MBS #9-10

A couple more drafts today. Hope you like em'.


MBS #9


Looking back:

- P1P4: Ok. While I'm relatively sure it's a trap to think infect is open based on a 4th pick rotwolf, it is the best card here by a pretty wide margin, so maybe i should just take it. I guess it's not the worst as a blocker in a dino deck. As much as I like white based aggro, the Paladin just doesn't mesh with my first few picks. Maybe I should just take crush since I am favoring red in order to abuse the spine. While virulent wound would keep me in black, I don't like running it outside of infect, and I'd pounce on the rot wolf way before considering the wound.

-P1P7: While Ghoul is the easy pick here, I defintely like it less than most. I really like my 5+ drops to have higher toughness. It's upside of replacing itself is often just worse than a few extra points of toughness would have been if it ends up just trading with some idiot 2 drop (which is often what happens). It's easy to be blinded by the "pure" card advantage it promises, but the reality is that a 4/4 is often either going to lead to the same card advantage by forcing double blocks or virtual card advantage by blanking their attackers, all while dodging more removal than a 2 toughenss guy. Still, not gonna complain about getting it 7th.

-P2P1: Lux cannon is the safe pick I guess, but I'm not a huge fan of it. I actually like it most in an infect deck where I'm always happy to play proliferaters like Throne of Geth. The only problem with volitions reigns here is that it's pretty unlikely we end up blue, since it seemed to be cut pretty hard pack 1, and it's tough to manage a mana base for a deck that has voltiion reigns and only a couple of other blue cards. It is still in my opinion way better than the cannon, and since we don't have a second color yet, it's probably worth the risk.

-P2P5: Pretty close between the shatter and the perilous myr. but I value the myr pretty high in this kind of deck (sacrifice outlets, morbid plunder). Also, it's unclear at this point whether we're actually moving full speed into red, or if we're going to splash it, and taking the myr eases up our mana requirements if red ends up being the splash.

-The rest of the draft seemed pretty straightforward. The packs, for the most part were on the weaker side, and when we were taking mediocre cards it wasn't as if there were better options if we were in another color combination.

-It woulda been nice to draw the sword once!


MBS #10



Looking back:

P1P2: So this is early for mirrorworks, even for me. The thing is the pack is bursting with mediocrity, and there is not one card we'll regret passing here. My rule of thumb with mirrorworks is that I'll always take it over something mediocre and replaceable. I've had pretty good (and fun!) experiences with it in general, but when I've picked it, it only actually makes my deck about half the time, so I recognize that it's not often a good early pick. That said, I do think this is one of the most underrated cards in the set, because I still haven't seen it on the other side of the table, and every time this makes my deck, its pretty obscene.

P1P4: I'm not sure how myr turbine makes it to pick 4 with an uncommon still there. Was there a foil in the pack? There isn't a single common I'd take over this, unless I'm forcing infect.

P1P5: I jsut want to stay flexible here. Serum raker is likely the better card though.

P1P6: Skyhunter is tempting. It's been awhile since i've drafted white aggro. But are first 5 picks are allowing us to be very flexible with later picks, and I don't want to commit heavily to color for an aggressive two drop. I'd rather wait for something more game breaking.

-Overall a pretty interesting draft. I think the deck was quite good. We unfortunately lost to the deck that ultimately won the draft, but I don't think that matchup was unwinnable.

-Before you point out how I lost both drafts to infect decks, I'll point it out myself. This doesn't change my stance on infect at all. I recognize that infect can be very good, and that its not uncommon that the best deck at the table will be infect. However, I still think that moving into infect often removes much of your control over how the draft pans out. I'd be hard pressed to believe that people regularly moving into infect end up with the nuts more often then they end up with absolute train wrecks.