Very weird draft. Pick 5 Savage Smash, Pick 6 Collision//Colossus cemented into gruul without any real countersignals. Green was dry, but BTV wheeled for me at pick 11 (!) so I was feeling pretty good. Maybe get some green in pack 2. But nay, no green there. Lots of Azorius! But then the Gruul dried up in pack 3 with Esper everywhere. I can’t really spot the missed signal.
The Benalish Daddies are BACK. We’re pioneering a new co-draft, where we draft and just play one game, then the other drafts and plays a game. Maximizes drafting and minimizes being trapped on the draw with a subpar deck. So let’s see how we did. Note how I apparently screwed up the portion of the screen to capture, emphasizing getting Chris’s rugged profile but cutting off about… 25% of the field. I did better on Chris’s draft though!
This was an interesting draft that I think speaks to the power of not overcommitting. It was a very murky first pack with some early gate payoffs and late blue playables, very little in the sense of “signals.” Then late Dovin’s Acuity and a pair of High Alerts put us in Azorius. I disagreed strongly with taking Windstorm Drake over Spirit of the Spires and I feel somewhat vindicated by the outcome.
Kind of a murky draft. The Lawmage’s Binding versus the CCDD Sphinx of New Prahv is an interesting P1p1 decision. I went with the more flexible removal. Then some blue, then a P1p5 Frenzied Arynx and P1p6 Grasping Thrull caused me to veer around a little but running Sphinx’s Insight at both P1p11 and P1p12 solidified in me in Azorius. I eventually pick up both a Dovin’s Acuity and a High Alert for a Azorius deck that is a little generic.
Easy Bedeck in P1p1, then some good Gruul with a P1p4 Savage Smash and P1p5 Burning Tree Vandal feeling pretty good. I saw a late Slimebind and then was passed a Mass Manipulation in pack 2. Definite “Hmmm” moment where I explored a more of a blue base, but the lack of gates (and continued stream of Savage Smash cards) put me back on the Gruul train.
Interesting draft! Pretty good power cards early: Bedeck//Bedazzle, Consecrate//Consume and then a Skewer the Critics. From there the draft was pretty open. Was Skitter Eel a signal? No… So I veer around, grabbing a couple gates thinking Temur midrange… and then Gates Ablaze wheels at 14. I am… agog.
P2p1 was an interesting pick: Precognitive Preception vs. Troll-Bred Guardian. I think PP is more powerful in the vacuum, but where I was at (questionable mana strewn across three colors) made me pick the more sure-thing in TBG.
Gate payoffs come to me in pack 3, including a free Gateway Sneak. Rakdos was empty at the table, given how the Firewheeler wheeled (no pun intended, I promise) in pack 2, but I can’t see how I could have gotten in there.
A bit of a feels-bad-man draft. A late Depose // Deploy, followed by playable blue & white commons makes me think that Azorius is open. But the Sunder Shaman that I open in pack 2 wheels. It WHEELS. That makes me sad. Azorius feels a little cut on pack 2 but opens back up. Doesn’t feel like this deck got all the way there, though some beef with a Gate Colossus might help.
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.
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.
Read moreOnce 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.
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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Benalish Dad 