ZZZ draft by BenZen
Feb
09
9 February 2010, DB User @ 12:01 am

Hi, this is BenZen with another submission. I finally switched from M10 to ZEN drafting and find it's not that much deeper. Sure M10 is all about bombs, but ZEN is all about racing. I love the landfall and allies mechanics tough, so I play to stay into ZEN a bit.

Alright, I told DB I was going to submit another draft soon so he can fill up the week and here it comes. I had originally planned to submit a draft I did a couple of days ago, but people seem to enjoy "normal" drafts more than winning ones, so I just jumped in the swiss queue for ZZZ and I'll be writing about this one, no matter what.

Good read!

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Alright, an unexciting opener... That's becoming a bad habit. Ayways, there is a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, but i'm not commiting to mono-red this early, especially with a Geyser Glider in the pack that will put someone else in red for sure. Next in line are the Glider and an Umara Raptor. I don't like the RR in the casting cost and I go with the cheap and powerful blue ally.

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Pretty easy pick here ast the Windrider Eel is a strong on-color card. Other notables are the Kor Hookmaster and Kor Aerialist, but I don't want to go in white too early without a bomb or Skyfisher since the color itself is pretty sad.

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Alright, this pack is interesting, and I totally picked the wrong card. Kor Sanctifiers and Surrakar Marauder and the best options here, and I haven't passed too much black yet so I should've picked the Marauder. Instead, I pick Blazing Torch for no obvious reason.

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Another Eel for me here. Black and Green seem pretty open, but I don't like to pick Crypt Ripper when I don't know if I'll play much black. Green is open, but the cards here are not strong enough to push me into this color.

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No Blue, no Black, but a strong green card: River Boa.

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Alright, that's just wrong. I don't know the the other guys at the table are doing, but it's not drafting at all. All the cards here are playable... And mostly top tier playables... There is a Whiplash Trap for blue, a Harrow for green and WHAT!? a Marsh Casualties!?!?!? Seirously, I just can't pass that.

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Welkin Tern, Giant Scorpion, Surrakar Marauder. My deck seems to be the "evasion racing" kind, and I want to be able to play the Marsh Casualties I just got, so I go with the fast black two-drop. I'd like some feedback on this one tough, it was a tough choice.

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Not much for me here, it's between Blood Seeker and Summoner's Bane. Blood Seeker can be a real pain and I don't like the UU in Bane so I go for another two-drop.

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Pretty dry, save the whithe card. I'll take the fine Hedron Scrabbler in case I need more playables later.

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The aeronaut wheeling means there is only a single white drafter. I picked Savage Silhouette here in case I get enough good green to play the boa, but I probably should have just cut the flier.

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Kraken Hatchling wheeled, that's sweet. Means I'll probably get good blue troughout the draft, even if the crab is gone since people often juste hate draft the miller.

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Two weak blue cards, I hate the trick. Might have been better picking the expedition, since I was quite short on playables in the end.

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Hate the trick.

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Really? Well, that's cool with me! Whiplash Trap, in my pile.

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Hurts to pass so many good cards, but I'm poor and a pack is a pack. Arid Mesa for me, but if it had been 8-4, I would have picked a second Marsh Casualties here without a doubt.

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Couple of options here: Heartstabber Mosquito, Welkin Tern and Vampire Hexmage. I'm in blue and don't need the little bug to stab my opponents so much. It's between the tern and the vampire. I like Hexmage against planeswalkers and it can go really far in zen with it's first strike. Plus, I want to cut black a bit after passing 2 removals P2P1.

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Tough pick here. Into the Roil, Sky Ruin Drake and Nimana Sell-Sword are three fine picks. I already got a raptor and I'm looking for more allies to make him grow, but Into the Roil is premium bounce... Here was my thinking: Black is better, creatures are better, allies are better. With this card I might be able to start an ally sub-theme.

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Bingo! Here is another nice ally for me: Bala Ged Thief. If he wasn't there, the scorpion would have been a fine pick tough.

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Not much for me. I should have picked the Blood Seeker, but the last picks had me into allies and I still had an eye for green.

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This one was tough: another ally with the Hagra Diabolist or removal in the form of Paralysing Grasp or even another dude with Aether Figment or hell, even the battle trick qualifies... At 5cc, the ally is pretty poor, while figment is not really mana efficient and Vampire's Bite is a bit weak. I'll just take the removal here since it fits the curve well and can get rid of annoying creatures like Gliders or Living Tsunami

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Another sad pack. I'll cut the green card here just in case since I don't like the Shoal Serpent.

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Late Welkin Tern and Quest for the Gravelord. I think the two-drop fits my aggro theme better.

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Wow! Late blue cards! Seems like all that cutting paid off. Into the Roil is a good card, but I feel Gomazoa is slightly better, because it can block 2 power creatures forever and remove the real threat when it hits play.

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Not much for me, was tempted to cut the Pyromancer in case someone was playing mono-red/allies with the Valakut from P1P1, but Lethargy Trap can be mean against aggro decks and what is Zen if not aggro?

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Not playing anything here, but passing two white playables this late seems bad so I cut the foil one.

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Just in case.

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Should have cut Brave the Elements, 2x Trap won't help me.

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Now, that's what I like to see in an opener! Sea Gate Loremaster is perfect: it has 3 toughness, almost broken card draw and fits perfectly with my other allies. Nothing else for my deck in this pack, really.

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That's a bit underwhelming. The best card is the white angel, but I have to pick the Giant Scorpion here.

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I've got a Hatchling and a scorpion to hold the ground, what would be better than a large Sky Ruin Drake to totally lock the board while my allies grow.

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Raptor number two! Those allies are looking good right now. That Burst Lightning is pretty strange.  Means none of my three neighbours are even splashing red.

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Raptor number three? Now that's a late one.

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Not much here but an amazing four red cards. I'll pick Spreading Seas in case I run into a tricolor or a splash deck.

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This pick was pretty tough. Whiplash Trap fits pretty well in my deck, while even if I'm not nearly mono-black, Mind Sludge can win games. In the end, I picked the black card. Maybe I have something against bounce...

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Picking the druid here was a clear mistake. I should have picked the expedition.

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Not much here. I take the Cipt land, but I probably wont play it since I need as much swamps as I can to max Mind Sludge.

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Fine card for me, even tough I don't like the UU in the cost.

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I'm just not going to pass removal this late...

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But it seems like someone next to me is going to do it. Nice late gift.

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There goes another late gift: Jwar Isle Refuge is just the fixing I'm looking for.

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Deckbuilding was pretty straightforward, since I didn't have much extra playables to spare.

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On to the games now. Sadly, MTGO recorded only 1 of the games... But since I just played this draft, I should be able to remember most things.

Strangely enough, my first opponent was B/U, just like me. Problem is, he had the nuts draw twice (Surrakar on Raptor on Eel) and plenty of removal to get rid of my creatures.

First game I kept a hand with 3x Swamp, 2x Raptor, Loremaster and Welkin Tern hoping to draw an island to turn this hand into a monster. On the next turns, I got Swamp, Swamp, Giant Scorpion, Swamp, Swamp, then the game was done... I should definitely mulligan when I'm in the color-screw zone.

Second game I kept a hand of Island, Swamp, Raptor, Loremaster, Eel and Marauder after a mull to 6. I played my two lands, dropped the Marauder and that's pretty much it. The Marauder got killed by a disfigure right after and I didn't draw a single land for the rest of the game.

That's disappointing for a first match, especially since I feel my deck is strong. Anyway, that's usually what I get when I forget to say "Hi, gl, hf" before the game. Next game should be better.

But next game wasn't that fun: my opponent simply dropped after 1 min and I won without a fight... I hate when it happens, because I play swiss to have fun in a guaranteed 3 match.

Last match was against a R/u deck. This time around my deck worked exactly like ti was supposed.

First game he started strong with two Shortcutters and a Mongrel while I only had a Welkin Tern out, but when i hit 5 mana, I quickly used my kicked Marsh Causalties to get a 3-for-1 after which he had no more play. He quickly conceded and we went on to game 2.

This game was not interesting but it's the only one MTGO recorded. I kept a hand of 3x Island, Swamp, Hatchling, Scorpion and Windrider Eel. Seems like a good start, even if it's more control-ish.

Turn 1: My opponent was playing first and dropped a mountain, while I draw Blazing Torch, play Island and Hatchling.

Turn 2: Mountain number two and still no play. I draw Loremaster, play Island, drop the Torch and equip it to my Hatchling.

Turn 3: Third Mountain and still no play... Looks bad for him right now. I draw Swamp, drop Swamp, play my Scorpion and pass.

Turn 4: He drops his fourth mountain and has no play... He must have kept quite a strong hand and I start to fear a Valakut lurking. I draw Raptor (yay), drop my third Island and the Eel, strike with the scorpion for 1 and pass.

Turn 5: He drops Island and finally has a play: Tuktuk Grunts. I'm not scared at all since my Hatchling and Scorpion are on the board. I draw Island, drop swamp, strike with my Eel for 4 (hes at 15 now), play Raptor and pass.

Turn6: He plays Geyser Glider, no land, and things could get bad if he has something else of this kind. I draw Island, drop Island, play my Loremaster (yay, he finally hits the board!), strike for 7 with the Eel and Raptor (my opponent is at 8 now, and I'm pretty much out of danger) and pass.

Turn 7: He drops Mountain and a second Tuktuk Grunt, pumping his other one to 4/4 and giving flying to his Glider. He attacks with the 4/4 Grunt to trade for my scorpion and hit me for 4 with the flier then pass. I draw Jwar Isle Refuge and activate my Loremaster to draw Mind Sludge and Paralysing Grasp. I drop the dual land to gain 1 life, then use Grasp on his Glider. Last thing I do is declare attackers and he concedes the Match!

One funny thing is I made the same mistake twice in this last game: I could have killed the grunts right when they came into play by using the Torch just before they go to 3/3, thus saving my scorpion later. Really that's a small mistake, but I learned from it and would (hopefully) not do it again.

Well, in the end, 2-1 plus a raredraft worth 4-5 ticks isin't that bad, even tough the first match left me a little bitter because I got stomped badly.

Good luck and see you later in a draft guys!

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3 Comments to “ZZZ draft by BenZen”


  1. AllAboardTheGravyTrain — February 9, 2010 @ 5:30 am

    You had some great blue come your way.  I would have made a few picks differently though.  P2P2, I definitely would have taken the second tern over the Hexmage.  It is a lot easier to play for you, and keeps with the aggressive theme still.  P2P4, I would have taken the scorpion over the Thief.  The scorpion is a road block, and allies are only worth it if you have like 10 of them, or they have evasion like the raptors.  I guess I’m just no fan of the Thief.

    I also would have taken the Blood Seeker over the Survivalist.

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  2. eskadillo — February 9, 2010 @ 1:25 pm

    P1P7 I would have taken the Tern over the Marauder.  At that point you were definitely playing blue, but you still weren’t sure whether your second color was going to be green or black.  Additionally, the marauder’s evasion is conditional and even if you do hit your land drops you are more likely to run into another black deck or a puma/scrabbler than you are earlier fliers being held back for defense.

    Even if you got cut a bit more from black, your deck still would have turned out fine.  Many of the black cards in your deck came from packs that also had a good blue option (hexmage > tern, mind sludge > whiplash trap, sell-sword > into the roil & drake, etc).  That said, I still probably would have ended up running blue/black myself and you cut blue enough in the first pack that the pick turned out just fine.

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  3. BenZen — February 9, 2010 @ 8:26 pm

    Thanks for the feedback guys! I agree that the Tern was probably a better pick than the Marauder P1P7 and same thing about P2P2. Crowding the skies with early fliers was definitely the way to go with my deck. 3 Terns and 3 Raptors would have raced pretty well. Plus, my first opponent had black which prevented me from using my marauder efficiently.

    P2P4 I still think the Thief is the right pick, simply because he does generate card advantage every time, and card advantage is super-important in an aggressive format where land matters. The scorpion is removal, but he is at most a 1 for 1 exchange for a strong creature, and can be useless in many situations (against first-strikers of fliers, for instance). Beside, I ended up with 6 great allies, which is enough for an ally mini-theme.

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