TheWolf's picture
By: TheWolf, Shane Garvey
Jun 07 2018 12:00pm
0
Login to post comments
7048 views


I'm back again this week with another Dominaria draft walkthrough! Below, you will see every pick of every pack, along with the reasons I picked what I did, then you'll see the deck and the results at the end. Feel free to leave a comment below on what you would have done different!

 

Pack 1 pick 1:

My Pick:

We kick things off with quite a powerful first pack. On Serra's Wings, Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp and Icy Manipulator are the best cards, and there is also a Gideon's Reproach and Academy Journeymage. I ended up narrowing down the pick to Zahid and Icy Manipulator, and finally settled on Zahid. It may not be the correct pick due to Icy being colourless, but I don't think you could go wrong with either of the two. Plus, I had played with Icy Manipulator a lot and hadn't done so with Zahid yet, so I wanted to try it out.



Pack 1 pick 2:

My Pick:

This pack has some good cards as well, with On Serra's Wings and Wizard's Lightning the best of the bunch. While I like having some sort of removal, On Serra's Wings is such a powerful card that I couldn't pass it here. 



Pack 1 pick 3:

My Pick:

Serra Angel is pretty clearly the best card here, and I happily snapped it up. Academy Drake and Deep Freeze would have been considerations if the Angel wasn't here, but she was so I ignored them. I know some people might think that Jaya's Immolating Inferno is the most powerful card and, in a vacuum, it is; however, the legendary sorceries are hard to cast and for that reason I never pick them unless I already have a few legendary creatures.



Pack 1 pick 4:

My Pick:

The best cards in this pack are white and blue again; Knight of Grace and Deep Freeze. There is also Bloodtallow Candle, a card I don't mind having one of in a deck. However, I took Deep Freeze; my first three picks are all very powerful cards and I want to look at playing them if I can, and white/blue is a powerful combination. I'll be hoping to continue in this direction if possible.



Pack 1 pick 5:

My Pick:

Again, white and blue are the best cards, with Knight of Grace and Cold-Water Snapper. I'm pretty happy to keep taking these two colours, and this time I took the Knight; I already had a five and six drop, and that was what led me to take the Knight over the Turtle.



Pack 1 pick 6:

My Pick:

Fungal Infection is probably the best card here, and it might have been correct to take it. However, Aesthir Glider is a flyer (which white/blue likes) and keeps me open, so I took that.



Pack 1 pick 7:

My Pick:

Seventh pack, and I finally get a pack with nothing in it. I took Opt but am not really looking to play it, but it is a cheap spell that cycles itself so it might make the cut if I am short on playables.



Pack 1 pick 8:

My Pick:

Again, not a great pack. Aesthir Glider is not the greatest card, but again it keeps me a little more open.



Pack 1 pick 9:

My Pick:

Well, Guardians of Koilos is better than nothing but I hope not to play it.



Pack 1 pick 10:

My Pick:

There is a very late Thallid Omnivore here, and it probably means that black is open. I debated long and hard over taking it or D'Avenant Trapper; I think if I had have taken Fungal Infection I would have taken the Omnivore, but instead I took the Trapper. I already had a few artifacts and two legends, so the Trapper could come in useful.



Pack 1 pick 11:

My Pick:

I'm now convinced black is open, and took Caligo Skin-Witch. However... I still want to try and play the really powerful white and blue cards I have. Blue has dried up, and I only have two blue cards I really want to play, so I could still switch if I want. A lot of it will depend on pack 2.



Pack 1 pick 12:

My Pick:


Pack 1 pick 13:

My Pick:


Pack 1 pick 14:

My Pick:


Pack 1 pick 15:

My Pick:


Pack 2 pick 1:

My Pick:

This pick is where I had to make the decision; stay the course with blue or pivot to black? The two best cards are Time of Ice and Cast Down. Time of Ice is great in white/blue, while Cast Down is a good if a somewhat limited removal spell. I was leaning towards Time of Ice before I remembered I had taken a Tragic Poet late in pack 1. That nudged it over the edge for me and I picked the Saga.



Pack 2 pick 2:

My Pick:

And then I picked a second one. Time of Ice is the best card in the pack, and now I have two, I'm really going all in on white/blue. Even this early, I have a lot of powerful cards and am pretty happy with the way things are going.



Pack 2 pick 3:

My Pick:

I thought about taking Skittering Surveyor here. It's a very solid card and a high pick, allowing you to ensure you hit your land drops and fixes your mana if you are splashing. But I decided in the end on Blink of an Eye. The white/blue decks are all about tempo and between this and the two copies of Time of Ice, I should be able to frustrate my opponent no end.



Pack 2 pick 4:

My Pick:

Well, this deck is just bad for me. If it was a pod and not a league, I would have hate drafted Mammoth Spider, but I took Voltaic Servant. It's an early defensive creature which these type of decks normally want.



Pack 2 pick 5:

My Pick:

Black still seems open with Thallid Soothsayer here, but I was more interested in either Divination or Jousting Lance. I'm not sure which pick was correct in the end, but I went with Divination. It helps smooth out the draws and hit land drops.



Pack 2 pick 6:

My Pick:

I thought about taking Arcane Flight here, but didn't have a lot to actually put it on yet. I went with Aven Sentry instead, a creature that naturally has flying. I also note that Knight of Malice and Windgrace Acolyte are in this pack still, and black is very open. I probably should have switched into black at some point, but it's a bit late now.



Pack 2 pick 7:

My Pick:

I'm pretty happy to pick Academy Drake here; a 2/2 flyer that is sometimes a 4/4 flyer is good enough for me. It's better than any of the other cards in the pack anyway.



Pack 2 pick 8:

My Pick:

None of the spells in this pack are for me, but Memorial to Genius is. I love these lands; they mitigate flood by letting you cash them in for a useful effect, and I'm always happy to have one or two in the deck. The blue one is one of the better ones.



Pack 2 pick 9:

My Pick:

Something else I'm happy to include one of in most decks is a Disenchant effect. There are so many targets for cards like Invoke the Divine in the format that main decking one of these cards is fine (just sideboard it out if you don't see a target in the first game).



Pack 2 pick 10:

My Pick:

I've picked up a few artifacts so far, but nothing I really care about getting back if they hit the graveyard. I doubt Excavation Elephant will make the main deck.



Pack 2 pick 11:

My Pick:

Interestingly, Knight of New Benalia might make the deck. While it doesn't look like much of a card, I'm interested in early defensive cards, and this is better on defence than attack. It will kill most three drops and some four drops if they attack. It's also a good target for Pegasus Courser if I can pick one up. The rest of pack two is:



Pack 2 pick 12:

My Pick:


Pack 2 pick 13:

My Pick:


Pack 2 pick 14:

My Pick:


Pack 2 pick 15:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 1:

My Pick:

Well... this is a pack. I'm highly interested in Danitha Capashen, Paragon, Deep Freeze, Forebear's Blade and Helm of the Host, and the deck also has Settle the Score and Fiery Intervention. In the end I just couldn't go past Helm. This card is just crazy. If left unchecked, it will win you the game, and for that reason it was the pick here.



Pack 3 pick 2:

My Pick:

This pack is a let down after the previous one. There is a Divination but I already have one; I feel one is fine, but I hardly ever want two. There is also Eviscerate which is the best card in the pack, but I won't be splashing for it. Instead, I settled on Memorial to Glory for the same reasons I took the blue one earlier.



Pack 3 pick 3:

My Pick:

This pack ramps things up again with three cards I would love to have: Blessed Light, Gideon's Reproach and Academy Journeymage. I took Blessed Light, but the Reproach might have been the correct pick. Still, all three were close.



Pack 3 pick 4:

My Pick:

For this pick, I took Cold-Water Snapper over Jousting Lance. The Turtle is just hard to deal with, and if I can get On Serra's Wings on to it, it's just game over for my opponent.



Pack 3 pick 5:

My Pick:

Sergent-at-Arms is a solid three drop that can provide some chump blocking options later in the game. I didn't want any of the blue cards or Pardic Wanderer as I already had two six-drops, so I took the Sarge.



Pack 3 pick 6:

My Pick:

I already had picked up a Tragic Poet earlier and certainly didn't want a second one. I wasn't overly interested in Sparring Construct either, except that it plays nice with historic triggers on D'Avenant Trapper and can be used to help get Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp out early.



Pack 3 pick 7:

My Pick:

Tolarian Scholar is not at its best in this type of deck, but it's another three drop with 3 toughness if I need one.



Pack 3 pick 8:

My Pick:

Cold-Water Snapper is better than Aven Sentry here, but I couldn't realistically take it, as I already had one as well as another six mana creature. I took the Aven Sentry instead.

The rest of the picks are all unlikely to make the deck and were of no consequence:



Pack 3 pick 9:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 10:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 11:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 12:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 13:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 14:

My Pick:


Pack 3 pick 15:

My Pick:

 

 

The deck looks really strong. Helm of the Host is one of the best cards in the format at rare, and along side that I have a Serra Angel and a Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp. These are backed up with two copies of Time of Ice and an On Serra's Wings, which are some of the best uncommons in the set. 

If I have one regret about the deck, it's that I didn't manage to pick up a Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage. This would have put this deck into absurd territory, in my opinion. Still, I can't have everything I guess, and the deck feels strong regardless. 

Results

Well, as I kind of expected, I went 3-0 (6-0 in games). The deck was just stupid. I faced a green/black opponent in round who just couldn't keep up; a green/blue opponent in round two who's deck was actually quite good (they were playing kicked Baloth Gorgers as early as turn 5) and who had busted starts with Song of Freyalise, but again they just couldn't deal with a horde of Serra Angels, and then a white/red opponent in round three who got pummeled by a Cold-Water Snapper with On Serra's Wings. It is probably one of the best decks I've ever drafted, and the wins just came easily. I was highly disappointed when the league ended as I wanted to play with it some more!

That's all for this week. I'm off to draft some more though I doubt I'll be able to recapture the power of this one!