- MercurioBlue
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Member for 11 years, 10 months, and 26 days
Last active Sat, Sep, 3 2016 19:54:18
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Jan 5, 2014MercurioBlue posted a message on 1/3/14 Wrong Way (FNM Theros Draft 2-1)Ha, the biggest complaint I have about the LGS is that half the people at FNM are junior high kids who barely understand the rules of the game, let alone what's necessary to make a good draft deck. That night I just happened to be at the table with mostly older kids who know that gold symbol != valuable or playable.Posted in: MercurioBlue Blog
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Based off your deck, it looks like you have the basics of the B.R.E.A.D system. Generally, I like to shoot for 13-16 creatures in my deck, and as much removal as I can get, without passing up bomb cards like Vampire Nighthawk, Talrand's Invocation, and Rancor.
I wouldn't play Craterize, Serpent's Gift, Bountiful Harvest, or Boundless Realms. Craterize costs too much (4 mana), for too little effect. Serpent's Gift often reads like: Pay 1 green, 2 colorless: Sacrifice a creature: Destroy target creature. Serpent's Gift is only a 1 for 1 if you have first strike creatures, but there's only three in M13, and one of those is unplayable Warclamp Mastiff. Bountiful Harvest doesn't give much life (maybe 5-7 life when you cast it? and doesn't change the board state. Boundless Realms is a combo card for Door to Nothingness; I don't think it can be used otherwise.
Fog is a sideboard card, if your opponent is relying heavily on combat tricks: Titanic Growth, Show of Valor.
Smelt is a sideboard card as well. If your opponent isn't playing any artifacts, it's a dead card in hand.
I also would have tried to draft more goblins to synergize with your Arms Dealer. Cards like Krenko's Command, Mogg Flunkies and Rummaging Goblin would have been perfect.
With more practice and experience you'll quickly get better at evaluating cards on the spot both in terms of individual value, and overall synergy with your deck. Good luck to you in your future drafts!
One drawback of having so many one toughness creatures, is that Mutilate is more likely to wipe out your board than your opponents. In fact, you only have four creatures over one (initial) toughness. Having lots of low P/T creatures also lowers the value of Prey Upon because it turns Prey Upon into a two of your card (Prey Upon, your creature) vs opponents one creature.
I wouldn't have played so many Bloodthrone Vampire. They just don't seem that good without Mark of Mutiny. I guess I can see using one right before a Mutilate so you can sacrifice your creatures that would die anyways, to keep Bloodthrone Vampire alive.
Yeva, Nature's Herald has an anti-synergy with Quirion Dryad since Yeva wants you to prioritize green creatures to make the most of the flash ability, but you have to play non-green spells to pump Quirion Dryad. Liliana of the Dark Realms wants you to play lots of swamps to make the best use of all of her abilities.
Personally, I would have done:
-3 Bloodthrone Vampire
+1 Primal Huntbeast (gives you another Beast Tracker target)
+1 Zombie Goliath
+1 Spiked Baloth (another Beast Tracker target)
to give you more creature beefiness. I guess with the two Elvish Visionary you could also add in the Elvish Archdruid. I would sub out one of the Bond Beetle in that case.
I blog about my drafts here. Here's a link to my latest draft:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/blog.php?b=7721
Arbor Elf is pretty good. Being able to drop a Centaur Courser on turn two is a big deal. Farseek helps with mana acceleration as well, and makes splashing removal like Oblivion Ring or Public Execution much easier than other colors.
I usually mulligan unless I have at least one creature I can play during my first three turns of the game, and at least two lands. It's not good to go into turn four down by six life.
I have gone *nearly* mono-color before (i.e. having 2/3 or 3/4 of my deck one color) in the last two drafts I did, though. I did a MTGO m2013 release draft where I got passed a LOT of blue, and not much else playable in any other color , and a FNM draft where I was the only one of two people at the the table drafting red. At the FNM, the person on my right was black/green, and the person on my left was blue/white. So I was basically forced into mostly red due to lack of playable cards in the other colors.
Speaking of hate drafting, there was a kid at my table tonight who was primarily rare drafting and hate drafting. I don't understand why someone would go to a tournament just to rare draft, but whatever..
Switcheroo does require the caster to have a small enough creature to be willing to trade (like a 1 mana creature or a token). It is possible to counter Switcheroo with instant speed removal like Murder or Searing Spear (if target is small enough) on the caster's creature in response, which can make it a wasted card in that sense. But I think it's worth playing if you're already blue and have a few early game play creatures you won't need after turn 5.
With MTGO, I immediately noticed that the skill level of the MTGO players, is on average much higher than people at my LGS. Because of the higher skill level of the players, and the convenience of being able to play a game anytime you want, MTGO is a good place to improve your skills, or get really frustrated. I've definitely learned some new tricks, watching the players on MTGO.
I'd go black/blue in this case.
1 Tormented Soul
1 Duty-Bound Dead
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Servant of Nefarox
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Bloodhunter Bat
1 Liliana's Shade
1 Cower in Fear
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Public Execution
1 Jace's Phantasm
1 Welkin Tern
1 Veldalken Entrancer
2 Archaeomancer
1 Faerie Invaders
1 Talrand's Invocation
1 Unsummon
1 Essence Scatter
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Ring of Xathrid
1 Sands of Delirium
Land:
1 Evolving Wilds
8 Island
8 Swamp
I like Tormented Soul in combination with exalted creatures.
Cower in Fear is powerful against exalted decks. Most of the exalted creatures have 1 toughness, such as Aven Squire,Servant of Nefarox,Knight of Glory,Knight of Infamy.
The two Archaeomancer are to recycle Talrand's Invocation, and later in the game, recycle Public Execution.
Vedalken Entrancer is more as a "wall" type creature, but it can work with Jace's Phantasm.
Sands of Delirium could be used an "alternate win condition", it also helps pump Jace's Phantasm
Vampire Nighthawk - this card causes good swings, and is even better with exalted or Dark Favor.
Public Execution - six mana is a lot, but it can cause huge blowouts in your favor. Attack with your army, and a bunch of blocks that would normally be 1 for 1 trades will simply be creature losses for your opponent.
Switcheroo - Good in a controlling type deck, switch your Kraken Hatchling for your opponent's Elderscale Wurm. It also works well with token makers like Captain's Call and Krenko, Mob Boss.
Talrand's Invocation - Two 2/2 flyers for four mana? Sign me up! A good target for Archaeomanacer as well.
Oblivion Ring - staple removal, answer any threat at sorcery speed.
Arms Dealer - there are many goblins in the set, and this allows you to answer most creature threats. Even better with Krenko's Command or Krenko, Mob Boss.
Rancor - puts a lot of pressure on your opponent. They can only get rid permanently of this with Erase, Negate, or by killing your creature in response to the casting of the enchantment. Rancor can also be used with Intrepid Hero to kill your opponent's creatures.
The white and black exalted knight Knight of Glory,Knight of Infamy are decent too. The ring cycle and the two color creature cycle can be worth looking at as well, if you happen to be in those colors already.
In limited, I think it can work with proper support, like Ring of Valkas as mentioned above, or even Courtly Provocateur (if going R/B) to force your opponent to give your dragon counters. At the least, if it does have a few counters, it'll attract removal, keeping your later creatures unscathed. It just isn't an "must answer now" with immediate board impact.
During one MTGO draft, I found that Firewing Phoenix is a beater in limited, and if you have enough red mana, you can simply bring it back each turn after trading with another guy. Of course, it's weak to Pacifism, Oblivion Ring, or Encrust (if tapped out), but then again, most creatures are.
With people avoiding red, it also increases the value of Bladetusk Boar. Being able to hit for at least three every turn unanswered, is respectable, and throwing in some white/black exalted dudes for more damage makes it even better.
First pack had a Serra Avenger and no other good white cards, so I took it. Next pack had a Flames of the Firebrand, so I picked that. I got cut out of red pretty bad though, so I shifted over to white/green, with a red splash for two Flames of the Firebrand and two Searing Spear as my removal. I managed to get three Roaring Primadox passed to me, so I added in some other cards like Acidic Slime and Yeva's Forcemage to capitalize on that.
I ended up going 1-1-1. I didn't draft any cards to break big creature wall stalemates, and not enough defense against flyers. Next time I'll prioritize non-damage removal/evasive creatures higher.
This was my card pool.
Initially, I thought of making a black/green deck, to take advantage of the Vampire Nighthawk and Ring of Xathrid but I went with green/white to take advantage of Intrepid Hero and Yeva's Nature's Herald. I splashed a little red for Slumbering Dragon and giving the buff to Flinthoof Boar.
1 Arbor Elf
1 Duskdale Wurm
2 Vastwood Gorger
2 Spiked Baloth
2 Centaur Courser
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
1 Ranger's Path
1 Farseeker
1 Titanic Growth
2 Ajani's Sunstriker
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Prized Elephant
1 Warclamp Mastiff
1 Aven Squire
1 Warpriest of Thune
1 Divine Favor
1 Angelic Benediction
1 Pacifism
1 Ring of Kalonia
Lands:
7 Forest
7 Plains
1 Rootbound Crag
2 Mountains
First match (2-1): Opponent played B/R/U with a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. I went 2-1, only losing when my opponent stalled the game out long enough to get enough mana to play Nicol Bolas.
Second match (2-0): Opponent played B/R/G with a Primordial Hydra. I got Intrepid Hero on the second game, and was able to kill off one of his creatures he put a Ring of Kalonia on.
Third match (0-2): Opponent played U/W with Ajani, Caller of the Pride[/CARD]. I got screwed with my draws and had to mulligan twice on both the first game and the second game. I played my Slumbering Dragon both times, but it didn't matter. The first game, she Unsummon on my Slumbering Dragon as it got its fourth counter, and ended up killing me with lots of flyers. The second game, she got Ajani out third turn (ugh). She stalled me with various high toughness creatures, then killed me with the ultimate.
Fourth match (2-0): Opponent played R/G/W. I steamrolled the guy pretty fast. In the second game, my opponent was down to 12. I had a Prized Elephant, Yeva, Nature's Herald and Spiked Baloth in play. He had an Arms Dealer and a Krenko's Command token out. He blocked my Yeva with the token, then sacrificed the token to deal 4 damage to my Prized Elephant. I responded by tapping two and playing Titanic Growth on my Prized Elephant, dealing 12 damage to him. I thought that was a good play.
In the end, I got finished 9th out of 58 people, and got five booster packs. So I was pretty happy for my first sealed tournament.