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By: Godot, Ryan Spain
Jun 03 2010 3:38am
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Fair warning: you are reading a walkthrough of a Swiss draft. In the past, I’ve had readers comment that they stopped reading the moment they realized I had chosen a Swiss draft, so I figured I’d lead with that info so as not to waste the time of those already convinced that this article has nothing to offer them. If you fall into that camp, at least allow me to summarize my past responses on the issue before you move on.

I choose what drafts to write up based on their density of interesting decisions or their relevance to a topic I want to cover, not what queue they come from. There are Swiss drafts with tons of fascinating decision points and discussion fodder, and there are 84s that would be a waste of time to write up. If you’ve read my work in the past and have any respect for it, I would ask that you give me the benefit of the doubt and assume that whatever draft I write up, I have a good reason for it.

As for the general anti-Swiss bias in the “serious” Limited community, I have spoken and written on the subject numerous times, but here is an executive summary of the common arguments against Swiss and my responses:

  • “All you have to do is win the first round to get two packs in 4322.” 84s and Swiss pay out 12 total packs, 4322s pay out 11. To play in 4322s is to let WotC keep a pack, and I urge people to avoid 4322s when there are Swiss and 84s also available because of this. Send WotC a message that you will not accept an 11-pack payout when they could easily make it 5322 and bring it up to Swiss and 84 levels.
  • “I can’t ever come out ahead in Swiss, but I can in 4322.” This attitude is delusional, not to mention bad math, and it tilts me more than any other anti-Swiss argument. In the long run, you are not coming out ahead in any format unless you are one of a handful of elite drafters, so go with the one that pays out the best average (Swiss or 84), not the one that occasionally pays out a net positive but has a worse average payout.
  • “Swiss takes too long because there are always four matches per round.” This is a misunderstood, overblown fact. Only in round two, and only when a loser’s-bracket match you aren’t in is the last one to finish, will there be extra “dead time” for you that wouldn’t have been there in an elimination queue. Besides, you can spend that dead time doing things you would have done later anyway, like reading Waiting for Godot.
  • “Swiss always goes three rounds, so it clearly takes longer on average than elimination queues.” Once Swiss critics cite the fact that the actual playing takes longer, the argument becomes absurd. “Matches of Limited Magic” is ultimately what we are paying for, so the assurance of three rounds is a benefit, not a drawback. If broken down into “cost per match,” Swiss blows away the elimination queues in terms of value for your Magic dollar, which is a huge factor for me.
  • “Swiss is for bad players.” This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it also represents terrible table-selection philosophy. If your goal is to draft as much as you can for as little money as possible and not to practice for a pro tour, then you should be happy to play against opponents you are more likely to beat. That being said, you run into plenty of solid players in the Swiss queues despite them definitely having more novice players than the 84s. I can’t speak to player quality in 4322s.
  • Another benefit of Swiss is the lower variance. You are not ever going to “come out ahead,” but you are walking away with at least a pack 7/8ths of the time, all players being equal. Because of this, budgets for Limited play are easier to manage under Swiss, and you are more free to experiment, since the consequences of an experiment gone bad are much smaller. You will still likely be able to walk away with a pack (maybe two!) with an experiment gone wrong, while you won’t win anything from a failed 84 experiment.
  • Finally, drafting an amazing deck in an elimination queue only and lose to the other amazing deck in the first round—or fall to mana issues and mulligans—can be soul-crushing. Swiss is great insurance against first-round heartbreak.

OK, with my Defense of Swiss out of the way, let’s get to the draft and find out why I decided this one was worth a walkthrough!

The Draft

Deckbuilding

Last walkthrough, I gave a list of the no-brainer inclusions and challenged readers to decide what final cards they would use to fill out the deck. In this case, no such exercise is needed. I’m running every blue spell I drafted, and every red spell I drafted besides Fissure Vent. The only question was whether or not to run the Pennon Blade or an 18th land, and I opted for the land. Here’s the deck, with the white cards available for the transformational sideboard, if desired.

image I’m not proud of the Ogre Sentry, but I can’t really complain about suboptimal cards in a deck where six of the seven cards in one color were all taken in the last half of the third pack. This is a pretty reasonable build of the Kiln Fiend deck given the circumstances, but it would have been fantastic had I been red-blue all the way. I said Swiss queues are a great place to experiment, and here is a case in point. Let’s see how it goes.

R1G1

Villain wins the roll and chooses to play last. I happily check my seven for the play:

image

Clearly fragile, but clearly what the deck is trying to do, so…clearly a keep.

Villain plays a Plains and I draw Goblin Tunneler before casting the Kiln Fiend. An Overgrown Battlement comes down, but it won’t be blocking my fiend for the next couple of turns. I draw Valakut Fireboar and cast Distortion Strike, hitting for 5 (20 – 15). I add the Goblin Tunneler after combat and pass.

Villain’s wall accelerates into Ondu Giant, fetching a Forest. I untap, rebound the Distortion Strike to make the fiend a 5/2 unblockable again, pull Rage Nimbus and cast it after swinging Villain down to 10 (20 – 10). Villain plays a fifth land (note that Villain has built up to six mana and I’ve cut his life total in half by turn four in this “slow” format), but only has a Daggerback Basilisk despite the nice acceleration. I pull a Mountain and work out how to spend the turn. What’s the play?

image R1G1 #1

I’m a little concerned about Villain’s three unspent mana, but not enough to change my plans. I like making the Kiln Fiend unblockable, attempting to draw out a Puncturing Light. If I draw that out, Valakut Fireboar should make it through next turn for 7. If I don’t draw it out, I can assume it’s not there, and Valakut Fireboar should make it through next turn for 7. You can see the pattern, here. Plan: make it through for 7 next turn. The fiend hits for 1 with no Puncturing Light, and I drop the fireboar as planned (20 – 9).

Soulbound Guardians join enemy ranks, but Villain’s defenders and deathtouchers can’t do anything about the goblin sneaking fireboars behind enemy lines through his vast tunnel network. Villain does a pump-fake with a Plains, tapping it then untapping it, before passing the turn back to me. I draw another Distortion Strike.

image R1G1 #2

The worst-case scenario would be the same Puncturing Light I was concerned about earlier, but even that wouldn’t be very bad. I would lose the fireboar, but still have an unblockable 5/2 Kiln Fiend for the next two turns. I give the fireboar unblockability with the tunneler, and cast the Distortion Strike on the fiend, which earns a quick concession.

R1G2

Villain opts to play last, which seems like a mistake against distortionfiend.dec, but I take the gift and check my seven on the play:

image

Solid, let’s run with it. Maybe I’ll find the superstar play and find a way to turn Fleeting Distraction into a two-for-one! I lead with the Skywatcher Adept and draw a second Distortion Strike on turn two. I hit for 1 and pass (20 – 19), and Villain drops an imposing Beastbreaker of Bala Ged, so I abandon any hope of Fleeting Distraction shenanigans and cycle it at the end of the turn, drawing Ogre Sentry followed by Eel Umbra on my regular draw. Three mana and lots of options. What’s the play?

image R1G2 #1

I’m going to have a lot of trouble racing a beastbreaker with this hand, so I’d like to trade my Rage Nimbus for it if possible. However, I’ll trade my Eel Umbra for it right now if Villain would like, so I start with an attack, and Villain wisely declines to block (20 – 18). I cast the nimbus after combat and pass.

After more pump fakes with the mana, Villain settles on Growth Spasm fetching a Plains, apparently over leveling the beastbreaker. I take back the turn and topdeck a much-needed Island. How are you piloting this turn?

image R1G2 #2

I like the idea of setting up to force Villain to attack with the beastbreaker or the spawn token. If the beastbreaker is a 4/4, I have the option of trading the Eel Umbra for the beastbreaker instead of losing my Rage Nimbus. If I would make that play, then attacking with the Skywatcher Adept is correct here, since I would either hit for 1 or trade the umbra for the beastbreaker without even having to activate the nimbus. In the game I choose not to attack, and pass the turn.

Villain has an excellent response in Jaddi Lifestrider, which can tap down the beastbreaker and the token, putting them out of reach of my nimbus and blanking my mana for the turn. Fortunately for me, Villain makes an online-only mistake. I can see the the highlighting appear around the beastbreaker and the token, suggesting the intention to tap them for the lifegain effect, but then they deselect and the lifestrider itself becomes highlighted, and then the ability finishes resolving, leaving a 2/2 beastbreaker up for luring.

There was no outward expression of frustration in the chat, but Villain had to be a bit tilted watching his leveler suicide charge into the Rage Nimbus. I know I would have been, but making and taking advantage of those online-only punts are all part of the online game. I take the turn back and draw Valakut Fireboar.

image R1G2 #3

Not a great draw right now, but I’m a land away from distorting it all the way to victory. In the meantime, leveling up the adept and swinging for 2 in the air is the best use of my mana (20 – 18). Here is what I was talking about with the Rage Nimbus, by the way. The ability just blanks a bunch of cards in Villain’s deck without even having to keep the mana up. I love threat-of-activation cards!

Villain has a Snake Umbra for the Jaddi Lifestrider, which gets in for 3 damage and a card (17 – 18). A postcombat Overgrown Battlement is a creature that won’t be taunted by the nimbus. I cross my fingers for a land, but I pull a Lavafume Invoker instead. I swing with the adept again (17 – 16), and plan for this lifestrider problem while I wait for my fifth land.

image R1G2 #4

I really feel like I’m just waiting for a fifth land to win, here, and it feels like Guard Duty is about the only thing standing in the way. If it’s not already in hand, I want to lower the odds of it getting there, which means I can’t let this card-drawing lifestrider thing continue uncontested. I cast the Ogre Sentry with Eel Umbra mana left up, setting up some options for Villain’s next attack phase.

After a second Overgrown Battlement, Villain passes without an attack. I’ve telegraphed the Eel Umbra already, so it’s no surprise that it gets the play-around treatment. As long as that Snake Umbra isn’t drawing any cards, I’m happy. I still don’t pull a land, but I do draw a Kiln Fiend, which will get the job done as well. The Skywatcher Adept cracks again for 2, and the fiend comes down to try and finish things (17 – 14).

Perhaps fearing the fiend, Villain plays a land and sends in the lifestrider. I block with the Ogre Sentry and the Rage Nimbus, and release the eel. The net result is a trade of the sentry for the Snake Umbra, which seems good to me. Oust sends the nimbus second from the top after combat, and I gain 3 (20 – 14). I take the turn back with Villain on one card in hand and pull Flame Slash. It’s clearly time to at least cast one Distortion Strike, but two? What about the Flame Slash?

image R1G2 #5

If I unload with both Distortion Strikes and the Flame Slash, I can deal 14 damage this turn and end it right now unless Villain has something unexpected like Haze Frog or a removal spell for the Skywatcher Adept. I think it’s a very high chance that if I play for the win right now, it will work, but there’s also a similarly high chance that I’ll win this game if I play around the unexpected and look to win next turn. The question is, given all possibilities, is there a higher chance of this game slipping away from me if I move all in right now, or if I play it safe, but give Villain an extra draw in the process?

The chances of me losing in either scenario are fairly remote. It comes down to weighing the chances of Villain holding something to stop the alpha strike (Repel the Darkness, Harmless Assault, or Haze Frog) vs. the chance of topdecked Guard Duty followed by perfect draws to prevent me from simply winning through the adept or an eventual Valakut Fireboar/Distortion Strike combo. There is also the chance that Villain can prevent some of the damage this turn (via Puncturing Light for example), then draws a solution for the attack next turn: also highly unlikely.

Because losing in either scenario is quite remote, I opt to play it conservative and make the play that, if answered, leaves me with lots of options afterwards: casting a single Distortion Strike. This may be on the nitty side, but it’s certainly far from certain that an opponent wouldn’t bring in a Haze Frog or Harmless Assault against a deck looking to deal large amounts of damage in a couple of devastating, all-in attacks.

I cast a single Distortion Strike and hit for 7 before adding Lavafume Invoker to the team (20 – 7). Villain untaps, pauses, and concedes.

Round-Two Scouting

Scouting reveals 14 cards in my second-round opponent’s deck:

image The two Eldrazi seem a bit greedy for blue-black, but double Enclave Cryptologist is great, and Consume the Meek fairly well crushes me. It will be tough to play my game while playing around Consume the Meek, I’m going to have to charge ahead with The Plan and hope either the Consume the Meek doesn’t show up, or that I have enough post-consumption action to finish things.

R2G1

I win the roll and have another solid opener for the deck.

image

An easy keep, with both the fiend-into-strike opener, and Eel Umbra protection to boot if I get to untap with the fiend in play. Villain has a normally-brutal opener of the turn-one Enclave Cryptologist, but in this case I am only concerned about the survival of my impending Kiln Fiend. My concerns are allayed somewhat when I pull a second Kiln Fiend off the top before casting the first one.

Villain has a Swamp for turn two, and spends it leveling the cryptologist, which is great news for me. I pull another Island and start the fiend beats off a Distortion Strike before playing fiend #2 (20 – 15). Villain loots away an Island and takes the turn back. An Island and a Champion's Drake come down, and Villain loots again, this time discarding a Frostwind Invoker. I untap and rebound the Distortion Strike, drawing a Mountain right after.

I attack in, the drake steps in front of the fiend that it can, and I thwart Villain’s Virulent Swipe plan with the Eel Umbra.

image R2G1 #1

The unblockable fiend connects for 5, and the swipe trades for the umbra (20 – 10). I play out the Goblin Tunneler and pass. Villain has an Escaped Null to try and staunch the bleeding, but I rip Staggershock like a pro. One fiend becomes unblockable before I shock the null, forcing Villain to block the still-blockable fiend with the cryptologist or die to the rebound. A post-block loot cycles away an Island before the cyrptologtist follows it into the graveyard (20 – 6).

Villain has a Sea Gate Oracle, but concedes when I make a Kiln Fiend unblockable with Staggershock and the fiend triggers on the stack.

So yeah, that went as planned! Let’s see if I can repeat.

R2G2

I’m on the draw with these seven.

image

After a first game that went perfectly, we get a reminder of how fragile a strategy like this can be, since it is effectively a creature-based combo deck in Limited. If I had this same land:spell distribution on the draw with something like levelers, it would almost certainly be a keep. In this spot, I don’t like the hand. I have three fiend/boar enablers, a removal spell, and a card to protect fiends/boars. I’m in a position where I have to draw one of my combo creatures very soon, or the hand isn’t good at all. I can get rid of one early threat, then I’m counting on my draws to be able to do anything of significance. I’d rather try a random six.

image

Obviously a bit slow, but I can’t go down to five over this. If I can survive until I find an Island and one other land, I could be in good shape.

I draw Eel Umbra, and Villain has the first spell with Champion's Drake. I get lucky with a Kiln Fiend off the top, and play it out. Need an Island now. Villain has a turn-three Venerated Teacher, which, as all Venerated Teachers on a board without levelers do, smacks of desperation. That is certainly a power of this deck. If you drop a turn-two Kiln Fiend and your opponent doesn’t have removal, it can cause desperation plays as early as turn three. I take 1 from the drake before getting the turn back (19 – 20).

I pull an Island, and I’m off to the fiend races, distorting my way to five unblockable before sending back the turn (19 – 15). Villain adds a second drake, hits me for 3, and passes it back with a Swamp and an Island up (16 – 15). I rebound the Distortion Strike, pull Lavafume Invoker, and crash in for another 5 (16 – 10). Should I protect the fiend with Eel Umbra mana up, or play out the invoker?

image R2G2 #1

If Villain had removal the fiend would already be dead, and without more instants or sorceries, the invoker is the better creature anyway. I play it out and pass. The two drakes crash in for another 2 (14 – 10), and an Escaped Null joins the teacher on defense. I pull an Island, getting me to Valakut Fireboar mana, so I cast one of them and pass.

After sending the drakes over again, Villain casts and levels a Halimar Wavewatch, which could definitely be a problem for me if I don’t find something to bust through in short order. Answering my request, my deck hands me a Reality Spasm off the top for the win:

image R2G2 #2

Tap down three blockers and swing! I’ll say this about kilnfiend.dec, it’s going to allow me to cram a three-round draft into one article! Normally by the end of the draft writeup and round one, I’m at 5K+ words and have to two-part it, but I’m under 5K heading into round three, so let’s do this thing! Finals, baby!

Round-Three Scouting

Replay watching showed this partial decklist for my finals opponent:

image Seems like a super-solid deck. I have to outrace the Eldrazi Conscription, and my tools for dealing with an umbra’d up Aura Gnarlid are non-existent.

R3G1

Good ol’ Magic Online failed to record R3G1. Why? How does this feature work so consistently intermittently? So frustrating. It’s too bad because the game was an absolute clinic on how the Kiln Fiend deck can fail spectacularly in the face of actual answers to its early threats. I had a sick-looking draw with at least one fiend and one strike plus good mana, but when my fiend met with Narcolepsy and I didn’t luck into additional threats, the deck fell apart. The fiend enablers stuck in my hand just looked like dead draws, and I didn’t draw enough live ones to contain Villain’s offense or mount one of my own.

R3G2

I win the roll and check my seven:

image

This hand improves dramatically with a Mountain, but is keepable as is. I have the turn-one Skywatcher Adept, and pass. Villain has an Island, and I rip the Mountain off the top for a turn-two Kiln Fiend and a point of damage off the adept (20 – 19). Villain has Runed Servitor, and passes it back. I pull a second Mountain and play an Island.

image R3G2 #1

I Distortion Strike the fiend, hit for 5, and cast the tunneler after combat (20 – 14). Villain has a land and Sea Gate Oracle before swinging for 2 with the servitor (18 – 14). I untap, rebound the strike, and pull another strike off the top. Interesting…should I cast the second strike now, or wait until next turn when the unblockability would be more useful?

image R3G2 #2

I like piling on maximum pressure while he’s tapped out. I can cast the second Distortion Strike and level up the adept to crash in for 11, basically making Villain have to have double Narcolepsy or just lose, and double Narcolepsy seems quite unlikely. I drop Villain to 3 on turn four in this slow format, and pass (18 –3). After untapping and drawing, Villain scoops. This just in: Kiln Fiend/Distortion Strike decks can be explosive!

R3G3

On the draw, I check my seven, looking for a hand that will win me this draft.

image

Yuck, this hand is not getting it done. Six?

image

Better. Still needs some help, but could get there. Villain has a turn-two Hada Spy Patrol after I pull an Island, then I draw a Distortion Strike and can smell another potential rout coming on. I play the fiend and pass. Villain pushes back on my plans for a rout by enchanting my fiend with Luminous Wake. Great sideboarding by Villain, as the wake is a card that is not usually maindeck material, but is often forgotten in the boards of white mages who snagged one late. It’s a fine quasi-removal spell against my deck.

I draw and cast Lavafume Invoker, and pass it back. Villain levels up the spy patrol leaving a Plains up, and hits for 2 before passing the turn (18 – 20). I draw another land and cast the Ogre Sentry before hitting back for 2 (18 –18). That spy patrol could go all the way, and is a big concern if Villain sinks six more mana into it.

I pass the turn and the patrol hits for another 2 before a postcombat Totem-Guide Hartebeest searches up Narcolepsy, which is a real nail in my coffin (and an example of why the hartebeest has risen in my rankings lately: fetching Narcolepsy is nice, and if you are winning through evasion, a 2/5 chunk of ground beef is a fine addition to the defense). I pull another land, and am suddenly feeling totally helpless, when just two turns ago I smelled a rout. I pass without a play, hoping the abundance of open mana will bluff Villain off of leveling the patrol.

It works to some extent, as Villain casts Snake Umbra on the hartebeest instead of what would have been a devastating umbra on the spy patrol. It’s still pretty bad for me on the hartebeest, which crashes in with the patrol shortly after. What’s the defense plan?

image R3G3 #1

I think the play here is to use the Reality Spasm to pump the Kiln Fiend, then double block with the sentry and the fiend. I can’t sit here and let Villain draw cards all day. In the game, though, I had mentally given the Kiln Fiend “pacified” status, and wasn’t really considering him in block decisions. Also, honestly, I was kind of in “waiting to die” mode, knowing that I would need a series of pretty perfect draws to overcome this board and the known Narcolepsy. Instead, I take it all (11 – 18).

Another land off the top is no help, and although I get in for 2 with the invoker and see the Reality Spasm play the second time around to double block the hartebeest, it’s way too late. Villain adds a Frostwind Invoker to the team, and I succumb to his evasive creatures shortly after.

Wow, it’s almost like if Villain can handle the early Kiln Fiend, the deck falls apart! Who would have thunk it. It was a fun deck to play and good for a couple of packs. What takeways do I have from this draft?

Conclusions

I think this walkthrough contained the lowest density of interesting game decisions that I’ve ever decided to write up, but it was too fun not to. I also know a lot of people who have not drafted the Kiln Fiend deck have been wondering about it, and the results here shed a reasonable light on both the strengths and the weaknesses of the archetype.

The deck is a blast to play when it works. It is undeniably gratifying to explode for turn-four concessions in Limited, particularly in a format that is supposed to be a breather from this kind of aggro. That being said, the whole deck is one big Skulking Ghost. Left alone, the mana-to-damage ratio is way above the curve, but it crumbles when interfered with to any significant degree. 

imageRogue Limited strategies are best when they are resilient to the best common picks of traditional draft decks. Back in Kamigawa block, a deck emerged around Dampen Thought that was popularized after Quentin Martin drafted it at GP Paris, and an article appeared on the mothership about it. The beauty of the Dampen Thought deck was that it ran no creatures and won by milling. By running zero creatures, it blanked all the removal spells in decks it faced. In game one, an opposing deck might end up with four or more dead cards in hand.

The problem with the Kiln Fiend deck is that it drafts and plays a lot like a combo deck, but it doesn’t blank opposing cards like the Dampen Thought deck did. In fact, just the opposite: Kiln Fiend decks are vulnerable to the top common picks in four of the five colors. If you face monogreen, you are in great shape to run your strategy unopposed, but for the most part you should expect Flame Slash, Staggershock, Heat Ray, Vendetta, Last Kiss, Induce Despair, Guard Duty, Regress, and Narcolepsy to make life difficult for you if you try out this archetype.

If you do, note that Kiln Fiend is next to Distortion Strike in the common print run. Certainly this is intentional, as it makes it harder to draft a truly sick deck playing off of those synergies. I generally take the fiends first, as the Distortion Strikes tend to wheel more often than the fiends, and things like Wrap in Flames can substitute for Distortion Strike in a pinch. If you are looking at a pack with Distortion Strike and no Kiln Fiend, consider print runs and keep in mind that someone upstream might already be drafting the deck.

To help with the fragility of the deck, having a late-game backup plan is ideal. I had the Hellion Eruption, for example, which would have been an excellent draw in the finals after having several creatures pacified. You won’t always come up with a great backup plan when you are in this archetype, but keep your eye out.

Here are some thoughts on some of the cards available for this deck, given both my experiences in this draft and other drafts since then.

Goblin Tunneler: Not my favorite enabler for the deck. He combos nicely with the Valakut Fireboar, but not with the Kiln Fiend unless you have a non-falter instant or sorcery. That’s the thing, though: you really want your instants and sorceries to either be falter effects or removal, both of which help get the fiend through without the help of the tunneler.

Wrap in Flames: I had no Wrap in Flames, and in most instances during this match, I would have been better off if every tunneler I drew had been a Wrap in Flames instead.

Battle-Rattle Shaman: This guy solid in most versions of the deck, and if you are running multiple Goblin Tunnelers like I was, the value rises. Note that it is not synergistic with Valakut Fireboar, which merely becomes a 7/3 attacker instead of a 7/1 attacker under the effects of the shaman.

image See Beyond: Another card I didn’t have that I would have loved. The nut draw for the deck involved a turn-two Kiln Fiend and a turn-three Distortion Strike, so a question that came up a lot was, “What am I doing with the other two mana on turn three?” See Beyond is a great answer to that question. For one, it creates an 8/2 unblockable instead of a 5/2, but more importantly, it digs two cards deeper into your library for your next play. The deck is basically an aggressive combo deck, and like any combo deck, you will end up in situations where you have dupes of one combo piece while missing another piece entirely. See Beyond helps solve that problem while pumping your fiends and filling an important spot in the curve.

Traitorous Instinct: Sure wish I’d taken this card P1P2 in hindsight. A great enabler for the strategy, pumping the fiend and clearing the way. It can simply mop up on turn four or five after the fiend/strike combo has gone to work early.

Mnemonic Wall: I missed a couple of chances to draft the wall in this draft, and that hurt. If you’ve run out of gas but have a fiend in play, the wall can fetch back an enabler while keeping you alive long enough to make use of it if you can’t cast it on the same turn. It would have been fantastic to have one of these defenders instead of the one I ended up running.

Finally, drafts like this are some of the best arguments for Swiss. Not only did I feel more comfortable experimenting with the draft because of the flatter payout, I was assured three matches to test drive it. That’s particularly valuable with a deck that is strikeout/homerun in nature. You don’t want to get unlucky and strike out in the first two games of an elimination draft when exploring a risky archetype to see what makes it tick.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, happy drafting!


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16 Comments

You shouldn't have gone into by Lunco at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 05:31
Lunco's picture

You shouldn't have gone into RW as you don't often see it work, because there aren't that many synergies in the two colours (except for walls, but that's bad either way). You really don't see the pros drafting it either, that's one thing we should take into account. And even if you were planing on RW Kiln Fiend, that's just loose, because Distortion Strike is better for this deck than any other spell in the format. Also spells that dig through your deck (for more Fiends) should be picked higher than usual.

Generally settling into an archetype as soon as possible is the best you can do in this format, you failed to do that with the first pack. You also made some iffy picks, like Makindi Griffin over Instincts and Knight of Cliffhaven over Heat Ray.

And I absolutely agree that Kilnfiend.dec falls apart when they handle your Fiends, but it's not as bas as you make it sound. Then you just play for the Bores, which you had 2-of in the deck. It also helps to have a bomb like Sphinx of Magosi or Conquering Manticore, just makes things easier :P

"You shouldn't have gone into by Godot at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 15:25
Godot's picture

"You shouldn't have gone into RW as you don't often see it work."

One of the overall messages of this walkthrough was to have a willingness to experiment, particularly in Swiss, and particularly early in a format. This was my fourth online ROE draft, and I have no regret about trying something different, even if it's not where I ended up. I *still* think RW aggro-falter seems like it could work, and I will look for other low-risk opportunities to try it out in the future.

That being said, at the time of this draft there were zero ROE walkthroughs on the internet, and general impressions of ROE Limited based on actual experiences instead of predictions and set reviews were only just beginning to bubble up. Nobody knew "what the pros were drafting" but the pros.

"And even if you were planing on RW Kiln Fiend, that's just loose..."

I was planning on RW aggro with a light tunneler aspect to help break through after a stall. I didn't even have a second fiend until P3P4. Again though, being "loose" is at its most correct early on in Swiss. You can't break a new archetype if you don't try out your theories!

Me: "I should have taken the Heat Ray, here."
Lunco: "You should have taken the Heat Ray, there."

Me: "To help with the fragility of the deck, having a late-game backup plan is ideal."
Lunco: "It's not as bad as you make it sound. Have a late-game back-up plan."

(eyeroll) Thanks.

But seriously, honest-to-goodness thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.

Excellent as usual by andreFM at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 09:38
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5

Keep it up, Thursday is the highlight of this site :)

Agree with everything you said on swiss. I find it especially good when I'm getting to grips with a format, so I can make sure I get the most play possible out of my deck and learn common interactions and tricks in the format. Very curious to give the Fiend deck a spin.

Really liked the final section you added on important cards in the deck! Could you do that for other RoE archetypes as well? Maybe incorporate it in next week's walkthrough with a different deck type?

Cheers

Pack win rates by OxyFrog at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 12:19
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You're always mentioning that, on average, the pack payout is worse for 4-3-2-2 than for the other two. That got me wondering how the pack win rates differ by skill level, so I whipped up a spreadsheet.

No matter the skill level, there's a format that has a higher payout rate than 4-3-2-2, though it does become better than swiss if you're some kind of god who wins over 62% of his matches. If you're going to win over half your matches, 8-4 has a (much!) higher payout than swiss, and vice-versa.

That doesn't account for the difference in skill between players playing 8-4 and Swiss, but it does give a general idea of why 4-3-2-2 shouldn't really be played by anyone.

Yea, I basically agree with by Bliven731 at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 12:39
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Yea, I basically agree with it. However, the important thing to note is that in swiss you can win game 2 and 3 to get 2 packs but in 4-3-2-2 you HAVE to win the 1st one. I always play swiss, I hate the fact that 4-3-2-2 is the default for older formats, because most of them I've never played and I don't want to do a 4-3-2-2 for my 1st draft of a format ever.

How do you specify Unhinged by Nik83 at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 12:23
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How do you specify Unhinged lands for a draft? That's pretty neat.

Save your deck build then by Paul Leicht at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 12:33
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Save your deck build then load it into the deck editor and add lands. then save again and load into the draft editor and submit when ready.

Images by wspaniel at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:13
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I'm just curious how you include all of those images in your article without it taking a billion hours of work.

It's really not that hard by Paul Leicht at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:51
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It's really not that hard once you have it down.

Please elaborate. by wspaniel at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:52
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Please elaborate.

Most of those images are by Paul Leicht at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:58
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Most of those images are screenies right? Well if you are familiar with an image program it is not hard to produce them (alt-print screen is akin to control-c but it copies the current window to the buffer. from there it is a matter of control-v in the program and save to jpg or gif.) This process probably takes about 2mins per image if you have the rhythm of it down. Storing the images is not hard. Simply find a free image site, and upload them. The insertion takes a moment again if you have code set up for it(img tag place holder with an empty src tag where you want the image.) All told I imagine it probably took Godot 45 mins tops to insert the images in this article from scratch.

i dont about godot but most by ShardFenix at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:52
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i dont about godot but most images can easily be added through a link on the "write article" page and then url's for the images from something like photobucket

I know where Mr. Spaniel is by Godot at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 14:54
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I know where Mr. Spaniel is coming from. My first few articles on this site almost killed me because the process for adding an image using the provided editor is *extremely* tedious. I believe after capturing the screen, pasting it into an editor, cropping it, and saving it to my computer (a process in itself), I counted 17 clicks and three drop-down menu navigations just to insert the image into an article. I knew I had to find a different way if I was going to keep writing image-heavy walkthroughs.

My workflow secret is just Windows Live Writer. The built-in image tools are great. I alt-printscreen MTGO and ctrl-v it right into the article flow, where it applies the default settings I created (drop shadow, centered, a maximum height of X and width of Y, link to full-size image, 10 points of space on top, none on the bottom), and there is a crop tool built in. Click crop, put a box around the desired area, click OK, then click off of the image to return to text input. It's about 30 seconds per image for me, now.

From there, I have Windows Live Writer linked to a private blogger.com blog. Publishing to blogger from Live Writer automatically uploads all my images to Picassa and links to them in the html, so all I have to do is copy the html from the blogger blog entry into the pure editor, and browse for autocarding mistakes and little formatting issues before submitting.

I thank and respect Pure for providing an "open mic" system for people to submit Magic articles and for personally giving me a wider audience for the writing I was doing anyway, but the article editor is clunky at best. Basically, while I use WLW, I recommend finding any good blogging app that incorporates image editing and one-click publishing tools, and working in that. Then paste the html produced in that process into the pure editor.

Thanks for your continued by Odindusk at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 14:14
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Thanks for your continued work, Godot. The massive amount of imagery is just one way in which your articles stand out from many of the other articles. And I know that's a direct result of your time spent.

On that note, I was prepared to give you a friendly chastising for taking weaker cards over the late Caravan Escorts and the Mammoth Umbra. But you didn't even end up playing white, and your R/U deck might have been short on playables had you made those picks. You obviously know what's up.

Thanks, and don't worry, I by Godot at Thu, 06/03/2010 - 14:37
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Thanks, and don't worry, I had those same criticisms. Mammoth Umbra was definitely correct in that one pack over the slinger, and then sticking to white was definitely the safer play than veering into tunneler stuff and eventually into blue. It was less about knowing what was up and more about being willing to experiment.

Nice draft! by Felorin at Fri, 06/04/2010 - 00:35
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Very impressive to see you change colors in the middle of pack 3 (!!) and still do well in the draft. I've only drafted the Kiln Fiend archetype once so far, I look forward to trying it again. I found that Battle Rattle Shaman is really handy in the deck. It's great with Goblin Tunneler as you mentioned, it's also very nice with small inexpensive flyers which I grabbed 2-3 of in that draft. The nice thing about getting Tunnelers and Battle Rattles for the deck is they keep providing value on turns when you don't have an instant or sorcery in hand, plus they also provide value under Guard Duty or Narcolepsy.

I've heard that people have tried Kiln Fiend under red/black as well as red/white. Black certainly has some ways to get things out of the way, even if you have to get blockers out of the way permanently instead of just temporarily the way you're "supposed to"!