According to Webster – Zendikar Draft #7
Posted by Luis Scott-Vargas
January 11, 2010 | 
21 comments
Pack 1 pick 1:
Oran-Rief Survivalist, Welkin Tern, and Goblin Shortcutter are the best cards. We can ignore Spire Barrage and Nissa's Chosen because they are narrower than the others. They require a much heavier commitment to their color to be good than the first three cards and are more likely to become unplayable if the draft goes badly. For example, a deck will need at least twelve Mountains for Spire Barrage to have an impact that's worth its mana cost. Red is one of the better colors because of its depth. The opposite is true with Blue. Green has plenty of playables but doesn't contain real removal spells which makes it unfavorable. Oran-Rief Survivalist is the best choice. The Ally theme is very powerful when multiple +1/+1-counter Allies can be acquiRed. None of the three cards we're considering stand out from each other. It would be better to take a card from a commonly underdrafted color and see what gets passed to us in the next few picks to help determine our primary color with the knowledge that we will probably be able to fall back on Green if necessary.
My pick: Oran-Rief Survivalist
Pack 1 pick 2:
Windrider Eel and Rite of Replication are both powerful cards. However, they are both expensive. Rite of Replication is overrated. It's too slow for this aggressive format. Kor Skyfisher is a better choice. It's the best White common creature. I've frequently mentioned how good Kor Skyfisher is. It provides so much bang for your buck. It's quite useful in Green which has problems against flyers.
My pick: Kor Skyfisher
Pack 1 pick 3:
This pack is moderately depressing because the power-level is so low. Mold Shambler is decent. It's not quite as efficient as Kor Sanctifiers, but still gets the job done. Nimbus Wings is quite underrated if you can get past all the people saying that creature enchantments and pump-spells are bad in limited. Nimbus Wings will often wheel still and shouldn't be taken over the more popular cards. Grappling Hook is bad. It's very expensive and vulnerable to tricks.
My pick: Mold Shambler
Pack 1 pick 4:
Savage Silhouette is another underrated card. Blue has the most cards to deal with a creature that has the enchantment on it: Whiplash Trap, Into the Roil, and Paralyzing Grasp. Besides the three Blue cards and Journey to Nowhere, there aren't any other commons that can effectively deal with the monster that you've built. Granted, you have to not get two-for-one'd by a removal spell when you go to cast the spell. However, that really shouldn't be a problem.
My pick: Savage Silhouette
Pack 1 pick 5:
Nimana Sell-Sword is an option. It would add to our Ally package. All the +1/+1 counter Allies are good. When you have opening hands that are comprised with multiples and other Allies, winning the game will be much easier than if you had a random assortment of other creatures. However, if we take the Sell-Sword, we'll be abandoning the Kor Skyfisher which isn't appealing. There hasn't been anything spectacular being passed in black. There've been a few Hagra Crocodiles and not much else which isn't a reassuring sign. We can ignore the Sell-Sword and take the Turntimber Basilisk. It's going to be better than the Marsh Flats. All the fetchlands are powerful simply because it allows you to trigger Landfall more than once in a turn. Turntimber Basilisk is a solid Green card that can prevent a board from getting out of hand due to some flyer or other card like Merfolk Seastalkers (assuming a few things). The Basilisk is also quite excellent with Savage Silhouette.
My pick: Turntimber Basilisk
Pack 1 pick 6:
Frontier Guide can be powerful later on in the game when you've got extra mana to put lands in to play and get Landfall triggers. However, it's often just a 1/1 that doesn't do anything. Ondu Cleric is the best choice because it's fine against the aggressive decks. It helps regain life, grow our Survivalist, and block something like a Cliff Threader or Goblin Shortcutter if needed.
My pick: Ondu Cleric
Pack 1 pick 7:
Baloth Cage Trap is overrated. It's so hard to play for its trap cost. As a five-mana spell, it's worse than Territorial Baloth. Grazing Gladehart is the easy choice. Since Green doesn't have true removal (Vines of Vastwood/Primal Bellow/Baloth Cage Trap), Grazing Gladehart's life-gaining ability becomes necessary to not get overrun by the opponent's critters before you can play your larger creatures.
My pick: Grazing Gladehart
Pack 1 pick 8:
Spidersilk Net is mediocre. It can be useful against Blue decks, but isn't spectacular. Cobra Trap is also mediocre. It's useful against White if Kor Sanctifiers is going to be problematic for you.
My pick: Cobra Trap
Pack 1 pick 9:
There won't be much use for Expedition Map. Green/White often won't be able to support the good lands like Teetering Peaks and Soaring Seacliff. Narrow Escape is the only card that we would play.
My pick: Narrow Escape
Pack 1 pick 10:
Quest for the Gemblades is like Savage Silhouette but worse. It's much harder to connect with because the opponent will know that it's coming. Savage Silhouette is the only real choice.
My pick: Savage Silhouette
Pack 1 pick 11:
Kabira Crossroads is fine. It will almost certainly make the maindeck if we end up being White. Zendikar Farguide will not make the maindeck (hopefully), but will be more useful as a sideboard option.
My pick: Zendikar Farguide
Pack 1 pick 12:
My pick: Zendikar Farguide
Pack 1 pick 13:
My pick: Piranha Marsh
Pack 1 pick 14:
My pick: Spreading Seas
Pack 1 pick 15:
Pack one wasn't stellar. We got a few good cards (Oran-Rief Survivalist, Turntimber Basilisk, Gladehart, and Kor Skyfisher) along with a few Savage Silhouettes. However, beyond that there wasn't anything. The remaining two packs will need to be better. Green is definitely a good color to be in, but White may not be. There wasn't much going on in White which, was also true with the other colors. We'll have to wait it out and see what gets passed to us.
Pack 2 pick 1:
There are a few good cards for us. Journey to Nowhere is the best and is much better than Kor Hookmaster, Oran-Rief Survivalist, and Vines of Vastwood.
My pick: Journey to Nowhere
Pack 2 pick 2:
Kor Aeronaut is good, but its mana-cost will prove troublesome for us assuming the remaining packs flow like the first one did. Timbermaw Larva is the better choice because it compliments the heavy-Green feel of our deck.
My pick: Timbermaw Larva
Pack 2 pick 3:
Oran-Rief Recluse is good. It's necessary for beating any deck with flyers and is fine as a three-mana 1/3.
My pick: Oran-Rief Recluse
Pack 2 pick 4:
Makindi Shieldmate is fine. It makes Oran-Rief Survivalist better. Timbermaw Larva and Grazing Gladehart are better. Both cards are close when in a two-color deck. Grazing Gladehart is better though. Timbermaw Larva is only useful in heavy-Green decks and is more likely to wheel than Grazing Gladehart. While it appears that our deck is going to have twelve Forests in it (at this point), taking the Gladehart and hoping that the other Green drafter takes a different non-Green card so we can wheel the Timbermaw Larva is the better choice.
My pick: Grazing Gladehart
Pack 2 pick 5:
Kor Hookmaster is the best choice. Tajuru Archer is good against Welkin Tern, but mediocre against other flyers. Against the rest of the field, a three-mana 1/2 isn't good enough. Territorial Baloth is just another large Green creature. Those are never in short supply and should be passed up for the cheaper spells.
My pick: Kor Hookmaster
Pack 2 pick 6:
Stonework Puma is good at stopping Intimidate creatures like Guul Draz Vampire, Surrakar Marauder, and Bladetusk Boar. However, Blazing Torch does that and more. Kor Aeronaut and Steppe Lynx are also both good, but would require a surplus of White sources to play effectively. Currently there are only three White cards that we really want to play (Journey to Nowhere, Kor Skyfisher, and Kor Hookmaster) which require a minimum of six White sources to play reliably. If we were to play either Kor Aeronaut or Steppe Lynx, the minimum rises to eight which makes Timbermaw Larva much worse. Blazing Torch would allow us to ignore the changes to the manabase (for now) and is removal (although not excellent).
My pick: Blazing Torch
Pack 2 pick 7:
This pack is a bust. Joraga Bard is the best of the worst. It's possible that we'd play him if we played the Ondu Cleric (after sideboard).
My pick: Joraga Bard
Pack 2 pick 8:
Stonework Puma is the only option.
My pick: Stonework Puma
Pack 2 pick 9:
There isn't much for Greenweaver Druid to accelerate into. We don't have multiple Baloth Woodcrashers or any other huge monsters like that. Kor Hookmaster is going to be much more effective. As a side note, we should be aware that there are two other Green drafters at the table (because the Vines of Vastwood and Oran-Rief Survivalist didn't wheel) and should take that into consideration when trying to wheel Green cards.
My pick: Kor Hookmaster
Pack 2 pick 10:
While it's very unlikely that we'll actually play Kor Outfitter, taking it over another card is still a better option because we want to still be able to get White cards in pack three.
My pick: Kor Outfitter
Pack 2 pick 11:
My pick: Cobra Trap
Pack 2 pick 12:
My pick: Spreading Seas
Pack 2 pick 13:
My pick: Noble Vestige
Pack 2 pick 14:
My pick: Seascape Aerialist
Pack 2 pick 15:
Pack two was much lighter on Green than expected. However, there was a lot of White. I mean A LOT. Kor Hookmaster wheeled from our opening pack and was the next best White card to the Journey to Nowhere that we took. Despite the amount of White that passed through us, we should be fine for pack three. Green should still be good because there wasn't much that got past us.
Pack 3 pick 1:
We probably won't be able to beat a Malakir Bloodwitch. We'll have to hope that we don't play against it. Kor Skyfisher is the best card for us. Blazing Torch and Mold Shambler don't compare to it.
My pick: Kor Skyfisher
Pack 3 pick 2:
This pack is terrible. If we didn't have two Savage Silhouettes already, Nimbus Wings would be an excellent choice. However, we've got enough creature enchantments already. The next best card is Territorial Baloth. We could hate the Merfolk Seastalkers because they're usually excellent against Green decks. However, our White cards should be good enough to beat one.
My pick: Territorial Baloth
Pack 3 pick 3:
We probably won't be able to wheel Primal Bellow or Vines of Vastwood. A second Turntimber Basilisk will be better because of the two Savage Silhouettes.
My pick: Turntimber Basilisk
Pack 3 pick 4:
We could use the Graypelt Refuge. However, it seems likely that it will wheel. There has been too much Green available to support three other Green drafters. We know that there are probably two others. When you consider the aforementioned likelihood and amount of White that was seen in the second pack, gambling that both Green drafters will pass the land in addition to the rest of the pod is more likely to happen than the same happening with the Tajuru Archer (which is more likely to be hate-drafted or taken because it's only one color).
My pick: Tajuru Archer
Pack 3 pick 5:
Devout Lightcaster would be a nice sideboard option, however it would be extremely hard to summon. Nimbus Wings seems like a better option to have against the Blue deck with two Merfolk Seastalkers.
My pick: Nimbus Wings
Pack 3 pick 6:
Yes, it is nice. It's a shame that the Adventuring Gear and Journey to Nowhere weren't split up between this pack and the previous one.
My pick: Journey to Nowhere
Pack 3 pick 7:
Oran-Rief is the only option for us. It's fine, not spectacular like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.
My pick: Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Pack 3 pick 8:
We should be fine against aggro with two Grazing Gladeharts and an Ondu Cleric to not need a second one. Hedron Scrabbler would be hard to justify playing. It would be sideboarded in against a deck with lots of Surrakar Marauders. However, we've already got a Stonework Puma and Blazing Torch to save us from them. Territorial Baloth is the remaining choice.
My pick: Territorial Baloth
Pack 3 pick 9:
My pick: Kor Aeronaut
Pack 3 pick 10:
We already have two Zendikar Farguides. Relic Crush is the next most useful card to have in our sideboard.
My pick: Relic Crush
Pack 3 pick 11:
Pillarfield Ox is going to be in the sideboard and probably won't be brought in before the Joraga Bard.
My pick: Pillarfield Ox
Pack 3 pick 12:
Excellent, the Graypelt Refuge wheeled.
My pick: Graypelt Refuge
Pack 3 pick 13:
My pick: Frontier Guide
Pack 3 pick 14:
My pick: Quest for Pure Flame
Pack 3 pick 15:
Starting with the Oran-Rief Survivalist turned out to be good for us. Green was the most available color to us in pack one, although we never really got to expand on the Ally theme. We saw a second Survivalist and a Makindi Shieldmate, but that was all (in Green/White) besides a few utility Allies. White definitely opened up in pack two which wasn't a surprise. However, what wasn't expected was the amount of White that we saw in pack three. Kor Aeronaut wheeled which was nice. Overall, the deck should be successful. It has enough early drops and good White spells to have game against any of the other decks that we play against. The problem cards that we saw that we might encounter are Malakir Bloodwitch and the two Merfolk Seastalkers. The former will prove more difficult to beat than the latter.
Deck:
There wasn't much to play around with for the final slots. Narrow Escape is a lot better with two Journey to Nowhere, Mold Shambler, Kor Aeronaut, Oran-Rief Recluse, and two Kor Hookmasters.
Round 1:
Game 1:
We lose the roll. Evil takes a mulligan to six while we keep our hand of seven (3 Forest, Plains, Kor Aeronaut, Kor Hookmaster, Oran-Rief Recluse). Evil mulligans again to five and keeps his hand. Evil plays a Forest [d: Graypelt Refuge] while we play the Graypelt Refuge that we drew [G: 21]. Evil plays a Mountain [d: Kor Skyfisher] while we play a Plains and summon the Kor Aeronaut. Evil plays a Mountain and summons a Torch Slinger. [d: Plains] We attack with the Aeronaut [E: 18], play a Forest, and summon the Oran-Rief Recluse. Summoning the Hookmaster now would have less impact than if we save it for later because we don't have many ground creatures in play to attack through a troublesome blocker.
Evil plays a Teetering Peaks which allows his Torch Slinger to attack through our Oran-Rief Recluse [G: 17]. He passes with no other plays. [d: Mold Shambler] We attack back with the Aeronaut and Recluse [E: 15]. Afterwards we play a Forest and summon the Mold Shambler. Evil plays a Forest and summons a Nissa's Chosen. [d: Forest] We play a Plains and summon the Kor Hookmaster which taps down the Nissa's Chosen. We are able to safely attack with everything. Evil's Torch Slinger blocks the Oran-Rief-Recluse [E: 10]. Then we summon the Kor Skyfisher and return the Kor Hookmaster to our hand. Evil draws, realizes he is doomed, and concedes.
Sideboard: -1 Oran-Rief Recluse, -1 Timbermaw Larva; +2 Zendikar Farguide
Red/Green doesn't usually have flyers which makes the Oran-Rief Recluse underwhelming as a three-mana 1/3. Timbermaw Larva is one of the bigger creatures in the deck, but would be better as something that is more resilient to Torch Slinger.
Game 2:
Evil chooses to play first and keeps his hand. We also keep our seven (Forest, 2 Plains, Kor Aeronaut, 2 Kor Skyfisher, and Oran-Rief Survivalist). Evil plays a Forest [d: Zendikar Farguide] while we play a Plains and pass. Evil plays a second Forest and passes again [d: Plains] while we play our second Plains and summon the Kor Aeronaut. Evil plays a Mountain and passes for a third time with no plays. [d: Plains] We attack with Kor Aeronaut [E: 18], play a Forest, and summon the Oran-Rief Survivalist. Evil plays a Mountain and plays a Khalni Gem (returning a Forest and Mountain).
[d: Narrow Escape] We play a Plains and attack with the Kor Aeronaut and Oran-Rief Survivalist [E: 14]. Afterwards we summon a Kor Skyfisher returning a Plains. Then we summon the other Kor Skyfisher and return the Oran-Rief Survivalist. This play is actually wrong. Looking at Evil's play this game, it seems likely that he has Torch Slinger in hand. The better play would have been to return the Kor Aeronaut. If Evil does indeed have Torch Slinger, he'll only be able to kill the Survivalist. If Evil has some other creature like a Territorial Baloth, we'll still be able to attack through it with the Survivalist by kicking the Kor Aeronaut when we summon it.
Evil plays a Forest and passes. [d: Forest] We attack with our three flyers [E: 8], play a Plains, and pass. We could have summoned the Oran-Rief Survivalist again, but it seemed better to hold Narrow Escape up to play around Oran-Rief Recluse. Evil plays a Mountain, summons a Hellkite Charger, and passes. [d: Forest] We attack with our three flyers. The Hellkite blocks our Kor Aeronaut [E: 4]. Afterwards we play a Forest and summon the Zendikar Farguide. Evil plays a Forest and concedes.
Round 2:
Game 1:
We play first and keep our hand of seven (2 Forest, Oran-Rief Survivalist, Oran-Rief Recluse, Turntimber Basilisk, Kor Hookmaster, and Mold Shambler). We play a Forest and pass while Evil plays a Swamp and summons a Vampire Lacerator. [d: Kor Hookmaster] We play our second Forest and summon the Oran-Rief Survivalist. Evil loses one life to the Lacerator [E: 19], plays an Island, attacks with the Vampire [G: 18], and passes. [d: Territorial Baloth] We attack back with the Survivalist [E: 17] and pass.
Evil loses another life to the Lacerator [E: 16]. He plays a Swamp, attacks with the ravenous Vampire [G: 16], and summons a Giant Scorpion afterwards. [d: Oran-Rief, the Vastwood] We play the land and pass, unable to attack through Evil's Scorpion. Evil pays his upkeep to the Vampire [E: 15]. He plays an Island and attacks with the Lacerator. We block with our Survivalist. Then Evil summons a Windrider Eel. [d: Grazing Gladehart] We summon the Turntimber Basilisk and pass.
Evil plays a third Swamp and summons a Crypt Ripper. The hasty shade attacks alongside the emboldened Windrider Eel. Our Basilisk trades with the Crypt Ripper [G: 12]. [d: Forest] We summon the Grazing Gladehart, play a Forest [G: 14], and pass. Evil plays a third Island and attacks with Giant Scorpion and Windrider Eel. We don't have any good blocks and take the damage [G: 9]. Afterwards, Evil summons a Sky Ruin Drake. [d: Kor Skyfisher] We summon the Mold Shambler and pass. Evil plays a Swamp and attacks with his flyers [G: 3]. Then Evil plays a Mind Sludge (for four) which would leave us with one card in hand. We wouldn't be able to win from that position and concede rather than showing Evil four cards.
Sideboard: -1 Savage Silhouette; +1 Tajuru Archer
Savage Silhouette is at its worst against Blue decks. Aside from the normal removal to play around in the other colors, Blue has three spells at common that easily deal with the enchantment: Paralyzing Grasp, Into the Roil, and Whiplash Trap.
Game 2:
We keep our hand of seven on the play (2 Plains, Journey to Nowhere, 2 Kor Skyfisher, Tajuru Archer, and Territorial Baloth). We play a Plains while Evil plays an Island. [d: Forest] We play the Forest and summon a Kor Skyfisher (returning the Forest). Evil plays another Island and summons a Welkin Tern. [d: Grazing Gladehart] We attack with the Kor Skyfisher [E: 18], replay the Forest, and summon the second Kor Skyfisher (returning the Forest again).
Evil plays a third Island and plays Paralyzing Grasp on our tapped Kor Skyfisher. [d: Turntimber Basilisk] We play a Forest and attack with the other Kor Skyfisher [E: 16]. Evil attacks back with the Welkin Tern [G: 18] and passes. [d: Plains] We attack with the Skyfisher [E: 14], play a Plains, and pass. We could summon Grazing Gladehart or Tajuru Archer but we know Evil has both Cancel as well as Summoner's Bane. It appears likely that he has a Cancel in hand.
Evil attacks with his Welkin Tern again [G: 16] and passes. [d: Oran-Rief, the Vastwood] We play the Oran-Rief, attack with Kor Skyfisher [E: 12], and pass. Evil plays a Swamp, attacks with the Welkin Tern [G: 14], and passes again. [d: Plains] We play a Plains, attack with the Kor Skyfisher [E: 10], and pass again. We are happy with racing against Evil. He will lose if he holds counter mana up for the rest of the game unless he finds removal for our Skyfisher. When he goes to play a threat, Journey to Nowhere will be able to deal with almost anything that he plays (excluding Sphinx of Jwar Isle or Malakir Bloodwitch if he has either). We'll also be able to summon the Tajuru Archer to kill the Welkin Tern.
Evil attacks with the Welkin Tern [G: 12] and discards Ior Ruin Expedition. [d: Journey to Nowhere] We play a Plains, attack with Kor Skyfisher [E: 8], and pass. Evil doesn't attack and discards Mind Sludge. [d: Oran-Rief Survivalist] We summon Grazing Gladehart before attacking. It resolves and we use Oran-Rief to make it a 3/3. The ability resolves and we pass the turn. Evil plays a Swamp and passes. [d: Plains] We play the Plains [G: 14] and attack with the Gladehart [E: 5]. Then we play Oran-Rief Survivalist and make it a 3/3 with the Vastwood. Evil bounces the Survivalist and Gladehart with Whiplash Trap before starting his turn.
Evil plays Hideous End to destroy our Kor Skyfisher [G: 12], attacks with the Welkin Tern [G: 10], and passes with three Islands untapped. [d: Turntimber Basilisk] We summon Grazing Gladehart. Evil is ready with Cancel. Then we summon Tajuru Archer and shoot down the Welkin Tern. Evil plays a Swamp and summons Sphinx of Jwar Isle. [d: Kor Hookmaster] We summon Territorial Baloth and Oran-Rief Survivalist. Evil plays Gomazoa and passes with two Islands/Swamps untapped.
[d: Forest] We summon Kor Hookmaster. Evil taps out to counter it with Summoner's Bane. We play both Journey to Nowhere and remove the Gomazoa and Illusion token from the game. Then we play the Forest and attack with the Tajuru Archer, Oran-Rief Survivalist, and Territorial Baloth. Sphinx of Jwar Isle gets run over by the Baloth [E: 2] and Evil dies shortly thereafter.
Sideboard: nothing.
Game 3:
Evil plays first and keeps his hand. We mulligan our seven (2 Forest, 2 Journey to Nowhere, Stonework Puma, Kor Hookmaster, and Territorial Baloth) but keep our six (2 Forest, Plains, Kor Skyfisher, Journey to Nowhere, and Mold Shambler. Evil plays an Island and summons a Kraken Hatchling while [d: Narrow Escape] we play a Forest and pass. Evil plays a Swamp and passes again [d: Oran-Rief Survivalist] while we play the Plains and summon the Kor Skyfisher (returning the Forest). Evil plays a Swamp and summons a Reckless Scholar. [d: Grazing Gladehart] We replay a Forest, attack with the Skyfisher [E: 18], and summon the Oran-Rief Survivalist.
Evil plays an Island and destroys the Kor Skyfisher with Hideous End [G: 18]. [d: Territorial Baloth] We play a Forest and summon the Grazing Gladehart. Evil plays an Ior Ruin Expedition followed by an Island. Afterwards he uses Disfigure to kill the Gladehart. [d: Oran-Rief, the Vastwood] We play the Vastwood and pass. Evil plays a third Swamp and passes. [d: Savage Silhouette] We suit up our Survivalist with the Silhouette and attack [E: 14].
Evil plays an Island and draws two cards with his Expedition. Afterwards he attacks with the Reckless Scholar [G: 16] and enchants our Survivalist with Paralyzing Grasp. [d: Tajuru Archer] We pass the turn. Evil attacks again with Reckless Scholar [G: 14] and passes. [d: Kor Hookmaster] We summon the Kor Hookmaster but Evil counters it with Summoner's Bane. Evil attacks with the Reckless Scholar and Illusion token [G: 10]. Afterwards, he summons a Surrakar Marauder.
[d: Forest] We play the Forest and summon the Territorial Baloth. Evil does nothing on his turn. [d: Plains] We play the Plains and summon the Mold Shambler with kicker. Evil counters it with Cancel. We can't attack and must pass the turn. Evil plays a Swamp, attacks with the Surrakar Marauder [G: 8], and passes. [d: Plains] We play Journey to Nowhere (targeting the Marauder) and use Narrow Escape [G: 12] to return it to our hand before the "comes into play" trigger resolves. Evil returns the Marauder to his hand and the Territorial Baloth to ours with Whiplash Trap in response. After that whole mess resolves, we play the Plains and replay the Journey to Nowhere to remove the Illusion token from the game.
Evil attacks with the Reckless Scholar [G: 10] and summons the Surrakar Marauder again. He also summons Sphinx of Jwar Isle. [d: Kor Skyfisher] We summon the Territorial Baloth as well as Kor Skyfisher (the Skyfisher returns the Savage Silhouette on the Oran-Rief Survivalist to our hand). Evil attacks with the Sphinx [G: 5] and passes. [d: Kor Hookmaster] We put the Savage Silhouette on the Kor Skyfisher. However, Evil is ready and destroys it in response with Hideous End [G: 3]. Reckless Scholar had never been used the entire game. Still had all these? We can't recover and get eaten alive by the Sphinx.
Happy Drafting.
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Luis Scott-Vargas
LSV is the current record holder for most wins in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour after his perfect 16-0 run at Pro Tour San Diego 2010, and has the highest lifetime match win percentage among all current pro-level players. His other accomplishments include a win at Pro Tour&hellip
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Todd says: January 11, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
That black/blue control deck seems like the absolute nuts for that archetype from what he played. Of course, having Cancel maindeck is never an amazing thing, but I suppose with the tempo and evasion he had, it worked out quite nicely. I’d be curious to know how well his deck did in the finals. Of course, there’s really only one reason to go U/B control: Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which, coincidentally, your deck had the potential to handle.
FRODO says: January 11, 2010 @ 10:29 pm
If you just drafted the black/green ally deck instead the of pile’o'shit green/white deck. People might respect you as a pro if you didn’t draft these aweful decks.
Jeremy says: January 11, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
im not done reading the article, i just had to comment on the baloth cage trap “overrated” garbage…the card is instant speed 4/4 that doubles as removal 90% of the time played, and on rare unimportant occasions you can play it for the trap cost, and when that happens it’s hard for the opponent to catch up…
Grazing gladeheart is amazing though so im not strickly criticizing your pick, but wow with the overrated
Freshlop says: January 11, 2010 @ 10:49 pm
Baloth cage trap is only removal against idiots. Pass the turn with 4 cards in hand and 5 mana up and I’m pretty sure it’s easy to figure out what you have. Well, you could always type MAN mana flooded again and see what happens I suppose.
Bob The Builder says: January 11, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
At what point is 5 mana “removal” which your opponent is about as aware of as quest of the gemblades worth it? Especially when you could be playing a decent creature instead.
Adam Nelson says: January 11, 2010 @ 11:35 pm
I’ve drafted GW in Zendikar maybe 3 times, and been tremendously dissatisfied every time. I now avoid the archetype pathologically. I often draft the colors separately, but never together. Am I missing out on potentially great decks? Of the two winning GW decks I can remember facing, one had at least 14 allies, and the other had multiple river boas, journeys, a blademaster, and a machete–all premium uncommons. Is GW a nut-high-draft-only deck?
It’s true that the UB guy who beat Ochoa had a Sphinx, great removal, and Mind Sludge for 4, but the RG guy he beat only played 4 spells in 2 games. Not a compelling C.V. I’m reviewing his early picks–they all seem “correct” based on signals alone–but in hindsight, what about abandoning green for blue beginning in pack 2 (based on the p2p2 Seasalkers despite shipping blue in pack 1)? That yields a Seastalker, 2 Whiplash Traps, an Into the Roil, a Steppe Lynx, a Devout Lightcaster, Kor Aeronaut, Kor Cartographer, Cliff Threader, Kor Outfitter, and an Umara Raptor. (That’s not counting an improved pack 3 from cutting off blue pack 2.) Add in the Nimbus Wings and Kor Outfitter from the sideboard and you get this:
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Cliff Threader
2 Kor Skyfisher
2 Kor Outfitter
2 Kor Aeronaut
1 Stonework Puma
2 Kor Hookmaster
1 Umara Raptor
1 Devout Lightcaster
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Merfolk Seastalkers
2 Journey to Nowhere
1 Nimbus Wings
1 Into the Roil
1 Narrow Escape
2 Whiplash Trap
11 Plains
7 Island
I don’t know for certain that this deck would have fared better. The main point of drawing up the alternate list is to show that GW wasn’t the only draftable deck from that seat, even without changing pack 1. It seems as though GW is bad enough that it’s worth taking risks to avoid it. Am I incorrect?
Moogymatch says: January 12, 2010 @ 12:53 am
Would Tern P1P1 not have worked out better? (I’d always pick Tern over Survivalist anyway, as Allies is tough to draft, and Survivalist tends to just run into Scorpion.) From the above picks alone (ie not factoring in how cutting blue might have made subsequent packs better) DO could have drafted a decent UW skies deck:
2 Welkin Tern
2 Kor Skyfisher
2 Kor Aeronaut
Umara Raptor
Sky Ruin Drake
Cliff Threader
2 Kor Outfitter
Kor Hookmaster
Stonework Puma
2 Merfolk Seastalkers
Kor Cartographer
2 Journey to Nowhere
Narrow Escape
Into the Roil
Whiplash Trap
= 21 cards, plus your choice of Ior Ruin Expedition, Devout Lightcaster, Pillarfield Ox, Seascape Aerialist and Spreading Seas as filler.
IMO green should go back to being underdrafted.
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Mauro says: January 12, 2010 @ 2:23 am
@ FRODO: What GW Allies deck are you talking about? There were a whopping 3 allies in Pack 1 (and that is counting p1p2 Puma over Skyfisher, which is not a great choice in my opnion) and you could have drafted 11 allies (total) with 4 of them being Pumas and a couple of Survivalists as your best critters.. I’m a fan of drafting Allies myself, but I really don’t think there was a GW Allies deck to be drafted here..
Mauro says: January 12, 2010 @ 2:28 am
@ FRODO: Oops I guess I should learn to read before posting… You wrote GB, not GW, sorry. Still I’m not sure the number of GB Allies would be enough to justifiy it. You could have gotten a Disfigure and a Malakir if you were black, but I’m not sure that a SellSowrd and a Diabolist, both of which I respect, would have swayed me into black. Which means nothing since I’m definitely not as good a drafter as most ppl here
SlowRoll says: January 12, 2010 @ 6:25 am
I’m up just over 100 rating points since I started reading your column David. And I won another draft after work last night. Green is bigtime underrated, it’s no big deal right now to get 3 Nissa’s chosen, multiple gladehearts, or survivalists. These cards do an excellent job of stopping rush decks (R/W or R/), but I’ve learned that it’s all about what I pair it with. Last night I drafted U as a complimentary color to allow me to clog the ground lock down their boom-booms, and win the race in the air with the following:
1 gomazoa
1 living tsunami
1 reckless scholar
1 sky ruin drake
2 umara raptor
1 welkin tern
1 grazing gladeheart
1 mold shambler
1 oran-reif recluse
1 oran-reif survivalist
1 nissa’s chosen
1 tajuru archer
1 territorial baloth
1 timbermaw larva
2 stonework puma
1 explorers scope
1 paralyzing grasp
1 savage sillouette
1 trusty machete
1 vines of vastwood
1 whiplash trap
9 forest
8 island
Am I oversimplifing this? After picking up the machete, tsunami, and umara raptor picks 1, 2, and 3 of the draft last night. I knew that I would be able to pick up enough early green drops to clog the ground and win with flyers, cause it seems like you can always find good green late, and I’ve watched you do the exact same thing. A side effect of this was the mini ally theme that panned out and gave me a 4/4 survivalist, and 3/3 raptor more than once. Are there any other color combinations that we should really be wishing/pushing for? Mono red is a beating when all the pieces come together, but you dont always get 3 spire barrages to seal the deal. Thanks again.
SlowRoll says: January 12, 2010 @ 6:42 am
@FRODO Tell you what genius, how about next week you write the article, and you stand there and get arrows shot at you for every decision you make. Seriously man, who are you, and why do we care? What have you contributed? People like you act like you all are entitled to this stuff. It takes time, effort, and dedication to commit oneself to delivering a series like this every single week. How about this, shut your piehole and go buy some cards from the store to support the site that is giving all of us this great weekly content for free. Might I recomend pre-ordering a worldwake manland or two.
http://www.channelfireball.com/catalog/magic_singles-worldwake_singles_preorder/celestial_colonnade_preorder/60530
MH says: January 12, 2010 @ 8:04 am
Man, if only you were red in time for the first three picks of pack 2! But looking over the draft, someone to your immediate right must have been red because there was NOTHING flowing to you.
Sometimes it seems like you’re very unwilling to switch from a color, even for just one card (albeit a very good one like Skyfisher). Could you write a little something about what circumstances will get you to switch?
The Dude says: January 12, 2010 @ 8:13 am
“For example, a deck will need at least twelve Mountains for Spire Barrage to have an impact that's worth its mana cost.”
“Currently there are only three White cards that we really want to play (Journey to Nowhere, Kor Skyfisher, and Kor Hookmaster) which require a minimum of six White sources to play reliably. If we were to play either Kor Aeronaut or Steppe Lynx, the minimum rises to eight….”
For us less experienced players, can you explain how you come up with with these mana ratios?
From a newbie perspective, you want to cast spire barrage for at least 4 damage, worst case, 3. By turn 5 when you’ve gone through 12 cards in your deck you’ve drawn 3 mountains or so (based on having 10 in your deck). Is this scenario unacceptable? I’ve always been told removal is so important, especially when you can take down a nighthawk with it.
————————-
I’ve been taught that you should count up the colored mana symbols of your cards (I believe you have 9 white symbols and 1 possible white kick and 14 green with 2 able to be kicked so really 14-16 green) and use that as your ratio for your 18 lands. This would give you, to my estimation, a ratio of 11 green sources to 7 white. Assuming you’re using the graypelt refuge for green it looks like these numbers match up with your deck. Is this how you calculate your mana bases? Do you typically include the kicker in figuring these ratios? I always think the aeronaut is great even without kicker.
For the comment above on white sources I think I’ve been playing far too little mana for my minor colors according to what you have listed. An 8plains/10forest deck with only those white cards seems heavy on white sources, but I’m sure someone here can explain why it is a good choice. If you had those cards (5 white symbols + 1 possible kicker) and roughly 19 or 20 green symbols, wouldn’t your mana base be 5 white sources and 13 green if strictly based on ratio? This is where I need guidance to not have mana problems with casting cards with double colored symbols in my minor color and the “ratio” may not be the best guideline. I also want to max out my power on cards like timbermaw larva and spire barrage if they are in my major color.
Anyone have a good link to an article on mana base for limited?
Sorry if math in this post is not 100% accurate.
I’ve read every article of yours David, best of CF. Thanks.
eidolon says: January 12, 2010 @ 9:44 am
@The dude: just counting the mana symbols isn’t enough, since it also depends how much mana the card costs and if it is still good if you aren’t able to cast it the turn you draw it (like having Journey to Nowhere in your opening 7 and not hitting white mana until turn 5). Here is a list (and the link to a calculator) I made for another purpose, which might help:
Another way to determine the score of a card is the probability of casting it.
I have used this online calculator (-> http://stattrek.com/Tables/Hypergeometric.aspx) to get the probability of being able to cast it in a deck with 10 sources of mana in the needed color (assuming you have enough colorless mana available).
Population size = Deck size =40
Sample size = number of cards drawn = 7+CMC (simplified scenario: you are on the play and have no mana acceleration)
Number of successes in population = Number of mana sources for the needed color
Number of successes in sample = Number of colored mana needed to cast the spell
Cumulative Probability: P(X >= 1)= Probability of drawing enough colored mana to cast the spell
2 colored deck (10 sources)
w -> 92%
1w -> 95%
ww -> 73%
2w -> 96%
1ww -> 80%
www -> 49%
3w -> 98%
2ww -> 85%
1www -> 57%
wwww -> 26%
4w -> 98%
3ww -> 89%
2www -> 64%
5w -> 99%
4ww -> 92%
3www -> 71%
6w -> 99%
5ww -> 94%
4www -> 77%
7w -> 100%
6ww -> 96%
5www -> 83%
3 colored deck (7 sources)
w -> 82%
1w -> 86%
ww -> 50%
2w -> 89%
1ww -> 57%
www -> 23%
3w -> 92%
2ww -> 64%
1www -> 29%
wwww -> 8%
4w -> 94%
3ww -> 69%
2www -> 35%
5w -> 95%
4ww -> 75%
3www -> 41%
6w -> 96%
5ww -> 79%
4www -> 47%
7w -> 97%
6ww -> 83%
5www -> 53%
Matt says: January 12, 2010 @ 10:41 am
@The Dude – I’m no pro, but here is my take on getting the mana right: Your starting point is great, counting the mana symbols is a good way to get an early idea of how many of each source you need to play and many times, this will be enough to get you an appropriate mana base. However, other basic observations are helpful as well for tweaking that mana base.
Are there any cards in your splash that are terrible late game (steppe lynx)? Is there a certain requirement of lands that you need to hit by turn five or six? Is one color full of early plays and one color late plays? Is your main color full of cards that only cost one colored mana source? Do you gain any significant advantage by playing more of one land type as with Timbermaw Larva?
These are all questions to consider when tweaking your final mana base.
drbolick says: January 12, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
I just don’t get why you journeyed the illusion token instead of reckless scholar. Nice patience with the cancel read btw.
injusto says: January 12, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
Seems like a GW combination in ZEN draft should be avoided. I-ve tried this twice (once in MTGO, the other at my local store) and proceeded to receive a good beating even though I felt I had drafted strong cards.
I dunno but to me the most succesful pairing so far has been WU. Whenever I play this combination I always get to the finals (though I don’t always win the last match…). Would be nice to hear what you guys feel abotu color combinations in ZEN.
Thail says: January 12, 2010 @ 4:23 pm
I can’t help but feel strange when people suggest different drafting options and tell you how your draft would have come out if you’d picked cards X Y and Z, or instead of color N drafted color R instead. The mere changing of one or two draft choices can very likely change an entire draft. If he had picked the black cards, then the the drafters to his left pack one would be picking different colors, changing what might possibly wheel, and going into pack two, the changes are likely to be even more pronounced, as the drafters passing to you may very well have different color/curve requirements to fill now.
I understand debating certain picks and saying, hey in this situation I think that picking this card would have been a better choice, but to some how then extrapolate from that, how the rest of the draft would have turned out is completely bonkers.
The whole point of draft is that every time you sit down to draft, the experience is different, that’s why you can draft with a cube of cards, and still never have the same draft occur over and over again.
David Ochoa says: January 13, 2010 @ 11:24 am
@ Comment by Bob The Builder – January 11, 2010 @ 10:53 pm :
Baloth Cage Trap is fine. I’ll almost always play it, but I’m not going to take it over any of the two/three-mana spells like vines/survivalist/chosen/gladehart/recluse.
@ Comment by Adam Nelson – January 11, 2010 @ 11:35 pm :
White is good enough to pair with any color. Its best cards (journey/skyfisher/hookmaster) are good at any point of the game and only cost single-white which makes them easy to cast. Green isn’t the same way. You’d most likely end up playing Silhouette/Survivalist/Gladehart in a base-white deck. None of those are really great considering white already has Nimbus Wings as well as Ondu Cleric and Makindi Shieldmate being too defensive to play most of the time (at least the way I draft white). This isn’t to say that Green is _BAD_. Mono-green can be quite good.
Hindsight isn’t something that should be used when looking back at a draft. The fact is you don’t know what will be passed. You can only work with the information presented to you up to the most recent pick. That’s it.
Going into blue in pack two didn’t seem like an option because in pack one we passed [Welkin Tern/Aether Figment],[Rite of Replication/Windrider Eel],[Whiplash Trap], and [Sky Ruin Drake]. We also weren’t passed enough blue in pack one after the first few packs to think that blue was open.
@ Comment by Moogymatch – January 12, 2010 @ 12:53 am :
Survivalist and Tern leave you open to pair with any other color. However, starting with a Survivalist gives you better options because it’s an Ally. Welkin Tern is going to be the same in every deck that it goes into. However, Survivalist makes every other Ally you see better than it normally would.
@ Comment by SlowRoll – January 12, 2010 @ 6:25 am :
All mono-color decks are good. Blue is usually the weakest.
Black, Green, and White are usually base colors, but can still be paired with one of the other colors that tends to be a base.
I’ve had Kor Aeronaut/Gatekeeper decks before. They can be awkward at times. I’d be more likely to play heavy black with white than vice versa.
Blue can be paired with anything rather easily.
Red is deep enough to pair with anything as a splash or simply to play as mono-red.
I prefer to have red/white/black as one of my colors because they offer removal.
@Comment by MH – January 12, 2010 @ 8:04 am :
If I were to switch colors, I would have to be presented with a pick that was much better than what my secondary color had. For example, in a previous draft, I took a Hideous End pick one and proceeded to get cut from black. By the end of pack one, I was entrenched in blue/green. However, later on in pack three, I got a Sorin Markov which was better than everything green was offering. If the new color offers better cards and I think that it will also provide more playables than what I anticipate getting if I don’t switch, then I will switch.
@ Comment by The Dude – January 12, 2010 @ 8:13 am :
When you’re figuring out a manabase, you must consider a few points:
- When am I going to be playing spells of each color. If you have fifteen white spells and eight red spells, but the red spells are all Warren Instigators or some other card that is only good in the early game, you’re going to need more red mana than if the spells were Pyrotechnics.
- Cards like Timbermaw Larva, Spire Barrage, and Crypt Ripper. Cards that are unfair when you have a surplus of a certain land/mana-type. Take Spire Barrage for example. At any point that you could cast it, you want it to do at least three damage. Three damage is “fair”. Good would be four or five. Absurd is above six. On turn five, you’ll have gone through at least eleven cards of your deck (if you’re on the play), five of which should be lands. Twelve Mountains is likely to yield a three-point Spire Barrage at that point. That’s more of a rough measure and doesn’t need to be exact. I’m likely to not play Spire Barrage if the Mountain-count is lower because it becomes much more inconsistent.
- If you’re looking at cards with kicker, count the kicker cost if you’re you’re likely to play them with the kicker cost. For example, I count Torch Slinger a 3RR because I won’t normally play it without kicking it whereas I will with Mold Shambler.
@ Comment by drbolick – January 12, 2010 @ 12:42 pm :
I journeyed the Illusion token instead of the Reckless Scholar because I knew that if I drew another Kor Skyfisher I’d be able to get the Journey to Nowhere back without having to worry about returning a creature to play.
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