Noobflogger Boss

By Wagz

Wagz here again with another exciting edition of my Draft watching series. This is only the second episode so I imagine it will be a sporadic series, but the last draft I watched - Jim Marlow's - won the pod. Lets see if we get a repeat success!

Pack 1:

P1: Broodmate Dragon... There was also a Fatestitcher and an Oblivion Ring in here and some unexciting picks so nothing great will wheel, but it might help with the signals.

P2: Bloodpyre Elemental was taken over a Resounding Silence, a Dregscape Zombie and a Quietus Spike. This is a good removal spell and is going towards a Jund or Grixis style deck. I say not Naya as we are leaving the Silence in and the two cards so far are not really quick or having power >5. The Quietus Spike is worth consideration, however, as well as the Silence for moving towards a 5 colour style deck - worth it with so many players who typically draft green at the table.

P3: Court Archers. I hadn't really considered this card as the other picks were Dragon Fodder, Sigil Blessing, Elvish Visionary or a bad Exuberant Firestoker in there. The Blessing and Firestoker can be easily dismissed, but if we are moving into Jund then the 2 drops are much more synergistic, the Visionary more so now we have only 1 pack of the uncommons which get bigger when stuff die. There are so many good 2 drops in Conflux and Reborn that I don't think the Court Archers is a high pick any more. The card went on to be good for Andy in the games however, letting Broodmate Dragons fly over Pale Recluses.

P4: A very quiet pack here contained a Bant and a Grixis Panorama, a Sigil Blessing and a Cloudhearth Drake. The Drake being by far the strongest cards could be a signal, but it's not strong enough to change just yet. The Grixis Panorama is taken as Mana-fixing is good.

P5: Undead Leotau is taken with Call to Heel, Excommunicate and Esper Obelisk being the next best cards. This is pretty early for the cards to dry up this much so we should be on the lookout for some other shard to move in to if possible.

P6: Skeletal Kathari is taken but there's a Waveskimmer Aven and a Deft Duelist in there. I personally would take the Duelist here and see about changing to Esper splashing the Broodmate and Bloodpyre as the Esper cards in Conflux are awesome so it is the perfect time to switch. 3/2 fliers for 5 aren't terrible though.

P7: Dregscape Zombie is a nice surprise after some dry packs. A Naturalize and a Kederekt Creeper are in there too with a Guardians of Akrasa, so it looks like we are in the right colours anyway, hmm.

P8: Cavern Thoctar? Fist Pump! Another Dregscape Zombie and a Grixis Obelisk too mean we are happy in the colours again, carry on.

P9-15: Glaze Fiend, Cancel, Grixis Battlemage (people don't like Looters?), Death Greetest, Swerve, Soul's Grace and Mountain.

Pack 2:

P1: Wild Leotau is fine but a relatively boring pack. There is a Viashino Slaughtermaser, a Cylian Sunslinger and a Filigree Fracture in here too. The Sunslinger is obviously Naya only and the Slaughtermaster is fine but this isn't a quick deck at the moment. I think Filigree Fracture has gone up in my estimation to a top 4 pick but Wild Leotau is a solid creature.

P2: RG and RB outlanders are fine two drops and there's an unsplashable Scepter of Insight in the pack but the pick is between Drag Down and Fiery Fall. The Fiery Fall is obviously better in a vacuum but we might look to go BGr to maximise the Putrid Leech count in pack 3 so Fiery Fall is only a removal spell then, rather than a super-powered manafixer. Andy picks the Drag Down but later said it wasn't the right pick. I still don't know for sure but I would have taken the Fall.

P3: Exploding Borders is taken as we have little manafixing so far. Beacon Behemoth is also good, but there's an Esper Cormorant and a Traumatic Visions in here too - maybe changing decks was a good idea? Too late to tell as you can't change what you do based on future information.

P4: Scarland Thrinax is a great pass, but there's another Traumatic Visions in there.

P5: Another Exploding Borders helps the manafixing - there are great GW cards in Alara Reborn so it is worth picking up ways of fixing White now. Another Cormorants is in here and there's also a Fusion Elemental, a Voices of the Void and a Nacatl Savage. Too early for sideboard cards but the 5 colour deck has some good options.

P6: Andy picked the Wretched Banquet. I like this card a lot and he certainly was light on removal up to this point. Sludge Strider and Parasitic Strix confirm a wide-open Esper deck but we're going pretty well now. There was also a Matca Rioters here but removal is more important, even though this guy would be easily 3 or 4 big.

P7: Hellkite Hatchling is taken - wish we had the Visionary or Dragon Fodder at pick 3 now :p. GW outlander isn't worth splashing for and I'm not sure if Unstable Frontier is worth taking for a deck with expensive cards.

P8: Absorb Vis is good manafixing (even if Black is the 3rd colour) and a way of winning games for no reason. There was an Aerie Mystics in here too.

P9: Scattershot Archer is good sideboard card with a UW Outlander in the pack still.

P10-15: Molten Frame, Traumatic Visions (???), Vectis Agents, Esper Cormorants (?!?!?!?!?), Lapse of Certainty and Forest.

Pack 3:

P1: Intimidation Bolt is the pick over Filigree Angel, Sewn-Eye Drake and Valley Rannet. It means splashing White but we took the Exploding Borders for largely that reason. Sewn-Eye Drake would otherwise be my pick - people seemed to be scared of playing a 1 toughness guy but he flies in for 3 which is a great deal.

P2: Madrush Cyclops. Woot! Great dude for the deck. Had to pass a Sangrite Backlash but cards which win games are better than cards which stop the opponent from winning in Limited - no TurboFog here.

P3: Vithian Renegades is a solid dude and the potential to Stone Rain your opponent (via. Borderposts) for free is great. However, Enlisted Wurm is more than huge (first time I played this guy I was using the GW theme deck, Cascaded into Mighty Emergence... Oh Yeah!!) so takes the biscuit and stomps all over it.

P4: Gorger Wurm is picked. There was also a GW post, an Igneous Pouncer and a Colossal Might in the pack. The Post might be taken with the two white cards but Gorger Wurm is a 5/5 for 5 which is big anyway.

P5: Jund Sojourners is an uncounterable Zap which can sometimes be played as a 3 mana 3/2 so is in fact, very good.

P6: Kathari Bomber is taken. There was also a Monstrous Carabid but there are a few Devour guys in here so it's good synergy. There was another Jund Sojourners too but I like the flier.

P7: Vithian Renegades is a great pick and came quite late. This was taken over a Colossal Might - better watch out for those in the play then.

P8: Another Jund Sojourners - woot!

P9-15: Filigree Angel, Singe-Mind Ogre, Cerodon Yearling, Soul Manipulation, Sanctum Plowbeast, Illusory Demon and Swamp.

I don't have Andy's decklist but it mostly writes itself if you take the playable Jund Cards and picks 1 & 3 from Reborn. There was a good Esper deck went round but not enough of a sign to switch to it early enough and no bombs that make switching mandatory (e.g. Crovax the White in TPF draft).

Needless to say, he stomped all over the opponents thanks to Dragons and stuff - looks like Noobflogger Boss has produced two perfect drafts - who wants to be watched next time?