This will be a deep dive into a draft that I got trapped and didn’t see the trap until it was way, way too late. I should have been in Silverquill but instead I ended up with a Sultai pile. But it was a trap! 4 out of 5 Admiral Akbars agree with me on this.

Draft log

It started so innocently. Open a strong card with the blue Emiritus professor and got some decent blue passed early. This false channel laid the trap in P1p4.

Pack 1, Pick 4

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Easy to narrow down to Best Card & Best Fit. Umbral juke is solid C+, but so is Pop Quiz! Seems a good reason to stick with blue, so I did. Any card other than Pop Quiz, and I almost definitely take Umbral Juke. Which would have made the following picks WAY more clear.

Pack 1, Pick 5

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The total lack of blue cards here is a yikes, and I should have given it more thought. The red and green is also pretty shallow and weak. What is the actual best card in the pack? This is… really really hard. I took the Scurrid Colony under the “2-drops are hard to find” but that implies a light forcing of blue a la Quandrix. Hindsight is looking at the Poet and Spiteful Squad ( and/or Pilgrim or Pest Summoning and taking one of those. Letter of Acceptance is a C- playable that can fit anywhere. I don’t like Draconic Intervention, but maybe I’m just wrong on that?

Anyway, if I have that Juke from before I definitely don’t take the Squirrel and I probable end up with a second Silverquill card. Probably Poet.

Pack 1, Pick 6

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Oh this is getting MUCH worse. No good cards of any color, and barely any playables. I take the Silverquill Pledgemage. Though Necrotic Fumes is a pretty good lesson. Not great, but good. So again, the only two C+ cards are in black. Alarm bells should be ringing.

Note: alternate-universe-Jed now has three Silverquill cards.

(jump) Pack 1, Pick 9

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And here’s where the wheels come off. Study Break is the best card in the pack by a mile. No blue to be seen anywhere. Hell, no GREEN to be seen anywhere. Professor’s Warning is a fine card, with Star Pupil and Show of Confidence both having a strong role. What do I take?

Dina. Maybe I’m to be Witherbloom. The Worst and Last Choice (tbf, the Cauldron last pick warped me a little). Sigh. Salting the wound was a P2p7 Killian wheeling my way. Thank you, I get it.

deck

The Happy Grandma came to visit so I haven’t even had a chance to build the deck. I’m not sure if I’m even going to, the pool is THAT weak with the self-inflicted own goal. The lesson for me is always be actively thinking, “have a seen a signal yet?” because a streak of blue cards isn’t actually a signal. That’s just a payoff if blue happens to be correct for the seat. Which is wasn’t.