-drop, which is a problem because there are so many four-drops. I already have two if I do go the Simic version, but I think it’s still better than the Sprout.

Pick: Shadowbeast Sighting

Ryan Saxe: Sprout is overrated. I think it’s just fine, mostly because in my Simic decks often end up heavier on spells than creatures. If I took a green card, I think I’d rather take a Shadowbeast Sighting. Galedrifter works nicely with Shipwreck Sifters but it’s still just a clunky card and I already have an Organ Hoarder as a four. If I end up Azorius, Gavony Trapper is probably better than this Startle, but I’m just going to take Startle to stay monocolored.

Pick: Startle

Pack 1, Pick 6

Alex Nikolic: Speaking of premium Simic, we just get hooked up with a Winterthorn Blessing here which is fantastic. I think that it’s even better than Rootcoil Creeper in Simic decks. There’s some thought to being like, “Well, I’m kind of locking in at this point.” Because I’ve taken half green cards, half blue cards, half Simic gold cards, and I would like to be more on the side of “Get deep into a color so I can pivot into any of the other colors,” but I think we have enough power going on and we’ve got enough incentive to bias towards Simic. I think taking Duel for Dominance would be too much of a power step down.

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

AliasV: Well, as much as I don’t like Simic, the game might be going, “Hey! You should pick this Winterthorn Blessing.” I think here I’d take Duel for Dominance. No one seems to be picking green stuff so yeah, let’s take some removal.

Pick: Duel for Dominance

Arya Karamchandani: I haven’t had a chance to play a lot with Winterthorn Blessing, but from the little I’ve seen other people play it, the card has looked quite good. Duel for Dominance is a card I’m not a huge fan of in this format just because green is not the strongest color and then, even within that, there’s a lot of removal so fight spells are less reliable than they might normally be.   

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

Cedric Phillips: Yes, we are being rewarded. Winterthorn Blessing into a Simic strategy.

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

Deathsie: Life is good. Winterthorn Blessing, Bird Admirer, and Duel for Dominance isn’t bad either. I’ll pick up the Winterthorn Blessing. I think it’s a very good signal. 

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

Michael Sigrist: This is a pretty good sign that Simic is open and I think Winterthorn Blessing is quite strong, even in slower, more controlling Simic decks, just because it leaves value with the counter, it can swing races, and it can play the control role of just biding time until you set up. 

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: Three options here I think: Bird Admirer, Duel for Dominance, and Winterthorn Blessing. I don’t know for a fact that I am Simic at this point. Blessing is pretty good in certain flavors of Simic. It’s not even very good in all of them, whereas the Duel and Bird Admirer are both going to be okay. I would probably just go with the Bird Admirer because it’s a three-drop, a good defensive card. I have some reasonable late options already. 

Pick: Bird Admirer

Ryan Saxe: So now that I’ve been mostly mono-blue, I think it’s correct to take Winterthorn Blessing to speculate on the potential of being Simic. 

Pick: Winterthorn Blessing

Pack 1, Pick 7

Alex Nikolic: Pretty meh pack. There’s Galedrifter which I’ll play sometimes in Simic; it’s okay. There’s Turn the Earth, which is a card I think makes its way into more decks than it should. The times you have to actually draw this card are pretty abhorrent, so I’ll just take Galedrifter. It’s a fine playable.

Pick: Galedrifter

AliasV: Oh look, it’s Teferi At Home. Hey, Vadrik. What’s up, buddy? I’m just going to win with Birds. That’s my plan currently, so another Galedrifter here.

Pick: Galedrifter

Arya Karamchandani: The two strongest cards in this pack are Galedrifter and No Way Out. Baneblade Scoundrel is also quite good but I guess I’m just taking Galedrifter. We only have the one black card and I wouldn’t consider these black cards quite strong enough to be signals because there are a bunch of good black commons. There’s a chance there are strong black cards this late in the pack even if black isn’t particularly open. 

Pick: Galedrifter

Cedric Phillips: That’s a really late one of those Baneblade Scoundrels but let’s see. It’s between Galedrifter and Baneblade Scoundrel. Basically, if I take the Scoundrel, I’m kinda looking into, am I Golgari? Not really and I don’t ever want to be Golgari. If I’m Dimir, I have a Hoarder, Scoundrel, and Olivia’s Midnight Ambush and that’s really it. I’m going down this Simic splash something path and so Galedrifter is going to make my deck more often no matter what happens.

Pick: Galedrifter

Deathsie: Vadrik is actually pretty cool because the Simic flashback cards are so expensive that you need to find some way to make them cheaper, whether it’s Unblinking Observer or Rootcoil Creeper. I mean, what’s the opportunity cost? A Galedrifter? 

Pick: Vadrik, Astral Archmage

Michael Sigrist: This pack’s pretty weak. We see two Izzet cards, so Izzet might be a little bit open. We haven’t seen any red commons so I’m not really interested in that route. I’m not interested in splashing either of those cards. I don’t really like Turn the Earth, even in these Simic self-mill decks. I don’t like cards that don’t give me at least a cards worth of value. I’m just going to take Galedrifter here and hope to not have to play it.

Pick: Galedrifter

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: Okay, so Vadrik is pretty good. I wonder if there is a way for me to play it at this point. It’s not that great of a splash but it’s playable on the splash I think. The other option would be to take Galedrifter, No Way Out, or Baneblade Scoundrel because I’m not locked into my colors just yet. Galedrifter I don’t love because, again, too many four-drops. But am I going to play Temur splashing Vadrik? It is very, very good in the right deck. I don’t have a whole lot of spells for him but maybe it’s the type of card that’s worth taking if it happens because what I’m giving up is not great.

Pick: Vadrik, Astral Archmage

Ryan Saxe: Two Izzet cards here is a pretty big note, especially if there’s a chance that Iteration wheels. One of the problems is, let’s say that Iteration doesn’t wheel. Then I’m likely fighting for Izzet, which seems like it’s a problem. I’ll take the Archmage anyway.

Pick: Vadrik, Astral Archmage

Pack 1, Pick 8

Alex Nikolic: Okay, so… options. I’m just going to take Larder Zombie. Larder Zombie is just awesome, even in these decks that are a little more beatdown-heavy. Having a Turn 1 play is pretty important in this format. You just get out of the gates and stop those Ecstatic Awakener and Veteran starts where you feel like you’re under so much pressure. Larder Zombie does a good job of defending early, making sure you don’t flood in the mid-game, and especially in Simic, you really start to draw cards off this thing in the mid-game. “Yeah, bin the Blessing. Bin the Galedrifter.” It just turns into an engine. Shipwreck Sifters is fine in Simic, but a lot worse than in Azorius because you have a lesser density of disturb cards.

Pick: Larder Zombie

AliasV: Now this is quite nice. Tome can be good but I see a Shipwreck Sifters and I would like that. It’s great for all of my returny friends. 

Pick: Shipwreck Sifters

Arya Karamchandani: It’s either going to be Sifters or Larder Zombie. Larder Zombie is a card I’m higher on in general. Sifters is specifically good in Azorius and Dimir, more so Azorius, where Larder Zombie is better in Dimir. I think this pick I’m going to go with the Sifters. I don’t know that if we were Simic we would be a deck in which we’d have room for Larder Zombie. Whereas with the Galedrifter, with all the flashback cards, there’s a non-trivial chance we end up in a Shipwreck Sifters deck.

Pick: Shipwreck Sifters

Cedric Phillips: I’m going to take Secrets of the Key. I don’t like Sifters that much in Simic. I don’t like Timberland Guide in general unless you’re Selesnya and doing coven stuff, and Larder Zombie would probably be the second card I would take from this pack. But I’m not going to select it from this pack because I think Secrets of the Key is just better in this style of strategy. I actually consider Tome close to unplayable in Draft but actually very good in Sealed.

Pick: Secrets of the Key

Deathsie: Ooh, Mysterious Tome. Speaking of extremely expensive Magic: The Gathering cards. One of my favorite things in this format is being green and spending ten mana to do four mana worth of stuff.

Pick: Mysterious Tome

Michael Sigrist: I’m actually very unfamiliar with Mysterious Tome. I haven’t played it much at all. I always talk myself out of playing it. I think it’s good enough to play and I don’t really play Shipwreck Sifters in these decks, either, and those are the cards I’m considering. I do like Larder Zombie but I usually only want one.

Pick: Mysterious Tome

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: Sifters, Larder Zombie, Timberland Guide, Tome are all similar power levels. Obviously, Sifters is the better card potentially if you have the deck for it. I would probably just take Larder Zombie with what I have here so far. I think Larder Zombie is pretty good.

Pick: Larder Zombie

Ryan Saxe: I want exactly one Secrets of the Key in Izzet, and I still don’t have to commit to anything. Shipwreck Sifters get better in multiples, so I’ll take Sifters.

Pick: Shipwreck Sifters

Usually, the packs are quite different late in the draft and we’d stop here. I wanted to take a moment to illustrate some key decisions people made in Pack 3, as the innocuous selection of Deserted Beach for some drafters plays a big role in these next few picks. Also, worth noting: everyone took a Pack 3, Pick 1 Organ Hoarder because of course they did.

Pack 3, Pick 2

Alex Nikolic: I’m probably just going to take Startle here. I’ll play basically any number of Startles. Startle especially plays well with green large creatures; they often have to double block your Shadowbeast or Cavalry and you get a blowout. There’s also the Seize the Storm which sticks out to me as a card we could play. I think we’re probably not going to be there because our card quality is good enough in Simic. I was talking about a Bant deck but there’s also variants of this deck where you’re Temur with Seize the Storm

Pick: Startle

AliasV: Wow, where are my colors? Excuse me, judge: I think this pack is rigged. I want to take Dreadhound but that’s probably a bad idea. Let’s take Might of the Old Ways. Combat tricks are fun.

Pick: Might of the Old Ways

Arya Karamchandani: There are a lot of really strong cards in this pack that aren’t in our colors like Seize the Storm and Dreadhound. I think I’m taking the Startle. It’s the best card in our colors. It’s not a deck in which Startle is at its best, though.

Pick: Startle

Cedric Phillips: So, here come these red cards. Finally. Moonrager’s Slash and Seize the Storm. I was kind of hoping this might happen, even if I don’t have the strongest capabilities of splashing red. Also, not really splashing white very much, so if I were to really, really go for it I would take Moonrager’s Slash. Startle is just fine here, not great. I’m taking Moonrager’s Slash with the hope of wheeling Seize the Storm. 

Pick: Moonrager’s Slash

Deathsie: At the moment, the main strength of my deck is the three Mysterious Tomes, which Vadrik doesn’t really help with. Something special would have to happen for those to make my deck. I wonder if Seize the Storm is special? I don’t think it is, but I don’t care about any of the other cards here.

Pick: Seize the Storm

Michael Sigrist: Interesting. So, we could end up with a Seize the Storm deck here. I don’t know. I’m not super-excited about it. It is kinda what we want to do but I just don’t think we have enough spells. I think we’re just better off trying to play a value-y, curve out deck with stuff like Startle. I think it’s also possible that Seize the Storm wheels. There are some pretty strong red cards in this pack. There’s a Dreadhound. I’m not excited about it but I’m just going to take Startle.

Pick: Startle

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa:  It’s kind of weird it’s already Pack 3 and I don’t really know what colors I am but that happens sometimes. This pack is tricky because the best card is the Dreadhound but it’s BB. I could try to take the Seize the Storm and just go nuts but I don’t think I have the spells for it. The two black cards I have are quite good. I also have three quite good blue cards. I would be happy to splash either but Dreadhound is BB and I don’t have that much fixing yet. I’ll take the Dreadhound here but this might be a mistake.

Pick: Dreadhound

Ryan Saxe: N/A

Pick: Mourning Patrol

Pack 3, Pick 3

Alex Nikolic: This is interesting. I’m just going to take the Brutal Cathar here. There’s definitely a chance we play this card. It’s a good splash card and I’m not missing anything from this pack. A Duel for Dominance? I don’t really care that much about that. It’s plus EV to not let someone else have it and us to potentially play it.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

AliasV: Ooh, hello! Okay, we’re splashing white. Brutal Cathar, get in there bud.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Arya Karamchandani: We’re definitely splashing the Brutal Cathar. We have two pieces of fixing and that card’s a bomb. The pick of the Deserted Beach earlier definitely paying off.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Cedric Phillips: Well, Brutal Cathar is busted so I’m just going to pick that and find a way to splash that and Mending into my deck.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Deathsie: Morbid Opportunist isn’t that great in this deck, even if I could splash it, because things aren’t really dying. I’m actually down to pick up this Brutal Cathar and see what happens. I have this Deserted Beach.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Michael Sigrist: Glad we picked up that dual land! This is a slam-dunk Brutal Cathar for me. It’s one of the best cards in the set, we have a piece of fixing for it, and this is the kind of card that, if I have to play the Path to the Festivals, I’m not that unhappy with.

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: Brutal Cathar is one of the best cards in the set, but we can’t really use it, so I guess I’ll just take Morbid Opportunist, which is also one of the best cards in the set, even though I don’t have a lot of ways to kill creatures. I might get one or two more removal spells. I might table this Duel for Dominance. Unlikely.

Pick: Morbid Opportunist

Ryan Saxe: *windmill slams Brutal Cathar*

Pick: Brutal Cathar

Pack 3, Pick 4

Alex Nikolic: So now we’re getting to true “How much do you want to hate draft?” territory. There’s an actual good card in this pack for us we would love, Baithook Angler. There’s also Adeline, a fantastic card that we don’t ever want to face. I don’t think there’s a chance we play Adeline. Some of these decks where you pick up four Jack-o’-Lantern, you can double splash, but Adeline isn’t even the best double splash because she doesn’t do as much when she comes down on Turn 7. This is putting me to the test. My gut just says take the Angler here.

Pick: Baithook Angler

AliasV: Oh, hello! Well now. Can I do double white? That’d be such a bad idea. Let’s go for another Baithook Angler.

Pick: Baithook Angler

Arya Karamchandani: It’s either the Sifters or the Angler here and I think we want to take the second Sifters. 

Pick: Shipwreck Sifters

Cedric Phillips: I’m just going to take Baithook Angler because, as good as Adeline is, it’s just too late for me to get into that color combination.

Pick: Baithook Angler

Deathsie: Adeline, on the other hand, not really viable from this spot. Between Sifters and Angler, I’m probably just down to pick up another Angler. I like these cards that just kind of do things on their own.

Pick: Baithook Angler

Michael Sigrist: Wow, white is really coming now. I don’t think we can pivot into white. I think I just want to pay attention to my curve here and just take the Baithook Angler. 

Pick: Baithook Angler

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa: Oh wow, it seems like white is very open which is going to be kind of unfair. Whoever was in white really lucked out with these last two picks. The question is which two-drop do I want. The Timberland Guide is one I’m always going to play because I have a base green deck, but it’s the worst one. Siege Zombie is a little bit better and then the Angler is a card that I might be unable to play early, because I think blue is my last color, but it is a card I can mill. 

Pick: Baithook Angler

Ryan Saxe: How many twos do I have? Four and a one already. Okay, I’ll take Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. There we go! Now I’m rewarded. Woo hoo.

Pick: Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

Alex Nikolic

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Dawnhart Mentor

Everyone was in on Covetous Castaway and Eccentric Farmer Pack 2, Pick 1, so when Nikolic says he thinks Dawnhart Mentor is the strongest card in a vacuum, my ears perked up. I thought this pack would be one of the more controversial coming in, so with no one taking Triskodekaphile, I was proud that someone had the gall to speculate on the Mentor.

Final thoughts: “I left Pack 1 being happy but also a little bit leery that we’re locked in. I don’t like locking in Pack 1, I like locking in Pack 2, but that’s how the draft went. I didn’t think it was reasonable to bias toward one color when we got all those good gold cards and we got punished a little at the end of Pack 3 there. I’m happy with my deck; I just wish we were in a position to snag all the great white cards that were coming our way in Pack 3.”

AliasV

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Baithook Angler

You can’t help but feel for AliasV after seeing the deluge of solid white commons that come her way immediately after passing up an Adeline, Resplendent Cathar for a Baithook Angler Pack 3, Pick 4. It would be an absolutely devastating addition to a deck that wants to execute a fast gameplan. Perhaps a late Loyal Gryff in Pack 2 was a sign of things to come, but even that’s debatable.

Final thoughts: “I was a little all over the place and wound up taking too many crappy green cards. I think it’s tempo-ish: if I can win quickly, it’ll be fine but if the game goes long, I think I’m in a pretty bad spot. If we can control the opponent’s battlefield we should be able to fly in for the win hopefully with our disturb creatures. I don’t think it’s super-powerful. It’s certainly not the best I’ve drafted but it should get some wins. I’ve got two Organ Hoarders so I’m already a winner.”

Arya Karamchandani

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Flip the Switch

I really loved Karamchandani’s draft because while people speculated and whiffed in many spots, she stuck to her guns and wound up with a fairly powerful Bant deck that wasn’t hurting for playables. In retrospect, Pack 2, Pick 3’s selection of a Flip the Switch over a Silver Bolt might have hurt considering the sheer volume of counterspells she wound up with and Simic’s lack of overall interaction in general. Honestly, this isn’t even spilled milk to cry over, but a drop of creamer.

Final thoughts: “I’d say I’m reasonably confident in this deck. I haven’t gotten to play too much Simic but I’m pretty happy we have some really powerful top-end with Rise of the Ants and just a bunch of card advantage. We have a psuedo-infinite combo with Rootcoil Creeper and Croaking Counterpart. The seat would have maybe yielded a slightly better deck if I had just been Azorius but I don’t know if there were sufficient signals early for me to realize that. “

Cedric Phillips

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Faithful Mending

Pack 1, Pick 9 seemed to throw most of our drafters a curveball, either speculating on a Neonate’s Rush that ended up in exactly zero decks or a Path to the Festival / Snarling Wolf that didn’t fare much better. Here, Phillips is giddy to table a card that he considered a potential Pack 1, Pick 1 for certain Azorius fans in Faithful Mending. Since he’s splashing white for Brutal Cathar already, it winds up making the 40.

Final thoughts: “I’m not thrilled because I really don’t have much removal or interaction, so if I get behind I’m a little worried about it. Because I have these Unblinking Observers, I can actually cast these counterspells without having to pass on Turn 4 with four mana up. I think this is fine. I don’t think it’s great. I wish I had two more flyers but I would lock this in and I wouldn’t feel great about it.”

Deathsie

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Every freaking Mysterious Tome

The line between genius and trolling can be paper-thin sometimes, but who am I to quibble with the undisputed king of finding angles where no one else sees them? A nineteen land, three Mysterious Tome deck is truly a one-in-a-billion thing to behold, just like our friend Deathsie.

Final thoughts: “I think my deck is actually very polarized. It’s going to be pretty bad going second against decks that are trying to kill me. Decks that are trying to durdle around? I don’t think that they can win. I’ve risk-assessed by playing nineteen lands over the traditional seventeen, and just having access to mana means I’ll be able to get my Mysterious Tomes off. Overall, I’m actually very happy about this seat and a bit of a lucky Rootcoil Creeper Pack 1, Pick 1.”

Michael Sigrist

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Deathbonnet Sprout

For players that considered themselves likely selecting a green card Pack 1, Pick 5, I had penciled in Shadowbeast Sighting by the time Sigrist took the seat. Deathbonnet Sprout ranged in other players’ estimations from overrated to a coin flip with Sighting, but only Siggy pulled the trigger on the loveable little ‘shroom. With only five combined disturb and flashback cards, I’m not sure he’d have milled the value he had hoped for.

Final thoughts: “I think I did a decent job in this seat. I don’t really know what I could have done to make my deck better. One of the pivotal picks could have been Morbid Opportunist versus Cathar. Basically, the only way my deck could have been stronger was if I wound up in black. Overall, I think this deck is slightly above average. The deck has a decent curve, it has strong value cards, and it kind of has a late-game. Where it’s really weak is the removal. If Brutal Cathar was another type of rare that wasn’t actually able to manipulate creatures, the deck would be much weaker overall.”

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Curse of Leeches

For most of our Simic-with-a-splash drafters, I’m not sure Curse of Leeches registers as a valid option in Pack 2, Pick 6. That is, except for Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, who never forgets his Olivia’s Midnight Ambush and winds up in our lone Sultai deck. Without the Deserted Beach others selected, this means he won’t be splashing the Brutal Cathar people snag in Pack 3 and has to settle for a Morbid Opportunist. Not a bad consolation prize.

Final thoughts: “I think my deck definitely didn’t end up being any good. It sounded like the place to be was in white, but if those two white rares that I got were non-white rares or just two bad cards, maybe I wouldn’t even be thinking that. I don’t think I missed out on that many white cards. I did table the coven Witch. It’s hard for me to identify the spot where I should have been white. I felt like, when I saw my first white card, I had eleven cards and none of them were white.”

Ryan Saxe

Draft Log

Defining Pick: Revenge of the Drowned

Saxe is one of two players in the seat to see a Revenge of the Drowned Pack 2, Pick 3 and it appears that’s because of his early Shipwreck Sifters selection. It’s a nice piece of interaction and one of the best blue commons, but also a great highlight of how a difficult choice can wind up being of great benefit down the line. You know, the whole reason we’re here.

Final thoughts: “I think my deck is good. I think ending up Azorius was a natural path that ends up with a good deck at this seat. I think most seats here would end up with a good deck. It’s hard to imagine what would happen with the dynamics of the draft if you went Izzet, but assuming passing the Galvanic Iteration is what put somebody in Izzet, there’s a good chance if you take Galvanic Iteration you wind up with the best deck at the table. I think most people in this seat should have ended up being Azorius, Izzet, or Simic.”

Five Bant, two Azorius, and one Sultai deck are our final answers this round. Despite double Vadrik, Astral Archmage; double Galvanic Iteration; a Bloodthirsty Adversary; and a Seize the Storm, no one found a way into Izzet? Poggers, as the kids say.

What did you wind up drafting? Shoot a Tweet my way with your final picks (@fakejakebrowne) if you’ve done something funky. If you’d like to hear each player break down their draft in its entirety, check out this video and the ODP YouTube channel.