Draft log
Ooo an Inscription! And I get shoved off green… immediately! I nestle into a very odd RW lane… but not really Warriors. It’s… party synergies?
interesting pick: P3p1
So, there’s a Phylath just sitting there, one of the more powerful cards in the set. Also in contention is the Party Packbeast (party enabler) and Emeria Captain (party payoff). I took the high upside of the captain, though arguably I should have taken the packbeast since I already had two very good party payoffs (Squad Commander and Minotaur). A very close call. The Kitesail Cleric did wheel, which was a nice positive reinforcement that I’m in the right colors. As was the P3p15 Kor Celebrant.
deck
game plan
Red/white… party! So with a number of pretty good payoffs, I want to play a little slower, a little more midrange. After the first round, Ir ealized that Kor Celebrant is great in this deck and we’re really not aggressive enough to take advantage of the fireblade charging in.
round 1
WG oppo got stuck on 2 mana so that wasn’t much of a game. Sideboarding: Brought in Kor Celebrant, which ended up being SO good, it’s staying in full time. Learning!
round 2
Ugh, not a great keep. But not mull-able either. I drew into good action. Opponent was on BW with Mesa Lynx and the 2/1 mulling flying guy; not exactly the clerics synergy powerhouse. Nothing worth sideboarding, on to round two!.
Fun sequencing this opening hand. Want to go cleric first, so the Electromancer can cast the Vanguard. Definitely playing the spell-land first too. Oppo stumbled on mana and I drew into perfect action.
Interesting Moments
sequencing
So, what’s the order? I can Outrider to push the rogue through, or make it invulnerable with the Cleric, or what? I went Cleric first (no blocks, drew a land on the exile trigger) then pushed through another strong attack with +3/+3 from the Outrider and felt clever. Not SUPER complicated, but worth making sure I order things correctly.
Benalish Dad 
first of: 3 and 0 … 3 and 0 … 3 and 0
ok, question “Ugh, not a great keep. But not mull-able either.”. Tell me more, looks like five lands there seems wild, is it a format play, a curve play, new mulligan rules play (and by new mulligan rules i mean something that has been created after 2014?
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So, keeping 5 lands and 2 lands are the quintessential borderline keeps. If this deck was a curve-out deck, then I would have to mull since sitting there doing nothing until turn 4 would be a disaster. But the party mechanics don’t really reward aggressive aggro attacks, trading, and tricks. You want to build a full party and take advantage of the payoffs. So a slow, mid-rangy start is perfectly reasonable. Having a removal spell and a reasonably stabilizing body (even if it’s just a Hill Giant) is… fine. Sometimes you have to trust your deck to draw the right cards.
Mulligan rules are basically the same on Arena. They were playing with a scry 1 if you mull, that appears to be gone for now. So mulling really is a disaster and should only be done if you can’t keep a hand. You can keep a 5-lander, it’s just a very begrudging keep.
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Edit: it’s the “Vancouver mulligan” now. So when you mull, you draw a full hand of seven cards. Then discard down to your mulligan number. So you can still craft your hand to a degree. Still very bad, though not crippling.
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oof, yeah i remember we would never mull on the playground because we’d spend the whole recess shuffling if we did. I think we just put our hand on the bottom and drew seven more off the top or something.
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