I think I pick the Gloryscale P3P1. I am a big fan of Colossal Might, but I have never 1st picked it that I know of. You ended up with 13 castable triggers for it (not to be too results oriented), but likely the Jund Sojurners and Igneous Pouncer will be cycled, leaving you with 10. That's pretty good. I still think he is the pick, he is especially good if you can get a few Violent Outbursts, because if they don't block you can play it, making him a 7/6, and if you get lucky and cascade into a multi-colored spell it gets nasty really fast. I also think that Stun Sniper should be considered on par or even slightly higher than the Colossal Might. You were relatively removal light at this time and needed a little 'D' I think. The fact that the Sniper is essentially a Naya only spell means it might go a bit later, which one (nay, two!) did thankfully.
P3P11, I think I still take the Hushblade. Being the worst of a cycle of really awesome cards isn't all that bad really. You will have a hard time hard-casting the Jund Sojurners often, and the blade can be a relevant early beater or it can trade with most early threats from your opponent. Zap+pinger is good though.
G1 really highlights what a friggin' toolbox the Obelisk of Alara is. You used it well and it didn't disappoint.
Man I can't wait until next week, the gameplay overviews are my favorite part of your articles, because you and I rarely differ on picks during the draft portion, and when we do it's small differences like I mentioned above. Keep up the good work!
As for Mr. Anonymous, had you read the closing you would have seen where I admitted that there wasn't too much going on with Red/Green - the colors just didn't lend themselves to more analysis.
I'm surprised you mullied down to 5 when you had 3 lands and the means to a forest in your hand. Maybe I'm just mully-shy, but I've been screwed over by the shuffler so many times that I would be very hesitant to mully a hand with 3 land in it, even if I wasn't in color.
Just remembered the enchantment was called pendrell mists, though he never drew it and sided it out after the first game, so it was largely irrelevant.
I played against a similar deck that used blue for some creature sacrificing enchantment with a name I can't remember. He was playing uba mask, I was playing the helm of the void combo in a tezzerator shell (stolen from walkerdog's sideboard tech). In the first game I played the last card in my hand (ensnaring bridge) to stop his factories. He responded with Uba mask; at this point noone can attack and no one can lose to milling, since then I've added one copy of explosives to the deck; just in case :P
@first anonym poster: I actually talked with our fellow jamuraa about SPDC tournaments but unfortunately time zone differences is a big problem. By the time they start playing, it is already midnight where I live. I could have played if those tournaments were weekends but SPDC is hosted on Thursday evenings so no chance for me :(.
If you know an EU timezone friendly tournament or a group of players, please let me know.
@ibanez_bw: I'm very busy these days with M10 beta but after it finishes, we will definately play some games!
Crazy that you open Oblesk of Alara and get passed two mid-pack Stun Snipers. That added to your logical playskill and its no surprise that you're undefeated in these draft walkthroughs.
The Esper switch may have worked out but you still ended up with a great Naya Deck so sticking to your first three picks and not second guessing the plan seems to be fine. Of course, without the mid-pack Stun Sniper gifts you may have had a tough time winning.
Just on a side note...Ive seen lots of mediocre players running main deck artifact hate so even if you get a great Esper deck you can get blown out by a bad deck. Its probably why ppl sometimes avoid that archetype?
The GW variant is called SHIELD OF VALERON, Bant Sureblade, and Qasali Pridemage have replaced some of the pieces.
4 Ballynock Cohort
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Safehold Elite
4 Steward of Valeron
4 Valeron Outlander
3 Safehold Duo
3 Wild Leotau
spells
4 Barkshell Blessing
4 Recumbent Bliss
4 Safewright Quest
4 Shield of the Oversoul
Lands
9 Forest
9 Plains
I couldn't even finish the article before I had to go and build a standard pauper deck. Here's the GW deck I made:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Shorecrasher Mimic
4 Bant Sureblade
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Favor of the Overbeing
4 Crystallization
4 Snakeform
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Terramorphic Expanse
12 Forest
8 Plains
This is an untested, rough list, of course. Having a hard time finding someone to play with on MTGO right now. My user name is ibanez_bw if you want to play.
Neat I really like the article. The deck your running isn't bad in the casual setting. You should attend a pauper event some time www.pdcmagic.com has std, block, and other variant events check them out for the schedule.
Catch me on modo since i'm rarely on skype, if you are intrested in having me do it. My voice is annoying though! At least to me. I have the same handle on modo.
I would say that there almost was no strategy for this draft. That's how it looked in retrospect. Recover is nice, there are better cards, but I would rather have it than not (I also love drafting Black in 10th)
I believe running Birchlore Rangers into the CoTV had 0 impact on the outcome of the game. Furthermore I believe the video of the play actually adds value to the video in demonstrating that the additional cost added by Trinisphere doesn't allow one to play through CoTV on 0, 1, or 2.
I try to include videos I believe to be most relevant. I've found over the short period of time I've used the video work that each video on the page is viewed less than the one above it. As such there are diminishing returns on each additional video I edit and provide commentary on. I'm trying to include more of the strategy discussion in the video commentary to offset the time and provide a more hands-on approach. Accordingly I felt the second game of the Zoo matchup was a poor example -- my opponent had to mulligan and then couldn't draw a land past his first two. I didn't believe much could be learned from the video and if I had posted it, I surmise less would have viewed the elves videos which I believed to be relevant to the article.
stax is probably the deck i would like to play the most when all its materials will be online. I tried a lots of time to make one very similar to the deck your mentioned here.
In my experience, to run Magus of the Tabernacle is very useful : it is a solid 2/6 for a fair 4 CMC and an useful removal after ravages/gueddon. In your version, i observed that all your beaters (elspeth & mishra) are very sensitive to needle and you run no cards able to destroy them (yes, CotV could help, but needle is only 1 colorless, so if you loosed the coin flip ...). In that, Magus will help a lot : even with any needles, you get a 2/6 to block any goyf or threat.
I also would consider enlighted tutor : yes it would be a dead card once CotV at 1 on board, but it also could accelerate your deck a lot in early game or after any artifact/enchantment disruption. It is really good with canopy your are running also.
Regarding the SB i would try canonist : great to combo but also harmful for a bunch of decks and very synergical with this deck.
There is another way to build a kinda stax i tried : a WB one with Braids, Cabal Minion as a centerpiece. He is a smokestack=1 on a body, so it is intersting to try to abuse of him with this shell of deck. And playing black could also help with magus of the abyss who is interesting in that build.
I may undervalue Recover, but Snapping Drake is one of the best creatures in the format. You could have potentially had Drake pick 1, Persuasion pick 2, Drake pick 4 for a very strong start into blue (and cutting a lot of blue to downstream drafters). I could even have considered a pick 3 Dehydration, to cut more blue and leave the second color open longer, though Skyhunter Prowler is good there. Staying open for color 2 definitely would have led me to the Stalking Tiger pick 5, as I think blue/green is pretty strong. That would have possibly gotten me picking the two Spined Wurms in pack 2, also one of the best creatures in the format. I can't fault you for not getting them as you weren't very far into green at that point.
Given that you were black and grabbing recovers/gravediggers, I actually thought pick 3 Highway Robber was worth considering. Granted you only had the 1 recover by that point, but loading up on recursion and robbers can be nice. Speaking of which, pack 3 pick 1 I definitely want the Essence Drain or Consume Spirit over the Pacifism. They put stuff in the graveyard rather than leaving it in play for disenchant effects to reactivate, or triggered/activated effects to stay around. Either one of them for instance is better against the Lavaborn Muse you faced. Also they both fit with the plan of "win the race by getting some lifegain out of recurring Highway Robber and Venerable Monk until I get fatal damage in". Only argument for pacifism is the lower mana cost, the other two are just better in most situations. (Nice to get Pacifism on that Bogardan Firefiend though, one of the few cases where it's better!)
I do see from the late picks that White turned out to be pretty open at that table, so it wasn't bad to have as one of your colors. I think there was more power available in some of the other colors though. Early comittment to blue would have let you take Thieving Magpie and Merfolk Looter in pack 2, both pretty bombish in my opinion. And a green-obsessed Timmy could have grabbed Craw Wurm, double Spined Wurm, double Giant Spider, Kavu Climber, double Giant Growth, Rootwalla, and triple Llanowar Sentinels plus some Rampant Growths. Paired with another color for removal, tricks, and/or evasion there certainly was enough green open to make it very viable to move into. I think cards like Soul Feast and Ravenous Rats are weak compared to what you might've been getting from other colors. Though Triple Looming Shade is nice, and Graveborn Muse is an excellent gift.
Congrats on the win, and good luck in your future drafts!
I think I pick the Gloryscale P3P1. I am a big fan of Colossal Might, but I have never 1st picked it that I know of. You ended up with 13 castable triggers for it (not to be too results oriented), but likely the Jund Sojurners and Igneous Pouncer will be cycled, leaving you with 10. That's pretty good. I still think he is the pick, he is especially good if you can get a few Violent Outbursts, because if they don't block you can play it, making him a 7/6, and if you get lucky and cascade into a multi-colored spell it gets nasty really fast. I also think that Stun Sniper should be considered on par or even slightly higher than the Colossal Might. You were relatively removal light at this time and needed a little 'D' I think. The fact that the Sniper is essentially a Naya only spell means it might go a bit later, which one (nay, two!) did thankfully.
P3P11, I think I still take the Hushblade. Being the worst of a cycle of really awesome cards isn't all that bad really. You will have a hard time hard-casting the Jund Sojurners often, and the blade can be a relevant early beater or it can trade with most early threats from your opponent. Zap+pinger is good though.
G1 really highlights what a friggin' toolbox the Obelisk of Alara is. You used it well and it didn't disappoint.
Man I can't wait until next week, the gameplay overviews are my favorite part of your articles, because you and I rarely differ on picks during the draft portion, and when we do it's small differences like I mentioned above. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the support Paul.
As for Mr. Anonymous, had you read the closing you would have seen where I admitted that there wasn't too much going on with Red/Green - the colors just didn't lend themselves to more analysis.
I'm surprised you mullied down to 5 when you had 3 lands and the means to a forest in your hand. Maybe I'm just mully-shy, but I've been screwed over by the shuffler so many times that I would be very hesitant to mully a hand with 3 land in it, even if I wasn't in color.
Still, I like reading your games and analysis.
Thanks for more great content, especially the YouTube videos. Have you thought about doing a match-up series?
Just remembered the enchantment was called pendrell mists, though he never drew it and sided it out after the first game, so it was largely irrelevant.
I played against a similar deck that used blue for some creature sacrificing enchantment with a name I can't remember. He was playing uba mask, I was playing the helm of the void combo in a tezzerator shell (stolen from walkerdog's sideboard tech). In the first game I played the last card in my hand (ensnaring bridge) to stop his factories. He responded with Uba mask; at this point noone can attack and no one can lose to milling, since then I've added one copy of explosives to the deck; just in case :P
@first anonym poster: I actually talked with our fellow jamuraa about SPDC tournaments but unfortunately time zone differences is a big problem. By the time they start playing, it is already midnight where I live. I could have played if those tournaments were weekends but SPDC is hosted on Thursday evenings so no chance for me :(.
If you know an EU timezone friendly tournament or a group of players, please let me know.
@ibanez_bw: I'm very busy these days with M10 beta but after it finishes, we will definately play some games!
LE
Crazy that you open Oblesk of Alara and get passed two mid-pack Stun Snipers. That added to your logical playskill and its no surprise that you're undefeated in these draft walkthroughs.
The Esper switch may have worked out but you still ended up with a great Naya Deck so sticking to your first three picks and not second guessing the plan seems to be fine. Of course, without the mid-pack Stun Sniper gifts you may have had a tough time winning.
Just on a side note...Ive seen lots of mediocre players running main deck artifact hate so even if you get a great Esper deck you can get blown out by a bad deck. Its probably why ppl sometimes avoid that archetype?
-M
The GW variant is called SHIELD OF VALERON, Bant Sureblade, and Qasali Pridemage have replaced some of the pieces.
4 Ballynock Cohort
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Safehold Elite
4 Steward of Valeron
4 Valeron Outlander
3 Safehold Duo
3 Wild Leotau
spells
4 Barkshell Blessing
4 Recumbent Bliss
4 Safewright Quest
4 Shield of the Oversoul
Lands
9 Forest
9 Plains
I couldn't even finish the article before I had to go and build a standard pauper deck. Here's the GW deck I made:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Shorecrasher Mimic
4 Bant Sureblade
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Favor of the Overbeing
4 Crystallization
4 Snakeform
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Terramorphic Expanse
12 Forest
8 Plains
Side:
4 Gleeful Sabotage
4 Gloomwidow's Feast
4 Wickerbough Elder
3 Glit-Leaf Ambush
This is an untested, rough list, of course. Having a hard time finding someone to play with on MTGO right now. My user name is ibanez_bw if you want to play.
Neat I really like the article. The deck your running isn't bad in the casual setting. You should attend a pauper event some time www.pdcmagic.com has std, block, and other variant events check them out for the schedule.
That was from me.......
Catch me on modo since i'm rarely on skype, if you are intrested in having me do it. My voice is annoying though! At least to me. I have the same handle on modo.
I would say that there almost was no strategy for this draft. That's how it looked in retrospect. Recover is nice, there are better cards, but I would rather have it than not (I also love drafting Black in 10th)
Ah, I see, good choice. I would love to see a follow up to this article!
I believe running Birchlore Rangers into the CoTV had 0 impact on the outcome of the game. Furthermore I believe the video of the play actually adds value to the video in demonstrating that the additional cost added by Trinisphere doesn't allow one to play through CoTV on 0, 1, or 2.
I try to include videos I believe to be most relevant. I've found over the short period of time I've used the video work that each video on the page is viewed less than the one above it. As such there are diminishing returns on each additional video I edit and provide commentary on. I'm trying to include more of the strategy discussion in the video commentary to offset the time and provide a more hands-on approach. Accordingly I felt the second game of the Zoo matchup was a poor example -- my opponent had to mulligan and then couldn't draw a land past his first two. I didn't believe much could be learned from the video and if I had posted it, I surmise less would have viewed the elves videos which I believed to be relevant to the article.
I will try and make the articles more work-friendly in the future. Especially for drafts. Thank you for the comments.
But the ctarl-ctarl emperor is superior!
Heh, nice reference. Modo hates clans now though, if not the interface, then the devs for ignoring all attempts for them to be useful.
Really good analyzis & article. Take care.
stax is probably the deck i would like to play the most when all its materials will be online. I tried a lots of time to make one very similar to the deck your mentioned here.
In my experience, to run Magus of the Tabernacle is very useful : it is a solid 2/6 for a fair 4 CMC and an useful removal after ravages/gueddon. In your version, i observed that all your beaters (elspeth & mishra) are very sensitive to needle and you run no cards able to destroy them (yes, CotV could help, but needle is only 1 colorless, so if you loosed the coin flip ...). In that, Magus will help a lot : even with any needles, you get a 2/6 to block any goyf or threat.
I also would consider enlighted tutor : yes it would be a dead card once CotV at 1 on board, but it also could accelerate your deck a lot in early game or after any artifact/enchantment disruption. It is really good with canopy your are running also.
Regarding the SB i would try canonist : great to combo but also harmful for a bunch of decks and very synergical with this deck.
There is another way to build a kinda stax i tried : a WB one with Braids, Cabal Minion as a centerpiece. He is a smokestack=1 on a body, so it is intersting to try to abuse of him with this shell of deck. And playing black could also help with magus of the abyss who is interesting in that build.
Really good article, keep it up.
Thanks very much
I may undervalue Recover, but Snapping Drake is one of the best creatures in the format. You could have potentially had Drake pick 1, Persuasion pick 2, Drake pick 4 for a very strong start into blue (and cutting a lot of blue to downstream drafters). I could even have considered a pick 3 Dehydration, to cut more blue and leave the second color open longer, though Skyhunter Prowler is good there. Staying open for color 2 definitely would have led me to the Stalking Tiger pick 5, as I think blue/green is pretty strong. That would have possibly gotten me picking the two Spined Wurms in pack 2, also one of the best creatures in the format. I can't fault you for not getting them as you weren't very far into green at that point.
Given that you were black and grabbing recovers/gravediggers, I actually thought pick 3 Highway Robber was worth considering. Granted you only had the 1 recover by that point, but loading up on recursion and robbers can be nice. Speaking of which, pack 3 pick 1 I definitely want the Essence Drain or Consume Spirit over the Pacifism. They put stuff in the graveyard rather than leaving it in play for disenchant effects to reactivate, or triggered/activated effects to stay around. Either one of them for instance is better against the Lavaborn Muse you faced. Also they both fit with the plan of "win the race by getting some lifegain out of recurring Highway Robber and Venerable Monk until I get fatal damage in". Only argument for pacifism is the lower mana cost, the other two are just better in most situations. (Nice to get Pacifism on that Bogardan Firefiend though, one of the few cases where it's better!)
I do see from the late picks that White turned out to be pretty open at that table, so it wasn't bad to have as one of your colors. I think there was more power available in some of the other colors though. Early comittment to blue would have let you take Thieving Magpie and Merfolk Looter in pack 2, both pretty bombish in my opinion. And a green-obsessed Timmy could have grabbed Craw Wurm, double Spined Wurm, double Giant Spider, Kavu Climber, double Giant Growth, Rootwalla, and triple Llanowar Sentinels plus some Rampant Growths. Paired with another color for removal, tricks, and/or evasion there certainly was enough green open to make it very viable to move into. I think cards like Soul Feast and Ravenous Rats are weak compared to what you might've been getting from other colors. Though Triple Looming Shade is nice, and Graveborn Muse is an excellent gift.
Congrats on the win, and good luck in your future drafts!
Brilliant article, keep up the good work.
A quick question though, is it on purpose that you did not include the second game against Zoo? If so, why?
Nice Article as always! Keep those Classic articles coming.