Draft T4 split - Avacyn Restored
Summer is here, and I have some time to blog again.
If you just want to read about the actual draft, and not my explanation for people who don't know how this works, skip down.
A few weeks ago I drafted, since I wasn't happy with my standard deck and I have no interest in pushing through five rounds of standard if I'm not having fun. I ended up with a GW deck with two Blessing of Nature and a Silverblade Paladin. The deck definitely had some "I win" moments, like miracling a Blessing onto anything then casting Silverblade Paladin and smashing for insane amounts of damage. However, overall I wasn't thrilled with the deck. It was good but not spectacular. I made it to top four and since it was almost two am we split the prize packs and all walked out with six packs of MTG for our troubles. Not a bad night. I like this particular prize strategy since it means that it's possible (though unlikely, as the caliber of draft players at our store is fairly high overall) to go infinite and never have to pay for your drafts, by using your winnings to buy your entry into future drafts. Our drafts cost four packs, three for the draft - one for the prize pool, and if you win more than the four pack entry fee you come out ahead by a good deal.
I had won six pack in my first draft, making this one free and leaving me with two packs left over even if I lost. Score! Free draft!
I always start out in standard, and I played Solar Flare. I lost to Human four color Angel of Glories Rise - Unburial Rites. It was a fun list, and I really enjoyed the swingy plays that happened. I knew I was dropping, so I was going to scoop to my opponent either way, but he got there regardless. His end game was simply bigger than the Solar Flare Sun Titan plan. If I could resolve an Elesh Norn or Karn, I could probably pull out a game, but it felt like a bad matchup.
DRAFT
We had an awkward number of players for our draft: 19. That meant we had the choice of having two pods of ten and nine players or three pods with seven, six and six players respectively. We chose the three pod situation and I ended up in a pod with six players in total. We sit down and start cracking our first pack. Below I'll list my picks in order (as best as I can remember) and the relevant choices I had to make.
Pack 1 Pick 1 - This pack was white-a-licious. Rare - Angel of Jubilation, Uncommon - Nearheath Pilgrim, Common - Defang. I take the Angel of Jubilation and pray my opponent on my left does not move into white. (Spoiler - I wheel ALL of these cards, getting the Nearheath Pilgrim pick 7 and the Defang pick 13)
Pack 1 Pick 2 - Cavern of Souls. I'll be honest, I don't have a huge ego about my drafting, and so I rate picking cards on sheer monetary value slightly higher than most good players probably would. I took the 25$ card and smiled. Worst case scenario is that I don't play it and payed for another draft in trade value, plus some. Best case scenario makes my mana better and guys uncounterable, there being at least one draft playable counter in the set.
Other notable picks in Pack 1 are Wingcrafter, Amass the Components, Fettergeist, Gryff Vanguard and a Scrapskin Drake.
Pack 2 Pick 1 - Nearheath Pilgrim #2 - There was not much else of note in this pack except another Wingcrafter. I love me a Wingcrafter, but I think that the Pilgrim is slightly better, and being uncommon, harder to get.
Pack 2 Pick 2 - Divine Deflection - O.o ? Really? This is one of the best cards in one of the best colors (if not the flat out best) in the set. It is splash-able in any deck, and easily first pick-able. If this wasn't a sign that my opponent to my left was not in white, I don't know signals at all. I can't think of almost any non-mythic rare (and foil, given that the deflection wasn't foil) that I'd take above the Deflection. Oh and the foil was still in the pack, foil Builders Blessing. I was happy enough that I neglected to try and figure out what the rarity of the card my opponent took was. Windmill slam my white instant speed Fireball and pass the pack.
I pick up some more tricks and a few regular soulbond guys this pack including a Galvanic Alchemist and another Gryff Vanguard.
Pack 3 Pick 1 - Righteous Blow vs Mist Raven I took the Righteous Blow, thinking that Mist Raven wouldn't do enough for me and hoping it would wheel, but not really thinking it would realistically do so. I also felt like I wanted to be casting guys in the early game, but still wanted to have removal up. Righteous Blow filled that slot better than a four drop tempo play. Given that my final list had a Nephalia Smuggler in it, I suspect it may have been the wrong choice, but Righteous Blow was amazing for me all night, so I'm not too sad.
Pack 3 Pick 2 - Silverblade Paladin! YES! Thank god my opponent on my right didn't hate draft this. It's a bomb by itself, but even more amazing in a deck with a ton of fliers, like mine. Windmill slam again - bonus points for me as I know a good friend of me was looking to fill out his set of them, and I'd have an almost 100% sure trade partner for it. Value! With this card, my wonderful opponent on my right passed me 31$ (at current prices) of cardboard. Thanks Tom!
I round out the silliness with a Nephalia Smuggler, another Wingcrafter and two Peel from Reality.
My final card pool looked like this:
Main deck:
White
Angel of Jubilation
Silverblade Paladin
Divine Deflection
Nearheath Pilgrim
Nearheath Pilgrim
Righteous Blow
Voice of the Provinces
Cathedral Sanctifier
Blue:
Nephalia Smuggler
Mass Appeal (this drew me something on the order of 14 cards in 2-5 card chunks)
Wingcrafter
Wingcrafter
Gryff Vanguard
Gryff Vanguard
Peel from Reality
Peel from Reality
Amass the Components
Ghostly Flicker
Scrapskin Drake
Spectral Prison
Alchemist's Apprentice
Galvanic Alchemist
Geist Snatch
Land:
Cavern of Souls (I basically have two creature type; Angel and Human)
8 Plains
8 Island
(although in retrospect I probably would have switched out one island and put in one plains)
Sideboard:
White:
Defang
Leap of Faith
Leap of Faith
Commander's Authority (which I almost played for the synergy with Galvanic Alchemist)
Holy Justicar
Builder's Blessing
Cursebreak
Blue:
Fettergeist (I didn't play this because of all my little guys. Seemed like anti-syngergy.)
Galvanic Alchemist
Dreadwaters
Dreadwaters
Havengul Skaab
Rotcrown Ghoul
Artifacts and off-color cards:
Vanguard's Shield
Borderland Ranger
Grounded
Undead Executioner
Round 1 - Chris with UW Fliers
Game 1 he never hits me. He scoops to Angel of Jubilation with Gryff Vanguard and Nephalia Smuggler active.
Game two he gets some early hits in with small fliers, but I stabilize quickly and start smashing through. He dies to my overwhelming board presence with no way to clear the way.
2-0 in games, 1-0 in matches
Round 2 - Damien with UG
Game 1 I go turn 1 Cathedral Sanctifiers, gain 3. Turn 2 Nearheath Pilgrim, soulbond. Swing with Sanctifiers and gain 1. Eventually my Sanctifiers die and I repair the Nearheath Pilgrim with a Wingcrafter. My life total at the end of that game was 40.
Game 2 he smashes me pretty hard and I am only able to hit him for 3 points the entire game.
Game 3 is an amazing race that goes right to time in the round, but I am able to kill him in turns.
2-1 in games, 2-0 in matches
Round 3 - Eric with UB
Game 1 on the play I Wingcrafter into Nearheath Pilgrim and never look back. My life total at the end of the game was 31. He was also color screwed, not finding a source of blue until very late game.
Game 2 He and I trade haymakers and I am able to start repeatedly gaining life with Smuggler and Cathedral Sanctifiers, but he takes the game when I fail to find a way to push through the last 3 damage.
Game 3 I again end the game on 31 life, showing just how brutal my early aggressive/life gain starts can be.
2-1 in games, 3-0 in matches
Round 4 - Bill with UW
Bill was the only other UW player in our pod, but his deck is just a worse version of mine, despite the Tamiyo he had. (Sorry, Bill, but it was true.)
Game 1 he gets some early hits in, but I land Angel of Jubilation and I have his life total going from 22 to dead. (He scooped to my board presence complaining about not drawing his rare when I drew mine.)
Game 2 He gets a much better start and even draws and resolves his Tamiyo. My life total goes steadily lower as he gets a Latch Seeker online, but I am able to cobble together the eternal fog of Nephalia Smuggler and Cathedral Sanctifiers. I sculpt a turn where I tap out my board to kill his Tamiyo and he has MORE than lethal in creatures on the table. He kills off those small creatures he can with blocks and then on his turn moves to just attack with his Latch Seeker while I'm on 6 life and he has about 5 other creatures on the table representing far more than lethal damage. I remark on his lack of an alpha strike and he obliges by tapping the rest of his team. I Divine Deflection for 11 and he scoops to my lethal damage on the strike back. He went from 19 life to dead in two attack steps, his and mine. I had 4 life at the end of that turn.
2-0 in games, 4-0 in matches
Round 4 - Randy with UR
Randy and I are the only 4-0 players and could have drawn into the T8, but we played it out for fun and information.
Game 1 went to Randy rather decisively, as his Falkenrath Exterminator just took over the game. None of my Peel from Reality showed up to allow me to stabilize once he'd gotten some counters on the Exterminator, and the Exterminator masqueraded as a permanent one-sided Day of Judgment.
This is when I realize that Defang is probably better than my Geist Snatch and I switch them and never look back.
Game 2 I am able to keep Randy's board fairly clear while gaining board presence and I am able to barely squeak through the last few points.
Game 3 I never hit Randy as I never draw a white source with a hand full of white cards.
He scoops up his cards and says, "See you in top 8, or more likely see you in the finals." It was nice to get the nod of respect from one of the better players in the store. Good games, Randy.
1-2 in game, 4-1 in matches
Top 8 - Mike with Jund
Game 1 he gets some early hits in but I stabilize with Angel of Jubilation and start swinging for huge chunks of life. Definitely feels bad to be chumping Alchemist's Apprentice.
Game 2 we have a weird situation in the late game where he had an active Dark Imposter and had eaten most of my bombs with it, but he was at 3 and had to find a way to kill me without dying to my Divine Reflection. He is able to blank my Divine Deflection with his Terrifying Presence and kill me from 31. I misplayed a Peel from Reality and the Divine Reflection to punt away this almost certain win.
Game 3 I get early fliers and kill him rather quickly.
Top 4 starts at 1:30 am so the four remaining players split the prize packs and head home with 5 packs each.
My deck was just bonkers all night, and a blast to play. I always felt like I had outs, and never felt 100% outclassed. Overall a really fun night.
Hoped you liked the article.
How would you have built this pool?
If you just want to read about the actual draft, and not my explanation for people who don't know how this works, skip down.
A few weeks ago I drafted, since I wasn't happy with my standard deck and I have no interest in pushing through five rounds of standard if I'm not having fun. I ended up with a GW deck with two Blessing of Nature and a Silverblade Paladin. The deck definitely had some "I win" moments, like miracling a Blessing onto anything then casting Silverblade Paladin and smashing for insane amounts of damage. However, overall I wasn't thrilled with the deck. It was good but not spectacular. I made it to top four and since it was almost two am we split the prize packs and all walked out with six packs of MTG for our troubles. Not a bad night. I like this particular prize strategy since it means that it's possible (though unlikely, as the caliber of draft players at our store is fairly high overall) to go infinite and never have to pay for your drafts, by using your winnings to buy your entry into future drafts. Our drafts cost four packs, three for the draft - one for the prize pool, and if you win more than the four pack entry fee you come out ahead by a good deal.
I had won six pack in my first draft, making this one free and leaving me with two packs left over even if I lost. Score! Free draft!
I always start out in standard, and I played Solar Flare. I lost to Human four color Angel of Glories Rise - Unburial Rites. It was a fun list, and I really enjoyed the swingy plays that happened. I knew I was dropping, so I was going to scoop to my opponent either way, but he got there regardless. His end game was simply bigger than the Solar Flare Sun Titan plan. If I could resolve an Elesh Norn or Karn, I could probably pull out a game, but it felt like a bad matchup.
DRAFT
We had an awkward number of players for our draft: 19. That meant we had the choice of having two pods of ten and nine players or three pods with seven, six and six players respectively. We chose the three pod situation and I ended up in a pod with six players in total. We sit down and start cracking our first pack. Below I'll list my picks in order (as best as I can remember) and the relevant choices I had to make.
Pack 1 Pick 1 - This pack was white-a-licious. Rare - Angel of Jubilation, Uncommon - Nearheath Pilgrim, Common - Defang. I take the Angel of Jubilation and pray my opponent on my left does not move into white. (Spoiler - I wheel ALL of these cards, getting the Nearheath Pilgrim pick 7 and the Defang pick 13)
Pack 1 Pick 2 - Cavern of Souls. I'll be honest, I don't have a huge ego about my drafting, and so I rate picking cards on sheer monetary value slightly higher than most good players probably would. I took the 25$ card and smiled. Worst case scenario is that I don't play it and payed for another draft in trade value, plus some. Best case scenario makes my mana better and guys uncounterable, there being at least one draft playable counter in the set.
Other notable picks in Pack 1 are Wingcrafter, Amass the Components, Fettergeist, Gryff Vanguard and a Scrapskin Drake.
Pack 2 Pick 1 - Nearheath Pilgrim #2 - There was not much else of note in this pack except another Wingcrafter. I love me a Wingcrafter, but I think that the Pilgrim is slightly better, and being uncommon, harder to get.
Pack 2 Pick 2 - Divine Deflection - O.o ? Really? This is one of the best cards in one of the best colors (if not the flat out best) in the set. It is splash-able in any deck, and easily first pick-able. If this wasn't a sign that my opponent to my left was not in white, I don't know signals at all. I can't think of almost any non-mythic rare (and foil, given that the deflection wasn't foil) that I'd take above the Deflection. Oh and the foil was still in the pack, foil Builders Blessing. I was happy enough that I neglected to try and figure out what the rarity of the card my opponent took was. Windmill slam my white instant speed Fireball and pass the pack.
I pick up some more tricks and a few regular soulbond guys this pack including a Galvanic Alchemist and another Gryff Vanguard.
Pack 3 Pick 1 - Righteous Blow vs Mist Raven I took the Righteous Blow, thinking that Mist Raven wouldn't do enough for me and hoping it would wheel, but not really thinking it would realistically do so. I also felt like I wanted to be casting guys in the early game, but still wanted to have removal up. Righteous Blow filled that slot better than a four drop tempo play. Given that my final list had a Nephalia Smuggler in it, I suspect it may have been the wrong choice, but Righteous Blow was amazing for me all night, so I'm not too sad.
Pack 3 Pick 2 - Silverblade Paladin! YES! Thank god my opponent on my right didn't hate draft this. It's a bomb by itself, but even more amazing in a deck with a ton of fliers, like mine. Windmill slam again - bonus points for me as I know a good friend of me was looking to fill out his set of them, and I'd have an almost 100% sure trade partner for it. Value! With this card, my wonderful opponent on my right passed me 31$ (at current prices) of cardboard. Thanks Tom!
I round out the silliness with a Nephalia Smuggler, another Wingcrafter and two Peel from Reality.
My final card pool looked like this:
Main deck:
White
Angel of Jubilation
Silverblade Paladin
Divine Deflection
Nearheath Pilgrim
Nearheath Pilgrim
Righteous Blow
Voice of the Provinces
Cathedral Sanctifier
Blue:
Nephalia Smuggler
Mass Appeal (this drew me something on the order of 14 cards in 2-5 card chunks)
Wingcrafter
Wingcrafter
Gryff Vanguard
Gryff Vanguard
Peel from Reality
Peel from Reality
Amass the Components
Ghostly Flicker
Scrapskin Drake
Spectral Prison
Alchemist's Apprentice
Galvanic Alchemist
Geist Snatch
Land:
Cavern of Souls (I basically have two creature type; Angel and Human)
8 Plains
8 Island
(although in retrospect I probably would have switched out one island and put in one plains)
Sideboard:
White:
Defang
Leap of Faith
Leap of Faith
Commander's Authority (which I almost played for the synergy with Galvanic Alchemist)
Holy Justicar
Builder's Blessing
Cursebreak
Blue:
Fettergeist (I didn't play this because of all my little guys. Seemed like anti-syngergy.)
Galvanic Alchemist
Dreadwaters
Dreadwaters
Havengul Skaab
Rotcrown Ghoul
Artifacts and off-color cards:
Vanguard's Shield
Borderland Ranger
Grounded
Undead Executioner
Round 1 - Chris with UW Fliers
Game 1 he never hits me. He scoops to Angel of Jubilation with Gryff Vanguard and Nephalia Smuggler active.
Game two he gets some early hits in with small fliers, but I stabilize quickly and start smashing through. He dies to my overwhelming board presence with no way to clear the way.
2-0 in games, 1-0 in matches
Round 2 - Damien with UG
Game 1 I go turn 1 Cathedral Sanctifiers, gain 3. Turn 2 Nearheath Pilgrim, soulbond. Swing with Sanctifiers and gain 1. Eventually my Sanctifiers die and I repair the Nearheath Pilgrim with a Wingcrafter. My life total at the end of that game was 40.
Game 2 he smashes me pretty hard and I am only able to hit him for 3 points the entire game.
Game 3 is an amazing race that goes right to time in the round, but I am able to kill him in turns.
2-1 in games, 2-0 in matches
Round 3 - Eric with UB
Game 1 on the play I Wingcrafter into Nearheath Pilgrim and never look back. My life total at the end of the game was 31. He was also color screwed, not finding a source of blue until very late game.
Game 2 He and I trade haymakers and I am able to start repeatedly gaining life with Smuggler and Cathedral Sanctifiers, but he takes the game when I fail to find a way to push through the last 3 damage.
Game 3 I again end the game on 31 life, showing just how brutal my early aggressive/life gain starts can be.
2-1 in games, 3-0 in matches
Round 4 - Bill with UW
Bill was the only other UW player in our pod, but his deck is just a worse version of mine, despite the Tamiyo he had. (Sorry, Bill, but it was true.)
Game 1 he gets some early hits in, but I land Angel of Jubilation and I have his life total going from 22 to dead. (He scooped to my board presence complaining about not drawing his rare when I drew mine.)
Game 2 He gets a much better start and even draws and resolves his Tamiyo. My life total goes steadily lower as he gets a Latch Seeker online, but I am able to cobble together the eternal fog of Nephalia Smuggler and Cathedral Sanctifiers. I sculpt a turn where I tap out my board to kill his Tamiyo and he has MORE than lethal in creatures on the table. He kills off those small creatures he can with blocks and then on his turn moves to just attack with his Latch Seeker while I'm on 6 life and he has about 5 other creatures on the table representing far more than lethal damage. I remark on his lack of an alpha strike and he obliges by tapping the rest of his team. I Divine Deflection for 11 and he scoops to my lethal damage on the strike back. He went from 19 life to dead in two attack steps, his and mine. I had 4 life at the end of that turn.
2-0 in games, 4-0 in matches
Round 4 - Randy with UR
Randy and I are the only 4-0 players and could have drawn into the T8, but we played it out for fun and information.
Game 1 went to Randy rather decisively, as his Falkenrath Exterminator just took over the game. None of my Peel from Reality showed up to allow me to stabilize once he'd gotten some counters on the Exterminator, and the Exterminator masqueraded as a permanent one-sided Day of Judgment.
This is when I realize that Defang is probably better than my Geist Snatch and I switch them and never look back.
Game 2 I am able to keep Randy's board fairly clear while gaining board presence and I am able to barely squeak through the last few points.
Game 3 I never hit Randy as I never draw a white source with a hand full of white cards.
He scoops up his cards and says, "See you in top 8, or more likely see you in the finals." It was nice to get the nod of respect from one of the better players in the store. Good games, Randy.
1-2 in game, 4-1 in matches
Top 8 - Mike with Jund
Game 1 he gets some early hits in but I stabilize with Angel of Jubilation and start swinging for huge chunks of life. Definitely feels bad to be chumping Alchemist's Apprentice.
Game 2 we have a weird situation in the late game where he had an active Dark Imposter and had eaten most of my bombs with it, but he was at 3 and had to find a way to kill me without dying to my Divine Reflection. He is able to blank my Divine Deflection with his Terrifying Presence and kill me from 31. I misplayed a Peel from Reality and the Divine Reflection to punt away this almost certain win.
Game 3 I get early fliers and kill him rather quickly.
Top 4 starts at 1:30 am so the four remaining players split the prize packs and head home with 5 packs each.
My deck was just bonkers all night, and a blast to play. I always felt like I had outs, and never felt 100% outclassed. Overall a really fun night.
Hoped you liked the article.
How would you have built this pool?
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