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By: TugaChampion, Guilherme Carmona Alexandrino
Oct 11 2012 1:41pm
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After losing 2 single elimination cube drafts in the first round with 2 pretty good decks I decided to play swiss. I wanted to record them to post here but doing just one round is not the best. So I decided to join a swiss and record it. I have 1 more recorded already that I will also be writing about and maybe I'll do a few more. I might even record several and make one of these every week until I run out. Let me know if you are interested or not.

Enough with explanations, let's move to the fun part!

  Pack 1 pick 1:

This is a very weak pack. Staggershock and Brimstone Volley aren't what you want to start out if you plan to go monored and there are several weak and/or sideboard cards like Forge-Tender. I love clone effects in cube but not enough to first pick them most of the time. Still this pack is so weak that it is a consideration. The dual land is always a fine pick as well but I love ramping in this cube so I took Basalt Monolith.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 2:

Another weak pack. Sheoldred is a pretty good fatty but it's better in a reanimator deck as usually ramp decks don't end up in black. Dismember is good but I think taking another acceleration card is better.


  My Pick:

Another weak

  Pack 1 pick 3:

A very easy pick. Treespeaker is very good and also very underrated. It's not Sol Ring but it's close.


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  Pack 1 pick 4:

Cloudthresher is not good enough most of the time and Brooding Saurian is at best a sideboard card but not something I wanna take unless there's nothing else for me. On the other colors Cloudgoat Ranger is the best card for me. It's not a fatty but it's something I can play on turn 3 or 4 that can act as either or even both a board clogger and an hard to kill threat.


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  Pack 1 pick 5:

I like Cloudskate and I would play it if I was UG but after taking a white card and not seeing any good blue cards I can't justify taking it. Land Tax doesn't fit the deck so it's either Brushland or Yavimaya Elder and at this point I'd rather take the creature since it also fixes my mana.


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  Pack 1 pick 6:

Another weak pack. I took the only card I could be interested in playing.


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  Pack 1 pick 7:

Not the best acceleration but there's nothing else.


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  Pack 1 pick 8:

This is actually pretty good since I have colorless acceleration


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  Pack 1 pick 9:

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  Pack 1 pick 10:

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  Pack 1 pick 11:

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  Pack 1 pick 12:

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  Pack 1 pick 13:

Happy to see this come back.


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  Pack 1 pick 14:

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  Pack 1 pick 15:

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  Pack 2 pick 1:

Thran Dynamo is too slow and Acidic Slime isn't close to Elspeth 1.0


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  Pack 2 pick 2:

This was a very hard pick I would lose Elesh Norn but Channel can be so broken! I opted for Channel even though I didn't have much to abuse it yet but knowing there were still almost 2 full packs left.


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  Pack 2 pick 3:

Another mediocre pick but it could be worse.


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  Pack 2 pick 4:

Farseek wouldn't be bad but right now it only gets Plains while Avenger is a very good finisher.


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  Pack 2 pick 5:

I've never been impressed by this except in decks with Upheaval but once again there's nothing else for me.


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  Pack 2 pick 6:

I need more early green creatures for Natural Order but the alternative is Worn Powerstone which is much weaker.


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  Pack 2 pick 7:

I've been very impressed by Oracle in cube so I'm happy to take it.


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  Pack 2 pick 8:

I'm not sure about this pick. I took the card with the highest upside once again but Pilgrim would help fixing white. Of the 3 consistency vs power picks I feel this is the only one that is likely to be wrong.


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  Pack 2 pick 9:

Thran Dynamo I still probably won't play and Rude Awakening is not what this deck wants and it's always good to have artifact removal.


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  Pack 2 pick 10:

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  Pack 2 pick 11:

This is a fine pick and I will probably end up playing it.


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  Pack 2 pick 12:

Another card I'm very happy picking this late. It's a good sideboard card and I could even maindeck it.


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  Pack 2 pick 13:

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  Pack 2 pick 14:

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  Pack 3 pick 1:

There are a few cards I wouldn't mind getting back like Ooze, Vigilante and Mortarpod and I would be happy if I took Elspeth 2.0 here but Noble Hierarch is insane for me.


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  Pack 3 pick 2:

Sylvan Library is the only choice which doesn't make me very happy. It's not a bad card and I'll certainly play it but it's not something I want to take as a second pick.


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  Pack 3 pick 3:

Maybe I should have taken Terrastodon, even though the deck is becoming more midrange and less acceleration than I expected/hoped. I'm not sure if I want Ajani in the deck but at least it's something different and might give some decks a lot of trouble.


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  Pack 3 pick 4:

I really needed removal and I had no fetchlands to abuse Lotus Cobra and I need removal more than acceleration like Lens.


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  Pack 3 pick 5:

Usually I prefer turn 1 or 2 acceleration but Fellwar Stone isn't likely to get me white mana so I opted for Cultivate.


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  Pack 3 pick 6:

Now this is way different. Wall of Roots accelerates and absorbs several points of damage most games. Mox Diamond isn't really what this deck wants.


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  Pack 3 pick 7:

I just took the card I least wanted to face.


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  Pack 3 pick 8:

Silverheart would be fine but Baloth is very good against aggressive decks so that's the pick.


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  Pack 3 pick 9:

I wasn't sure what to take here so I took a card that would destroy some of my starts and that could also destroy some decks out of the sideboard.


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  Pack 3 pick 10:

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  Pack 3 pick 11:

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  Pack 3 pick 12:

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  Pack 3 pick 15:

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Here's the deck:

Since I didn't have any 6 mana spells and only 2 7 mana spells I didn't play Awakening Zone and Everflowing Chalice. Beast Within is also a card I prefer in the sideboard because I don't want it against every deck, just against decks that have something I have trouble dealing with.

R1G1:

The first 2 turns are missing because of an error but nothing really happened. I kept 2 Forests, Fyndhorn Elves, Channel, Obstinate Baloth, Solemn Simulacrum and Stunted Growth.

 

Pretty easy game. Channel powered a Myr Battlesphere into play as well as Stunted Growth and Solemn on the same turn. It's hard to come back from that without mass removal.

R1G2:

 

Turns out he's more aggressive than I thought but what destroyed me was Elesh Norn. I was very lucky getting Battlesphere when he deals with my Elspeth because the card is shuffled first. I was also lucky that he didn't attack when he should several times as well as misusing Shelldock Isle. After he got Elesh Norn into play my only out would be drawing Oblivion Ring to deal with it and getting an Avenger with Natural Order.

R1G3:

I should have also sided in Spectral Lynx for Ajani but at the time I simply overlooked that option.

 

Once again he fails to attack when he should and I was forgetting a morph creature is colorless so it doesn't work with Natural Order.

R2G1:

 

R2G2:

 

Both games I drew too many lands. His deck had a million planeswalkers which is always tough to beat.

In R3 I had a bye so it ends here this time. I hope you enjoyed this and the next one will have all 3 rounds.

2 Comments

Picks by Giraffe at Fri, 10/12/2012 - 09:52
Giraffe's picture

I think Thran Dynamo would have been better than the green guy, and Smokestack is very underated. Not sure if having the X creature in a ramp deck is too good to pass up, but seems like Smokestack would've been the way to go.

Mikaeus was worse than I by TugaChampion at Fri, 10/12/2012 - 10:02
TugaChampion's picture

Mikaeus was worse than I thought it would be since usually I wouldn't have many creatures to pump but I don't think this was the deck for Smokestack anyway. I've only played it once and it was pretty good but it was in a tokens deck.

The green guy is nothing special but it's nice to have in the sideboard. I don't think I would have played Dynamo in this deck but I do agree it's underrated.