I considered B/W as well but I think the white cards are a little harder to support with such heavy black emphasis. Veteran armorsmith isn't likely coming down on turn 2 and I figured solid mana and the Behemoth and Troll is probably superior to shaky mana and the armorsmiths, serra angel, pacifism and blinding mage.
Green also offers some nice sideboard options with windstorm and the oryx.
I haven't had much success with rise from the grave so far. It is great when you grab a bomb with it but really underwhelming when you're rezzing 3 or 4 drop creatures. I've relegated them to sideboard status in my sealed/drafts so far and usually bring them in if myself and/or my opponent have heavy hitters at the top of the curve.
Because P3K was based on Chinese mythology, and Chinese dragons don't fly. P3K had no flying at all, actually. There was a mechanic called Horsemanship that worked the same as flying, instead.
Some folks just don't have the ability to get out and play when they would like, when the local stores is having a tourney, etc... MTGO fits the bill nicely for that. Plus, yes, drafting at 02:00 AM is nice once in a while...
That's funny, and also true. Guile is such a fun card to resolve you almost wish it wasn't such an efficient beater, so you've got more time to sit back and enjoy it. All in all, it's the best bargain rare I can think of right now ($0.10 from MTGO Traders at the time of writing).
You took a sideboard card as your first pick, ignoring superior commons.
And then, this in P2P5:
"Let me talk a little about Cancel. It's nothing compared to Counterspell, but it's the best we're getting in a while. There is not much else in this pack, except maybe Righteousness as a combat trick."
Yeah, there's not much else in there. EXCEPT FOR THE BEST CARD BY FAR IN THE PACK -- oh and it's in your colors too. Looters dig for bombs, which you have plenty of at this point already. Are you not a fan of finding your 4/4 flyers?
The M2010 sealed deck just isnt very good no matter where you cut it. I probably end up BW but the mana is pretty bad with Veteran Armorsmiths, Dread Warlocks, Royal Assasin, and Serra Angel. Just that the combo of a tapper and Royal Assasin seems pretty good and you have a couple of finishers that could come out relatively early with a good draw.
2 Dread Warlock
1 Gravedigger
1 Looming Shade
1 Royal Assassin
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Zombie Goliath
1 Consume Spirit
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Mind Rot
1 Mind Shatter
2 Rise from the Grave
1 Weakness
Then I'd cut down to 23 cards and run 16 land and the Expanse. Probably focus on Black so that the Dread Warlocks come out early and the Consume Spirit and Looming Shade get lots of love.
Still though, in this bomb driven format you get the shaft with this pool. Just not good enough.
If there was a double caps-lock button, I'd have used it back there. Merfolk Looter is nuts in limited, absolutely nuts. When it comes down on turn 2, they either waste a removal spell (yay), or they don't and you win due to massive card advantage. It lets you turn all late game lands/chaff into more gas. Can't say enough about them honestly.
After reading the other draft reports from this pod, it's funny to see the amazing Green deck you were sent Pack 2. Especially when your P2, P1 was Master of the Wild Hunt.
I argued in Jamurra's report that grabbing the Ant Queen in Pack 2 and totally switching colors based on that bomb would probably not have worked out well. However, it worked out just fine for you when you ripped Master in P2, P1, followed by Ant Queen and the rest of Pack 2. You made the right calls with the Flail and the Cloak. They are tremendous in limited. Though, the Efreet would have been nice, too...
p1, p1 Magebane armor. Make doods harder to kill and no color requirement in first pack, letting you see what is passed in 2nd pack to start real drafting.
p1, p2 is arguable for me. Toss up between Armored Assencion and Phantom Warrior. Armored Assencion ask for a 2 for 1 from your opponent, but it can be good.
p1, p4: Sleep over Wall. Wall is fine in the pack if Sleep was absent.
P2, P5: Righteousness is the right call. You have a Wall and two non-tapping attackers (that fly none-the-less!). Righteousness is a great battle trick. Would also be nice if/when you pick up a Palace Guard...
P3, P1: Pacifism over Warden. You don't have any removal.
P3, P2: Flail over Mind Control. Flail is a no pass card IMO. A lot less enchant/articat hate being main decked and Flail basically makes doods unblockable. Flail combined with the wall (or two non-tapping attackers you alread have) equals bad times for your opponent.
P3, P3: Ponder over ranodom flying man. You said earlier in this article that "the more you touch your deck, the more you win" then you take Flying Man over Ponder because "... I don't want to have too many manipulation."
P3, P4: Looter over Drake. You already have a bunch of fliers. This one is arguable.
P3, P6: EFREET!!! Get that thing outta here!
P3, P10: You must really hate Looters.
I'm torn about switching to Green with Ant Queen P2, P1. I know what you're saying about Ant Queen being a bomb, but you weren't exaclty being passed copious amounts of Green in P1 (go look) so you were sure to get screwed in P3. I think P2 might be too late to make a whole color switch, even for a bomb like that (situational of course, like if you saw tons of Green coming your way in P1).
Thank you for the time for writing this up. I think these are great learning experiences for everyone.
P1, P11, I probably would have taken the Naturalize over the Oakenform. You said it your self about 2 for 1. I find Oakenform is best on Black doods who can't be Doom Bladed (or doods with Regen, of course). I've been beaten down by 5/5 "can only be blocked by Black doods" guy again and again. So hard do deal with... And, granted, yes, you ended up with 2(!) Acid Slimes so Naturalize woudl have been redundant. Still...
P2, P5, I would have taken the Divination.
P2, P11, I probably would have taken Negate. Talk about a card that stops bombs: Overrun, Fireball and Earthquake kneel before Negate.
P3, P3 - Whispersilk cloak. EVERY TIME. I like doods who swing in w/o oppostion.
P3, P5, Gorgon Flail does not get passed. You now know the power of Gorgon Flail and Gob Art (though I prefer it on Pyromancer). MONDO COMBO!!!1!!11 Gorgon Flail also works well with Unicorns....
P3, P11, given my earlier picks, I would have taken the Bramble Creeper vs. Mind Rot.
With my picks (Butterfly Effect excluded) you would have had 2 less critters, but I think better threats in the Flail and Cloak.
Oh, and with Rampant Growth and Borderland Ranger in main deck, I also would have replaced an Island and Forest with 2 Mountains and main decked Fireball.
M10 is very odd. I find it's a little more difficult to draft than 10E was.
p1p1: magebane armor should be considered (no color req and stops all ground aggro)
p1p4: sleep will simply win games while wall of frost is not much better than the 0/5 wall that's a 14th pick
p2p5: I personally would take righteousness as it's a solid combat trick
p2p6: safe passage is a very nice combat trick as well
p3p1: pacifism is better imo
p3p3: palace guard is decent (4 toughness will hold the ground since most of your fliers are x/2 and your creature curve seems to start at 3cc)
p3p6: excommunicate works well in your deck to delay early aggro b/c of your curve
I was suprised by whispersilk cloak over capricous efreet, the efreet seems like a massive bomb. Then again, I'm terrible at drafting do perhaps the cloak was worth it.
Great idea! My gut reaction was 'too few cards', but your walkthrough of the available goodies swung me round. So many good toys there, and I concur with the others - blue looks pretty exceptional (but you make a good case for all colours). Looks like a fun format, I'd play it.
I just made a Guile deck with 12 free counters (daze, pact and FOW). So far I've played 3 games and had no quitters, I've been advertising my games as 'Warning:horrendously unfun deck' which is why 2 of my games were fully kitted out affinity and hermit druid combo, the deck is really fun though it has problems with really fast aggro.
I wish guile didn't have 6 power, you only get a couple of turns before it beats down for the win.
Thanks for the comments. I've actually played this deck quite a bit lately, and haven't had a single concession to counters, weirdly. It's happened in the past with other decks, but I'd assumed people had got more used to the idea. Maybe I've just been lucky.
My own stance is that counters are fine in casual, and I'll play them whenever they fit my deck. But this is a well-trodden and spiky debate, so I'll say no more here.
@ Paul: I love Draining Whelk, but baulked at the prospect of yet another high cc card in my deck. Crystal Shard, Darksteel Ingot and the ever beautiful Mystic Snake are great ideas though.
@Shardfenix: I wanted the Pasture to have something to do with my mana when I didn't need to counter anything. It also enabled me to use more mana in the late game (ie. casting Arcanis and Guile in the same turn), knowing that I had a few goats to sac if I needed to cast a large Broken Ambitions on my opponent's turn. Despite all my card draw I rarely had a full hand, so Reliquary Tower probably wouldn't have added much.
@RagMan17: Great to hear you tried the deck out! Although sorry to hear you've had lots of quitters. Gargoyle Castles and Jace are good additions. Good luck finding some decent opponents if you try it again.
Seems like a reasonable Idea and it was fun to read about, blue looks really strong partly for the wealth of strong counterspells and partially for the lack of disruption that normally bothers control players. UW seems like it would be powerful, even without wrath.
Looks like it was a blast. Id have been glad to join if I had the packs (which I didn't but :)) and knew about it (also which I didn't since nothing intriguing like that arrived in my in box). By mass email you mean to the regular writers then?
I considered B/W as well but I think the white cards are a little harder to support with such heavy black emphasis. Veteran armorsmith isn't likely coming down on turn 2 and I figured solid mana and the Behemoth and Troll is probably superior to shaky mana and the armorsmiths, serra angel, pacifism and blinding mage.
Green also offers some nice sideboard options with windstorm and the oryx.
I haven't had much success with rise from the grave so far. It is great when you grab a bomb with it but really underwhelming when you're rezzing 3 or 4 drop creatures. I've relegated them to sideboard status in my sealed/drafts so far and usually bring them in if myself and/or my opponent have heavy hitters at the top of the curve.
1 Cudgel Troll
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Kalonian Behemoth
1 Mist Leopard
2 Stampeding Rhino
1 Giant Growth
1 Nature's Spiral
1 Rampant Growth
1 Awakener Druid
2 Dread Warlock
1 Drudge Skeletons
1 Gravedigger
1 Looming Shade
1 Royal Assassin
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Wall of Bone
1 Consume Spirit
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Weakness
1 Gorgon Flail
10 Swamp
6 Forest
1 Terramorphic Expanse
I do like Rise from the Grave a whole lot, but Magebane Armor + Earthquake is a MONDO COMBO!!!1!
And you already know about your own Doom Blade shenanigans... however, it seems the Giant worked out for you in the end.
Good stuff. Thanks for the report.
Because P3K was based on Chinese mythology, and Chinese dragons don't fly. P3K had no flying at all, actually. There was a mechanic called Horsemanship that worked the same as flying, instead.
Some folks just don't have the ability to get out and play when they would like, when the local stores is having a tourney, etc... MTGO fits the bill nicely for that. Plus, yes, drafting at 02:00 AM is nice once in a while...
I thought you could only redeem cards if you got the complete set...so they remain pictures on the internet until you get all of said pictures...
That's funny, and also true. Guile is such a fun card to resolve you almost wish it wasn't such an efficient beater, so you've got more time to sit back and enjoy it. All in all, it's the best bargain rare I can think of right now ($0.10 from MTGO Traders at the time of writing).
You took a sideboard card as your first pick, ignoring superior commons.
And then, this in P2P5:
"Let me talk a little about Cancel. It's nothing compared to Counterspell, but it's the best we're getting in a while. There is not much else in this pack, except maybe Righteousness as a combat trick."
Yeah, there's not much else in there. EXCEPT FOR THE BEST CARD BY FAR IN THE PACK -- oh and it's in your colors too. Looters dig for bombs, which you have plenty of at this point already. Are you not a fan of finding your 4/4 flyers?
hrmmm how come zodiac dragon doesn't fly?
The M2010 sealed deck just isnt very good no matter where you cut it. I probably end up BW but the mana is pretty bad with Veteran Armorsmiths, Dread Warlocks, Royal Assasin, and Serra Angel. Just that the combo of a tapper and Royal Assasin seems pretty good and you have a couple of finishers that could come out relatively early with a good draw.
Playables in those colors:
1 Blinding Mage
1 Razorfoot Griffin
1 Serra Angel
1 Silvercoat Lion
2 Soul Warden
1 Undead Slayer
2 Veteran Armorsmith
1 Pacifism
1 Safe Passage
1 Solemn Offering
2 Dread Warlock
1 Gravedigger
1 Looming Shade
1 Royal Assassin
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Zombie Goliath
1 Consume Spirit
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Mind Rot
1 Mind Shatter
2 Rise from the Grave
1 Weakness
Then I'd cut down to 23 cards and run 16 land and the Expanse. Probably focus on Black so that the Dread Warlocks come out early and the Consume Spirit and Looming Shade get lots of love.
Still though, in this bomb driven format you get the shaft with this pool. Just not good enough.
-M
Pack 2, Pick 5: MERFOLK LOOTER
Pack 3, Pick 10: MERFOLK LOOTER
If there was a double caps-lock button, I'd have used it back there. Merfolk Looter is nuts in limited, absolutely nuts. When it comes down on turn 2, they either waste a removal spell (yay), or they don't and you win due to massive card advantage. It lets you turn all late game lands/chaff into more gas. Can't say enough about them honestly.
After reading the other draft reports from this pod, it's funny to see the amazing Green deck you were sent Pack 2. Especially when your P2, P1 was Master of the Wild Hunt.
I argued in Jamurra's report that grabbing the Ant Queen in Pack 2 and totally switching colors based on that bomb would probably not have worked out well. However, it worked out just fine for you when you ripped Master in P2, P1, followed by Ant Queen and the rest of Pack 2. You made the right calls with the Flail and the Cloak. They are tremendous in limited. Though, the Efreet would have been nice, too...
p1, p1 Magebane armor. Make doods harder to kill and no color requirement in first pack, letting you see what is passed in 2nd pack to start real drafting.
p1, p2 is arguable for me. Toss up between Armored Assencion and Phantom Warrior. Armored Assencion ask for a 2 for 1 from your opponent, but it can be good.
p1, p4: Sleep over Wall. Wall is fine in the pack if Sleep was absent.
P2, P5: Righteousness is the right call. You have a Wall and two non-tapping attackers (that fly none-the-less!). Righteousness is a great battle trick. Would also be nice if/when you pick up a Palace Guard...
P3, P1: Pacifism over Warden. You don't have any removal.
P3, P2: Flail over Mind Control. Flail is a no pass card IMO. A lot less enchant/articat hate being main decked and Flail basically makes doods unblockable. Flail combined with the wall (or two non-tapping attackers you alread have) equals bad times for your opponent.
P3, P3: Ponder over ranodom flying man. You said earlier in this article that "the more you touch your deck, the more you win" then you take Flying Man over Ponder because "... I don't want to have too many manipulation."
P3, P4: Looter over Drake. You already have a bunch of fliers. This one is arguable.
P3, P6: EFREET!!! Get that thing outta here!
P3, P10: You must really hate Looters.
I'm torn about switching to Green with Ant Queen P2, P1. I know what you're saying about Ant Queen being a bomb, but you weren't exaclty being passed copious amounts of Green in P1 (go look) so you were sure to get screwed in P3. I think P2 might be too late to make a whole color switch, even for a bomb like that (situational of course, like if you saw tons of Green coming your way in P1).
Thank you for the time for writing this up. I think these are great learning experiences for everyone.
I would have picked a few things differently.
P1, P11, I probably would have taken the Naturalize over the Oakenform. You said it your self about 2 for 1. I find Oakenform is best on Black doods who can't be Doom Bladed (or doods with Regen, of course). I've been beaten down by 5/5 "can only be blocked by Black doods" guy again and again. So hard do deal with... And, granted, yes, you ended up with 2(!) Acid Slimes so Naturalize woudl have been redundant. Still...
P2, P5, I would have taken the Divination.
P2, P11, I probably would have taken Negate. Talk about a card that stops bombs: Overrun, Fireball and Earthquake kneel before Negate.
P3, P3 - Whispersilk cloak. EVERY TIME. I like doods who swing in w/o oppostion.
P3, P5, Gorgon Flail does not get passed. You now know the power of Gorgon Flail and Gob Art (though I prefer it on Pyromancer). MONDO COMBO!!!1!!11 Gorgon Flail also works well with Unicorns....
P3, P11, given my earlier picks, I would have taken the Bramble Creeper vs. Mind Rot.
With my picks (Butterfly Effect excluded) you would have had 2 less critters, but I think better threats in the Flail and Cloak.
Oh, and with Rampant Growth and Borderland Ranger in main deck, I also would have replaced an Island and Forest with 2 Mountains and main decked Fireball.
M10 is very odd. I find it's a little more difficult to draft than 10E was.
Good luck!
p1p1: magebane armor should be considered (no color req and stops all ground aggro)
p1p4: sleep will simply win games while wall of frost is not much better than the 0/5 wall that's a 14th pick
p2p5: I personally would take righteousness as it's a solid combat trick
p2p6: safe passage is a very nice combat trick as well
p3p1: pacifism is better imo
p3p3: palace guard is decent (4 toughness will hold the ground since most of your fliers are x/2 and your creature curve seems to start at 3cc)
p3p6: excommunicate works well in your deck to delay early aggro b/c of your curve
Balance for the mono-white deck, along with Z-orb. Good thing Balance is coming out int he FTV: Exiled box...
Ah, to be in the 1990's again.... good times, good times.
Wow... that's awfully late to grab a pack 2 ant queen.. I want to draft in your playgroup.
I was suprised by whispersilk cloak over capricous efreet, the efreet seems like a massive bomb. Then again, I'm terrible at drafting do perhaps the cloak was worth it.
Great idea! My gut reaction was 'too few cards', but your walkthrough of the available goodies swung me round. So many good toys there, and I concur with the others - blue looks pretty exceptional (but you make a good case for all colours). Looks like a fun format, I'd play it.
I just made a Guile deck with 12 free counters (daze, pact and FOW). So far I've played 3 games and had no quitters, I've been advertising my games as 'Warning:horrendously unfun deck' which is why 2 of my games were fully kitted out affinity and hermit druid combo, the deck is really fun though it has problems with really fast aggro.
I wish guile didn't have 6 power, you only get a couple of turns before it beats down for the win.
Thanks for the comments. I've actually played this deck quite a bit lately, and haven't had a single concession to counters, weirdly. It's happened in the past with other decks, but I'd assumed people had got more used to the idea. Maybe I've just been lucky.
My own stance is that counters are fine in casual, and I'll play them whenever they fit my deck. But this is a well-trodden and spiky debate, so I'll say no more here.
@ Paul: I love Draining Whelk, but baulked at the prospect of yet another high cc card in my deck. Crystal Shard, Darksteel Ingot and the ever beautiful Mystic Snake are great ideas though.
@Shardfenix: I wanted the Pasture to have something to do with my mana when I didn't need to counter anything. It also enabled me to use more mana in the late game (ie. casting Arcanis and Guile in the same turn), knowing that I had a few goats to sac if I needed to cast a large Broken Ambitions on my opponent's turn. Despite all my card draw I rarely had a full hand, so Reliquary Tower probably wouldn't have added much.
@RagMan17: Great to hear you tried the deck out! Although sorry to hear you've had lots of quitters. Gargoyle Castles and Jace are good additions. Good luck finding some decent opponents if you try it again.
Great idea and it was very interesting to see multiple takes on the same draft.
Seems like a reasonable Idea and it was fun to read about, blue looks really strong partly for the wealth of strong counterspells and partially for the lack of disruption that normally bothers control players. UW seems like it would be powerful, even without wrath.
Looks like it was a blast. Id have been glad to join if I had the packs (which I didn't but :)) and knew about it (also which I didn't since nothing intriguing like that arrived in my in box). By mass email you mean to the regular writers then?
Why on earth would you draft Assassinate over Sleep? Sleep is ABSURD!
i finished my draft recap on tuesday.