Pack 1 pick 1:
Oh man, what a nice pack to start off with right away. I remember Glacial Ray being one of the best commons (if not THE best common) and I also remember Rend Flesh and Mothrider Samurai being quite strong. The problem I'm having is that I can't remember how good the shrines were. I remember these being the card advantage days, so drawing 2 a turn (and potentially more) with the blue shrine could be a better way to start off a draft than Glacial Ray. Ultimately I couldn't really decide and just went with the safer pick.
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Pack 1 pick 2:
I remember Nagao being a super slam dunk. The poor guy to my right probably opened it, compared it to one of today's creatures (like Polukranos or something), was unimpressed, and passed it. I would have liked Mothrider, Kitsune Healer, or Yamabushi's Flame, but relative to the other creatures in this format, Nagao is a powerhouse.
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Pack 1 pick 3:
There are a few decent cards in this pack. I remember the 3G 4/3 being OK (although I also remember disliking green in this format), Gibbering Kami is playable, and the 4W Kami that gets protection is also decent. Soratami Mirror Guard is also kinda neat since these were the days when you could beat anyone by drafting a deck with a couple good blockers and the rest flyers.
I wanted to take a white card (since I wanted to play with my Nagao) so I went with the trick over the 4W guy.
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Pack 1 pick 4:
Not really impressed by any of these cards, although I did get a good laugh at Imi Statue. I remember them printing that card to try and hose Affinity and it was just the worst possible card.
I remember Devoted Retainer being kinda crappy and I don't ever remember actually activating Initiate of Blood, so I don't know how good it is. It also seems pretty bad. I wasn't confident that red was open, so I went with Soulless Revival, which I do remember being super nice.
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Pack 1 pick 5:
I guess red might be open after all. I wouldn't mind Brutal Deceiver or Indomitable Will here, but removal is removal, and old format removal is extra good.
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Pack 1 pick 6:
I still want to be white, and Blessed Breath is one of the best tricks in the format. It's basically Gods Willing that you can use over and over again, if you have enough arcanes.
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Pack 1 pick 7:
I couldn't decide between Riftwalker and Harsh Deceiver. (I decided to pass on honden since I wasn't expecting to see a red one, and the white one by itself seems kinda lame.) I decided that Kitsune Riftwalker had more potential upside.
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Pack 1 pick 8:
I really didn't want to be black, but seeing Rend Flesh this late has to mean something because it is very strong. If not for Rend Flesh, I'd have taken Brutal Deceiver.
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Pack 1 pick 9:
I'm glad I didn't take this earlier, because I had a feeling I'd have access to it if I really wanted it.
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Pack 1 pick 10:
Damn, I could have had a black + white honden scheme, but oh well. I lost many games to Devouring Greed back in the day, and if there's any chance I could be on the other side of it ten years later, I'd be very pleased.
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Pack 1 pick 11:
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Pack 1 pick 12:
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Pack 1 pick 13:
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Pack 2 pick 1:
Bleh, this pack sucks. No slamjam white or red cards. I don't remember Pus Kami being very good so I went with Horobi's Whisper (which I do remember as being excellent). I'm still not sure if I'll be RW, BW, or RB, which is troubling, but the best I can do is to keep taking good cards and hope that the signals become clear.
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Pack 2 pick 2:
It's funny, nowadays Shinka Gatekeeper would probably have a benefit instead of a drawback. As much as it sucks to pass Ninja of the Deep Hours, I feel like the most useful card in this pack is First Volley.
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Pack 2 pick 3:
For some reason back in the day I used to love Tendo Ice Bridge. Not in limited, but in constructed. I guess I just thought it was a cute card.
As for the rest of this pack, the only real card in it is Torrent of Stone.
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Pack 2 pick 4:
I like Takenuma Bleeder, but I really really want to be white because of Nagao, so I go for the Samurai deck.
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Pack 2 pick 5:
I have memories of Takeno's Cavalry being unplayable, otherwise I'd have taken it. I went with the decent sideboard card. Perhaps the second First Volley (Second Volley, if you will) would have been a better pick.
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Pack 2 pick 6:
Well, I'm starting to need creatures (or at least, if it were a draft format today I would, I don't remember how few creatures you could get away with ten years ago) so I went with the Gatekeeper. I was scared to take Akki Raider because of all the 1 damage effects I've been seeing in these packs.
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Pack 2 pick 7:
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Pack 2 pick 10:
I'm not sure why, but I remember being obsessed with Bile Urchin in constructed back in the day. Something about curving out with this guy on 1 followed by a 2 and a 3 drop and then getting value out of it later on just really appealed to me. It never worked out because it was always weak and crappy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Magic ended up being in a place where that is the best strategy, since if I liked it a lot of other people probably liked it too.
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Pack 3 pick 1:
I really like the idea of this white Shinen. Giving a creature first strike is a really good trick (unlike giving a creature haste, which sucks most of the time) and getting a 2 power first striker for 3 isn't all that bad either.
I remember the green Shinen being unbeatable.
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Pack 3 pick 2:
No white cards (Curtain sucks and Cowed by Wisdom is kinda crappy). Glitterfang is horrible by itself (you need a ton of spirit triggers to make it useful), and I can't remember Sokenzan Renegade being good, so I went with the safe 2 drop.
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Pack 3 pick 3:
I definitely remember Araba Mothrider being at least OK. Maybe Moonwing Moth is better, but I wasn't sold on the idea of keeping a white mana up all the time.
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Pack 3 pick 4:
Maybe this is the contemporary Magic player in me, but I took the 2 drop over Ronin Gatekeeper because paying 6 mana for 4 power just did not seem appealing at all. In retrospect (after having played out the draft), the Gatekeeper actually hits hard and is probably worth the mana in this format.
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Pack 3 pick 5:
I can't believe how late this is. I remember this card being bonkers.
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Pack 3 pick 6:
I need more dudes, and I remembered how Adam Chambers couldn't get enough 5 mana 3/3s in his decks. Good enough for me to take Torii Watchward.
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Pack 3 pick 7:
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Pack 3 pick 8:
Side note, this card would be horrible in today's limited, since the successful decks tend to empty (or near-empty) their hands by the fourth turn or so.
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Pack 3 pick 9:
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Pack 3 pick 11:
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Not bad. I had enough playables (something I remember always struggling with), a pleasing curve, and I even had a couple of neat sideboard options.
Round 1, I played vs. a G/B deck. I remember hating G/B in this format. I drafted a G/B deck in this format at US Nationals in 2005, and I remember my clunky horrible B/G deck that was overloaded with 4 drops winning only a single match (and that was back when you played four rounds in the first draft pod).
This time, my opponent had some cheap plays (since he was stuck on 3 lands but still refused to sacrifice his Sakura Tribe Elder) but nothing ever really impressive. I chipped away at him with a couple crappy creatures and then eventually cruised past his all-green team with a spliced Blessed Breath for the final points of damage.
Game 2, I mulliganed to 6 and kept 2 plains and never drew another land.
Game 3, I chose to draw. Something that would be pretty outrageous in today's limited, but I took a critical look at his deck in the first two games and decided that I'd have plenty of time to set up a board and could really use the extra card. I guess it kinda worked out, since he kept a hand without green and I went to town with a turn 2 Akki Underling that attacked for 4 every time (thanks to the extra card) and took him out in 5 hits.
Round 2, my opponent was U/W. The first game was long and drawn out. I had a turn where I spliced a Blessed Breath to rescue a guy from a dicey combat situation, and my opponent kept up 2 mana every turn after that for the rest of the game, which meant that he probably had the 1U counter for spirit/arcane spells. He did, which would have made playing around it look really smart if I wasn't so horribly flooded. I eventually died to a bunch of blue flyers.
Game 2, I tried to be on the offensive (which meant chipping away with a 1/1 and a 2/1 for as long as I could). When the board slowed, it was all on my Kitsune Riftwalker, since every single creature he played was a spirit. I got him down to 7 before he found an answer (Freed from the Real). He was also keeping 1U up, so I knew he had the stupid counterspell, which made my plan of "cast Spiraling Embers for 4 and then Yamabushi's Flame" not so attractive. Eventually I drew another spirit card to bait it out (it was Torii Watchward) and I was able to cast both spells back to back without any opposition to win.
Game 3 was a blowout (sort of). It took a while, but my opponent never really did anything and I spliced Torrent of Stone twice to take out his mediocre creatures and killed him 2 damage at a time.
My opponent in round 3 wanted to split. I asked for the QP (as is my usual routine whenever my opponent asks to split, since I never offer a split any more myself) and he said he'd rather roll since the season "literally just started" (well, he's not wrong I guess). I said I wasn't splitting unless I got the QP, so we battled.
The games were largely uneventful. My opponent had Skullmane Baku in his deck for some reason. In game 1, he chose to play (sucker), played a turn 2 Nezumi Shortfang, missed a bunch of land drops, then died to my Akki Underling (which dealt 4 most of the time). Ghost Lit Raider made an appearance as well, which helped me lock the game up.
Game 2, I had Akki Underling on 2 again (blessed) and Ghost Lit Raider on 3, but he immediately had Kagemaro's Clutch to prevent the same blowout from last game. I shrugged and cast Nagao on 4, which then went to town. He tried to make it a tempo affair briefly after flipping Nezumi Graverobber, but was too proud to chump my Nagao with his 5 mana Skullmane Baku and went to 4 life, which was super convenient for me since I had 5 cards in hand and one of them was Spiraling Embers.
So, I won. Very easily. I had a lot of fun too. Playing this draft made me wonder just how horrible I must have been when I played this format for the first time all those years ago. The format feels much easier now than it did back then. I imagine that to succeed you only had to have a good grip on a few different gameplay dimensions (compared to today, where you have to have a grip on many more), and I doubt that I had a passable grip on any of them in 2004-2005.
you quoted adam chambers as wanting 5 mana 3/3s but passed a hankyu. Shame on you.
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