Ok, let's start!
Pack 1:
My choice: Rage of Purphoros.
The right choice here is Heliod's Emissary. Rage is a good removal spell, but emissary is an awesome card, both as an aggro card and as a finisher on a flying creature. My best drafting advice: when you draft, don't listen to rock music. Triad of Fates is a pretty mediocre card, it doesn't do much and it forces you to go two colors from the first pick. Anyway, i had good luck later in the draft, and Rage ended being very useful.
My choice: Cavern Lampad.
This is one of the worst packs I've seen in a lot of time. Colossus of Akros is too slow in most decks, there's no good removal, and all the creatures are vanilla or directly bad. Lampad isn't awesome, but it's good as a finisher with big creatures.
My choice: Pharika's Mender.
There were a lot of good red cards here, but Mender is a great card for any deck that can splash it, providing card advantage on a huge body. This pick could bring me to RGx Monsters, or 5 color green, but Mender is definitelly worth a try.
My choice: Time to Feed.
It was this, or Ill-Tempered Cyclops. In the last pack, i passed a lot of good red cards, and i prefered to pick the green removal and wait to see if they wheeled back (spoiler: They did!).
My choice: Artisan's Sorrow.
Sorrow is a versatile card, and you always want to have one in your side. Two-Headed Cerberus is a good card for aggro decks, but the double red cost is a bit too restrictive, and I still was unsure if i was gonna have to fight for red in the second pack.
My choice: Polis Crusher.
When i recieved this pack, i couldn't believe what i was seeing. Crusher is p1p1-worthy, and seeing him in Pick 6 is the clearest signal you can get that nobody else is playing RG.
My choice: Pheres-Band Centaurs.
It's not an awesome card, but they are solid blockers, and they are a good side card against aggro decks.
My choice: Two-Headed Cerberus.
My choice: Wild Celebrants.
The card is mediocre, but getting it now is still a good signal.
My choice: Titan's Strength.
My choice: Borderland Minotaur.
This pack was the definitive clue that Red was totally open. Three playable red commons! I picked Borderland because at that point I seemed to have a slow curve, and it's better than Skullcleaver against aggro.
Pack 2:
My choice: Vulpine Goliath
A plain and big beater, from a pack that didn't have much. Titan of Eternal Fire, while being rare, is a vanilla creature, and the trample from the fox makes it better. Blue has some good cards too, and it's something to keep an eye at.
My choice: Polis Crusher.
TWO!!! Not only one, but TWO!!! This guy is one of the greatest cards in Theros limited, it skips a lot of blockers, is a big beater, and monstrified it's just insane. Definitelly, RG is our best option.
My choice: Purphoros's Emissary.
A good evasive creature, and also an awesome finisher. There were other good options like Feral Invocation, but the Emissary is simply the best one.
My choice: Burnished Hart.
I had a dilemma here. Nemesis is a rare-worthy card, and i should have probably picked it, but i had a very high curve with expensive drops, and Hart is the best Ramp/Fixing card in the format. This is one of those picks that i'd like to discuss in the comments.
My choice: Karametra's Acolyte.
I was tempted to pick Griptide here, and either cut a very good card from an opponent's deck or have a splashable option. Acolyte lets you have 6 or 7 mana on turn 5, which isn't bad, and i'm not a fan of having random Heroic creatures that are bad on their own (and at that moment I only had one possible enabler).
My choice: Minotaur Skullcleaver.
A good early drop for our curve, which is very slow right now. When you already have a lot of high-impact 4-drops, you need cards that put pressure earlier, so you can finish quick, or ramp, to get to play the monsters before. I'm not getting passed any ramp, so I guess I'll have to go for a more midrange-ish strategy.
My choice: Opaline Unicorn.
This looks like a mistake, and it might be a mistake, but I already had a lot of 4-drops, and I wasn't sure if i would want to splash Black.
My choice: Titan of Eternal Fire.
Red is totally open, from both sides.
My choice: Breaching Hippocamp.
Pack 3:
My choice: Reaper of the Wilds.
A great rare, it's a 4/5 on turn 4 (or 3), that's resilient to removal, trades with giant bombs, and gives card advantage. This and Mender are definitelly worth a splash for black in any deck.
My choice: Rage of Purphoros.
Decent removal, out of a mediocre pack on our colors. There weren't many other options, and I didn't want to go heavily on the black splash, or splash another color (blue).
My choice: Deathbellow Raider.
There were different choices in this pack. I still needed early drops, and Minotaur puts a lot of early pressure. Spearpoint is a decent choice too, and I didn't want another 4-drop. Getting passed two Thassa's Emissarys is a signal too, and it's a perfectly splahable card, but the deck needs more cheap creatures.
My choice: Voyaging Satyr.
Satyr is an awesome creature. It filters mana, and it jumps from turn 2 to turn 4. It's specially good when our 3 best cards cost 4, and they have higher impact on the early game.
My choice: Satyr Hedonist.
There were many options here. Leafcrown Dryad is a very solid creature, and the Scorpion is great in the early game, but Hedonist offers a lot of ramp, which is really necessary when looking at the deck's curve, and I wanted to have at least one copy of it. I'm still not sure of this one.
My choice: Nemesis of Mortals.
Another awesome card getting passed late. Playing this turn 3 thanks to Satyr Hedonist is one of the strongest plays in the format. This is a rare-quality bomb.
My choice: Read the Bones.
The best option in the pack in my opinion, having random heroes without enablers is usually bad, and I prefer the utility and card advantage from Read the Bones than Mogis's Marauder, which would just be a bear with the possibility to give fear to one creature.
My choice: Ill-Tempered Cyclops.
Oh my god. The whole pack was playable! And there were 4 good cards! Cyclops is the most solid of them, but Fanatic of Mogis is a very nice surprise finisher. I don't think we have enough Minotaurs to make Warcaller good.
And the side:
For the final deck, I decided to keep the black splash only for Mender and Reaper. I had a bunch of playable cards that were left in the side. The think I like from the deck is that the curve got very midrange-ish, and during the tournament it was easy to open with some cheap guys, and finish putting a lot of pressure during turns 4-6 (well, i like that and the 3 awesome rares). I think this draft was an obvious example where you can see perfectly which colors are open, and get those cards. The first pick was probably a mistake, and I'd like to hear your oppinions about the article and my choices.
I hope you enjoyed it!
Have fun drafting!
-Beusapu
I really like how you've set out the article Beusapu, good job.
ReplyDeleteOn card choices I have to say I would have drafted pretty much the same except I'd have taken the P1P1 Burnished Hart. It's just such a strong card and P1P1 means that I can reliably go into three colours, depending on the cards that come at me from there. Otherwise after that I would have picked pretty much the same things you did. It's very clear that red is completely open and while green isn't, it isn't being hard drafted by two or more people.
Yeah Hart is also a good option. My p1p1 was totally wrong, but i like how the rest of the draft worked. Green wasn't totally open, but i still managed to get some good support cards.
ReplyDeleteHere are my comments, pack/pick.
ReplyDeleteP1P1, I see why you took rage actually, the pack has very little red support and there is a decent chance that the cerebus would wheel.
p1p5 Artisan's sorrow in my book is the best enchantment removal in red/green decks. having one in the main is perfectly fine. I would much rather have this over fade or the green/red one.
P2p1 What??? the Staunch-Hearted Warrior is loads better.It actually can win games for you. Maybe your 4 drops are kinda high here but thats ok. Much better then a 6 drop do nothing.
p2p4 I agree with ur pick here. you need mana fix and ramp because you are turning into a high curve deck. also at this point voyaging satyr is a very important card and should move higher in your pick wanting.
p2p5 i cannot agree here. I have never seen the acolyte generate more then 2 mana. I hardly even see it generate that. It costs too much for so little. I would take Savage surge here.
p3p1 Once again i cannot agree. why splash black for a medicore uncommon and this. the uncommon is very good mind you but I have not seen anything to justify this rare.
reaper seems like a card that just sits on the board hoping that you will trade with them to scry. I much rather have the Stoneshock Giant.
p3p3 ordeal of Nylea is much better here since you are determined to splash it really helps with that and it helps us fix our mana.
p3p5 again ordeal of Nylea for the exact same reason. picking a creature just to sacrifice him never seems good. If we has some Nemesis's then maybe but without any, I think ordeal would be better.
p3p7 with my double ordeal and other triggers Akroan crusader here is the pick as we need early game pressure.
Aside from the picks the deck is most shocking. Artisans sorrow should be in the main over boulderfall for sure. I also have had no liking for Golaith (The fox says sorry I am not a better card) i would have much rather liked the Acolyte here (you gave it such praise and did not run it) or even Feral innvocation. heck Nylea's pesecence here is better. Those are my comments.
Hey! Thanks for the feedback.
ReplyDeleteIn p2p1, well, about Staunch-Hearted Warrior, I know it's an awesome card in a deck that can build around it, but in RG monsters/ramp, which i was drafting, it's a very mediocre card. I already had a lot of 4-drops, and not many good Heroic enablers. Warrior is awesome if you follow with two auras next turn, not if you just want to drop big creatures and swing with them.
p2p5: I didn't actually say Acolyte was good, it's a mediocre card (still good in green-heavy decks with Boulderfall, but not in mine). However, Savage Surge, while being an awesome card in UG tempo decks, is just a mediocre trick in RG monsters. Again, the plan is extremelly simple, and at some point, the opponent will just have to leave attackers untapped to block. Dangerous creatures are flyers, not normal creatures you'd kill with surge.
p3p1: WOOT? An uncommon? A 4/5 creature for 4 mana, that skips all the removal, puts a lot of early pressure, can trade for a 10/10 monster when you need it, and gives card advantage in form of scry. How is that bad? I was already gonna splash black for the Mender!
p3p3 and p3p5: I don't like Ordeals in non-heroic decks. They work well sometimes, but they are the typical 1x2 aura, and the opponent can play around them easily. They aren't bad, but they are fragile, and I already had good mana fixing.
Artisan's Sorrow is good, but I pefer the singleton Boulderfall for many reasons. It seems to be a bad card on the paper, but once you play it (and in decks like this you play it often), you realize it's a boardwipe, and a great finisher. It can clear two blockers, eliminate flying creatures, or just kill an opponent that thought 5 life was safe. I've played it a lot of times in RG, and i like it a lot (kinda personal tech, like your Symied Hopes in UG).
Goliath isn't a very good card, but he's what the deck needs: a big and plain beater to follow the two beaters you've played the last two turns. There are no wrong threats, only wrong answers, and Goliath makes our opponent's answers (the small dudes he leaves to block while swinging at you with the rest) wrong.
I'm talking from my experience here, but RG beatdown is one of the decks i've drafted more times, and not all the cards that seem good (like the ordeals) are effective.