This draft is different because I got lucky to go directly into wide open colors, but I had so many good picks available that I didn't really know what to do. It kind of opened my eyes to a skill set that I don't necessarily have yet: how to make decisions when you have a lot more of them than normal.
A good example of this is when you keep a land-light hand on the draw (one that would be unbelievable if you peeled just a single land), but you miss for one or two turns and end up having to discard. At this point in the game you have 8 different choices (which card in your hand to discard) and you have to be really careful not to discard one that you could potentially need to stay alive. I can't remember any exact details, but I have been in this situation more than once in the past few months and I definitely remember not thinking far enough ahead and discarding the wrong card thinking I wouldn't need it any time soon.
This draft isn't exactly that situation, but it's the same general idea: you find yourself with more decisions than you're used to, and making the correct one isn't necessarily obvious. I think this is loosely related to games where you are so far ahead (in cards, on board, etc.) that you start to play sloppy, which might end up with you neglecting the one dimension your opponent can possibly beat you on with the perfect sequence of draws.
Anyhow, the draft:
Pack 1 pick 1:
Steam Vents is only worth 2 or 3 tickets, so I think this pick is pretty easy. Of the cards that I'm generally happy taking early (Sunspire, Stealer, Tower Drake, and Auger Spree), the removal is the highest quality choice.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
There are a handful of cards I like in this pack, but the guildmage is the only one that both stands out and has a chance of being paired with my first pick.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
Not a tremendous pack. Given what I have so far, I'm likely to end up either R/B or R/B/g or B/G/r, so that points to Explosive Impact and Sluiceway Scorpion. I went with the impact because it's the card with the highest, er, impact on the game.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
I'd be happy with either of those gates but I think Assasin's Strike is too good to pass up for them. I'd probably play a Shred Freak in my deck but I don't think he's in the same league as those other cards.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
A card this strong this late is a blessing.
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Pack 1 pick 6:
I love an imp but given the choice between him and a guy who doesn't necessarily need a deck with a lot of auras and stuff to make him work, I'm gonna choose the latter.
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Pack 1 pick 7:
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Pack 1 pick 8:
It was hard to choose between the keyrune and the Tenement Crasher. I like Crasher a lot but I don't want to take three 6 mana cards in my first 8 picks. Besides, I can use the blue mana on the keyrune for the Pursuit of Flight I just took, and also for any strong Izzet cards that might come my way.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
I passed on Big Crashes again this pack for the same reason , I don't want too many 6es too early. Since I'm still not sure where I'll end up exactly and Trestle Troll would be useful in a jund-type deck, I went with it.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
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Pack 1 pick 11:
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Pack 1 pick 12:
I went with Shred Freak because I already have two copies of Pursuit of Flight.
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Pack 1 pick 13:
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Pack 1 pick 14:
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Pack 1 pick 15:
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Pack 2 pick 1:
The cards I like are Dragon and Ultimate Price. The removal card is really good but I like how quickly the dragon can close games. Besides, with two flights and an Izzet Keyrune, I think it would be reasonably easy to accommodate blue cards. I'll probably have to ditch green from here.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
Tough choice between Strike, Splatter Thug and the keyrune. The keyrune is one of the best ones and it's in what look to be my main colors, so I choose it over the thug. I'm not sure if that's right. I'd have instantly taken Assassin's Strike if I still wasn't so paranoid about ending up with a clunky, expensive deck.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
As nervous as I am about overloading on 6 drops, I had to make an exception for Carnival Hellsteed because of how strong I think he is. If not for him I'd take Annihilating Fire, but I'm already feeling good about my removal with 1 fire and 1 Auger Spree so I'm willing to take a good closer.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
The choices here for me are Rakdos Cackler, Ogre Jailbreaker, Cryptborn Horror, and Izzet Guildgate. I've had mixed results with Cryptborn Horror, so I'd rather just take an engine piece for my deck. I'm not sure I'll have enough gates for a jailbreaker deck, so he's out, and it's down to Cackler vs. Guildgate. I went with Cackler because he is a really important component in the speedy Rakdos decks, and because there's a chance I might not use any blue cards after all.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
I could easily see taking Gore-House Chainwalker here and perhaps that is the better pick. I went with the gate though, because my 2s were already looking pretty healthy and I have to start taking these things at some point.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
In this case, it's easier to take the gate over the Shred Freak, since I already have two and he kinda sucks anyway.
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Pack 2 pick 7:
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Pack 2 pick 8:
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Pack 2 pick 9:
I think this pick is easy since I don't really want to end up with a deck that has to play Racketeer or a second Dynacharge. I could potentially use a Mind Rot in the sideboard, but even if the second Impact ends up in the board (it probably will), it'll be useful for matches that could go longer.
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Pack 2 pick 10:
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Pack 2 pick 11:
what
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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:
Pretty hard pick. I have 3 strong choices: Lobber Crew, Rakdos Ragemutt and Auger Spree. I think Auger Spree is the obvious choice, but looking at my pool so far I'm noticing that there's a ton of cards on 3 and not many on 4 and 5, and that I don't really have as many creatures as I want.
This pick could be wrong, but I felt like my deck would benefit more from a decent guy like Ragemutt than another Auger Spree.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 2:
I'm looking at Thrill Kill Assassin, Frostburn Weird, Rakdos Keyrune and Ogre Jailbreaker.
I quickly eliminated Keyrune since I already have 2, so it's down to the creatures. I went with Jailbreaker since I have 3 gates (which I believe is generally the minimum number required to break out of jail), and I'd rather have a beefier guy than a crappy wimp assassin or a mana hog.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Another gate or another jailbreaker? I went with the creature to keep my creature count high, but with advance knowledge of my final product I'd rather have had another gate.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
OK well, after having spent this pack taking creatures, I think it's OK to switch back to good removal.
It's worth noting that I don't love Underworld Connections. It's good, but I think my deck is looking to be strong enough that I won't need it.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
At this point in the draft my senses are kind of overloaded. I feel like I have a lot of both good cheap guys and strong removal, so I got kind of lost when I had to continue balancing them out. This pick and the deckbuilding process are mostly why I decided to post this draft.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
Cool, another late annihilating fire. My 3 drop slot was super clogged and already had 5 premium removal spells (3 fires and 2 sprees) so I took Frostburn Weird.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
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Pack 3 pick 8:
Maybe Spawn is better, but with so many spells in my deck I felt like I'd be doing 2 damage a lot with Wesley Snipes.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
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Pack 3 pick 10:
YES a 3 drop! I really needed one.
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Pack 3 pick 11:
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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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Building this deck was pretty challenging. I didn't know whether or not to play the blue cards (the dragon and the 2 flights), or the jailbreakers, or both or neither, especially since cutting blue would mean that I had 2 less gates and thus probably couldn't play the jailbreakers at all. On top of that I had so many keyrunes and other strong cards that I didn't really know what to do, so I just shaved. The five cards I cut were Izzet Keyrune, Jailbreaker #3, Shred Freak #2, Pursuit of Flight #2, and Explosive Impact #1. If you would have built this deck any differently, I'm very curious to hear what you have to say.
Round 1
Round was two non-games. In both games my opponent got stuck on lands, both color and amount, and conceded early.
Round 2
My opponent had a U/W/G deck with the Grove of the Guardian that I passed.
In game 1, I used an Auger Spree on an early Fencing Ace with Ethereal Armor, and my opponent didn't have too much action after that. I had to dance around a Palisade Giant and hold Assassin's Strike for a potential 8/8 from Grove, but he never drew any other creatures after I killed the Giant and my giant haste rares cleaned up.
He had a 2/3 griffin and a Loxodon Smiter early in game 2 while I choked on 3 for a turn, but I got to play enough creatures to nibble at his life total. He played Grove on 6 and skipped an attack to make an 8/8, but I had Guttersnipe and went upstairs with two Annihilating Fires and a couple of lobs from the crew and that was enough damage to win before his squad got out of control.
I'm still waiting for the finals as I publish this post. I'm pleased with how this deck operates, and it doesn't matter that much whether I win or lose (or split), since I'm mostly interested in the draft procedure and any decisions I made that are ripe for discussion. If you have any thoughts, I'd be more than happy to hear them.
UPDATE: I won the finals very easily vs. a U/W deck.
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