Chris's PTQ Sealed Pool

So this is a LR listener who went to a PTQ and is wanting help on his sealed pool.

I have the pool as a .dek file, so go ahead and download it... load it into your MTGO and then take a screenshot and post it in the comments :).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ore21j

Acidrakken's RTR Draft #3

Another week, another draft.  This time I listened to the signals and

did what I should have done last time.  Also, having an absolutely
absurd pack 3 was quite helpful.

As far as the actual games went, I probably need to slow down a
little.  Biggest sin I committed a few times was forgetting to
activate Lobber Crew.  I find myself already playing through the next
turn in my head and forget to activate it on villain's end step.
Also, I punted a play in Match 1, could have killed a turn earlier,
but tried to get too clever with Voidwielder.  Opponent was at 4 life
with one untapped blocker.  I had RM guildmage, Arrested; also a
Rakdos Cackler with 3 counters on it.  In retrospect, I should have
just VWed the blocker and swung, but I decided to instead pull the
guildmage out from under the Arrest.  Didn't cost me the game, but it
was a bad play.
Otherwise, ran pretty good - didn't flood out at all this time.

Round 1, vs Azorius touching Red.
Guy played fine, but I just had the answers.  Relatively proud of
myself for playing around the guy's Explosive Impact.  He repeatedly
swung into my Desecration Demon with a couple of 1/X flyers.  So,
eventually demon just took over the games.

Round 2, Golgari
Didn't see enough of this guy's play to say a lot - he was a fellow
L_R clan member though.  I mainly just powered through his stuff and
had the right proportions of threats and removal to make it happen.

Round 3, kinda nervous going into R3, was either going to be a
Selesnya deck or an Izzet one, as that was the other matchup on the
top of the bracket in R2.  Ended up playing against the Izzet deck,
and took it down 2-1.  This is where I punted a couple of lobber crew
activations, but thankfully it wasn't so close that those two points
of damage would have been super relevant.

Acidrakken's RTR Draft #2

A draft where I did badly, and not sure if the deck I drafted was just

bad, or if I should have listened harder to the signals.  Just tired
of being Rakdos, so I tried forcing something else.

First round, got crushed by the Selesnya/blue deck that eventually won
the whole thing.

Second Round, mirror against Golgari with enough splashed white to
kind of ruin everything for me.  Every time I got a guy decent, he'd
get launch partied, or Trostani's Judgment, or Arrest.

Third Round got the bye.  Moral of the story is to always stick around
in the Swiss, you might be giving up a free pack if you don't.

Doesn't help that I ended every game with 10+ lands in some
combination of the hand and battlefield.  Really starting to think 17
lands is just too many.  Or do I really need to mull hands that have 4
lands, 2 drop, 3 drop, 4 drop?

Acidrakken's RTR Draft #1

  Pack 1 pick 1:

  My Pick:

See the rest after the jump!

Zvazda's RTR Draft #1

Hey Guys.  The blog has been pretty quiet as of late for a few reasons.  On my end of things I've been using the Beta client, so I haven't gotten draft logs to upload to raredraft.

I also haven't had Marshall pimp the blog since RTR came out (mostly because they've been recording on Wednesdays and I normally would remind him on Thursdays).

Anyway, I did a draft in the old client and so I uploaded it.  It was a very interesting draft and I'd love to hear thoughts on it.

Deck Construction:

Questions:

1. Is it worth splashing for blue?
2.  If it is, do you play rogues passage (like a greedy bastard)?
3.  Do you play Caracal, Avenging Arrow or Seller of Songbirds?
4.  If so, which 4 drop do you remove?

Thanks guys.  And keep those drafts coming.  I'm still here, even though I've been BETA drafting and not posting any :):).

-Z

Asturiel's M13 Drafts #3-5

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3f3bt

 http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3f2k4

 http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3evmb

Three drafts I did at the games club at school. Would like thoughts on these drafts, first one was a mess but I won so things work out? :P Also I had two or three more drafts but no draft recorder for v4 :(

For the first one how would you have maneuvered that draft? Because I don't think I got many good signals and had to work with what I got basically.

For the second one I believe I made the right calls, any opinions?

For the third I think green was a better idea but my friend talked me into Muckwader, thoughts?

Zvazda's M13 draft #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3dlbf

Do you splash?  If you do are you playing rummaging goblin over bond beetle?

I ended up 1-2ing, which I was very disappointed in.  I've been having a lot of problems with this format where I keep mulliganing a lot, which isn't serving me, or I don't draw well.

If anyone has any advice for facing down Talrand (who I faced in R2) I would love to hear it.  Talrand keeps following me around and then my removal always gets negated and my creatures to kill her always get essence scattered.  I'm not sure how to beat Talrand!

Anyway, I've been having not a ton of luck in M13 and I'm hoping you guys can get me back on the right track.

cjm_mtgo's AVR draft #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3djrt


As I put in the RareDraft description, I'm trying to separate out draft pick errors versus poor play to figure out which part I need to work on most.  If your users can help me analyze the draft portion, that will help greatly.

I went 1-2; won the 1st round, lost the 2nd round to a fast W/R deck (he ended up winning the tourney), and lost the 3rd round to another W/R deck.  The 3rd round was closer.  I felt I played very tight, and my opponent misplayed a lot (wasn't playing aggressively even though he had the advantage).  I stabilized at 1 life in game 2, using Captain of the Mist primarily to keep his attackers tapped down for 5+ turns.  I could have won but neglected to attack with one of my creatures and lost (major punt).  I always ended up siding out the Vorstclaw for my second Abundant Growth.  In most of the games, I felt mana flooded, so in the 3rd round I cut down to 16 lands.

Asturiel's M13 #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3cnep


Another draft

This one I was actually able to win some games. Pretty uninteresting except for one in which I delt 20 damage with 2 cards. Krenkos Command and Volanic Geyser. Guess how much each dealt!

Asturiel's M13 Draft #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3coxv


Heres a pic of the deck to actually go with it :P

I thought this deck was sweet, and I felt like I was in all the games I was playing, which either means that I just came short, the deck wasn't as good as I thought, or I screwed up enough to lose those. I'm not certain what it was but I felt like I could have 3-0d with this deck.

Any thoughts?

Lobster667's M13 #1

Hey guys, guess who's back and ready with his first (ever) M13 draft? It's-a me!

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3co5u


... There are several interesting decisions in this draft, and I'd be glad to hear comments on any of the picks, but I am particularly interested in your opinions on the following...
P1P1: Is the Crusader the right card to kick off with?
P1P2: ... And how do you follow up that pick here?
P1P6: Servant or Duty-Bound?
P3P1: Is the Ring the right pick here? It feels powerful, but perhaps I am being a bit ROTty.
P3P2: Do I just take the Guardians and forget the Gorgon? Or it is powerful enough to pick up here?

I ended up building the deck as follows:

A few cards I would like to touch upon; The second Crippling Blight feels like it should be in the maindeck, but I ended up cutting it for creature count concerns. The Healer should probably be in there, but I felt like she was too far along the curve and that she would be unexciting as a 4-mana 2/3. In the games where she was boarded in, though, she did a ton of work.
I probably should have cut the Vampire, even if she is good with triple Rats, and I am actually considering whether keeping in the Sign in Blood - which was one of the only ways I could gain card advantage - was right. I boarded it out a few games.

The cards that impressed me the most were the Bats and the Ring - I never got to play the Gorgon - and to a lesser extent, the Crusader and the Blight(s). On the other hand, Bloodthrone Vampire underperformed and was cut in boarding in some matches.

My first match was against an aggressive W/R deck; In game 1, he went to 4 cards to my 6, going first, but actually managed to pressure me after playing a Bladetusk Boar I could not remove and then eating two creatures with a single Flames of the Firebrand. I kept up with him by playing a couple of Bloodhunter Bats, which got him low enough to be Essence Drained out later. He went first again in game two, where we both kept our starting seven - I had boarded out my Bloodthrone Vampire for a second Blight since he played a lot of weenie creatures and token generators. Despite that, I had no answer for his Goblin Looter which he got a ton of value out of, but I managed to win with my Ring of Xathrid. He played the Mindclaw Shaman I saw in the draft when I was holding one card - Pacifism, which I had been holding on to and finally got to use on a Serra Angel that would otherwise have spelled trouble.

In my second match, I faced a B/R deck that seemed pretty aggressive. In the first game, he started out with a Duty-Bound Dead and played a pumped Crimson Muckwader which put a lot of pressure on me, attacking for 4 on turn 3. We both played out a Liliana's Shade, and I managed to turn the game by casting Crippling Blight on his Shade, which he erroneously (since it cannot block) pumped once, bringing him below regen mana for his Muckwader which I had saved an Essence Drain I only just had mana to play for. After that, I overwhelmed him. In game two, he mulled to six and put down Fervor on turn three, so I had a few cards more than him, and I had the Pacifism for his Turn 2 Muckwader this time. On turn 4 (after I had put down a Servant of Nefarox to pressure him instead of a Scorpion since he had no creatures), he played a Knight of Infamy and a Walking Corpse and attacked in only with the knight, which I happily traded with (I don't think he had considered I would block even though Servant is a great blocker) since it had protection from some of my deck and I was ahead on cards. I got to deploy my Ring of Xathrid and ground him out in a game he could not turn around.

The third match started out really bad; I mulled to a four-card hand of three lands (two Swamps and a Plains) and an Aven Squire, but my opponent played a Talrand's Invocation and followed it up with a Griffin Protector, and though I could stymie the bleed a bit with a Cower in Fear, I really did not have a chance in that game. He showed me Intrepid Hero, so I boarded in a second Blight - but misboarded by bringing out Sign in Blood (which I'd need against his blue CA) instead of the Vampire by accident. I still won game two by racing two Welkin Terns with my boarded-in Healer of the Pride and a couple of Bats. Game three was super-tight, again a race against two Terns but this time with a blue Ring they could use. I had an Essence Drain that I could have killed one of them with (it was 4/3), but he moved the ring from it and onto the other one, and I talked myself into saving it and doing something else with my mana, leaving up the option to try and burn him out. His Intrepid Hero made my Bloodthrone Vampire and my Pump spell a lot worse, but I declined to burn it, too, and ended up losing my Essence Drain to a really well-played Clone that he made ETB as a copy of my Rats to take my only card which would have otherwise let me burn him out after my next attack. I topdecked a Battleflight Eagle and went into the tank, but had no winning attack as far as I could see. I still tried, but an Intrepid Hero stopped my attack short by killing a "jumped" Healer of the Pride and he chumped my Vampire, surviving at something like 4 life and swinging back for the win. It was an exilerating game and I congratulated him on the victory and his great play - not a bad start for this format!

I'm looking forward to your feedback, guys! Cheers, Lobster667.

Deranged Hermit's AVR #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3af5j


One word pretty much sums up this draft.... Conjurer's Closet. Okay, so that's two words, but one card that when paired successfully with a second relevant card, creates pure value. How about this line of play... turn 4 Mist Raven into turn 5 closet into perpetual vigilance/bounce.

I like it.

It won me two games on that line alone. But it was the overall power in the air that piloted this deck to a split in the finals.

Sjuppi's Cube Draft #1

Hi!

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3bon5#all

So this was my second cube draft with the MTGO cube, and I'm wondering
what you think.

P1P1: I was considering Ajani, but I've never played with him. I felt
that Coalition Relic would keep me open, and would be good in any
deck.

P1P2: Here I probably should have taken the Coldsteel heart. It's not
as powerful as the Oracle, but it keeps me open. Any way, it turned
out OK since I ended up with a ramp deck.

P1P4: I'm not sure how to evaluate lads this early in the draft. They
are high pick, and Tropical Island is a premium land. I went with the
Plow Under any way, also over Control Magic, but this pick could have
gone in any direction.

P1P9: Here I think I made a mistake, I think Willbender is just better
than Derange Hermit, and I did not even play it. But I wanted
something to ramp into, and the Hermit was the first I picked up.

P2P4: This one was a hard pick. I ended up taking a Cultivate over
Balance and Strip Mine, witch I regretted.Both Strip Mine and Balance
is so good cards, and I don't think it's correct to pass them. Any
ways, they both tabled, and I ended up taking Strip Mine.

P2P6: This pick was between Nobel Hierarch and Breeding Pool. Paralax
Wave was also under consideration.

P2P7: I picked up the Drogskol Reaver, but it should probably just
have been the Polluted Delta or Sorin.

P2P9: Is Edric good? I wanted to take him, but I went whit the safe
pick with a card I've played with before.

P3P7: I probably should have taken the elf over Explore, due to both
Cradle and Natural Order.

I ended up playing this list:

Taiga
Verdant Catacombs
Tropical Island
Savannah
Rootbound Crag
Strip Mine
Gaea's Cradle
Flooded Strand
4 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Plains
1 Island

Llanowar Elves
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Enclave Cryptologist
Noble Hierarch
Tarmogoyf
Palladium Myr
Oracle of Mul Daya
Obstinate Baloth
Broodmate Dragon
Woodfall Primus
Terastodon

Grim Monolith
Explore
Coalition Relic
Cultivate
Bant Charm
Natural Order
Parallax Wave
Faith's Fetters
Garruk Wildspeaker
Venser, the Sojourner
Mirari's Wake
Plow Under
Devil's Play


Sideboard:
Mystic Snake
Deranged Hermit
Trygon Predator
Genju of the Spires
Channel
Drogskol Reaver
Deep Analysis
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Worn Powerstone
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Crucible of Worlds
Krosan Grip
Rishadan Port


Some changes I would have made to the main deck:

Out:
Mirari's Wake
Enclave Cryptologist

In:
Channel
Trygon Predator

What do you think?

Krbmeister's AVR draft #4

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3b6wg

P1P2: After first picking Wolfir Silverheart, is the next pick automatically Triumph of Ferocity? I think I death wind pick 2 enough to be looking at black? How do you order this pack? I think the safest thing is Borderland Ranger early in case I need some help with mana, and it also makes it easy to play the Silverheart.

P1P3: Is Riders good enough here? I haven’t picked a second color yet but I’m hesitant to try GW. I take Falkenrath Exterminator here as a 2 drop that demands action if played early.  GR isn’t the worst right?

P1P5: I pretty much take Nightshade Peddler to hopefully pair with Falkenrath Exterminator. Even without that crazy combo, this card can be aggressive early or defensive late. But there's a ton of great black cards here. Are any of them worth cutting red and looking GB?

P2P4: Riot Ringleader vs Howlgeist. I don’t have many humans but I already have a couple big creatures. I think if I needed a curve topper I would have taken the Howlgeist but I’d rather have the 3cc riot ringleader here.

P2P7: Kessig Malcontents: In the human deck I’d easily Kessig Malcontents but I feel like Fervent Cathar could put some nasty beatings down especially when you’re looking to sneak in with the exterminator or something of the sort. I’m pretty happy with the Cathar here.

P3P1: Riders of Galvony #2! I think even if someone told me I’d see two riders in this draft I still wouldn’t have picked them, even though I like the card. I still don’t have that many humans anyway. For me it was between Kruin Striker and guise of fire. I really like the trample potential and I’m playing a pretty creature heavy strategy so I think it’s the right way to go.

P3P2: Very similar to P1P2, but now I think Triumph is worthwhile.  Not enough humans to make Vigilante Justice great, though another Borderland Ranger is tempting. I’m hoping to see another one.

P3P3: Pillar of Flame vs. Havengul Vampire. Pillar may be premium removal in this set but Havengul is a plan. Playing creature heavy I see myself trading enough for him to grow quickly. Also I have yet to pick a 4 drop. He’ll work.

P3P5: Nettle swine here because I’d like more 4 drops and Nettle Swine is safer from the weak removal in the set and can trade up. Hanweir Lancer is quite tempting though.

Deck Construction:

I feel like I ended up with a pretty aggressive deck with a couple nice combos and a decent curve topped out well. I can either play aggressive with the three riot ringleaders and 10 humans, or sit back and wait to hit some of my bigger cards. Looking back I think I’d take out the Wildwood Geist for a second Pathbreaker Wurm. I liked my sideboard too (mostly shown on the right of the sideboard).  If I was playing someone aggressive I’d throw in the devil. I was interested to try lair Delve and I think it’s decent for a creature heavy deck. I’d take it out if I needed answers to flying creatures. Against a slower deck I’d throw the Pathbreaker Wurm in with the Geist. 2 Borderland Rangers worked great, I may have been happy with a third. Three Riot Ringleaders did work.

I posted video of (most) my draft and matches (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBE210D8034EED350). I managed to lose one game. Of particular interest, I’d like some feedback on Match 2 Game 3 (http://youtu.be/jGoccTfBLNI). I messed up the live video so I recorded the replay. Right about 3 minutes is where the interesting choices come up. Looking back I can see some choices I didn’t see. I kept saying I wanted to protect my Havengul Vampire from the Undead Executioner. But having a joint assault in hand was probably all the “protection” I needed. When the Executioner dies, does the vampire get the +1/+1 counter before the -2/-2 from the executioner resolves? Moving on from that, was it fair to protect my second riot ringleader in hopes to attack for an extra 6 points of damage? Had I played the vampire, he wouldn't have had the mana for both deathwind and the devils to block. At 5:50 I think I should have just attacked with everything regardless of what he had in hand. Even if my vampire died I would have hit for 6 putting him to 2 with devils in hand. I feel like that was my biggest mistake. Even after the silly Essence of Harvest play, on my turn I could have attacked with everyone, having the vampire blocked, then get the last two damage in with devil and won.

Who knows how it really all would have turned out? He had some extra cards in hand so he may have had answers the whole time. But I think it’s worthwhile in tricky situations to reevaluate key plays. 

Thanks for all the help everyone!

I started using twitch tv to post videos. The 4 pack sealed is up there in one big video, then the big phantom draft in a bunch of videos, and last is this latest tournament. Feel free to check them out here: http://www.twitch.tv/krbmeister

Krbmeister's AVR Draft #3

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3af5g

This is my first time drafting mono black. I was able to get a ton of removal so I was happy. I typically play a more aggressive style which I think made my deck torn on how to work. There's a great article about the control/aggro mono black deck (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/li/196) which I wish I had thought about more while drafting. Now I know for next time!

I was pretty happy with my deck. Ended up going 1-2 though. I have to credit some of this to miss plays. There were definitely some tricks I missed. M2G3 with a dead heat and I was just one turn too slow.
I didn't see a single butcher's ghoul or blood artist which was a bummer too.

P1P3: Black seems good here. It's not typically my first choice but there are three great cards for black and not much else. What's the pick here?

P1P5: Grave exchange just seems so slow. Is the creature better here?

P2P1: Slaver over Mist Raven? Raven would have definitely pushed me to BU but mono black was just looking so good.

P2P2: Splinters vs Death wind?

P3P1: Amass vs Appetite?

P3P4: What's better? Second Seclusion or Second Taskmaster?

P3P5: Grave Exchange is the better pick here going more control. By this point I shouldn't have been looking for cheap stuff.

Deck Construction: Looking back now, I should have been thinking about more control. Set up board states to effectively utilize my double barter in blood. Take out the hunted ghoul and crypt creeper for the grave exchange and predator's gambit (probably should have had more grave exchanges anyway instead of those cards). Is the moonsilver spear worth playing? It may be slow but 4/4 flying angles are great! I paired this with the bloodflow connoisseur and homicidal seclusion and just got a +1/+1 counter with every attack for a win.

Is it worth it to splash blue? What about with a mist raven too? I just think it's so much nicer to not have to worry about the mana base here.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Oraymw's AVR limited overview part 2

Seriously guys (and gals!), what are you still doing here.  Click the hyperlink already.

Christian's AVR Draft #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3a4d9

Hey all.  Allow me to present my first AVR draft to go public.  Brief background: I've played casually since 4th edition.  I got into limited just as Mirrodin was ending and Champions was coming up (awful time to get started), and really got hooked during Ravnica.  I've screwed around with limited ever since.  This draft was my 5th AVR draft ever, so please be harsh and help me learn.  Now on with the show.

I felt very uncomfortable after the first pack.  I generally avoided black and white since I was getting green aggressive cards, and I'd rather be aggressive than not.  Pack two looked a lot better.  Still, even during deckbuilding, I felt like I had only a mediocre GR aggro deck.  It sported an aggressive curve, but had few big plays outside of the Burn at the Stake and very little reach.

However, the deck performed much better in the games than it looked on paper.  Joint Assault + Hanweir Lancer led to more than one blowout, and I drew Burn at the Stake in 5 of my 6 games.  Three of those went to the dome, and twice I used it as removal to keep a giant flier from murdering me in my sleep.  I drew my low drops early and often and never saw turn 9.  Three of my games ended on turn 5.  The scariest thing I saw on the other side of the board was T3 Triumph of Ferocity, T4 Mist Raven, T5 hardcast Blessings of Nature for a 6/6 flier.  Even still, I had 5 guys on the board and killed him on turn 6 (though I needed the +1/+1 from Snare the Skies to get there).  Ultimately, none of my opponents were doing anything quickly, and I either didn't stumble or recovered quickly.

Despite the success, I have a couple major questions to pose to you all.

1) P1P3: Ranger vs. Wolf vs. Ringleader - I think Ringleader is the most explosive, and Ranger is the safest pick.  I was happy to have the Ranger in my pile as he found my 3rd mountain on more than one occasion, opening a game-ending witchunt.  However, outside of 2RRR rares, is the Ringleader just better?

2) P2P1: Striker vs. Pillar - classic question.  I believe the Striker is the choice, but am open to other ideas.

3) P2P6: Justice vs. Revolt - I believe Revolt was the pick here and I chose wrong.  As much as I like the reach from Justice, what happens if its the last card in your hand?  Eeww.

4) P3P3: Spider vs. Nightshade Ugly Man - I have no idea, though I suspect the answer is "they're both about equal."

5) Deckbuilding: Pathbreaker Wurm - I shouldn't be including him, right?  I loved Joint Assault whenever I drew it, and I think the second one is just going to be better than a 6-drop.  Alternatively, this could have been Scroll of Avacyn for more consistency.

6) Deckbuilding: I kept finding that Mad Prophet was underwhelming in the 4-slot.  Having haste was nice to put another body into the red zone sooner, but whenever I sided in Eaten by Spiders, I usually took the second Prophet out.  Thoughts?

Krbmeister's AVR Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3ac2e

Here's my second AVR draft. It wasn't quite as exciting as the first. I went 0-2 plus a win from a bye. I got sucked into white from my first two picks and never quite found what I wanted the deck to do. Got some of the cool human cards but I think the deck was just split trying to do two different things but wasn't good enough at either one. Definitely could use some help figuring out how to have done this better.

What's better? Lightning prowess or Guies of Fire?

Is Burn at the Stake playable? What about Angel of Jubilation? Defy Death?

Oraymw's AVR Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=3a6nv

I ended up in UG again, no surprises there, but it's definitely where I want to be. The draft portion went really well. I could have picked up some strong Red and White cards in pack 2, but passing them on seemed pretty good, since I really got hooked up in pack three.

My questions are as follows:

1. P1P9 seems like it shouldn't matter much, but I'm interested in what people think about taking the sideboard card over the distraction.
2. Should I have jumped into Red or White in pack two, or was I right to keep passing it down the line?
3. This is the big one. P3P3... do you take Mist Raven or Soul of the Harvest?

As for deckbuilding, I decided to cut the Deathwind / Abundant Growth package. Keeping it would have meant cutting both Spectral Prisons, which just doesn't seem right. However, there are plenty of matchups where Spectral Prison sucks, and in those matchups, I'd be perfectly happy to cut the Prisons for the Death Wind package. I also decided to leave out the Pathbreaker Wurm in favor of a second Nettle Swine.

So, my questions for this one are:

1. Do you put in the Deathwind package, or keep the two Prisons?
2. Do you put in the Wurm over the Nettle Swine?

As for the games:

M1G1 – I go up against BR. He gets down an early Scalding devil, but I rip two Islands in a row, and get down Fettergeist, and then Mist Raven on a Hanweir Lancer. Tandem Lookout + Mist Raven was a pretty severe beating. He managed to get a really big Havengul Vampire after playing Thatcher Revolt.  But Crippling Chill + Trusted Forcemage closed out the game.
M1G2 – T3 Fettergeist, T4 Mist Raven, T5 Druid’s Familiar is a pretty severe beating. I accidentally let my Fettergeist die, but filled my board with Borderland Ranger and Scrapskin Drake. Into the Void + Peel from Reality + Crippling Chill finishes him off.

Match 2 – My opponent was WB. The replays didn’t work here, so I can’t recount the games, but he mulled to five in the first, and I crushed him. Game 2, I got Fettergeist into Trusted Forcemage and crushed him again.

M3 was against clanmate Duerstine. His deck was a pretty good RG build. In the first game, I got off to a pretty good early start, and had him up against the wall, but then he dropped both Ulvenwald Tracker and Zealous Conscripts in the same game for a huge tempo swing. The next turn, he started picking off my guys. I had him at two life with a Scrapskin Drake, but he killed that. I managed to rip a Mist Raven, bounce the Tracker and survive the backswing. He didn’t have removal, so I won.

Game 2 was over pretty quickly. He drew all lands, I drew all creatures and tempo spells.

 Let me know what you think.

Deranged Hermit's AVR #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=39yy8


Just wanted to pass you along this draft from the other night, the only real archetype i've gotten excited about. UR humans splashing white for righteous blow removal. Went 2-1 beating two watered down UG decks, losing to a super efficient BG deck that ended sweeping the draft (i actually gave him his only game loss, i got a cookie for that).


Draft Analysis:

I dont think anyone in this draft knew that they were all supposed to be drafting Green, self included. And in it's wake, 3 of my opponents seemingly were picking up each others scraps in trying to take the open green cards being passed around the table.  Blue was also somewhat heavily drafted, as it should be, and I was left without many of the critical cards you want to see in U... like Into the Void, Crippling Chill, Latch Seeker, Gryph Vanguards, and no multiples of Wingcrafter or Mist Raven.

But what I did end up with was a very aggressive URw humans build (13 humans + thatcher revolt), with several bounce and blink options. Zealous Conscripts was my bomb, and top end of my curve. 11 creatures early in the curve, not includeing a Thatcher Revolt. The interaction between the various blink effects and Kessig Malcontents won me several games. And then in the last game, I was finally able to play my conscripts late in the game (with a very comfortable board position), and just for kicks I flickered the conscripts and the creature i already stole (which permanently steals him, while stealing a 2nd permanent for the turn). Most would say that's a solid turn.

Also, I have become more impressed with the Nephalia Smuggler. He's a poor man's Deadeye Navigator, and he's just pure value. For four mana and a 2nd relavent creature, you have a permanent blocker (which eliminates un-fun things like lifelink), and gets you an additional trigger on your 187 ability. This is awesome with cards like Mist Raven, Malcontents, Gryph Vanguard (if I had any), the Conscripts (if I played him more than once in the draft) and other soulbonding necessities.

I'll be looking to draft U heavy decks in the future, pairing with G or R for all the reason listen above.

Krbmeister's AVR Draft #1

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to MTGO relatively new to drafting. I've been playing off and on since Scars but I've recently had the desire to really study the game and get better. Hopefully watching your drafts will help! After reading Oraymw's article, I went in wanting UG (view the draft here!). The cards I got certainly helped push me that way. I ended up with a deck that was certainly powerful but had it's holes (specifically at 2 cc). But I ended 2-1 including a second round bye.

If you're interested to see the draft in real time or watch the matches, I posted them on youtube. I really like all the videos on MTGOacademy.com and figure I can make similar videos, only theirs are typically much better. Especially since they don't use software that cuts out in the middle of matches. But if you're interested, I'd love to hear what you think of my deck and how I played it. Thanks!

Oraymw is a genius #26.43256

If you care about limited go read his articles.

Lobster667's AVR #2

Lobster's AVR Draft #2!

This was my second online AVR draft (I've done like 8, we'll get to the others later!), and I was still kind of learning the ropes. I know from live play how good cards like Burn at the Stake is, but I obviously let my first picks lock me into a place that wasn't quite optimal to be in. That said, the deck still went 2-1 despite never drawing a Druid's Familiar all tournament (then again I started my very first game with Forest, Island, Plains, Ranger, Paladin, two other spells, so I guess I can't complain, eh?).

Cheers,
Lobster667

Lobster667's AVR Draft #1

Lober's AVR Draft!

This was the first AVR draft I've done online - and it looks like I wasn't the only newcomer in the draft! I mean, Seclusions wheeling? What gives?

I expected this deck to be a pretty solid one, hopefully going 3-0, but I met a really, breathtakingly fast G/R aggro deck in the "finals". He killed me on turn five in game two!

Zvazda's AVR Draft #1

Here's my first AVR draft.  The first pack was a little weird with signals, I think because the power level wasn't there, but I'm interested to see if you think I missed anything.

Deckbuilding:

I should have played moonlight geist.  Probably over wingcrafter?

This deck 3-0'd pretty handily.  The highlight was getting my 3 Sanctifiers in my graveyard, getting them back with my angel... while having my nephalia smuggler on the field.  I got to keep blocking with my sanctifiers... then gain 9 life.

Lemme know where you think I messed everything up.

Oraymw's AVR Draft #1

Oraymw brings us our first Avacyn Restored draft!

AVR draft!

When I first took a look at the full spoiler of Avacyn Restored, I knew in my bones that Blue/Green would be the best color combination. It wasn’t hard to figure out; I’ve aggressively drafted UG in every draft format I have ever played, even when it isn’t good. Every constructed deck that I’ve ever taken to a tourney has been UG. Essentially UG : Oraymw :: RW : Paul Rietzl. Avacyn Restored is sort of a mixed blessing. UG is awesome, but it is also a little bit overdrafted. I’m better at putting together a UG deck than most people, but the pieces might not always show up. But, it is with great pleasure that I get to bring you this draft as my first for the blog during the AVR season.

My main questions on the draft:

1. Do you think it was correct to move into Blue with P1P4 Into the Void?

2. Which is the better pick of P1P8 Flowering Lumberknot vs. Nettle Swine?

3. What do you think of Conjurer’s Closet (P3P5)?

For deck-building, I decided not to go with the Flowering Lumberknot package. Playing it would have probably meant cutting Bladed Bracers, Mass Appeal, and Conjurer’s Closet, but I just don’t think the upside was really there. If I put the package in, then I get one Lumberknot, but I have to have two Escorts. Although they seem fine in this deck, it seems like I can get a little more value out of the Bracers, Appeal, Closet package. The other big debate for me was between Abundant Growth, Fleeting Distraction, and Mass Appeal for the 23rd slot. I like all three cards, and I originally had the Growth, but I felt like the Appeal was going to be 2 or 3 cards often enough with 9 humans that it deserved the nudge here.

So, the main questions from deck-building are as follows:

1. Do you think I should have gone after the Lumberknot deck more aggressively, just like I did, or passed it for the Nettle Swine?

2. Do you put in Mass Appeal for the 23rd card? Or something else?

Onto the Matches!

M1G1 – I went T2 Timberland Guide, T3 Timerland Guide + Bracers, T4 Mist Raven, T5 Geist Trappers, T6 Into the Void. He just played a few black creatures that all got bounced to his hand.

M1G2 – T3 Borderland Ranger, T4 Mist Raven, T5 Conjurer’s Closet. Everything after that was just a formality.

M2G1 – This was probably the best game of all. I play some Wandering Wolves early, and he gets down a Demonic Taskmaster, which I take down with Crippling Chill. I get a down a Timberland Guide, pumping up a wolf, and the next turn I lay out a Crippling Chill on his Taskmaster. He’s forced to Death Wind his own guy, but I’m stuck on three. He gets out a Gang of Devils and a Hound of Griselbrand and rips a Lightning Wrath to deal with my 4/3 Wandering Wolf (two guides). I get my fourth land, and get down a Mist Raven, and he’s forced to start holding guys back to block. He then drops an Exquisite Blood with a bunch of large creatures, and I have to start chumping his Hound of Griselbrand, since I can’t race it with my Mist Raven. I get Deadeye Navigator down and paired with Mist Raven without mana to spare, and his attack gets me to 14. I drop a Galvanic Alchemist, and get him to 1, but the Exquisite Blood means that if any creature connects, I’m in trouble. I bounce a bunch of guys, none of his get through, and then he drops a Demonlord of Ashmouth, sacrificing Gang of Devils to get my Navigator to lethal and deal one to me, which puts him at 2. He only has the Demonlord back for blocks, while I’ve got a Mist Crow and a Galvanic Alchemist. I rip a Bladed Bracers, equip it to the Alchemist, and attack for the win.

M2G2 – T3 Borderland Ranger, T4 Trusted Forcemage and Bladed Bracers. He then drops an Undead Executioner. I equip the Ranger and attack with both. He blocks the forcemage, the Executioner dies, and he puts the -2/-2 on the Forcemage, but I respond with Ghostly Flicker, saving my guy and getting a land out of the deal. He drops a Dread Slaver that seems like it should stabilize him, but I rip a Blessings of Nature, and miracle it for 1 mana. I attack, put him to 2, and he draws a card and concedes.

M3G1 – T2 Wandering Wolf, T3 Borderland Ranger. He drops a Searchlight Geist, and I get down a Forcemage paired with the wolf. He trades with the Ranger. He plays a Mist Raven, bouncing my Forcemage. I then get a Forcemage and a Timberland Guide, which gets the Wandering Wolf to 4/3. He puts a Tormentor’s Trident on his Mist Raven, so that it can block. Crippling Chill locks down the raven, followed by an Alchemist. Mass Appeal drawing three the next turn puts him out of the game.

M3G2 – I get stuck at two mana with a bunch of three drops in hand…

M3G3 – T2 Wandering Wolf, T3 Borderland Ranger, T4 Mist Raven, T5 Into the Void, T6 Deadeye Navigator. Everything else is just a formality.

This deck ended up being ridiculously good. There was one close game, and one game that I lost to mana screw. Besides that, they were pretty much all blowouts. This is the exact kind of deck that shows how incredibly good Mist Raven is in this format. It was also a lot of fun to do all the flickering shenanigans with my Ravens and whatnot. UG is really, really good in this format.

Lobster's Cube #1

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=36wl7

This was actually the third time I tried drafting the MTGO cube: After 2-1'ing two Swiss queues, one with Red-white aggro and one with a green-blue ramp deck, I decided to jump into an 8-4 and give the more competitive queues a shot - I ended up with a really good deck, too. Let's see...

My first match was against a White/Black reanimation deck: In game one, he mulliganed, groaned, mulliganed, paused, mulliganed two more times and conceded. In game two, he started out by stocking his graveyard with three creatures (Elesh Norn being the best of them), so I sat tight and only played my sword until I could cast Mirran Crusader and equip in the same turn. When he animated Elesh Norn on his own turn, my Crusader survived and I untapped, Swords to Plowshared the Cenobite and hit him for a kabillion damage, which caused him to rage quite a bit before conceding.

I don't recall a lot of game two; I think my opponent's deck was fine, but in one game I got in a hit with Hero of Bladehold, Raging Ravine and tokens; even though he dealt with the Hero and played a Glen Elendra Archmage to counter my sword and other gas in my hand, he had to chump-block the Ravine to stay alive and I won out that way.

The finals were really exciting; My opponent had a really good white-blue control deck which grinded my out game one. I got back with a relatively swift game two on the back of Primal Commanding Ruhan into my hand and fatesealing him with a useless permanent while I had a 5/5 knight on the table, which caused him to scoop. The final game was really long; I started out really well (Collonade T1, Fetch T2 (which I got the wrong land with - I needed green!), tutoring up sword and then ripping a green land like a lucksack. I unfortunately clicked through my turn without playing either sword or Rhox War Monk - the game lasted almost an hour past this, but it was really close to the end and I suspect that this turn might have been the one that costed me the game. I still had lots of fun and ended up winning four packs, though, so I am not complaining ;)

Cheers,
Lobster667.

Lobster's DII Draft #3

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=36pmy

Another deck with a lot of hard cuts, but I think the deck ended up really good! It can definitely mill people out, but it's also pretty good on the aggressive.

All three rounds were pretty challenging; The first opponent was a white/red deck which seemed kind of aggressive (he played ashmouth hounds and doomed travelers), but I managed to lock him down and killed him in the air with zombie drakes and murdering crows.

The next round was against a really powerful U/B Zombies deck with captain, ghoulraisers, chants and just lots and lots of zombies. He won game one and I barely dug out game two by milling him out with Increasing Confusion and a bell I dropped on T1. Game 3 I just aggro killed him. The matchup was really hard because U/B gets so much value from the graveyard, so milling him was actually not too sweet.

The finals was against a nasty W/G aggro deck which had Midnight Haunting + Increasing Savagery, which is a really hard combo to deal with! I lost game 1 because I pulled the trigger on Feeling of Dread the turn before he could actually flashback the savagery, which meant I died the turn before I could mill him out with Confusion. Luckily, I got back in game two and three and managed to win the draft.

Feedback is welcomed as always! :)

Lobster's DII Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=36o39

Making the cuts from this deck was really hard, by the way, but I think it ended up pretty good!

I beat a confused 3-color mill-yourself deck in the first round before meeting a really sleek Vampire aggro deck in match 2, which almost got me (I sided in the Geistflame to great effect in games 2 and 3!).

In the finals, I met an opponent who was W/B with bad mana and the nerve to keep 1-landers on the play against an aggressive deck. He didn't last long ;)

Yablo's DII Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=35gvy

This was probably the best deck I've ever drafted in my short drafting career.  Ended up going 2-1 but probably could have been my first 3-0 if I hadn't ran into a sick Spider Spawning deck that out tokened me.

Recap:

R1G1 - stalled on forests so was stuck only playing white.  Was able to equip up a Hallowhenge Spirit with Avacyn's Collar, the Pitchfork, and the Cleaver and lay the flying vigilence 7/7 beats on villain for the win.
R1G2 - stalled on forests again and got some white dirtles out.  Was able to represent lethal after I dropped Increasing Devotion combined with a Selfless Cathar ready to pop for +1/+1.  Villain scooped.
R2G1 - stalled on forests AGAIN?! Seriously I had 7 of them and had only seen 2 by this point in the night!  Was holding my own with a Pitchforked up flipped Youth until villain Claustrophobia'd it.  Worst thing you can get to happen to your Youth!  No way to deal with it.  Villain milled himself a ton and then dropped a spider spawning that spat out 7 spiders.  No green so I couldn't play any of my creatures in hand.  Dead.
R2G2 - Finally got forests going but lost the battle of tokens.  I Increasing Devotioned and then flashbacked for 15 humans.  He spider spawning twice for 20 spiders.  He drops a Falkenrath Noble and I'm boned.  Dead.
R3G1 - Villain playing a UB mill deck.  Made a risky play with a unflipped Grizzled Outcast who was holding a pitchfork - put a bonds of faith on him.  Would have been screwed if villain let him flip but he never did and I beat him down.
R3G2 - Curved out very well but was getting milled crazy style by villain.  Lost my 1st mayor but surprised him with a second.  Played Increasing Devotion and got 5 2/2 humans.  With the threat of my Selfless Cathar popping making them 3/3 villain scooped.

Spider Spawning guy ended up winning the draft so I guess I can't feel too bad losing to him.

Looking forward to the feedback!

Yablo

Deranged_Hermit's DII Draft #2

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34qne

I was again, a bit excited to see how this deck would perform.  I went into deckbuilding after the draft not with a good feeling (but i drafted 35 tix worth of rares so i wasn't too upset). but then after looking at my available options, and seeing my late 42nd pick burning vengeance, it all kind of came together.

so i'm RG splashing white for a few durdles, rally the peasants, and travel preps flashback. the RG is a typical werewolf and aggressive 1, 2, 3 drop plan (no 4 drops in the whole deck aside from a smite the monstrous (should've been cut if i had more early drops)).

but here's the interesting synergy that i'd love to test more to get the right balance.  i have 9 flashback spells. geistflame, faithless looting, wild hunger, 2x travel preps, 2x rally the peasants, burning oil and night birds clutches (plus a gnaw in the board.

combine that many solid combative and aggressive tricks and pump spells, combine it with burning vengeance to clear the path... and i think you have a good formula for success.

now i lost in the 2nd round to a fellow clan member that had a solid UB control deck (remember how open blue and black were), and he eventually went on to win the whole thing... so i dont feel so bad. but were the deck fell short was generating enough actual early threats in order to actually use my pump spells. plus i went with 15 basics and an evolving wilds which was a little light. didn't realize how intensive the mana requirements are for getting enough flashback spells out there. rally really needs 6 mana to operate, and i rarely got to 6 lands.

also, this deck needs at least 2 or 3 faithless lootings. they allow you dig for threats, and dump either excess land or your flashback fodder in the yard. on top of being a flashback spell in of itself.

the werewolf route was ok. not a cog in how the deck should operate, but fine in of itself. the immerwolf itself isn't great because it's intimidate is weak, but the ability to keep your guys flipped is really good when you want to play out travelpreps w/ flashback.

in this particular build, i would've cut the smite, and cut the moonmist for another darkthicket and reckless waif. even could cut one rally for a pilgrim or something. 15 creatures is probably min for this, with your combat tricks acting as removal. oh yea, village ironsmith would be amazing too as first strike with combat tricks is win.

better luck next time. peace

Deranged_Hermit's DII Draft #1

So I was suuuper excited at the end of this draft... and I was absolutely certain that I was going to get at least to the finals, if not win it all with a deck this strong. I was able to draft my favorite archetype, BUG spawning.dek... with 3 legit bombs in splinterfright, ghoultree, and murder of crows. plenty of enablers, had thoughtscour, dreamtwist, 2x mulch, tracker's instinct, screeching skaab, and alchemy (potential of 10 dumpers when including flashback). even had excellent mana fixing with a wilds and woodland cemetery.

see the draft for how it all came together. its a fairytale is d-hermit land:

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34tq9

now to the match (read: singular)

M1G1: the replay didn't save, but no save was needed to remember this line of play. game started out pretty slow. on the draw i hit a couple of enablers early, opponent drops plains, plains, thraben heretic. so i'm thinking... "perfect" (sarcasm)... here goes my entire strategy, exiled out the window.

we go back and forth without much going on. he's played nothing but 4 plains and missed a land drop. the heretic and a durdle in play. 4 cards left in hand. i play a brainweevil and hold it, hoping to sac it my next turn and play banshee to get rid of the heretic. i miss on my 2nd black source but i sac him anyway to get some cards since he just missed a land drop, i know i can hit spells since he's either hurting on a second color, or has all big 5+ drops. maybe this was a mistake, but there's no way to know that i should've played around what followed:

so i target him and he discards: drogskol reaver and unburial rites.  F.  M.  L.

game ends pretty soon after that. i draw and play a murder of crows. let him get damage thru on his turn in order to copy the crows with a cackling counterpart. i do this main phase, another potential mistake as he EOT feeling of dreads me. attacks again for 6, draws two more cards, and plays requiem angel for the scoop.


M1G2:  i figure he's a blue white splashing black, tempo but possibly bordering control since he basically did nothing G1 but play a heretic. so in comes the crushing vines, death's caress, and two chills. dont know what i took out, if anything, but i end up with 46 cards and 19 lands. so perhaps my sideboard strategy wasn't correctly instilled. i'm a bit tilted at this point and just want to try anything to kill that reaver.  the chills were to outrace his GY hate, and possibly get his splash colors in the graveyard.

i open with a boneyard wurm, two chills, a death's caress and a mulch, woodland and swamp. pretty much a perfect hand for what i want to do. mulch for land drops. mill 10 consecutive cards, play a huge ass wurm, and kill the major threat he plays.

it plays out pretty much as expected. he goes turn one dagger (threw me a bit), and another turn 2 heretic. so i chill hitting him a spare from evil, fiend hunter, plains, warden of the wall... and a forest. FOREST??  wtf? didn't i see 3 colors already G1?  so now i'm losing to a 4 color bomb the f*ck out of me deck? sure, lets see what i milled... alchemy, stranleroot gesit, ghoultree, evil twin, and dream twist.   F.  M.  L.

turn 4 i play a screeching skaab followed by a 5/5 boneyard wurm, against his unequipped heretic, elder cathar, and lifelinking, spirit making inquisitor. turn 5 i start by death caressed his heretic. but what i should've done i think is attacked first all in with dreamtwist backup for potential combat trick. so he removed ghoultree in responsed, making the wurm a 4/4, and i do nothing. could've at least gotten 4-6 damage thru, and killed two potential dudes instead of nothing. next turn he fiend hunter's (2nd in deck) the wurm. trades the inquisitor for the skaab, giving him a token. then he drops dearly departed (3rd bomb flyer for him). play continues, and i have nothing but a makeshift mauler in play and he alpha strikes (wait for it... AFTER travel prepping with flashback and dagger equipped.) the old sawiing for 16 trick with your 3 splash colors. i'm down to 1. i chill looking for a gnaw. to at least drag this out another turn. dont hit it. and scoop.

so there you have it. variance at it's best. i'm really trying to learn from this experience. there were a few questionable (read: desperate) plays on my part, but you have to give credit where credit is due.  his consecutive turn 2 heretics COPMLETLEY threw me off my gameplan. and the bad beat G1 admittedly tilted me a bit to the point of questionable sideboard choices. he drew his bombs, and hit his lands he needed even w/o fixing (he said he had plenty of fixing in his deck, didn't need it apparently).

but lets take a look at the end game state. turn 7 i have 7 lands in play, no issues with colors (as predicted). a makeshift mauler on the battlefield with banshee and trackers instinct in hand. 3 spells  exiled and 16 cards in graveyard, guess how many were lands.... 3.  which means of my remaining 12 cards in library, 9 are lands. not quite the land to spell distribution you would want when milling yourself. spare a creature or removal spell in place of a land and this game... and match... could've gone different.

such is variance. better luck next time i guess.

Zvazda's DII Draft #1

A very interesting draft here gang and my first DII draft.

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34ui2

Suuuuper tough deck build.  Marshall said he takes out the Island, reap and Silent departure for Altar's reap and chant.  Those help out my charmbreaker devils, but you don't really want to be getting back Altar's reap with a charmbreaker devils.  Maybe my build was too greedy here, and two U sources is a little odd, but I really wanted to be hitting black (bloodline keeper) and needed to hit my red two drops early.  Do you get greedy, or do you keep it easy?

The Matches:

R1G1 - We both stumbled on mana a little, but when I finished I had a bloodline keeper.  He was able to Make a Wish to lucksack into a prey upon... but I had a ghoulcaller's chant in hand and was able to get him back.  I had to spend my next turn morkrut bansheeing his avacyn's pilgrim so that he couldn't use his Gavony Township and then could drop my bloodline keeper the following turn.  I trade my banshee for his darkthicket wolf and the board state resolves itself like this:

He drops an ironsmith and I drop a ghoul.  He drops a juggernaut and I draw a charmbreaker devils.  I attack him to 8 with my vampire token and drop a charmbreaker devils.

He slams in with everything and blocks go like this:

After the smoke clears... I'm at 10 and he's at 8.  I can attack for 7 in the air and flash back fires for the win... so I have to assume he sees this and that he has a trick.  Reap comes back from my charmbreaker devils so I make the choice to cast reap, and force him to trade off his juggy if he does have a trick.  He has a spidery grasp, which kills my keeper.  The devils trades for juggernaut and I put him to 4.  I flash back fires to kill his pyreheart wolf (and cast two spells!) which flips back his two werewolves.  He draws for his turn and concedes.  Needless to say, this game was intense and I felt very proud that I played around spidery grasp correctly, even though it meant sacrificing my Bloodline Keeper and my Charmbreaker Devils!

M1G2 - This game was less exciting because after he got stuck on two lands... I fires of undeath'd his pilgrim I drop bloodline keeper, (he fails to attack into it with his 2/2's which is a mistake).  Then I drop my charmbreaker devils for infinite fires and he snap concedes.

Modo is awesome and I lost all of my other replays so you guys are spared my writeups...  But there was an awesome game where I raced a stormbound geist and invisibile stalker, on the final turn getting to cultist and tragic slip his two blockers and attack for exactsies.

I end up going 3-0 (for the first time in FAR too long)

LISTEN ALONG WITH ZACH


Today I listened to Burn to Shine by Ben Harper and a double album of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance/ Trial By Jury

Lobster667's DII Draft #1

Hey guys! It's time to dive into DKA/ISD/ISD drafts! Check out the sweet draft I just finished:

http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34msc

Looks sweet, right? I was really pleased with how the deck shaped up, and felt pretty confident going into the first match. I met a Green/Red werewolves deck which I killed pretty handily in game one. In game two, I had to mull to five and even then didn't get off to a great start, but I slowly stabilized. I knew I was facing a werewolves deck, so I was holding on to a Slayer of the Wicked so as to get some value out of his ETB trigger.

Well - I got more than I was begging for! It must be so hard to be the guy on the other side of the table here...

... I did end up winning that game!

In my next match, I met a really controlly U/W skies deck. In game one, I tried to go aggressive on him (as one is wont to try!), but he had picked up the claustrophobias and burdens I had seen at the draft table, as well as two midnight haunting, a mausoleum guard, and a drogskol captain. I managed to draw the game out a bit (and in truth, he gave me a few outs he shouldn't have), but was ultimately overwhelmed by his airforce.

I boarded in my Urgent Exorcism and Night Terrors (for the captain) and took out the Slayer and the Hauberk (since he had so good removal and no large creatures I needed to be able to deal with). In hindsight, the Scarecrow might actually have been a lot better, and a Paraselene would probably have made it in too if I had picked one up instead of my Maw.

Game two got off better for me but he slowly locked down the board, hiding behind a Stitcher's Apprentice converting stuff to tokens and infini-chumping, and I slowly ran out of gas. I lost staring at a board of six of my own creatures locked down by three Claustrophobia, two Burden of Guilt, and a Niblis of the Breath. It was devastatingly depressing to lose a match with a deck this good, but I swallowed my pride and congratulated my opponent on his great control deck (he went on to lose the finals 0-2 - against what, I don't know).

My match 3 was pretty uninteresting - I was facing a Black/Red deck which wanted to be a Vampire deck, which resulted in me being able to kill stuff like Erdwal Ripper, Falkenrath Torturer and Vampire Interloper with my Bell-ringers and Voiceless Spirit. He slowed my offence down one game with a Scarecrow (which I killed with a Skillfully Lunging Disciple of Griselbrand), presented a threat it Falkenrath marauders (which I ignored and attacked past for the win). His deck also had the nice traitorous blood + fling combo, and he almost got to reuse it with Past in Flames. His deck was too messy, though, and I easily wiped him out, going 2-1 with a deck I felt could've done a lot better. I don't think I did any (major) play mistakes, but I am beginning to suspect that I should have kept my eyes more open in the draft and made sure I had more Enchantment hate in my sideboard...

Comments and Critique is very welcome!
Cheers,
Lobster667.

Yablo's DII Draft #1

Here's my most recent draft:  http://www.raredraft.com/watch?d=34fuj

Ended up going 1-2.  It was a quick deck but light on creatures.  I started my DKA pack thinking I was going to be RG but once I got to the INN packs I switched to RB.  This sort of screwed me when it came to # of creatures.

Undying Evil saved my butt several times and those Hounds just create terrible match ups for villain.  Sadly I got stuck on 2 mana a couple games which lead to losses.  Those games I did get my mana drops I ended up either winning or losing with villain only having >5 life left.

As always any critique would be appreciated.  I think I need to know when to set my colors sooner.

Yablo