Drafting with Big Nass, ISD #8

By Nassim Ketita, February 6, 2012

Welcome to one of the last ISD drafts I’ll be posting up before Dark Ascension releases in a couple weeks. Innistrad has been among my favorite and most successful of Draft formats in a while. I hope the new set will continue that trend. As usual, the text recap follows the video links. Enjoy!

Draft Draft
Match 1 Game 1 Game 2
Match 2 Game 1 Game 2
Match 3 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

I certainly won’t look a Bloodgift Demon in the mouth. It sucks that the next best card is black, but I’m not complaining.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Nothing too exciting here. I hope black is open, but for now, Voiceless Spirit is the best card in the pack.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Looks like I won’t get to play the Demon since I’m just slamming down Travel Preparations.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Or am I? There’s nothing for the G/W deck here, so I might as well switch back to black.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Okay, guys, let’s get serious here. Do you want me to draft U/B or G/W? U/B it is!

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

I can have a decent U/B or G/W deck, but by this point, I really need to commit one way or the other. Darkthicket Wolf is really good, and had I not opened Bloodgift Demon, I don’t think there’d be any question that I’d be in G/W, but I really want to play my rare.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Just in case . . .

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Our pack came back with only one black card missing, so it seems pretty reasonable that it will be quite open.

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:

I’m feeling much better about my decision to go U/B now.

Pack 1, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

MISS. Shoulda been G/W, I tells ya.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Never mind; U/B it is!

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

This is becoming kind of ridiculous. Every other pack has me questioning my colors. Stay the course!

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:

The past three picks have been pretty good, so I’m just going to pretend that I can’t see white cards from this point on.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:

No one at the table must be drafting black if I get a tenth-pick Abattoir Ghoul.

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

The way this Draft is going, I might even table the Stitched Drake.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

All right, so we have three very good 5-mana flyers. This deck is starting to look pretty sweet.

Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:

I don’t see you, white cards—la la la!

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

I’d rather have a second Victim of Night than a third Silent Departure, though that’s a good problem to have.

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

This was actually a pretty tough pick. Morkrut Banshee is usually only good in aggressive decks. I already have three very good 5-mana cards, and don’t want any more. I also need to fill out the early part of my curve, so that’s why I went with the Think Twice.

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 13:

My Pick:

I think I might have ruined someone’s day by cutting both of those Burning Vengeances.

Pack 3, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 15:

My Pick:

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Here’s the final decklist:

I had an overabundance of playables, so I had to bench quite a few decent cards. I normally don’t like Vampire Interloper in U/B, but this deck a bit more beatdown than usual. The matches went pretty well, and I easily won every game in which I didn’t have mana issues. I got the “full Kunkel” in the finals, which is what some of us in the Toronto area call winning a game and being mana-screwed and/or mana-flooded in the other two.

Hope you guys enjoyed the draft, and until next time, may your Draft decks be full of Air Elementals.

Nassim Ketita
arcticninja on Magic Online