Draft #18 - Noble vs. Fiend Hunter P1P1

  Pack 1 pick 1:




Cards I'm considering: Fiend Hunter, Falkenrath Noble





Both of these uncommons are really strong. I don't know which one to take in a vacuum. I feel like I've had this pick before and I've taken Fiend Hunter, but I think I might have had something else pushing me into white.

I don't get to play with the Noble enough, and I think it could be fun drafting a deck around him, so I decide to take him and try it out.

Is this a clear cut decision one way or the other?

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  Pack 1 pick 2:




Cards I'm considering: Murder of Crows

I'm not too thrilled about potentially being U/B again, but it's the best card in the pack.

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  Pack 1 pick 3:




Cards I'm considering: Dead Weight

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  Pack 1 pick 4:




Cards I'm considering: Geistcatcher's Rig

Well, a good chance to take the rig, since the only other card I'll consider is a harder to use 6 drop that doesn't potentially kill a flyer.

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  Pack 1 pick 5:




Cards I'm considering: Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Crossway Vampire

Here's where things start to get messy.

Looking at my picks, I notice that I have two black cards (Noble & Dead Weight), a Rig and a Murder. I haven't seen that much blue, and the black cards I have seem to suggest an aggressive deck. Given that, since R/B aggro is a deck an there's usually a steady stream of crappy red guys with an occasional geistflame or whatever in every draft, I start to consider the vampire.

I end up taking the vampire just because I wanted to try something different. Maybe the dagger is the better overall pick, I don't know.

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  Pack 1 pick 6:




Cards I'm considering: Ashmoth Hound, Morkrut Banshee

Continuing my theme of R/B aggro, I go with the 2 drop, since this is one of the better ones R/B has to offer.

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  Pack 1 pick 7:




Cards I'm considering: Makeshift Mauler, Tormented Pariah

Aargh, I just can't do it man. I can't take a crappy 4 drop wolf over a card I love like Makeshift Mauler, when I could be building an awesome U/B deck with my murder of crows.

At least I can continue to see what's being passed around and have 4 good cards to a deck no matter what route I take.

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  Pack 1 pick 8:




Cards I'm considering: Traveler's Amulet

We might need this.

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  Pack 1 pick 9:




I'd be lying if I said I didn't have U/G mill in the back of my mind somewhere when I took this.

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  Pack 1 pick 10:




Good thing there was a lab maniac to talk me off that cliff. He's good in a U/G mill deck anyway, and harder to pick up than a second mulch.

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  Pack 2 pick 1:




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

Here's what went through my mind during this pick.

I could take victim or bat and stay black, since I still have a shot at the R/B aggro deck. OR, I could take Deranged Assistant and move hard on my makeshift mauler / murder of crows / MAYBE lab maniac.

What made the decision for me was how much better blue is than red in this format.

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  Pack 2 pick 2:




Cards I'm considering: Invisible Stalker, Forbidden Alchemy

Controversial pick. I know what kind of deck I'm trying to draft at this point, and forbidden alchemy is better in it than stalker. I don't even have the dagger to go with it. Instead, I have a Crossway Vampire.

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  Pack 2 pick 3:




Cards I'm considering: Falkenrath Noble

Well, happy to see this. Unhappy to pass another mauler.

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  Pack 2 pick 4:




Cards I'm considering: Armored Skaab, Makeshift Mauler

Argh, passing ANOTHER mauler sucks but I need this effect more right now.

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  Pack 2 pick 5:




Cards I'm considering: Avacyn's Pilgrim, Walking Corpse

The pilgrim was my last shot at a U/G deck so I gave it a half a thought, but then I snapped back to reality once I remembered that I have 2 nobles.

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  Pack 2 pick 6:




Cards I'm considering: Deranged Assistant, Blazing Torch

Decent removal or important engine card? I did this draft right after Draft #17, and both of these were the same day I had the "draft decks not cards" chats with Morgan, so I took the assistant.

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  Pack 2 pick 7:




Cards I'm considering: Gnaw to the Bone, Walking Corpse

I should have taken Walking Corpse. I can't even remember what I was thinking. Probably something like "oh no, black is really dry I better start hedging for U/G!"

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  Pack 2 pick 8:




Cards I'm considering: Makeshift Mauler

PHEW, am I happy to see this guy after taking assistant over blazing torch.

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  Pack 2 pick 9:




Cards I'm considering: Markov Patrician

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  Pack 3 pick 1:




Cards I'm considering: Diregraf Ghoul, Moon Heron

Draft decks, not cards. I already have 2 maulers and 2 nobles in my 4 slot, so what I really need is a more solid early game so I can get good beats in then have the nobles come and clean up. Is this a bad way of thinking about it?

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  Pack 3 pick 2:




Cards I'm considering: Moan of the Unhallowed, Undead Alchemist, Claustrophobia

Well, with 2 maulres, the alchemist could be awesome, even though I just got done saying how I didn't want more guys at 4. It's definitely a better 4 than the non-creature Moan, and its effect is unique enough to make me want to pass Claustrophobia.

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  Pack 3 pick 3:




Cards I'm considering: Grasp of Phantoms, Stitched Drake

Damn, I want that drake, but, grasp.

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  Pack 3 pick 4:




Cards I'm considering: Stitched Drake

Lucky me, here's another one.

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  Pack 3 pick 5:




Cards I'm considering: Silent Departure

What is happening in this draft?

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  Pack 3 pick 6:




Cards I'm considering: Silent Departure

...

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  Pack 3 pick 7:




Cards I'm considering: Stitched Drake

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  Pack 3 pick 8:




Cards I'm considering: Deranged Assistant

Damn, after that early color confusion, this deck is ending up pretty good.

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  Pack 3 pick 9:




Cards I'm considering: Moon Heron, Sensory Deprivation

Ha, the card I thought about first picking out of this pack tabled. I question whether I want it more than Sensory Deprivation though, since I have just about a million good 4s already. But, since I have 3 assistants and a ton of bounce now, I go with the guy.

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I'm really happy with this deck. I think it's pretty good for a change. The dream twist and the diregraf ghoul were my last 2 cuts.

R1

Game 1, my opponent goes forest-island-mountain Daybreak Ranger, which looks like it's going to beat my stuck-on-3 hand, until I become blessed and he decides to enchant it with Spectral Flight and bash for 4 after I drew Silent Departure. After that, my opponent kind of floods out and can't ever play enough cards to keep up with the tempo loss from Silent Departure (and eventually Dead Weight). It didn't help that he activated Cellar Door 6 times and only got 1 zombie.

Game 2, my opponent is mana screwed and I drew both of my departures and at least 1 creature, so it was a pretty easy win.

I guess now I understand why people take Silent Departure over pretty much anything.

R2

Game 1, my opponent wins the die roll and chooses to draw. He then proceeds to play T1 Doomed Traveler and T2 Darkthicket Wolf after I mulligan to 6 and get stuck on 3.

It starts to become an interesting game when I draw out of it and he slows his aggression, but he eventually builds up a huge board of good guys like Mentor of the Meek, Elite Inquisitor, Elder Cathar, etc.

I have an air assault going, and he's pecking with an Elder Cathar trying to get me to block (so he can make his inquisitor huge and attack past my Selhoff Occultist) so I get whittled down to 9. I draw Grasp of Phantoms and grasp his mentor, attack him down to 6 with two Stitched Drakes, thinking that I've won since he won't draw any new cards, but he surprises me with a Feeling of Dread to tap my only blockers and bash me with 6 guys for exactsies.

Game 2, I mulligan again on the play into a hand with no early action (UUBB Grasp Stitched Drake) and he has T1 Avacyn's Pilgrim. I get right back in it by peeling Deranged Assistant to match his T2 Darkthicket Wolf and no attack from pilgrim (I'd have snap blocked). I draw another assistant, mill with the old one, spike a creature and play the Drake. He simply attacks for 4 with the wolf and passes. I draw a land and decide to move in by playing Grasp on the wolf and bash back for 4. (I'm not real sure of this line, but without anything else I can't just take wolf hits over and over and die to the rest of his hand when I finally answer it.) His next play is Manor Gargoyle.

From here, the game becomes a struggle for me to keep his relevant guys off the board and continue my assault as best I can. I draw a Silent Departure and try really hard, but he has Mentor of the Meek which draws into an Avacynian Priest that shuts down any hopes of aggression I had. From there he eventually sticks gargoyle and tons of other tiny cantrip losers and I can't keep up and die.

So, yet another draft without cashing. I'm super tilted after this loss. Looking back on it, I could have made a few different gameplay decisions that might have turned out better, but I don't know if they were correct given the information I had about my R2 opponent's deck.

I know this draft started out bad, but I think my deck ended up excellent. I'm really discouraged in general because I'm just plain not winning any more than I was before I decided to try and improve, and I'd have been $100 richer and much happier if I just continued to ignore Innistrad limited like I was planning on doing.

To me, this format feels so intricate and complicated to the point where no general set of draft guidelines will help you navigate it reliably. With very few hard and fast rules to rely on, most of the time I'm clueless.