Ravnica Bloc Draft #12

About 2 hours before Marshall and Brian dropped a podcast about going infinite, in which they discuss when is the right time to switch to single-elimination 8-4 drafts, I make the jump myself and enter my first big boy queue. It's time to sink or swim.

  Pack 1 pick 1:

Reap Intellect is not a real card, so I am freed from the bonds of rare-drafting. There are plenty of first-pick worthy cards here and my eye is drawn to Bronzebeak Moa, which I hear can be a real beating. I like Beetleform a lot and I think the Gorgon can be the keystone of a really good deck, but I've been in Simic a lot recently and still don't have that many natural +1/+1 counters. So I hem and haw a bit before noticing the strong, mono-colored instant burn int he pack and going with that.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 2:

For all the good stuff in the first pack, this one is pretty vanilla. Maaka is nice, Wind Drake in unexciting, and I was just talking bad about Fatal Fumes in Loreto's comments. Rot Farm Skeleton his recurring four power for four mana, but I'll stick with red for the time being.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 3:

Tithe Drinker tempts me to pick my three colors and go, but I'd rather stick to one guild for the first few picks. Toil//Trouble could be saucy in an aggro Rakdos deck. The Roc is okay in Boros, but none of these are enough to pass up an on-color gate.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 4:

This is the same weak print run. Maaka again.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 5:

I take this as my first strong signal. I love the insect warrior and since there is little chance I am going mono-red, I think this is the time to try out a second color instead of Riot Piker. That being said, Piker is decent in a deck with bloodrush. Since it has to attack, they will never see the trick coming.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 6:

Another Riot Piker, but also another insect.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 7:

None of the things in this pack seem better than a speculative Simic gate.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 8:

Sure.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 9:

I was thinking the Gorgon might be my first pick. Gone ahead of this are the 0/5 wall, the white gatekeeper, and the weird rare.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 10:

Clearly no one wants the Goglari cards. I could think about a black splash.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 11:

In a perfect world, I won't run a cluestone for my two primary colors.

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 12:

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  Pack 1 pick 13:

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  Pack 1 pick 14:

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  Pack 1 pick 15:

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After one pack, I have an unusual number of early single-color picks.

  Pack 2 pick 1:

Another quality two-drop or a big fatty that might nuke an aura when it comes down? With an emphasis on bloodrush, I need a critical mass of two-drops.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 2:

This time I have my choice of two-drops.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 3:

Not my favorite pack. Act can do some damage in my aggressive-looking deck.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 4:

Predator is a thought here, but I can't pass a denizen of Ivy Lane.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 5:

Oooo! Late removal.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 6:

And back to virtually nothing for me. Spire tracer wears +1/+1 counters well, while Hellraiser will sometimes cause trouble by running my army into blockers.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 7:

Bloodrush + two-drop. Sign me up. Yet another Scab-Clan passed by your hero. Scab-clan is probably better than I rate it, but again, critical mass of two drops is important.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 8:

Miming Slime is perfect for me. Turn four bloodrush a small guy and copy it into a 5/5 token. Yes please.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 9:

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  Pack 2 pick 10:

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  Pack 2 pick 11:

I don't think I'll want a second Spire Tracer.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 12:

This is late. Will it make the deck on the splash? Maybe.

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 13:

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  Pack 2 pick 14:

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  Pack 2 pick 15:

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  Pack 3 pick 1:

It's time to Mythic draft. At least I'm not missing out on too much of consequence. Jailbreaker or Decoy are the choices.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 2:

And now I'll take the shock land. At least it isn't a pure rare draft, since I'll use it to splash. Without those two picks, I'd have a handful fewer tickets and two extra four-drops.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 3:

A really good aggressive card here. Better not on the splash, but much better for me than Giant Spider.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 4:

MOAR TWO-DROPS PLZ!

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 5:

Let's put another pump spell in the pile. Not ideal, but okay.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 6:

Dynacharge, Giant Growth, or Cluestone Crusher (Batterhorn)? Another cheap pump!

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 7:

Shred-Freak is not what I'm looking for in a two-drop. I think Ragemutt is actually kind of good, but the deck would have worked with another two.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 8:

Racketeer isn't great but I will probably have some extra land to ditch.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 9:

Now I'll take Dynacharge. This card seems bad, since it is only good at one thing, but if I have it in my grip, then I can set up a board state race that will take Villain by surprise.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 10:

I am short on playables (double rare draft what?) so the lizard might even make the cut. It is terrible firebreathing, but at least there is some upside for the one-drop.

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 11:

Probably not on the splash.

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  Pack 3 pick 12:

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  Pack 3 pick 13:

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  Pack 3 pick 14:

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  Pack 3 pick 15:

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In deckbuilding, I lay out the good cards I want to run in Green-Red and come up a little short on playables.

Ivy-Lane Denizen is not that strong, but Villains won't know that.

I have two ways I could take this deck: blazing fast with some weaker cards or slower with a bigger black splash.

Skeleton, Balustrade Spy, and Raketeer feed the Drown in Filth

Two questionable one-drops and Dynacharge in place of some of the black cards.

 I decided to pare the black to just the essential aggressive cards and try to blitz my way to victory.

In game one, I lay down two-, three-, and four drops, while Villain has the Bronzebeak Moa. My two-drop was Firefist striker, my three-drop can't be killed on the attack and my four-drop will keep coming back, so Villain is having trouble setting up blocks. When he goes for Unflinching Courage on the Moa, I Punish my Enemy and seal the win.

Creature enchantment? Punished.

In game two, Villain makes some trades on my early guys and gets down his Armadillo Cloak unmolested this time, making a 5/4 trampling lifelinker. He's stuck on three land but doing fine. Meanwhile I need time to draw an answer, so I Act of Treason his 5-power lifelinker to gain five and get in for a big chunk. This does let me get the answer I need in the form of Rakdos Ragemutt. If Villain does 5 every turn and gains five, but I do seven every turn gaining three, who wins that race? Answer: I do, since I have a good deal of pump in hand that will either take out his creature, gain me extra life while doing extra damage, or just win outright.

I could kill his guy with Giant Growth - or - I could win on the swing back for 16 with Villain at 15.

On to round two. I mulligan, since three forests and red cards is not a recipe for aggro success.

Mull. I keep a land-heavy hand with two castable two-drops.

I feel like I am doing great with an active Guildmage holding blockers at bay.

Double guldmage activation incoming

Villain spends five mana to exile my guildmage, leaving me with an unimpressive team. I add Kraul Warrior, which will provide some pressure, but then I rip one of my many pump spells off the top to make it no question.

Just offscreen: Dynacharge on the stack

In game two, i keep a sketchy hand with no forests, but some action that puts Villain  in the unenviable position of having to beat down with two 1/2s, since they won't be blocking.

I call this "1/2 Beatdown". Alternately, "Leashed Thrill-Kill Assassin Attacks"

Shortly thereafter, Villain has gotten rid of my guildmage with exiling again and whittled me down to four with fliers and extort, but what he doesn't know will most certainly kill him.

Attack and double pump for 12. If Villain blocks with the Keyrune, I lose to extort on any spell that costs less than five next turn. Villain doesn't block.

Sweet, we're in the finals. If we lose at this point, we still turn a profit on the draft.

Bringer of Birdlets holds off some of my worse creatures, then once I get the beats going, Villain gains FIFTEEN off an Alive//Well. Ouch.

15 is a lot of life to gain against an aggro start.

He attacks for four, leaving back Centaur, so I Act of Treason and get in for 11 with removal in hand at which point he "ggs" me in the chat window while I'm at sixteen. That might be the MODO behavior that irks me the most.

Who Dynacharges? (on the splash)

So we go off to game two, where I mull a hand with no early action into a two-lander with one, two, three, and four-drops.

Mull

Keep

I drop Spire Tracer, Disciple of the Old Ways, Armored Transport, then Rix Maadi Guildmage. I only have three land on turn five, but when Villain makes Cluestone on turn three and no blocks on my turn five at 13, that's game.

Seriously, who Dynacharges?

In the deciding game, I keep a sweet curve, make a one-drop, two-drop, two-drop plus guildgate, then four-drop. I am beating down while Villain makes turn-three Keyrune.

Against my deck, turn three is the mid-game and I don't think a mana rock is going to cut the mustard.

Villain's turn-four follow-up of Cluestone into Hellraiser Goblin that attacks to 18 is similarly unthreatening. My next draw of Dynacharge should make the rest of this game academic.

Villain, at 11, needs to leave back two blockers to not die, but his guys must attack.

Villain plays pre-combat Courser's Accord, which allows him an attack for eight, but Dynacharge slams the door. Interesting that Trumpet Blast won all three games in the finals. Speaking of which, I have a fun two-headed giant sealed story full of Fogs and Trumpet Blasts. Maybe I'll get into that in more detail in the future.

What a beautiful sight. Plus two rare-drafts!