So, my first pack of M11 is opened! Temple Bell doesn't seem like a matchwinning bomb, so I quickly disregard it (after a quick search in the Classifieds, just in case). The first card that leaps out at me is Doom Blade. I've heard that Scry is massively powerful in this format but I certainly wouldn't pick any of the scry cards over a quality removal spell like the Blade. Other possibles would be Black Knight, but bears aren't great in this format from what I've heard and obviously he is inferior to Doom Blade, as are the mediocre removal cards Stabbing Pain and Hornet Sting. Armored Cancrix seems like he'd be a really good blocker, but again, no Doom Blade. The rest of the draft is after the jump!
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
Blue seems to be the color to be in here, although all reports suggest it is massively overdrafted and with packs like this, you can't really get away from sending signals. Problem is, Hill Giants, mediocre fliers and good blockers just don't stand up to power like Air Servant, who can really wreck people, so we join the scrap for Blue.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
This pack was a little tricky. I don't know how good equipment is, but I know that equipment on fliers is rarely a bad thing, and if I do end up UB I'm pretty sure that black creatures are on the small, quick side, so would fit well with the Axe. Vulshok Berserker, Roc Egg, Cloud Crusader and Gravedigger are all fine men in their own ways - for a partner to Blue I would most likely prefer the Crusader, although the Berserker could be good in a fast deck with bounce, burn and disruption. Again, not knowing the archetypes I make what I consider to be the 'safe pick' and take the Axe. I didn't consider Call to Mind at the time, but I now think that maybe I should have. If it ends up being a 5 mana Doom Blade, or even a 7 mana Foresee, it's probably fine.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
I made at least 2 oversights with this pick. My love of Mana Leak as a card, combined with my absolute ignorance of M11 as a format, made me basically windmill slam it. In retrospect I could have picked the Diminish (still not sure how good it is, but it is basically removal so can't be too bad), Wild Griffin, or even Call to Mind or Sign in Blood. This is a pack I would really like to get opinion on. In the end Mana Leak proved to be a really strong card, but because my deck ended up being quite slow, it was awkward if they made an early threat or two and I had to tap out on turn 4/5 to get a blocker down.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
Giant Spider is probably the best card in this pack, but haven't really seen much good green going by and I don't think the Spider is given enough credit to be considered a sign. Palace Guard, Roc Egg and White Knight are all fine too, but I opt for the Elemental since it's on color, cuts blue and is pretty damn excellent, especially vs white.
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Pack 1 pick 6:
Can't really complain here. Nightwing Shade, Squadron Hawk and Spined Wurm are fine, but Foresee is a great pick for pretty much the reasons Cloud Elemental was, except without the vs White bit.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
Well I guess we were bound to hit a blank eventually. Acidic Slime is a nice enough board card, but Stormfront Pegasus is more in line with what we're trying to do. With the decent white we've passed already I doubt we'll get much back (not that that's a bad thing necessarily), but it's better than nothing.
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Pack 1 pick 8:
Pretty sure that the Missionaries are unplayable, but Blood Tithe seems like it would be fine against aggro decks if we end up UB.
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Pack 1 pick 9:
Not unhappy in the slightest to pick up an Armored Cancrix - he seems like he blocks practically everything. Would love him to have defender and cost 1 less mana though, as the decks he is the best against he can be too slow to make the difference.
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Pack 1 pick 10:
Deprive was awesome in RoE, and I didn't play M10 so don't know if Cancel is similar, but I'm finding out.
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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:
My Pick:
Pretty solidly in Blue, but because I don't know the set I'm not sure if I'm on the bad end of the stick. I've managed to not get Tome Scours or anything really horrible like that, and I think I did as decent a job as possible of making sure I maximise my Blue in pack 2. Picking up some nice Black cards would be good, although I feel happy enough to jump into White or maybe even Red, provided I got some faster cards.
Pack 2 pick 1:
If there's one thing I think I know about core set drafts, it's first pick Fireball. Crystal Ball I've heard is very awesome - would anyone pick it over Fireball? It's something I'd like to hear more on. Other quality cards in the pack are Assassinate, Assault Griffin, Azure Drake. Would be happy to wheel the Flashfreeze, or the Expanse to help me splash my Doom Blade
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
I found this a tricky pick. Firstly, I am noticing Stone Golem for the first time as I type this, which is pretty bad as he seems fine. Augury Owl I am unsure of the power of, but in retrospect was probably the pick here. As it was I saw Ember Hauler, thought removal and picked it without a proper consideration. I instantly regretted it.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
When I said "Quick cards" to go into Red, I did not mean Fiery Hellhound and Goblin Tunneler. If I had a few better red picks, or a non-Fireball bomb, I would be more inclined to pick the doggie, but I decide to take a punt on the Strongbox, since Draw 3 on anything is going to be pretty sweet.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
Azure Drake is the standout here. I briefly mull over how good a wheel Phantom Beast would be, but again with no knowledge of the targeting creatures in the game, it's a very brief mull indeed.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
Blinding Mage is tough to pass on, but Mind Control is the best removal in the format probably, and it's a slam. Again a flashfreeze wheel would be nice, especially since it is actually probably the 3rd worst pick, but since it'll be the only blue spell I don't see it happening.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
Augury Owl, Water Servant, Arc Runner were my choices here. They are good enough picks that I don't consider hating the Plummet. Runner seems like a better fit for the tempo deck I described earlier, which we are certainly not looking like at the moment, so I go with the closest you can get to a Morphling in M11, since it's uncommon and can block anything, whereas I could feasibly pick up another Owl if I want one still, and it isn't that good anyway barring Scry.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
Thanks very much! Jace's Ingenuity seems like a massive way to get ahead in Limited, especially in a format with Negate, Cancel and Mana Leak to make leaving 5 lands untapped that much more appealing. Nothing else in this pack comes close.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
Tough late pick! Both Cloud Elemental and Preordain are superb. I've heard Ochoa say he picks Preordain over almost every common, so I figure it's worth a punt.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
Hrm. Now that I've picked up colour #2, but still want to splash Doom Blade, I'm thinking Expanse is better than Flashfreeze. Truth be told I didn't even consider that it might lap. I can't splash Blade without it, so Expanse is the pick.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
There are some OK artifacts so I'll take Demolish for the board.
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Pack 2 pick 11:
Negate seems a fine board card also, and I'm happy to get it this late.
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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:
Potential punt inc. Initial assessment says that Juggernaut and Vulshok Berserker are the top 2 picks for my deck. Problem with both is that I don't have aggressive cards to make my opp fear either of them, so neither are *that* good for my strategy. Act of Treason is the same - you need to be fast (or have Fling/Vampire) to make it work for you. Necrotic Plague might be fine, I don't know, it might even be really good, but it's not splashable. In the end I go for Juggernaut, which seems pretty bad but slightly better than Berserker since I don't currently have enough red to make best use of him.
My Pick
Pack 3 pick 2:
Would love to have that Cyclops Gladiator, but pack 3 is probably too late to try and force a color! We're already deep in blue, almost to the extent where running monoblue would be passable (not good, mind) so can't pick him. That leaves us with Call to Mind and Azure Drake, and the Drake wins. Question: Now that I have a Fireball, should Call to Mind be getting picked?
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Outrage was still looking like a difficult play because of the double red. Azure Drake is fine, so I pick up my 3rd.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
Wouldn't mind that Expanse wheeling, and he's no Sparkmage, but the Pyromancer is the pick here.
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Pack 3 pick 5:
Blank pack is blank. Unsummon isn't going to help us beyond being a minor annoyance to our enemies, because we're not a fast deck, so misewell take the rare. Nothing here hurts us enough to want to hate it particularly.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
Having now played some M11 I underrated Maritime Guard. He should have been picked here, although Terramorphic Expanse did help me a great deal with my mana. Earth Servant is alright maybe? I don't really like him that much, espeically with this few mountains.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
Picking up a handy sideboard card is fine. Mighty Leap could have been a hate candidate if Combust was a blank.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
Think I might have timed out here, or just took an uncommon for the .03 tix or whatever. Blank city.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
Negate number 2 won't be necessary, so I'll take this Pacifism that has no business being in the pack this late.
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Pack 3 pick 10:
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Pack 3 pick 11:
Chuffed to get this guy for the board.
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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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So, I didn't take screenies of my deck in the end, nor did I play well enough to justify telling you all about the matches (you won't learn anything except I shouldn't draft while on tilt from Call of Duty - 24 killstreak :weep:). I found myself trapped between a counterburn aggro deck and a slower, more controlling deck focusing on card advantage. More set research required methinks. In future I will have both match reports and a decklist for every write up. I will be adding contributors to the site in the coming week and hopefully we can all learn something from each other :)
Thanks for reading!
Gingerprinz
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