Interested in hearing people's thoughts on this swiss draft. I drafted a pretty poor deck but managed to 2-1 thanks to a couple of bombs, including navigator which is basically unbeatable if you untap with it. Best limited rare in the set? Along with the solid body, it basically gives your whole team team hexproof, vigilance and "cannot be killed in combat" if you have enough mana. it's hard to lose when you have that effect going on.
Pack 3 pick 12:
Scroll of Griselbrand
Scalding Devil
--> Rain of Thorns
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 13:
Banners Raised
--> Angel's Mercy
Island
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Hunted Ghoul
Plains
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Plains
Looking over the draft, my picks were all fairly easy I think, with pretty thin pickings all around. I guess spectral prison would have been better than sheltering word p1p6, and favourable winds p1p11 would have been ok given that I ended up with a few wingcrafters, but at that time I had zero flyers and not playing UW generally makes that bad. I kind of knew somberwald sage would be bad and it turned out that way - I think I cast it 3 times but never untapped with it. My thought was that if I would go UG there was the chance I'd have something I wanted to ramp into, and it was certainly a more interesting pick than wandering wolf. p2p3 was a pure hate pick because there was nothing there I wanted.
I wasn't very happy where I ended up. I barely had 23 playables and didn't really know what my win condition was. I just knew that I had never lost a game where I untapped with a bonded deadeye navigator and had never won against one either, so I hoped to be able to stall out until then. I figured flying pigs could get me there sometimes too. I had a bit of a mill sub theme there which I thought would work with the stall game plan as well, and could side more in against slower decks. The vanguard's shield maindeck looks terrible, and it probably is (in the end I usually boarded it out, though it did win me one of my first games), but my thought was I barely had anything I could play in the first two turns to develop my board and it would help with the "stall until late game" plan. Ghostly flicker too didn't have synergy, but joint assualt had barely any bond targets, I thought I had too many other spells for lair delve and I figured the flicker was ok at saving a defender or flicking a mist raven. Again, I usually boarded it out.
Matches:
Match 1 vs WR
This guy had all the angels I passed - Jubilation, Glory's rise and also a couple of Voice of the Provinces and a smattering of the usual red stuff, vampires, humans etc. He didn't have much of an early game but his late game was pretty sick.
G1 - I had a fairly slow hand, but it had wingcrafter and stern mentor in it and I drew into avenger and shieldmate. I flashed avenger in turn 3 but bonded it with wingcrafter so he just thunderbolted it. I Played turn 4 shieldmate, turn 5 mentor and managed to use into the void, mist raven and ghostly flicker to bounce my way to an exact mill victory, with him having lethal on the board the following turn. I had triumph going for a few turns there which helped, it was a really close game.
G2 - I mulled to 6 on the draw with wingcrafter, raven, navigator and lands. He did nothing for his first 5 turns other than use natural end on my triumph of ferocity. which I figured meant he had kept a sick late game hand, but I had drawn navigator and more lands so I got greedy and played out raven on turn 5, bouncing and replaying wingcrafter thinking I'd setup the navigator flicker the next turn. Of course, he had thunderbolt for the raven. I played out the navigator the next turn with only a land left in hand.... he played DOUBLE thunderbolt (he boarded in a couple after seeing wingcrafter first game I guess). I drew super lucky though, topdecking wolfir avenger followed by spectral prison, prison locked down his havengul vampire and my flying wolf got me there.
Match 2 vs mono black
This guy had the absolute nuts. 2x homicidal, 2x blood artist, 2x bone splinters, human frailty, demonic rising, death wind, demonic taskmaster, gloom surgeon, barter in blood. I know black can be powerful, don't think I've ever seen such a good black deck.
G1 - He had a fast start and got out an early gloom surgeon + blood artist, but bone splintered away the artist when he drew homicidal. Luckily I had spectral prison after he hit a couple of times with the lifelinked surgeon, but I was down to 6 life. He played demonic rising the following turn, but I had a sliver of hope with wingcrafter on the board and crippling chill/deadeye navigator in hand. I managed to get to a board state where I untapped with a wingcrafter bonded navigator and I was just attacking each turn with the wingcrafter and navigator and flickering around to keep the wingcrafter alive and untapped for blocking. He played a maalfed twins but it wasn't helping him because I could flicker-block with the wingcrafter too. It was a slow way to kill him, but eventually I got him down to 3 life the turn after he played a soulcage fiend. That turn I drew into trusted force mage, and made a stupid misplay. I thought I'd rebond the mist raven with my deadeye after flickering out of the attack, to get in an extra point of damage, and then I'd re-flicker the navigator post combat to set it up as a flying defender. But my navigator of course wasn't bonded, so on his turn he attacked with maalfad, soulcage and his 5/5 demon into my 3/3 flying forcemage and navigator. I went into the tank and couldn't see how I could win - he was only on one life but I had to block 2 of his guys or else I died which meant I wouldn't have a bonded wingcrafter - unless I topdecked a creature the following turn I couldn't win. So I blocked his soulcage fiend and drew the match.
G2 - Nothing I could do here. He went T2 blood artist, T3 bloodflow conniseur, T4 homicidal (sacced his artist), T5 homicidal. T6 he played something else and sacced it, So he was attacking with an 8/4 lifelinker. He got me down to 3 life before I killed it with nettle swine, but he played soulcage fiend (9/5 lifelinker) so after chumping it a couple of times, I scopped with him on about 50 life.
G3 - I had an early shieldmate/mentor so thought I'd get a mill plan going, but he human frailtied by shieldmate when I played it out. He managed to have removal for all of my guys and got out demonic rising again, just ran over me pretty easily.
Match 3 vs UGr
G1 - He got mana screwed pretty badly, and I curved out and beat him up. I think I used mist raven on the only threat he played.
G2 - Fairly long and interesting game here, and I had left my vanguard shield in luckily which ended up being clutch because I was able to put it on my narstad scrapper and untap with about 8 mana one turn to break open the board. The defender had done some good work early here holding off havengul vampire. He killed my scrapper with about 4 creatures (I think it was threatening lethal), but I had drawn into my navigator and pretty easily won after that.
Just some comments generally on AVR drafting. I'm new to the game so this is my first draft environment, and I have to say I'm not sure why people hate on it so much - I really enjoy it and think there's quite a bit of depth to it. People complain about a lack of removal, but they also complain about the abundance of bounce (which functions as removal in a tempo deck). The only colour combinations with no good removal or bounce (other than banishing stroke) are GW, but green can splash black fairly easy with growths and rangers, and WR, but WR decks should be hyper agressive and not care about removal. People complain that there's not much depth and few archeypes, but there's quite a few decks that can make use of otherwise terrible cards, which is what makes for archetypes (eg. poltergeist can be good in UR with hanewier lancers and the otherwise terrible ghostly touch/ghostform). There's also quite a few tricky cards that can lead to interesting board states - the black loner cards, blood artist (actually, black in general), conjurer's closet, the uncommon vampires, lightning prowess/vigilante justice. Also I think the colours are overall fairly balanced, as long as you pick a combination that synergises with your card pool. Anyway, I've had a lot of fun games of AVR draft and look forward to M13 to try something different :).
Just some comments generally on AVR drafting. I'm new to the game so this is my first draft environment, and I have to say I'm not sure why people hate on it so much - I really enjoy it and think there's quite a bit of depth to it. People complain about a lack of removal, but they also complain about the abundance of bounce (which functions as removal in a tempo deck). The only colour combinations with no good removal or bounce (other than banishing stroke) are GW, but green can splash black fairly easy with growths and rangers, and WR, but WR decks should be hyper agressive and not care about removal. People complain that there's not much depth and few archeypes, but there's quite a few decks that can make use of otherwise terrible cards, which is what makes for archetypes (eg. poltergeist can be good in UR with hanewier lancers and the otherwise terrible ghostly touch/ghostform). There's also quite a few tricky cards that can lead to interesting board states - the black loner cards, blood artist (actually, black in general), conjurer's closet, the uncommon vampires, lightning prowess/vigilante justice. Also I think the colours are overall fairly balanced, as long as you pick a combination that synergises with your card pool. Anyway, I've had a lot of fun games of AVR draft and look forward to M13 to try something different :).
I, too, am pretty new to the game (started right before AVR pre-release). I think that AVR's lack of depth compared to an older set like ROE or IPA (others that I have drafted on MTGO and CCGdecks). AVR seemed pretty straightforward, and was quite easy to learn the basics of drafting with.
Though, you can't expect to table many playables. That's a huge problem that I've had on MTGO.
But now to your draft.
You said that you hate drafted p2p3. I don't think you should have done that as you had two very playable cards. One was spectral prison. This can totally shut down a deck. The other was Abundant Growth, which is what I would have picked as it cantrips and fixes. Passing a blood artist is a pretty good sign black is open, while passing abundant growth could put people in to green and cut it more.
P1p6:
I don't think that sheltering word is really good, as this is a pretty removal light format. Again, spectral prison can win games, and it's quasi removal. It definitely would have been my pick.
The other was Abundant Growth, which is what I would have picked as it cantrips and fixes.
Agreed. That card is a really high pick for Green and you basically can't have too many.
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(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
Vanguard's Shield is extremely slow and doesn't really help against aggressive decks since it comes online turn 3 only if you have a 1 drop and usually not until turn 4/5. I'd play a one mana +2/+2 pump spell over it anytime.
Picks:
Time: 7/9/2012 8:04:30 PM
Players:
Girahmin
DH_cz
conradmn
yyaguchi
mevsc2
PhyrexianPants
wissam3
--> Psychobabble
------ AVR ------
Pack 1 pick 1:
Crypt Creeper
Elgaud Shieldmate
Dangerous Wager
Outwit
Hunted Ghoul
Seraph Sanctuary
Timberland Guide
Demolish
Vanguard's Shield
Angel of Glory's Rise (FOIL)
Mass Appeal
Aggravate
Builder's Blessing
--> Deadeye Navigator
Forest
Pack 1 pick 2:
Narstad Scrapper
Grave Exchange
Spectral Gateguards
Geist Snatch
Wandering Wolf
Leap of Faith
Somberwald Vigilante
Essence Harvest
Driver of the Dead
Galvanic Alchemist
Vanishment
Maalfeld Twins
--> Somberwald Sage
Island
Pack 1 pick 3:
Terrifying Presence
Cloudshift
Predator's Gambit
Zealous Strike
Heirs of Stromkirk
Sheltering Word
Midvast Protector (FOIL)
Pillar of Flame
Unhallowed Pact
Favorable Winds
Havengul Vampire
--> Stern Mentor
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 4:
Malicious Intent
Pathbreaker Wurm
Rotcrown Ghoul
Angelic Wall
Natural End
Riot Ringleader
Grave Exchange
Ghostly Flicker
Righteous Blow
--> Gloomwidow
Commander's Authority
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 5:
Dangerous Wager
Havengul Skaab
Uncanny Speed
Lair Delve
--> Nettle Swine
Abundant Growth
Narstad Scrapper
Geist Snatch
Vorstclaw
Ghostly Touch
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 6:
Righteous Blow
Grounded
Dreadwaters
Necrobite
--> Sheltering Word
Call to Serve
Spectral Prison
Defy Death
Killing Wave
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 7:
Thunderbolt (FOIL)
Snare the Skies
Mental Agony
Ghostform
Zealous Strike
Unhallowed Pact
--> Vessel of Endless Rest
Rush of Blood
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 8:
Cloudshift
--> Narstad Scrapper
Raging Poltergeist
Defang
Ghostform
Aggravate
Bower Passage
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 9:
Dangerous Wager
Outwit
Hunted Ghoul
Seraph Sanctuary
Vanguard's Shield
--> Mass Appeal
Forest
Pack 1 pick 10:
Narstad Scrapper
--> Grave Exchange
Leap of Faith
Essence Harvest
Driver of the Dead
Island
Pack 1 pick 11:
Cloudshift
--> Sheltering Word
Unhallowed Pact
Favorable Winds
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 12:
Malicious Intent
--> Rotcrown Ghoul
Natural End
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 13:
Dangerous Wager
--> Lair Delve
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 14:
--> Grounded
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 15:
--> Mountain
------ AVR ------
Pack 2 pick 1:
Trusted Forcemage
Midnight Duelist
Guise of Fire
Bloodflow Connoisseur
Fleeting Distraction
Uncanny Speed
Heirs of Stromkirk
Crippling Chill
Snare the Skies
Cursebreak
Ghostly Touch
--> Wolfir Avenger
Tandem Lookout
Primal Surge
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 2:
Dreadwaters
Bone Splinters
Hanweir Lancer
Geist Snatch
Borderland Ranger
Galvanic Alchemist
Somberwald Vigilante
Moonlight Geist
Demonic Taskmaster (FOIL)
Polluted Dead
Corpse Traders
--> Into the Void
Triumph of Ferocity
Plains
Pack 2 pick 3:
Cloudshift
Ghoulflesh
Abundant Growth
Spectral Prison
Defang
Snare the Skies
Mental Agony
Raging Poltergeist
Zealous Strike
--> Blood Artist
Devout Chaplain
Appetite for Brains
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 4:
Malicious Intent
Elgaud Shieldmate
Hunted Ghoul
--> Trusted Forcemage
Midnight Duelist
Guise of Fire
Sheltering Word
Call to Serve
Peel from Reality
Lightning Prowess
Tormentor's Trident
Island
Pack 2 pick 5:
Midnight Duelist
Battle Hymn
Havengul Skaab
Crypt Creeper
--> Joint Assault
Ghostform
Necrobite
Demonic Taskmaster
Angelic Armaments
Demonlord of Ashmouth
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 6:
--> Nettle Swine
Banners Raised
Moorland Inquisitor
Outwit
Grounded
Scroll of Avacyn
Human Frailty
Rain of Thorns
Lunar Mystic
Forest
Pack 2 pick 7:
Soulcage Fiend
Banners Raised
Rotcrown Ghoul
--> Wingcrafter
Demolish
Leap of Faith
Second Guess
Otherworld Atlas
Forest
Pack 2 pick 8:
Lair Delve
Crypt Creeper
--> Elgaud Shieldmate
Angel's Mercy
Diregraf Escort
Seraph Sanctuary
Appetite for Brains
Forest
Pack 2 pick 9:
Fleeting Distraction
Uncanny Speed
--> Crippling Chill
Snare the Skies
Cursebreak
Ghostly Touch
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 10:
--> Dreadwaters
Bone Splinters
Somberwald Vigilante
Polluted Dead
Corpse Traders
Plains
Pack 2 pick 11:
Snare the Skies
--> Mental Agony
Raging Poltergeist
Appetite for Brains
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 12:
Malicious Intent
Hunted Ghoul
--> Sheltering Word
Island
Pack 2 pick 13:
Battle Hymn
--> Ghostform
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Outwit
Forest
Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Forest
------ AVR ------
Pack 3 pick 1:
Cathedral Sanctifier
Geist Trappers
Lair Delve
--> Mist Raven
Nightshade Peddler
Polluted Dead
Bladed Bracers
Wingcrafter
Death Wind
Demolish
Marrow Bats
Howlgeist
Defy Death
Angel of Jubilation
Forest
Pack 3 pick 2:
Fleeting Distraction
Moorland Inquisitor
Searchlight Geist
Malicious Intent
Pathbreaker Wurm
Rotcrown Ghoul
Spectral Prison
Joint Assault
Call to Serve
--> Peel from Reality
Angel's Tomb
Bower Passage
Druids' Repository
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 3:
Ghoulflesh
Ghostly Flicker
Spectral Gateguards
Essence Harvest
--> Alchemist's Apprentice
Moonlight Geist
Death Wind
Angel's Mercy
Thatcher Revolt
Lightning Prowess
Angel's Tomb
Conjurer's Closet
Island
Pack 3 pick 4:
Guise of Fire
Searchlight Geist
Pathbreaker Wurm
Scrapskin Drake
Scroll of Griselbrand
Undead Executioner
Midvast Protector
Scalding Devil
Holy Justiciar
Rain of Thorns
--> Haunted Guardian
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 5:
Banners Raised
Rotcrown Ghoul
Thraben Valiant
Driver of the Dead
Angel's Mercy
Seraph Sanctuary
Demolish
--> Vanguard's Shield
Mass Appeal
Commander's Authority
Island
Pack 3 pick 6:
Dangerous Wager
Outwit
Hunted Ghoul
Thunderbolt
Bladed Bracers
Leap of Faith
Essence Harvest
Gang of Devils
--> Triumph of Ferocity
Plains
Pack 3 pick 7:
Thunderbolt
--> Wildwood Geist
Butcher Ghoul
Scroll of Griselbrand
Undead Executioner
Midvast Protector
Scalding Devil
Descent into Madness
Plains
Pack 3 pick 8:
Angelic Wall
--> Natural End
Thunderbolt
Butcher Ghoul
Cathedral Sanctifier
Voice of the Provinces
Swamp (FOIL)
Forest
Pack 3 pick 9:
Lair Delve
Polluted Dead
Bladed Bracers
--> Wingcrafter
Demolish
Marrow Bats
Forest
Pack 3 pick 10:
Malicious Intent
Rotcrown Ghoul
--> Spectral Prison
Call to Serve
Bower Passage
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 11:
--> Ghostly Flicker
Spectral Gateguards
Essence Harvest
Angel's Mercy
Island
Pack 3 pick 12:
Scroll of Griselbrand
Scalding Devil
--> Rain of Thorns
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 13:
Banners Raised
--> Angel's Mercy
Island
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Hunted Ghoul
Plains
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Plains
Looking over the draft, my picks were all fairly easy I think, with pretty thin pickings all around. I guess spectral prison would have been better than sheltering word p1p6, and favourable winds p1p11 would have been ok given that I ended up with a few wingcrafters, but at that time I had zero flyers and not playing UW generally makes that bad. I kind of knew somberwald sage would be bad and it turned out that way - I think I cast it 3 times but never untapped with it. My thought was that if I would go UG there was the chance I'd have something I wanted to ramp into, and it was certainly a more interesting pick than wandering wolf. p2p3 was a pure hate pick because there was nothing there I wanted.
2 Wingcrafter
1 Alchemist's Apprentice
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
1 Gloomwidow
1 Haunted Guardian
1 Mist Raven
1 Narstad Scrapper
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Stern Mentor
1 Trusted Forcemage
1 Triumph of Ferocity
1 Wildwood Geist
1 Wolfir Avenger
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Into the Void
1 Peel from Reality
1 Spectral Prison
1 Vanguard's Shield
9 Forests
8 Islands
I wasn't very happy where I ended up. I barely had 23 playables and didn't really know what my win condition was. I just knew that I had never lost a game where I untapped with a bonded deadeye navigator and had never won against one either, so I hoped to be able to stall out until then. I figured flying pigs could get me there sometimes too. I had a bit of a mill sub theme there which I thought would work with the stall game plan as well, and could side more in against slower decks. The vanguard's shield maindeck looks terrible, and it probably is (in the end I usually boarded it out, though it did win me one of my first games), but my thought was I barely had anything I could play in the first two turns to develop my board and it would help with the "stall until late game" plan. Ghostly flicker too didn't have synergy, but joint assualt had barely any bond targets, I thought I had too many other spells for lair delve and I figured the flicker was ok at saving a defender or flicking a mist raven. Again, I usually boarded it out.
Matches:
Match 1 vs WR
This guy had all the angels I passed - Jubilation, Glory's rise and also a couple of Voice of the Provinces and a smattering of the usual red stuff, vampires, humans etc. He didn't have much of an early game but his late game was pretty sick.
G1 - I had a fairly slow hand, but it had wingcrafter and stern mentor in it and I drew into avenger and shieldmate. I flashed avenger in turn 3 but bonded it with wingcrafter so he just thunderbolted it. I Played turn 4 shieldmate, turn 5 mentor and managed to use into the void, mist raven and ghostly flicker to bounce my way to an exact mill victory, with him having lethal on the board the following turn. I had triumph going for a few turns there which helped, it was a really close game.
G2 - I mulled to 6 on the draw with wingcrafter, raven, navigator and lands. He did nothing for his first 5 turns other than use natural end on my triumph of ferocity. which I figured meant he had kept a sick late game hand, but I had drawn navigator and more lands so I got greedy and played out raven on turn 5, bouncing and replaying wingcrafter thinking I'd setup the navigator flicker the next turn. Of course, he had thunderbolt for the raven. I played out the navigator the next turn with only a land left in hand.... he played DOUBLE thunderbolt (he boarded in a couple after seeing wingcrafter first game I guess). I drew super lucky though, topdecking wolfir avenger followed by spectral prison, prison locked down his havengul vampire and my flying wolf got me there.
Match 2 vs mono black
This guy had the absolute nuts. 2x homicidal, 2x blood artist, 2x bone splinters, human frailty, demonic rising, death wind, demonic taskmaster, gloom surgeon, barter in blood. I know black can be powerful, don't think I've ever seen such a good black deck.
G1 - He had a fast start and got out an early gloom surgeon + blood artist, but bone splintered away the artist when he drew homicidal. Luckily I had spectral prison after he hit a couple of times with the lifelinked surgeon, but I was down to 6 life. He played demonic rising the following turn, but I had a sliver of hope with wingcrafter on the board and crippling chill/deadeye navigator in hand. I managed to get to a board state where I untapped with a wingcrafter bonded navigator and I was just attacking each turn with the wingcrafter and navigator and flickering around to keep the wingcrafter alive and untapped for blocking. He played a maalfed twins but it wasn't helping him because I could flicker-block with the wingcrafter too. It was a slow way to kill him, but eventually I got him down to 3 life the turn after he played a soulcage fiend. That turn I drew into trusted force mage, and made a stupid misplay. I thought I'd rebond the mist raven with my deadeye after flickering out of the attack, to get in an extra point of damage, and then I'd re-flicker the navigator post combat to set it up as a flying defender. But my navigator of course wasn't bonded, so on his turn he attacked with maalfad, soulcage and his 5/5 demon into my 3/3 flying forcemage and navigator. I went into the tank and couldn't see how I could win - he was only on one life but I had to block 2 of his guys or else I died which meant I wouldn't have a bonded wingcrafter - unless I topdecked a creature the following turn I couldn't win. So I blocked his soulcage fiend and drew the match.
G2 - Nothing I could do here. He went T2 blood artist, T3 bloodflow conniseur, T4 homicidal (sacced his artist), T5 homicidal. T6 he played something else and sacced it, So he was attacking with an 8/4 lifelinker. He got me down to 3 life before I killed it with nettle swine, but he played soulcage fiend (9/5 lifelinker) so after chumping it a couple of times, I scopped with him on about 50 life.
G3 - I had an early shieldmate/mentor so thought I'd get a mill plan going, but he human frailtied by shieldmate when I played it out. He managed to have removal for all of my guys and got out demonic rising again, just ran over me pretty easily.
Match 3 vs UGr
G1 - He got mana screwed pretty badly, and I curved out and beat him up. I think I used mist raven on the only threat he played.
G2 - Fairly long and interesting game here, and I had left my vanguard shield in luckily which ended up being clutch because I was able to put it on my narstad scrapper and untap with about 8 mana one turn to break open the board. The defender had done some good work early here holding off havengul vampire. He killed my scrapper with about 4 creatures (I think it was threatening lethal), but I had drawn into my navigator and pretty easily won after that.
Just some comments generally on AVR drafting. I'm new to the game so this is my first draft environment, and I have to say I'm not sure why people hate on it so much - I really enjoy it and think there's quite a bit of depth to it. People complain about a lack of removal, but they also complain about the abundance of bounce (which functions as removal in a tempo deck). The only colour combinations with no good removal or bounce (other than banishing stroke) are GW, but green can splash black fairly easy with growths and rangers, and WR, but WR decks should be hyper agressive and not care about removal. People complain that there's not much depth and few archeypes, but there's quite a few decks that can make use of otherwise terrible cards, which is what makes for archetypes (eg. poltergeist can be good in UR with hanewier lancers and the otherwise terrible ghostly touch/ghostform). There's also quite a few tricky cards that can lead to interesting board states - the black loner cards, blood artist (actually, black in general), conjurer's closet, the uncommon vampires, lightning prowess/vigilante justice. Also I think the colours are overall fairly balanced, as long as you pick a combination that synergises with your card pool. Anyway, I've had a lot of fun games of AVR draft and look forward to M13 to try something different :).
I, too, am pretty new to the game (started right before AVR pre-release). I think that AVR's lack of depth compared to an older set like ROE or IPA (others that I have drafted on MTGO and CCGdecks). AVR seemed pretty straightforward, and was quite easy to learn the basics of drafting with.
Though, you can't expect to table many playables. That's a huge problem that I've had on MTGO.
But now to your draft.
You said that you hate drafted p2p3. I don't think you should have done that as you had two very playable cards. One was spectral prison. This can totally shut down a deck. The other was Abundant Growth, which is what I would have picked as it cantrips and fixes. Passing a blood artist is a pretty good sign black is open, while passing abundant growth could put people in to green and cut it more.
P1p6:
I don't think that sheltering word is really good, as this is a pretty removal light format. Again, spectral prison can win games, and it's quasi removal. It definitely would have been my pick.
Agreed. That card is a really high pick for Green and you basically can't have too many.
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
How many is too many?
9?