These articles are generally the top 5 cards that defined the tournament - NOT the top 5 cards of the format. So a lot of the time it will be cards that made a big impact in the top 8 or were regularly seen in the coverage of the tournament.
I think Spawnbinder Mage is a good card for sure. It shines in the BW allies deck which can sometimes struggle with one big creature. This is definitely the kind of card that you don't just jam as many into your deck as you have. You need it to fit the plan of your deck and you really want to think about how many you want when drafting.
But yeah overall it is a solid card, four toughness is big too.
Starting to get the hang of the format a little bit and agree with the sentiments above that the format requires your deck to have a better curve and each card to really be able to hold its own. Screenshots of 3 of my 3-0 decks are below.
Rating before Round 1: 8 MVPs: Obviously Linvala / Baloth Null / Emeria Shepherd were very good, but Nissa's Judgment was such a strong tempo play over and over again. Underperformers: Natural Connection was pretty meh but was a necessary evil. Record: 6-1. All the games were very easy, only lost on a mull to 5 into land screw, which is of course part of magic. But the deck felt quite powerful, had a good mix of removal and power, and the manabase wasn't too horrible. I think I probably should of played a loam larva over one of the invokers.
First picks: Judgement, Linvala, Stasis Snare
Rating before Round 1: 8.5 MVPs: Endbringer and Hedron Crawler Underperformers: Spell Shrivel - Just think the change in format has made this card a little bit worse, just feels way worse on the draw. Record: 6-0. This deck also crushed, my opponent in the finals did have one mull to 4, but in the other games the deck felt great. It had 7 instants, so it was pretty common that I would put a threat down and then hold up counters and have something to do with my mana if I didn't want to counter their spell.
Endbringer is just an unreal card, I would first pick it over anything and pick up colourless sources highly. Drawing an extra card, pinging them, forcing a guy to not be able to attack or block is just amazing. All on the body of a 5/5 that untaps on their turn? Yeah this guy is legit. He was my first pick into Dread Defiler, followed by a lot of strong blue cards and I never looked back. Would of loved an evolving wilds in pack 3 but I never saw one. I think you want to try and get one waste if you can for this reason, as it makes Pilgrim's Eye and Wilds way better in the last pack than if you just had the Non-Basic Colourless sources. First picks: Endbringer, Dimensional Infiltrator, Complete Disregard
Rating before Round 1: 7 MVPs: Fall of the Titans, Embodiment of Fury and Deepfathom Skulker Underperformers: Umara Entangler and Akoum Stonewaker - these two drops were also necessary evils, but they felt bad everytime I cast them. Good 2 drops are valuable in this format. Record: 6-2. This deck was not as consistent or as strong as the other two, it has some powerful spells at the top end but lacked the synergy of the UB deck and the consistent card quality of the first deck. The double Embodiment, Fall, Serpentine Spike, and Skulker really carried the deck, but the fact that it did have so many powerful cards meant I usually saw one or two a game and that was enough for me to win the draft. First picks: Endbringer, Dimensional Infiltrator, Complete Disregard
Chose U-Tron as my first foray into Modern after a long break from Magic; and have been playing it to a lot of success online as I try and transition from a limited only player to playing constructed also.
On Oblivion Stone; the card is exceptionally powerful, but U-Tron only needs one of these in our lists and there a few reasons why. First thing is, a hand with two Oblivion Stones is basically a 6-Card hand, as you are never using both of these in a game in the first ten or so turns; there are a few marginal cases, but for the most time one is perfect, two is a nightmare. The second is that if you need to fire off a second Oblivion Stone this deck definitely can; we run Academy Ruins and Expedition Maps to go and find it, so you can just keep firing the stones off with only one copy. Some lists run Fabricate, which is pretty damn slow but can definitely be used to find the Stone, essentially giving you another copy. Lastly, against most decks we probably don't need Oblivion Stone, it can be very good, but cards like Ugin, Platinum Angel, Sundering Titan and Mindslaver win us a lot of games in a similar way that Oblivion Stone would.
@jay2rockusa My reasoning for disliking Eye of Ugin + an Eldrazi is the inconsistency. Tutoring up Kozilek on their end step, then drawing 4 cards and leaving a very difficult to deal with threat on the table is a great feeling; however it is an effect which is created by a lot of our cards already. Eye of Ugin is a card that does nothing until it fetches a creature, and Kozilek without the eye and in hand is a 10 mana creature that is hard to cast. Blue Tron usually wins its easy games by slowly accumulating tron and card advantage with Thirst for Knowledge and tempo with counters and repeal. It then drops a threat or a game ending spell when the opponent is running low on cards and board position; Kozilek fits this role perfectly. However when you are behind or didn't get the best hand (maybe because a useless Eye or Kozilek where sitting in there, instead of a mana-source or a castable spell) Kozilek isn't going to immediately swing a lot of games; Aggro decks will just attack around him, burn will just shoot your face, a lot of White Decks will just Path it, blue decks can Cryptic Bounce tap or bounce it, Twin can pestermite or Exarch it and win over the top.
I just think that for a two-card allocation in the deck, it doesn't do enough more than our win-cons do already and would probably rather run another Treasure Mage and another spell over these cards. Maybe a Fabricate? Or even a second Ugin? Or if you know the rough-meta of the tournament I could potentially recommend another spell that is good across those match-ups. For instance Spellskite is exceptional if you expect a lot of Twin and against a lot of other random decks as well.
- With the 2 Champions (and some other nice attackers) I would want to play the 2 Call of the Full Moons. That on the Champion just wins you the game in like 2 turns, leaving them very little time to find an answer. And even if they do answer it they will likely have taken a ton of damage first. Giving the Champs trample looks even more disgusting when you consider your Titan's Strengths. We can't afford to cut any of our creatures, so for me that means cutting the Tactics and the Magmatic Insight to make room for the Calls. I like Tactics in some decks, but it doesn't really look exciting here given our lack of "go-wide" effects like Dragon Fodder or Gearcrafter AND our lack of 2-drops. Most of the time our curve will start on turn 3, which means it will be a while before this is strong enough to outshine our other pump effects. Magmatic Insight is fine filler, but not something that looks great for us. Replace our 6-drop and our Prickleboar with a couple of Freeblades and I'd like it a lot more. But as it stands we need to get to 5-mana and are fine with 6, so it will be a while in most games before we are excited to discard a land.
I sideboarded the Call of Full Moons in a few times, mainly when they were in Green and didn't have much removal and when I would be on the play. I just don't like it when I lack 2 drops, most times this decks play I don't have a 1 or two drop; thus it will usually be played turn four, so if they have removal I have essentially spent the first four turns doing nothing. I also really like Tactics, a lot of games (I find) in RW you push through 15ish damage and then can struggle to deal the last few bits as they put up a defence. This is when cards like Tactics shine, it makes all your creatures huge(and yes my count wasn't exactly high) and allows you to either get those points through or wipe their board a lot of the time. This is obviously best case, but I think it leads to less blowouts and has the same benefits with the Champions in this deck.
- Pack 1 - Looks good to me for the most part. Your first 3 picks were all sweet 1st pick caliber cards that led you in a very clear direction. I appreciate what you said about staying open, but in this case I think you made the right decisions. The first 2 picks were easy, then the Champion is the strongest card in the pack AND in your color combo (which also happens to be the strongest color combo in the set IMO), really another easy pick IMO. And after those 3 picks it would take some really strong signals to move off of RW, which just didn't happen. You continued to get solid commons through the middle of the pack. I think if you review your analysis maybe the red herring here is that there were a couple of those midpick packs that were just really deep, making it look like there is a strong signal when in reality the pack is just loaded. PIP9 is the perfect example of this, as you are seeing 2 white cards that you would be excited to get at this point, the Griffin and the Mist, both very good in a RW aggro deck. And then on top of that you are seeing the Geist and the Naturalists, cards that you would expect to be pretty high picks (and even beyond that you have the Might and the Skaab, solid playables). So in reality this was just an insanely deep pack, as all 6 remaining cards range from playable to very good.
Really good points about the depths of packs, as you said pack 9 was loaded and is definitely a reason to not take the Geist here. I think UR was very open and should of been my colours, but it is definitely something to consider in future drafts.
P1P5 - Sergeant vs Scout - Obviously the Sarge is better...but 2-drop are just SO important and in my experience also harder to find. That is pushing me to consider the Scout here.
P1P9 - I love the Mist, more than the Griffin really. But with two Titan's Strengths already on board I think you made the right call here.
Pack 2 - Super easy picks here, I don't really disagree with anything except that I probably would have taken the Cobblebrute P2P8. Hoping not to play either card, but I'd rather be short a trick than a creature.
Pack 3 - Another easy round, I think you caught the only real mistake which was not taking the Prickleboar either there or instead of the hate draft in pack 2.
Overall a nice draft, more than anything it seems like the cards opened just didn't really go your way in the 2nd and 3rd packs, limiting the quality of your depth and creature base. But I don't see any big mistakes. Of course in hindsight we can look back and see that maybe you should have been in blue/red, but I think if you review pack 1 you'll see that there was never a strong signal to go in that direction, in fact it looked like you were in the right colors. Same thing at the start of pack 2, where you are seeing better RW than U. And by mid-pack 2 it is really tough to justify switching unless you just get a crazy strong signal or no playables. Especially when RW looked open in Pack 1, meaning it should still be open in pack 3.
I think my reasoning behind the Sergeant was that it was very early, it was a much better card and I could get more twos later. I also knew that I was very committed to red at this point (taking a fifth pick red card and only felt I could leave white) and didn't want to give someone a 6th pick Sergeant. As Magicmerl pointed out, my signals were horrible in this draft; although I do not think there was much that I could specifically do to prevent that. This is one of the times I did, the Scout is a much weaker signal and isn't likely to make someone jump to red. Scout probably would of been better in my deck, using it on the Champions and then pumping them is very nice.
So after pack 1 you are solidly WR (despite sending terrible signals) and have all the Titans Strength you will ever need.
Pack 2 pick 9: Veteran's Sidearm over Call of the Full Moon (both are bad, but you have a hole at 2, and this can help)
So pack 2 was terrible as expected because of what you passed in pack 1. Now to hope for a truckload of WR in the third pack.
Pack 3 pick 2: Prickleboar over Disciple of the Ring
Pack 3 pick 7: Prickleboar over Goblin Piledriver
So yeah, that was a pretty unfortunate draft give the signals you were passing. I agree with you with the benefit of hindsight that you locked in too early on your first pick.
.
I think you are both 100% correct in taking the Prickleboar in hindsight, as it is just better than the 6/4 in my deck and is much better than a hatedraft. At the time I was thinking that I need to win the draft and that taking this card would make the blue deck much worse; by a much bigger margin than the Prickleboar would improve my deck. With winning the whole draft being a lot more valuable in the 64 man events, I let this cloud my mind. I think it is close, but probably should of taken Prickleboar; also the card impressed me a lot in the games I played.
Also completely agree with Prickleboar over Piledriver, I freaked out about only having two 2-drops and failed to consider that I would never play Piledriver.
Thanks for the comments guys, will upload the second draft soon.
Just finished playing a 64 man draft event, and I thought I would post the first draft and then post the second after this one has been discussed. I think in this draft I got way too attached to my first pick and could of stayed a lot more open and would of been rewarded for doing so. I think in Origins you really want to try and get into the colour that is open in your seat, getting the premium commons is so important for a good deck.
Pack 1 pick 1:
Enshrouding Mist
Weight of the Underworld
Akroan Sergeant
Charging Griffin
Might of the Masses
Screeching Skaab
Chief of the Foundry
Unholy Hunger
Topan Freeblade
Claustrophobia
Conclave Naturalists
Anointer of Champions
Tower Geist
--> Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Mountain
I have had baby Gideon once before and he did work, this seems like a pretty easy pick from a powerful pack. Does suck to pass a Freeblade while taking a white card, but Kytheon seems too good.
Here I can hedge with a Tower Geist or take the RW beater, as my two picks are powerful I will take the card that sort of cements me into RW over the ability to stay open.
I think the Sergeant is better than the griffin and I am definitely going to be red at this point. Hoping to be white.
Pack 1 pick 6:
Infernal Scarring
Yoked Ox
Deadbridge Shaman
Hitchclaw Recluse
Nivix Barrier
--> Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
Deep-Sea Terror
War Horn
Joraga Invocation
Forest
Here I could of taken a late invocation, this may have been correct. I wanted to stay on colour and not send more powerful white/red cards to my left. The 3/2 Renown beater is also a fine card.
Pack 1 pick 7:
Auramancer
Heavy Infantry
Bonded Construct
--> Prickleboar
Faerie Miscreant
Elvish Visionary
Stratus Walk
Zendikar's Roil
Island
Easy Prickleboar here, who is a really good top end in the red deck. First strike is so good.
The green is flowing, but I am all aboard at this point.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Enshrouding Mist
--> Charging Griffin
Might of the Masses
Screeching Skaab
Conclave Naturalists
Tower Geist
Mountain
This is an interesting pick, I don't think I can switch to green here (after passing the Invocation) but Tower Geist is unreal and I have passed minimal blue and it could be open from both sides. Really interested in the thoughts on this pick.
Pack 1 pick 10:
Volcanic Rambler
--> Titan's Strength
Faerie Miscreant
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Gather the Pack
Island
Late strength here, not sure if I will play three.
Pack 2 pick 3:
Yoked Ox
Catacomb Slug
Enlightened Ascetic
Firefiend Elemental
Rabid Bloodsucker
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
--> Cleric of the Forward Order
Bone to Ash
Pharika's Disciple
Meteorite
Angel's Tomb
Plains
Elemental is the better card, but I have no two drops, need them badly.
Pack 2 pick 4:
Eyeblight Assassin
Mage-Ring Bully
Grasp of the Hieromancer
Touch of Moonglove
Bone to Ash
Yeva's Forcemage
Guardian Automaton
--> Fiery Impulse
Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
Call of the Full Moon
Goblin Glory Chaser
Island
At this point I actually considered going blue, but I hatedrafted (something I rarely do, it was unlikely anything would make my deck.) I also doubt I could beat this card.
Pack 3 pick 12:
--> Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
Bone to Ash
Island
UR is my seat I feel.
Pack 3 pick 13:
Mantle of Webs
--> Hydrolash
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Infectious Bloodlust
Plains
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Swamp
I have attached the deck I ended up running, let me know what you think of the deck and the draft. I played the stupid 6 drop as I felt my deck wasn't fast enough to always kill opponents quickly and wanted a way to do damage outside of combat. It is definitely not the best card and I wonder if I was wrong to include it.
I am about to get back into MTGO also and after a pretty good run the first time I am heading back in with some stricter limitations; mainly to ensure I don't spend too much time and money on the game. One of the best ways to play a lot is to have a constructed format and deck that you are really comfortable with; playing in daily events is one of the best ways to increase your collection online. Entry is six tickets and a 3-1 record will get you approximately 15 tickets worth of boosters (that is with horrible booster prices) and a 4-0 record will get you 27 tickets worth of boosters. With a lot of practice with a specific deck - research is required here, as a deck can be a huge investment - you can manage to go 4-0 every now and then, and 3-1 frequently. If you just keep a basic tally of your records in these events you can work out how much you have profited. These profits can go towards limited events; this is required as limited is impossible to run infinite in forever (sadly.) Usually for every 4-0 you can draft twice, and for every 3-1 you can draft once.
Then everytime you manage to win an 8-4 you can draft again, you can choose if you want to sell cards you open to continue funding limited or just keep (or trade) them to expand your collection and number of decks you can play. I find this method is very rewarding, if you follow the structure outlined above, you should not have to pay for limited events (as long as you play enough constructed.)
However obviously when a new set comes out you want to play a lot more, so allowing yourself a small allowance every set isn't a bad idea; play until this amount has run out. If you have done a fair amount of research on the new set this is a great time to play 8-4s as you will likely have an edge over people who may not be as experienced in the set. Once you have a draft or two under your belt the release events with Top 8s are amazing value, not only are the prizes great if you manage to win, but the length of time you get to play (especially in sealed) is awesome, and is a great way to enjoy the new sets. Ultimately all of this comes down to control, it is so easy to flame out of a draft and just dive back into a another queue, you have to resist the urge and only draft when you have the funds.
So with an initial investment in a deck and some tickets for Daily Events, and then a top up for every new set, it is possible to enjoy limited without going broke.
I think Spawnbinder Mage is a good card for sure. It shines in the BW allies deck which can sometimes struggle with one big creature. This is definitely the kind of card that you don't just jam as many into your deck as you have. You need it to fit the plan of your deck and you really want to think about how many you want when drafting.
But yeah overall it is a solid card, four toughness is big too.
Rating before Round 1: 8
MVPs: Obviously Linvala / Baloth Null / Emeria Shepherd were very good, but Nissa's Judgment was such a strong tempo play over and over again.
Underperformers: Natural Connection was pretty meh but was a necessary evil.
Record: 6-1. All the games were very easy, only lost on a mull to 5 into land screw, which is of course part of magic. But the deck felt quite powerful, had a good mix of removal and power, and the manabase wasn't too horrible. I think I probably should of played a loam larva over one of the invokers.
First picks: Judgement, Linvala, Stasis Snare
Rating before Round 1: 8.5
MVPs: Endbringer and Hedron Crawler
Underperformers: Spell Shrivel - Just think the change in format has made this card a little bit worse, just feels way worse on the draw.
Record: 6-0. This deck also crushed, my opponent in the finals did have one mull to 4, but in the other games the deck felt great. It had 7 instants, so it was pretty common that I would put a threat down and then hold up counters and have something to do with my mana if I didn't want to counter their spell.
Endbringer is just an unreal card, I would first pick it over anything and pick up colourless sources highly. Drawing an extra card, pinging them, forcing a guy to not be able to attack or block is just amazing. All on the body of a 5/5 that untaps on their turn? Yeah this guy is legit. He was my first pick into Dread Defiler, followed by a lot of strong blue cards and I never looked back. Would of loved an evolving wilds in pack 3 but I never saw one. I think you want to try and get one waste if you can for this reason, as it makes Pilgrim's Eye and Wilds way better in the last pack than if you just had the Non-Basic Colourless sources.
First picks: Endbringer, Dimensional Infiltrator, Complete Disregard
Rating before Round 1: 7
MVPs: Fall of the Titans, Embodiment of Fury and Deepfathom Skulker
Underperformers: Umara Entangler and Akoum Stonewaker - these two drops were also necessary evils, but they felt bad everytime I cast them. Good 2 drops are valuable in this format.
Record: 6-2. This deck was not as consistent or as strong as the other two, it has some powerful spells at the top end but lacked the synergy of the UB deck and the consistent card quality of the first deck. The double Embodiment, Fall, Serpentine Spike, and Skulker really carried the deck, but the fact that it did have so many powerful cards meant I usually saw one or two a game and that was enough for me to win the draft.
First picks: Endbringer, Dimensional Infiltrator, Complete Disregard
On Oblivion Stone; the card is exceptionally powerful, but U-Tron only needs one of these in our lists and there a few reasons why. First thing is, a hand with two Oblivion Stones is basically a 6-Card hand, as you are never using both of these in a game in the first ten or so turns; there are a few marginal cases, but for the most time one is perfect, two is a nightmare. The second is that if you need to fire off a second Oblivion Stone this deck definitely can; we run Academy Ruins and Expedition Maps to go and find it, so you can just keep firing the stones off with only one copy. Some lists run Fabricate, which is pretty damn slow but can definitely be used to find the Stone, essentially giving you another copy. Lastly, against most decks we probably don't need Oblivion Stone, it can be very good, but cards like Ugin, Platinum Angel, Sundering Titan and Mindslaver win us a lot of games in a similar way that Oblivion Stone would.
@jay2rockusa My reasoning for disliking Eye of Ugin + an Eldrazi is the inconsistency. Tutoring up Kozilek on their end step, then drawing 4 cards and leaving a very difficult to deal with threat on the table is a great feeling; however it is an effect which is created by a lot of our cards already. Eye of Ugin is a card that does nothing until it fetches a creature, and Kozilek without the eye and in hand is a 10 mana creature that is hard to cast. Blue Tron usually wins its easy games by slowly accumulating tron and card advantage with Thirst for Knowledge and tempo with counters and repeal. It then drops a threat or a game ending spell when the opponent is running low on cards and board position; Kozilek fits this role perfectly. However when you are behind or didn't get the best hand (maybe because a useless Eye or Kozilek where sitting in there, instead of a mana-source or a castable spell) Kozilek isn't going to immediately swing a lot of games; Aggro decks will just attack around him, burn will just shoot your face, a lot of White Decks will just Path it, blue decks can Cryptic Bounce tap or bounce it, Twin can pestermite or Exarch it and win over the top.
I just think that for a two-card allocation in the deck, it doesn't do enough more than our win-cons do already and would probably rather run another Treasure Mage and another spell over these cards. Maybe a Fabricate? Or even a second Ugin? Or if you know the rough-meta of the tournament I could potentially recommend another spell that is good across those match-ups. For instance Spellskite is exceptional if you expect a lot of Twin and against a lot of other random decks as well.
I sideboarded the Call of Full Moons in a few times, mainly when they were in Green and didn't have much removal and when I would be on the play. I just don't like it when I lack 2 drops, most times this decks play I don't have a 1 or two drop; thus it will usually be played turn four, so if they have removal I have essentially spent the first four turns doing nothing. I also really like Tactics, a lot of games (I find) in RW you push through 15ish damage and then can struggle to deal the last few bits as they put up a defence. This is when cards like Tactics shine, it makes all your creatures huge(and yes my count wasn't exactly high) and allows you to either get those points through or wipe their board a lot of the time. This is obviously best case, but I think it leads to less blowouts and has the same benefits with the Champions in this deck.
Really good points about the depths of packs, as you said pack 9 was loaded and is definitely a reason to not take the Geist here. I think UR was very open and should of been my colours, but it is definitely something to consider in future drafts.
I think my reasoning behind the Sergeant was that it was very early, it was a much better card and I could get more twos later. I also knew that I was very committed to red at this point (taking a fifth pick red card and only felt I could leave white) and didn't want to give someone a 6th pick Sergeant. As Magicmerl pointed out, my signals were horrible in this draft; although I do not think there was much that I could specifically do to prevent that. This is one of the times I did, the Scout is a much weaker signal and isn't likely to make someone jump to red. Scout probably would of been better in my deck, using it on the Champions and then pumping them is very nice.
I think you are both 100% correct in taking the Prickleboar in hindsight, as it is just better than the 6/4 in my deck and is much better than a hatedraft. At the time I was thinking that I need to win the draft and that taking this card would make the blue deck much worse; by a much bigger margin than the Prickleboar would improve my deck. With winning the whole draft being a lot more valuable in the 64 man events, I let this cloud my mind. I think it is close, but probably should of taken Prickleboar; also the card impressed me a lot in the games I played.
Also completely agree with Prickleboar over Piledriver, I freaked out about only having two 2-drops and failed to consider that I would never play Piledriver.
Thanks for the comments guys, will upload the second draft soon.
Time: 5/08/2015 5:34:38 PM
Players:
JTrain2008
Bryan_McDonald
fiffo416
gesuswat
tmoney846
--> Lolazer
HugoVenda
manaflood
------ ORI ------
Pack 1 pick 1:
Enshrouding Mist
Weight of the Underworld
Akroan Sergeant
Charging Griffin
Might of the Masses
Screeching Skaab
Chief of the Foundry
Unholy Hunger
Topan Freeblade
Claustrophobia
Conclave Naturalists
Anointer of Champions
Tower Geist
--> Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Mountain
I have had baby Gideon once before and he did work, this seems like a pretty easy pick from a powerful pack. Does suck to pass a Freeblade while taking a white card, but Kytheon seems too good.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Volcanic Rambler
Ampryn Tactician
Fetid Imp
Titan's Strength
Read the Bones
Faerie Miscreant
Nissa's Pilgrimage
--> Embermaw Hellion
Yeva's Forcemage
Negate
Gather the Pack
Fiery Conclusion
Skyraker Giant
Island
This badboy was a foil and is another pretty easy pick, super powerful card, but again the next best cards are also red.
Pack 1 pick 3:
Thornbow Archer
Volcanic Rambler
Mighty Leap
Infernal Scarring
Artificer's Epiphany
Timberpack Wolf
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Boggart Brute
Nantuko Husk
--> Iroas's Champion
Bounding Krasis
Tower Geist
Forest
Here I can hedge with a Tower Geist or take the RW beater, as my two picks are powerful I will take the card that sort of cements me into RW over the ability to stay open.
Pack 1 pick 4:
Aven Battle Priest
Chandra's Fury
Veteran's Sidearm
--> Titan's Strength
Read the Bones
Calculated Dismissal
Llanowar Empath
Nivix Barrier
Timberpack Wolf
Meteorite
Fleshbag Marauder
Forest
Two good black cards in this pack, but I don't quite want to stray from RW yet, Titan's strength is also very good in this format.
Pack 1 pick 5:
--> Akroan Sergeant
Charging Griffin
Catacomb Slug
Subterranean Scout
Titanic Growth
Guardians of Meletis
Wild Instincts
Murder Investigation
Turn to Frog
Animist's Awakening
Forest
I think the Sergeant is better than the griffin and I am definitely going to be red at this point. Hoping to be white.
Pack 1 pick 6:
Infernal Scarring
Yoked Ox
Deadbridge Shaman
Hitchclaw Recluse
Nivix Barrier
--> Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
Deep-Sea Terror
War Horn
Joraga Invocation
Forest
Here I could of taken a late invocation, this may have been correct. I wanted to stay on colour and not send more powerful white/red cards to my left. The 3/2 Renown beater is also a fine card.
Pack 1 pick 7:
Auramancer
Heavy Infantry
Bonded Construct
--> Prickleboar
Faerie Miscreant
Elvish Visionary
Stratus Walk
Zendikar's Roil
Island
Easy Prickleboar here, who is a really good top end in the red deck. First strike is so good.
Pack 1 pick 8:
Act of Treason
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Veteran's Sidearm
--> Titan's Strength
Orchard Spirit
Send to Sleep
Reclusive Artificer
Plains
The green is flowing, but I am all aboard at this point.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Enshrouding Mist
--> Charging Griffin
Might of the Masses
Screeching Skaab
Conclave Naturalists
Tower Geist
Mountain
This is an interesting pick, I don't think I can switch to green here (after passing the Invocation) but Tower Geist is unreal and I have passed minimal blue and it could be open from both sides. Really interested in the thoughts on this pick.
Pack 1 pick 10:
Volcanic Rambler
--> Titan's Strength
Faerie Miscreant
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Gather the Pack
Island
Late strength here, not sure if I will play three.
Pack 1 pick 11:
--> Volcanic Rambler
Infernal Scarring
Artificer's Epiphany
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Forest
Is this guy playable, yes; am I ever happy if he is in my deck, no.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Aven Battle Priest
--> Veteran's Sidearm
Nivix Barrier
Forest
Pack 1 pick 13:
Catacomb Slug
--> Murder Investigation
Forest
Pack 1 pick 14:
--> Nivix Barrier
Forest
Pack 1 pick 15:
--> Island
------ ORI ------
Pack 2 pick 1:
Fetid Imp
Smash to Smithereens
Healing Hands
Veteran's Sidearm
Firefiend Elemental
Undead Servant
Scrapskin Drake
Vine Snare
Negate
Vastwood Gorger
Skaab Goliath
Call of the Full Moon
--> Blessed Spirits
Goblin Piledriver
Forest
Spirits is fine just as a 2/2 flier, hoping to get some bonds.
Pack 2 pick 2:
Mage-Ring Bully
Healing Hands
Deadbridge Shaman
Bonded Construct
--> Lightning Javelin
Shambling Ghoul
Separatist Voidmage
Vine Snare
Maritime Guard
Timberpack Wolf
Tormented Thoughts
Murder Investigation
Possessed Skaab
Forest
Another easy pick! Hope to wheel the Bully.
Pack 2 pick 3:
Yoked Ox
Catacomb Slug
Enlightened Ascetic
Firefiend Elemental
Rabid Bloodsucker
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
--> Cleric of the Forward Order
Bone to Ash
Pharika's Disciple
Meteorite
Angel's Tomb
Plains
Elemental is the better card, but I have no two drops, need them badly.
Pack 2 pick 4:
Eyeblight Assassin
Mage-Ring Bully
Grasp of the Hieromancer
Touch of Moonglove
Bone to Ash
Yeva's Forcemage
Guardian Automaton
--> Fiery Impulse
Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
Call of the Full Moon
Goblin Glory Chaser
Island
Easy pick.
Pack 2 pick 5:
Akroan Jailer
Dark Dabbling
Chandra's Fury
Maritime Guard
Hitchclaw Recluse
Unholy Hunger
Deep-Sea Terror
--> Alchemist's Vial
Sylvan Messenger
Reclusive Artificer
Swamp
This is a sad pack for us.
Pack 2 pick 6:
Ampryn Tactician
Fetid Imp
--> Akroan Sergeant
Yoked Ox
Returned Centaur
Wild Instincts
Guardian Automaton
Claustrophobia
Skaab Goliath
Island
Much better, but the Blue and Green is flowing.
Pack 2 pick 7:
Demolish
--> Auramancer
Infectious Bloodlust
Caustic Caterpillar
Send to Sleep
Alchemist's Vial
Ringwarden Owl
Brawler's Plate
Forest
Incase I get any good enchantments
Pack 2 pick 8:
Thornbow Archer
Cobblebrute
Heavy Infantry
Dreadwaters
--> Kytheon's Tactics
Sigil of Valor
Reclusive Artificer
Forest
Good at smashing damaged through.
Pack 2 pick 9:
Healing Hands
Veteran's Sidearm
Scrapskin Drake
Vine Snare
Negate
--> Call of the Full Moon
Forest
Maybe?
Pack 2 pick 10:
Healing Hands
Vine Snare
--> Maritime Guard
Tormented Thoughts
Murder Investigation
Forest
hatepick
Pack 2 pick 11:
--> Yoked Ox
Catacomb Slug
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
Plains
My UR aggro deck would be amazing.
Pack 2 pick 12:
Touch of Moonglove
Bone to Ash
--> Call of the Full Moon
Island
Doubt I'd ever play the second.
Pack 2 pick 13:
Dark Dabbling
--> Reclusive Artificer
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Returned Centaur
Island
Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Forest
------ ORI ------
Pack 3 pick 1:
Fetid Imp
Akroan Sergeant
Firefiend Elemental
Rabid Bloodsucker
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
Cleric of the Forward Order
Bonded Construct
Disperse
Caustic Caterpillar
Sigil of Valor
--> Knightly Valor
Reclusive Artificer
Day's Undoing
Mountain
Really good card for us, praying that cleric wheels.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Cobblebrute
Aven Battle Priest
Nightsnare
Prickleboar
Faerie Miscreant
Llanowar Empath
Kytheon's Tactics
Watercourser
Aerial Volley
Magmatic Insight
Sigiled Starfish
Jhessian Thief
--> Disciple of the Ring
Plains
At this point I actually considered going blue, but I hatedrafted (something I rarely do, it was unlikely anything would make my deck.) I also doubt I could beat this card.
Pack 3 pick 3:
Healing Hands
Deadbridge Shaman
Prickleboar
Dreadwaters
Rhox Maulers
Kytheon's Tactics
Evolving Wilds
Send to Sleep
Caustic Caterpillar
Chief of the Foundry
Reclusive Artificer
--> Fiery Conclusion
Swamp
Card is pretty good, especially when someone tries to kill your dude and you play this in response.
Pack 3 pick 4:
Infectious Bloodlust
Akroan Jailer
Firefiend Elemental
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
--> Cleric of the Forward Order
Bone to Ash
Yeva's Forcemage
Sphinx's Tutelage
Blessed Spirits
Pyromancer's Goggles
Island
Any 2s I can get please.
Pack 3 pick 5:
Aven Battle Priest
Chandra's Fury
Skaab Goliath
Titanic Growth
--> Stalwart Aven
Ringwarden Owl
Mantle of Webs
Hydrolash
Sylvan Messenger
Honored Hierarch
Mountain
I guess we will just be a 3 drop deck.
Pack 3 pick 6:
Dark Dabbling
Infectious Bloodlust
Akroan Jailer
--> Iroas's Champion
Negate
Pharika's Disciple
Alchemist's Vial
Valor in Akros
Turn to Frog
Plains
At least it is a very good one.
Pack 3 pick 7:
Yoked Ox
Prickleboar
Faerie Miscreant
Kytheon's Tactics
Caustic Caterpillar
Aspiring Aeronaut
Mage-Ring Network
--> Goblin Piledriver
Swamp
This was definitely wrong, should of just taken the Prickle.
Pack 3 pick 8:
--> Yoked Ox
Rabid Bloodsucker
Reclaim
Veteran's Sidearm
Send to Sleep
Caustic Caterpillar
Tainted Remedy
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 9:
--> Firefiend Elemental
Rabid Bloodsucker
Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
Caustic Caterpillar
Reclusive Artificer
Mountain
Great card for us to wheel, after passing 2 previously.
Pack 3 pick 10:
Nightsnare
Faerie Miscreant
Watercourser
Aerial Volley
--> Magmatic Insight
Plains
Actually don't hate this card.
Pack 3 pick 11:
Healing Hands
Dreadwaters
--> Kytheon's Tactics
Send to Sleep
Swamp
Don't think this deck wants two.
Pack 3 pick 12:
--> Scrapskin Drake
Reclaim
Bone to Ash
Island
UR is my seat I feel.
Pack 3 pick 13:
Mantle of Webs
--> Hydrolash
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Infectious Bloodlust
Plains
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Swamp
I have attached the deck I ended up running, let me know what you think of the deck and the draft. I played the stupid 6 drop as I felt my deck wasn't fast enough to always kill opponents quickly and wanted a way to do damage outside of combat. It is definitely not the best card and I wonder if I was wrong to include it.
Then everytime you manage to win an 8-4 you can draft again, you can choose if you want to sell cards you open to continue funding limited or just keep (or trade) them to expand your collection and number of decks you can play. I find this method is very rewarding, if you follow the structure outlined above, you should not have to pay for limited events (as long as you play enough constructed.)
However obviously when a new set comes out you want to play a lot more, so allowing yourself a small allowance every set isn't a bad idea; play until this amount has run out. If you have done a fair amount of research on the new set this is a great time to play 8-4s as you will likely have an edge over people who may not be as experienced in the set. Once you have a draft or two under your belt the release events with Top 8s are amazing value, not only are the prizes great if you manage to win, but the length of time you get to play (especially in sealed) is awesome, and is a great way to enjoy the new sets. Ultimately all of this comes down to control, it is so easy to flame out of a draft and just dive back into a another queue, you have to resist the urge and only draft when you have the funds.
So with an initial investment in a deck and some tickets for Daily Events, and then a top up for every new set, it is possible to enjoy limited without going broke.