So, this deck ended up 1-2ing but I made some hideous mistakes in deckbuilding and a couple of epic misplays in R3 including not knowing how to play fireball... and attacking my sacred wolf into a circle of flame. Both of which cost me games against a not very good player and not very good deck. But then again... I can't really consider myself a good player for that day.
I don't think playing red was worth it, and I don't think playing trip companions was a good idea. Probably should have brought in the croc for fireball and kept my manabase more consistent. I was in the mindset of "always play fireball" but I think it was too greedy here.
LISTEN ALONG WITH ZACH:
Revival by Gillian Welch
The original Broadway cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (yes this felt a little weird to draft to...)
Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull - I have yet to get fully into Jethro Tull, though my Mom has his (nearly) complete discography. This is, however the one album that I know fairly well and I like it a lot.
American Beauty by Grateful Dead
Here are my thoughts as I go through. I'm certainly no all-star, so take this with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteP1P3: Belltower Sphinx over Phantasmal Bear is not close at all, I think you made the right choice there.
P1P4: I wouldn't be too worried about jumping into black so early, since it doesn't go particularly well with white, and there are still reasonable choices in your colours. I think I might go with Crown of Empires here, but what the hell do I know, maybe you should have just gone with Gravedigger and prepared to abandon white.
P1P5: To my mind, Benalish Veteran is just much much better than Elite Vanguard. The ability to eat rather than trade with a one or two power guy is very good, since those are so important in this set. Elite Vanguard is fine, but I think the first few times I am confronted with this choice I'm taking the Veteran.
P1P6: I like Goblin Piker! I might be inclined to take that in the off-chance I end up white/red, just because I hope to never be playing a Siege Mastodon. Maybe I'm just undervaluing that? I dunno, if you end up blue/white you should have plenty of five-drop flyers (you already have one at this point); if you end up white/green then almost anything in green is better than this, and if you end up white/red then the piker is just better.
P1P7: Yeesh, I would hate this pick, simply because white/green seems so terrible, but there's no way you can pass a seventh pick Overrun. Given that you only have three reasonable white cards, I would be looking to drop white altogether from this point and splash the Pacifism.
P1P8: ...nevermind, I'd just take the Stave Off. I take Stave Off as a reasonable signal that white might be open, at least for one to two players ahead of you.
P1P9: No way, Stave Off is awesome! Use it as a combat trick, it counters removal, destroys auras at instant speed for massive blowouts, gets through the last damage... I would definitely play the first three Staves Off I pick up (although I never seem to pick them up at all, since I guess other people value them even more highly than I do?)
P1P11: Titanic Growth not close.
P1P12: Remember you have Overrun. Dudes are A LOT better with Overrun, and Demystify isn't even a particularly good sideboard card (the second Stave Off does basically the same job plus a whole lot more).
P1P13: ...You were just talking about sideboard options! Plummet is sweet, although maybe I just hate Auramancer. It just never seems to do anything, unless you have a bunch of auras or your auras are all fragile, like Ice Cage.
P2P2: Whatever the pick is here, it's not Arbalest Elite. I'd go for the Shock and be on the lookout for Rampant Growths, but Spider seems reasonable for someone less greedy than myself.
ReplyDeleteP2P4: Given the way the last few packs have looked I would look at taking the Blood Ogre and moving as much as possible out of white, just splashing the really good stuff. I don't have your picks in front of me though so maybe you just had too much invested in white at this point.
P2P9: At this point I'd take the dual land, although maybe it's not worth it if you're not splashing for Shock too.
P3P1: I would slam the Incinerate here. Am I just super greedy?
ReplyDeleteP3P3: I think the Alabaster Mage might be better for you than Assault Griffin here, but really I like either Birds or Lurking Crocodile much better. You want to be playing green, and you're clearly splashing red, which means you want to be minimising white as much as possible. I think this pick is close enough that you should just go with a green card.
P3P6: No way, Overrun! Your entire draft strategy has been to craft your deck around that one card; of course you want to pick up a second if someone is dumb enough to give you the opportunity! Note that again this pick puts you further into white, which is a place you do not want to be.
P3P7: With four griffins this is probably the right choice, but I would be slamming the Growth and being happy about it.
P3P12: I'd definitely play Lurking Crocodile over Auramancer, for the reasons above. Also it is a better card in every conceivable way.
P1P7 - Yeah, I was little harsh on the piker... but I think the Mastadon is OK. I wasn't thinking about my color combinations, but I think the mastadon is OK in WB because you want to be attacking with your fliers and holding the ground with the mastadon. Are there other 5 drop fliers besides the Chasm Drake? Mastadon will come later so Piker would not have been a bad pick here.
ReplyDeleteP2P4 - I think you're right. In my head I was thinking about how well Timely went with overrun and I was too committed to that ideal than letting the packs sway me into red.
P2P9 - sometimes I let those dual lands get overlooked even when they are totally the pick. Gotta work on that in draft. Thanks for the tip.
P3P3 - good thoughts.
P3P6 - Oh. Good point. I was thinking too much about the chance of having 2 overruns in my opening hand rather than the upside of drawing it twice as often. Whoops.
P3P12 - in retrospect I agree.
Thanks for the comments.
For five-drop flyers in blue/white, there's also Peregrine Griffin and Serra Angel, not to mention rares like Djinn of Wishes and Archon of Justice.
ReplyDelete