Pack 1 pick 1:
Fireball and Stingerfling Spider can be identified quite easily as the two best cards, although the Spider is much weaker. The problem with Stingerfling isn’t that it’s not powerful. What makes Fireball a better card is that it’s great against every deck. Fireball can deal with swarms of ground creatures while also threatening to Sorin’s Vengeance the opponent while Stingerfling Spider is only amazing against flyer-heavy decks.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
The most impactful card in this pick is Vampire Outcasts, and there’s not much else competing with it. It’s best to take the most powerful card early in the draft because we don’t know what’s open yet and what’s not, and it’s more likely that we’ll end up with a few good cards for whichever colors we settle into.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
This pick is quite mediocre for a third pick with the most interesting cards being Garruk’s Companion and Onyx Mage. The Companion would be better if we knew that Green was open and hadn’t passed a Stingerfling Spider (which makes the availability of Green in pack two questionable). Onyx Mage is a decent creature and can be used quite effectively to combat decks with larger creatures and supports our Vampire Outcasts. We want to be Black if possible because we already have a decent Black card while the opposite is true of Green, and so there’s very little reason to not take the Onyx Mage.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
This pick is rather weak for us because there’s very little Red/Black. Blue and White are the two dominant colors with the presence of Alabaster Mage, Griffin Sentinel, and Merfolk Looter. The last few picks haven’t indicated if White or Blue is definitely open, and so we’re forced to play a guessing game. However, another option is to consider what role each color is likely to play in our deck. Blue tends to be a support color while White is better as a main. Black is also best as a main color, and so when combined with the ability of Merfolk Looter to find Fireball, the pick becomes easier to make.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
Blue and White are still being represented with consistency while the other colors are less present which doesn’t bode well for us; we’ll have to keep an eye out to determine whether we should switch out of a color and into another one. However, until we can say for sure that Black/Red isn’t the right combination, we should still concentrate on those two colors. It’s still possible to make the best of a potentially bad situation by taking the Warpath Ghoul. We’ve seen more Black than Red up to this point and Fireball is still good as a splash while Onyx Mage is not.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 6:
This pick is quite weak for us because there are no Black cards and the Blue/Red options are mediocre. Bonebreaker Giant is very replaceable (ex: Zombie Goliath) and doesn’t add much value while Ice Cage is a bit better. As its name implies, Ice Cage is quite fragile and can collapse like a house of cards. Certain opponents won’t be able to deal with the aura, and Ice Cage will basically be Pacifism. However, other decks will not even be slowed down by Ice Cage because they’re packing multiple targeted abilities like Gideon’s Lawkeeper, Divine Favor, Goblin Tunneler, etc. Ice Cage usually isn’t terrible and falls somewhere in the middle. It’s often right to sideboard Ice Cage out in certain matchups, but it’s still good enough most of the time as a removal spell.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
Black is missing again for a second consecutive pick which doesn’t bode well for half of our picks. The few Red options aren’t great because they are either mediocre (Lightning Elemental) or are only good in a Red-based deck (Fiery Hellhound). The alternatives are Ponder and Thran Golem. The Golem is quite unimpressive without support from auras which usually aren’t great by themselves, especially in decks that are splashing a third color. Ponder isn’t amazing either because the lack of shuffling causes you to sacrifice a draw step (land) and isn’t worth the space unless you’re looking for specific powerful cards (like Fireball).
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
The options aren’t great here. Goblin Arsonist is the best card although it’s only good in a Red-based deck. The Arsonist is also the only Red card, and since we’ve also seen very little quality Red, taking the Goblin and going into heavy-Red is a mistake. Hideous Visage is the other option, and while it’s usually not good in the maindeck, it’s a fine sideboard card in an aggro deck that can range from a Lava Axe to a Searing Wind.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
Negate usually isn’t good, but if we end up drafting a controlling deck, it can be a good option if we play against a deck with high-quality spells like Fireball, Sorin’s Vengeance, etc.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 11:
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 13:
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 14:
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 15:
The first pack was quite bad for us because the two colors that we initially chose (Red/Black) ended up being cut off from us while our third (Blue) hasn’t yielded much to lean on. There was a steady stream of Red near the end, however most of the cards were bad (Lightning Elemental) and not suitable for most decks. The second pack should have more Black than the first, and so settling into Black/Blue while splashing Red seems like the best option.
Pack 2 pick 1:
Duskhunter Bat is decent in an aggro deck, but that’s not what we’re working with at the moment. Aether Adept is the only real option because it’s excellent at generating tempo that we can use to stabilize or beat down, whichever is the case.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
Belltower Sphinx is decent, but it’s not as good as Druidic Satchel. The two cards play similar roles, but the Satchel is harder to deal with and can be used better offensively. Druidic Satchel has better synergy with Onyx Mage, finding Fireball as well as putting lands into play to power it up, and makes it easier to utilize all of your mana.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
Phantasmal Bear and Manalith are both options, but they’re not as good as Wring Flesh because the removal spell is so efficient. Much of the format is composed of small creatures, and Wring Flesh interacts with those quite well. Phantasmal Bear is arguably better in a Blue-based aggro deck because against other ground-based decks, it and Wring Flesh can play similar roles, although the Bear can beat down if unopposed. However, if a deck is more midrange or controlling, then Wring Flesh is going to be better by a mile. Manalith is going to be a card that we’ll want to pick eventually, but not at the cost of efficient removal like Wring Flesh.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
Duskhunter Bat and Coral Merfolk are both creatures that we’d play in the deck, but they lack power and are relatively easy to disrupt. Chasm Drake is a better option because it’s more likely to have a stronger impact on the game. It’s important to have cheap creatures to trade with the opponent’s, but we already have a few and it’s likely that we’ll be able to wheel some of the Coral Merfolk that we’ve seen already. We don’t have any five-mana creatures at the moment, and so taking the Drake is the safe, correct pick.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
Nice pack. Doom Blade is the easy pick for us, although it’s unfortunate that there’s still a lot of good Blue/Black that we’re passing.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
This pick is quite awkward for us because the best card (Consume Spirit) is weak outside of a Black-based deck while the other options are better in less controlling decks. Skywinder Drake doesn’t want to block and neither does Devouring Swarm, although the Swarm does have some synergy with Druidic Satchel. Deathmark and Mind Rot are also options, but they aren’t going to always be useful. Black wasn’t as open as Blue in the first pack, and so it’s hard to believe that we’ll be able to support Consume Spirit with a lot of Swamps. However, the alternatives just aren’t amazing, and so we should take the Consume even though it may only end up being a turn eight Essence Drain.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
Harbor Serpent becomes a lot less attractive with Consume Spirit, and so we should make a strong attempt to create a Black-based deck which means that Zombie Goliath is the pick.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
Normally Aether Adept would be a better pick than Wring Flesh, but that’s not the case here anymore because we need to shift the deck’s base color from Blue to Black.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
Duskhunter Bat doesn’t play out very well in a deck like this because it’s difficult to trigger Bloodthirst. Amphin Cutthroat is the better option because it has a more-impactful body and will help stabilize the board more effectively than the Bat.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 10:
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 12:
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 14:
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 15:
The second pack brought a lot of stability with it and we were able to settle into what will hopefully turn out to be a heavy-Black deck with Blue support (and perhaps splashing Fireball). However, the third pack seems like it won’t necessarily provide the Black support that we desire because of how the first pack flowed which will be exacerbated by the pick that we passed in pack two with Merfolk Looter and Sorin’s Thirst. At this point we can only hope that that one pick doesn’t rain on our parade and go forth into the final pack with a solid plan.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Unfortunately we don’t have too many good options with this pick. Aven Fleetwing is fine, but it suffers from the problem that Devouring Swarm and Skywinder Drake have: it’s lacking on defense. Divine Favor is what makes the Fleetwing good, but we’re not set up for that, and so we’ll have to pass up on the flyer for Crown of Empires. The Crown requires a lot of mana to use which can often get in the way of developing your board, however it’s still quite good in decks that are aggro or control because those decks usually lack good late/early plays respectively.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 2:
Jace’s Archivist is a powerful card that a lot of people don’t have experience using (because it’s rare), and thus underrate it. The Archivist is a way to generate card advantage through emptying your hand more effectively than the opponent. Consequently, cards like Unsummon and Aether Adept become much better when Jace’s Archivist is better. The Archivist can be difficult to use at times when a deck is clunky, and it’s definitely more at home in a milling deck than anywhere else, but it’s still a powerful tool that we can utilize.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Mana Leak, Drifting Shade, and Gravedigger are the top three options. Drifting Shade is the most powerful because it can get out of hand as a game develops and dominate the Battlefield. However, taking the Shade will further complicate the deck’s mana, making it more reliant on Black (and harder to splash Fireball). Gravedigger is the best choice because it naturally generates card advantage and is another way for the deck to get ahead. Mana Leak is a worse option because it’s more difficult to utilize and is only better when dealing with high-impact spells. The difference between Mana Leak and Gravedigger when dealing with normal creatures is that Gravedigger lets you cast your spells freely while Mana Leak requires you to hold mana open which can be very difficult depending on what a deck’s curve looks like. Additionally, Mana Leak makes running more Islands desirable because you want to be able to cast it as early as possible and also have it not interfere with casting other Blue spells due to only having one Island.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
Mana Leak, Phantasmal Dragon, and Warpath Ghoul are the options. Phantasmal Dragon is very difficult for some decks to beat, just like Ice Cage. However, the problem with the Dragon is that it’s a significant mana investment, unlike Ice Cage, and will cause you to fall far behind if the opponent can trade a low-cost spell for it. Warpath Ghoul and Mana Leak are less likely to win the game alone when compared to the Dragon, but they’re going to be more consistent. The trick with Phantasmal Dragon is to play it as one of the last spells from your hand so that it’s more likely to enter the Battlefield after the opponent’s hand has been depleted of targeted spells.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
Turn to Frog isn’t normally good because it requires you to have a high number of non-one-toughness creatures, and even then it isn’t good against Bloodthirst. Turn to Frog is a reasonable sideboard card against Forests, but it generally requires too much setup to be considered ‘good’. Harbor Serpent is a better sideboard option because it has a much higher impact on games as an unblockable 5/5.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
Mind Rot is a fine card, but it’s not always great due to the format’s speed. Devouring Swarm is a better choice because it’s an okay flyer that can be used to make our Vampire Outcasts large.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
Manalith is going to be a good addition to the deck because of its high color-intensiveness. Fireball, Consume Spirit, and Aether Adept are all demanding and Manalith is one way to alleviate the requirements of our colored spells in addition to ramping up to a five-mana spell.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
Swiftfoot Boots usually isn’t a good maindeck card and it’s better used as a sideboard option against decks with a lot of removal/permanent-based control (Gideon’s Lawkeeper) and also if the creatures quality in your deck is high (example: Royal Assassin, Cemetery Reaper, etc.).
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 12:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
The third pack was unfortunately mediocre just like I’d feared. However, we’ll still be able to manage and build a deck that should be able to scrap together a few match wins. Overall, the draft was quite rocky. Green was the color to be in, but there wasn’t much good Green early on to push us in that direction, and by the time we’d realized, it was too late.
The best cards include the following (21):
Some of the weaker cards are Amphin Cutthroat and Distress, but they are still useful because each can be used to hinder the opponent. Distress will either interrupt the opponent’s spell curve by taking the best spell for a critical turn and/or take a high-mana bomb. Amphin Cutthroat is moderately weak, but it’s difficult for most creatures to beat through it (four toughness is quite important against creatures like Benalish Veteran, Sacred Wolf, Warpath Ghoul, etc.).
The remaining two slots will be filled by a combination of the remaining cards:
Coral Merfolk is fine because it will either trade early or allow us to play multiple spells during a later turn. In almost every case, Coral Merfolk is going to help stabilize, and the benefit of it costing two mana is great. Merfolk Mesmerist is more of a sideboard card against slower decks because it will put pressure on the opponent from a different angle and force the opponent to play differently than if it weren’t on the Battlefield. There’s not enough synergy to play the Mesmerist in the maindeck, and so it’s better in the sideboard. Phantasmal Dragon is one of the best options because of how impactful it can be depending on the opponent’s deck. No other card is going to win a game as easily as Phantasmal Dragon because of the amount of pressure that it puts on the opponent. Harbor Serpent is better as a sideboard card because the deck is Black-based and it will be difficult to attack with against a deck without Islands. Disentomb is good if a deck has a high number of creatures that are good, otherwise it’s mediocre; high-impact creatures are imperative. Ponder is similar to Disentomb, in that it needs to be surrounded by good cards. Playing Ponder in a deck full of Warpath Ghouls is not good, but it’s good when a deck has Mind Control, Fireball, and Inferno Titan.
Overall, the good options are Coral Merfolk, Phantasmal Dragon, and Ice Cage. Ice Cage is the weakest option because it’s low-impact like Coral Merfolk, but it suffers from being weak to targeting spells because it tends to be played early. Coral Merfolk overlaps a lot with Ice Cage in the early turns, but it’s going to be more resilient and efficient because it can attack and isn’t vulnerable to effects from Goblin Tunneler.
Deck:
Sideboard:
Somehow the deck managed to 3-0.
Jace’s Archivist didn’t shine very brightly like it normally would in a milling deck. This deck wasn’t set up properly to take advantage of the Windfall mage effectively because of high-end spells like Fireball and Consume Spirit along with other removal. There would be games where using the removal wouldn’t have been as good as holding it, and so using the Archivist wasn’t as beneficial had the removal not been there.
Phantasmal Dragon was fine, although I did sideboard it out a few times after seeing a number of cards like Gideon’s Lawkeeper. I wouldn’t rate the Dragon highly and take it over another solid card like Aether Adept, but it’s still quite threatening.
Vampire Outcasts was quite nice. The support of cards like Chasm Drake and Wring Flesh made the Outcasts much better than they’d been for me previously. In past drafts, the Outcasts would simply run trade with a creature after gaining four life.
Druidic Satchel played a heavy role in winning the games where I had it. There are so many levels of functionality involved with the Satchel ranging from decreasing the chances of drawing a land by using it during your upkeep to ramping up to a large spell.
Happy Drafting.
