Reckless Imp was amazing. 2 damage every turn that can't be blocked is great.
I'd assumed it would be a decent card in draft where you can get an aggressive deck, normally your opponents should have had some fliers or reach in sealed and then be able to hold it off with ease.
Unless you are misreading the card where it says it "can't block", not "can't be blocked"?
He had the 2/1 hexproof that can lose hexproof and gain first strike/deathtouch. He was down to 3, I had lethal if he ever didn't keep it up (5/5 trample), so I started deploying my board out while he only had 5 lands and couldn't do anything about it. He proceded to get to 6 lands, drop a divine favor on it, and get himself out of lethal, but hey, still pretty dead.
He gets some more blockers out, I get a better board... then attack in, making him kill all of his guys except for the hexblade, and get him to two, while I still have 3 creatures.
I've got lethal on board if he's got nothing else (doubtful he has full rack of cards), and he chooses to play out some creatures. I attack in, he loses more guys, I lose some random dorks, and then he drops Resolute Archangel, putting him back up to 20 life, only he's got 6 cards in hand, to my single bluff forest.
I crawl my way out of, we are pretty even once again, he can't get too aggressive even though I'm at 12 life since I've got a lot of 3/3s out... and then he drops the SECOND resolute archangel. Blaaaaaarrrgghhh.
Game two, I have some little guys out, he gets some blockers, the attrition war begins, only this time I know he's got the Archangels, so when I get him to low life and he's got 6-7 lands, I don't flunge with the team and lose guys. Sure enough, Archangel comes down, taking him from 6 to 20. I've still got the initiative with my big dumb green fatties, and swing in again and again, forcing him to use it to double block a big guy. Get him low again, well here comes Archangel number 2, but my response is Hornet Queen + Kird Ape. Got 9 mana, one more turn and I can turn TWO of my little death touch fliers in 3/3 trample flying deathtouchers, basically I can't lose. I mean, it's not like Wrath of God is- *opponent plays Mass Calcify*
*insert long steady stream of swearwords*
On an even more amusing note, to get to round 3, I had to beat a guy in round 2 who made me concede game 2 even after getting Hornet Queen + Roaring Primadox going. Avacyn is frakking broken against mono colored decks who've already used their removal.
Ritual of the Returned is a little different than you think. It doesn't give power based off toughness. It gives power = power, and toughness = toughness.
Well, it could have been possible that I was missing something, like it was the case earlier in this thread with someone else. I prefered to give the benefit of the doubt to AlphaNumeric2 and his website.
No, I think he was referring to the fact you don't think you are going to win any games at all.
I'm going to my first Grand Prix this weekend, what should I bring?
I luckily live about 15 minutes from the venue, so I don't have to worry about most things like Hotels, etc.
It's also Theros Sealed, so no need to worry about making a deck before hand.
My list:
Backpack, containing:
2 Bottles of Water
Lunch
3 Empty Deck Boxes
1 Deckbox containing Theros Tokens + Extras as stand ins just in case.
60 Black Sleeves
Bag of Dice
Small Notepad for notes + life totalling
Box of Sharpened Pencils (not to play the Accountant stereotype here, but one can NEVER have too many pencils. Murphy.)
Some pens.
Calculator
Wallet:
DCI Card, Photo ID, Money, etc.
Is there anything else people think is helpful that I should bring? Am I being dumb and missing something obvious?
"Minor gods" isn't a statement of raw power, it has to do with how wide or narrow their domains are. The Theros Five are the Gods of Huge Inescapable Things, whereas the minor gods deal with mostly social phenomena.
I will buy every copy of "Anoia, God of the Drawer" I can get my hands on.
First time drafting it in forever, I wanted to take it easy and do a Swiss. Please ignore the [censor] tags around the picks, I used a converter and it added them.
Interesting cards in the pack, Spiderspawning calls to me, but that's a pretty indepth archetype, and a well known one. Reckless Waif can be an aggressive card, but red is a trap if I remember correctly. I will go with what always gave me the highest chance of success - white + equipment, and that Elite Inquisitor is one of the best to start with.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Galvanic Juggernaut. Some pretty good cards here, but I don't know what deck I am in yet, and Juggernaut goes in basically everything.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Butcher's Cleaver. Darkthicket Wolf may be a better card in a vacuum, but the Cleaver goes well in the white humans deck I want to build, and it *okay* in most other decks. [/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Midnight Haunting. 1/1 spirits, time to start flooding the board with weenies. Other notable card - orchard spirit. If I had gone with the wold pick 3, this may have been a harder decision.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Village Cannibals. B/W humans is a thing, right? I'm assuming green is going to get cut pretty hard downstream of me now by someone after the good green cards I passed starting with Spider Spawning.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Silverchase Fox. A bear that can sacrifice itself to become enchantment removal. We've seen this in variations a lot, better in some sets than others, but the baseline for this is just solid value.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Slayer of the Wicked. Ruinator is only worth a ticket, and isn't really that good in limited, too hard to get the 3 creatures in the yard, and by the time you can, you'd rather just have been able to play a more expensive mana cost! Slayer though can be a pretty sweet removal. A 3/2 and destroy your opponent's threats if they are in those tribes...[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Brimstone Volley. This is pretty good removal, and we have the amulet to splash. If I had gone G/W in pack 1.... Township pretty good...[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Makeshift Mauler, well I do have a blue splash card, and it's not unexpected for me to lose a creature or two in a W aggro deck... let's see what stays open. Got really excited about the Cemetery and then saw how much they've crashed in price.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Spectral Rider. 2/2 W intimidate. Villagers also a good choice, but as long as I keep getting good W picks I'll stay as W as possible til I have to decide.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Somberwald Spider. I decide just to cut this. I don't really want another Cathar, the Griffin is a bit too expensive and has no synergies.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Rolling Temblor. Definitely don't like the looks of two of them, and Heroism is merely a good combat trick. And we are not super creature heavy right now.[/censor]
My pick:
[censor]Skeletal Grimace. In retrospect, very bad pick. I was thinking I could still go B in pack 3, and this might be an okay card, but Excorcism is just so good. I forget how many things are spirits.[/censor]
Lots of interesting cards, but I was still unsure of where I was going so I just took the rare land to be able to splash the Volley for sure. Other cards of note, the Dagger, another Villagers/Darkthicket, and Murder of Crows.
My pick:
Unruly Mob, at this point I had decided against black, so the Cannibals was not a consideration anymore. You know, I didn't even see the Travel Prep at this point. Wow I really should have been G/W.
Sideboard. Ghostly Possession looks good, and I remember being a noob oh so long ago before I realized that you are either giving your opponent a permanent blocker, or you are playing it on of your own guys.
Ummmm. Wow. Thought about cutting the Gnaw, but my deck is all about the early game so if I am letting the Spider Spawning deck go off, then they are going off. Wolf is more of a problem.
Round 1, I opened with an okay hand. He dropped an Assistant, and I thought I was against U/B self mill. Instead it turned out to be U/B mill. As in, I started getting cursed. I powered through, and won with 7 cards left in library.
Sideboarded in the Excorcism.
Game 2, I got a very weak start, and the curses came down, he Dream Twisted me, and then trepenation bladed me. Got milled out about a turn or two before I would have dealt enough damage.
Game 3, he had no defence, and I dealt enough damage quickly to kill him before I started losing too many cards. Win.
Round 2:
Against zvazda!
He was the Spider Spawning deck!
Game 1, I win. Don't remember too much, except that I had the W intimidate spirit down with some equipment and he couldn't find a response in time. Win.
Game 2 was thrilling. I got some early damage in, but then he started dropping things like Murder of Crows, etc. He managed to deal with my Pitchfork + Dagger comboes by playing out a Lantern Spirit, blocking, and bouncing it to his hand every turn while he hunted for answers.
He managed to go on the attack, I sacrificed one of my spirits from an early midnight haunting. The key turn ended up being earlier than the final turn. He let my Juggernaut hit him down to 5, while using the lantern to prevent any deaths from happening from my other attacker. This was a great play at the time, keeping me from having any good future attacks and letting him start swinging in the skies.
But then I drew Brimstone Volley and all my attacks were lethal and I won after first strike damage killed his Wolf.
Round 3:
Against another W player, this one W/U.
Don't remember too much about the games. First game the board got a bit clogged with voiceless spirits on both sides, a fun turn where I attacked with my juggernaut, he blocked with a Civilized Scholar, pitched a card to flip it, I sacced my Selfless Cathar to save it, and then he played moment of heroism, so they traded but he gained 7 life. I drew my Cleaver and played out a Bell-Ringer, so I had a 4/4 lifelinker. He had a bomb Angel but my Fiend Hunter took care of it, and my tapper kept some of his problematic spirits tapped. Win.
Game 2 he got stuck on 2 lands and I curved out. Win.
Great fun. Innistrad was the format I really started playing magic in. It's the one that I discovered my love of drafting, and then stumbled on the Limited Resources podcast which helped me go from losing but having fun, to winning and having fun.
I love the flavor of this set, I love the mechanics. I have an Econ exam on Monday, and I should probably spend Sunday studying and doing homework but I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up drafting this all day long.
My dream is this card in a deck with Pharika's Mender. Which says more about Pharika's Mender that it says about this card I guess. But hey this card would be way too insane if it was Nephalia Smuggler on a Hill Giant.
I've had this in a deck with two Garys and a Phenax - was awesome. You basically never want to use this guy on the opponent's creatures. Would love love love to draft this with Evangel of Heliod or Ashen Rider!!
Marshall had a deck with this and a couple of Garys and Return from the Underworld he posted on MTGO Academy.
Every match he ended by saying "well, I guess we comboed off there".
I think this card isn't a high pick since this format is a lot about tempo and this just takes awhile to come on, and the upside usually isn't that high. There's only a few creatures that have good come into play abilities, and most spells in this set are good (so I don't want to be using it to exile my opponents stuff most of the time).
But if you are B/W and have Gary's.... yes, the upside makes it worth it. You just have to hope to get this opened/passed to you in pack 2 or 3 and you are already solidly in those colors (and there's not another Gary in the pack).
Pretty easy to arrange schedule to fit in a draft.
Also, weekdays starting at exactly 6:30pm work pretty well too. Too early, hard to get home from work and make dinner and eat and then draft. Too late, and someone gets cross that the PC screen is still glowing and there's constant clicking noises when they are trying to get to sleep early. (But keeping the PC in the living room is "too tacky", grumblegrumble.)
I would be hard pressed to think of a deck that I "want" to play that is based on Red.
I unfortunately had to splash for some black, but I ran a near monored deck that had two Two-Headed Cerberus, 2 Dragon's Mantle's, about 3 Titan's Strength, and fourFanatic of Mogis. Also a few other double red cards like Borderland Minotaur.
I got quite a few "free wins" against people who didn't block my two headed Cerberus after I had gotten a couple of points of damage and I put 2 Titan's Strength on it.
My favorite win was the guy who I got to around 4 life, and then he started playing Nylea's Disciple's and a Eidolon and got himself back up to 14 life with massive blockers that my two unenchanted Cerberus's couldn't get through, and my minotaurs coudln't get through either. Then I topdecked Fanatic of Mogis followed by Fanatic of Mogis. Burn for 7 to the face followed by burn for 8 to the face.
Labyrinth Champion is a bad card? I have a hard time believing that. How can repeatable Shock be bad? Is it the "dies to removal" argument? Yea he's fragile but what do you expect from a guy who gives out free Shocks. I waited to play him until 5 mana a couple of times when I had a 1-mana trick in hand, just to ensure I got some value even if they had an immediate Lighting Strike for it.
I will admit I have yet to play with/agaisnt it, but he comes down on turn 4, is a 2/2, and then he only deals with your opponents tiny (and usually heroic) creatures... if they haven't already had counters/toughness boosting enchantments added. AND you have to have something to cast on him, he doesn't just do it himself.
I have not been impressed with things that deal two damage, except for when they are cheap and I can cast them in the first couple of turns to disrupt my opponents game plan if he is aggro.
Most games I have ever lost in this format either involved a big giant creature that I couldn't deal with through deathtouch or hard removal like Sip of Hemlock, or a swarm of tiny threats becoming 3/3s or 4/4s by turn 4, not letting me have a chance to stabilize.
I don't have too much to say as I am well aware that I am just as nooby at the format as you.
However I think you underrated Voyage's End. You had Lash of the Whips in your deck, but as you saw when your opponents actually did something, they weren't enough by themselves often to kill the big creatures. Especially once they Monstrify. Voyage's End is good in every stage of the game I have found, early on it can help bounce a creature that has gotten Ordeals or other enchantments on it (letting you get a breather and start putting down the big stuff), and later it can provide big tempo hits for people who tap out to make their creatures monstrous.
Other than that, I have nothing much to say except there was one possible misplay I saw, where (I think r2) he attacked with everything, and you blocked his satyr with your -1-1 attackers flier, then tapped it killing it instantly, when you could have blocked his 1/2 double strike, then tapped it to kill the satyr still AND kill his now 0/1 double striker. You may have been playing around a trick, I don't remember how many cards he had in his hand, but I think I would have gone for it rather than letting that thing hang around for an enchantment.
And yeah, all you can say about these videos is "Prerelease Queues". They are both very fun, and very heartbreaking (if you like seeing good plays).
Also, Bow was OP. Opponent drops it turn 3, I had 3 flyers in hand and not enough mana draws to flash in eot Hippocamp then bestow it. It was such a brutal round.
Hippocamp doesn't have flying, so you should have been able to drop it no matter what, and then bestow it at your leisure since they wouldn't be able to target it until after your Naiads were attached and gave it flying.
(Not sure if you were saying you needed to flash it in and bestow it while he was tapped out or something.)
If so, don't feel bad I made the same mistake in my games, I might have won if I hadn't gotten so aggressive trying to race because I thought his Hippocamp had flying and my minotaur couldn't block it.
I'd assumed it would be a decent card in draft where you can get an aggressive deck, normally your opponents should have had some fliers or reach in sealed and then be able to hold it off with ease.
Unless you are misreading the card where it says it "can't block", not "can't be blocked"?
He had the 2/1 hexproof that can lose hexproof and gain first strike/deathtouch. He was down to 3, I had lethal if he ever didn't keep it up (5/5 trample), so I started deploying my board out while he only had 5 lands and couldn't do anything about it. He proceded to get to 6 lands, drop a divine favor on it, and get himself out of lethal, but hey, still pretty dead.
He gets some more blockers out, I get a better board... then attack in, making him kill all of his guys except for the hexblade, and get him to two, while I still have 3 creatures.
I've got lethal on board if he's got nothing else (doubtful he has full rack of cards), and he chooses to play out some creatures. I attack in, he loses more guys, I lose some random dorks, and then he drops Resolute Archangel, putting him back up to 20 life, only he's got 6 cards in hand, to my single bluff forest.
I crawl my way out of, we are pretty even once again, he can't get too aggressive even though I'm at 12 life since I've got a lot of 3/3s out... and then he drops the SECOND resolute archangel. Blaaaaaarrrgghhh.
Game two, I have some little guys out, he gets some blockers, the attrition war begins, only this time I know he's got the Archangels, so when I get him to low life and he's got 6-7 lands, I don't flunge with the team and lose guys. Sure enough, Archangel comes down, taking him from 6 to 20. I've still got the initiative with my big dumb green fatties, and swing in again and again, forcing him to use it to double block a big guy. Get him low again, well here comes Archangel number 2, but my response is Hornet Queen + Kird Ape. Got 9 mana, one more turn and I can turn TWO of my little death touch fliers in 3/3 trample flying deathtouchers, basically I can't lose. I mean, it's not like Wrath of God is- *opponent plays Mass Calcify*
*insert long steady stream of swearwords*
On an even more amusing note, to get to round 3, I had to beat a guy in round 2 who made me concede game 2 even after getting Hornet Queen + Roaring Primadox going. Avacyn is frakking broken against mono colored decks who've already used their removal.
No, I think he was referring to the fact you don't think you are going to win any games at all.
I luckily live about 15 minutes from the venue, so I don't have to worry about most things like Hotels, etc.
It's also Theros Sealed, so no need to worry about making a deck before hand.
My list:
Backpack, containing:
2 Bottles of Water
Lunch
3 Empty Deck Boxes
1 Deckbox containing Theros Tokens + Extras as stand ins just in case.
60 Black Sleeves
Bag of Dice
Small Notepad for notes + life totalling
Box of Sharpened Pencils (not to play the Accountant stereotype here, but one can NEVER have too many pencils. Murphy.)
Some pens.
Calculator
Wallet:
DCI Card, Photo ID, Money, etc.
Is there anything else people think is helpful that I should bring? Am I being dumb and missing something obvious?
Thanks!
You record it as you draft. Using some other program. Like Fraps (I think I'm behind the times with this suggestion), or twitch, etc.
I will buy every copy of "Anoia, God of the Drawer" I can get my hands on.
Event #: 6361909
Time: 11/23/2013 3:47:05 PM
Players:
Them8
EricErik
TimesNewRoman
Glanseman
zvazda
--> Iamwinterborn
SarcasticRat
robvegas
------ ISD ------
Pack 1 pick 1:
Kindercatch, Feral Ridgewolf, Altar's Reap, Gruesome Deformity, Grave Bramble, Rebuke, Typhoid Rats, Traitorous Blood, Markov Patrician, Spider Spawning, Paraselene, Gallows Warden, Elite Inquisitor, Reckless Waif, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Elite Inquisitor
Interesting cards in the pack, Spiderspawning calls to me, but that's a pretty indepth archetype, and a well known one. Reckless Waif can be an aggressive card, but red is a trap if I remember correctly. I will go with what always gave me the highest chance of success - white + equipment, and that Elite Inquisitor is one of the best to start with.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 2:
Forbidden Alchemy, Feral Ridgewolf, Selfless Cathar, Curse of Oblivion, Smite the Monstrous, Armored Skaab, Blazing Torch, Stitcher's Apprentice, Grasp of Phantoms, Galvanic Juggernaut, Wreath of Geists, Runechanter's Pike, Tormented Pariah, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Galvanic Juggernaut. Some pretty good cards here, but I don't know what deck I am in yet, and Juggernaut goes in basically everything.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 3:
Thraben Purebloods, Furor of the Bitten, Feeling of Dread, Darkthicket Wolf, Fortress Crab, Night Revelers, Ranger's Guile, Ghoulraiser, Butcher's Cleaver, Diregraf Ghoul, Make a Wish, Reckless Waif, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Butcher's Cleaver. Darkthicket Wolf may be a better card in a vacuum, but the Cleaver goes well in the white humans deck I want to build, and it *okay* in most other decks. [/censor]
Pack 1 pick 4:
Typhoid Rats, Traitorous Blood, Stitcher's Apprentice, Mulch, Orchard Spirit, Ancient Grudge, Traveler's Amulet, Corpse Lunge, Inquisitor's Flail, Midnight Haunting, Morkrut Banshee, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Midnight Haunting. 1/1 spirits, time to start flooding the board with weenies. Other notable card - orchard spirit. If I had gone with the wold pick 3, this may have been a harder decision.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 5:
Kindercatch, Crossway Vampire, Orchard Spirit, Furor of the Bitten, Dream Twist, Moon Heron, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Maw of the Mire, Village Cannibals, Skirsdag Cultist, Island
My pick:
[censor]Village Cannibals. B/W humans is a thing, right? I'm assuming green is going to get cut pretty hard downstream of me now by someone after the good green cards I passed starting with Spider Spawning.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 6:
Cobbled Wings, Crossway Vampire, Wooden Stake, Traveler's Amulet, Ancient Grudge, Thraben Purebloods, Sharpened Pitchfork, Hollowhenge Scavenger, Geistcatcher's Rig, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Sharpened Pitchfork is pretty good equipment.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 7:
Curse of the Pierced Heart, Urgent Exorcism, Manor Skeleton, Spidery Grasp, Nightbird's Clutches, Moment of Heroism, Maw of the Mire, Diregraf Ghoul, Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Urgent Exorcism. Excellent sideboard card, maybe even maindeckable. Ghoul is noted for potential B/W.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 8:
Silverchase Fox, Curse of the Pierced Heart, Shimmering Grotto, Walking Corpse, Curse of the Nightly Hunt, Witchbane Orb, Delver of Secrets, Forest
My pick:
[censor]Silverchase Fox. A bear that can sacrifice itself to become enchantment removal. We've seen this in variations a lot, better in some sets than others, but the baseline for this is just solid value.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 9:
Kindercatch, Feral Ridgewolf, Altar's Reap, Grave Bramble, Paraselene, Gallows Warden, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Gallows Warden. 3/3 Flier for 5, makes our 1/1 spirits eat the opponents 1/1 spirits.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 10:
Selfless Cathar, Curse of Oblivion, Smite the Monstrous, Stitcher's Apprentice, Wreath of Geists, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Selfless Cathar. With all our equipment and hopefully weenies, this guys ability can come in handy.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 11:
Thraben Purebloods, Furor of the Bitten, Feeling of Dread, Night Revelers, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Feeling of Dread. What. What is this still doing in the pack. White is wide open? Slipped through?[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 12:
Ancient Grudge, Traveler's Amulet, Inquisitor's Flail, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Traveler's Amulet. Potential for splash. Good filtering.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 13:
Ghoulcaller's Bell, Maw of the Mire, Island
My pick:
[censor]Ghoulcaller's Bell. Hate the B/U/G enabler.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 14:
Thraben Purebloods, Swamp
My pick:
[censor]Thraben Purebloods. Not a terrible last pick up, pretty low on creatures, this is hopefully not staying in the deck.[/censor]
Pack 1 pick 15:
Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Mountain[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 1:
Ghoulcaller's Bell, Bump in the Night, Moment of Heroism, Fortress Crab, Spectral Flight, Rotting Fensnake, Caravan Vigil, Infernal Plunge, Ranger's Guile, Rolling Temblor, Slayer of the Wicked, Scourge of Geier Reach, Skaab Ruinator, Tormented Pariah, Island
My pick:
[censor]Slayer of the Wicked. Ruinator is only worth a ticket, and isn't really that good in limited, too hard to get the 3 creatures in the yard, and by the time you can, you'd rather just have been able to play a more expensive mana cost! Slayer though can be a pretty sweet removal. A 3/2 and destroy your opponent's threats if they are in those tribes...[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 2:
Selfless Cathar, Somberwald Spider, Riot Devils, Altar's Reap, Blazing Torch, Deranged Assistant, Brimstone Volley, Gnaw to the Bone, Ghost Quarter, Mask of Avacyn, Geistcatcher's Rig, Gavony Township, Tormented Pariah, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Brimstone Volley. This is pretty good removal, and we have the amulet to splash. If I had gone G/W in pack 1.... Township pretty good...[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 3:
Somberwald Spider, Hysterical Blindness, Avacynian Priest, Riot Devils, Curse of the Bloody Tome, Ranger's Guile, Abbey Griffin, Sensory Deprivation, Mask of Avacyn, Spectral Rider, Tribute to Hunger, Civilized Scholar, Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Avacynian Priest. Tapper. Always a good pickup.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 4:
Harvest Pyre, Mulch, Smite the Monstrous, Armored Skaab, Orchard Spirit, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Makeshift Mauler, Spare from Evil, Boneyard Wurm, Cellar Door, Woodland Cemetery, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Makeshift Mauler, well I do have a blue splash card, and it's not unexpected for me to lose a creature or two in a W aggro deck... let's see what stays open. Got really excited about the Cemetery and then saw how much they've crashed in price.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 5:
Bloodcrazed Neonate, Frightful Delusion, Cobbled Wings, Skeletal Grimace, Voiceless Spirit, Rebuke, Urgent Exorcism, Vampire Interloper, Intangible Virtue, Mentor of the Meek, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Mentor of the Meek. HELLO. Spirit, Excorcism, Rebuke, all great cards I'd like to see on the wheel.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 6:
Unruly Mob, Ashmouth Hound, Woodland Sleuth, Stitcher's Apprentice, Walking Corpse, Vampiric Fury, Ghost Quarter, Spectral Rider, Villagers of Estwald, Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Spectral Rider. 2/2 W intimidate. Villagers also a good choice, but as long as I keep getting good W picks I'll stay as W as possible til I have to decide.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 7:
Feral Ridgewolf, Selfless Cathar, Curse of Oblivion, Somberwald Spider, Abbey Griffin, Infernal Plunge, Into the Maw of Hell, Graveyard Shovel, Forest
My pick:
[censor]Somberwald Spider. I decide just to cut this. I don't really want another Cathar, the Griffin is a bit too expensive and has no synergies.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 8:
Elder Cathar, Kessig Wolf, Wooden Stake, Infernal Plunge, Stromkirk Patrol, Pitchburn Devils, Rolling Temblor, Island
My pick:
[censor]Elder Cathar. Obi Wan Kenobi is a great pick up. Don't like the looks of that Temblor.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 9:
Ghoulcaller's Bell, Moment of Heroism, Fortress Crab, Infernal Plunge, Ranger's Guile, Rolling Temblor, Island
My pick:
[censor]Rolling Temblor. Definitely don't like the looks of two of them, and Heroism is merely a good combat trick. And we are not super creature heavy right now.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 10:
Selfless Cathar, Somberwald Spider, Riot Devils, Altar's Reap, Ghost Quarter, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Somberwald Spider, just cut another of these. Keep that green player from putting up walls in front of me.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 11:
Hysterical Blindness, Ranger's Guile, Abbey Griffin, Mask of Avacyn, Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Abbey Griffin. Just because it's not a great card doesn't mean I won't pick it with such a low creature count.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 12:
Smite the Monstrous, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Boneyard Wurm, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Smite the Monstrous. Decent removal pick up. Let's me take care of things too big for my creatures to run over/trade with.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 13:
Skeletal Grimace, Urgent Exorcism, Plains
My pick:
[censor]Skeletal Grimace. In retrospect, very bad pick. I was thinking I could still go B in pack 3, and this might be an okay card, but Excorcism is just so good. I forget how many things are spirits.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 14:
Ghost Quarter, Mountain
My pick:
[censor]Ghost Quarter, meh.[/censor]
Pack 2 pick 15:
Forest
My pick:
[censor]Forest[/censor]
Pack 3 pick 1:
Walking Corpse, Vampiric Fury, Deranged Assistant, Gnaw to the Bone, Ghostly Possession, Makeshift Mauler, Feeling of Dread, Nightbird's Clutches, Darkthicket Wolf, Curse of the Nightly Hunt, Murder of Crows, Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Clifftop Retreat, Villagers of Estwald, Plains
My pick:
Clifftop Retreat
Lots of interesting cards, but I was still unsure of where I was going so I just took the rare land to be able to splash the Volley for sure. Other cards of note, the Dagger, another Villagers/Darkthicket, and Murder of Crows.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Hysterical Blindness, Voiceless Spirit, Ghoulcaller's Chant, One-Eyed Scarecrow, Armored Skaab, Bonds of Faith, Vampiric Fury, Naturalize, Typhoid Rats, Falkenrath Noble, Fiend Hunter, Rally the Peasants, Civilized Scholar, Forest
My pick:
Fiend Hunter
Woo, removal that is also a human. Some possible good wheels with Voiceless and maybe Rally.
Pack 3 pick 3:
Spare from Evil, Night Terrors, Furor of the Bitten, Caravan Vigil, Abbey Griffin, Brain Weevil, Sensory Deprivation, Shimmering Grotto, Burning Vengeance, Lantern Spirit, Purify the Grave, Delver of Secrets, Plains
My pick:
Delver of Secrets.
Still considering being W/U, Delver is a human for my equipment with the very slim possibility of becoming relevant later on a lucky flip.
Pack 3 pick 4:
Doomed Traveler, Selfless Cathar, Dead Weight, Somberwald Spider, Riot Devils, Village Bell-Ringer, Prey Upon, Brain Weevil, Rotting Fensnake, Demonmail Hauberk, Bramblecrush, Forest
My pick:
Doomed Traveler.
Little human to equip up and suicide in, or chump block, and get a 1/1 flier out of it.
Pack 3 pick 5:
Festerhide Boar, Hysterical Blindness, Voiceless Spirit, Manor Skeleton, Spidery Grasp, Armored Skaab, Vampiric Fury, Curiosity, Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Splinterfright, Mountain
My pick:
Silver-Inlaid Dagger.
Tough choice between this and the spirit, but I felt I needed something this good to make all my little ones threats.
Pack 3 pick 6:
Ghoulcaller's Chant, Dead Weight, Unruly Mob, Ashmouth Hound, Woodland Sleuth, Night Revelers, Travel Preparations, Lumberknot, Village Cannibals, Island
My pick:
Unruly Mob, at this point I had decided against black, so the Cannibals was not a consideration anymore. You know, I didn't even see the Travel Prep at this point. Wow I really should have been G/W.
Pack 3 pick 7:
Feral Ridgewolf, Altar's Reap, Gruesome Deformity, Grave Bramble, Village Bell-Ringer, Caravan Vigil, Sensory Deprivation, Rally the Peasants, Island
My pick:
Village Bell-Ringer.
Neat little trick, while being a decent body for the price.
Pack 3 pick 8:
Ghostly Possession, Deranged Assistant, Corpse Lunge, Spare from Evil, Nightbird's Clutches, Disciple of Griselbrand, Boneyard Wurm, Plains
My pick:
Spare from Evil
Sideboard. Ghostly Possession looks good, and I remember being a noob oh so long ago before I realized that you are either giving your opponent a permanent blocker, or you are playing it on of your own guys.
Pack 3 pick 9:
Vampiric Fury, Gnaw to the Bone, Ghostly Possession, Nightbird's Clutches, Darkthicket Wolf, Curse of the Nightly Hunt, Plains
My pick:
Darkthicket Wolf
Ummmm. Wow. Thought about cutting the Gnaw, but my deck is all about the early game so if I am letting the Spider Spawning deck go off, then they are going off. Wolf is more of a problem.
Pack 3 pick 10:
Hysterical Blindness, Voiceless Spirit, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Vampiric Fury, Rally the Peasants, Forest
My pick:
Voiceless Spirit.
Great wheel.
Pack 3 pick 11:
Spare from Evil, Caravan Vigil, Abbey Griffin, Purify the Grave, Plains
My pick:
Purify the Grave
Sideboard against Spider Spawning.
Pack 3 pick 12:
Selfless Cathar, Somberwald Spider, Bramblecrush, Forest
My pick:
Somberwald Spider, cutting more reach.
Pack 3 pick 13:
Hysterical Blindness, Armored Skaab, Mountain
My pick:
Armored Skaab. This card should not be here.
Pack 3 pick 14:
Ghoulcaller's Chant, Island
My pick:
Ghoulcaller's Chant, meh, cutting something at least playable in a U/G or B deck. But obviously noone is in that considering the Skaab...
Pack 3 pick 15:
Island
My pick:
Island
My Deck:
1 Island
1 Avacynian Priest
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Spectral Rider
1 Doomed Traveler
14 Plains
1 Feeling of Dread
1 Gallows Warden
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Selfless Cathar
1 Butcher's Cleaver
1 Traveler's Amulet
1 Midnight Haunting
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Elder Cathar
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Voiceless Spirit
1 Galvanic Juggernaut
1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger
1 Elite Inquisitor
1 Silverchase Fox
1 Sharpened Pitchfork
1 Mountain
1 Spare from Evil
1 Skeletal Grimace
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Delver of Secrets
1 Makeshift Mauler
1 Armored Skaab
3 Somberwald Spider
1 Ghoulcaller's Chant
1 Abbey Griffin
1 Urgent Exorcism
1 Forest
1 Thraben Purebloods
1 Purify the Grave
1 Village Cannibals
1 Darkthicket Wolf
How it went:
Round 1:
Round 1, I opened with an okay hand. He dropped an Assistant, and I thought I was against U/B self mill. Instead it turned out to be U/B mill. As in, I started getting cursed. I powered through, and won with 7 cards left in library.
Sideboarded in the Excorcism.
Game 2, I got a very weak start, and the curses came down, he Dream Twisted me, and then trepenation bladed me. Got milled out about a turn or two before I would have dealt enough damage.
Game 3, he had no defence, and I dealt enough damage quickly to kill him before I started losing too many cards. Win.
Round 2:
Against zvazda!
He was the Spider Spawning deck!
Game 1, I win. Don't remember too much, except that I had the W intimidate spirit down with some equipment and he couldn't find a response in time. Win.
Game 2 was thrilling. I got some early damage in, but then he started dropping things like Murder of Crows, etc. He managed to deal with my Pitchfork + Dagger comboes by playing out a Lantern Spirit, blocking, and bouncing it to his hand every turn while he hunted for answers.
He managed to go on the attack, I sacrificed one of my spirits from an early midnight haunting. The key turn ended up being earlier than the final turn. He let my Juggernaut hit him down to 5, while using the lantern to prevent any deaths from happening from my other attacker. This was a great play at the time, keeping me from having any good future attacks and letting him start swinging in the skies.
But then I drew Brimstone Volley and all my attacks were lethal and I won after first strike damage killed his Wolf.
Round 3:
Against another W player, this one W/U.
Don't remember too much about the games. First game the board got a bit clogged with voiceless spirits on both sides, a fun turn where I attacked with my juggernaut, he blocked with a Civilized Scholar, pitched a card to flip it, I sacced my Selfless Cathar to save it, and then he played moment of heroism, so they traded but he gained 7 life. I drew my Cleaver and played out a Bell-Ringer, so I had a 4/4 lifelinker. He had a bomb Angel but my Fiend Hunter took care of it, and my tapper kept some of his problematic spirits tapped. Win.
Game 2 he got stuck on 2 lands and I curved out. Win.
Great fun. Innistrad was the format I really started playing magic in. It's the one that I discovered my love of drafting, and then stumbled on the Limited Resources podcast which helped me go from losing but having fun, to winning and having fun.
I love the flavor of this set, I love the mechanics. I have an Econ exam on Monday, and I should probably spend Sunday studying and doing homework but I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up drafting this all day long.
Marshall had a deck with this and a couple of Garys and Return from the Underworld he posted on MTGO Academy.
Every match he ended by saying "well, I guess we comboed off there".
I think this card isn't a high pick since this format is a lot about tempo and this just takes awhile to come on, and the upside usually isn't that high. There's only a few creatures that have good come into play abilities, and most spells in this set are good (so I don't want to be using it to exile my opponents stuff most of the time).
But if you are B/W and have Gary's.... yes, the upside makes it worth it. You just have to hope to get this opened/passed to you in pack 2 or 3 and you are already solidly in those colors (and there's not another Gary in the pack).
Pretty easy to arrange schedule to fit in a draft.
Also, weekdays starting at exactly 6:30pm work pretty well too. Too early, hard to get home from work and make dinner and eat and then draft. Too late, and someone gets cross that the PC screen is still glowing and there's constant clicking noises when they are trying to get to sleep early. (But keeping the PC in the living room is "too tacky", grumblegrumble.)
California resident, so PST times.
I unfortunately had to splash for some black, but I ran a near monored deck that had two Two-Headed Cerberus, 2 Dragon's Mantle's, about 3 Titan's Strength, and four Fanatic of Mogis. Also a few other double red cards like Borderland Minotaur.
I got quite a few "free wins" against people who didn't block my two headed Cerberus after I had gotten a couple of points of damage and I put 2 Titan's Strength on it.
My favorite win was the guy who I got to around 4 life, and then he started playing Nylea's Disciple's and a Eidolon and got himself back up to 14 life with massive blockers that my two unenchanted Cerberus's couldn't get through, and my minotaurs coudln't get through either. Then I topdecked Fanatic of Mogis followed by Fanatic of Mogis. Burn for 7 to the face followed by burn for 8 to the face.
I will admit I have yet to play with/agaisnt it, but he comes down on turn 4, is a 2/2, and then he only deals with your opponents tiny (and usually heroic) creatures... if they haven't already had counters/toughness boosting enchantments added. AND you have to have something to cast on him, he doesn't just do it himself.
I have not been impressed with things that deal two damage, except for when they are cheap and I can cast them in the first couple of turns to disrupt my opponents game plan if he is aggro.
Most games I have ever lost in this format either involved a big giant creature that I couldn't deal with through deathtouch or hard removal like Sip of Hemlock, or a swarm of tiny threats becoming 3/3s or 4/4s by turn 4, not letting me have a chance to stabilize.
However I think you underrated Voyage's End. You had Lash of the Whips in your deck, but as you saw when your opponents actually did something, they weren't enough by themselves often to kill the big creatures. Especially once they Monstrify. Voyage's End is good in every stage of the game I have found, early on it can help bounce a creature that has gotten Ordeals or other enchantments on it (letting you get a breather and start putting down the big stuff), and later it can provide big tempo hits for people who tap out to make their creatures monstrous.
Other than that, I have nothing much to say except there was one possible misplay I saw, where (I think r2) he attacked with everything, and you blocked his satyr with your -1-1 attackers flier, then tapped it killing it instantly, when you could have blocked his 1/2 double strike, then tapped it to kill the satyr still AND kill his now 0/1 double striker. You may have been playing around a trick, I don't remember how many cards he had in his hand, but I think I would have gone for it rather than letting that thing hang around for an enchantment.
And yeah, all you can say about these videos is "Prerelease Queues". They are both very fun, and very heartbreaking (if you like seeing good plays).
Hippocamp doesn't have flying, so you should have been able to drop it no matter what, and then bestow it at your leisure since they wouldn't be able to target it until after your Naiads were attached and gave it flying.
(Not sure if you were saying you needed to flash it in and bestow it while he was tapped out or something.)
If so, don't feel bad I made the same mistake in my games, I might have won if I hadn't gotten so aggressive trying to race because I thought his Hippocamp had flying and my minotaur couldn't block it.