Drafting with Big Nass, RTR #2

Posted on October 29, 2012

Welcome back to the show for another Return to Ravnica Draft. Unlike last week, when I went off into the deep end, I’m drafting a “normal” deck this time.

I’ve done enough Drafts to more or less have some established preferences. As far as the guilds go, this how I rank them from what I like the most to what I like the least:

Selesnya

Rakdos

Golgari

Azorius

Izzet

I assure you that I haven’t been replaced by Bizarro Big Nass. Wizards finally made a set where I don’t like drafting blue. The blue guilds have pretty shallow card quality, and even among the Azorius and Izzet cards, I’m almost always splashing them in Selesnya or Rakdos decks respectively. I usually like to be aggressive, and my top two guilds are fairly good at that. Any time I’m not aggressive, I’m some sort of four- or five-color monstrosity, so I have yet to draft a straight W/U or U/R deck. The fact that it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it won’t happen, so if I do draft a sweet Azorius or Izzet deck, I’ll be sure to put that up in a future episode.

This week, we get to see my top guild in action. As always, a text recap follows the video links. Enjoy!

Draft

Match 1, Game 1

Match 1, Game 2

Match 2, Game 1

Match 2, Game 2

Match 3, Game 1

Match 3, Game 2

Match 3, Game 3

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

Archon of the Triumvirate is pretty unreal if you get to attack with it. I splashed it in the Golgari deck I posted last week, so I’m certainly going to first-pick it here.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

While it sucks against Dramatic Rescue, you haven’t lived until you’ve populated an 8/8. There’s nothing else in this pack worth taking, and splashing the Archon in a Selesnya deck is still fine.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

I could take my third rare in a row here, but Ash Zealot doesn’t mesh well with either of the other cards I’ve drafted. Korozda Monitor is fine, and I like it a little more than the Giant Spider. I could also take Runewing, but I think it’s far more likely I’m splashing blue for the Archon than playing it as a main color.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Well, unfortunately, the best cards in this pack are in the two colors I’m not in. I don’t think I want to jump into black or red for any of the cards in this pack.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Teleportal is really good, but I’m quite certain it won’t make my deck. It’s really good to splash for in Rakdos decks, though.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 8:

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Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Sunspire Griffin coming back is a good sign.

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

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Pack 1, Pick 15:

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Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

Growing Ranks has been hit-or-miss in my experience, but I think it’s the right pick here. I was very tempted to take the Skymark Roc.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Jeez, another Korozda Guildmage? I’m criminally short on 2-drops, so I have to take the Keening Apparition here.

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Fifth-pick Sphinx of the Chimes? Dayum, dayum, dayum!

As excited as I am to play a Mahamoti Djinn, it is , so splashing it seems overly ambitious.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Phantom General would actually be pretty good in this deck, but I don’t think I’m at a critical mass of token generators just yet. If it somehow tables, I’ll be happy to play it, though.

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Blustersquall is normally a card I advocate splashing, but I’m a little short on creatures.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

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Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Thirteenth-pick Giant Spider seems pretty good.

Pack 2, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

This pick was probably wrong now that I think about it. Call of the Conclave is exactly the card this deck was missing. I’m just a sucker for drawing cards I guess.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

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My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

These past three picks have just been awful.

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

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Pack 3, Pick 15:

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Here’s where we ended up:

"Selesnya Archon"

Any time my deck has multiple rares in it, I’m pretty happy. Growing Ranks definitely did quite a bit of heavy lifting, so I’m going to revise my opinion on the card. Every previous time I’ve had it, it’s done next to nothing, but it turns out that a painless Bitterblossom is pretty darn good in Limited.

I ended up taking down the Draft fairly easily, though I made an awful play in the finals that cost me a game. I blame Old Man Brain.

Hope you guys enjoyed the Draft recap, and I’ll see you again next week. Same Nass-Time, same Nass-Channel!

Take care,

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

www.youtube.com/nketita

TAGS articles, draft, video, limited, drafting, nassim ketita, recap, return to ravnica, selesnya