Been a little quiet on updates, as once again the juggling act of “holidays, Benalish Momma’s new job, drafting Magic, writing about Magic” meant one ball got dropped. But I drafted a fun one that, while isn’t quite a personal HoF, certainly came close.

Sadly I drafted this on mobile, so the draft data isn’t available. The lane was a little contested and I would have preferred to have one or two more low-curve creatures. But that’s not the highlight of the deck

I have to confess, this card is total catnip to me. If you just cast it, it’s… fine. Mostly air (since it’s a one-mana cantrip). But if you have multiples, it actually turns into a real card that starts tilting the battlefield in your favor. For example, check out this delightful board state:

On turn 4, I cast Ancestral Anger for a second and third time, creating a 5/2 and 6/2 tramplers. I attacked with both of them backed up by a pair of Bolts. Oppo made the obvious blocks, I bolted the blockers and they took 11 damage. It was a delight. The AAs were also surprisingly good topdecks later in the game. Turning a 4/4 into a 6/4 trampler while drawing more action was surprisingly relevant.

Two other things are worth pointing out. First, running 15 lands. I settled on this for two reasons. First, I was treating this deck as only 35 cards, giving myself credit for the Ancestral Angers cantriping. Second, this is a quintessential deck that loses a long game, so I wanted to build with confidence where I would cast some early creatures, reload with AAs and close out the game as quickly as possible. Second is this little guy:

The metrics do not love Spiked Ripsaw. It sits at a games played winrate of 53%, which is slightly below average (17lands users usually average a 55% win rate, which is why 50% isn’t average). However, it worked pretty well in this deck. It was very On Plan for a deck that wanted to close out the game as quickly as possible. The equip cost is pretty rough, so if you’re playing a long game with lots of re-equips, it’s probably not going to go well. But on a board that has been cleared out with aggressive attacks (thanks to the AAs) it closes the door in a hurry. Sacking forests to give the equipped creature trample is this deck in a nutshell. Why yes, I will mortgage the future to win the game now.

7-2