Draft

Kind of a murky draft. The Lawmage’s Binding versus the CCDD Sphinx of New Prahv is an interesting P1p1 decision. I went with the more flexible removal. Then some blue, then a P1p5 Frenzied Arynx and P1p6 Grasping Thrull caused me to veer around a little but running Sphinx’s Insight at both P1p11 and P1p12 solidified in me in Azorius. I eventually pick up both a Dovin’s Acuity and a High Alert for a Azorius deck that is a little generic.

Draft Log

Deck

I’m worried about the curve, with only five 2-3 drops. But there’s reasonable power-level as I stall to find High Alert I guess? Feels 50/50ish of a deck to me.

Results

• Round 1 vs. Simic: Oppo gets off to a hot start with the Sauroforms that are hard for me to answer. I eventually stabilize and begin digging for High Alert. I find it and the AK-As finish it pretty quick. Second game I sideboard in the 3/1 prowler for early defense, draw it, and it lands about 15 damage as I fake being a tempo deck.
• Round 2 vs Gruul/gates: Gatebreaker ram is very hard for me to deal with. I actually almost get there with Dovin’s Acuity keeping me alive until a Gateway Colossus ends things. I had high alert in hand too, but that still won’t allow my dudes to block him. I won game 2 by grinding through the air. In game 3, oppo sideboarded wisely, bringing in some Spiders & Sphinxes. I flood badly, but the Azorius Skyguard (the -1/-0 flier) does good work in letting me be able to block his Gruul big guys. I then start ripping answers, getting the Binding to stop the Sphinx, then High Alert to let my AK-A bust through. Whew! Finals!
• Round 3 vs. Rakdos. We both mull to six, but I start beating in with both High Alert and Dovin’s Acuity. He lands double IGI, which is a real thing. His deck is not actually that fast, but has some high power cards. Second game I keep a risky 1-land, but it had some 2-drop action and some Arrester’s Admonition, plus I knew I was facing a slow-ish Rakdos deck.

Learnings

Foremost, Senate Guildmage > Depose // Deploy. There was never a situation in which I wished the Guildmage was a D//D, and I frequently wished for the reverse. Beyond that, it just felt like a nice smooth control deck.

3-0