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Drafting with Big Nass, ISD #2

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I’ve been drafting this set a lot lately, and I’m really starting to like it. As many others have said, the two “best” decks are G/W and U/B, though in my experience the “best deck” varies a lot with each draft. I’ve had the most success in my paper drafts with R/W aggro. It’s similar to the GW deck, but it essentially trades Travel Preparations for Brimstone Volley. Still, I’ve never managed to actually get the G/W deck, since I always seem to be cut off from it. For that reason, I’m always looking to draft G/W, partly so I can finally try it out myself, and also because I see it win drafts more than other decks. On to the draft:

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

 

It pains me to pass Civilized Scholar, but I think it’s the correct pick here. The pack has two really good Blue cards and only one good White card. Plus, I want to draft G/W!

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

 

I like Midnight Haunting a lot, but I really want to cut all the Travel Preparations in order to get the hookups Pack 2.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

 

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

 

Ruh-roh. I’m not interested in playing Kindercatch, so I’m just hedging with Kessig Wolf in case either Green or White end up being cut off.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

 

I have no idea if the deck will be heavy enough in White in order for Spectral Rider to be playable, so the choice is between Voiceless Spirit and Villagers of Estwald. I think the Spirit is a little better, but it really depends on the deck. There are definitely situations in which I would take the Villagers instead.

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

 

Taking Villagers here in order to keep the curve nice and low.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

 

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

 

Pack 1, Pick 9:

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Pack 1, Pick 10:

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Pack 1, Pick 11:

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Pack 1, Pick 12:

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Pack 1, Pick 13:

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Pack 1, Pick 14:

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Pack 1, Pick 15:

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Pack 1 started out well, but dried up much faster than I would have liked. I don’t have enough quality cards to be 100% committed to G/W, and am still open to switching.

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

 

Ding! Going to value Humans slightly higher from this point on.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

 

Ok, now we’re G/W for sure. Sucks that I have to pass four quality creatures; I hope one of them will table.

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

 

It’s foil. I have to take it! My incentive to have a lot of Humans just shot up dramatically. Again, I’m not happy about passing a bunch of other cards I want.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

 

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

 

Someone’s going to be happy with a super-late Mirror-Mad Phantasm.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

 

Pack 2, Pick 7:

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Pack 2, Pick 8:

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Pack 2, Pick 9:

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Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:

 

Well, I got to table one of the creatures I passed. Too bad it’s the one I wanted the least. Oh, well. I’ll still play it. Maybe I’ll also table something out of the next pack?

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:

 

Nope.

Pack 2, Pick 12:

My Pick:

 

Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:

 

LOLWUT?

Pack 2, Pick 14:

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Pack 2, Pick 15:

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Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

 

Wow. I could not have missed harder on this pack. I really wish I were in U/W, as I would have a pretty sick deck.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

 

Really wish I were in U/W.

Pack 3, Pick 3:

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Pack 3, Pick 4:

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Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

 

I would normally take the Smite here, but I’m desperately in need of 2-drops.

Pack 3, Pick 6:

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Pack 3, Pick 7:

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Pack 3, Pick 8:

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Pack 3, Pick 9:

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Pack 3, Pick 10:

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Pack 3, Pick 11:

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Pack 3, Pick 12:

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Pack 3, Pick 13:

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Pack 3, Pick 14:

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Pack 3, Pick 15:

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This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.

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Here’s the final deck list:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Angelic Overseer

1 Champion of the Parish

1 Darkthicket Wolf

1 Gallows Warden

1 Grizzled Outcasts

1 Orchard Spirit

1 Silverchase Fox

1 Slayer of the Wicked

1 Somberwald Spider

1 Ulvenwald Mystics

1 Unruly Mob

1 Villagers of Estwald

1 Voiceless Spirit

1 Woodland Sleuth

2 Village Bell-Ringer

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Midnight Haunting

1 Moment of Heroism

1 Ranger's Guile

2 Travel Preparations

1 Sharpened Pitchfork

1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger

[/Spells]

[Lands]

8 Forest

9 Plains

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

I’m not really happy with this deck, as I didn’t get any Avacyn's Pilgrims, Bonds of Faith, or Prey Upons, which are key cards for G/W.

Round 1, Game 1

Won the die roll and kept double Plains, Forest, Darkthicket Wolf, Ulvenwald Mystics, Ranger's Guile, Moment of Heroism. Champion of the Parish was on top of my deck, and I swore I heard him say, “Sorry I’m late to the party, guys!” I decided to play the Wolf instead, and hoped to curve him into Mystics in the next couple of turns. My opponent also got a case of the 1-drops being late to the party, as he played a Delver of Secrets on his second turn. I attacked with my Wolf and felt that leaving mana up for my instants was going to be better than tapping out for an extra 2 damage. Champion of the Parish made his late arrival to the party, and I shipped the turn back. My opponent played a Liliana of the Veil on his turn three. I see. Good thing I played a second creature! Champion of the Parish effectively traded for his Delver, and I played Ulvenwald Mystics to keep up the pressure. He had a Moan of the Unhallowed to keep his planeswalker alive, but they were little more than chump-blockers. He used the last 2 points of loyalty to force me to sacrifice my Wolf and played a second Delver of Secrets, but my now-flipped Ulvenwald Primordials were going to be tough for him to deal with. The mythic rares didn’t end there, however, as his next big play was a Mirror-Mad Phantasm. I was fine racing, and even a flashed-back Moan of the Unhallowed only slowed me down a little. I ended up trading a Gallows Warden for his flyer when he attacked. My reasoning for this was that he would just use its ability to block anyway, so I might as well save myself the 5 damage. He tried for a post-combat Morkrut Banshee, but I saved my Unruly Mob with Ranger's Guile. Skaab Goliath came down the following turn, making it so I could no longer attack effectively with my Primordials. I drew a Villagers of Estwald, which I was pretty confident I wouldn’t have to skip a turn to flip, since he was out of cards. I had a Village Bell-Ringer in hand for a while, and was going to look for an opportunity to ambush his Goliath. This entire time his Delver of Secrets had been sitting there doing nothing, and this was when he finally revealed a Tribute to Hunger to flip it. I played a Travel Preparations on my two Werewolves and attacked into his Banshee and Goliath, hoping that he would take the bait and attack me on his turn. Unruly Mob took one for the team and paid tribute to my opponent’s hunger. Banshee chumped the Primordials, while Skaab Goliath and Howlpack of Estwald both played the “Come at me, bro” game. My opponent attacked with Goliath on his turn like I hoped he would, and my ambush plan came together. He played a second Moan of the Unhallowed in order not to die, thus making the race closer than I would have liked. Woodland Sleuth was my next draw, and he was forced to hold back his flyer. Slayer of the Wicked removing one of his Zombie tokens sealed the deal.

Round 1, Game 2

I side in Cobbled Wings for Sharpened Pitchfork and kept Forest, Plains, Ranger's Guile, Somberwald Spider, Cobbled Wings, Orchard Spirit, and Unruly Mob. Not a great hand, but not one I would send back, either. My opponent led with Walking Corpse, which at that moment seemed a lot better than my Unruly Mob. He once again had a turn-three Liliana, and my Mob bit the dust. Orchard Spirit was going to slay the planeswalker unless he had something to say about it. Turns out he did, as after discarding a Skaab Goliath my Spirit was quite dead to his Corpse Lunge. I passed on my turn four without a play, but I wasn’t without my own tricks. After attacking for 2 with Walking Corpse and adding two more Zombies to his board, I played a Midnight Haunting at the end of his turn. I had a Ranger's Guile to kill Liliana if I wanted, but if I drew a land, I’d rather play my Gallows Warden to hold off his team. I didn’t draw a land, but I did draw an Ulvenwald Mystics, which is effectively the same thing in this situation. My opponent chose not to use his planeswalker on his turn, telling me that both of his cards in hand were good ones. I finished off Liliana, and played a post-combat Woodland Sleuth, which he instantly killed with Victim of Night. Okay, that’s good one. I didn’t have a fifth land, so I couldn’t save it with Ranger's Guile, not that I actually cared since Ulvenwald Primordials was still around. I drew a Villagers of Estwald, meaning I could start getting in there with my 5/5. He played a Tribute to Hunger, and I was glad to sacrifice one of my Spirit tokens. I should mention that we had both been having mana problems, as I had been stuck on four lands while my opponent had been missing Blue mana. My opponent conceded for the second time when I played Slayer of the Wicked.

Round 2, Game 1

Unfortunately, Magic Online lost the replay of this game. From memory, I had a decent start with a turn-one Champion of the Parish, a turn-two Sharpened Pitchfork, a turn-three Village Bell-Ringers, and a turn-four Midnight Haunting. Those were the only spells I drew that game except for a very late Voiceless Spirit. I made some bad trades in order to push through lethal damage in the air, but he had a Gnaw to the Bone to go to 2 life. I then was crushed by Gavony Township, Lumberknot, and associated durdles.

Round 2, Game 2

I sided in a Ghost Quarter for a Plains and started things off with mulliganing away five lands, Grizzled Outcasts, Travel Preparations. My six-card hand was also pretty bad: double Plains, Orchard Spirit, Sharpened Pitchfork, Somberwald Spider, Village Bell-Ringer. I drew a Forest right on time, and just like that, we had dueling Orchard Spirits. I drew two more lands to play Gallows Warden on turn five, but my opponent killed it with a combination of Moment of Heroism and Prey Upon. I drew only lands for the rest of the game and quickly was overrun. At least one of those lands was a Ghost Quarter which I slammed down to destroy his Gavony Township before he could use it, but that’s small consolation.

 


All in all, I’m disappointed with my deck’s performance, though I don’t think it’s representative of G/W decks in general. I was fairly unlucky in my second round, and never once drew my Angelic Overseer. I’m not discouraged from drafting this type of deck in the future, and I hope I can post up a better version of it someday.

I hope you guys enjoyed the draft report, and as always, feel free to leave a comment. Until next time, may you always play your 1-drops on turn one.

Nassim Ketita

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