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