General The Draft Exchange

[psly4mne]

I drafted a WB deck with humans and cards that play well with Braids. I first picked Thalia and followed it with Champion of the Parish, then moved into black late in pack 1 when it looked open.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Holy shit your cube is powerful, man. There are some supremely busted cards in there, and that's before even getting to the customs.



First picked CoCo, intending to build around it. Second picked Opposition, snagged Deranged Hermit about 2-3 picks later and went to town. CoCo got abandoned since I had way too many awesome ramp options, and I didn't think it'd be very good with only 8 targets in the deck.

 

[Miasmir]

Pick reasoning in the spoiler:

Spoiler

Vendilion Clique over Ashiok, Firebolt - seems like the stronger card, good against many decks
Galepowder Mage over Kira, Braids, Esperzoa, Murderous Cut - great with etb creatures which tend to be top tier anyway
Liliana of the Veil over Sea Gate Oracle - way stronger card, not THAT married to blue yet
Nevinyrral's Disk over Sidisi (vizier), Dimensional Infiltrator - great with all three picks so far
Scatter to the Winds over Master of Waves, Pestilence - mostly a preference for not being a tap-out deck I guess
Silumgar's Command over Pacifism, Angel of Serenity - without seeing any fixing so far I don't want to commit harder to white
Dungeon Geists over Ophiomancer, Dictate of Erebos, Eldrazi Skyspawner - reasonable 'early' and still good later on (e.g. defending it with countermagic)
Compulsive Research over Thassa, Gary Oak - don't yet have a draw spell, devotion seems like a maybe
Ashiok over Tasigur, Grand Architect - more planeswalkers for disk, keeps the control mirror on lockdown
Braids over Esperzoa, Nicol Bolas - I think I have more outs to end up being this deck than the other two
Reflecting Pool over Misdirection, Steel Hellkite - look at all those double colored cost cards! Misdirection seems narrow, happy with current finishers
Sidisi (vizier) over red and green cards
Diregraf Ghoul over white aggro cards - we might play it as a bad blocker in a pinch
Angel of Serenity over red aggro card - we might get enough fixing to do this too, but we don't need to
Reassembling Skeleton last - the bad blocker we deserve

Tombstalker over Deprive, Thraben Inspector, Noyan Dar - great with Liliana, compulsive, and counterspells
Essence Scatter over Solemn Simulacrum, Underworld Connections - this is how badly we need early interaction
Baleful Strix over Anticipate - could be greedy but the power level is so different
Kalitas over Nightveil Specter - I'm happy with our control mirror but aggro eats us alive, Kalitas eats them alive
Merfolk Looter over Dissolve, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Sorin (solemn) - play anything relevant on turn 2 please
Ultimate Price over Brain Maggot, Relentless Dead - in a sense this is our first removal spell
Silumgar Sorcerer over Sharding Sphinx, Herald of Torment, Ojutai, Blinkmoth Nexus - worried about fixing, at least it has flash
Rattlechains over Dark Confidant, Mystic Gate - 2 drops are more important than galepowder mage
Xenagos over Thraben Inspector, Noyan Dar - scariest card against us
Underworld Connections over Blackmail, Temple of Epiphany - could be close but none of them help much vs aggro
Prophet of Kruphix over Jinxed Idol, Dread Return - so good against us, off chance we splash it
Contagion Clasp over red and white cards - we might play it??? hope we have better removal than this
Sphinx of Lost Truths over red cards
Relentless Dead over Staff of Domination - the bad blocker we need
Dragonlord Ojutai last - I'm not gonna say I was UNlucky </lsv voice>

Drowned Catacomb over Ponder, Time Warp - fixing!!!
Sunken Ruins over Wayfarer's Bauble, Everflowing Chalice, Blood Artist - fixing!!!!
Temple of Deceit over Vampire Nighthawk, Rend Flesh - ok this is enough fixing. Might have been Nighthawk but we already have many 3s.
Standstill over Bloodgift Demon - both are best vs control and standstill is one of the few strong early plays there
Harbinger of Tides over Read the Bones - it blocks, it costs less than 3
Asylum Visitor over Tendo, Dream Leash - it blocks, we have some discard
Temple of Silence over Xathrid Necromancer - Ojutai would be an upgrade to our 5 drops, I like scrylands
Illusory Ambusher over Duplicant - haha ok, sounds fun!
Time Warp over Mother of Runes, Bygone Bishop, Descend upon the Sinful - those are some good white cards but I don't think I have enough white mana
Ratchet Bomb over Blood Artist - it's good to have flexible answers, defends planeswalkers from tokens
Vampire Nighthawk over Pestermite - let's just not die
Bloodgift Demon over Mistmeadow Witch - not very many blink synergies here
Ajani Steadfast - we might maaaybe play him? good superfriend
Caves of Koilos - fixing!!!!!
Graven Cairns last

Neat cube. Fixing really came together at the end there. I feel like I have strong sideboard options. I wish I had another flexible counterspell instead of two Remove Souls, but this is fine.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Full draft here: http://www.cubetutor.com/humandraftpicks/7767c3f0-b150-4b7e-86b8-5a5f3c996bc3

p1p1: Ancient Tomb is good if you have a quick kill. Otherwise it's extremely painful? Basalt Monolith is unfair as well, especially if you run that merfolk soldier... My eye is drawn to Sphinx of Sealed Fates though (Consecrated Sphinx in the deck above).

Sphinx of Sealed Fates
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, target player reveals his or her hand. Draw seven cards, then put six cards from your hand on the bottom of your library in any order.
3/6

HOLY COWBALLS! This card looks super insane. You get some information, so you know what you need to keep, and you get a godly filter trigger. Filthy filth is filthy! So naturally I pick the Sphinx.

p1p2: Stoke the Flames is a nice removal card, but goodness me, there's another ridiculous blue custom in there. Riptide Augur (Trinket Mage in the deck above) is preeeeetty good.

Riptide Augur
Creature - Human Wizard
When ~ enters the battlefield, search your library for a noncreature, nonland card and exile it with three time counters on it. If it doesn't have suspend it gains suspend.
1/4

It's a good blocker and it casts any spell in your deck for free? Where do I sign up!?

p1p3: Izzet Signet over stuff I guess? I just value mana rocks highly in any sort of controllish or midrangy deck, which this looks like it will be.

p1p4: Wilfdire. Woah, high there Signet's best friend! Could have gone with Tasigur or Talisman of Progress or Seeker of the Way, I guess, but come on. Wildfire!

p1p5: Vapor Snag over Intuition and Terramorphic Expanse.

p1p6: Uh... Roar of the Wurm over Ball Lightning and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx? I got the Augur already and it's an easy splash if green fixing comes my way. (Spoiler: It won't.)

p1p7: Shaman of the Great Hunt is a great card to ambush people with and draw some cards, plus it brings some things (like Augur) out of Wildfire range!

p1p8: Cloudfin Raptor out of a weak pack. I guess I should have taken the Glorious Anthem here as a hate draft, but at least I'm picking a decent blue card to deter neighbours from slipping into blue, right?

In the rest of pack 1 I pick up Crumbling Necropolis (nice!), Avalanche Riders (nice!), Aquamoeba (SB), Kuldotha Phoenix (hmm...), Tenacity (SB), Ghoultree (won't die to burn, not while it's in my SB anyway), Keldon Champion (no idea, but I suspect SB).

p2p1: Mind Stone. Now that we've got Wildfire a mana rock has to be valued even higher, right? Higher than Capsize, Dissolve and Thawing Glaciers, right?

p2p2: Fact or Fiction over Frostburn Weird and Loxodon Warhammer.

p2p3: Cyclonic Rift over Augur of Bolas, Triskelion, Fireball and Remand. Something will wheel, right? I pick the mass one-sided instant speed board "wipe".

p2p4: Slice and Dice over Think Twice. I'll take non-one-sided removal as well, thank you!

p2p5: Dimir Laboratory over Pyreheart Wolf (not what we are doing) and Atarka, World Render (another reason to move into green? maybe I should have picked this in hindsight).

Dimir Laboratory
Land
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, , Discard a card: Search your library for a nonland card with the same converted mana cost as the discarded card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Sweet, so I can turn Slice and Dice into Wildfire or that Sphinx! Or Mind Stone into Cyclonic Rift? Ok, I can get behind this!

p2p6: Precursor Golem over Magma Jet (less powerful, but sad), Kargan Dragonlord (color intensive), and Whipflare (I got bigger sweepers). Precursor is nuts if it isn't immediately dealt with. If they Electrolyze then Needle Drop it, more power to them!

p2p7: Tradewind Rider. Oh. My. Did you see what I just picked, like, exactly one pack before? Can you say combo wombo? I've found the name of my deck!

p2p8: Narcolepsy over... uhm... Runechanter's Pike? Narcolepsy is a fine removal spell, pretty sure it's going to make my final 40.

Rest of pack 2 gives me Capsize (what a wheel), Frostburn Weird (nice early defense), Gore-House Chainwalker (blegh), Lorescale Coatl (see, I should have picked up green fixing, did not pay attention to that...), Mardu Scout (blegh), Kargan Dragonlord, Surrakar Surrealist (1/1 cycler for that gets a +1/+1 counter when you cast an instant or sorcery).

p3p1: Rakdos Signet over Kaervek's Torch. Could have picked up a Rootbound Crag here!

p3p2: Arc Lightning over a green-blue land (and rightly so, I think).

p3p3: Mizzium Mortars over not much. Stellar one-sided sweeper. This deck won't have problems with a board of 4-or-less-toughness creatures!

p3p4: Future Sight over Bituminous Blast, Firebolt, Akroma, Angel of Wrath (hate), and Bloodbraid Elf. All of the other cards are nice, but I love me some Future Sight. That card is so powerful!

p3p5: Sulfurous Springs over not much.

p3p6: Zealous Conscripts over Karplusan Forest. Oh no, I could have done it!

p3p7: Jhessian Thief over Guard Gomazoa? Who am I kidding, I'll take card draw over that any day!

p3p8: Izzet Boilerworks (nice pickup!) over Shard Phoenix and Yasova Dragonclaw (that green splash could have been pretty good!).

The final cards of pack 3 were Sorin's Vengeance (over Rootbound Crag, I clearly was not paying attention to the possibility of a green splash!), Seal of Fire, Xenopouncer (a 2/1 Necropouncer for 2, equip 4), a Dragon-Style Twins, a Tolsimir Wolfsblood, a Mana Tithe, and a Mulch.

The final deck is capable of some pretty nasty tricks, but I think this deck would have been even better had I not locked myself mentally into Grixis. There were some seriously good options available in Temur colors that would have suited the deck very well. The nice thing of being able to look back at the draft, is that you can reevaluate packs and see that, in hindsight, you weren't flexible enough! Nice deck, but my first two picks seem awfully strong for monocolored cards. I don't know what your experience is with playing with (or against) those cards, but my first impression of the rest of your cube is that they are pretty powerful in this cube.

 

[Peter LaCara]

I hadn't realized this was the Khans of Alara cube when I started. Lots of customs made it really hard to get my bearings, and I have no idea if the deck I drafted is any good.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Love barrin's contemplate btw psly

 

[Miasmir]

-snip-

Yeah, you ended up with a pretty solid deck! I agree that the custom cards are strong, and they are being watched. The idea at first was to push the custom cards a bit to make sure they see play. Then, after examining them in actual game situations, I can figure out how much weaker they need to be. So far I think the sphinx is very good, and a fairer version would probably be a 3/5 and draw 5, tuck 4 rather than 3/6 and draw 7, tuck 6. But no one has devastated a draft with it yet so I'm letting it have its fun for now. Also, it's hard for me emotionally to remove the text 'draw seven cards' from anything.

As for the time wizard, it actually manages to be in a pretty good spot in practice. The flexibility is mitigated somewhat by having to make the decision three turns in advance and give the opponent knowledge about what's coming, so they know not to play into your wrath and so forth. I've seen it combo with Sorin's Vengeance and Eldrazi Conscription in actual games and both of those seemed strong but fair. I like how in your deck you can get Capsize and pay the buyback when it comes off suspend. Filthy. A nerf to four time counters is something I've been considering. The very first draft of the card let each player search for and suspend a card but that wasn't as fun as it sounded.

I might not be great at this reigning-in-the-op-custom-cards thing. I might actually not be very super good at it at all.

Thanks for the detailed draft report!

 

[whydirt]

I just got done meddling with my list, so I figure I should participate here. I almost start by drafting aggro in a cube I'm not familiar with, so here's a Boros deck from Pete's cube!

I didn't keep super good track of the draft itself, but I definitely passed a W/R painland like 4th-5ht pick in the second pack that I tried and failed to wheel. My final mana requirements aren't super strict color-wise, so two duals out of what looks like five potential cycles is okay if not super great. I also passed on a Boros Reckoner in the middle of a pack, again hoping to see it come back and failing (although in hindsight it might have been too late in the pack to wheel). I wish I'd picked up like one more piece of good removal, but the equipment and Angelic Destiny should help push damage through.

Hellrider is sitting in the sideboard in order to stick to all single R cards in the maindeck and make the mana base smoother. I could see boarding it in certain matchups for sure.

I'll try something that goes a little more deep if I go a second time! Similar, I'll try to remember to keep better draft notes to share next draft I do in this thread.

Here's my cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/251

 

[Peter LaCara]

Yeah, I should keep better notes too. My defense is that I usually do this at work (I work nights at a call center, so there's lots of downtime to fuck around), so I occasionally get distracted and forget to keep track.


Neat little tribal aggro deck. Waffled between Pacifism and Lambholt Pacifist (sensing a theme) in the first pack, decided to go with the creature. Got rewarded by wheeling a bunch of pretty narrow cards that were awesome in my deck (Howlpack Resurgence, Cult of the Waxing Moon). I've always liked Raised by Wolves, so seeing it here made me smile.

 

[Kirblinx]

So I hadn't done one of these in a while, so I decided to so one for each of the last 3 people to post (sorry Onderzeeboot, I'll draft it again soon).

I seemed to be in a 4+ colour mood while drafting these. It is nice that you all have decent enough fixing for these decks to appear.

First up lets go with Miasmir's cube:
Jeweled Amulet is actually a custom:
Darksteel Amulet
Artifact
~ is indestrucible.
,: Put a charge counter on ~.
, Remove a charge counter from ~: Add one mana of any colour to your mana pool.

It seems really cool as a sort of a slow clunky fixer/ramper. I don't know if it is good or not, but it seemed perfect for my deck. There are so many cards in your cube that I am just not used to and it made your environment seem very weird to me. I guess it is nice to see a place where Moonlight Bargain and Lavalanche can be played and possibly be good. Signets are pretty strong cards in their own right, I am wondering if they actually fit in your cube or not. Secure the Wastes also seems pretty strong.

The Rector/Conscription combo is pretty hilarious that I had to put it in, even though my creature count is almost non-existent. I have plenty of removal and recursive threats that I should be a decent chance.

I think I need to do a couple more drafts to see what is going on here .

Next up Pete LaCara:
I started with Tireless Tracker as it is the new hotness, got passed Nissa Worldwaker and sort of went down a green ramp strategy. If there wasn't anything I would take fixing, which allowed me to pick up some sweet splashable cards later. Why not splash Nicol Bolas? Seem the correct play. These are the kind of cubes I am used to. Sort of bread and butter. Probably slightly higher power than I like, but I still felt I knew what your cube entailed. There were some questionable cards (Spitebellows?) but seems pretty solid.

Last we have Whydirt:
I am really liking these 'all fixing is evolving wilds' cubes. They lead to some interesting places with design. I thought that they made the retreats that much better so I went all in on them, delve and the wilds. Because they let you fix you can splash all sorts of wonderful things too.
I feel this is where I want my own peasant cubes direction to go as it has fallen off the wagon pretty badly at this point.
I had drafted this a couple more times and made some black based aggro decks, which was nice to see.
I don't really have much else to say other than the format seems really fun and flexible. Also, I would give my left kidney for a Worm Harvest (please?)

 

[Laz]

Did a quick draft of Kirb's Wobbla' Cube while I was waiting in queues. Nothing too crazy, took Ashiok first, was pretty heavily UB until I wheeled a Geist of St Traft, then just went into a pretty classic Esper build.


I might be a little 4-drop heavy, and the mana is definitely not perfect, but looks like one of my typical cruise-control draft decks that ends up 2-2 or similar.

Who ever is next can skip mine and draft another of Kirblinx's cubes, he threw down the gauntlet with his triple draft just before.

 

[Aoret]

Let's get wobbly then

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Beat me to it I drafted a double Birthing Pod deck!



Edit: Here I first- and fourth-picked a Birthing Pod and mainly drafted creatures all over the curve to support them. It kind of sucks that I shipped both the p1p2 Living Death and the p1p3 Unburial Rites. Both would have been great in the deck, and I think I passed some six drops anyway that could have filled the slots Woodland Bellower and Mikaeus now fill. But eh, 20/20 hindsight, right? Deck still has a lot of tricks. Fetching up Mikaeus is obv OP, and Cagebreakers and Gurmag Angler are also good ways to abuse a grave full of rotting bodies.

 

[whydirt]

Kirblinx, thanks for all the drafts and comments! I actually snuck in the red Retreat and Worm Harvest today, so you can finally live your dreams!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Ok, I went and drafted Aoret's cube as well


The unknown card is

Wishra's Light
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays . Draw a card.

First pick Cruel Ultimatum, never look back!
Prioritized removal and fixing after that, didn't get quite as many lands as I hoped, but with the right number of basics Cruel should be castable, plus there's the lucky Shelldock Isle option!
The two Blood Artists should gain plenty of life with all of the removal spells/creatures, and I've got two ways to get what few creatures I run directly into the yard, courtesy of Grafted Wargear and Falkenrath Aristocrat, which gives me kind of a mini-Fireball option to end the game on. Goblin Dark-Dwellers doesn't have a lot of targets, but it's still a 4/4 menace for five, and if it does have a target to flash back, it turns into a super-Skinrender! Also, look at all the Nekrataals in this deck! It's crazy! And I shipped a Shriekmaw too in favor of fixing!

 

[Aoret]

A few builds are possible, not sure if mine is the best one. Note that I sidelined Daxos's Torment. Am I wrong? Lets argue about it!

 

[safra]

First-picked Mentor but ended up in quite a different build than I expected. Well, they say 'play what you know':

 

[Onderzeeboot]

A few builds are possible, not sure if mine is the best one. Note that I sidelined Daxos's Torment. Am I wrong? Lets argue about it!

Yeah, I think I would have included Torment. With so many enchantments already, it's easy to trigger, and it hits like a truck! Even if you don't trigger it again, it's five damage out of nowhere in a nonred deck, something people might not plan for. Also, the Karador, Ghost Chieftain in your sideboard actually provides you with a free Sandsteppe Citadel, making splashing it a bit easier.

First-picked Mentor but ended up in quite a different build than I expected. Well, they say 'play what you know':

Damn lady, that's a dangerous mana base! Only 15 land when you need to discard one to turn Mox Diamond on, plus two Wasteland that actually don't fix your three color mana base and a five drop that will in all likelyhood never be cast? I think I would have cut Avacyn for a 16th land for sure, or maybe Basilisk Collar, as it doesn't look like you'll have the mana to equip it often. I'ld be tempted to find room for the Noble Hierarch too.

By the way Aoret, can you pick 4 fetches total or any number of fetches as long as you don't run more than 4 with the same name?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I gave Safra's cube a wheel. Nice cube!



First picked the Flametongue Kavu over Jace, Architect of Thoughts, Noble Hierarch and Sylvan Advocate.
Second pick a shiny Kolagan's Command smiled at me. There weren't any notable mono red picks, so the choice was between taking Command or Dragonlord Atarka, staying in red, or picking another color for, most likely, Cataclysm or Rancor. There's a Hero's Downfall as well, but I'ld rather pick the Command if I want to go black.
Third pick I get already rewarded for picking a black card, as Liliana of the Veil apparently managed to survive two picks o_O
Bib Fortuna ( 2/2, etb Vampiric Tutor, leaves battlefield shuffle library) shows up fourth pick to make my life easier. After that the good {r/b} creatures and removal just keep on coming and I even manage to snag good fixing!

Edit: I see you credited yourself and Chris for Court Machinations in your CT blog, but I'm pretty sure that was my design. /searching
>> It's in the same post as Savvy Trader. Seeing your post above the linked one however makes me think Court Machinations was originally a white Telling Time at and sorcery speed as you suggested there? Anyway, it's super cool to see your own cards in other people's cubes, thanks

 

[Aoret]

Yeah, I think I would have included Torment. With so many enchantments already, it's easy to trigger, and it hits like a truck! Even if you don't trigger it again, it's five damage out of nowhere in a nonred deck, something people might not plan for. Also, the Karador, Ghost Chieftain in your sideboard actually provides you with a free Sandsteppe Citadel, making splashing it a bit easier.

You may be right, I'm just really afraid of the feel bad that is having it sit there all game never triggering again. But you're likely right that just looking at it as a 5 damage burn spell that I may get to rebuy probably still makes it worthwhile. I didn't know about the karador! Is that the case for all three color cards in your cube, or how do those rules work?

Damn lady, that's a dangerous mana base! Only 15 land when you need to discard one to turn Mox Diamond on, plus two Wasteland that actually don't fix your three color mana base and a five drop that will in all likelyhood never be cast? I think I would have cut Avacyn for a 16th land for sure, or maybe Basilisk Collar, as it doesn't look like you'll have the mana to equip it often. I'ld be tempted to find room for the Noble Hierarch too.

Pretty sure he's right about this saf. I usually run mox diamond as land 18, not lands 16 AND 17. I can see running it as land 17 and 18 in a low curve deck like this one. And yes, T1 sculler is absolute filth.

By the way Aoret, can you pick 4 fetches total or any number of fetches as long as you don't run more than 4 with the same name?

Rules are play any number of fetches, capped at 4 with the same name. It was kind of notional/arbitrary when I first tried it, but it seemed to work really well so I haven't changed it. It works great with our without ULD (when drafting with ULD players agonize over their mana for as long as they do their deck - this may or may not be desirable). Good players will do cool things with off color fetches, or pivot into extra dual lands by making sure they pick duals with the same "off" color (i.e. BG, WG duals for my BW deck, then running appropriate fetches to snag them). It also makes people have to think a bit more about how many wastelands they want to run. You end up in weird situations where you have to actually think about how many real sources of a given color you actually have left in your deck and I love it

 

[Onderzeeboot]

You may be right, I'm just really afraid of the feel bad that is having it sit there all game never triggering again. But you're likely right that just looking at it as a 5 damage burn spell that I may get to rebuy probably still makes it worthwhile. I didn't know about the karador! Is that the case for all three color cards in your cube, or how do those rules work?

Yep, all of the ten three color cards reward you with the corresponding triland! The hybrid cards don't, however!

 

[Aoret]

I drafted this weird almost naya thing. Curve is a bit weird. I don't like that I'm an aggressive 16 land deck whose only one mana spell is top. That said, I'd be happy sleeving this up and battling with it. The more I draft khans of alara the deeper it seems!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Thanks! That's a seriously nice compliment to get

For the viewers at home, there's like six customs in there or something, not counting the land. The deck in its full glory can be found here!

 

[sigh]

Drafted Aoret's cube! 10/10 would draft again. Gotta sat its definitely a little non-intuitive to have access to fetches outside the draft and the like, but I got used to it. First picked Venter in a very difficult pack to pick from. Lots of pieces that go into decks, but I wasn't getting very clear signs for one way to go. Not a bad thing, just the pack being unlucky. Cruel Ultimatum showed up a couple picks later and the rest is history. Props to anyone still cubing that beautiful monstrosity of a sorcery. My group wasn't taking the dive .

 

[safra]

Drafted sigh's cube.

Spoiler: draft writeup

P1p1-5: the safra special
Had a difficult p1p1 but eventually noticed FoF was the only card (okay, Misty and Brago too) so that's my speculative pick to cut a colour. It's followed by an easy Tiago, and then I choose Rev over Lingering Souls because it's one splash, not two, and a fairly minor one at that. There's a Merfolk Looter I think about but I don't really want it as much as I want the more straightforward bombs; I'm (at least initially) some kind of spell-based control deck that uses the graveyard so maybe I'll wheel it, but if I don't Omenspeaker in the same pack is an acceptable two as well. I think about Delver next but I'm really not in the right deck for it; it's between FoF #2 in Sphinx of Uthuun and Impulse as an earlier smoother. I might be feeding another hard control deck if I pass Sphinx but Impulse feels more useful. There's two UB cards I'd like to wheel (Vault, Finkel) so I'm keeping a watch on Esper Control as an archetype (p1 had a Nephalia Drownyard I might get back which would solidly drop me in Esper unless something amazing came up p2). p5 I see lukewarm options for or control so I take Bad River as a hedge on Esper.

p1p6-15: ayyy
Black Sun's Zenith is very good and clears the 5 players to my right from black control. This is where I can move in to a heavier black build instead of just a late-game splash (p5 had Samgo's Combover which I was hoping to wheel). p7 is an easy Frost Titan, even over fixing. Karmic Guide, Drownyard over Brago (possibly incorrect?), hate out Edric, wheel Omenspeaker, Frost Titan means I can take Vault over Sphinx, Familiar's Ruse might actually be fine late-game with Snapcaster, Grand Architect, Relic Seeker.

p2p1-5: a demon-haunted wheel
p1:

To safra, it was always Griselbrand. I have seldom seen her prioritise any other card. In her eyes he eclipses and predominates the whole of his card type.

fortunately Mind Control isn't technically t:Creature, lol, and I already saw Victimize go by p1. RIP hunky demon, maybe I'll wheel you or one of the other five cards I'd like this pack.
pick 2 I see Gifts, because of fuckin' course I do, and I'm kicking myself for taking the safe pick like a chump. I stay on the theme of safe picks with Wall of Omens to help get to my late-game. p3 is an easy Rift, hoping to wheel Anguished Unmaking, Remand, or Roil, then p4 is blue Venser over Preordain, Prairie Stream and fatties. p5 has a ton of great late green cards and a fetchable and I'm wondering if Bant for Kiora last pack would've been the better choice, but Shadowborn Demon, while hard to hold on to, is at least removal that sometimes beats.

p2p6-15: a plan comes together
p6 is Glen Elendra over Thirst for Knowledge because I'm looking more tap-out than draw-go. I ought to take Caves of Koilos next but nabbing the late Angel of Serenity is more important so I'm not poached in pack 3. Planar Outburst costs five but hey, it's a wrath. Syncopate gets the same rationale as only my second counterspell, and I want at least 3-4 in my 40. Seal of Doom, speculative Grafted Wargear, Exclude, cut Wanderer, speculative Sudden Demise, and a 15th pick Vapor Snag tells me I'm in the right archetype if not necessarily the right colours. I keep seeing nice cards go by and I have a real dearth of fixing to support my three colours. Hey, it worked out a few times in triple Khans, right?

p3p1-4: mono-fixing
p3p1 offers me Unburial Rites, because of course it does, but I can't take it now. It's between Ob Nix and my actual pick, Man-o-War, which brings me up to 4 bounce effects, 3 of which I'll play. p2 I have to chose between a greedy V Clique or some prudent removal (Path, Chainer's, Price, Ulcerate). It's pack three so I probably won't wheel a non-Ulcerate kill spell and blue feels relatively open so I'm happy to grab Path as a trump against opposing bombs. Hallowed Fountain is my first fetchable, and Top is too awkward with my big curve and low shuffle density. I might even wheel Flood Plain if I'm really lucky. p4 offers a Shambling Vent and a Reflector Mage which I glumly ship to the Brago player.

p3p5-15: SHOULDA GONE INTO JESKAI, NERD
pick five is an easy Q-Field, six is an easy Flickerwisp in a very Gruul-heavy pack that tells me Esper was probably wrong. Day of Judgment, Widow's Peak, Seeker of the Way to fill out my curve, I did in fact wheel Ulcerate, which I'll take over Mana Tithe because I have other counters but might need more removal, Silent Departure over a really late Fall of the Titans (a red splash would've been super nice it turns out), Phyrexian Reclamation, Ghost Mom, late Alesha in case Esper doesn't work out, 15th pick Relic-Warder suits me just fine.

Thinking back on the draft I realize I failed to wheel a few critical and spells and should've jumped ship earlier for better fixing.

e: did another draft, ascendancy tokens