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8-Way Forum DraftBy Dom Camus on August 30th, 2007 · Filed in Limited · Comments not available just nowI love drafting. Drafting is fun. But if one day my doctor tells me I have to eat less chocolate, drink less alcohol and cut down on my stress for the good of my health... I'll ignore him and die drafting. Maybe somewhere in the world there's a player so frosty cool that no matter what happens in a draft they are completely unfazed. But if so, one thing's for sure: that player isn't me. This clever joke will make no sense to our US readers. And anyway, I'm envious. Because what I really want is a draft viewer for my own drafts. Enter my very own fairy godmother in the form of MTG Salvation member Shepherd. OK, he's not really my godmother. And although on the internet nobody knows you're a fairy, I rather suspect he isn't. But he is the guy who decided to take on the insanely tough task of running an eight team draft using only the poll capabilities of the site's forums. This would have been very cool, but the Limited forum moderator Gavin Verhey (Lesurgo) then stepped in to make it even cooler. He created locked sub-forums for each team and opened a bunch of real packs, sending the data on their contents to Shepherd to set up the draft. You'll notice I'm talking about teams here. That's how we avoid one weaker player skewing the entire draft. Each seat consisted of a team of eight players voting on (and discussing) the best pick. What's so amazing about this setup is that it substantially reduces the number of nonsensical picks. What we are left with is a draft we can really analyze heavily and attempt to learn some things much deeper than we ever could seeing through only a single player's eyes. The difficulty I face in writing up the eight-way forum draft is this: the volume of data involved is simply enormous. So the approach I'm taking is to divide the write-up into two parts. In the first part (which you are reading right now), I'm going to walk you through my own team's draft. As you read, form your own ideas about which of our picks were right and which were wrong. But more importantly, form your own ideas about what was going on around us in the draft. Then in part two, I'll talk about what was happening in the other seats. Besides myself, the team included FTW!, speedyartur, JD-Eclipse, Tahn, Ne0animeZ, Myrf and burek - by my estimation quite a strong team. Ready? Let the draft begin! Time Spiral OMG! Cows! GG. Academy Ruins Tormod's Crypt Fury Sliver Vampiric Sliver Tromp the Domains Greenseeker Momentary Blink Ghitu Firebreathing Sage of Epityr Errant Doomsayers Strength in Numbers Empty the Warrens Crookclaw Transmuter Temporal Isolation Drudge Reavers
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Psionic Blast Knight of the Holy Nimbus Fallen Ideal Sudden Death Blazing Blade Askari Watcher Sliver Brass Gnat Dream Stalker Gaze of Justice Mindstab Gemhide Sliver Errant Ephemeron Strangling Soot Orcish Cannonade
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Mystic Snake Thunder Totem Fungal Reaches Gustcloak Cavalier Skulking Knight Plunder Watcher Sliver Tolarian Sentinel Deathspore Thallid Coal Stoker Fortify Herd Gnarr Gorgon Recluse
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Pentarch Paladin Calciform Pools Harmonic Sliver Fury Sliver Eternity Snare Plunder Traitor's Clutch Glass Asp Blazing Blade Askari Tolarian Sentinel Chromatic Star Feebleness
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Candles of Leng Consecrate Land Fallen Ideal Momentary Blink Savage Thallid Brass Gnat Errant Doomsayers Empty the Warrens Crookclaw Transmuter Drudge Reavers Shadow Sliver
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Magus of the Mirror Consecrate Land Fury Sliver Paradox Haze Blazing Blade Askari Dream Stalker Coral Trickster Gaze of Justice Mindstab Chameleon Blur
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Evangelize Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore Skittering Monstrosity Thick-Skinned Goblin Jedit's Dragoons Psychotic Episode Screeching Sliver Cyclopean Giant Subterranean Shambler
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Magus of the Candelabra Gaea's Liege Evil Eye of Urborg (foil) Foriysian Interceptor Ancient Grudge Pentarch Ward Cancel Drudge Reavers
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Academy Ruins Tormod's Crypt Fury Sliver Greenseeker Ghitu Firebreathing Sage of Epityr Drudge Reavers
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Fallen Ideal Blazing Blade Askari Brass Gnat Dream Stalker Gaze of Justice Mindstab
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Fungal Reaches Gustcloak Cavalier Skulking Knight Plunder Tolarian Sentinel
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Then from the last four packs we picked up: Eternity Snare Brass Gnat Paradox Haze Screeching Sliver Planar Chaos Chronozoa Hedge Troll Riftmarked Knight Psychotrope Thallid Healing Leaves Seal of Primordium Primal Plasma Vitaspore Thallid Shade of Trokair Dash Hopes Keldon Marauders Veiling Oddity Saltfield Recluse Stingscourger Uktabi Drake
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Wild Pair Hedge Troll Muck Drubb Timebender Sunlance Merfolk Thaumaturgist Fa'adiyah Seer Wistful Thinking Firefright Mage Ghost Tactician Uktabi Drake Aven Riftwatcher Battering Sliver Mire Boa
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Fatal Frenzy Reckless Wurm Dormant Sliver Timebender Healing Leaves Seal of Primordium Primal Plasma Reality Acid Dust Corona Deadly Grub Uktabi Drake Ridged Kusite Poultice Sliver
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Malach of the Dawn Mantle of Leadership Timecrafting Seal of Primordium Gossamer Phantasm Sinew Sliver Ghost Tactician Uktabi Drake Shade of Trokair Veiling Oddity Utopia Vow Battering Sliver
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Retether Riptide Pilferer Timecrafting Gossamer Phantasm Vampiric Link Brain Gorgers Pallid Mycoderm Evolution Charm Ridged Kusite Veiling Oddity Utopia Vow
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Dichotomancy Malach of the Dawn Mantle of Leadership Dormant Sliver Simian Spirit Guide Uktabi Drake Pallid Mycoderm Firefright Mage Needlepeak Spider Midnight Charm
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A quick aside: it's good to see angelic orders besides the seraphim making an appearance in Magic, but didn't Wizards skip one? I think we can predict with some confidence that chubby, flying babies will be making an appearance in Lorwyn. (But not too nekkid. Nobody wants lawsuits, right?) Fungal Behemoth Tidewalker Revered Dead Merfolk Thaumaturgist Aquamorph Entity Dash Hopes Vitaspore Thallid Reflex Sliver Battering Sliver
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Mycologist Aether Membrane Brute Force Vampiric Link Keldon Marauders Brain Gorgers Ridged Kusite Utopia Vow
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Riftmarked Knight Healing Leaves Seal of Primordium Vitaspore Thallid Dash Hopes Keldon Marauders Veiling Oddity
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Muck Drubb Timebender Fa'adiyah Seer Wistful Thinking Firefright Mage Ghost Tactician
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We then picked up the following in the tail end of Planar Chaos: Timebender Veiling Oddity Ridged Kusite Firefright Mage Dash Hopes Future Sight Glittering Wish Fleshwrither Narcomoeba Bound in Silence Blind Phantasm Lymph Sliver Edge of Autumn Homing Sliver Death Rattle Grave Peril Knight of Sursi Bogardan Lancer Ichor Slick Aven Augur Samite Censer-Bearer
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Cloud Key Street Wraith Second Wind Ramosian Revivalist Flowstone Embrace Deepcavern Imp Lumithread Field Grave Scrabbler Marshalling Cry Llanowar Empath Rift Elemental Putrid Cyclops Infiltrator il-Kor Llanowar Augur
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Storm Entity New Benalia Even the Odds Edge of Autumn Homing Sliver Death Rattle Sarcomite Myr Blade of the Sixth Pride Leaden Fists Wrap in Vigor Riddle of Lightning Lost Hours Unblinking Bleb
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Haze of Rage Soultether Golem Flowstone Embrace Mesmeric Sliver Lumithread Field Grave Scrabbler Foresee Quiet Disrepair Gift of Granite Cutthroat il-Dal Fatal Attraction Aven Augur
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Tarmogoyf Dust of Moments Dakmor Salvage Haze of Rage Vedalken Aethermage Virulent Sliver Augur il-Vec Rift Elemental Quiet Disrepair Gift of Granite Cutthroat il-Dal
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Sparkspitter Keldon Megaliths Mass of Ghouls Virulent Sliver Blind Phantasm Lymph Sliver Edge of Autumn Wrap in Vigor Lost Hours Unblinking Bleb
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Muraganda Petroglyphs Storm Entity Street Wraith Stronghold Rats Vedalken Aethermage Mass of Ghouls Fatal Attraction Emberwilde Augur Oblivion Crown
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Cyclical Evolution Shivan Sand-Mage Mesmeric Sliver Grave Scrabbler Homing Sliver Petrified Plating Lost Hours Gift of Granite
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Glittering Wish Narcomoeba Blind Phantasm Homing Sliver Grave Peril Bogardan Lancer Samite Censer-Bearer
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And for our last six we picked up: Grave Scrabbler Sarcomite Myr Gift of Granite Quiet Disrepair Virulent Sliver Oblivion Crown Being quite low on playables, the deck mostly built itself...
Why "Team Hurloon"? Well, the teams were naturally A-H so each was named after some Magic-related location (although why team A was "Arena" rather than "Adarkar" I have no idea). So - how does the deck look? My general feeling was of a lot of power, but not much consistency. The mana's just horrible, but in any game where we don't get color screwed, we ought to have good chances. Rather than leave you in suspense entirely until the second article, I'll briefly summarise the results of our matches. God loves you, freaky micro-organism. Join the side of righteousness! Team Arena: 1-2. Strong, well balanced W/G deck. Double Riftsweeper was bad news for our deck. Double Hedge Troll plus Spectral Force also made things fairly difficult, but our deck cares less than most. Team Benalia The one team we didn't manage to play against. They were apparently B/R, but more on their deck in part two. Team Cabal 2-0 2-1 (two of our team played them - the better result is speedyartur's). An unusual G/B deck involving fast, flying attackers and some mid-range ground creatures backed by surprisingly little removal. Our one loss was to double Deepcavern Imp, but without the Madness cards to exploit the drawback even they weren't at their best. Avatar of Woe and Dread Return provided a theoretical threat, but it didn't quite materialize in the games I saw. Team Dakmor 2-1 2-0 (again the better result is speedyartur's). Their deck was U/W/r, which interested me since it's quite rare for U/W to want or need to splash and here both decks did. Their mana was bad too (though not as bad as ours), but apart from that, their deck was quite different. With Knight of the Holy Nimbus, Outrider en-Kor, and Shade of Trokair backed by Shaper Parasite and Serendib Sorcerer, Dakmor were far less evasive than we were and far readier for a fast ground attack. Team Eiganjo 2-0. A G/W/b deck with a Sliver sub-theme. Aside from a truly terrifying Sliver rush (raced by a timely Tromple) and a splashed Teneb, the Harvester the deck felt a bit slow and underpowered. Team Fyndhorn 0-2 2-1 (speedyartur FTW!). A G/R/b deck with a great early game and a strong removal suite. In my matches, I was thoroughly owned by Prodigal Pyromancer and Sporesower Thallid. Team Gaea 2-1. This was the team immediately to our left during the draft. They were solidly in Blue, but what really surprised me is that they were also in White! Not only that, but they too were in three colors... and their splash was Green for Mystic Snake! Some tight play by speedyartur pulled out a tough game three win after billythefridge Evangelized his Chronozoa! Much more on the other teams' decks in part two, where I'll take a detailed look at the whole table and what determined each team's colors and prospects. You have until then to ponder how you would have read and sent the various signals and what the decisions were which shaped the draft! By Dom Camus on August 30th, 2007 · Filed in Limited · Comments not available just now About Dom CamusDom Camus is a player of games, a pooter wizard, a graphic artist, a mighty pirate, a moose herder and a liar. When he's not playing other games, he plays Magic the Gathering. |
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