Pack 1
Pick 1
Well those are not the rares and uncommons that I am hoping to see in P1p1. Of course, two weeks from now it may be that Ipnu Rivulet is a sick build-around and the key to the unstoppable milling deck... but I'd rather have a safer pick for my 2nd-ever Hour of D draft. For the Scarabs, I still need to be convinced that a weak, repeatable Edict effect is going to be effective. So it's between the two removal spells: Puncturing Blow at 4 mana and Sandblast at 3. I eventually settle on Puncturing Blow. I like not being restricted to combat and that it can blow up Gods. Works for me.
Pick 2
In a total reversal of last pack, here we have three pretty interesting choices. Banewhip Punisher is pretty rad removal with a creature body attached. Sand Stranger does a shockingly good Flametongue Kavu impersonation. And Imaginary Threats just looks kind of hilarious: the situationally powerful but has cycling stapled on. I think Banewhip and Sandtongue are comparable and it's worth it to stay on color so I go with Baby Kavu.
Pick 3
This one was pretty interesting. Two very playable red cards but the Sifter Wurm is a beater. I speculate on the Wurm. It does require green (and green's ramp) but it's a high end card worth the payoff.
Pick 4
Can I interest you in the same question? Or perhaps put it up against removal? Here I flinch and take the removal. I think it's the right call. Red is feeling more open (at this point in the pack at least) and I'm not sure how many Sifter Wurms I want if I'm unsure about green.
Pick 5
SWEET SASSY MOLASSY! Okay I get it! Maybe they want me to take more Sifter Wurms? Also a "A" sideboard card and a decent two-drop. I think I made a mistake here in taking the two-drop. Perhaps I overlearned the lessons of Amonkhet but I was getting worried about my curve (three 4-drops and a 7-drop).
The pack ends with a lot of good green, so I like my pivot to green.
Pack 2
Pick 2
(Pick 1 had literally only one green card in the pack... but it was Ambuscade so that was easy.) But pick 2 was a little more interesting. First, nice work cutting green! Woo! Second, this is a pretty tough choice with two very good cards. I think the upside on the turn-2 5/4 snake is just too much to ignore, but I do think about it.
Pick 5
Another interesting choice in the 5th pick. Chandra's Defeat is a sideboard card, but what a sideboard card! Oasis Ritualist is a good card in a stalling deck, which I'm looking like (2x 5-drop, 6-drop, and a 7-drop so far). I also already have a Ritualist and a piece of mediocre ramp (the 3-mana sorcery). So I go with the Chandra's Defeat. I like this choice. There's still plenty of time to get ramp.
Interestingly the green and the red dries up in the rest of the pack but I get a bunch of deserts for my Baby Kavu. Plus cycling lands that come into play tapped are pretty sweet in a ramp deck.
Pack three was totally straightforward. A Hoody-B at P3p8 was nice, other than that I just fill out my curve.
Deck
Sideboard
(also some random 2 & 3 drops if things get really frisky)
Results
I'm an excited to announce a huge technological breakthrough here at the Magicanotes family: streaming & videos! All the low production values, questionable insight, and irregular schedule you've come to expect from us, just now with my voice drilling into your eardrums. That and I forgot to adjust the in-game volume. So lots of learning all over.
I lost the first round to a very good UW fliers deck. Actually, it really just had this:
Yup that fetches up his killer Angel AND draws a card when he casts it. Gross. I lost in two games.
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