Card/Deck The art of drafting a deck that goes 2-1 in losers corner

Jonas

Jonas

Welcome to basic drafting class 101, for advanced drafting, go for someone that actually knows their shit. This will be a post full of pictures and reasoning from the first Riptide drafts.in and cockatrice draft, so without further ado, let's move to pack 1



Pack 1 starts out with some pretty great cards, and half of Douggggg's Kiki deck, and a pretty crappy equipment. Reasoning that Karn costs a lot, res is kinda boring, and a will to not take the best cards, I take Thrun from this package, thinking that he could be a good enough curve topper.

Pick:



Another pack with different cards and themes to go into. Pridemate had my attention for a bit, what with me wanting to try out the lifegain theme, Pod was an interesting pick, and picking up a Guide to go into RG beats wouldn't have been the worst decision, but ultimately I ended up picking the Lynx, and wondering if the rest of the packs would have a zoo deck in store for me.

Pick:



And look at that, a Wild Nactl appears! Together with a Kird Ape and a Crusher, if any of those wheels, I will be pretty sure that I am alone in zoo, and can probably just go all in.

Pick:



At this stage, I'm no longer looking too long or hard at blue or black, which leaves me Loam, Revoker and Coldsteel Heart. Neither of them looks to interesting, and I decide to take a Wooded Foothills from this pack.

Pick:



This pack did make me think about going towards junk and skipping my Nacatl, specially with the Confidant in the pack. But after agonizing over the pack for a bit, I opted for taking the Silverblade, which could be able to compliment my deck well.

Pick:



The correct pick in this pack was probably Sarkhan Vol, but not having check things out that much beforehand, and being a bit scared of jittes and bitterblossoms etc. I opted for the pridemage, which I in hindsight might have been able to wheel.

Pick:



I had a chance here to pick up my second lynx, but my manabase at this moment being all of a fetch, I decided to grab the fantastic Horizon Canopy. Not being too interested in regular ramp with the landfall path I have started on, I decided not to go for any of the options being available to me in this pack.

Pick:



Once again I decided to not take a planeswalker that would have helped me push in that extra damage, which is something I will have to look at in future drafts. I instead went for Harrow, for extra landfall shenanigans.

Pick:



The first pack is back, and this is what is left. Correct pick here is probably Conscripts or Kavu, but never having tried Imperial Recruiter, I decided that it could be fun to test him out. (Notice the pro thinking so far?)

Pick:



Good pick here would have been the guide, so I decided to take the Probe, because hey, 39 card deck is good, right?

Pick:



With the choice between Charge and Ape, I went for the Ape.

Pick:



The double red cost of Searing Blaze made me a bit afraid, so I went for some cheap PW hate in Revoker



No interest in either god of crap or anything remotely blue, Firedrinker is an easy pick.



Explosives just because.

And as a last pick, you can call me wheelmaster



Next pack in a new post, because if I manage to lose this post I will throw my computer through the window.
 
Jonas

Jonas

Onwards then, to the second pack!




Pretty neat pack to start off with, where I for some reason didn't take Mom, since all of my two landfall critters had made me obsessed with fetches. Dismember would have been a decent pick too, but yeah, Windswept Heath for me.

Pick:




This pack, I was a bit beyond stupid, and picked up a mark of mutiny. Better picks: Lavamancer, Hero, War Marshal, Lynx, Tusk. I think some sort of flogging or public shaming is deserved. Thinking about it though, if I had put mark in my final 40, it would have been able to win some games for me. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Pick:



Only regret in this pack is the way that the Silverheart stopped me cold, the Geopede won at least one game for me.

Pick:



Geist, Huntmaster, Mana Tithe would all have been decent enough picks in this pack, but I needed to start working on my mana, and didn't want to chance wheeling the stomping ground.

Pick:



In this pack, I went back and forth between the StP and Bonfire, but decided that I would probably face more single threats that needed removing, since zombies can't block anyway, and I was the zoo keeper. I didn't have to play against the bonfire either, which was nice.

Pick:



I wanted to pick the Wasteland here, but didn't feel like it was doable in what was looking like a 3-colour deck. The finks would have been a good pick as well, as would the Magma Jet, but I had good use of the Mesa, so it felt like a good pick anyway.

Pick:



No GW shocks so far for me, so that Stomping ground was looking really good right now. So did the Rancor and Chain Lightning as well, seeing as how my only removal at this point is StP. But mana base is important, so Stomping Ground it is.

Pick:



In this pack, I want to take the Foundry, but looking over my cards I am very light on 3-drops. And KotR can help fix my mana too, right? Sacred Foundry would have fit pretty good in my deck, since KotR didn't do too much, except being really big in one game, but never getting to swing because my opponent conceded.

Pick:



I thought a bit about taking the Jinxed Idol after my amazing game of hot potato with Eric the day before, but it didn't feel as good when your critters didn't come back from the grave just by putting lands in play. Faithless Looting would have been a good card to have, since I spent quite a bit of time flooding and screwing, and that would have helped a bit at those points, but I decided that I wanted to try to play Vengevine, what my low curve, playing two creatures shouldn't be too hard.

Pick:



At this point I had two Steppe Lynx and still no removal, so Punishing Fire seemed good at the time. Would have been a lot better if I had remembered the triggers while playing it against Jason and his Blood Artist too.

PIck:



It didn't look like I was going to attack with too many single critters, so Sublime was out, while fencing ace was a possibility. I eventually decided on Kodama's, since hey, two landfall triggers, right? And also fix.

Pick:



Took the Riftwatcher over the Tithe, because I didn't feel like playing Tithe, that's really all there is to it. Not like Riftwatcher made the final 40 anyway.

Pick:



Got a Skyjek on the wheel and decided to test him out. He did all of nil damage over all the games, but it's possible that it isn't his fault.




Blargh, aka Chimera



Fantastic last pick. Steppe Lynx it is not.

That was all for the second pack, third pack is right below. In a minute, if you are here early.
 
Jonas

Jonas

Third pack! The glove is thrown! The challenge is upon us! Can this motley crew of one and four drops become something resembling a deck? Let's go out hard with pack 1



What the crap. Oh well. Boon Satyr is good, but utterly uninteresting. Deathrite Shaman would be boss if I faced zombies, but with no way of making black, it is a bit boring. Mirror Entity is good, but I think I'm the only one that wants it, so let's send that on for now. (Not that Hero came back before, but never mind that.) MOAR FETCHES FOR ME!

Pick:




Ok, a 6-drop isn't really what I'm looking for, but it does have landfall, and I do like landfall today. I'lll probably get that into play, right? I quickly glanced over Firemane, and decided to let that one go, Purphorus, meh, Young Pyromancer, neh, Lingering Souls, not without going into four colours, I guess I'll go for the Baloths.

Pick:




Hm, Thune, well, I let those two pridemates go, so I don't have any use of that one, right? Actually, I don't think I even saw it in the pack, I saw Voice and went, neat, a two-drop, I need that! And it does things too! Booyaka.

Pick:




This one was a bit of a pain, and once again I ended up sending on a PW that would have made my deck a lot better. My mind was all on my curve though, and I needed more two drops, so I opted for the Berserker over Ajani.

Pick:




Stromkirk Noble was interesting, but I had a bunch of good one drops. Goblin bombardment for reach could be good, but I thought there would be more removal then there was. MOAR FETCHES! GIVE THEM TO ME!

Pick:




All of the Wastelands pass by my chair, and I start thinking that maybe I should have picked them up anyway. I note that GST has come this far, and hope that at least one fo the Breeding Pools will come back, and then I start wondering if they were in this pack or if they were in pack 2. Buth Farseek and E-Wit has some use for me, but I decide to further shore up my two drops with a good one.

Pick:




Ok, what to get. Hell's Thunder has a scary mana cost, Marauders are good but are probably wheeling, Bonesplitter is awesome, and that pridemate is just a lost cause now. Grafted Wargear is probably useful. (I never saw it)

Pick:




Should have taken Alley Riders

Pick:




Just look at that cute little engine of death and destruction!

Pick:




Did that pack with the pools pass yet? I don't know. Maybe. Hm. Cascade is fun, let's go for that.

Pick:




I have no five drops. Never mind that I don't have any removal, I need a Vorapede, because fuck yeah.

Pick:




Hellrider wheeled? Really? REALLY? Ok, you don't have to tell me twice.

Pick:




Should have picked the Noble instead, as I got no use whatsoever out of my equipment.

Pick:




Where did those BP go? Maybe I can use some regular islands?

Pick:

Last pick:

I told you to call me wheelmaster, right?
 
Jonas

Jonas

Utility land draft gave the following cards:



This gave the following deck:











Any and all feedback and critique is welcome, I can't promise I will listen or make a better draft the next time though.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Fantastic write-up, Jonas! Likes all round. I can't believe you took the time to type out all your draft packs and picks, but major kudos for doing so. I love reading stuff like this!
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
I count 39 cards there, maybe one of the equipment is missing? I would play them both and play 16 lands maybe. Otherwise 17 lands and cut Vorapede or Rampaging Baloths.
 
Jonas

Jonas

Yeah, I had adventuring gear in there too. Rampaging Baloths really had no place in the deck, but I wanted to test it out for some reason, because that is how I roll. I got Baloths into play once, and then it died a horrible death.
 
O

OCPunisher

Hindsight being what it is, I think I would have taken the Coalition Relic as the first pick here. There are a couple of expensive spells (Karn, Titan, Kiki) and one of them should likely come back. Plus, there's points for staying open with a colorless card.
 
Calvin Chan

Calvin Chan

Wow, great rewards for going zoo from the get go. I probably would've taken fetchlands more aggressively (specifically over silverblade and over Sc-ooze), i'm surprised you didn't slam ajani and the helix on the wheel. Overall your deck ended up looking pretty solid excluding the 5 (triple green), 6 drop, and i don't like imperial recruiter in your hyper aggressive deck (could've been FTK or zealous conscripts). I wouldn't have played the barb ring (mountain is better) or the wolfrun (maybe?) since you do have a ton of one drops including nacatl and ape, though i like your fixing. Teetering peaks would definitly have been in my starting 40 as well.
On a side in the pack with sc-ooze i probably would've taken the tarn there. And then you can play the almost free blue splash for geist and maybe shardless agent.
So overall, i think you wanted to be a touch more aggressive. Would love to see more.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
alright we need to get Calvin commentating the next draft

he can be our resident benS who yells at people for being too greedy rather than opting for consistency
 
Alex Blanton

Alex Blanton

But who's gonna make bad/awesome puns and draft around unplayable 6-mana spells? I can't join this next one, so someone else has to do it. Eric, get on it!
 
CML

CML

Contributor
Goes both ways because people aren't all that into signaling in Cube, the power level is flatter, and we'll wheel at least one sweet one

I think if I were playing FOR SERIOUS I'd uh I dunno. I'd take Relic I guess, maybe Image or DT
 
Changling Bob

Changling Bob

I suspect I would've gone p1p1 Fetters, but I may be a maniac. On the other hand, that leads to pick 2 pridemate, pick 3 suture priest, so it might've worked out?
 
Jonas

Jonas

Calvin Chan said:
Wow, great rewards for going zoo from the get go. I probably would've taken fetchlands more aggressively (specifically over silverblade and over Sc-ooze), i'm surprised you didn't slam ajani and the helix on the wheel. Overall your deck ended up looking pretty solid excluding the 5 (triple green), 6 drop, and i don't like imperial recruiter in your hyper aggressive deck (could've been FTK or zealous conscripts). I wouldn't have played the barb ring (mountain is better) or the wolfrun (maybe?) since you do have a ton of one drops including nacatl and ape, though i like your fixing. Teetering peaks would definitly have been in my starting 40 as well.
On a side in the pack with sc-ooze i probably would've taken the tarn there. And then you can play the almost free blue splash for geist and maybe shardless agent.
So overall, i think you wanted to be a touch more aggressive. Would love to see more.
Click to expand...

Good points all around, with one more blue fetch I might have been brave enough to play GosT. And both baloths and vorapede lost me some games just rotting in my hand. I'll see it as a learning experience, and might just do another one of these writeups if I ever manage to get in on a draft again.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Chris Taylor said:
Okay, for the love of god, can we spoiler tag those things? Loading this page takes like 5 minutes while all the images slowly appear, all the while the bottom keeps going further down, so I can't read anything :p
Click to expand...

Hmm... loads instantly for me. It'd be more annoying to have to click open the spoiler tags instead of reading it casually and scrolling through (in my opinion).
 
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