Magical Notes: March 2015

Hi everybody! Went off to the local game store for the draftage. Let's rip right in, shall we/

Pack 1

Pick 1

Wow. The rare is a total blah, 7 mana to get back things worth significantly less than 7 mana. The acid-spewer isn't bad. I was impressed with Epic Confrontation in pre-release so I go for some quality removal. Speaking of quality removal...

Pick 2

oookay. Pacifism isn't as good in this set as it has been (because pacified creatures can still be Exploited or contribute to Formidable) but that's still quality removal. Take.

Pick 3

Huh. I think I make my first serious mistake and flinch from doubling down on removal and I take a decent two drop.

Pick 4

Needless to say, starting to get a strong whiff of white. Here's how the pack finishes

Okay so kind of a weird first pack but I'm feeling comfortable thinking white/green to going to flow to me. Decent start to a decent creature base with some bolster tricks. Alright, SHOW ME THE SELESNYA IN PACK TWO

Pack 2

Humph. You bastards. I don't particularly want to hate draft and the Bowmasters aren't bad frankly. So I take them and make my right hand seatmate very happy.

The draft tinkers forward until I see this come by in pick four:

That's... a really good card you guys. I snap it up and I start seriously looking at jumping into blue. The green has been steadily drying up so I have high hopes. These hopes are quickly vindicated by a 6th pick Youthful Scholar, 7th pick Gurmag Drowner, and 8th pick Illusory Gains. Can I get a what-what! Three solid cards that really should not slip down that far under any circumstances.

Pack finishes out a little blah, but I get some bodies and spells. Four of my more solid creatures were green, and going into pack three I only have

I feel pretty solid in white/blue but I am VERY WORRIED about my creature base. Going into pack 3 I only have 7 playable creatures (giving myself credit for the 2/5 fish but not the 0/2 tapper).

Pack 3

Fortunately I reel in a whopper

Hey look! It's a card that just Wins Games. Of course it also game packaged with a $20 bill, but I like winning tournaments. I take the siege. I then get a pretty decent hotstreak of solid bodies, though occasionally I had an agonizing choice like

I really really really want Will of the Naga. It's exactly what a tempo deck wants to be doing. But I need bodies and I take the Outcast instead. Responsible but not enjoyable. But overall, I get EXACTLY what I need. Decent creatures, some card advantage. It's beautiful.

The only part NOT beautiful is that my deck is clearly "midrange" aka "doesn't really have a plan". I remain convinced that blue/white wants to be in tempo-beatdown mode, with a solid 2/3/4 curveout and using Rebound tricks to maintain superiority. I have the tricks in spades but I don't have the beatdown. At all.