Draft

Draft Log

Well the naps started happening again. But without pants. The Benalish Momma won’t let me post photos without explicit written consent, which seems fair.

Early Picks of note

P1p1: The classic dilemna: efficient removal or high ceiling build-around?

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I went with the higher ceiling in the Cauldron, as I think that’s what you need to do in this set. Fortunately I never saw a whiff of either black or red so it didn’t matter!
P3p1: Castle vs. So Tiny/Scavengers. I thought I was going to be more white (and that white was open in pack 1) only for there to be NO white and I ended up nearly mono-blue. Embarrassing that.

Self-Assessment

End of pack 1: feels like UW fliers to me with the super late flutterfox.
Pack 2 felt hideous almost the whole time.
Pack 3 was the reward! Arcanist Owl (x2!) and then Stolen by the Fae. Ended up way more blue that I thought. Listening to LR, I felt like I should have snapped up the So Tiny and Merfolk Looter.

Deck

Pretty clear: fliers with removal!

Results

• Round 1 vs. Ub: facing a pretty tidy mirror, except they get their Stolen by the Fae first, which is unfortunate. And an Arcanist Owl. Eventually I run out of answers to the flying armada, which was a touch ironic. The other two games oppo constantly held up counterspell mana, except I had a board and they didn’t.
• Round 2 vs. BW: Game 1 started to plan, with my oppo’s paralyzed knights gazing wistfully up at my air force. An Archon of Absolution ground the game to a halt, but I eventually out-resourced the oppo. Missed a neat line where I could have Stolen by the Fae the Archon, then gave everybody haste, and won a turn earlier. Game three played out similarly, except I’m down to <2 minutes on my clock and my oppo started trying to AFK me. Eh, Lil Chandra was sound asleep, I didn’t have anywhere to be. A bit grifter though. Finals!
• Round 3 vs. UG: We stared at each other for a while in the mirror control but I get a board presence first and Sleep his blockers. Snap concession resolving Stolen by the Fae. Oppo got off to a better start in game 2, keeping me on the back foot and eventually put me down with the resources from an Unexplained Visions. Didn’t help that I forgot about the Mesmeric Glare in my hand either. In game 3 I go on the draw with a 2-lander. We battled out and I landed a vicious Run Away Together to reduce their Return of the Wildspeaker from draw 5 to a draw 1. That was the turning point in the game as I then proceeded to land my big creatures (Syr Elenora, Moonlit) and keep them on the back foot. Reloaded with Unexplained Vision and trophy time!

Learnings

Finding one’s lane is the name of the game. I could have drafted better (So Tiny is phenomenal. Never underestimate a single mana card!) but there’s some latitude within the lane.

3-0