#mtg drafting

[flavoracle]

Here’s what I want to know about the Masters 25 3-Booster Draft Packs 

The MSRP for a single Masters 25 booster is $9.99, so would a draft pack like this cost...

...less than $30 because you’re buying multiple packs at a time? 

...more than $30 because of the extra packaging? 

...approximately the same as buying 3 separate booster because of reasons? 

Does anybody know the answer to this? 

[flavoracle]

My three favorite pulls from tonight's drafting party. 🐙🐺🐰🌕

[flavoracle]

Eldritch Moon Drafting Advice Needed

I'm going to a drafting party tomorrow evening, and I could really use some help. I pretty much draft just once a year, and I have NO idea what strategies work when drafting Eldritch Moon. Last year's drafting party was playing with Battle for Zendikar cards, and the only way I managed to get by was thanks to advice from you awesome nerds. So can anybody help me out??!!

[mediocremagicman]

Wednesday night draft!

7 Person Hour of Unstable (3xUST)

After another awful Ixalan draft last week I was so excited when the vote came up to do Unstable this week. So far the format has proven to be a ton of fun and I can't get enough of it. This draft I ended up in a black/green counters deck with a some die roll synergy. I very much like this archetype since it is a well crafted combination of the traditional magic archetype B/G +1/+1 counters with the Unstable nonsense of die rolls. While I thought the deck looked solid I lacked just enough of everything to make it work. I would either find my cards that rolled die, or find my Willing Test Subject without any way to roll. This lackluster performance resulted in a 1-1-1 record which put me in 5th this evening.

The Draft (Each pick in order from top to bottom, then left to right)

Over My Dead Bodies was my opening rare. This card can be very powerful but is very hard to set up. The undeathtouch means in order for this card to be effective you need more creatures in your graveyard than your opponent, otherwise it does nothing. That said it's exactly the kind of wacky nonsense I voted for Unstable to get, plus taking it early meant I could build around it. I took it and hoped to see if I could make it work. Oaken Power Suit makes my first contraption choice of the night. It's a rare and for good reason, it lets you turn your cheap chump creatures into threats while protecting the actual threat you want to have. You have to have a big creature for it to be really effective but pumping for +2/+2 or +3/+3 is still worth the effort spent to assemble it. capital offense is a solid piece of instant speed removal. It doesn't kill simple big creatures but in this format those are few and far between. Most of your threats are creatures that start off small and have abilities that get out of hand. With capital offense those very abilities are the creatures downfall. In the worst case of a creature it can't kill it can still serve as a combat trick and let you still get there. Turbo-Thwacking Auto-Hammer is another solid contraption choice. Like the Power Suit it turns almost any creature into a problem. Subcontract is a card I've heard a great deal of debate about. Some argue that because you don't get to pick the card that you won't get something worth spending the card. I don't buy into this argument since even if your player outside the game picks the worst card it is still a one for one trade for which you only paid one mana. While some cards have a higher potential upside most cards also have a floor that is much lower. Since this cards floor is never zero it's always worth playing unless somehow you ended up with 23 other cards of pure upside in which case go you. A foil Adorable Kitten is too adorable to leave in the pack. Also experience has shown me that this card is much better than it looks. A think a 1/1 with an ETB lifegain trigger would not be playable. It's tiny and it doesn't block well so the lifegain is just a minor speed bump for your opponent; the format that is already slow so the effect is minimal. This analysis goes out of the window when you have a good creature to augment it with. Have you ever been in a parking lot with 5 speed bumps? Repeating that lifegain trigger can slow your opponent to a stop. Entirely Normal Armchair is a risky card but is again exactly the kind of thing I am drafting Unstable to play with. Against an eagle eyed opponent it's totally dead but potentially kills a creature for just two mana. The best way to hide is is to play it under the land you play for your turn. In the past I've also gotten good value out of it by hiding it under the creatures that have a trigger to sacrifice an artifact for some value. You drop it under the creature as you play it and then be sure to stop and ask your opponent if the ETB trigger resolves. So remember if someone plays one of those without an artifact to sacrifice be careful to not fall into this trap. Overt Operative is my first way to assemble a contraption. It doesn't matter here since I already have good contraptions but when evaluating cards that assemble you have to balance how good they are without contraptions with how easily the card does the assembly and how good your contraptions are. If a card assembles contraptions easily and is decent without them then it should be taken with the idea that you can find the contraptions later. Others are only worth playing when you already have good contraptions. My pool falls into the latter group so I'm willing to take even the mediocre assemblies but this card fits into the first category. The menace makes it easy to get the trigger and makes the card playable even without contraptions. Mother Kangaroo is one of the creatures I spoke of earlier that start off relatively harmless and become a threat over time. The worst case of a 2/2 for five mana does happen but it's not likely and if I can find a decent augment to combine it with then I can have a real engine working. Buzz Buggy is another good contraption; the format is grindy and tends to lead into locked up board states. Having the ability to give trample helps you break that lock and win the game. Willing Test Subject is a powerhouse common in the die roll deck and seeing it this late is a sign that deck is open. Like the Kangaroo it slowly grows bigger and bigger as the game grinds on, but unlike the Kangaroo I don't need to find another card to make it work. Krark's Other Thumb is another great card for the die roll deck. It lets me get better results, but more importantly lets me roll more dice. The triggered ability on Willing Test Subject can trigger for both the die you would roll and the extra die you roll with the Thumb. Midlife Upgrade is a contraption assembly card that fits into the other category than the Operative; you must already have good contraptions but when you do it's worth playing. Don't forget you can chose an X of zero and just use it to assemble a contraption. Box of Free-Range Goblins seems like it would be good in a goblin tribal deck which is an archetype that seem feasible but have yet to see.

Split Screen is a weird, fun, and very powerful card. It checks everybox I came here to check. The ability to pick from four cards every time you draw mean you almost always get something you need. Four mana does seem pricey for an artifact that does nothing as it comes in, but these games go long enough that you will life long enough to get your value. When it's daylight Old-Fashioned Vampire is worth playing and when the sun sets it's a one of the best creatures in the format; it doesn't even die to capital offense. Extremely Slow Zombie is a card I've had trouble evaluating. Even with the drawback of last strike a 3/3 for two seems like good value but every time I've drafted it I've ultimately cut it from the final deck. Snickering Squirrel is a key part of the die roll archetype when you build it so that your deck cares about results of the die rolls. It doesn't help with cards like Willing Test Subject which only care about the raw die roll. The second Armchair is significantly worse that the first since after they see one your opponents are usually very vigilant about looking for it for the rest of the game. But I'm greedy and here to have fun so I'll take it. Steady-Handed Mook is another one of the contraption assembliers worth taking without contraptions. Duplication Device is another very strong contraption and now that I have two good ways to assemble the I'm looking for those. It's a little weaker than one would think because of the tendency of creatures to grow larger with counters which it won't copy but making a copy of the strongest thing is still worth a pick/assembly. Another capital offense is just a good as the first. Voracious Vacuum is a lackluster host that can become an engine when augmented. I think Mother Kangaroo coming around this late in the pack is a sign that green was open. Eager Beaver is playable in a host/augment deck that needs more hosts but that is far from what I am doing with only one augment.

Clocknapper i again hits all the things I wanted out of my Unstable draft. Taking your opponents beginning phase. Is essentially a timewalk since you steal their draw and prevent them from untapping. Even with the double cost I'm splashing it. Luckily I'm in green so I can look to grab fixing in this last pack to make it work. This Ineffable Blessing is the one where I pick a number and draw a card whenever a creature with the chosen number of words enters the battlefield. I quickly glanced through my pile (which is allowed at my LGS, always remember to check if you don't know) I realized I had a critical mass of creatures with two words in the name which I decided made the Blessing worth taking. Wild Crocodile is some exactly the kind of fixing I need now that I'm trying to splash the Clocknapper. Finders, Keepers is one of the few unconditional removals spells in the format and even has an upside I'm actively seeking out. A foil Top-Secret Tunnel was my next pick. Like the trample on Buzz Buggy it breaks board stalls. Selfie Preservation is ramps for two mana. In a slow format like this is ramping to your big things early is a major advantage. Plus it helps with the splash, although I made it much worse by forgetting to find Islands with trees in the art. Multi-Headed should be relatively easy to trigger in a B/G die roll deck and since that is what I'm building I took it even though I don't really have enough of the die rolls to really make it work. Willing Test Subject can can give me die rolls and benefit from them so I'm taking it here just like before. Hazmat Suit (Used) works well because the stat boost plus menace makes blocking difficult enough that you usually get through. Plus I had gloves in my jacket pocket so there was no downside. Another Selfie Preservation is making me feel pretty good about my decision to splash now that I have three pieces of fixing. Quick-Stick Lick Trick is my weakest contraption so far but still worth playing because of the lifelink. The rest of the pack just wasn't good for my deck. Can't get playables every pack.

The Final Decklist

Conraptions 1x Quick-Stick Lick Trick 1x Top-Secret Tunnel 1x Duplication Device 1x Buzz Buggy 1x Turbo-Thwacking Auto-Hammer 1x Oaken Power Suit

Enchantment/Artifacts: 2x Entirely Normal Armchair 1x Ineffable Blessing 1x Krark's Other Thumb 1x Split Screen 1x Hazmat Suit (Used) Instant/Sorceries: 1x Subcontract 2x Selfie Preservation 2x capital offense 1x Finders, Keepers Creatures: 1x Wild Crocodile 2x Willing Test Subject 1x Steady-Handed Mook 1x Voracious Vacuum 1x Ninja 1x Overt Operative 1x Clocknapper 2x Mother Kangaroo 1x Old-Fashioned Vampire 1x Multi-Headed Lands: 6x Swamp 7x Forest 3x Island

Round 1 (2-0) I played against a R/B deck. While they had strong start game one my deck had more late game inevitability, especially when they draw lands and I continue to increase my cards value with contraptions. Game two they didn't even have the good start from game one and could not find their black mana which resulted me in rolling them over.

Round 2 (1-1-1) was against a B/U deck featuring Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K. herself. Game one they managed to play her turn three which made me hesitant to cast my Old-Fashioned Vampire. I tried to get her with my Entirely Normal Armchair on my turn three but they spotted it and the game went into a grind. I put my deck on Split Screen to look for a removal spell in vain. The game slowed to a grind when I played a Mother Kangaroo which stopped Phoebe from attacking. Eventually I felt I needed to play the Old-Fashioned Vampire just as a 3/3 blocker and draw a card off of the Ineffable Blessing that had found its way into the battlefield. They of course stole the box and Phoebe (who had accumulated a counter along the way) starting crushing me in the air as a 5/6. WIth nothing else but lands waiting on my screens I drew a Willing Test Subject, played it and the other one in my hand. I then started sweating bullets when I played my 8th land and the last card in my hand. I passed the turn and tried to keep up my best poker face as they scanned the battlefield and contemplated what to do. They stole my Overt Operative's text to get menace, then they stole my Willing Test Subject's box so I only had one blocker with reach. They went to combat and swung when the Entirely Normal Armchair snapped and killed Phoebe. I guess she just wasn't sneaky enough. With her out of the way the game swung back in my favor and I took it quickly. Game two I took a hand with all three colors and played Steady-Handed Mook as my first play on turn three to assemble Duplication Device. I thought I might have them when I copied Phoebe with the Device, intending on stealing her text box from her and leaving her inert but I failed to draw a land and didn't have enough mana to activate the ability. Three more turns I failed to draw a land and the game was lost. Game three started with 5 minutes left. Although they managed to play Phoebe I killed her with a capital offense and then time was up.

Round 3 (1-2) I fought a B/W control deck. Game one they drew 5 of their 6 plains. They managed to slow it down slightly with Buzzing Whack-a-doodle on doodle but without islands they didn't stand a chance. Game two they managed to have their blue mana and open with an unblockable Blurry Beeble. With that looting to help and I had to contend with two of their three Magic Words and a Spell Suck. Game three I sideboarded by putting on sunglasses I got off to a good start by playing some creatures and turning on the Split Screen but they used two five finger discounts to turn my Ninja Kangaroo and Split Screen against me. The Kangaroo put a stop to my attacks until the split screen found them the removal they needed and they took it down.

[mediocremagicman]

Wednesday night draft!

6 Person Kaladesh (3xKLD)

Several of us regular drafters have decided that Ixalan is a boring format so this week 6 of us broke off into our own pod to do a Kaladesh draft. Unlike Ixalan Kaladesh has less rigidity when it comes to it's archetypes as well as more archetypes that can work. I was thinking about this going in, aware that I needed to adjust the habits I'd formed during my Ixalan drafts. Unfortunately I think I overcompensated on this equation making my deck split between a green splash everything with energy deck and a G/R energy deck. If I had committed to the energy deck I would have more of the Thriving cycle and a more aggressive deck that would have worked better than this deck that lost each round it played in.

The Draft (Each pick in order from top to bottom, then left to right)

Pack one contained the awful for draft rare of Authority of the Consuls. There was a Veteran Motorist in the uncommons and I could debate with myself until I'm blue in the face on which card is more powerful. One is gold however which means the Welding Sparks was the clear choice here. Salivating Gremlins was a sleeper power card in this format. If you could get enough triggers with it then it won games. It would require me to build around it but if I can get in this early and get all the pieces before anyone else I can make it work. Elegant Edgecrafters is one of those pieces. Fabricate two means you either get a big guy who can't be chumped by small stuff, or two artifact ETB triggers (the backbone of the red artifact decks). Ornamental Courage is a combat trick I thought was slightly underrated at the time this format was fresh and my mental image of one mana combat tricks has been skewed by Ixalan. It's still playable but this early in the draft I should have taken a more powerful card. Wild Wanderer is a decent green card as it isn't an awful body and having the fixing helps you splash any off-color bombs you may draw; that is assuming they cost five or more because you don't want to get a land to play a splashed two drop turn five. I'd play one in everything but the most aggressive green decks. Weldfast Monitor followed it up as another brick in the artifact deck I'm building. In this format the one mana for the activation can easily be found in most games and a 3/2 menace for three is a good deal. Attune with Aether really good in any deck that is definitively green. It can take the place of a land when you deckbuild (something I forgot later when putting the deck together). Unlike the Wild Wanderer lets you play pretty much any cards you might have pulled no matter what color they are, not just the expensive ones. Spark of Creativity isn't a good pick here as it's performance is just too inconsistent to be playable. Narnam Cobra on the other hand is a good pick. A 2/1 has the aggressive power of a bear in the early game, and the activated ability means it's a great blocker late in the game. Creeping Mold can be good sideboard in this format that has such powerful artifacts. The rest of the pack I stuck to the green I'm locked into this point which made the decisions no brainers.

Pack two started off with a mythic I can play. I've got two pieces of fixing which makes a splash very doable and the worst case scenario of getting an extra card every turn is still insane and worth the risk of a splash. That doesn't even consider the possibility of casting free spells. Thriving Rhino is staple green energy card. It's ability to be a 3/4 on its first swing makes it hard to block if you get down turn three. If you can get more energy it will get out of hand very rapidly. Furious Reprisal is another card that looks good when you see it, but ultimately underperforms in this format. Two damage just doesn't kill enough creatures to guarantee this card will be worth your mana. Whirler Virtuoso is another creature worth splashing for. In fact even though this card is U/R it really belongs in a green deck because green has the best ability to generate energy. Since I've got half of that deck going right now it makes it a slam pick in this pack. Fairground Trumpeter is a build around that I don't have the support for at this time. When in a deck that can consistently generate counter it's quite good, unfortunately that deck is very hard to put together. Since it's clear now that I'm in a green deck with splashing Servant of the Conduit is a grade A pick. Give me energy for when I need it and gives me the mana I need when I need it. Blossoming Defense if the best combat trick in the format. Not only does it let you win combat but completely blanks removal when you need it. Fireforger Puzzleknot is a mediocre pick. It can be played in a deck that heavily depends on artifact ETB triggers but on it's own it just doesn't stand up. Sky Skiff is a solid vehicle playable in all decks. Flyers are so few and far between in this set that having a two drop that can get through in the air can put you at a significant early game advantage. Kujar Seedsculptor was a very pleasant surprise but this pack has nothing else for me.

Pack three was an on single color planeswalker that's actually playable. I almost forgot what that was like. Scrapheap Scrounger is a great rare as well. Triggers artifact effects but more importantly is just a great value creature as a 3/2 for two. Plus with my splash happy deck I could toss a swamp in for the activation potential even though it's playable without it. The Bug is off color but still playable, I don't recall what else was in the pack but an example of the picks where I overvalued my commitment to artifacts and should have looked for a more aggressive card that work better for an energy deck. Inventors Goggles are great if you have artificers but I'd been forgetting to pay attention to that sub-type. I took it banking that I had picked enough to make it work even though I had not. Reckless Fireweaver is good for the artifact deck so I took it. Armorcraft Judge I knew was near unplayable in my deck as I only have two creatures that generate counters before it comes down. This means I'm more likely to draw zero cards than any other number. That said the pack was not very powerful and it was still the pick. Another Attune means I'm definitely splashing both the black and blue. The rest of the pack was nearly devoid of playables. Sage of Shaila's Claim ended up making the cut because three energy is a lot but unfortunately my deck didn't have enough energy outlets to make this worthwhile.

The Final Decklist

Enchantment/Artifacts: 1x Sky Skiff Instant/Sorceries: 2x Ornamental Courage 1x Blossoming Defense 2x Attune with Aether 1x Larger than Life 1x Welding Sparks Planeswalkers: 1x Nissa, Vital Force Creatures: 1x Sage of Shaila's Claim 1x Narnam Cobra 1x Reckless Fireweaver 1x Scrapheap Scrounger 1x Kujar Seedsculptor 1x Servant of the Conduit 1x Whirler Virtuoso 1x Weldfast Monitor 1x Prakhata Pillar-Bug 1x Salivating Gremlins 1x Thriving Rhino 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter 1x Wild Wanderer 1x Elegant Edgecrafters Lands: 3x Island 1x Swamp 5x Mountain 8x Forest

Round 1 (0-2) I played against a B/W fabricate deck. Unfortunately there was very little interaction as my opponent played Aerial Responder on turn three both games. Game one they managed to equip it with Torch Gauntlet turn five and I never found my removal. Game two they did the same thing on turn four.

Round 2 (1-2) black vehicles deck. Their deck had another color but I struggle to recall what it was as their black and colorless card were the ones that crushed me. In games one and two they were able to combo Ovalchase Dragster with Rush of Vitality twice to create massive life swings and keep the Dragster around to hit again. Game two I managed to curve out fast enough to even while getting hit with that combo again. Game three was neck and neck. Ultimately I lost by one damage because I missed a trigger on my Reckless Fireweaver.

At the end of round two my pod finished first and we concluding there was only one possible combinations of pairings for round three. We moved to those positions but the other pod was not done and there were 6 minutes left in the round. When I told my opponent that we couldn't start until the round was officially out they decided to drop so they could leave rather than wait those 6 minutes. He then proceeded to stick around and watch 80% of the next round. While he is totally within the rules to do that I found this to be very rude. Please don't be that guy.

[mediocremagicman]

Wednesday night draft!

8 Person Ixalan (3xXLN)

This week's draft was the first solid 8 person I've done in awhile and I've got to say the difference it makes to this draft is remarkable. Perhaps a bit of that was luck that everyone found a lane early enough to get out of the other players way. Everyone felt like they had a cohesive deck and there was relatively little fighting for archetypes. I ended up in G/R dinosaurs deck that's more midrange than the aggro I'd like to be playing in the format. When it worked it worked really well but didn't work enough resulting in a 1-2 record for the evening.

This week opened with another hard decision pack one pick one. With my rare being the completely unplayable Old-Growth Dryads I was torn between two cards, Pious Interdiction and Dusk Legion Dreadnought. In previous weeks I have taken Dusk Legion Dreadnought operating under the principle that it's better to take a card that keeps you open over better cards. In order for this to be true though the card that you take must be playable. Dusk Legion Dreadnought is a perfectly fine card in theory, but in practice it has yet to make the cut in my deck. Each and every time I've taken it to stay open I have ended up playing another card that plays into the archetype of the deck better. With this in mind there are three possible options, I take the Dreadnought and have a card I can't play, I take the colored card and don't play that color and end up with a card I can't play, or I take the colored card and do play that color and have a good card. As long as I continue to read the signals and don't overcommit to the color in question the downside is the same but the colored card has the only potential upside. All this thought to take a Pious Interdiction pick one that I didn't play. Pack two was lower quality and a less interesting choice. Unfriendly Fire is a decent removal that works in all red archetypes. Headstrong Brute is a card that performs better outside it's tribal archetype than one might guess. Since in this format there isn't a whole lot of blocking anyway (everyone is attacking!) it needs neither evasion or to block to do what it does. Thrash of Raptors definitely needs to be in a Dino deck, but I'd seen some Raptor Companions go by and thought there was the possibility that R/W dinos could be open. Bonded Horncrest showed that at least the red dinosaurs were open. Again looking back to the swingy nature of the format it's downside isn't likely to be relevant; most of the time you are either swinging with a bunch of creatures or none. Dinosaur Stampede like the Brute works better than one would think outside of dinosaurs. As I've said a bunch there isn't a lot of blocking so if you miss on the trample it matters less and a pump like that can really swing a race. Tilonalli's Knight is a powerhouse in any deck that has red and dinosaurs so I snap it up and firmly commit to the archetype. Although I'm still leaving myself open for my secondary color. When evaluating the cycle of keepers you have to ignore the activated ability and just evaluate it as a creature; under this lense Fire Shrine Keeper is one of the playables. A 1/1 menace isn't spectacular but it can chip away for one or two damage and in a racey format like this one those one or two points can make a big difference. Hijack isn't great but at this point in the pack I'd like to stay red unless I can't or there is really worth playing. Next pick I got such a thing by the way of Grazing Whiptail. It looks mildly unexciting but this particular combination of stats makes this one of the few really good blockers in this set. I took this as a sign green was being underdrafted and snatched it right up. Nothing else of value came by in pack one. I got the sad Rummaging Goblin as a boot, this isn't your format my furry friend.

Pack two my rare was an awful off color card Axis of Mortality but I contained the premium uncommon Lightning Strike. Next pack I was light on red and I had to make the choice between a decent green card, and a decent white card. I had partial commitments to each but opted for green because of the Whiptail late last pack. The second Fire Shrine Keeper was probably a mistake, I don't remember what else was in the pack but the card isn't good enough to play two off so anything close to playable would probably have been a better pick. Next pack was a combat trick debate. It had both Sure Strike and Crash the Ramparts. While I think Crash the Ramparts is better situated for this format I wasn't fully committed to green and took the Sure Strike. Raging Swordtooth fully made that commitment. The next few picks practically made themselves. At this point I'm devoted to G/R and have four dinosaurs which is a place that makes Thrash of Raptors very good. Colossal Dreadmaw is the perfect top end in this format; it eats most things on blocking and trades with one or two creatures when they try to block it. Swashbuckling is better is more in the more aggressive pirate decks but still good with taking. Thrash of Raptors was good a few picks ago, it's even better here. Getting Commune with Dinosaurs this late really felt like a win. At one mana you rarely miss out on other spells to play it and filtering through 5 cards to find the one you need at that particular moment is really powerful. You have to be sure you can find a creature when you need one, but I'm not worried about this the way my deck is at this time.

I forget what the rare was pack three but I was very happy to grab a second Raging Swordtooth. Since I'm reasonably confident it will be online I'm ready to take as many Tilonalli's Knights as I see. Savage Stomp is as devastating at the name would imply even when you cast it for three and almost broken when you can cast it for one. Next pick I thought about for a long time because three Commune with Dinosaurs seemed like too many. The other card in the pack with my attention was a Thundering Spineback which while very powerful in my deck is very expensive. In the end I concluded that three was not too many Commune's and took that. When another Spineback came in the subsequent pack I thought it was worth it to take. Nest Robber isn't the best because it's so fragile, but it can sneak in for two on turn two sometimes and gets my Tilonalli's Knights online before they swing the first time. The rest of the packs were east picks as there wasn't many options in my colors. Getting Ixalli's Diviner was a the best thing that happened; since my deck is more mid-range having a good early blocker can help prevent me from getting run over before I stabilize.

The Final Decklist

Instant/Sorceries: 3x Commune With Dinosaurs 1x Lightning Strike 1x Pounce 1x Crash the Ramparts 1x Savage Stomp 1x Dinosaur Stampede 1x Unfriendly Fire Creatures: 1x Fire Shrine Keeper 1x Ixalli's Diviner 1x Ixalli's Keeper 2x Nest Robber 3x Tilonalli's Knight 1x Grazing Whiptail 1x Bonded Horncrest 3x Thrash of Raptors 2x Raging Swordtooth 1x Colossal Dreadmaw Lands: 7x Mountain 8x Forest

Round 1 (0-2) was a mirror match against a G/R deck that was drafting two seats to the right of me. Both of our decks were built very midrange with their deck being slightly more powerful at the top end. Both games I believed I had stabilized by dealing with their threats only to be confronted with a Sun-Crowned Hunters that I couldn't afford to block, and couldn't afford not to block.

Round 2 (2-0) I got lucky plain and simple against a R/U pirates deck. Game one I mulliganed to five and keeps Ixalli's Keeper, Savage Stomp, Pounce and two forests on the play. On my third turn I Stomped their Fathomfleet Firebrand and got in for three. On my fourth turn they couldn't block with their Headstrong Brute and took three again. Then on their turn four they attempted to play Pirate's Cutlass so I Pounced in response. I followed up with Thrash of Raptors and Bonded Horncrest which ate his Lightning-Rig Crew. Game two they missed their fourth land drop and had no creatures while I curved out. They found the fourth land drop but they were on such a backfoot by this point it didn't matter.

Round 3 (1-2) I played against a U/G merfolk deck. Game one they got sliced on lands and couldn't play anything between turn 3 when they played their only green card and turn 5 when they found their first island. Game two and three they utilized tricks to edge out a small advantage every interaction that accumulated to me losing in a big way. Wildgrowth Walker with three explore triggers is really good and absolutely crushed me. Especially after I double block it and another creature and get confronted with two combat tricks in a two for four.

[mediocremagicman]

Wednesday night draft!

10 person Ixalan draft (3x Ixalan)

Hey everybody! My computer is back up and running just in time for the first Ixalan draft. This one was a good example of the format as I see it so far, meaning fast. I ended up with a 16 land deck with the top of the curve being 4. Like most good decks in this format it is heavily centered around a tribe, in this case Dinosaurs. While there isn't any specific card that drives the deck it's jam packed with synergy and evasive creatures that push are able to push through. This strategy is effective but prone to issues as a misstep on the curve and suddenly you're too far behind to get the win. I had two of those missteps round 2 and ended up 2-1 for the night.

The Draft (Each pick in order from top to bottom, then left to right)

My pack one started with a bad rare and set of mediocre uncommons. I picked the Territorial Hammerskull for a few reasons. First I know this is an aggresive format with a great deal of racing stopping a blocker is the kind of trick that decides a game. There are 3 playable archtypes that use white in this format, R/W dinosaurs, G/W Dinosaurs and B/W Vampires. In R/W dinosaurs it's on of your best cards as it turns on your cards that care about dinosaurs and does it's normal thing. In G/W it's value goes down a little bit as that is a slower deck and the aggresive ablity is less relevent but still okay and once again it puts the dino stuff online. In B/W Vampires it's out of tribe but that deck is swingy enough that it's still a solid play. All these things may the Hammerskull the most variable card in the pack and a relatively easy pick for me. Pick two was a little less exciting. I considered taking a Tilonalli's Knight that pack since it is a better card but decided to stay in color with the evasive Pterodon Knight that is almost as good. It's a bit of a commitment to dinosaurs but leaves me open to either G/W or R/W. The given I'd just seen a red Knight in the previous pack I decided that red might be sufficently open for me to jump into it. Hammerskull's are so much better in multiples and there was little thought into taking the next one. I know I'm commited to dinosaurs at this point and the next two packs lack cards in the dinosaurs colors. There were much better blue cards in the pack that had the Swashbuckling but even though I'm not fully commited to red there is no R/U dinosaurs deck. That an a lack of white cards led to the unexciting pick. Slash of Talons is an underated card, it's effency is high and often lets you trade up on mana. The super late Thrash of Raptors/Frenzied Raptor was a clear sign I'd made the right call going into red. After the draft I discovered the closest red player was 6 players away that direction.

Pack two I think my rare was Tocatli Honor Guard. Since ETB triggers aren't a big thing in this format the card is near unplayable. Another Hammerskull on the otherhand is a pick I'm very happy with. A second slash shiny Slash of Talons is a decent pick but not something I'm thrilled about. Firecannon Blast on the other hand is something I'm very thrilled about. 3 damage kills most of the blockers I'm going to care about in the early game, and in the late game after they've played their big thing I can sneak in with evasion to kill that as well. Pious Interdiction is as close to unconditional remove that you get at common. Emmissary of Sunrise is out of place archtype wise but still the right pick. If you miss on the explore it's a little lack luster but in an aggresive deck pulling the land off the top and decreasing the chance of flooding is a very real advantage. The fail case is less of a failure than in a slower deck. Fire Shrine Keeper is one of the few cards in the pay 8 mana cycle that are worth it. A 1/1 menace can help you get raid online killing two creatures late game will drasiticly swing the game in your favor. Especially in a fast deck where if you have gotten to 8 mana something has gone wrong and you might need something to pull you back. Then we got to the unexciting picks of the pack. Imperial Lancer that late was kind of nice but not unexpected. It was pretty likely I was the only white dinosaur player but even if not the G/W dino deck is less aggresive and doesn't really want to get in with a 1/1 double striker.

Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin was my rare pack three and I looked right passed it. At this point my three Hammerskull's make it feel very likely that if I drop a red Knight turn 2 I'll get in for 3 turn 3 which makes this the pick. Sheltering Light is a decent trick and scrying in an aggressive deck helps with the risk of flooding. Given the rest of my deck Thrash of Raptors just is a 5/3 trample at this point. Storm Fleet Pyromancer is out of archetype but I thought the ability to snipe 2 to the fast could push me over the top. It was over the curve in the end. Remember how I said there weren't any red players for 6 seats? So pick 5 Lightning Strike for me. The pack just keeps flowing with more of cards I already established are good. Raptor Companion being a bit of a surprise but it's another card that's better in the fast dinosaurs than the slow.

Round 1 (2-1) I played against what was primarily a blue mill deck with some blue and green merfolk to try and hold out until their 2 Fleet Swallowers. Game 1 pushed out with my Hammerskull's and Knights. Since they had no effective blocks they came back at me with some pirates. Some well timed tricks late in the race threw me off course and they took it. Game 2 was more of a misfire for them as they drew too many lands and ran out of steam before they could have a chance of stabilizing. Game 3 they managed to get out on of their Fleet Swallowers but my deck was just too fast for it to matter.

Round 2 (0-2) was a dino on dino slugfest between my R/W dinosaurs and their R/G dinosaurs. Game 1 I kept a hand with 3 plains and no mountain. I had a Hammerskull get in a couple of times but died with 5 red cards in my hand having never found the mountain. Game 2 went much better for me at first but they eventually locked down my evasion game with a Grazing Whiptail after which their bigger better dinos took me down.

Round 3 (2-0) the matchup was with a B/W vampires deck. Game 1 I was trying to do the aggro thing, getting my Hammerskull's in so they can't block. On the backswing though they are coming in with Bishop's Soldier undoing my work with the lifelink. While they had a lot of the low drop vampires they lacked the stronger top end payoffs or removal to get through. As I got my flying Knights and trampling Raptors I eventually just overwhelmed their board. Game 2 was much of the same. The lifelink pushing them up and up at the start. Eventually I played big enough things they couldn't get in anymore and was able to pick off their board and make some big swings for the win.