Draft

In a possibly ominous sign of things to come, lil Chandra did not nap according to daycare. She “rolled around on her mat and then stared at me, silently” is the full report. I know that youth is wasted on the young, but what would you give for a mandatory 2 hour nap every afternoon? That would be the greatest.

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p6: Witch’s Cottage vs. Silverflame Squire. I should have taken the land here
P1p8: Flutterfox vs. Cauldron’s Gift. The gift isn’t that good, and this was my chance to get into BW.
P1p10: again with the Fluttering Foxes.

Finished pack 1 firmly in black, feeling a little bad with playable black knights going around. I could go into anything. Unfortunately, I never really leave black.

Self-Assessment

Well that was weird. Great black removal but black didn’t feel… open? Someone was in food upstream of me. Should have been BW

Deck

Draft

Two drafts in the opening week?! My god, Lil Chandra must be going to bed quite early. And you would be correct.

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: Reave Soul vs. Glass Casket vs. Dragonfire. I think Reave is best.
P1p2: Shepard of the Flock vs. Outmuscle
P1p3: Glass Casket vs. Searing Barrage

P2p1: Agonizing choice between Edgewall Innkeeper (great in GW adventure), Scalding Cauldron, and Trapped in the Tower. I take the Cauldron because despite the late green in pack 1, I’m still not sure of my lane. Responsible, but lacked flair. The Fierce Witchstalker in P2p5 solidified me in green

P3p4: Should have taken Once and Future over another Curious Pair.

Self-Assessment

The roughest hindsight: I should have taken that Innkeeper in P2p1. However, finding the green lane rewarded me handsomely in pack 3. Proud of myself that I didn’t get tempted by the Stolen by the Fae in P2p1, since blue was just cut to ribbons. But I stayed open, found my lane, and drew from the deep well of playables.

Deck

Draft

Jumping into a new format! My track record at puzzling out formats without first hearing LR/LoL is not very good. But sometimes you just gotta draft during a nap. Well, almost napping. Well being kind quiet in a dark room. A locked room. Listen, I had 45 minutes okay? Don’t judge me.

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: I choose the Animating Faerie as the ceiling seems higher than Ardenvale Tactician (a very reliable card in the white dek
P1p2: Tower vs. Foulmire Knight. Reading closer, a 2-mana deathtouch knight cantrip is probably the better card in a vacuum. I went with the safer pick of decent removal.
P1p3: Syr Faren vs. nothing at all.
P1p4: The sheer number of mediocre red cards was notable, but Silverflame Squire is a card I really want to see if it works (1/2 combat trick 1/2 mediocre body)
Pack 1 ends up with a mess of Mardu cards. Three straight black removal cards in pack 2 firm me up in Black and I end up pretty happy with BW knights. P3p3 Pie vs. Youthful Knight was an interesting choice where I took the good 2-drop over the superior removal. I already had plenty though!

Self-Assessment

I felt like I did a good job of finding my lane. Not panicking in pack 1, hoovering the available removal in pack 2, and then just filling out the shape of my deck in pack 3.

Deck

Riding a little bit of a heater, with three trophies in my last four drafts. Of course when you’re trapped in a hotel room in an airport hotel, the alternatives are lacking. Plus I’m convinced there’s a conspiracy where hotel internet throttles streaming video (all kinds, not just THAT kind) to get you to pony up the extra $9.95 for Mega Hilton Marriott Plus or whatever. It certainly sounds plausible, which is good enough for me to leap to a firmly held belief!

Draft

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: easy Vivien
P1p2: Cloudkin is strongest card in pack. The Temple is sorely tempting, but too soon.
P1p3: Ember Hauler vs. Pacifism. I like the Ember more overall.
P1p4: I think that’s the second Weaponsmith? Seems weird. I take it.

Pack 1 I’m somewhere in Naya, only knowing white for sure (I think)

Self-Assessment

Did I draft the hard way? Well, falling in love with Vivien and Golos warped my draft a little. I think I should have taken the Silverback Shaman over a GW tapped land, but I had so many 5-drops already! Definitely the hardest choice.

Deck

Draft

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: Eagle vs. Fenlurker vs. Druid. I think it’s between Druid and Fenlurker and I take the Fen on the strength of the 2-for-1.
P1p2: Sad pack. Raise the Alarm I guess?
P1p3: Bone Splinters vs. Dragon vs. Reduce. Unconditional removal first I suppose. When in doubt, take the one-drop over the five-drops.
P1p4: Of note, Undead Servant that might wheel but I take Soul Salvage.
p6: late-ish Smuggler
p7: Shock. It’s red time people!

Self-Assessment

The late red in pack 1 (Smuggler & Shock) put me in red and the Audacious Thiefs & Murder plop me into black. Felt like the signals were clear there!

Deck

Draft

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: easy Gargos, one of the best cards in the format. Now warping my picks pretty heavily towards
P1p3: Power of Bone Splinters over a 2nd Spider
P1p4: late Pacifism. Worth a speculation here
P1p5: Pulse is very strong. Noting the strong black playables too
P1p7: Shockingly late Weaponsmith.
P1p8: Pacifism vs. Fenlurker. Wut.

Felt like I had to force green a bit here but I think Gargos is worth it.

Did I draft the hard way?

So… I definitely was forcing Green for Gargos. But not egregiously so. In the abstract, it felt like black and white maybe should have been my colors, but never a good enough reason to switch. I was hoping to get enough fixing to make Abzan happen, but the glut of Disfigures kept me from taking fixing options. Not a bad problem to have, but I worry about the overall power level of this deck.

Deck

Draft

Up at the cabin with the nerds on our Boys’ Weekend Escape. Sure there are some social board games (Root was fun), introducing Breath of the Wild, and grilling truly preposterous number of steaks. We even talked about our feelings a little!

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: Spectral Sailor over Cloud-Kin Seer. Doesn’t feel great but a clear choice.
P1p2: Not a great pack but I think Boreal Elemental is the best choice. I wouldn’t mind taking the Temple, but I want to make sure that I’m definitely one of those colors before I commit.
P1p3: Hmmm, I wouldn’t call this a LATE Shock, but it is notable.
P1p4: Scampering Scorcher does reasonable work. I’ll try it.
P1p6: Skipping ahead to pick six, I see a Dawning Angel. Not a signal, but definitely what I’ll take over nothing.

Pack 2: I open Baby Chandra, who is excellent, and I happily take it. After being passed a Loxodon Lifechanter, I start taking white. Blue gets cut, but a wheeling Gauntlets of Light feels pretty good.

Pack 3: I crack open Empyrean Eagle, grab some splashing tools, and solidify a UWr Skies deck.

Assessment

How did I do Drafting the Hard Way ™? It felt pretty good, if anything I delayed too long committing to a color. But red was so cut in pack 2 that it made it hard to get in there, especially since it wasn’t that open in pack 1. Playable deck, low on interaction & removal though.

Deck

Draft

Well I need to get the taste of that GW failure out of my mouth. Felt bad from start to finish it did. Nothing beats drafting angry!

Draft Log

Early Picks

P1p1: Easy Bag of Holding, since it’s colorless. Chandra’s Outrage would have been #2.
P1p2: Audaction Thief vs. Aerialist vs. Syphon. Tricky! I think the recurring advantage potential of Audacious Thief outweighs the inefficient removal of Syphon, but that might be wrong.
P1p3: Rabid Bite vs. Barkhide Troll vs. Ancestral Blade vs. Evolving Wilds. I have no idea, so I fall back on a pretty good removal card. I think Ancestral Blade is #2.
P1p4: Barkhide Troll over nothing. Still nothing I would consider a signal.
P1p5: Well that’s a late Goblin Smuggler! Signal-ish, but nothing resembling red earlier keeps me from being too enthusiastic.
P1p6: the first big fork! Embercat (a good red 2-drop) vs. Griffin Protector. I think the Griffin Protector wins games more than the efficient 2-drop does. But the recency of Smuggler (and importance of 2-drops) should have swayed me.

I finish out pack 1 with some medium black and white cards. Not sure why I picked the Fencing Ace over Gorging Vulture, that was a mistake.

Pack 2: eh, i get some feel-bad red cards coming by way, including a P2p3 Chandra’s Outrage, criminally late Goblin Smugglers (P2p6! P2p11!!!!). Pack 3 I trudge through, looking mournfully at the red that went by. I wheeled a Raise the Alarm though, so that’s cool.

Assessment

The big question is whether or not I should have gotten into red in pack 1. If I went Smugger –> Embercat –> Pack Mastiff in 5/6/7, then maybe So many Goblin Smugglers! I give myself a B, maybe B-.

Deck