Draft

Draft Log

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Draft

Copiloting a draft with Drew! We pretty easily find a Rakdos seat, the only one at the table. But the Blade Jugglers are sadly missing, and there’s only so many Trumpeters you can stand.

Draft Log

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Draft

This felt like a tough draft. Pretty easy early picks but a real lack of clarity on what’s open. The midpack Sauroform Hybrids nudged me into green, which looks correct in hindsight, but yeesh. Felt like Simic really dried up in pack 3 too.

Draft Log

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So I can’t complain about the power level, but that curve looks clunky. Quench put in as emergency early interaction; not a good sign. Still–if I can stay alive–I have some good card advantage and powerful upside with the Gate Colossus, Mass Manipulation, the notorious TBG. If it doesn’t get run over, I think it stands a chance.

Draft

Once again I had hopes for Rakdos and once again they were dashed with a P1p7 Consecrate // Consume. Powerful removal suite but the creatures don’t feel like they ever really got there.

Draft Log

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It’s not a great sign playing Orzhov without a single Grasping Thrull to be seen. Good removal and some good card advantage tools but this feels a little fragile. I’d be pleased with 2-1.

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Starting to wonder if I should just call this Gruul Dad? P1p1 Ram followed by a brief dalliance in Rakdos & Simic, only for a P1p7 Savage Smash to bring me back home. Two more rams to follow, so I started snapping up gates of any shape. The big question is how much am I curving out vs. more midrange. In P3p1, it’s a choice between Smelt-Ward Ingus and Rubblebelt Runner. I had a ton of 3-drops (so many BTVs & Rams) so that pushed me a bit cheaper, but with so many gates I’m not sure how often I’m really beating down.

Draft Log

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Draft

Felt like another pretty straight-forward Gruul draft, except didn’t get any of the gold payoffs (except for Collision//Colossus). So going to play this like a low to the ground aggro deck. Be interesting to see how the Scorchmarks do as a possible double-spell on 4-5 lands.

Draft Log

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Draft

Hello Gruul my old friend! At first it seemed like it wasn’t open, and picks 3-7 spent wandering the wilds of Esper. But late playables in pack one like the 3/2 Sylvan Brushstrider and the sheer density of green & red convinced me that this was my seat at the table.

The only really tough pick was Electrodominance vs. Gatebreaker Ram in P2p1. I haven’t played with ED, but I suspect the ceiling is higher. I passed on an Amplifire for a safe 2-drop. A wheeling Clan Guildmage in the 3rd pack cemented it.

Draft Log

Draft

Holy cow, that was a MESS. Should I have been Rakdos? Never a clear black signal of any worth, though there were a lot of Plague Wights that wheeled around. But the playable strength smeared across Temur seemed fine after I calmed down afterwards. I removed my bizarre black-splash for Rakdos and just played a generic beater of a deck.

Draft Log

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Draft

Sadly unable to turn Judith into a Rakdos deck, but Gruul was VERY open for a lot of the draft. Some interesting choices in shaping the Gruul deck

P2p1: Gatebreaker Ram (0 gates) vs. Incubation Druid vs. Savage Smash #1

P2p4: Sunder Shaman #3 vs. Savage Smash #1

P2p5: Rhythm of the Wild vs. Savage Smash #2

P3p2: Amplifire vs. Sauroform Hybrid

Draft Log

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Draft Log

A bit proud of this draft, as I successfully don’t fall in love with solid black playables and find the open lane in Temur. It was a little confusing that Gruul seemed SO open from the right, but so cut from the left. I ended up in Simic, as blue just seemed really underdrafted at the table. Very late Sage’s Row Savant & Slimebinds. I got the late Sharktocrab, so I started taking Stony Strengths above splashing another Savage Smash. Unsure if correct. Also playing the free Galloping Lizrog, since taking a counter off Sharktocrab is actively a good thing.

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