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By: draftbetter, Draftbetter
Jan 07 2009 10:31pm
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This article is part of an ongoing series at my site, draftbetter.com.  Check it out for even more drafts and other MTGO stuff!

I had a few people ask me if I was continuing to write articles for PureMTGO during my time off and I'm happy to say that I haven't been like fired or anything.  I just found it hard to find the time and energy during the busy holidays to submit an article.  Heck, I barely found time for my site during this little break.  If my normal day of publishing (Thursday) did not fall on Christmas and New Year's I probably would have submitted articles anyway.  I still continue to draft, even if at a lower pace but hope to pick it up again now that we have started a new year.  Speaking of which...

This was a New Year's Shards of Alara draft. I got one in on my day off and was happy to get it in after the break I took for Christmas. Find out how my year started by reading on.

As I sat in front of my computer, the 8-4 queue fired as I watched. I didn't want to wait for another one so I jumped in the 4-3-2-2 triple Shards draft and away we went.

Pack One

Pick One:

I managed to miss the graphic for pick one this time, but needless to say there was nothing amazing in the pack except for my pick below.

Broodmate Dragon

Pick Two:

p1p2

That's a lot of good cards. No matter what I take, there is quality red black and green picks here. I decided to go for the mass removal as I feel it's the best of these picks and can be used for other stuff if I don't need the mass removal.

Jund Charm

Pick Three:

p1p3

This pack does not have the power that the last pack did. I like the Deathraiders a bunch, but at third pick and me already in green, I want to try the Drumhunter as I don't know if I have ever had it in a deck before. Plus, he can help get out the Broodmate or any other fattie that I happen to pick up.

Drumhunter

Pick Four:

p1p4

I'm still seeing excellent picks and think the Bloodpyre will be very good in my deck.

Bloodpyre Elemental

Pick Five:

p1p5

That's a lot of decent blue picks there. Fortunately, there is a couple decent black picks as well. I think maybe I should have taken the Connoisseur, but I figured to have some cheap disposable creatures in Jund and thought the flier would be the way to go.

Skeletal Kathari

Pick Six:

p1p6

Not a lot of good cards for anyone's deck, maybe the blue cards. Anyway, with the luck I've been having picking up fixing, i better get the Obelisk now, just in case.

Obelisk of Jund

Pick Seven:

p1p7

This was the exact type of card I was looking for. An easy addition to my deck.

Dragon Fodder

Pick Eight:

p1p8

Some nice cards in blue still, but I still have a decent pick in the Gift.

Gift of the Gargantuan

Pick Nine:

p1p9

Everybody knows what I'm taking from this pack. Makes me wish I had take the Connoisseur from earlier

Undead Leotau

Pick Ten:

p1p10

Not much here. The fetch land would only be good for one of the land types that I am in so is not worth taking. In the right deck, the Goblet can be quite good, not sure yet if my deck is going to one of those, but i think it's the best card in this pack.

Onyx Goblet

Pick Eleven:

p1p11

Windwright Mage

Pick Twelve:

p1p12

Swerve

Pick Thirteen:

p1p13

Hindering Light

Pick Fourteen:

p1p14

Tortoise Formation

Pick Fifteen:

Banewasp Affliction

Pack Two

Pick One:

p2p1

I like a few cards in this pack, but the Innocent Blood on a stick seems right to me. I don't want to branch into blue after passing on it all last pack and the Blister Beetle just is not worth picking at this point.

Fleshbag Marauder

Pick Two:

p2p2

Interesting pack here. The Tar Fiend looks good, but for my deck, I want the pinger. I used to pass him so often when I started drafting this set now I find it hard to pass him for anything.

Vithian Stinger

Pick Three:

p2p3

From this pack, as long as I'm not branching into new colors, the pick is pretty straightforward. One of the best two drops for a deck like mine.

Dregscape Zombie

Pick Four:

p2p4

I know that Panorama is there, but I don't want to miss out on the power of the Ascetic. I'd rather have what fixing I have and the Ascetic any day.

Topan Ascetic

Pick Five:

p2p5

I think I made a mistake with this pick here. I took the Deathraiders, but I think I should have taken the Ridge Rannet.

Goblin Deathraiders

Pick Six:

p2p6

I could take the underwhelming Elf here, or go for some fixing. At this point, the green is looking to be my least used color and I don't want to add a green two-drop when I can get some fixing for that green.

Naya Panorama

Pick Seven:

p2p7

This guy can be such a beating in most situations. I think this is an easy pick for me.

Thorn-Thrash Elder

Pick Eight:

p2p8

Now I'm down to nothing. With cycling, the Submersion can be played maindeck or, if my card quality is good enough, I'll leave it in the board.

Volcanic Submersion

Pick Nine:

p3p9

I always like to have one of these available, just in case.

Relic of Progenitus

Pick Ten:

p3p10

Coma Veil

Pick Eleven:

p3p11

Onyx Goblet

Pick Twelve:

p2p12

Viashino Skeleton

Pick Thirteen:

p2p13

Thorn-Thrash Viashino

Pick Fourteen:

p2p14

Godtoucher

Pick Fifteen:

Forest

Pack Three

Pick One:

p3p1

I already have my end game finisher in the Dragon so I'm not that interested in the Behemoth. I was actively looking for the Iguanar from this last pack. Plus, this pack is strong enough to promise me something decent on the lap.

Hissing Iguanar

Pick Two:

p3p2

I'm a little light on removal for a black/red deck so I have to take it when I see it.

Executioner's Capsule

Pick Three:

p3p3

I debated this pick for a while here. I know how good the Necrogenesis is, but I was also light on removal and had nil on the battle tricks. I figured the Roar would help me be more aggressive and help end games quicker.

Resounding Roar

Pick Four:

p3p4

I have never had a deck with two Jund Charms, seems pretty good to me.

Jund Charm

Pick Five:

p3p5

Not too much here except for the card that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Blightning

Pick Six:

p3p6

Ah, this is another card that I was looking for. An Algae Gharial would finish off the trifecta.

Rockslide Elemental

Pick Seven:

p3p7

Nothing here but nothing that scares me either.

Undead Leotau

Pick Eight:

p3p8

Grrr. I so would have taken the Necrogenesis if I knew this was coming at pick eight.

Resounding Roar

Pick Nine:

p3p9

I thought this one had a chance of making it back around for me and I am happy to take the always excellent Thrasher.

(Carrion Thrasher)

Pick Ten:

p3p10

This one is late and can be quite good in the right circumstances. For me, it will probably just be a 2/2 for three.

Grixis Battlemage

Pick Eleven:

p3p11

Deathgreeter

Pick Twelve:

p3p12

Kederekt Creeper

Pick Thirteen:

p3p13

Deathgreeter

Pick Fourteen:

p3p14

Shadowfeed

Pick Fifteen:

Tortoise Formation

Final Deck

Final Deck

I realize I don't have a single creature that sets off the Drumhunter, but my opponents don't know that and might waste removal on him. Plus, he might help me get that Dragon out early.

Matches

After that second round loss in my last draft, I am sitting on a rating of 1756. For round one, I'll be facing an opponent rated at 1617. I start just fine:

r1g1 Open

No way I'm tossing that one back. I keep and draw the Dregscape for turn two. On turn three, I play the Rockslide Elemental and he matches me with a Vithian Stinger. I don't want to lose the Elemental, so I use the Fleshbag Marauder to take out his elf and grow my elemental by two counters. Unfortunately, he has a Branching Bolt for it and then takes out my Zombie with his Pinger.

r1g1 Midgame1

I'm not in dire straights just yet though. I took a pretty hefty lead to start and I finally draw some land and play out some of my guys. I had to use my Capsule on his Stinger so that I could play my own and since he was so short on mana, he is unable to Unearth his before I get in with a couple points of damage. It's not looking good for him though.

r1g1 Midgame2

On the turn that I kill him, I decide to get just a little fancy and not show him either the Dragon or the Charm so that I can still drop them as a surprise for game two/three.

r1g1 End

Not sure if it will matter or not, but it can't hurt. Game two now, one win away from some prize. I start just fine again:

r1g2 Open

No swamps, but they are the most common of my lands, I keep. I don't end up drawing that swamp for quite a while but I did get down a turn three Ascetic and drew the Dragon Fodder hoping I could use the Devour on the Elder before they both died.

r1g1 Midgame1

I am able to put out a 4/4 Thrasher to hold off his entire team and he goes for a risky move in devouring all three of his creatures with the Tar Fiend. Fortunately, I had four cards in hand after playing the Zombie, the land and the Elder. I chuck the Leotau, the Capsule and the Roar to the discard effect and keep the Marauder to blow this one out of the water on the next turn.

r1g1 Midgame2

I swing in get him real low, but he is trying to put up a fight with creatures and removal. An Unearthed Leotau ensures that I get the damage I need to end this one on this turn.

r1g2 End

I had a good feeling about that one and I'm glad it played out like it did. It gets my rating up to 1761 and I'm off to round two. My opponent for this round is rated at 1609. Probably a newer player so I can't put stock in his rating. I start the match with this hand:

r2g1 Open

It's not amazing, but I won't have mana problems and I have removal. I keep. I end up drawing quite well and get a good mix of spells and creatures. I save the Capsule to see what he will play. He is a bit short on mana, but he has a Steward of Valeron and a Sunseed Nurturer to help him out. He plays a Rhox Charger and I see what I was saving my Capsule for. Instead of playing the Dragon on turn five, I go with the Capsule and kill his Charger pumping my Elemental. I also am able to play the Zombie on that turn.

r2g1 Midgame

He had taken the early lead though and it took a while, but in the end. I play out the dragon on the next turn and a Carrion Thrash for the turn after that. Since something died, I also have a 4/4 Elemental.

r2g1 End

There's pretty much nothing you can do against that postion and I pull that one out. On to game two where I start like this:

r2g2 Open

Not terrible, one non-swamp land and I have all my colors. He again has a fast start with a turn one Akrasan Squire. I don't know why but everyone is letting me play first and I am pretty sure that's not right if you have an aggressive deck.

r2g2 Midgame1

He gets in a swing on turn two and on turn three, he has a Court Archers to get in for three with the Squire. On turn four, he has his Rhox Charger and since I used my turn three on the Obelisk, I drop the Drumhunter on turn four.

r2g2 Midgame2

It's not looking good for me. I put down the Ascetic and follow up with a Grixis Battlemage. I have taken a hit form the full blow force of a 6/6 trampler though and I won't be able to do it again. I leave everyting back on defense for the turn and he attacks with the Charger. I block with the Ascetic and he has a Resounding Roar to make a 9/9 trampler. He correctly assigns six damage to the Ascetic even though I had only pumped him to 5/5 trying to keep my guy for the price of one life.

On the next turn, I play the Dragon and I'm starting to look much better. He exchanges the Charger for my 4/4 flying token. I have the Charm for his small guys and I attack with the Dragon and Drumhunter hoping to be able to use the damage to take out more of his guys with the Charm. He chooses to not block so I pump the Drumhunter with my Roar and use the Charm post combat to take out three of his cards. The Roar then lets me draw a card off of the Drumhunter and I have a good defense in place.

It comes down to the end, but he isn't able to put a threat on the board to hold me off and even though he may have conceded one turn early, his chances were probably pretty slim.

r2g2 End

That was a close game and one I wouldn't normally expect to win when three exalted guys are on the board across from me before the end of turn four. I get my rating up to 1766 after that one and it's on to the finals.

My round three opponent was quite friendly and I could tell he was having fun with the draft. He is rated at 1640 and I start like this:

r3g1 Open

Again, not an amazing hand, but it's hard to argue with three colors, removal and a three drop. Plus, he was on the play and he mulled once before I saw my hand. That let me keep a bit easier. It almost turned out to be a mistake though as he has a fast aggressive deck and takes huge chunks out of my life with the Knight of the Skyward Eye. He has been using the pump ability each turn though at the expense of his board. He probably didn't have much though and looked to not be having a good draw.

It comes down to a turn where he attacks with the Knight only and I have an active (Executioners Capsule), the Ascetic and a Grixis Battlemage. I double block his Knight and if he uses his turn to pump the Knight, I plan on killing it with the Capsule. He correctly does not pump and again correctly assigns all the damage to the Battlemage. After that, he plays out most of his hand.

r3g1 Midgame

As you can see from the situation though, I punish his hand total by taking out a Skullmulcher and a Rakeclaw Gargantuan all while doing my first bit of damage to him. I did draw a bunch of land, but I am able to save the Capsule for a real threat, which he never played all while the Leotau took eleven points of his life before I used it to put down a 4/4 Thunder-Thrash Elder while threatening his Unearth for the next turn.

r3g1 End

That worked out pretty darn good I have to say. Game two now, here's my hand:

r3g2 Open

With fast cheap guys, I can probably afford to let him build the board a little and then Charm him. I might take some damage, but if I survive, I will likely win. That was the plan anyway. Five or six turns in and I still don't have a green source and I go down in a hail of creatures.

r3g2 End

Probably one Forest would have made a difference, but who knows. Let's try again for the win in game three of round three. I start similarly to last game:

r3g3 Open1

The difference this time though is the two drop which I can exchange off for any of his early drops to keep my life total higher. Plus, one green source and I'm practically guaranteed to be able to play the Dragon. I keep. I don't draw anything special, but do get the green source before too long. He again has the Squire on turn one and does quite a bit of damage to me before I get down the Carrion Thrash. I had already traded off my two Dragons for his Knight of the Skyward Eye plus a Magma Spray.

I finally stabilized though and was able to start attacking. On the last turn, I swung with my Thrash and Dregscape Zombie when he was at twelve life. I had the battle trick in hand, but I was hoping to Wrath his board when he blocked the Zombie with his Nacatal. He chose not to block though and I hadn't even considered that option until he did so. I cast the Resounding Roar on the Zombie and after combat, I Blightninged him for the win.

r3g3 End

Now, if things had turned out differently, I certainly would have killed a couple of his creatures either after combat or in response to the Soul's Fire that he revealed after the game was over.

Summary

Well, I didn't have to play a ton of spells in those games, but the ones I played were top notch and seemed to get the job done for me quite nicely. I end that draft with a rating of 1771 and of course, the four packs as prize. A good day and so far, a good year for my Magical career. Hope you enjoyed the show and see you soon.

Until then though,

draftbetter

3 Comments

Congrats! by McCombs at Thu, 01/08/2009 - 06:37
McCombs's picture

Pick one Brood Mate Dragon. Cha ching! Pretty smooth sailing from there. Congrats on the win and let's hope the year to come has more of the same for you. I will be joining the clan soon!

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 189.34.229.1 (not verified) at Thu, 01/08/2009 - 19:34
Anonymous(Unregistered) 189.34.229.1's picture

4322? Argh. Explains the stuff people passed to you.

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dungdung's picture

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