Lots to choose from in this very deep pack - blinding mage is probably the best common in the set and doomblade is in the top 5 (top2?) commons as well. Yavimaya Wurm, Cloud Elemental and Gravedigger would not be embarassing picks from a weaker pack either. The cyclops is incredible in the right deck, but I was unwilling to commit so heavily to red this early in the draft as red is one of the weaker colors, especially as a main color which the RRR1 casting cost would demand. Mind Control however stood out above all of these, it's a bit of a bomb and can win games out of nowhere. With blue being so popular i figure there's no way the elemental will wheel, but something half decent has to come back round right?
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
This pack came down to the baloth or the griffin - unsummon isn't powerful enough to try to muscle in on blue this early on. Even though U/G isn't a combination I'm a fan of, U/W seems to be incredibly overdrafted in M11 so I avoid it where possible. Green on the other hand seems to be slightly underplayed, and with cultivate and the 1/1 landfetch elf at common, opens up options to splash other cards later in the draft. Plus the baloth is just a very solid creature! I don't think the yavimaya wurm or the garruk's companion are about to convince anyone downstream that green is open this early either.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
I agonized over this pick, between the terramorphic expanse and the whispersilk cloak. The cloak coupled with big green dudes can end the game very quickly, but generally big green dudes don't need so much help. The expanse however enables nice splashes should i need them, which with green seems to be like every draft, and this early in the packs i like to keep my options as flexible as possible.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
Having talked myself into green with a splash potentially, i figured it was better to cut green than to take a mediocre blue card. a 3/2 trample for 2 sounds nice, but M11 seems to have infinite x/2's that just trade with each other all the time so coupled with the awkward casting cost the companion is solid, but not spectacular.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
Augury owl vs water servant here - i do love the owl, fixing your draws, occasionally trading for a 1 toughness dude and chumping where needed, but the water servant i think is just more powerful. I'm still not sure about this pick, it's pretty 50/50 in my mind still.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 6:
Not much happening in this pack - runeclaw bear is never making the cut and again i don't want to dip into a 3rd color for an average card, so i take the Call to Mind on the off chance that something worth using it with shows up later.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
I don't think that mind rot or bloodthrone vampire can count as a signal that black is open even 7th pick, so i take the on-color early defender.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
Nothing for me here, might as well take the best card (is it even the best card? thunderstrike can be pretty sweet).
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
Stone golem was an easy choice here, with so many creature enchantments and little combat tricks floating around, I found the phantom beast to be way too unreliable. Besides, if staying green pays off, i'll have plenty of fatties. Plus the 4-drop slot seems easy to overload on, with 2 in the deck already.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
Again the beast is overlooked, this time in favour of the almost regrowth - with mind control and a couple of nice creatures already, it wouldn't take too many more good permanents to make it main-deck-able.
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Pack 1 pick 11:
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Pack 1 pick 12:
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Pack 1 pick 13:
Never bad to have in the sideboard, and main-deck-able on occasions.
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Pack 1 pick 14:
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Pack 1 pick 15:
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Not the most exciting pack one, but one bomb enchantment and a couple of solid guys isn't a bad start. Hopefully I'll see some more green in pack 2 having passed very little pack one.
Pack 2 pick 1:
A pair of awesome 4 drops for me to choose from - the troll is very good, stopping a ground assault almost on it's own and threatening endlessly on offense, but the sphinx is a real beater. A flying beater, which really helps to stave off those pesky u/w skies and their fast starts. Maybe a naturalize for the board or a yavimaya wum will wheel for me here.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
A lot to choose from again. Splashing assassinate seems too awkward to be worthwhile at this stage. Another terramorphic expanse would definitely make the maindeck, but it's way outclassed by the on-color options. I'm not exactly building the fastest deck here, and there are no insane 3 drops to accelerate to with the elf, so it comes down to the awakener druid and the the azure drake. Looking back, the azure drake is probably the right pick here, but there's something quite satisfying about a 4/5 hasty forest for '4' mana. There's also something quite satisyfying about having a 2/4 flyer that doesnt leave you open to being on the wrong end of innumerable 2-for-1's... but oh well.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
A pack full of green and blue goodies to choose from. The sylvan ranger is a card i always hope to see when i'm green, and the aether adept is also very strong when you need some breathing room (2 power is enough to chump a lot of guys in m11) or when you want to bounce a blocker to beat in. However, the clone is head and shoulders above all of these - i've plenty of nice targets in my own deck, nevermind what my opponent does. It is another 4-drop though, so i should be wary of picking up too many more in that slot.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
Cultivate is always nice to have, especially with so many UU and GG casting costs amongst my picks so far. It also keeps alive the "splash a fireball/doomblade/pacifism/off-color-titan" dream. I realise there is a pacifism in this pack already, but the cultivate is the more reliable pick at this stage I think.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
Yavimaya wurm is prefferable to the negate seeing as i already have one of the counters. Seeing the wind griffin pick 5 after a pacifism/white knight pick 4 makes me wonder if i should infact be in white, but it's too late to do much about that.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
Cloud elemental vs Sleep here - in a vaccum the elemental is the stronger card, and probably in my deck would have been the stronger card, but i figured with so many good creatures to beat down with, sleep would win me a game or two on its own, whereas the elemental is just a solid guy to have. That was my thinking at the time anyways, I immediately regretted the pick. I realise (again) that the blue flyer was the way to go.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
After passing on the 3-drop elemental, I breathed a sigh of relief seeing this guy here, filling a gap in my curve.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
Another fatty, who gets to attack a whole lot given how popular blue is in this format. With my cultivate and terramorphic and hopefully more landfetch to come, he probably will be attacking vs non-blue opponents on occassion as well. Flashfreeze was the only other card of note, but I'd rather the maindeck fatty than the sideboard answer to the weakest colors in the format.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
Naturalize in the board on the other hand is always welcome - there are a ton of enchantments in m11 (removal and buffs) as well as the occasional artifact. Sometimes Naturalize could be the 23rd card, it's rare that there isn't a target for it.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
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Pack 2 pick 11:
A very late ranger, which i happily snap up. Looks like green might be the place to be afterall.
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Pack 2 pick 12:
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Pack 2 pick 13:
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Pack 2 pick 14:
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Pack 2 pick 15:
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Pack 3 pick 1:
Not much of a contest here - with the cultivate, sylvan ranger and the terramorphic expanse, the splash for fireball is an easy one. I'd have liked a crystal ball or cloud elemental, but the fireball is not a card that can be passed up.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 2:
A pretty horrible pack for me, the only real choices being the average 3 drops. The ophidian isn't likely to be hitting anyone that often in my removal-light deck, whereas the wolf can trade with alot of attackers and put a lot of hurt on the rare occasions when there are no blockers opposing him.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Another solid guy, even if he is another 4 drop. The plan for this deck seems to be shaping up as a 'survive until my big guys can overwhelm them' - realistically i should have had a plan firmly set in my mind way earlier in the draft, but U/G is a combination i rarely find myself in, and I'm worried that the deck will be a bit unfocused at this point.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
As I tried telling myself in pack one, pick two - the cloak on big dumb guys can end games really quickly. Luckily i got a second chance to nab this excellent and perhaps underrated piece of equipment - I'm rarely happy to see it on the other side of the table, and a lot of decks just have zero answers to it.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
Ice Cage is pretty average - rarely will it lock a creature down for more than a few turns, as pump spells and creature enchants are quite common. VS equipment it's even worse, but If i need to hold off an aggro deck or push through a fat creature it will come in handy.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
Another pack full of green+blue to choose from. Forsee is very solid, but it's not a card I'd happily take early on in the draft, nor a card I'd happily have multiples of in most decks. There are cheaper ways of improving your draws and finding lands, (augury owl and sylvan ranger, as seen in this pack) and playing a forsee when you opponent has gone turn 2 guy, turn 3 guy, turn 4 guy or removal often feels risky, but i'm comfortable that i've enough early defense and enough powerful creatures to dig for to make it a powerhouse in the right situations.
The diminish can be nice in some decks, but even though i'm light on removal i think my creautres are big/efficient enough that they don't need a helping hand to win in combat. The elf lord i don't think i'd ever pick highly - having a lot of 1/1 elves isn't ever going to be a good idea, and i'd rather my 3-drop creatures were either blocking or attacking well, or ones that i'd be happy to chump with. He doesn't really fit the bill.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
Plummet is rarely a dead card, and due to my failure to pick up flying blockers (azure drake, cloud elemental) earlier in the draft, it's a sight for sore eyes at this point.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
Again, it's on my mind that my deck is light on removal and likely to have guys in play i need to protect, so cancel is fine. holding back 3 mana is a lot at times, especially without early creatures to get ahead on the board, but its rarely a bad card to draw.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
Not exactly removal, but it gets around creature enchants (on their guys and mine) nicely and in a pinch can slow them down 'til i get my bigger creatures online.
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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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Well there we have it - the deck ended up pretty much the only way i think it could, with a bunch of cheap guys to hold them off until i got my baloths and sphinxes and the like going. No mega mythic/rare bombs, but mind control, whispersilk cloak, conundrum sphinx and fireball were all game winners, as was the mis-picked sleep on one occassion!! The MVP award had to go to the Aether Adept though, every time i played that guy it took a huge weight off my shoulders, either slowing down my opponents offense enough for me to dominate the board with my bigger creatures, or bouncing a troublesome blocker. Definitely a card I will be picking higher in the future.
This draft felt a bit sloppy, but once i had the deck build and was playing the games I realised that I always had something to do. It asked a lot of questions of the opponent even if I didn't have many answers myself, and I managed to win the draft beating DavidOchoa (of Channel Fireball fame) in the finals! To be fair he seemed a little mana-screwed one game, and whispersilk cloak wrecks the Act-of-Treason deck he was playing, but whatevs...
I don't have much in the way of M11 insight to share having not drafted it quite enough to feel entirely comfortable with the format, but certainly decks with a strong core of green, black or red have ended up being my most successful. White and blue are the strongest/deepest colors it seems, supporting multiple drafters in U/W (never mind W/x and U/x as well) per draft. This leaves a lot of the stronger R/G/B cards going late, so I try to keep an eye out for singals that those colors are open rather than commit to blue or white after seeing just a couple of good commons. Also the format does not seem nearly as slow as people would expect a core set to be - it's important to have some action early game i find, even if its just some utility guys that can chump, as the U/W decks come out of the gates very quickly and without masses of removal it's easy to fall behind with a hand full of 4 drops.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
- LarryTheMad
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