Pack 1 pick 1:
This pick illustrates what will become the classic litmus test of the format: Claustrophobia vs. ‘card x’. Blue is arguably the best color in the set and Claustrophobia is the best Blue common, so it’s going to be important to be able to properly compare it with other potential picks. Geist-Honored Monk is better than Claustrophobia for a few reasons, namely because it accomplishes what Claustrophobia sets out to do and more. The Monk provides a very large body that’s difficult to break through in addition to being a huge beat-stick. Vigilance makes counter-attacking impossible unless dealing with a flyer in which case there are also two Spirit tokens to deal with. The Spirit tokens also have a moderate value because there aren’t many profitable ways to remove them (ex: Prodigal Sorcerer).
My pick: Geist-Honored Monk
Pack 1 pick 2:
The options here aren’t exciting; most of them support our first pick in that they’re gearing us towards a White-based deck. Sharpened Pitchfork, Chapel Geist, and Elder Cathar are the three options, and each is quite acceptable. The Pitchfork is good because First Strike is quite a significant ability and makes the aggressively-cost humans very difficult to trade with and gives them a bit more reach in the late-game. However, First Strike isn’t as much of a big deal if most of your creatures are already evasive. In that case, equipment like Silver-Inlaid Dagger is much better. It’s difficult to know what the creature composition of our deck will look like to know if the Pitchfork will be good, and so it is a better choice to take the Chapel Geist because it’s the best creature. Chapel Geist is larger than most of the other flyers and for a bargain of three mana.
My pick: Chapel Geist
Pack 1 pick 3:
Rebuke is a fine card, but I dislike the way it plays in most White decks because White has many aggressive creatures, and games will play out such that Rebuke is only useful if you’ve lost the initiative against a slower deck. There are other scenarios where Rebuke is fine such as in a deck with mostly flyers or other creatures that the opponent can’t interact with via their own or against another fast deck where the aggressor is unknown. The other options after Rebuke are Orchard Spirit and Hamlet Captain, both of which obviously put us into Green. When looking at the two creatures Hamlet Captain has a much higher potential than Orchard Spirit because it overlaps similarly with Sharpened Pitchfork when in combat. The Captain pumps all of your other humans making it so that you can attack profitably more often and with less resistance. There are many humans dispersed between Green and White to make the Captain very powerful. However, it’s also possible to not acquire enough humans to make the Captain great in which case the Orchard Spirit is going to be much better because it already has evasion built into it. With so many picks ahead of us, the potential of the Captain is just too high to pass it up for the Orchard Spirit, and we should take that into consideration when considering later picks between a human vs. non-human.
My pick: Hamlet Captain
Pack 1 pick 4:
Prey Upon, Villagers of Estwald, and Abbey Griffin are the three on-color picks for us; there’s also Corpse Lunge and Rolling Temblor to consider. We don’t know if Green is open for sure yet although Prey Upon is one of the better cards tricks that the color has. It seems like White is open for sure because we’ve saw a high number of White in pick two along with a solid White card in the last two picks. The Villagers would work out better with the Hamlet Captain, but the evasive Abbey Griffin is better alone and makes it less likely that someone will go into White. It would be better to wait for another pick to see for sure if Green is open before committing fully to it.
My pick: Abbey Griffin
Pack 1 pick 5:
Here’s a pack with not much for us. Festerhide Boar and Silverchase Fox are both fine, although they are more filler than anything else. The Boar has the most potential because it can be so big, but it’s more difficult to get Morbid to work than most people would initially imagine. Harvest Pyre is usually quite good, although it’s better when combined with Blue than any other color because it’s much easier to fill the Graveyard to fuel the fire. Harvest Pyre is the first real Red card that we’ve seen so far which makes me somewhat weary of taking it rather than another on-color card, but the difference in card-quality between it and the other options is staggering. We won’t miss out on much if we pass the Fox and Boar compared the Pyre.
My pick: Harvest Pyre
Pack 1 pick 6:
Spidery Grasp and Bloodcrazed Neonate are both fine, but a bit underwhelming at the same time. The Grasp is an expensive combat trick and the Neonate is quite vulnerable without the support of a good removal suite. Cobbled Wings is the best option because it will be useful in almost every configuration that our deck could be (the exception being if we end up with a ton of White flyers) whereas our other choices are at best a mediocre inclusion assuming they’re in the color that we end up playing.
My pick: Cobbled Wings
Pack 1 pick 7:
Green seems to be open while Red isn’t, and the Funeral Pyre was probably just from a pack that was initially bursting with Red cards. Darkthicket Wolf is better than Orchard Spirit because it’s cheaper and hits for more damage every turn. Granted, the Spirit does have evasion naturally, but the Wolf’s pump ability also makes blocking it difficult, and so the Wolf is a better choice.
My pick: Darkthicket Wolf
Pack 1 pick 8:
Woodland Sleuth is difficult to use because morbid is tough to trigger against a competent opponent. Unruly Mob isn’t the best creature either because it’s mediocre in the early game and usually a bad draw later on. The Mob requires a high number of creatures that can trade for it to be passable which isn’t an easy task to accomplish. Still, it usually performs better than the Sleuth because it’s much cheaper and is more proactive than the Sleuth.
My pick: Unruly Mob
Pack 1 pick 9:
My pick: Hamlet Captain
Pack 1 pick 10:
My pick: Boneyard Wurm
Pack 1 pick 11:
My pick: Thraben Purebloods
Pack 1 pick 12:
My pick: Ghoulcaller’s Bell
Pack 1 pick 13:
My pick: Mountain
Pack 1 pick 14:
My pick: Island
Pack 1 pick 15:
The first pack was alright although we passed on a few Green cards that were better than the White alternatives that we ended up taking simply because we weren’t sure that Green was completely open at the time (like White). We didn’t pass much White other than Rebuke which hopefully means that we’ll have a good second pack.
Pack 2 pick 1:
Wrath effects are usually pretty sweet but Divine Reckoning sadly doesn’t live up to the reputation. The problem with Divine Reckoning is that most White decks tend to be aggressive, and so the wrath plays out a lot like Rebuke (nearly useless until you’ve lost). Still, you’ll be paired against another aggro deck at times, and Divine Reckoning will be good there (especially on the draw) because you won’t necessarily be committing creatures to the Battlefield as fast as the opponent is. The alternatives to Divine Reckoning are Voiceless Spirit and Galvanic Juggernaut, both of which are fine. However, neither creature is amazing and very replaceable. The value of having a wrath as a sideboard option is quite good, and the complete deck may even be sculpted to where it’s a good card for the maindeck (although that’s less likely).
My pick: Divine Reckoning
Pack 2 pick 2:
This pack is quite bad and there’s not even a Red card that we can potentially splash. Expensive spells like Thraben Purebloods isn’t the direction that we need to take the deck even when taking into consideration the fact that we have Divine Reckoning. Selfless Cathar is the only other option, and while it’s VERY mediocre, the effect it has can still be useful when considering cards like Thraben Sentry/Unruly Mob in conjunction with a high number of cheap creatures.
My pick: Selfless Cathar
Pack 2 pick 3:
Here’s another mediocre pack. Most people would take Smite the Monstrous and be done with the pick, but aside from sending a better signal, it’s an inferior pick. Smite is mainly used to deal with a creature that’s too large to beat through with your other creatures, however the Dagger is just as useful (although it does require trading creatures) because it pumps your creature to be able to beat through most opposing creatures.
My pick: Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Pack 2 pick 4:
Travel Preparations is quite good in Green/White because it enables the smaller creatures to push through for a minimal cost. Normally the Preparations is the best option because the other creatures are quite replaceable since they’re just random three-mana dudes. However, in the first we pack was saw a lot of Green/White which leads me to believe the Preparations is more likely to wheel compared to the Elder Cathar. Most green decks won’t play Travel Preparations without White unless they’re short on playables. The Cathar works well with some of the other cards that we already have like Hamlet Captain and Silver-Inlaid Dagger in addition to its triggered ability of creating incremental advantage on the Battlefield.
My pick: Elder Cathar
Pack 2 pick 5:
Unfortunately we don’t have much to take here with the choices being Naturalize/Witchbane Orb as a sideboard option or Unburial Rites if we want to splash Black. Unburial Rites is the most powerful option especially when considering the Geist-Honored Monk. If we had terrible creatures, then the Rites wouldn’t be amazing, but that isn’t the case here. We’d have to pick up some mana-fixing to make use of the Rites, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem considering that we also have access to Caravan Vigil in addition to Shimmering Grotto/Traveler’s Amulet.
My pick: Unburial Rites
Pack 2 pick 6:
Rebuke, Sharpened Pitchfork, and Moment of Heroism are the options. My dislike for Rebuke from earlier still holds true because it forces you to play differently and isn’t very good at retaining tempo which is important for an aggro deck; Sharpened Pitchfork and Moment of Heroism get the job done better. Moment is better in most decks because it works well with every creature whereas the Pitchfork is usually only good with humans because the +1/+1 is important for being able to force through damage. For example, the Pitchfork isn’t amazing on a Chapel Geist or Silverchase Fox. However, the Pitchfork makes the human component of the deck better than Moment of Heroism would in addition to it being better with creatures like Darkthicket Wolf. The Pitchfork is reusable and is going to provide more over the course of the game compared to Moment of Heroism.
My pick: Sharpened Pitchfork
Pack 2 pick 7:
Lumberknot is okay but slow and better as a sideboard card for removal-heavy decks because it’s a threat that’s difficult to beat. Shimmering Grotto really isn’t an option here because there are two good green creatures to consider, and we’d only want the Grotto if we were splashing the Unburial Rites (which we ideally won’t have to do). Villagers of Estwald is a better option than Orchard Spirit for a few reasons: it’s human, it can potentially deal more damage when it flips, and it can play a defensive role effectively.
My pick: Villagers of Estwald
Pack 2 pick 8:
My pick: Selfless Cathar
Pack 2 pick 9:
Urgent Exorcism really isn’t great because of the lack of targets. There aren’t many spirits/enchantments floating around outside of Blue/White which makes Urgent Exorcism a sideboard card. Spidery Grasp is quite useful because it’s a unique pump effect. It gives a substantial boost in power/toughness which should allow most creatures to live through combat in addition to allowing you to regain tempo by being able to both attack and block (due to the creature untapping).
My pick: Spidery Grasp
Pack 2 pick 10:
My pick: Bramblecrush
Pack 2 pick 11:
My pick: Caravan Vigil
Pack 2 pick 12:
My pick: Travel Preparations
Pack 2 pick 13:
My pick: Witchbane Orb
Pack 2 pick 14:
My pick: Ghoulcaller’s Bell
Pack 2 pick 15:
The second pack was actually quite bad compared to the first. Most of our picks were mediocre with the exception of Travel Preparations. Ideally the few White cards that we passed in this pack don’t ruin our third.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Lumberknot is still not amazing while Ulvenwald Mystics plays the same role but more efficiently because it starts off larger initially while the regeneration ability makes it very difficult to deal with via combat later on.
My pick: Ulvenwald Mystics
Pack 3 pick 2:
Blazing Torch and Avacyn’s Pilgrim are the two options. Normally the Pilgrim is the better choice because establishing a board position early is very important especially as the number of expensive spells in a deck increases. Blazing Torch is removal, but it’s not the type of removal that the deck wants because it requires holding back a creature to use it which is a drain on tempo. A pump effect is going to be better in most cases than the torch because it will do more than two damage. We don’t have many expensive spells yet which makes the Pilgrim not as useful, and when combined with the fact that we don’t have many pump spells yet, the Blazing Torch is going to be a better option.
My pick: Blazing Torch
Pack 3 pick 3:
That’s a lot of Red cards that wreck us; oh well. Smite the Monstrous is still an unimpressive spell because it’s expensive and situational. This deck can’t afford to have that type of card clogging up its hand or else it will stumble too often.
My pick: Blazing Torch
Pack 3 pick 4:
My pick: Spectral Rider
Pack 3 pick 5:
Prey Upon is good but requires werewolves to be good because they’re going to be the largest creatures on the Battlefield. Most other creatures in the deck won’t be big enough to survive a brawl with another creature which diminishes the value of Prey Upon. We don’t have many werewolves which makes Prey Upon rather situational. Abbey Griffin isn’t an amazing alternative because it’s on the expensive side and mostly inferior to other flyers, but it’s still playable. The Griffin will be able to force damage through in most cases which is what the deck wants.
My pick: Abbey Griffin
Pack 3 pick 6:
My pick: Bonds of Faith
Pack 3 pick 7:
We already have a Bramblecrush as a Disenchant option from the sideboard, and so Naturalize loses some of its value. Harvest Pyre is the next best option in case we need to bring in additional removal against problematic creatures that Blazing Torch can’t deal with (Bloodline Keeper).
My pick: Harvest Pyre
Pack 3 pick 8:
Travel Preparations is the most important card in the deck because the permanent effect it has is very powerful. A third Hamlet Captain would also be good, but it won’t accomplish as much as Travel Preparations will despite the number of humans in the deck.
My pick: Travel Preparations
Pack 3 pick 9:
My pick: Spare from Evil
Pack 3 pick 10:
My pick: Avacyn’s Pilgrim
Pack 3 pick 11:
My pick: Silverchase Fox
Pack 3 pick 12:
My pick: Kindercatch
Pack 3 pick 13:
My pick: Grave Bramble
Pack 3 pick 14:
My pick: Memory’s Journey
Pack 3 pick 15:
The third pack was much better than the second and we got enough playables (including some on the wheel) to construct a reasonable deck with. Overall, the draft could have gone better, but it wasn’t a disaster. Some of the problems that arose during the draft came misevaluating some of the packs. For example, the composition of pack one, pick four may have been a clear signal that Green was open which was looked over; that’s an uncertainty at this time.
The main group of cards that should be in the deck includes the following twenty-two (22) cards:
Creatures (14):
Spells (8)
It’s important to include enough creatures to maintain the balance with pump effects/removal. Having too many support spells will make the deck sluggish and let the opponent set up their board before you can deal enough damage to where they’re off-balance. Most Green/White aggro decks need at least fifteen creatures to be effective, and in our case we’re looking at a few mediocre options for the final few. The remaining cards that we can choose from include:
Creatures:
2 Selfless Cathar
1 Boneyard Wurm
1 Grave Bramble
1 Thraben Purebloods
1 Kindercatch
Spells:
1 Caravan Vigil
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Spare from Evil
1 Bramblecrush
1 Divine Reckoning
1 Witchbane Orb
Off-color:
2 Ghoulcaller’s Bell
1 Unburial Rites
1 Memorys Journey
2 Harvest Pyre
The main problem with the creatures is that they’re very mediocre. Kindercatch and Thraben Purebloods are too expensive while Grave Bramble has defender and shouldn’t be anywhere near the deck. The only real options are Selfless Cathar and Boneyard Wurm. Boneyard Wurm only costs two but it is more like a five-drop because it requires some trading to go on before it can have an impact. Selfless Cathar isn’t very impressive either because it’s very small and isn’t accompanied by synergetic cards like Thraben Sentry, Galvanic Juggernaut, or a mass of token-generating cards. A Warrior’s Honor on wheels is passable, but hardly anything to be excited about. Nevertheless, including creatures is a better alternative to spells, and so the two that are at the top of the list (Selfless Cathar and Boneyard Wurm) are going to make the cut.
The deck’s curve is low enough to where sixteen lands is fine. There are only four spells that cost more than three mana (which is moderately low), and missing the fourth land-drop won’t hinder the deck’s flow too much.
Deck:
Surprisingly the deck managed to go 3-0.
The Hamlet Captain synergy didn’t quite come together as often as I’d have liked, although it was pretty good when there were two-three other humans on the Battlefield in addition to a way to make the Captain survive. In terms of drafting, picking Hamlet Captain over a creature that’s individually better doesn’t seem worth it unless you’ve got enough humans already to make the Captain a better pick.
Boneyard Wurm was never great; most of the time it was a turn four 2/2 which was inadequate. It would be better to pair with Blue because there are more ways to fill your graveyard.
Darkthicket Wolf was quite good and was the best two-drop in the deck. Being able to hit for four potentially makes it almost unblockable in the early turns while being a huge source of damage if you’ve got nothing else going on.
Unruly Mob wasn’t stellar. It was much worse than Thraben Sentry would have been.
Geist-Honored Monk was the real deal. The combination of two flyers in addition to a fatty with vigilance dominated the Battlefield every time it was summoned.
Sharpened Pitchfork was hit or miss, partly because there weren’t as many pump effects to use in conjunction with it. The equipment needed large bodies to be the most useful which the case wasn’t always.
Abbey Griffin was underwhelming alone because it was one mana too expensive while being unable to defend effectively. It was passable with Travel Preparations, but that would have been true with almost any other creature.
Happy Drafting.
