Draft #8 - More color waffling, overestimating red cards maybe

  Pack 1 pick 1:




 Cards I'm considering: Murder of Crows, Slayer of the Wicked




I'm actually super happy to open Dearly Departed so I can avenge my last draft by not taking it. After that, the decision comes down to Murder vs. Slayer (jeez, violent card names).

I love Slayer, but I think Murder might be a little better, and being the only blue card letting me try and cut blue is what tips my decision.

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  Pack 1 pick 2:




 Cards I'm considering: Skirsdag Cultist, Dead Weight

Weird decision. Skirsdag Cultist is potentially better with Murder, but it's a huge commitment to U/R right away, whereas Dead Weight doesn't necessarily generate as much value. Still, it's in a better (well, not necessarily better, but more traditional) color combination, so this pick is pretty challenging.

I've heard a few people talk about how good U/R actually is, so I decide to take Cultist and try it out. I'm really not sure which decision is better.

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  Pack 1 pick 3:




 Cards I'm considering: Moan of the Unhallowed, Disciple of Griselbrand

I haven't seen another good blue card yet, so I have to at least consider ending up in R/B. Disciple is better with my Murder (should I end up U/B), but I feel like Moan is a way better card in R/B and still fine in U/B.

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  Pack 1 pick 4:




 Cards I'm considering: Diregraf Ghoul, Pitchburn Devils, Rage Thrower

Still don't know which two colors I'll actually play. Rage Thrower is secretly good (if not expensive), but Pitchburn has better synergy with my Cultist.

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  Pack 1 pick 5:




Cards I'm considering: Brain Weevil, Sensory Deprivation, Desperate Ravings

Packs like this are what frustrates me about Innistrad limited. It feels like more often than not, the packs get really bad really quickly. It's not that any of these cards are unplayable, it's just that most of them are fringe at best, and not cards I'm happy to take when my deck is still in its formative stage.

Given that, Desperate Ravings seems like the highest impact card, since U/R is still one of my possibilities (although it's dwindling because I haven't seen any blue).

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  Pack 1 pick 6:




 Cards I'm considering: Harvest Pyre, Typhoid Rats, Altar's Reap

Here's another pick where I make the decision harder than it needs to be because of my frequent color waffling. Since most of my picks are red, that gives a lot of weight to Harvest Pyre. However, I really like Typhoid Rats in a lot of decks, both aggressive and controlling. I also considered Altar's Reap because of its potential synergy with the cards I have like Devils and Murder.

I took Pyre, but I kind of wish I'd have taken Typhoid Rats.

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  Pack 1 pick 7:




 Cards I'm considering: Spider Spawning, Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Nightbird's Clutches

Brad Taulbee thinks Spider Spawning is the best card in the set. Having played against it, I can see why he thinks that. This format is so creature-centric, that having a ton of guys that both gum up the ground AND stop the air, and possibly threaten a giant assault, is an excellent gameplan.

It would be my first green card, so that's a strike against it, but my deck doesn't feel like a dagger deck OR a clutches deck, so I'd rather just take it, if for no other reason than not having to play against it.

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  Pack 1 pick 8:




 Cards I'm considering: Walking Corpse, Village Ironsmith

I don't know which 2 drop is better, but at this point I feel like I'm definitely playing red, so I go with the safer pick.

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  Pack 1 pick 9:




 Cards I'm considering: One-Eyed Scarecrow

 This is the only card I'll realistically play.

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  Pack 1 pick 10:




Cards I'm considering: Brain Weevil, Ghoulcaller's Chant

I think Chant is probably better here, but I was still dreaming of "sac weevil, loot with murder."

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  Pack 2 pick 1:




 Cards I'm considering: Kessig Cagebreakers, Hanweir Watchkeep, Makeshift Mauler

 This pack was a huge shock to my draft.

Of the 3 cards I would reasonably consider taking first, one is (what I understand is) a bomb in a color I have no chance of being in, one is a pretty strong  3 drop that doesn't necessarily fit any themes I might be going for, and one is a strong creature in a color that I'm not convinced I'll be in.

The problem with the cagebreakers (my pick for most powerful card in the pack) is that it's inconsistent with my picks so far. My cards are leaning towards R/x, and both Cagebreakers (and spider spawning) suggest that I'll be some kind of R/G deck that will probably have difficulty filling its graveyard with creatures. I couldn't bring myself to take the watchkeep though, because while being a pretty strong card it doesn't necessarily do anything to advance my gameplan. The problem with the mauler is that I'm unlikely to end up blue at this point, so taking it would feel like wasting a pick.

I never really made up my mind, and I panicked and took the cagebreakers at the last second.

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  Pack 2 pick 2:




 Cards I'm considering: Grimgrin, Rage Thrower, Stitcher's Apprentice, Geistcatcher's Rig

Grimgrin is a bomb right? It feels like one. I'm likely to end up either black or blue, and if I do I can splash this guy pretty easily. I think most of my difficulty in this format comes from not having enough confidence to know whether power level picks like this are good or not.

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  Pack 2 pick 3:




 Cards I'm considering: Silent Departure

This card is leagues better than any other card in the pack, and I'll be happy splashing it with my grimgrin.

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  Pack 2 pick 4:




 Cards I'm considering: Village Ironsmith, Ghoulcaller's Chant

Back to the poopoo picks. I went with the 2 drop.

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  Pack 2 pick 5:




 Cards I'm considering: Cackling Counterpart, Moan of the Unhallowed

Cackling Counterpart is an excellent blue card, and I almost instantly took it until I realized that blue still might not be one of my main colors, and UU is a tough splash. Moan is a good card in either the BR/u deck or the UB deck, so I went with it.

This is a hard pick. Neither of these cards are that good for me, since I'm not super heavily in either black or blue, but have double colored cards in both colors. If you have any insight as far as what's correct here, I'd love to hear it.

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  Pack 2 pick 6:




 Cards I'm considering: Grasp of Phantoms

This card is excellent and I'm very happy to have it in my deck, splash or otherwise.

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  Pack 2 pick 7:




 Cards I'm considering: Night Terrors, Thraben Sentry

What's better, having a small chance at making your deck better, or having a small chance at making someone else's deck worse? I probably should have just taken Night Terrors.

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  Pack 2 pick 8:




 Cards I'm considering: Butcher's Cleaver, Typhoid Rats

I guess this is a late Cleaver. I don't think it would be great in my deck, but I would hate to lose to it. I kind of wish I'd have taken Typhoid Rats here.

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  Pack 2 pick 9:




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  Pack 3 pick 1:




 Cards I'm considering: Victim of Night

The guy next to me is gonna love me more than he already does.

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  Pack 3 pick 2:




 Cards I'm considering: Screeching Bat, Victim of Night

The only reason I'm not considering any of the excellent blue cards is because I don't believe I'll have more than a splash of blue at this point, because my playables are mostly black and red. My 3 drop spot is light, so I go with bat over victim, but given how the games played out I wish I had victim instead.

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  Pack 3 pick 3:




 Cards I'm considering: Stitcher's Apprentice, Deranged Assistant

For some reason, I'm getting passed blue. I take a look at my picks so far, and figure that a deck with blue as my primary color is not out of the question. Deranged Assistant would be an excellent engine card in that deck, and there's not really much else going on in the pack, so I pick it up.

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  Pack 3 pick 4:




Cards I'm considering: Moon Heron, Geistflame, Disciple of Griselbrand

Maybe this is a silly pick, but I was starting to really consider just not playing any red and going for a straight U/B deck. If that were to happen, I'd need good guys and not removal.

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  Pack 3 pick 5:




 Cards I'm considering: Markov Patrician

If I'm playing U/B I'll definitely play this guy.

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  Pack 3 pick 6:




 Cards I'm considering: Abattoir Ghoul

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  Pack 3 pick 7:




 Cards I'm considering: Stitched Drake

This blue deck might happen after all.

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  Pack 3 pick 8:




 Cards I'm considering: Makeshift Mauler

This blue deck is definitely happening.

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  Pack 3 pick 9:




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  Pack 3 pick 11:




Cards I'm considering: Stitcher's Apprentice

These apprentices are gonna go a long way towards making my blue deck serious.

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Despite all my continued color confusion, I'm actually pretty happy with this deck. My 22nd and 23rd cards were the two green cards, when I realized how good they could be with the rest of my deck and how easy they would be to splash.

R1

Game 1, I keep a hand of 2 Stitcher's APprentice, Disciple, Stitched Drake, Grasp, Island Swamp on the draw, but tragically I dont' draw a third land until turn 5. His opening is turn 2 Cloistered Youth (which he instantly transforms) and T5 Bloodcrazed Neonate, so I have a little breathing room (despite taking 6 before I can get a stitcher's chump block engine going). I spend several turns working with 3 mana, and thanks to some decisions made by my opponent that I dont' agree with (like trading his Kessig WOlf for my Disciple of Grislebrand, when that 3/1 would have easily chomped a creature a turn from a mana screwed me). I go to 2 before drawing some lands and stabilizing, and his only remaining relevant cards are a Gallows Warden and a Crossway Vampire, and I manage to dodge every burn spell ever and win with moan + flashback. My opponent must have been color screwed or flooded, because he died with 3 cards in his hand.

Game 2, I have a slow-ish hand on the draw but his first play is turn 3 Chapel Geist. We trade ground guys early and I make some unusual decisions while attempting to play around a Moment of Heroism that I decide would take me out of the game. They turn out to be not so bad, even though he never plays moment. We both are kinda flooded, but two of the 4 spells I draw are moan and silent departure, so I get a lot of mileage out of my cards and mana and I'm able to win pretty easily.



R2
Game 1, my opponent has T2 Darkthicket WOlf and T3 Elder Cathar, while the best I can muster is a T3 Screeching Bat. I have T4 Moon Heron and T5 Grimgrin, but it's complicated by the fact that he added an Avacynian Priest and a Grizzled Outcasts. I draw Spider Spawning and decide that despite taking tons and tons of damage I can sculpt an awesome Grimgrin gameplan by eating my squad and attempting to block through the priest, but that plan is shut down by his last card in hand being Smite the Monstrous (which he obviously waits until I sacrifice my squad to play). Some people.

Game 2, I have some color issues early but he doesn't have too much pressure. I'm able to moan and gum up the ground, and the entire game he only adds more ground guys while I'm setting up a huge Cagebreakers + Spider Spawning turn. Eventually I go for it and I make tons of guys that he can't come back from.

Game 3, I have a decent hand that doesn't really get going until turn 4 with Moan + Murder, but he has T2 Wolf, T3 Cathar, T3 Travel Prep. I'm able to victim his wolf to keep some of the pressure off, and it doesn't look like he has much after that, but he has priest & grizzled outcast to at least stay in it. I don't really draw anything interesting, and he draws Dearly Departed. My only gameplan to deal with it (short of drawing grasp or whatever) is to block it with Moon Heron and Corpse Lunge it, but my opponent decides not to risk anything and keep my Moon Heron tapped down with Priest.

I'm happy to win a match, but I'm unhappy to not win any product. I've done 8 drafts so far and I bought in to each one. My parents gave me $100 for Christmas, which would normally be pretty awesome, except before I even got the envelope with the money in it I had already spent most of it on modo tickets, so instead it's kinda depressing.

Still, this draft went better than it was looking during pack 2.