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Hello and welcome to another edition of Limited Strategies today I’m going to share with you a M11 draft walk through.

 

Pack 1 pick 1:

Ok here my first pick was easy, the best cards on this pack are Roc Egg, Chandra and Sylvan Ranger and of course Chandra is the best of all of them so I gladly take the red planeswalker.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 2:

Here I have three different choices: Foresee if I want to go the RU card advantage burn deck, Rise from the Grave with the BR infinite removal, and Pegasus if I like RW aggro deck, I think a lot of my possibilities and end up taking Rise because with a lot of removal it can win you a lot of games.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 3:

Another though decision, I have here sign in blood, black knight and quag sickness, quag sickness is good removal but I’m committing to playing a lot of swamps if I want to really make it work, black knight it’s also a big color commitment guy but I think this guy can make you win games on his own if played against white decks, so I go the creature way and take it.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 4:

An easy pick here, Fireball it’s a big card and bomb so it’s basically the only card I end up considering here.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 5:

There are two picks here: Ember Hauler or Steel Overseer, Ember hauler it’s also big color commitment and doesn’t fit my black knight curve but it’s also removal on a stick so it’s too good to pass up.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 6:

Here there are two creatures I really like, first the dog and then the legion, and I like low curves so I go for the dog.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 7:

Canyon Minotaur fits better in the deck I plan to draft, he’s an awesome 3/3 and It’s a very efficent beater.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 8:

Manic vandal is a great creature that can take out some crystal balls or juggernauts or also Triskelion if needed so it’s a very good card.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 9:

Sorcerer’s strongbox is good card drawing engine so I’m happy to take that.

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  Pack 2 pick 1:

Here I’m considering taking outrage, or Rise from the grave, those two are very good cards that get along in my deck in an awesome way, but after a bit of thought I think removal is over other spells, sadly I misclicked and took a blinding mage, It wasn’t a bad “hate” pick but I’d really like Outrage in my deck.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 2:

I have a tough decision here I have Fireball which is a very big bomb, but on the other side I have doom blade which is a very efficient removal spell so I take that, to take out baneslayers and Titans.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 3:

Pyroclasm is one of the best sweepers of the format, so I take that without thinking twice.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 4:

Here I think of drafting manic vandal, but I think one is enough in my deck so I end up taking Barony Vampire.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 5:

Gravedigger is gonna be very good in this deck especially if I have already a pyroclasm.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 6:

 

Here I chose drafting the big wurm because it could be a big menace that my deck could face specially in the late game, so I took it out of the play.
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  Pack 2 pick 7:

I'm happy to take another pyroclasm, like I said before is a very good sweeper in this format and with my reanimate "package" it won't be a huge drawback to me.

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  Pack 3 pick 1:

The only good card in my colors is doom blade, the other card that I’d be considering taking is the Gargoyle but the Gargoyle isn’t good as it looks, and I almost always try to draft removal over creatures so doom blade wins this one.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 2:

A 3/3 flyer that sweeps the board when it leaves?! Awesome I’ll take one.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 3:

Shiv’s Embrace has the power to make one of your dummy creatures an awesome flyer with firebreathing, this card has a notably good potencial and I’d love to take a card that can win games on his own so I take it.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 4:

Gravedigger it’s a good card, that fits in an amazing way in my deck now that I have three sweepers (Phoenix, 2 Pyroclasm)

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 5:

Here there’s no card in my colors that’s good enough so I take the creature that I might play.

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  Pack 3 pick 6:

Corrupt is a “Fireball” and it’s good to have two Fireballs in any deck so I gladly take it.

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  Pack 3 pick 7:

Bog raiders is a very good card in the mono black match or the mirror match, also if can enchant it with Shiv’s Embrace in those matches my chances of winning increases.

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After analyzing a little bit my draft, I thought a little bit my options, I didn’t like my curve because I had 2 BB in 2cc Black Knights, 1 RR in 2cc Ember Hauler and 1 1RR in 3cc Fiery Hellhound, I didn’t like that but apart from that my removal / reanimating package was awesome. I liked it a lot, it was, 2 Doom Blade, 2 Pyroclasm, 2 Rise From the Grave, Gravedigger, Fireball, Corrupt, Magma Phoenix. It was a nice BR with “Infinite” Removal deck so I was ready to get it started. Here’s the list I ended up playing:

 

 

Round 1

 

Game 1

 

My opponent won the roll and chose to start, meanwhile I kept this hand:

[T: 1] Opponent plays plains and pass, while [D: Swamp] I play mountain and pass.

 

[T: 2] He plays island and casts squadron hawk fetching another one (He may have another one in his hand at this time), meanwhile [D: Mountain] I play swamp and pass away

 

[T: 3] Opponent plays the other hawk and attacks with the first one [DL: 19] [D: Mountain] I play my swamp and cast manic vandal.

 

[T: 4] My opponent plays a plains and casts Cloud Crusader, then he attacks with the two flyers [DL: 17] [D: Canyon Minotaur] I play my mountain, cast doom blade on his crusader and attack with my vandal [O: 18]

 

[T: 5] My opponent attacks with his hawks [DL: 15] and post-combat casts a great bomb in the form of Conundrum Sphinx while I [D: Bog Raiders] attack with my vandal to see if my opponent trades but he doesn’t [O: 16] and summon my Canyon Minotaur

 

[T: 6] Opponent plays augury owl, scrying for 3 (Top: 3) and attacks with his air team, with the trigger of the sphinx I name swamp and he names island, we both draw a card in the process [DL: 9] post-combat he casts a Cloud Elemental. [D: Mountain] I attack with my creatures [O: 11] and post combat cast a Pyroclasm that sweeps almost all his board except the sphinx and the elemental, then I summon a Nether Horror and pass.

 

[T: 7] He puts an Ice Cage into my horror and then attacks with his creatures, at this point I think for a bit what to name to the Sphinx trigger

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Here there are four cards, that are awesome to me right now (Swamp, Magma Phoenix, Doom blade and Chandra) and there’s other one that if I draw and my opponent has no answer it’s game (Shiv’s Embrace) so I named swamp hoping to corrupt for 4 the next turn the sphinx and lost my gamble [Black Knight: Bottom] [DL: 3]. In my turn [D: Swamp] Yes! I drew the card I needed so I started considering my options:

 

1. I can attack with my minotaur bringing down my opponent to 8 then I can try to corrupt his Sphinx but if my opponent has the counter I’m as good as dead.
2. I can try to out race him attacking with my minotaur and corrupting his face.With this play If  I draw a Fireball, or even a doom blade to kill his sphinx. I’ll be ahead in board position and in lives so it makes sense.

 

After thinking for a while I attacked with my minotaur [O: 8] and corrupted the sphinx [DL: 7]

 

[T: 8] Opponent plays a plains and attacks [DL: 5] while [D: Swamp] I attack with my minotaur [O: 5] play my swamp and cast my Bog Raiders.

 

[T: 9] Opponent Preordains his cards [1 Top, 1 Bottom] summons a Wild Griffin and attacks with his elemental [DL: 3] while I hope for a top deck [D: Mountain] Here I attack with my two creatures, my opponent has to block to survive [O: 2] and pass.

 

[T: 10] My opponent Foresees his future and draws a game winning armored ascension.

 

Sideboard: None

 

I’m happy to keep my hand of:

 

And my opponent also keeps his seven.

 

[T: 1] I play my swamp, while my opponent plays his plains.

 

[T: 2] [D: Fireball] I play my swamp and cast Black Knight, my opponent plays plains and passes.

 

[T: 3] [D: Swamp] I play another swamp attack with my knight [O: 18] and pass. My opponent plays an island and passes.

 

[T: 4] [D: Ember Hauler] I play swamp attack [O: 16] meanwhile my opponent plays another island and summons his Cloud Crusader

 

[T: 5] [D: Swamp] I play another swamp attack [O: 14] and pass. My opponent plays an island and summons Conundrum Sphinx and attacks [DL: 18]

 

[T: 6] [D: Mountain] I play my mountain corrupt my opponent sphinx [DL: 23] and attack [O: 12] My opponent Foresees and puts the 4 cards on the top he then plays a plains and attacks [DL: 21]

 

[T: 7] [D: Fiery Hellhound] I attack with the knight [O: 10] and reanimate the sphinx with my rise. Opponent plays plains and summons Wild Griffin and a second Cloud Crusader.

 

[T: 8] [D: Mountain] I play my mountain and enchant my knight with a (Shiv’s Embrace) and attack [O: 6] My opponent Foresees again getting this time an Azure Drake to block my knight.

 

[T: 9] [D: Pyroclasm] I fireball at his face to end the game.

 

Game 3

 

My opponent chose to play first and kept his inicial 7 I also kept this:

 

[T: 1] Opponent plays island and summons Merfolk Spy while [D: Shiv’s Embrace] I play swamp and pass.

 

[T: 2] My opponent plays plains and attacks with Spy [DL: 19] and peeks a swamp from my hand he then casts an Augury owl [3 Top] [D: Fiery Hellhound] I play my swamp cast my Knight and pass the turn.

 

[T: 3] My opponent attacks with owl [DL: 18] plays a plains, summons a Silvercoat Lion and pass. [D: Barony Vampire] I attack with my knight, my opponent (Dimish)es him and blocks with the merfolk. He obviously thought it was like Snakeform but Diminish doesn’t take out the abilities and my first strike Knight killed his merfolk, then I summon Barony Vampire.

 

[T: 4] My opponent plays an island and attacks with his both creatures [DL: 15] then he summon a Wild Griffin [D: Mountain] I play my mountain enchant my Knight with embrace and attack with both of my creatures, my opponent traded his Griffin with my Vampire [O: 16] and pass.

[T: 5] My opponent tried his own enchantment in the form of armored ascension targeting his lion and attacked with his lion only [DL: 11] and pass. [D: Mountain]I played a mountain casted Chandra killing the Lion, and attacked with Knight, my opponent chumped with his owl and pass.

 

[T: 6] My opponent played a plains and Traumatized me, [D: Canyon Minotaur] I attacked with my knight pumped it 3 times [O: 9] dealt him one damage with Chandra [O: 8] and pass.

 

[T: 7] Opponent draws and then realizes he has no answer and concedes.

 

Sadly I had my internet modem dropped me out, but it was a nice deck and I had a lot of fun playing it, Hope you liked this article too. Send me some feedback if you want to read of any other format or you want to change something to the way I write. Thank you for reading

 

Fernando Gutiérrez.