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Another weekend, another Zendikar/Worldwake draft. Click the link for the continuing saga.
Swiss queue, still learning the cards. Probably the last week I'll choose this one over a single elimination queue.
Pack One
Pick One:
Three cards from this pack are really the only ones I can consider as first picks. The Kazandu Blademaster, the Trusty Machete and the Burst Lightning. I think it's probably too early to commit to a double 
spell with the other options I have so that rules at the two drop. I know the Lightning is removal, but I think the Machete is pretty fantastic and, it doesn't commit me to a color.
Pick Two:
Well shoot. Looks like the Lightning or the Blademaster would have been fine picks. I figure I shouldn't pass on a two drop that is virtually unblockable and I will hope to cut the red as long as I get the hookup.
Pick Three:
Again, not much from this pack that is amazing. I could cut red for a mediocre card or jump into black for a pretty darn good card. That's the path I chose.
Pick Four:
Looks like the black choice might pay off with a fourth pick Marauder.
Pick Five:
Well, it's not amazing, but it's a fine five drop and I'll be happy to play it.
Pick Six:
I'm still not sure how heavy in to red I'll be so taking the Spire Barrage seems wrong here. However, there is a fine two-drop that will go great in my deck.
Pick Seven:
Great cards in other colors and in black, that's fine with me. That is a very late Steppe Lynx
Pick Eight:
I don't think I've given this guy enough credit in the past so I'll go with the Vampire. Another white spell that definitely shouldn't be here.
Pick Nine:
I didn't expect this rare to make it back. I probably can't put it in my deck, but I don't want to play the Grunts either so...
Pick Ten:
My deck is shaping up pretty aggressive, this should go right in there.
Pick Eleven:
Signalling, not playing it.
Pick Twelve:
Pick Thirteen:
Pick Fourteen:
Pick Fifteen:
Pack Two
Pick One:
Well, can't open much better than that when in your in black.
Pick Two:
Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I'll take it just fine here. I should get something red back from this pack.
Pick Three:
Now that is just discouraging. Looking like a heavier red deck might be the way I'm going.
Pick Four:
Seems early to be taking this one drop, but I don't have a lot of options.
Pick Five:
For a black/red deck, I don't have a single piece of removal so I'm going to take the Barrage here as I am starting to panic a bit.
Pick Six:
With my deck, I think I want the Bite more than the Slaughter Cry
Pick Seven:
Not good, but it's playable, if I need it.
Pick Eight:
I felt like cutting the Summoners Bane here but I want people to see the late blue and stay out of my colors, if possible.
Pick Nine:
I already have four vampires in my pile, if I can pick up a few more in the last pack, then this card will be much more powerful than either of the red choices.
Pick Ten:
Wowee, looks like green would have been fine again. What is up with that?
Pick Eleven:
Pick Twelve:
Seriously?
Pick Thirteen:
Pick Fourteen:
Pick Fifteen:
Pack Three
Pick One:
Not terrible. A few picks here but I'm really interested in the Zendikon. 3/3 attacking on turn three seems really good in the format.
Pick Two:
Did I mention that I'm a little short on removal? I actually like this one a lot and I'm not unhappy to play it.
Pick Three:
This pack is just bereft of cards that I want. Except for the Ravager. This one seems pretty good to me.
Pick Four:
There's another vampire that I was hoping to see but I can't take it. The Dragon is just a super bomb that I can't pass here.
Pick Five:
At this point, I figured I had given up on playing the vampire theme and needed the three drop more than another two drop.
Pick Six:
I didn't expect to see another Cullblade here and since I didn't take the last one, I'll take the Nulls here.
Pick Seven:
Not playing the only black or red spells in the pack so I'll cut the one card that could be very good against me.
Pick Eight:
I actually like the look of this guy and I'm happy I get to try it out here.
Pick Nine:
A fine four drop and probably going in my deck.
Pick Ten:
This shouldn't be here.
Pick Eleven:
Another "shouldn't be here" card.
Pick Twelve:
Pick Thirteen:
Pick Fourteen:
Pick Fifteen:
Final Deck
That's a lot of creatures. Hopefully, I can swarm my opponents before they can control the board with the removal they took from me.
Matches
Last week's Swiss draft went decent and 2-1 was fine for my first draft with the cards. Let's see about doing better this week. I'm starting this one at 1736 and here is the opener:
Not amazing, but I am on the draw. The Scorpion/Machete combo is going to be tough for my opponents to face down once they've dealt with my Zendikon/Machete Combo, I keep. I lay down some quick beats and my turn two Marauder gets killed before getting any damage in but the Zendikon is rocking. My opponent's turn four consists of main phasing out a fifth land and I use the Shrine, my creatures and the Machete to earn the concession right there.
That was a quick win. Let's try again with these seven:
If my opponent trips up on mana, the 2/2 on turn one might be enough to get me most of the way there, I keep. My opponent's deck is awfully slow and I get in some good damage early while missing all kinds of land drops.
Eventually, I can no longer stay in the game hitting four land over the course of the entire game.
That pretty much sucked, let's try again:
Much better, I keep with all my potential plays ready to go. I draw pretty decently and get in for quite a bit of damage early thanks to my opponents sub-par for combat creatures and his slow start. He did handle my Shrine token with a Burst Lightning but that's not the worst thing to happen. When he blows up my turn six Dragon, I'm not as magnanimous.
Still, things are looking pretty good for me as I continue to draw threats that will be good for me very soon. He does trade off his man-land for my Scorpion, but better the Scorpion than my Vampire at this stage. I keep dropping creatures to build up for a massive attack and I get there a few turns later.
The Thrasher did exactly what it was supposed to do there. I end up gaining more than I thought I would on this win going to 1744. Would be nice to win out so here goes round two:
Well, if my opponent is not playing black, I might be OK. I will need to draw something before two and six though but if I get there, look out. Well, would have been nice, but my opponent has an amazingly fast start and plays land every turn with his double Lynx draw until I'm dead.
Not good, probably should have mulled but tough to throw away a bomb with the mana to cast it. I decide to side out one of my Marauders for that Seismic Shudder I got late. Could be a blowout against this guy's deck. Let's see game two's opener:
Land of any type and I should be able to survive until I can get my game on, I keep. It ends up taking a while for me to get my second swamp and we've done about the same damage to each other up until his turn six when he drops his bomb.
That's going to be tough to beat. Especially since he dropped a land after playing the Ob. I drop my Hexmage hoping to surprise my opponent with the remove counters ability that doesn't see a lot of use in limited play. I'm still trying to get in for damage though to stay in the race.
He does end up walking into the trick and I block his Ob with my my Ravager on his next attack. I pump the Ravager and suck the counters off of Ob with the Hexmage. Unfortunately, he has a Shieldmates Blessing to save his Ob and I'm still on the hook. As you can see, I don't draw anything relevant for the rest of the game and go down in flames.
Well, no draft win for me yet. The loss drops me down below my starting point to 1735. At least I have another round to play. Here is my opener for game one:
A nice one drop that can pick up the Machete and I'll probably get the Shrine to go off as early as possible, I keep. I get in a ton of damage early before he can exchange off all of his creatures for mine but I still have the Scorpion left behind. I guess my opponent didn't draw a solution for the soon to be 3/4 Scorpion and concedes the game.
Let's take this one home. Opener:
If I don't draw a Mountain, I lose straight up. Gotta go to six:
Better, I've got early action and I can play it all, I keep. My opponent mulled to six like me and took a long time before deciding to keep his next hand. I drop my hand early which gets augmented by a Machete that I drew. I get in a ton of damage real quick and my opponent shows that he probably should have mulled down to five.
A win is a win, I'll take it here.
Summary
Again, I gain more than I had hoped for finishing at 1744 on the draft. Two packs is just fine with me. I probably could have been in white green for this draft with all the late good stuff coming around, but I didn't see it in time to make the switch. I played against three white decks in the end so maybe that wasn't so bad.
Everybody came together to ensure that we didn't miss a day last week for submissions. This week is looking pretty good too, but there is still space left for the early submissions. I also wanted to take some space regarding the commenting. I had to ban a couple more people for rude comments and user names. I will continue to do so as well for those persons who can't find a way to constructively convey their views so decide to try to bring others to their level. All I'm going to say is that this is not the site for that kind of behavior. Thanks to everyone else who contribute and do not cause problems.
draftbetter
12 Comments to “MTGO Draft 132”
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Thank you for this great site, I have learned much here.
In this draft I agree with most of your picks, but after pack 1 you should have picked up more removal for red/black.
I would have picked:
P2P2 spire barrage
p2p6 slaugther cry is better, the first strike makes your creature live, which makes it semi removal
p3p1 searing blaze, no mention of this? Its solid removal which you need.
P3P1: definitely the searing blaze since you had no removal until this point.
Hi Db,
Nice deck! Deck had a change of winning the draft. But the second player was really fast.
I would have done some things different in this draft.
P1P1 t. machete is a fine choise. The white ally is worse, the choise is removal or machete.
P1P2 geopdede is the only guy you should take here so good call.
P1P3 I like the scorpion. But you chose a color your neighbour is also in. So the second color should not be one that will dry up. You had a lot of luck but red black for a scorpion knowing your neigbour is red as well… I would have stayed on color and take the highland beserker ally.
P1P4 you are so lucky, after the scorpion the marauder good call! I would have chosen the red cards till the second steppe lynx game by P1P7 to show white was open.
P2P1 your chois for black is rewarded with this nighthawk
P2P3 you have a nighthawk and red and black are even in card power. Now you commit to heavy red after shipping some spire barrage and take the molten ravager. You have an aggressive deck, so this guy does not fit. Take the grim discovery and get back your nighthawk!
P2p4 you take the vampire lacerator. if you think it’s to early why not take a second equipment. The landfall 1 drop is just fine!
P2p6 you lack removal. You take the vampire bite. But life is not what your deck is missing. The slaughter cry is pseudo removal. You need it harder.
P2P9 You take the feast of blodd. It is kind of a long shot. You did not pick up the grim discovery. So the soul stair expedition should give your opponent some bad choises. Trading with your creatures when you get them back is a bad thing.
P2p11 the demolish is a nice sideboard card, it’s better then hate draft a serpent
P3P1 You know you lack removal. The zendikon is good but the deck needs searing blaze!
P3P5 You took the 3/2 three drop. But it dies to almost the same number of creatures as the vampire. Swarm your opponent I would have taken the vampire
P3P6 after not taking the last vampire not taking the vampire at this moment is the right choise. Discard goblins are good when you are in red/black.
At the end nice deck.
Hey db nice draft this week and I agreed with the majority of picks you made excluding a few the above poster mentioned but especially p3p1 you say you need removal but don’t even mention the searing blaze. I think you probably just missed it but the only other issue I have this draft is with your evaluation of cosi’s ravager. Its a pretty lackluster card being a 2/2 for 4 that requires lands to ping; its really slow and situational. That being said there were no better picks in that pack for you sadly. I normally would grab the chalice but your deck isn’t right for it. anyways, still enjoyed the draft and looking forward to seeing some single elim from you next week!
p2p4 is imho your biggest mistake. Adventuring Gear is so good and on evasion like Marauder, this can be game for some opponents.
p3p1 definitely searing blaze, moreover so in your aggressive deck, it can even be a finisher.
It’s a great deck. Others have weighed in on the picks, so I just wanted to mention something about the build.
Given you have a ton of creatures, and 13 of them are 3cc or less, I think you should have found a place for Goblin War Paint here. It has a chance to shine a ton on a lot of your small guys, particularly the scorpion or one of the evaders.
Obviously you can afford to drop a creature to play it here.
It’s been said already but I think p2p4 was adventuring gear over lacerator. Gear is pretty sweet.
P3p1 I think you gotta go removal. Searing blaze your Zendikon is actually a pretty amazing play
and I think Warpaint over Cosi’s ravager on the deckbuild or maybe even the Vampire’s bite. 2/2 for 4 is just soooo unexciting. and you had tons of critters already.
I’m sticking to WWW drafts other than the 64 man events… Gotta get those Jace while still get 3 shots per draft! I’ve come in 2nd like 5 times so far… jsut can’t seem to get over that hump.
Thanks everyone, The Searing Blaze pick was obviously wrong, but reading the first comment was the first time I actually saw the card for what it was. I somehow missed it all the way until Monday morning, weird.
Also, the Demolish pick, I tried to switch to it at the last second but didn’t make it before the timer ran out.
I have a theory about going Red in this block. You either go deep in it, take it for a couple removal as a splash, or dont touch it. The defining pick is Pick 6 Pack 1. Youve passed a Burst Lightning so the person to your left is hoping for the splash. Then they get Pick 7 Spire Barrage and appear to decide to go all in on red Pack 2.
I think you could have avoided that by taking the Spire Barrage Pick 7. A Goblin Shortcutter isnt much of a signal but the Spire could, and apparently was, taken incorrectly that a red-heavy deck was open.
Shortcutter is best in theory but Spire Barrage is better for stopping someone from screwing you pack 2 IMO.
If you decide to go heavy red then the Pick 7, pack 1 Hexmage over Lacerator is incorrect. I would even entertain the thought of taking the Scope personally.
Pack 2 you get the Nighthawk and are obv gonna play it. You need to decide how to build your deck with that guy though. Heavy Black or Heavy Red? I think you waver between the two and end up hurting the decks consistency.
By pack 3 you have 1/2 black and 1/2 red. Obv go for the removal in pick one IMO. Both the red one and the Dead Return are very good, especially with your low drop Vampires.
Pick 2 Pack 3 another option is Pilgrims Eye. You have stuff that wants heavy red (Molten Ravager, Spire Barrage) and stuff that wants heavy black (1-2 cc vamps, hexmage, Nighthawk). The Pilgrim would help with consistency.
Also, the 6-cast removal is too slow with your type of deck. If the’re attacking you and you’re leaving 6 mana up then this deck has lost already, right?
Finally, I think that by mid-pack 3 you should be focused on heavy black with a splash red. You could have snagged around 6 or so vampires and played a near-constructed weenie vamp deck.
Pulse Tracker pick 7 seems fine for that along with the other two picks where you took red critters over the 2-drop vamp. I think Id have dropped the heavy red cards and played an aggro black deck with red splash for pump cards and the Shortcutter/Geopede.
Just my 2 cent.
Laters,
-M
Forgot to mention…the deck you lost to is the reason that you draft multiple Seismic Shudders mid-pack instead of taking some chaff creature or spell that you probably wont play. That deck loses most of its umpf to a well timed shudder.
-M
Nice draft/game writeups… One thing I noticed though that I wasn’t sure if you did or not (and also probably wouldn’t have made a difference in your game, but important to note strategically anyway), is that you can block with the Vampire Hexmage, allow it to do first-strike damage, and THEN sacrifice it. Basically, you should’ve have double-blocked with it and something else (well, in this particular case I suppose you would’ve needed to triple block to kill it). Since the Shieldmate’s blessing prevents 3 damage it wouldn’t make a difference in this particular case (unless you had 1 more mountain), but there’s really no reason NOT to do the 2 extra damage to it since your guy is going to die anyway. Just thought I’d mention it. =)
Nice catch there leshrac55. The correct play is clearly to double block, first strike, and then sac Hexmage. Wouldnt matter with Blessing but stops other battle tricks like Disfigure, the +1/+1 and untap, etc.
The thing I dont get in that game is the life totals. DB is playing first:
T1 Swamp
Opp T1 Plains 1-drop
T2 Mountain – cast Marauder
Opp T2 Land – drop 2-drop – attack for 2 (18-20)
T3 Land attack for 2 (18-18) drop 3-drop
Opp T3 land – attack with both – DB Blocks one (16-18) – Would have killed it if he dropped 3/2 guy, which I cant see him NOT doing since the 0/4 guy is a misplay…
T4 land – attack with Marauder (16-16) drop 0/4 guy with 1 Mountain up
Opp T4 land – Cartographer – pass turn if DB killed Lynx T3 or attack for 4 if not (12-16)
DB T5 land – cast Thrasher – Attack for 2 (12-14)
Opp T5 Ob, land, pass turn
T6 attack with Thrasher and Marauder making Ob not block, Opp takes it (12-9)
So when the score is 12-9 in opponents favor and he has all his creatures on the board then some other tactical mistake has been made. Something like casting the Molten Ravager T3 and not attacking with Marauder to (potentially) get a trade with the Bojuka Brigand…both of which are incorrect plays IMO. You definately WANT to take the 1:1 trade with a growing ally guy cause otherwise you just lose to them.
-M