Sunday, August 24, 2014

M15 Draft Report

Saturday draft at the Gamma Ray Lounge. Plus sides: three rounds (usually about as much magic as I want to play) and geographically desirable. Downside: one table of 10 and one table of 8. Ugh. I was at the table of 10 and it was quite bizarre to say the least. I'd say maybe I was one of three that had a passing familiarity with drafting strategy. For example, the following were available as a mid-round pick.

 

I don't want to overgeneralize, but I feel like that should never, ever happen. What's weird is that I didn't get any signs of "lolred underdrafted" until deep into pack 2; clearly my righthand seatmate was just having a fine ol' time. But back to my draft:

Pack 1.

First pack wasn't particularly memorable but I'm happy to see a Chasm Skulker. It feels like a card that works well in the quadrant theory: not a bad developing 3 drop and a reasonable parity breaker. In the late mid rounds I come across some just solid, everyday blue (Aeronaut, Divination, and a Jace's (!)) So I scoop it and still more blue comes down the pipe including an embarrassingly late Frost Lynx and Research Assistant (exactly the kind of two drop I want). Pretty happy with the first back: a solid core of blue with some decent black but hardly committed.
 
 
 The second pack was not terribly inspiring but it had some premium removal right there on top. The first real choice was the fifth round: Ulcerate vs. In Garruk's Wake. I mull this for a while since sweepers that can completely bring you back from the dead are awesome. But if I'm in blue/black I'm not going to enjoy a lot of manafixing (Satyrs/mana dorks etc.) and I'm thinking that if I'm alive by the 9th turn, I'm probably stable. So I take the cheaper removal. Then right after that comes this pack just full of RIDICULOUSLY good red cards. I completely hate-draft the Kird Chieftan. I just can't.


The third pack is more of the same. I think the rare was a perfectly decent Goblin Rabblemaster but since I'm already rocking two Aeronauts I take a playable artifact. Third pick was interesting: meteorite vs. Welkin Tern vs. Divination. I take the meteorite due to my reasonably high mana curve and 2 direct damage is not to be sniffed at. Then the Covenant of Bloods come rolling in and I just can't resist them. Any of them! A pick 10 Jace's (meaning that too went all the way around the table) is also snapped up.

 
So we have a bit of a pile of cards. My biggest risk is a total lack of two drops (Research Assistant, Typhoid Rats, and Bronze Sable x2) but my three drops are glorious and stabilizing ( Gargoyle, Frost Lynx, Witch's Familiar x2, Aeronaut x2) I don't have a really solid kill card like Caustic Tar but I do have pretty good evasion, card advantage, and three Covenant of Bloods. I build a deck as follows:

Creatures (14): Typhoid Rats, Bronze Sable x2, Research Assistant, Coral Barrier, Chasm Skulker, Frost Lynx, Witch's Familiar x2, Aeronaut Tinkerer x2, Gargoyle Sentinel, Accursed Spirit, Nimbus of the Isles

Spells (8): Ulcerate, Divination, Jace's Ingenuity x2, Meteorite, Covenant of Blood x3

Sideboard: Amphin Pathmage, Festergloom, Flesh to Dust, Negate x2, Sign in Blood, Nimbus of the Isles, Sacred Armoy, Brawler's Plate

Thoughts? Too many Covenants? More small creatures? Swap a Covenant for a Flesh to Dust?

5 comments:

  1. Do you really think Burning Anger is that good?

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  2. HOw did the chasm skulker play? I would say 3 covenant of blood works if you have the creatures to convoke it. you're running 14 which feels a little light to me.

    was teh 2x jace's ingenuity too much? how often were in a spot where you couldn't play your card draw?

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  3. A) I faced Burning Anger only once when I had an opponent up against the ropes (recap coming). It nearly singlehandedly swung the game to him winning only when I topdecked a **REDACTED.** Apply some quadrant theory to it: 0/10 for development but 10/10 for parity breaking, 10/10 winning, and maybe 6-7 when losing.

    B) The Chasm Skulker is the tits with any sort of card draw at all. It's a bit of a time bomb, as it just gets bigger, and even when it dies it sends a horde of squidlings to finish them off.

    C) 2x Jace's felt fabulous but I probably wouldn't take a third.

    D) I should have kept myself to two Covenants and used a Flesh to Dust as the third removal. I was basically using them almost exclusively to remove scary creature threats so the Convoke wasn't that helpful

    E) I also regret taking both my artifacts (Brawler's Plate & Sacred Armory). Good solid artifacts but they have no place in a control deck. To Quandrant Theory it, I'm very happy in a parity situation whereas an aggro deck needs to break out of parity with those artifacts.

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    Replies
    1. i agree with almost all of this. Flesh to Dust for sure. Id probably play both nimbeese

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