This is the last draft with Ghitu Chronicler, a card for which I had high hopes as a modal stopgap versus aggressive decks or a later-game buyback of a high-impact spell. The card was often just very overcosted at 6cmc and the 1/3 stats didn’t impact the board greatly. Immolation Shaman, an earlier exclusion, is back to play the role of early-game blocker and late game mana-sink.
Opponent has a handful of drafts and has discussed the grid population a few times; I assume they are relatively expert-level competition (beyond us both being bad players…).
Opponent randomly determined to pick first. Opponent goes first in odd packs and their picks are red. I go first in even packs and my picks are blue.
Column 2: 1 Winged Shepherd ]1 Syr Carah, the Bold 1 Warteye Witch
Column 3:
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Doomed Dissenter
1 Back for More
Opponent had a notion to explore black-green early. I took what I thought to be the two most powerful cards to set myself up to play nice (or fight for black removal and have incidental creatures).
Pack 2
Row 1:
1 Bastion of Remembrance
1 Wrangle
1 Stir the Sands
I took three red cards to cement myself in the color. Opponent continued down the green-black path but speculative received a Shelter should they end up in something like green-white aura synergies.
Opponent stayed the course with two great 2cmc creatures for black-green. Here, I made possibly a large gaffe by not taking Zenith Flare and the 2 white cards… to take Ghitu Chronicler and stay open (with mostly red cards). Opponent was tilted I took this route (and probably correct in it was a mistake).
Pack 4
Row 1:
1 Conclave Naturalists
1 Excavation Mole
1 Watchers of the Dead
Column 3:
1 Watchers of the Dead
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Boros Garrison
With my previous red picks, I veer into green and start the process of fighting the opponent for cards. In hindsight, green-red seems to be more of a deck trying to leverage some of the enchantment theme of green to generate card advantage and board position (supplemented with the cycling pay-offs and removal of red); it may have been correct to take Verdant plus Rhino.
It was a big mistake for me to take Shredded Sails and not Skola Gravedancer with the Phyrexian Furnace. I valued the cycling pay-off too highly versus a deck with very few opportunities to get flying creatures.
Phyrexian Furnace and Scrabbling Claws are quietly all-stars in the format, so I was very pleased to pick one up versus a graveyard-based opponent.
Here, I feel great picking up the Pyromancer … that would’ve been better in red-white. The Limits also joins my other threaten effects to cement a strong core of removal if I can get sacrifice outlets.
Opponent prioritizes Talons to go with Dreampod Druid and Gnarlwood Rhino. I am unsure if this is better than the Trapper plus End, but I respect it. I pick up one of the aforementioned sacrifice outlets.
Pack 8
Row 1:
1 Shepherd of the Flock
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Corpse Connoisseur
Column 3:
1 Fists of Flame
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Temple of Abandon
BIG pickup for the opponent to go with a previously scored Dread Return. I am happy to pick up Overgrowth, which in theory will enable my deck’s big-mana plays.
I hate the Necromancer with Igneous Elemental instead of getting an additional Season. Opponent picks up an on-color Temple and the Season (which didn’t get played).
Pack 11
Row 1:
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Savage Ventmaw
1 Savai Thundermane
Row 2:
1 Omen of the Dead
1 Eternal Taskmaster
1 Blood Rites
Column 2: 1 Sigil of the Nayan Gods 1 Leafcrown Dryad 1 Vengeful Rebirth
Column 3:
1 Silverflame Squire
1 Agent of the Fates
1 Blazing Hellhound
I take the Leafcrown pile with Vengeful Rebirth. In hindsight, I should’ve taken the Galvanic Arc to have a lower curve. Opponent ends up splashing Arc.
Pack 13
Row 1:
1 Garenbrig Carver
1 Humble Defector
1 Hero of the Pride
Column 3:
1 Hero of the Pride
1 Sifter Wurm
1 Promise of Bunrei
Opponent happily slams another aura and “Duress” Exarch (this card returns creatures so infrequently in our games thus far) while I have delusions of my red-green deck successfully controlling games.
I grab a ton of green cards that would look great in the opponent’s deck, and they get a Slavedriver.
I started trying to build ramp but after several matches of being overran, I settled on a deck focused on the sacrifice synergies in red (which matched up well against larger, high-impact threats that the opponent assembled).
Opponent ended up with a very focused black-green deck and decided to cut the Benefaction of Rhonas to focus on impact. I do not recall if the final build was 15 or 16 lands. My last notes had the following list.
The green-red deck had a hard time stabilizing in the earlier games where it was very much focused on ramping and didn’t have the full steal-plus-sacrifice suite. With the additional removal, I finally found a deck that could stabilize after falling behind for the first 4 or 5 turns. Opponent and I split our games after the config changes were made
These matches also opened the question: should there be counterplay for the steal effects in black and/or green? Prompted by the following board state, this question is one I will keep in conversation as more matches are played. The opponent and I played a back-and-forth positioning game until Lotleth Giant put me low on life. A critical attack leaving me at 1 (thanks to Talons of Wildwood granting trample) opened the opponent to a Frenzied Fugue alpha strike.
A small update was made to more align red with control and to add instant-speed interaction in black that wasn't "destroy target creature".
Updates Severed Strands > Village Rites
Fate Unraveler > Supernatural Stamina
Merchant of the Vale > Rage Nimbus
Immolation Shaman > Oread of Mountain's Blaze
Opponent randomly determined to pick first. Opponent goes first in odd packs and their picks are red. I go first in even packs and my picks are blue. [UPDATE IN PROGRESS]
Pack 1
Row 1:
1 Call of the Herd
1 Garenbrig Carver
1 Benefaction of Rhonas
Row 2:
1 Ironclad Slayer
1 Arborback Stomper
1 Shepherd of the Flock
Row 3:
1 Reaper of Night
1 Scarab Feast
1 Lotleth Giant
Column 1:
1 Call of the Herd
1 Ironclad Slayer
1 Reaper of Night