Kirblinx vs Modin: Non-Black Penny Pincher Grid Draft

[Kirblinx]

Pack 1

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Reckless Waif

Row 2:
1 Tiger Claws
1 Wingsteed Rider
1 Chromatic Star

Row 3:
1 Lyev Skyknight
1 Feat of Resistance
1 Quirion Ranger

Column 1:
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Tiger Claws
1 Lyev Skyknight

Column 2:
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Wingsteed Rider
1 Feat of Resistance

Column 3:
1 Reckless Waif
1 Chromatic Star
1 Quirion Ranger

Pack 2

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Jeskai Sage
1 Become Immense
1 Wind-Scarred Crag

Row 2:
1 Petravark
1 Bonesplitter
1 Assault Strobe

Row 3:
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Temple of Mystery

Column 1:
1 Jeskai Sage
1 Petravark
1 Rugged Highlands

Column 2:
1 Become Immense
1 Bonesplitter
1 Ghostly Flicker

Column 3:
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Assault Strobe
1 Temple of Mystery

Pack 3

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Court Homunculus
1 Tormenting Voice

Row 2:
1 Mana Leak
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Teetering Peaks

Row 3:
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Perilous Research
1 Ichor Wellspring

Column 1:
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Mana Leak
1 Ingot Chewer

Column 2:
1 Court Homunculus
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Perilous Research

Column 3:
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Ichor Wellspring

Pack 4

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Sunscape Familiar
1 Rewind
1 Orzhov Basilica

Row 2:
1 Regress
1 Stitched Drake
1 Champion of Lambholt

Row 3:
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Kiln Fiend
1 Peregrine Drake

Column 1:
1 Sunscape Familiar
1 Regress
1 Simic Growth Chamber

Column 2:
1 Rewind
1 Stitched Drake
1 Kiln Fiend

Column 3:
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Peregrine Drake

Pack 5

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Gruul Turf
1 Benevolent Bodyguard
1 Seeker of the Way

Row 2:
1 Tibor and Lumia
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Porcelain Legionnaire

Row 3:
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Reckless Charge
1 Crib Swap

Column 1:
1 Gruul Turf
1 Tibor and Lumia
1 Simic Growth Chamber

Column 2:
1 Benevolent Bodyguard
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Reckless Charge

Column 3:
1 Seeker of the Way
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Crib Swap

Pack 6

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Reclaim
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Snap

Row 2:
1 Gruul Turf
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Death Spark

Row 3:
1 Mistfire Adept
1 Deprive
1 Wandering Wolf

Column 1:
1 Reclaim
1 Gruul Turf
1 Mistfire Adept

Column 2:
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Deprive

Column 3:
1 Snap
1 Death Spark
1 Wandering Wolf

Pack 7

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Auriok Salvagers

Row 2:
1 Rude Awakening
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Monastery Swiftspear

Row 3:
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Firemane Angel
1 Moltensteel Dragon

Column 1:
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Rude Awakening
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Column 2:
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Firemane Angel

Column 3:
1 Auriok Salvagers
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Moltensteel Dragon

Pack 8

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Wing Splicer
1 Somnophore
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

Row 2:
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Epiphany

Row 3:
1 Ancestral Statue
1 Mindshrieker
1 Mistblade Shinobi

Column 1:
1 Wing Splicer
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Ancestral Statue

Column 2:
1 Somnophore
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Mindshrieker

Column 3:
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Mistblade Shinobi

Pack 9

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Volt Charge
1 Auriok Salvagers
1 Blastoderm

Row 2:
1 Vital Splicer
1 Glassdust Hulk
1 Jhessian Thief

Row 3:
1 Into the Roil
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Rough/Tumble

Column 1:
1 Volt Charge
1 Vital Splicer
1 Into the Roil

Column 2:
1 Auriok Salvagers
1 Glassdust Hulk
1 Mycosynth Wellspring

Column 3:
1 Blastoderm
1 Jhessian Thief
1 Rough/Tumble

Pack 10

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Khalni Garden
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Rift Bolt

Row 2:
1 Master Splicer
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Gush

Row 3:
1 Emerge Unscathed
1 Ambush Viper
1 Oblivion Ring

Column 1:
1 Khalni Garden
1 Master Splicer
1 Emerge Unscathed

Column 2:
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Ambush Viper

Column 3:
1 Rift Bolt
1 Gush
1 Oblivion Ring

Pack 11

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Trusty Machete

Row 2:
1 Doomed Traveler
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Longshot Squad

Row 3:
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Boros Garrison
1 Fertile Ground

Column 1:
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Doomed Traveler
1 Muddle the Mixture

Column 2:
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Boros Garrison

Column 3:
1 Trusty Machete
1 Longshot Squad
1 Fertile Ground

Pack 12

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Fangren Marauder
1 Sunlance

Row 2:
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Flickerwisp
1 Thopter Engineer

Row 3:
1 Abundant Growth
1 Rancor
1 Journey to Nowhere

Column 1:
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Abundant Growth

Column 2:
1 Fangren Marauder
1 Flickerwisp
1 Rancor

Column 3:
1 Sunlance
1 Thopter Engineer
1 Journey to Nowhere

Pack 13

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terrarion
1 Miscalculation

Row 2:
1 Telling Time
1 Pestermite
1 Lorescale Coatl

Row 3:
1 Juggernaut
1 Staggershock
1 Thundering Tanadon

Column 1:
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Telling Time
1 Juggernaut

Column 2:
1 Terrarion
1 Pestermite
1 Staggershock

Column 3:
1 Miscalculation
1 Lorescale Coatl
1 Thundering Tanadon

Pack 14

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Somber Hoverguard
1 Last Breath
1 Kessig Cagebreakers

Row 2:
1 Darksteel Juggernaut
1 Emancipation Angel
1 Skaab Goliath

Row 3:
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Krosan Restorer
1 Thornwood Falls

Column 1:
1 Somber Hoverguard
1 Darksteel Juggernaut
1 Galvanic Blast

Column 2:
1 Last Breath
1 Emancipation Angel
1 Krosan Restorer

Column 3:
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Skaab Goliath
1 Thornwood Falls

Pack 15

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Acidic Slime
1 Young Wolf

Row 2:
1 Flame Slash
1 Draining Whelk
1 Boros Garrison

Row 3:
1 Codex Shredder
1 Favored Hoplite
1 Prison Term

Column 1:
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Flame Slash
1 Codex Shredder

Column 2:
1 Acidic Slime
1 Draining Whelk
1 Favored Hoplite

Column 3:
1 Young Wolf
1 Boros Garrison
1 Prison Term

Pack 16

Spoiler

Row 1:
1 Rally the Peasants
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Sejiri Steppe

Row 2:
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Akroan Skyguard
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer

Row 3:
1 Horizon Chimera
1 Grab the Reins
1 Courier's Capsule

Column 1:
1 Rally the Peasants
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Horizon Chimera

Column 2:
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Akroan Skyguard
1 Grab the Reins

Column 3:
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1 Courier's Capsule

 

[Kirblinx]

So, we started with a fairly uninspiring first pack into a draft that many which-ways. Pack 8 I had real trouble deciding which way to go (it was my first pick). I somehow ended up in a value splicer build after picking up the Ghostly Flicker early and hoping to get the combo. The mnemonic wall never appeared though so I had to make do.

I feel there were a couple of build errors here, but I will get to them after the games.

Match 1!
Game 1:
Modin drops a turn 2 Doomed Traveler, while I play a Chromatic Star and a Telling Time in the first two to help set up my hand. I drop a Jhessian Thief, which gets Oblivion Ringed. I then drop a Pestermite during my turn to untap my fresh bounceland, which proceedes to get Death Sparked. Doomed Traveler visits the Teetering Peaks and beats me down to 15. I then get to drop my Acidic Slime to bust the O Ring and get my Thief back, which gets Crib Swapped. He really mustn't of wanted me to have that thief... Modin takes his turn and drops a Moltensteel Dragon and passes. I play a Peregrine Drake and a Journey to Nowhere on the Dragon and he Brimstone Volleys my drake in anger. I swing the the slime and pass. Modin plays a land and passes with only one card left in hand and the Doomed Traveler in play. I drop a Glassdust Hulk, swing with the slime and pass. Modin seems to have run out of gas and chumps my Hulk. I drop Krosan Restorer and pass. He swings with the spirit for unknown reasons. I take it, swing back to knock him to 3. He drops a Flickerwisp to bounce his scryland but he is still dead on board and dies on my turn..

Game 2:
I mulligan twice. First land had only one land (it was a bounce land). The next hand had two (TWO!) bouncelands. Maybe 5 bouncelands was too many. My 5-hander has two basics so it will do. Modin drops a turn 2 Porcelain Legionnaire and I play Telling Time. I drop a Krosan Restorer, while Modin beats me down and drops a Wingsteed Rider. I get to 5 mana with the restorer and a bounceland but the best I can play is a Ninja of the Deep Hours, as it is currently the only card in my hand that isn't white (I am colour screwed). Then this happens:

Oh God :eek:
He swings in with the team. I choose not to block the Legionnaire, then Volt Charge happens. Uh Oh. I go down to 11, the Rider goes up to a 4/4 double striker, plus the legionnaire makes 11. Well, I wasn't expecting to lose that game in 5 turns... Onto the next one!

Game 3:
Modin plays a Mogg War Marshal. I tap it down after he pays the echo with a Pestermite. Swing in, drop a Jhessian Thief and pass turn. He swings in with both goblins, I can see something coming but wanted to draw it out. He plays a Rally the Peasants, trades with my thief and hits me for 3. I swing with my Mite and play a Master Splicer. Modin drops a Wingsteed Rider and passes. I play a Bonesplitter, equip to the Pestermite and swing in with it and Golem. He blocks with both his creatures and the Wingsteed Rider Emerges Unscathed. So I Journey to Nowhere it in the second main. Modin Oblivion Rings my golem and has pretty much run out of gas. I drop a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Peregrine Drake and Acidic Slime, while Modin drops Monastary Swiftspear and Goblin Sharpshooter. My larger creatures keep swinging in and Modin manages to trade with the slime but can't deal with the rest of the creatures.

Match 1 to Kirblinx 2-1

Match 2!
Game 1
They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Well here is 1000 depressing words for you all:

As you can see by my hand, I couldn't really come back from that. On my last turn alive I got to snap with two bouncelands to get to five mana and drop a riftwing clouskate, but it was way too late.

Game 2:
Now this was a game. Modin starts aggressive with Monastary Swiftspear into Porcelain Legionnaire. I drop a Reclamation Sage to kill the Legionnaire. Rec Sage gets Death Sparked, Swiftspear hits and I drop a Master Splicer. Modin drops a Thopter Engineer swings with swifty and passes. I drop Jor Kadeen, swing with the golem to get chumped by the Engineer. Modin gets the Death spark back and swings with the Swiftspear. I block with Jor, surely 5 first strike should be enough for it. Emerge Unscathed and Death Spark ensure it is not and Jor goes down
At this point Modin has been stuck on three lands for a while so I Acidic Slime his Temple of Enlightenment to squeeze him a bit more (and cut off the Death Spark). He gets a Terramorphic Expanse next turn anyway and passes.
I can now start swinging in with my golem and slime since there is only a Swiftspear. He Crib Swaps the Golem and trades with the slime. I drop a Peregrine Drake and pass. So I feel I'm in a very dominant board position at this point (although my hand is trash) then this guy comes down.

So, I am going to lose two of my creatures next turn regardless. I get Grand Arbiter Augustin IV drop in and swing in to knock him to 7. Staggershock takes down Augustin. I get a Riftwing Cloudskate to delay the Sharpshooter for another turn. Hit him down to 5 and pass. The staggershock rebound finishes of my Cloudskate and a Brimstone Volley kills the drake. Modin brings the Sharpshooter back into action and I flash in a Pestermite to tap it down while it is still summoning sick. Now the tension is real.
I hit him down to four. He passes. I rip a Ninja of the Deep Hours, ninja the pestermite, draw a card and pass. Modin plays a gain land going up to 3, flame slashes my Ninja, untaps his Sharphooster and we have a standoff. I get a Wing Splicer, which gets met with a Flickerwisp and the Sharpshooter and I get continually beaten down. I get a Lorescale Coatl which miraculously survives a turn and I swing in the with the 3/3. Modin blocks the the Sharpshooter, Rally of the Peasants in response to trade. On his turn he drops a Thundering Tanodon, paying 2 life going down to 1 (only had one forest). It seems he had forgotten about the pestermite as I flash it in, tap the Flickerwisp and kill. I didn't think I was going to get out of that one. Modin needs to add input on this game as it was very much his game there.

Game 3:
Here is another 1000 more depressing words.

Pestermite is staring at me very angrily might I add.

Match 2 to Modin 2-1

I should have put the Rude Awakening in my deck as well as cut a bounceland. I also had a Last Breath that I should have probably sided in since Modin's deck was rather aggressive. Other than that the deck was a blast to play.

Phew, that was quite the write up. That ends my week of Penny Drafts on my holidays. Hope the participants had a great time. Now I can just do them on weekends. I feel this burnt me out a little.
Cheers for the games Modin! They were pretty great.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Is there a way you can upload the file for m2g2? That game was incredible with so many twists and turns. I think the key plays of the game may have been the early death spark interactions: the decision to hit the reclamation sage instead of taking two and waiting EOT, and the acidic slime hit that covered the death spark. I'm still not sure exactly what happened at the end, Modin was saying he misplayed and had a way to get the pestermite out of your hand.

He played amazingly through the entire set, as a whole. His deck was overall much worse than Kirblinx's. When I looked over the draft file, I could easily see that kirblinx was going for a powerful splicer strategy while Modin's pool looked pretty unfocused, with some haymakers.

I think my favorite plays were using rally the peasants as removal, the o-ring on journey to nowhere, that legendary flickerwisp on the bounceland, and the entire sequence to kill jor. I also was impressed he was able to get those two combo kills.

Edit: Also, loved the 2/2 changling

 

[Kirblinx]

Is there a way you can upload the file for m2g2? That game was incredible with so many twists and turns.

Just for you Grillo:

Be wary, there are several things I am not a fan of in this video. It goes a bit too fast, there are some lag spikes, half the chat is chopped off and is silent. Other than that, it is a good enough representation of what happened that game. If you want me post any others like this I can. I will try to make the next ones better

 

[Modin]

So I'll add a few things before I have to go (and will add more later in the day).
First off, my deck, or mess rather. Looking at the curve it is pretty appearend that I kinda lacked 2 drops. I also lacked playables. My deckbuilding proccess consisted of adding all the red and most of the white cards to the deck and looking for something to splash. The Ambush Viper was indeed kinda awkward. Also I should've played my second scryland as it was very valuable the times I brought it in. I feel that grid drafting the Penny Pincher is not as easy as one might think. I started out in white with a little green and wanted to be some aggressive heroic deck, maybe with some auras... . Well I ended up having to play a very much doomed Traveler and the said Viper. Porcelain Legionnaire is actually a two drop so that helped a little, but playing 13 creatures(with doomed traveler being one of them) in an aggressive deck was... well aggressive. I though about going into blue and playing a more aggro-control version after picking up Mana Leak but as Kirblinx was very blue heavy, I shyed away from that plan.
The "Deck":

The Games:

I ran out of gas so very fast. In the first 2 games I lost it didn't feel like I had much of a chance, even with cards in hand. Cards like Assault Strobe and Rally the Peasants don't help when you are behind (and don't have many creatures on board). The games felt very much like David vs Goliath, were I had to get something going before his 4 and 5 drops came down and closed the game.

Game 2:
Now this was a game. Modin starts aggressive with Monastary Swiftspear into Porcelain Legionnaire. I drop a Reclamation Sage to kill the Legionnaire. Rec Sage gets Death Sparked, Swiftspear hits and I drop a Master Splicer. Modin drops a Thopter Engineer swings with swifty and passes. I drop Jor Kadeen, swing with the golem to get chumped by the Engineer. Modin gets the Death spark back and swings with the Swiftspear. I block with Jor, surely 5 first strike should be enough for it. Emerge Unscathed and Death Spark ensure it is not and Jor goes down
At this point Modin has been stuck on three lands for a while so I Acidic Slime his Temple of Enlightenment to squeeze him a bit more (and cut off the Death Spark). He gets a Terramorphic Expanse next turn anyway and passes.
I can now start swinging in with my golem and slime since there is only a Swiftspear. He Crib Swaps the Golem and trades with the slime. I drop a Peregrine Drake and pass. So I feel I'm in a very dominant board position at this point (although my hand is trash) then this guy comes down.
So, I am going to lose two of my creatures next turn regardless. I get Grand Arbiter Augustin IV drop in and swing in to knock him to 7. Staggershock takes down Augustin. I get a Riftwing Cloudskate to delay the Sharpshooter for another turn. Hit him down to 5 and pass. The staggershock rebound finishes of my Cloudskate and a Brimstone Volley kills the drake. Modin brings the Sharpshooter back into action and I flash in a Pestermite to tap it down while it is still summoning sick. Now the tension is real.
I hit him down to four. He passes. I rip a Ninja of the Deep Hours, ninja the pestermite, draw a card and pass. Modin plays a gain land going up to 3, flame slashes my Ninja, untaps his Sharphooster and we have a standoff. I get a Wing Splicer, which gets met with a Flickerwisp and the Sharpshooter and I get continually beaten down. I get a Lorescale Coatl which miraculously survives a turn and I swing in the with the 3/3. Modin blocks the the Sharpshooter, Rally of the Peasants in response to trade. On his turn he drops a Thundering Tanodon, paying 2 life going down to 1 (only had one forest). It seems he had forgotten about the pestermite as I flash it in, tap the Flickerwisp and kill. I didn't think I was going to get out of that one. Modin needs to add input on this game as it was very much his game there.

That game felt very strange as I felt like I was the control deck some of it's duration. Getting back into it with Sharpshooter was crazy awesome. At one point(it's 4:18 in the video above) I could've gotten you to use Pestermite/die but I messed it up as I attacked instead of Assault Strobing the Flickerwisp(which would have been lethal with double Rally the Peasants). I think I lost the game there as I was running out of creatures to play and in that last sequence I didn't forget about Pestermite I just couldn't win against it anyway. I think you had like Krosan Restorer(?) out and I just had one blocker, so I needed to count on you F6ing or something to get me to live for another turn. I'll try to post a picture of it when I get back.

Anyways.. awesome games, got to do this again sometime.

 

[Kirblinx]

So I'll add a few things before I have to go (and will add more later in the day).
The "Deck":

I'm not entirely sure what you did wrong there. Here is your deck after extracting the URL:

Yeah, I had a Krosan Restorer out at the end of that game. You can see it on the video. I forgot to mention it in the writeup (it was rather long and didn't know what part to leave out to make it still readable). I like I keep going up again people with large 3-drop sections. I wonder if that is a feature of the Penny Pincher cube?

Also, watching the replays I noticed there was one game where a Rally the Peasants sat in the graveyard almost the entire game (I can't remember which it was). I don't know if it was relevant but it seemed interesting enough to mention if you remember it.

 

[Modin]

I remember thinking about the Rally in the yard after that game, not sure if it would have been relevant.
Another thing that played into my decision was my constant fear of you flickering stuff in response to my removal.
@3drop overload: I feel like most of my best cards cost 3, I guess it's just a spot on the curve where alot of the power lies. All decks like to play those and I felt I didn't have as many options as I would've in an 8-Player draft.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Ok, thats weird, if I go to view image in new tab, I can see the deck, but whenever I go to past the url as an image, no luck.

Anyways, here is the curve chart from cube tutor:

As you can see. its slanted towards 1-2 drops, and the only spot the curve with more 3 drops than 2 drops is in green.

As for the deck's themselves:

Grillo BUG ramp/control: 22% two drops, 5% three drops,
Grillo R/B Aggro: 32% 1-2 drops, 17.5% three drops

Kirblinx GB graveyard: 22% 1-2 drops, 10% three drops
Kirblinx U/B/r Control: 25% 1-2 drops, 12.2% three drops
Kirblinx R/W heroic ninja splash: 27% 1-2 drops, 20% three drops
Kirblinx RUG token AgGRO: 30% 1-2 drops, 17.5% three drops
Kirblinx Bant splicers: 20% 1-2 drops, 17.5% three drops

Ferret W/B artifacts: 30% 1-2 drops, 12.5% three drops

B8R G/B Golgari: 10% 1-2 drops, 27.5% three drops.

Modin R/W/g Haymakers: 27.5% 1-2 drops, 27.5% three drops.

Overall, the decks were slanted towards 1-2 drop density, but in your guys' match specifically, both decks did have a higher percentage of three drops than normal, in relation to the number of 1-2 drops they were running.

I do think it is harder to grid draft the cube. In general, I couldn't really look over my cards between picks to see how my curve was, or what my deck was needing, which was a new experience. In addition, hate drafting is very real in grid drafting, and you can feel squeezed by the draft since you are seeing such a smaller % of the cube. I think that impacts this cube more than it would perhaps impact others, because its strategies tend to be more about synergy than raw power. Its also possible that we just aren't evaluating cards correctly for a grid draft.

Not complaining though, just noting the different experience.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

A few other things I wanted to mention.

1. When you scroll over the fields in the google sheet, I can actually see your full name kirblinx, which may or may not be something you are comfortable with.

2. Also, I realized that I had commented on the curve, but not on the power level of the cards distributed along the curve, which merited some discussion, especially within the context of a grid draft.

First, the white section does cater towards higher CC play. This was originally a natural product of the design process, since the splicers are more expensive, and I run double copies of auriok salvagers. Also, some of the best heroic and double strike threats are 3cc.

We kind of had a mini discussion about this, but in the end, I decided to leave that relationship largely intact in the cube. White has these kind of square threats, which are a little clunky, but bring a lot of raw power. This provides the sort of ETB based midrange strategy that some players like, but with holes in it that players can take advantage of. In addition, it has a sort of "advanced mode" where prioritized familiars can lower the entire curve.

Black, was largely inspired by the pauper rats deck, and wants to disrupt into value threats. That was always a deck build around two and three drops. So, while the curve is brought down by 1-2CC spells, a lot of its value creatures are 3cc. I can see the cards breaking in a way where you would end up with more three drops, especially if you aren't paying attention to your curve during the draft. I feel that this has the potential to apply to green as well.

So, if we are already grid drafting a portion of the cube (and removing some of these colors while impact the curve more than others), and not really thinking about your curve too much, I could see stumbling into a three drop heavy pool.

Edit: I also wanted to add that both pestermite and flickerwisp were MVPs in those games.

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

Thanks for the write ups, very interesting/entertaining to read.