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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pretty straightforward Orzhov draft. One interesting wrinkle was getting two good pieces of Azorius removal (Deputy & Lawmage’s Binding) and wrestling with whether or not to try and splash it or not. Still, anytime you have three Blade Jugglers, you feel pretty good.
Also of note: P1p7: I think I should take Grasping Thrull over Summary Judgment here. P2p7: The splash versus the Grasping Thrull is a hard choice. I took the gate because I felt like the upside of getting two pieces of solid removal is worth it. I don’t think it worked out.
Well that certainly felt like an Arena draft, pre-gate adjustment. Getting the Gates Ablaze and Colossus back-to-back certainly felt pretty clear. It was interesting weighing taking gates over good playables. A gate over Skewer the Critics? I think pretty good removal is better than a gate in the abstract.
Ooof, tough draft. Obviously nothing wrong with opening a Zegana, followed by a Frilled Mystic. Sending two Basilica Bell-Haunts downstream did sort of hurt. The big question was whether or not I should have moved into black with the P1p4 Grotesque Demise or stayed “on plan” with a Temur gate. I think I made the wrong choice and stuck to my guns a little too much, rare for me.
Not wild about my P2p3. Yes, removal is nice. But the Trollbred Guardian is a card that demands answers, which is better than a splash conditional removal.
Oh, but I did record the draft portion! I can’t exactly play magic and talk, but I can draft. Well, sort of.
Deck
Results
Round 1: playing against Gruul, ground him down with the wee fliers. Mulled to 6, kept a one lander with three 2-drops and stumbled out of the gate. he sticks the 5/5 flying sphinx and I don’t really have an answer without red mana. Game 3 I slimebind my way to victory!
Round 2: facing pretty good Azorius. Lots of Lawmage Bindings kept me on the backfoot, even though they are missing black . I beat down in game two, and pull out game three with some sweet tempo beats.
Round 3: facing Rakdos. With… Rakdos! Somehow won game one after a mull to 5. Had a sweet play when I moved a counter off a chump block to land legal next turn. Oppo got manascrewed on 2-lands for the second. Played against a fellow LoL listener, Draft_Diary, who was very cool.
Learnings
Sticking to a plan is good. The tempo threat of the Aeromunculus is very real, definitely the 3-drop of choice. This just seemed like a solid value Simic deck.
Benalish Dad 