Locations
So this weekend for our FNM we decided to try something new. Drafting a certain block is something that most people are familiar with. But what happens if you open your options up beyond a single block? What happens if each person randomly chooses 3 packs to draft with? How will the packs interact together? Well, we tried it. It was actually really fun. We had 14 people for the draft so we split up the group into two groups of seven then proceeded as normal.
We put together a big bag filled with packs from different sets. Four packs of each set in Kamigawa, Ravnica, Timespiral, and Lorwyn were put into a bag. There were also a few other packs from Mirrodin, Coldsnap, and Scourge thrown in. Each person grabbed out 3 random packs and chose the order that they wanted to draft them. The draft proceeded as any typical draft would but the signals were so skewed that they almost weren’t present. It was a lot of fun though. The randomness left you wondering how your deck would come together. Several times I questioned whether my deck was any good and questioned whether I should switch colors and maybe even scrap my entire deck and start over with a new idea. Here is how the draft went from my eyes.
Pack 1
Timespiral: Grapeshot, Scarwood Treefolk, Slipstream Serpent, Gaze of Justice, Strangle Soot, Fathom Seer, Dream Stalker, Watcher Sliver, Blazing Blade Askari, Glass Asp, Fool’s Demise, Riftwing Cloudskate, Undying Rage, Ith, High Arcanist, Defiant Vanguard
Pick 1: Riftwing Cloudskate
I really don’t think that there is any argument here. Riftwing Cloudskate is just an amazing card. I really like Grapeshot here and Fathom Seer. Since I am unaware of what packs are coming I really don’t want to commit to White and Blue with Ith, High Arcanist although he is an amazing card in limited.
Coldsnap: Blizzard Specter, Phyrexian Etchings, Survivor of the Unseen, Steam Spitter, Phyrexian Snowcrusher, Squall Drifter, Goblin Furrier, Rimebound Dead, Into the North, Icefall, Krovikan Scoundrel, Sound the Call, Ronom Serpent, Chill to the Bone
Pick 2: Blizzard Specter
I will be the first to admit that I thought this card was much better than it ended up being. I thought that if it hit the player you could choose whether your opponent discarded a card or to bounce target permanent. With them getting to choose this cards value went way down for me. Had I actually read the card..Chill to the Bone would have been my choice here.
Shadowmoor: Raven’s Crime, Scourge of the Nobilis, Nightsky Mimic, Nettle Sentinel, Flame Jab, Riverfall Mimic, Quillspike, Fiery Bombardment, Creakwood Ghoul, Chaotic Backlash, Jawbone Skulkin, Tillfire Treefolk
Pick 3: Raven’s Crime
This was a huge goof on my part. Flame Jab is the pick here the card is just broken in limited. I guess I was just looking at the fact that so far my deck has shaped into a controlling deck I just muffed up this pick.
Coldsnap: Rimewind Taskmage, Snow-Covered Mountain, Frostweb Spider, Squall Drifter, Orcish Bloodpainter, Ronom Hulk, Zombie Musher, Gristle Grinner, Skred, Glacial Plating, Martyr of Bones, Rune Snag
Pick 4: Runesnag
It really didn’t take that long to realize how bad Coldsnap was going to be when there is next to zero snow lands available. I double checked the rules but you aren’t allowed to stack your deck with snow-covered lands. You can only use the snow-covered lands that you draft. This makes so many of the cards in Coldsnap next to worthless.
Future Sight: Sarcomite Myr, Death Rattle, Homing Sliver, Edge of Autumn, Lymph Sliver, Utopia Mycon, Chronomantic Escape, Bloodshot Trainee, Samite Censer-Bearer, Aven Augur, Bogardan Lancer
Pick 5: Chronomantic Escape
I have been a fan of this card for quite a while. When you are playing a control deck like my plan was this is a bomb. It gives you a free alpha swing without the worry of a retaliation. I really like Sarcomite Myr and Death Rattle here too.
Dissension: Simic Growth Chamber, Steeling Stance, Coiling Oracle, Thrive, Haazda Exonerator, Fertile Imagination, Whiptail Moloch, Simic Ragwurm, Helium Squirter, Vision Skeins
Pick 6: Simic Growth Chamber
Anyone that has done any limited or even constructed with the Ravnica block knows how amazing these lands are. They allow you to play less lands and to keep light hand lands rather than mulliganing. On top of that these are just sick in combination with retrace. I really wanted the Coiling Oracle in this pack too.
Betrayers of Kamigawa: Horobi’s Whisper, Floodbringer, Blademane Baku, Petalmane Baku, Crack the Earth, Harbinger of Spring, Blessing of Leeches, Quash, Quillmane Baku
Pick 7: Horobi’s Whisper
Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of arcane going around to make this card broken but its really good on it’s own. We learned that much like Coldsnap there were going to be a lot of subpar cards in Kamigawa thanks to the Arcane/Spirit theme that it had. I also looked at Quash here and then remembered that the odds of facing multiples of a card in this draft was rather slim. This makes Quash a really expensive card.
Timespiral: Fathom Seer, Watcher Sliver, Blazing Blade Askari, Glass Asp, Undying Rage, Gaze of Justice, Dream Stalker, Slipstream Serpent
Pick 8: Fathom Seer[/card
This card is great. The only problem that I saw with this card is that it was forcing me into heavy blue then again that’s never a bad thing. The only other thing that I liked in this pack was [card]Glass Asp. Its really good in limited but I think that I made the right choice.
Coldsnap: Survivor of the Unseen, Into the North, Sound the Call, Goblin Furrier, Steam Spitter, Rimebound Dead, Ronom Serpent
Pick 9: Survivor of the Unseen
I really wish that I could stack my deck with snow-lands here because Rimebound Dead is really good in limited. However since you can’t I took a pseudo Brainfreeze creature.
Shadowmoor: Tilling Treekfolk, Scourge of the Nobilis, Nettle Sentinel, Fiery Bombardment, Riverfall Mimic, Chaotic Backlash
Pick 10: Tilling Treefolk
With all the retrace spells running around I didn’t want to give my opponents a mini Life From the Loam creature. On top of that the rest of the pack is rather junky.
Coldsnap: Glacial Plating, Zombie Musher, Snow-Covered Mountain, Martyr of Bones, Skred
Pick 11: Martyr of Bones
Snow.pack here. There is really only one choice here.
Future Sight: Lymph Sliver, Utopia Mycon, Homing Sliver, Sarcomite Myr
Pick 12: Sarcomite Myr
I am surprised to see this wheel. The guy is really good in limited.
Timespiral: Vision Skeins, Fertile Imagination, Thrive
Pick 13: Vision Skeins
I knew that I was going to need some card draw in the deck to make sure it ran smoothly. What I didn’t expect is how good this card ended up being. But more on that later.
Betrayers of Kamigawa: Petalmane Baku, Quillmane Baku
Pick 14: Petalmane Baku
It was looking more and more likely that I was going to have to splash green in my deck so I took the better of that Baku’s.
Future Sight: Watcher Sliver
Pack 2
Planar Chaos: Body Double, Synchronous Sliver, Giant Duskwasp, Dawn Charm, Uktabi Drake, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Wistful Thinking, Sinew Sliver, Rathi Trapper, Simian Spirit Guide, Darkheart Sliver, Pongify, Riptide Pilferer, Merfolk Thaumaturgist
Pick 1: Body Double
This card is really good. In combination with Riftwing Cloudskate things could get ugly in the tempo department for my opponent. I really like Riptide Pilferer and Pongify in this pack. With all the Slivers running around I really wish now that I would have picked them up. The deck would have ended up pretty good.
Planar Chaos: Vampire Link, Shade of Trokair, Vitasport Thallid, Brain Gorgers, Simian Spirit Guide, Fury Charm, Keen Sense, Fury Charm, Mantle of Leadership, Phantasmagorian, Temporal Extortion, Saltfield Recluse, Synchronous Sliver, Needlepeak Spider
Pick 2: Vampire Link
There really isn’t a lot in this pack. I picked this card up as pseudo removal. It technically eliminates a creature my opponent controls.
Timespiral: Flowstone Channeler, Trespasser il-Vec, Spinneret Sliver, Fortify, Flamecore Elemental, Basal Sliver, Drifter il-Dal, Subterranean Shambler, Mindlash Sliver, Molten Slagheap, Pendelhaven Elder, Voidmage Husher, Shadow Guildmage
Pick 3: Shadow Guildmage
This guy is crazy good with both Riftwing Cloudskate and Body Double. On top of that he is a multiple source of removal and damage. This guy is really good and the obvious choice.
Morningtide: Stonybrook Banneret, Fencer Clique, Lunk Errant, Stream of Unconsciousness, Luminescent Rain, Swell of Courage, Notorious Throng, Final-Sting Faerie, Frogtosser Banneret, Mosquito Guard, Roar of the Crowd, Ballyrush Banneret
Pick 4: Stonybrook Banneret
I started to notice that I had several expensive Wizards. This guy might turn out to be beneficial.
Dissension: Simic Signet, Plaxmanta, Sporeback Troll, Rakdos Ickspitter, Demon’s Jester, Aquastrand Spider, Whiptail Moloch, Plumes of Peace, Writ of Passage, Vigean Intuition, Ragamuffyn
Pick 5: Simic Signet
Much like the bouncelands the signets are one of the defining cards in the Ravnica block. These are first picks in certain packs. Plaxmanta is a close second here. The card is nuts.
Morningtide: Inspired Sprite, Nightshade Schemers, Redeem the Lost, Sunflare Shaman, Fertilid, Burrenton Bombardier, Brighthearth Banneret, Everbark Shaman, Merrow Witsniper, Morsel Theft
Pick 6: Inspired Sprite
Another wizard. And I really could use the card draw. The discard helps to fuel my Body Double making him better.
Dissension: Rakdos Carnarium, Cytospawn Shambler, Sandstorm Eidolon, Slaughterhouse Bouncer, Gobhobbler Rats, Delirium Skeins, Sporeback Troll, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace, Slithering Shade
Pick 7: Rakdos Carnarium
Keep these coming. These lands are amazing.
Planar Chaos: Riptide Pilferer, Wistful Thinking, Sinew Sliver, Ghost Tactician, Firefright Mage, Merfolk Thaumaturgist, Dawn Charm, Giant Duskwasp
Pick 8: Riptide Pilferer
I was very surprised to see this guy wheel. He is really really good. He also makes Body Double really good. While I am nabbing cards out of my opponents hand I am also setting up a plan to beat them to death with there own creature.
Planar Chaos: Phantasmagorian, Temporal Extortion, Fury Charm, Synchronous Sliver, Needlepeak Spider, Shade of Trokair, Vitaspore Thallid
Pick 9: Phantasmagorian
I picked this guy as a fat body. I wasn’t sure how he would do in the deck. In limited 6/6s are hard to kill so with the help of Raven’s Crime and Blizzard Specter I have high hopes of wiping my opponents hand thus taking away the ability to counter him. I almost took Temporal Extortion.
Timespiral: Trespasser il-Vec, Spinneret Sliver, Pendelhaven Elder, Basal Sliver, Subterranean Shambler, Mindlash Sliver
Pick 10: Trespasser il-Vec
Another discard outlet? Alongside the ability to swing in for 3 damage makes this guy pretty good.
Morningtide: Stream of Unconsiousness, Notorious Throng, Frogtosser Banneret, Ballyrush Banneret, Luminescent Rain
Pick 11: Frogtosser Banneret
Nothing wrong with a hasty 1/1 for two. This guy is pretty solid.
Dissension: Aquastrand Spider, Whiptail Moloch, Writ of Passage, Vigean Intuition
Pick 12: Aquastrand Spider
Easily the best card in the pack and actually a really good card. If I play green this guy easily makes the spot.
Morningtide: Merrow Witsniper, Sunflare Shaman, Everbark Shaman
Pick 13: Merrow Witsniper
Just filler here.
Dissension: Delirium Skeins, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
Pick 14: Delirium Skeins
Technically I could continue the discard theme. Either way its better than the land.
Planar Chaos: Firefright Mage
No choices here.
Pack 3
Shadowmoor: Traitor’s Roar, Gravelgill Duo, Torture, Fists of the Demigod, Rune-Cervin Rider, Juvenile Gloomwidow, Cinderbones, Mine Excavation, Blazethorn Scarecrow, Spell Syphon, Rustrazor Butcher, Wicker Warcrawler, Lockjaw Snapper, Roughshod Mentor, Fire-Lit Thicket
Pick 1: Fire-Lit Thicket
With my thoughts that I was going to have to splash into green and or red I figured this land would help a little. Looking back I think that Cinderbones or Torture would have been a better pick.
Shards of Alara: Naya Charm, Shore Snapper, Foil Forest, Obelisk of Bant, Metallurgeon, Demon’s Herald, Grixis Panorama, Outrider of Jhess, Dragon Fodder, Sigil Blessing, Guardians of Akrasa, Deathgreeter, Marble Chalice, Etherium Sculptor
Pick 2: Naya Charm
This card is just insane. I figured I could splash in a few colors and get the raw power of this card but Deathgreeter was probably the right pick here.
Planar Chaos: Enslave, Evolution Charm, Healing Leaves, Blightspeaker, Auramancer’s Guise, Ridged Kusite, Dawn Charm, Shaper Parasite, Cradle to the Grave, Giant Duskwasp, Keen Sense, Detritivore, Aquamorph Entity
Pick 3: Enslave
The nuts. This card is just insane. There should have been gold in this pack for two people to have passed on this. This is easily the best card in this pack.
Eventide: Oona’s Grace, Favor of the Overbeing, Odious Troll, Tilling Treefolk, Hobgoblin Dragoon, Loyal Gyrfalcon, Duergar Hedge-Mage, Crumbling Ashes, Flame Jab, Double Cleave, Battlegate Mimic, Hoof Skulkin
Pick 4: Oona’s Grace
I love some card draw. I did think long and hard about Odious Troll though.
Saviors of Kamigawa: Deathmask Nezumi, Death Denied, Freed From the Reel, Moonwing Moth, Deathknell Kami, Plow Through Reito, Glitterfang, Ghost-Lit Nourisher, Dreamcatcher, Dosan’s Oldest Chant, Nightsoil Kami
Pick 5: Deathmask Nezumi
As it turns out between the card draw and the discard spells in the deck this guy could turn out to be quite the beater. I took a long hard look at Death Denied though.
Lorwyn: Gilt-Leaf Ambush, Tar Pitcher, Briarhorn, Windbrisk Heights, Tideshape Mystic, Kinsbaile Ballonist, Hunt Down, Nath’s Buffoon, Battle Mastery, Smokebraider
Pick 6: Gilt-Leaf Ambush
Not a lot in this pack this late. This is pretty much just a hate draft to avoid facing a bunch of little guys.
Eventide: Sturdy Hatchling, Selkie Hedge-Mage, Jawbone Skulkin, Dream Thief, Duergar Assailant, Nightsky Mimic, Monstrify, Heartlash Cinder, Unnerving Assault
Pick 7: Sturdy Hatchling
Big guy with shroud seems rather good. Although I almost took the Selkie Hedge-Mage[/card here.
Shadowmoor: [card]Cinderbones, Torture, Traitor’s Roar, Gravelgill Duo, Juvenile Gloomwidow, Mine Excavation, Blazethorn Scarecrow, Rustrazor Butcher
Pick 8: Cinderbones
I really can’t believe that this guy wheeled. He is amazing. It was almost a windmill slam onto the table when I saw that he wheeled. He is an amazing blocker and can just shut down many decks.
Shards of Alara: Shore Snapper, Foil Forest, Metallurgeon, Demon’s Herald, Grixis Panorama, Sigil Blessing, Etherium Sculptor
Pick 9: Grixis Panorama
Great mana fixing. I was really starting to worry about that. It hits both of my main colors and if I decide to splash red it hits that too. Nothing else good in the pack anyway.
Planar Chaos: Keen Sense, Healing Leaves, Ridged Kusite, Detritivore, Giant Duskwasp, Aquamorph Entity
Pick 10: Keen Sense
It was either this or Giant Duskwasp and with the possibility of me playing green I really wanted more card draw.
Eventide: Flame Jab, Tilling Treefolk, Crumbling Ashes, Double Cleave, Battlegate Mimic
Pick 11: Flame Jab
Windmill slam again. What is this doing going this late? I was really shocked and gladly put this into my pile of playables.
Saviors of Kamigawa: Ghost-Lit Nourisher, Plow Through Rito, Deathknell Kami, Nightsoil Kami
Pick 12: Ghost-Lit Nourisher
All junk here this could at least be a pump spell but it was unlikely that I would even play this.
Lorwyn: Windbrisk Heights, Hunt Down, Nath’s Buffoon
Pick 13: Windbrisk Heights
Seems like the best card here. Nothing else exciting.
Eventide: Monstrify, Unnerving Assault
Pick 14: Monstrify
Just filler.
Shadowmoor: Traitor’s Roar
No choice here.
So here are my draft picks.
Lands: 5
Creatures: 24
Spells: 16
So after I laid out all my cards I decided on Black & Blue with a splash just for Flame Jab. I had some decent green cards that would be ok but in the end I decided to narrow it down for consistency sake. So here was my final decklist.
Lands: 18
6 Island
3 Mountain
6 Swamp
Creatures: 15
Spells: 8
1 Enslave
Now I have heard a lot of people on the forums and even more when I see people making decks how do you choose your landbase? Well here is how. For starters I have a firm belief that running a 41st card in limited helps. This extra card is always a land in my decks. My reasoning behind it is that I really don’t want to be forced to mulligan. By running the extra land I find myself able to maintain a much higher card advantage over my opponents who mulligan trying to find lands. With this deck I have several very powerful retrace spells and the extra land will help to accommodate for that. So I know that I want to run 18 lands in the deck and here is the breakdown for how I choose those lands.
Blue Spells: 13 = 48.15%
Black Spells: 13 = 48.15%
Red Spells: 1 = 3.7%
Total Mana Symbols: 27
This pretty clearly means that there should be an even split between my Islands and my Swamps. Now what I need to take into consideration is the amount of Red mana sources that I need in the deck. With Flame Jab I really want to be able to cast it several times in a single turn. In order to do this I need to run several Red mana sources in order to accomplish this. So putting 3 Mountains in the deck I have 4 Red mana sources in the deck. This should be plenty to have multiple Flame Jabs in a single turn.
Now onto the all-stars and the busts of the deck.
- Cinderbones. This was the best card in my deck. On multiple occasions I would cast Body Double and copy a dead Cinderbones. I really didn’t expect this to be true but every game I found myself hoping to draw Cinderbones.
- Vision Skeins. The trick to making this card good is to cast this during your opponents end of turn. This will give you first access to the cards over your opponent. While this does give your opponent cards it helped to pull me out of some rather bad situations. Needless to say that I was impressed with this. It is definitely a card that I wouldn’t have played or even drafted in any other type of draft.
- Blizzard Specter was a let down. I really thought that I was able to choose a target to bounce. I was hoping to get a hard lock on my opponent between Blizzard Specter, Riftwing Cloudskate, and Shadow Guildmage. While this can still be a brutal combo its not as good as I had hoped. Its kind of hard for me to say that a 2/3 flier with built in disruption is bad though it just isn’t what I had hoped for. I guess this will teach me to read the cards.
- Flame Jab. This card is just a bomb. I don’t really know what else to say about it. There were several Tilling Treefolk going around the table and a pair of Flame Jabs so that could have made an insane deck. But this complimented my deck quite nicely.
- Phantasmagorian is a pretty decent card. In limited many people drop their hands quite quickly making him your average 6/6 beast. However the ability to bring him back from the graveyard is nuts. Several times I found myself discarding away my 3 weakest cards to bring back my 6/6 beast and proceed to win the game. While this guy is in no way a bomb he is definitely worth a second look.
The rest of my deck is pretty cut and dry. Good cards that all work well together. I was very impressed with my deck.
I ended the day going 2-0-2. That may not seem very good but somehow I was in first place. There were so many draws that my two wins put me over the top. In this mixed environment stalls were almost inevitable. I have to admit that I really enjoyed this type of draft and I am really looking forward to trying it again.
What do you think? Did I draft correctly? What would you have done? Make sure to stop by the forums and leave your feedback. Until next time see you on the boards.
-ImAChampion
