Jester123's picture
By: Jester123, Dylan Pratt
Sep 22 2010 2:51am
5
Login to post comments
3366 views


Ahoy Ahoy! Surprisingly I’m not actually getting bored of M11 yet, which says a lot for how much base sets have improved over the years. Still, I can’t help but get stoked for the Scars Prerelease, and a brand new format to explore. For now, though, its M11 draft, and today’s is a doozy!

This draft was pretty damn sick. I really like having the Shiv’s Embrace to get extra value of all my 1/1s(Druids, Elves, Rangers), and accelerating into an Awakener Druid or two puts up a pretty fast clock. Let’s see what construction is like:

image

Duskdale is a little too expensive with Awakener Druid’s tying up my mana. Fire Servant just isn’t quite worth it with only Fireball and two Outrages to combo, and my mana is better off avoiding a fourth RR. I’m running 15 land because I didn’t want to get greedy and run 14 with this good a deck, but with three Elves and two Rangers 15 is plenty. I’ll have to watch for that Pyroclasm…which I possibly should have taken just because it wrecks me.

Match 1 Game 1 (vs Yuchen_Liu):

I win the roll and choose play, quickly mulling my first two hands that both have one land but no elves (now don’t get trapped in results-oriented-thinking-land and berate me for playing 15 land, luck will happen). My five are a reasonable Mountain, 2xForest, Sylvan Ranger, Shiv’s Embrace. Get there dragon elf scout! Yuchen mulls once and we are off.

I start with Ranger and have a Manic Vandal on turn four for Yuchen’s Gargoyle Sentinel (how nice). My BR opp’s Vulshok Berserker trades with my Vandal and I have a window to equip my Ranger, doing so and swinging Yuchen to 15. My hand is now a land and Chandra’s Outrage. Crystal Ball tries to find answers for my opponent, but a topdecked Awakener Druid makes the clock too fast and he concedes shortly.

Match 1 Game 2:

Plummet comes out for Duskdale Wurm, since the former is often dead vs RB and the latter is perfect vs RB attrition.

This game I’m on the draw, and open up with 2xForest, Mountain, Yavimaya Wurm, Manic Vandal, Prodigal Pyromancer and Garruk’s Companion. Easy keep. My Companion gets Assassinated and Prodigal Pyromancer gets his ping on facing off a Fiery Hellhound. My fifth turn Acidic Slime destroys a Swamp, leaving Yuchen with only 2 mountains, and an Awakener Druid next turn prompts the concession.

Match 2 Game 2 (vs Sardek):

Sardek wins the roll and chooses to play first. My opener:

image

This is a very marginal hand, and an easy mull on the play, but on the draw its a lot closer. As soon as I find my third land I have 2.5 plays(I don’t want to Fireball for 2 if I don’t have to), and on the draw that’s quite likely to happen by turn 3, so I think this is a keep.

My first two draws are a Forest and a Mountain, letting my Pyromancer off Sardek’s Augury Owl on my fourth turn as his Cloud Elemental applies the beatdown. A Llanowar Elf allows my to start dropping fatties as Sardek adds another Cloud Elemental to his flying arsenal, stuck on three land. Aether Adept and Unsummon make the race look close, but with Fireball and Plummet in hand I’m never in any real risk of dying.

Match 2 Game 2:

image

is my hand for game 2 as Sardek plays and keeps his seven. I topdeck a Garruk’s Companion for turn 2 and my Prodigal Pyromancer makes Ice Cage on my 3/2 look bad. Augury Owl gives the Pyromancer more to do and when Sardek’s next two plays are Rotting Legions he’s looking pretty far behind on tempo, and life. Giant Growth and Chandra’s Outrage make attacking into his board easy, and Awakener Druid is just the icing on the cake.

Match 3 Game 1 (vs farside):

Another easy keep on the play:

image

Farside starts with Forests and Plains, and a turn 3 Cultivate, making me feel safe to play Shiv’s Embrace on my Garruk’s Companion turn 4 to bring him to 12. Excommunicate spoils my fun and Cudgel Troll looks to lock up the ground. The board state shortly looks like this:

image

Pretty standard, farside has 2 cards in his graveyard, 3 in his hand, 66 in his library and 12 life. Wait what? I actually didn’t notice this until now, apparently his computer was lagging in deckbuilding and he wasn’t able to submit in time. And yet somehow he made the finals…I’m not sure who’s luckier, him or me(for getting to face an 80 card deck in the finals). Anyway after we share a good chuckle I need to figure out the play.

It’d be pretty darn annoying to waste an Outrage on the Boar, but I want to get farside as low as possible for my burn to finish him off. I like attacking with both guys here, since it lets me get rid of the Boar without my opponent gaining any life. Farside has Safe Passage after blocks, which I respond to with an Outrage for the 2 for 1, even if he does get to gain life.

From here farside pretty much runs out of plays while I add a Stone Golem and use Outrage just to tap is Troll and dome him for 2. Fireball finishes things off in short order.

Match 3 Game 2:

Farside chooses to play and I open this:

image

This is a very marginal hand, and and an easy mull vs a random deck since Plummet might be dead. However, farside is playing plenty of fliers and small ground beaters, so Giant Growth and Plummet should both be solid cards, and that makes this a keeper(barely).

Elite Vanguard faces off my Llanowar Elves and I need to decide whether to block or not after drawing Shiv’s Embrace. Considering two of the three nonlands in my hand require a creature, and I only have the one, I’m gonna hold out on the blocking for now. Next turn I decide to block since now I have mana up for Giant Growth, so the worst that can happen is farside also has Giant Growth and we trade. This is exactly what happens. I then draw Pyromancer much to my chagrin.

Assault Griffin provides a fine Plummet target and Sylvan Ranger suits up with Shiv’s Embrace. Farside has Solemn Offering for my Embrace, but an Awakener Druid brings him low enough for Pyromancer to finish him off, despite a Gaea’s Revenge getting all up in my grill.

Sorry if the game walkthroughs were shorter than usual today, the games just really were short and rather straightforward. Play guys, attack with guys, remove their blockers. The card quality of this deck was super high, which just goes to show how much you get rewarded for being (probably) the only drafter of a single color at the table. Thanks for reading!

Dylan Pratt (Jester123 on MODO)

23 Comments

While I sometimes wish that by kalandine at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 08:08
kalandine's picture
5

While I sometimes wish that there were a few more comments, from the draft, I love comments like Pack 2, Pick 11 that remind players how to look forward and make draft decisions based on what is likely happening around the table.

Pack 3, Pick 6 I definitely by Sanador at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 09:54
Sanador's picture

Pack 3, Pick 6 I definitely would have hate drafted the Pyroclasm.
Drafting the Pyromancers was great because those would have been deadly against elves and druids if someone else had gotten them.
Definitely a killer deck.

I went through the entire by phe0bus at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:39
phe0bus's picture

I went through the entire first pack and guessed every one of your picks right, except the Arc Runner over the Goblin Piker. Pack 2 Pick 1, I guessed the druid, but liked your pyromancer pick better once I saw the comment. It worked out for you, too. The next pick that I got wrong was Pack 3 Pick 1. Given your comment about being the only green player (your guess), I would have further guessed that the companion would wheel. That being said, you already had the fatties, so the juggernaut would have been a greedy pick. I guessed that you would take the Lava Axe over the Glacial Fortress, but there was only one more chance to get a second Lava Axe, so it would have been a waste of a chance to get the duel land. When I built the deck, I would have put in the Duskdale over the second Yavimaya, but you were correct. I did not think of the druids reserving your lands.

Nice Draft.

sick draft was sick. pretty by psymunn at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 15:39
psymunn's picture
5

sick draft was sick. pretty much what green/red should look like based on my experiences. i was with phe0bus pack 3, pick 1 thinking 'wheel the garruk' but you really didn't need juggernaut and the pack had no red or black so he probably would have gotten hated out. also, love the glacial fortress pick. sometimes you take the card worth tickets

and by Tix you mean .8x? by Paul Leicht at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 17:04
Paul Leicht's picture

and by Tix you mean .8x?

rofl.. I was gonna say it, by lenney at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 17:10
lenney's picture

rofl.. I was gonna say it, but didn't...

yep! it's the +EV play by psymunn at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 19:24
psymunn's picture

yep! it's the +EV play

Gotta take the pyroclasm.. by lenney at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 16:50
lenney's picture

Gotta take the pyroclasm.. You are vulnerable to Wx Fliers and Pyroclasm kills you dead if you don't play around it. Other than that pick, I think you did much better in this draft. I am in the same opinion as you as far as green goes. I think it's very underrated, especially with multiple llanowar elves and awakener druids. Nice 6-0 man. Keep it up.

RE Glacial Fortress: Yeah its by Jester123 at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 17:31
Jester123's picture

RE Glacial Fortress: Yeah its like less than a ticket, but I'd still rather have that then hate an Infantry Veteran. Every little bit helps!

RE Pyroclasm: You guys are right, I definitely should have taken it. I don't usually hatedraft so I don't tend to think of it much, but Pyroclasm just wrecks this deck. If I didn't have any Giant Spiders I would stick with the Plummet, but this deck isn't all that vulnerable to fliers as it is.

I'm not a fan of G/R, but if by Windcoarse at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 19:37
Windcoarse's picture

I'm not a fan of G/R, but if I had to be in it I would like it to look something like this. You already pointed out the pyroclasm, and I'm inclined to agree. I tend to hate it if I'm playing an aggressive deck unless there is something really strong for me in the pack. I think you underestimate the strength of infantry vet though, that guy makes the white aggro deck hum. With him on the board white starts dominating the combat step, and he gets much better with multiples. Getting one or more in a w aggro deck is really strong, and he tends to be a high pick for the archtype. He also blanks your pyromancers ability to kill off critters if he comes down first(although they blank him entirely in return and the pyro can still hit the dome), and hes costed to come down first. Of course if you get your pyro first he's screwed, but I'd rather avoid the worse situation entirely and have open season on his Pegasi and other x/1's.

You do realize that by lenney at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 20:17
lenney's picture

You do realize that pyromancer can just kill the vet right?

Your 100% right, my mistake. by Windcoarse at Wed, 09/22/2010 - 20:19
Windcoarse's picture

Your 100% right, my mistake. I forgot it said attacking creature, can't look at the card pictures where I'm at at the moment. I'd still hate it over a junk rare though.

Lands by Felorin at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 10:25
Felorin's picture

I don't see the Pyroclasm as a hatedraft, I see it as a sideboard card you bring in against white weenie that just wrecks them.

I think the Chandra's Outrages put you at the bare minimum on red sources - 5 mountains and two sylvan ranger is even a little less likely to hit double red than 7 mountains, although it would seem identical. But 7-mountains.dec can draw any of its 7 red sources, and still have 6 shots at drawing into the next. Your deck can start with a ranger, and then its deckthinned down to 5 shots at drawing into RR rather than 6.

That's barely ok here, though 8 red sources would make me happier. But having only 5 mountains means less pump damage out of Shiv's Embrace too.

That, and having 3 Awakener Druid really makes me want to see more than 15 land here. People can shoot your Llanowar Elves, they can shoot your animated land, or you can face the eternal dilemna of "If I tap my 4/5 this turn to drop Spined Wurm, I miss a 4 point hit on my opponent". I could definitely see making Manic Vandal a sideboard card to get another land in. You have 19 creatures, 18 is still plenty & a random bear won't do much usually.

I could also see swapping out a Yavimaya Wurm for the Duskdale Wurm. For 1 extra mana, you get much more favorable trades if they gang-block. And more times when they can't even do it. 4 defense power is easy, 7 isn't always available.

Awakener just seems bad all by Paul Leicht at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 12:35
Paul Leicht's picture

Awakener just seems bad all around.

I should have called Manic by Felorin at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 10:26
Felorin's picture

I should have called Manic Vandal "A random overpriced bear at the heaviest spot in your mana curve", actually. You're jammed with better 3 drops already!

Great draft overall, btw. :)

Fire Servant and low land by unspeakable at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 11:26
unspeakable's picture

Putting the golem into the deck rather than the fire servant didn't make much sense to me. Most players are packing some artifact hate, and this gives them a target for it. You already have several two red mana cost spells, and you might be able to use it with the fireball. But certainly not a major error, and you do get a toughness of 1 better.

Nice to see a green deck, though this was a pretty sick example; apparently you weren't the only green drafter, based on your final match. I was a bit curious how you chose to only run 15 lands and fatties. You did have a lot of llanowar elves; how do you make the calculation? Most people recommend running 18 lands in this format, though I will run 16 or 17 in some circumstances. Usually I think people consider two non-land sources equivalent to 1 land, which would have ended up with 16 land here. With the fatties and druids (which are nice, but can result in the loss of a land), I would have though it safer to go with 16 or maybe even 17 land.

I'm also surprised how late the warlord's axe goes. Admittedly it is a slow card, but it is great later in the game, as it turns pretty much any creature into a significant threat, and is less vulnerable to a 2-1 than the shiv's embrace.

# of lands by solebush at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 14:03
solebush's picture

nice draft but as mentioned by the others the land total seems too low.

While the deck still functions with 15 because all your elves the problem to me is more with mulligans. Your deck is pretty strong and so it sems to me you should build to minimize the number of hands you need to mulligan. You can't really keep 1 land hands and you see significantly more of those when running 15 lands than with 17-18. You don't have any splashes here so those rangers lose a lot of their value against most decks (except those running a bunch of x/1s). Without even any equipment or stampede, I don't think ranger is significantly better than basic land in most draws, whereas land is significantly better than ranger when you only have 1 land in your opener. Id cut at least one ranger and probably both for land.

On the issue of how many by Sanador at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 14:12
Sanador's picture

On the issue of how many lands to go with, personally I always go 17 or 18, but I also always try to draft something that can be a late game mana sink, whether it is fireball, gargoyle sentinel, firebreathing, or whatever.
In this deck, clearly you don't need 18, but 17 seems good.

Paul, I have to disagree with you on Awakener Druid.
Awakener Druid is one of my favorite cards in the format. The Druid wins games by sneaking in damage the turn it comes out. Often available late in a pack; ability to attack with haste for 4 damage. What's not to like? Its main weaknesses are that your opponent can kill it with only 1 damage. But if you can take two Prodigal Pyromancers and a Pyroclasm in your draft, taking those cards away from your opponents, the Druid is probably the number one non-rare card you can get for a deck with green in it. Your opponent can't cheat kill it and actually would have to use a one for one removal spell to kill it. If you happen to draw an elf, you can start attacking with a 4/5 on turn 3.

RE Lands: Thanks Solebush, by Jester123 at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 14:32
Jester123's picture

RE Lands: Thanks Solebush, you are absolutely right. This was a tough manabase to figure out, as I wanted to accelerate into Awakener Druids, play a few RR spells, and not get flooded. Essentially there was a delicate balance between enough green sources to reliably hit a turn 1-2 elf(I want at least 10 forests for that), hit RR by turn 5-6(I want at least 7 R sources for that), and I don't want to get flooded, counting elves as essentially blanks. I ended up with 10 forests, 7 R(including rangers), and 15 land + 5 elves = 20 mana sources, which is a bit high but acceptable. If I run any more land than this with all the elves my deck becomes too diluted.

However, as Solebush suggested, I think I should have cut one Sylvan Ranger for a Mountain, to ensure that second land hits. My rationale is that I won't keep a hand without a Forest unless it has 2+Mountains and 2+Red cards, and if I have a Forest then a Sylvan Ranger is almost strictly better than a Mountain. However, the 1/1 body is not worth the trade of drawing a one land hand with a Ranger rather than a two land hand. If I had to remake the mana base I would make it 11 Forest, 6 Mountain, 3 Llanowar Elves, 0 Sylvan Ranger. This way I get less incremental card advantage but won't have to mulligan as much.

I think I got trapped into this headspace where a)I don't have many 2 drops, and b)Sylvan Ranger is always better than a land. In this situation I'm often accelerating straight to 3 drops, and the Ranger is actually not better than a land. Thanks for the great feedback guys!

I would cut one elf before I by Sanador at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 16:23
Sanador's picture

I would cut one elf before I cut a Ranger, but with three big worms and a fireball I don't see a problem running 17 lands plus 3 elves and two Rangers. The Rangers seem way too good not to run. Every Ranger you play makes it a little less likely your next draw is a land you don't need. So the Rangers actually don't contribute to you getting flooded. And with the high casting cost cards you have in the deck, the likelihood that you get flooded and have nothing to do with your lands seems small to me.

Nice draft - by TwoHands at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 02:21
TwoHands's picture

1 - This is a GREAT deck for Fling.

2 - Fire Servant isn't just bad b/c of lack of combos . . . but because you're not expected to have RR on turn 5 that often (so the green 5-drops are wayyyy better).

3 - I still think 15 land is too few ... it's not "results-oriented" to note that you'll wind up with markedly more 1-landers than usual, that you can't keep without an Elf and possibly a Ranger to follow up. 15-land decks are those with low curves - not those expecting to draw into mana producers. There are simply too many combinations that cock you up and require you to draw crazy hot. (For reference: see why trimming with Rav lands is different from simply using Elves.

Meant to say - by TwoHands at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 02:24
TwoHands's picture
5

Forgot to rate - great article and very nice draft, man. Good work!

Generally good article, by KoRnZYSIEK at Sat, 09/25/2010 - 06:58
KoRnZYSIEK's picture

Generally good article, though as I stated in some previous - I would like to see some drafts that are not perfectly good and you are the only one getting, a color.

As for pyroclasm and wrath of god effects - as I'm reading the draft walkthrough's on this site I see that they are veeery underlooked. Passing a Day of Judgment is something strange for me ... but as I see nobody even questioned it. Puting it under Serra Angel and Mind Control seems to me just wrong. But maybe it's the old school of drafting I'm talking about, but when I was learning how to draft it was "Mass removal, removal, creatures" or the BREAD way where it is the combination of Bomb and Removal. Although I can see a point in keeping away from white as the most drafted colour.
Also it's the second time I see article where a player plays Red and passes pyroclasm. Of course it kills your awakener's and elfs, and it does nothing to the bigger guys, but remember you can always take value from it by simply attacking with little dudes into their bigger and firing it up.

You also seem to under rate the cultivate - there was a moment when you picked ranger or llanowar over it (too lazy to search for exact pick). Would like to hear some discussion bout it, coz a lot of people seem to value it very high.