Hi guys, I used to play magic a few years ago and just got back into it. I'm doing my first Amonkhet draft tonight at FNM, and was wanting some input. After looking over the set, I decided to run a Blue-Black Cycling deck, primarily focused on cards like Pitiless Vizier and Hekma Sentinels.
I did a test run on draftsim and here's what I ended up with:
//Deck from draftsim.com
2 Slither Blade
1 Dune Beetle
1 Seeker of Insight
1 Hekma Sentinels
1 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
1 Wasteland Scorpion
1 Curator of Mysteries
1 Naga Oracle
2 Pitiless Vizier
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Shimmerscale Drake
2 Compelling Argument
2 Essence Scatter
1 Cancel
1 Galestrike
2 Unburden
1 Commit Memory
1 Decision Paralysis
7 Swamp
10 Island
1 Slither Blade
1 Winds of Rebuke
1 Kefnet's Monument
1 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Floodwaters
2 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Trespasser's Curse
1 Faith of the Devoted
1 Nest of Scarabs
1 Painful Lesson
1 Hazoret's Favor
1 Sixth Sense
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Benefaction of Rhonas
1 Reduce Rubble
1 Bounty of the Luxa
Please tell me things I should maybe do differently or any tips for drafting this archetype. Thanks so much!
Slither Blade is meant for aggro decks with Auras/Equipment. It's pretty bad on its own. Even though you lack 2 drops, a 1/2 unblockable isn't going to help you on defense either way.
Compelling Argument is a bad card. It should only be played as cycling filler if you have no better cycling cards. But you have 2 more Horrors, which are also 1 mana cyclers but they also do other things. So play those. It helps keep your creature count at 13, and even though it's a lot of 5cc, you can cycle 1-2 of them.
Now you have 2 more slots to fill. Potential candidates are Winds of Rebuke, Pull from Tomorrow, Floodwaters, Reduce // Rubble. Because you are low on early creatures, I would definitely play Winds of Rebuke to help you recover from early pressure. 1 Floodwaters is tempting too, because it cycles and can help slow down creatures later on. Against slower decks, you might want to bring in Pull from Tomorrow instead to gain card advantage. But I wouldn't maindeck it because you already have enough lategame plays and not enough early game plays.
I might cut Cancel for another spell. I normally like Cancel in blue control, but your deck is top-heavy and has few low drops, so you won't easily be able to advance your board while holding up Cancel. You'll have to do nothing to hold up cancel, and risk the opponent doesn't cast anything you want to counter, losing you tempo. I have found Cancel awkward in my high curve decks.
I did a test run on draftsim and here's what I ended up with:
//Deck from draftsim.com
2 Slither Blade
1 Dune Beetle
1 Seeker of Insight
1 Hekma Sentinels
1 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
1 Wasteland Scorpion
1 Curator of Mysteries
1 Naga Oracle
2 Pitiless Vizier
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Shimmerscale Drake
2 Compelling Argument
2 Essence Scatter
1 Cancel
1 Galestrike
2 Unburden
1 Commit Memory
1 Decision Paralysis
7 Swamp
10 Island
1 Slither Blade
1 Winds of Rebuke
1 Kefnet's Monument
1 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Floodwaters
2 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Trespasser's Curse
1 Faith of the Devoted
1 Nest of Scarabs
1 Painful Lesson
1 Hazoret's Favor
1 Sixth Sense
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Benefaction of Rhonas
1 Reduce Rubble
1 Bounty of the Luxa
Please tell me things I should maybe do differently or any tips for drafting this archetype. Thanks so much!
x1 Nightmare
It will win someday.
-2 Compelling Argument
+2 Horror of the Broken Lands
Slither Blade is meant for aggro decks with Auras/Equipment. It's pretty bad on its own. Even though you lack 2 drops, a 1/2 unblockable isn't going to help you on defense either way.
Compelling Argument is a bad card. It should only be played as cycling filler if you have no better cycling cards. But you have 2 more Horrors, which are also 1 mana cyclers but they also do other things. So play those. It helps keep your creature count at 13, and even though it's a lot of 5cc, you can cycle 1-2 of them.
Now you have 2 more slots to fill. Potential candidates are Winds of Rebuke, Pull from Tomorrow, Floodwaters, Reduce // Rubble. Because you are low on early creatures, I would definitely play Winds of Rebuke to help you recover from early pressure. 1 Floodwaters is tempting too, because it cycles and can help slow down creatures later on. Against slower decks, you might want to bring in Pull from Tomorrow instead to gain card advantage. But I wouldn't maindeck it because you already have enough lategame plays and not enough early game plays.
I might cut Cancel for another spell. I normally like Cancel in blue control, but your deck is top-heavy and has few low drops, so you won't easily be able to advance your board while holding up Cancel. You'll have to do nothing to hold up cancel, and risk the opponent doesn't cast anything you want to counter, losing you tempo. I have found Cancel awkward in my high curve decks.