According to Webster – Zendikar-Worldwake Draft #3
Posted by David Ochoa
March 15, 2010 | 
48 comments
Pack 1 pick 1:
Sphinx of Lost Truths is good, but not on the level of Marsh Casualties. A one-sided wrath is simply unfair.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
This is quite a powerful pack. Unfortunately the best cards are all non-black. Burst Lightning is the best by a fair margin. The decision to make is whether you want to risk taking a weaker Black card (Adventuring Gear or Giant Scorpion) versus a more powerful non-Black one (Burst Lightning, Punishing Fire, or even Steppe Lynx). Looking back at last pack, we passed Sphinx of Lost Truths, Windborne Charge, along with a bunch of moderately playable cards. There wasn't much Black left over which means that passing the Giant Scorpion isn't a big deal; it won't be looked at as a sign that Black is open. Additionally, the Blue/White options in this pack aren't as good as the two removal spells. Adventuring Gear is good, but has a high level of variance; it sucks late-game and is awesome early game. Burst Lightning is more consistent.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
Disfigure third is usually a good sign that Black is open. The rest of the pack is filled with chaff. Besides the Disfigure, there isn't much that indicates which color is the best to be in because Pillarfield Ox, Slaughter Cry, Cancel, and Bog Tatters don't stand out.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
Shatterskull Giant is on-par/slightly better than Giant Scorpion. Shatterskull Giant is better at attacking, but more expensive and color-intensive. In close decisions, it's better to stick with the color that is open/cheaper card/what compliments the rest of the deck. Black is almost certainly open while we're less certain about Red.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
Zektar Shrine Expedition, Ruinous Minotaur, and Hagra Diabolist are all fine; they're all mediocre. The Ally has the most potential because it's early in the draft. We could pick up some Pumas, Brigands, and Sell-Swords later on which would make it above average.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 6:
Vampire Lacerator is the best choice. Feast of Blood is better if the deck could support it; generally it's difficult to get enough Vampires to be able to play it. It's too early in the draft to pass up Vampire Lacerator, a decent card that we know we'll play almost all of the time, for a Feast in Blood which we might not even get to play at all.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
Bloodchief Ascension has never impressed me. It takes a while to get active and doesn't necessarily provide an immediate benefit depending on what the two decks look like. If your deck doesn't pressure the opponent enough, then it's difficult to leverage the benefits of the Ascension. Soul Stair Expedition is similar, but is more likely to be good because it doesn't need to be in an aggressive deck to be good. Bloodchief Ascension requires you to hit the opponent for two three times and then trade creatures with the opponent to be good whereas Soul Stair Expedition only requires that you trade creatures.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
There hasn't been much Red floating to us in the last few packs while Blue and White has continued. We could take Paralyzing Grasp or Pillarfield Ox in case Red is indeed being cut or simply take Grim Discovery. Grim Discovery isn't usually very good unless you've got cards like fetchlands, Ruinous Minotaur, Magma Rift, or Reckless Scholar. A deck needs to have a lot of good creatures for Raise Dead to be good enough to play. However, Blue and White don't seem like options for pack two because of what we passed in the first few packs.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
It's quite surprising to see Windborne Charge wheel. It would be good in our deck, though it could make the mana a bit awkward. There hasn't been an indication of White being open and Red not other than the Pillarfield Ox from last pack. Goblin Bushwhacker is slightly similar to Windborne Charge in the sense that it's a double-color spell that adds damage when attacking, but it's harder to use and not as good. Goblin Bushwhacker would be better to take because we already have a Burst Lightning.
In retrospect, it was probably better to hedge our bets and take the Windborne Charge. It's better than Goblin Bushwhacker and a good sign that White was open, or at least underdrafted in pack one. Having at least one good card in White and Red would have made it easier to go with the flow in the following packs.
My pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
It's not surprising to see good cards still left in this pack considering what was in it when we saw it the first time. What is worth noting is that when we passed the pack the only Black card in the pack was Giant Scorpion.
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:
Pack one was good, though I'm concerned about Red. We passed a moderate amount in the early packs and didn't see much of it return which leads me to think that pack two won't be kind to us. However, Black should be good.
Pack 2 pick 1:
There isn't much that compares to Disfigure. Kor Skyfisher is very close, but not really a consideration when looking at our heavy-Black deck that is already splashing a Burst Lightning. It would be better to pass the White card.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
If the packs continue to churn out the Black cards to us, going mono won't be a problem. At that point Crypt Ripper becomes good, although it's more of a late-game card. Alternatively, Goblin Shortcutter is an excellent two-drop for a Black/Red version. It seems more likely that we'll end up heavy-Black opposed to mono-Black so we can play the six-seven decent red cards that we end up with.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
There are very few options here. A second Sour Stair Expedition isn't very thrilling considering the lack of CIP effects that our creatures have. Spire Barrage and Molten Ravager both don't function well outside of heavy-Red decks. Spire Barrage is going to be more problematic for us while Molten Ravager won't be because of the removal/Giant Scorpions that we have.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
Magma Rift and Mark of Mutiny are both undervalued cards in aggressive decks. However, Mind Sludge is a better choice because it creates a vise between it and Marsh Casualties. Being able to wrath someone on multiple fronts greatly hinders their ability to play around one specific card. Each card will keep them off balance from the other forcing them to make suboptimal decisions.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
Bog Tatters is filler against most decks whereas Heartstabber Mosquito is decent. There are usually other ways to spend your mana while a deck ramps up to seven mana and kicks the Mosquito.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
Highland Berserker would work fine with the Hagra Diabolist, but isn't as good as Guul Draz Vampire (the Vampire being a one-mana Bladetusk Boar that requires some hoop-jumping to get it to that point).
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
Teetering Peaks, Goblin War Paint, and Hagra Crocodile are filler cards compared to Blood Seeker. Teetering Peaks gets worse with the addition of Worldwake because it's fighting with Smoldering Spires for the few slots of tapped lands that a deck can play. Blood Seeker tends to do more damage than Teetering Peaks and can create situations where the opponent is locked out from summoning creatures. For example, if they're at eleven and you have a Guul Draz Vampire that they can't deal with, it’s pretty insane.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
Quest for the Gravelord is hit or miss, especially when you consider the number of Kor Sanctifiers that we've seen. Giant Scorpion is going to be more consistent.
My pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
Sadistic Sacrament would make our deck totally unfair. A deck can only have so many three-for-ones and still be fun to play against"¦
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:
Pack two was ok, but not as good as pack one. Red didn't seem to be an option, though we may be able to get away playing heavy Black with a small Red splash.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Cunning Sparkmage is awesome. It kills all the X/1 creatures and makes your two-power creatures trade with all the X/3 creatures.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 2:
Tomb Hex is the easy pick.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Death's Shadow is quite good. It's usually played as a 1/1-5/5 depending on the opposing deck; at that point most decks won't be able to attack you. However, in a heavy-Black deck, Bloodhusk Ritualist is going to be better/more consistent. Considering the three Giant Scorpions in the deck, it won't be difficult to get to the point of playing this guy and getting two/three cards from the opponent's hand.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
There's nothing good here. Akoum Battlesinger is unplayable with the number of Allies we have. Dead Reckoning doesn't do much with only one/two-power creatures. Brink of Disaster isn't playable unless you've got no outs against a bomb like Hellkite Charger. Lightkeeper of Emeria is the best card in the pack, even though we won't end up playing it.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
The deck needs more creatures so we can't afford to take the Smoldering Spires.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
Hedron Rover is better at attacking than Corrupted Zendikon when you're able to make land drops. However, in less-than-ideal situations, Corrupted Zendikon is better because it's more consistent and cheaper. Corrupted Zendikon always attacks and blocks for three whereas Hedron Rover is four and two respectively. On average, Hedron Rover will attack for two as many times as it would be able to attack for four. The Zendikon is more vulnerable to bounce and cards like Paralyzing Grasp/Iona's Judgment than Hedron Rover, but its consistency on offense/defense trumps that.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
Skitter of Lizards is unlikely to be larger than a 2/2 with our Black-heavy manabase. Making it a 3/3 would be very difficult. Kitesail is a good way of forcing through damage when the board gets cluttered up by our Giant Scorpions.
My pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
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 deck ends up being far more controlling than when envisioned at the start of the draft. Marsh Casualties, three Mind Sludges (effectively), Cunning Sparkmage, three Giant Scorpions, combines with a robust removal suite to form an above-average deck.
Deck:
Round 1:
Game 1:
We win the roll and choose to play first. We keep our hand (2 Swamp, Ruthless Cullblade, Bloodhusk Ritualist, Giant Scorpion, Mind Sludge, and Burst Lightning) as does Evil. Leading off the game, we play a Swamp. Evil chooses a more elevating road with a Jwar Isle Refuge [E: 21]. [d: Disfigure] However, we are ready to take first blood by playing a Swamp and summoning the Ruthless Cullblade. Evil follows suit by playing a Swamp and summoning a Ruthless Cullblade of his own. [d: Blood Seeker] A land would have been better for us. However, at least we can summon the Blood Seeker. We don't have enough of a board position to warrant wasting the Disfigure on a do-nothing 2/1.
Evil plays an Island and summons an Umara Raptor with the Blood Seeker stealing a life from Evil in the process [E: 20]. [d: Bloodhusk Ritualist] Our hand is clogged with gas while we are unable to find the lands necessary to get our monster-truck-of-a-deck rolling. However, we still need to kill the Umara Raptor before it gets out of hand; Disfigure dispatches the flying Ally. Afterwards, we attack with the Blood Seeker. Evil blocks with the Cullblade.
Evil plays a Swamp and summons a Crypt Ripper. The Shade can't attack safely past our Cullblade yet so Evil passes the turn. [d: Goblin Shortcutter] Our lack of land is becoming a problem now. We can't do anything except attack with the Cullblade [E: 18] and pass. Evil plays a Swamp and attacks with his Shade. He pumps it three times [G: 15] and passes. [d: Heartstabber Mosquito] We repeat our attack [E: 16] and pass. Evil kills the Cullblade during our end step with Disfigure.
Evil plays an Island and attacks again with the Crypt Ripper. He only pumps it twice [G: 11] and passes the turn which indicates [card summoners bane]Summoner's Bane[/card]. [d: Mountain] The land is too late to the party. We're so far behind that we can't play around anything. After playing the Mountain we summon the Giant Scorpion. Evil casts Summoner's Bane. We're effectively dead.
Sideboard: nothing.
Game 2:
We choose to play first again and keep another two-lander (2 Swamp, Guul Draz Vampire, Blood Seeker, Goblin Shortcutter, Giant Scorpion, and Soul Stair Expedition). Evil keeps his hand as well. After playing a Swamp, we summon the Guul Draz Vampire. Evil leads off with his Jwar Isle Refuge as he did in game one [E: 21]. [d: Giant Scorpion] However, our Vampire is ready to take away the life he so recently gained [E: 20]. Then we play the last Swamp and summon the Blood Seeker. Evil plays an Island and summons his Ruthless Cullblade while our Blood Seeker drains his life away [E: 19].
[d: Swamp] We attack with the Guul Draz Vampire [E: 18], play the Swamp, and summon one of the two Giant Scorpions. Evil simply plays a Swamp and passes the turn back. [d: Corrupted Zendikon] We attack with the Guul Draz Vampire and Giant Scorpion, unafraid of Disfigure. Evil has nothing and takes the hit [E: 16]. Then we summon the other Giant Scorpion. Evil plays a Swamp and summons a Windrider Eel as the Blood Seeker continues to chip away at his life total [E: 15].
[d: Tomb Hex] We play Corrupted Zendikon to make our Swamp more threatening and attack with it as well as the two Scorpions. Evil doesn't block anything [E: 10]. Evil plays an Island and attacks with his Windrider Eel [G: 16]. Then he sets us back on multiple fronts by playing Paralyzing Grasp on our animated Swamp. [d: Swamp] It's time to strike. We play the Swamp and kill Evil's Cullblade with the Tomb Hex. The path is cleared for our army to attack unimpeded [E: 4]. Evil concedes on his turn.
Sideboard: nothing.
Game 3:
Evil decides to play first in the final game of the match. He keeps his hand while we do the same (2 Mountain, 2 Swamp, Cunning Sparkmage, Bloodhusk Ritualist, and Marsh Casualties). Jwar Isle Refuge starts the game off on Evil's side [E: 21] [d: Swamp] while we simply play a Swamp. Evil doesn't have Ruthless Cullblade this time. Instead, he plays a Swamp and forges a Blazing Torch. [d: Swamp] We simply play a second Swamp and pass back.
Evil takes action and summons a Tideforce Elemental after playing an Island. [d: Vampire Lacerator] We play a Mountain and summon the Cunning Sparkmage. The hasty pinger quickly dispatches the Elemental. Evil plays an Island and kills the Sparkmage with a Disfigure. Then he summons a Reckless Scholar. [d: Kitesail] We play a Swamp and summon the Bloodhusk Ritualist, kicked once. Evil discards a second Disfigure.
Evil plays a Swamp and summons a Crypt Ripper with the Jwar Isle Refuge untapped. He attacks past our Ritualist but doesn't pump [G: 18]. Evil passes with no cards. [d: Mountain] We forge the Kitesail, equip it to the Ritualist, and attack with it [E: 18]. Then we play a Swamp and summon the Vampire Lacerator. Evil equips the Blazing Torch to the Crypt Ripper and attacks with it and the Reckless Scholar [G: 14]. Then he summons a Stonework Puma.
The Lacerator drains us [G: 13]. [d: Quag Vampires] We play a Mountain and cast Marsh Casualties with kicker. Evil pumps his Shade to save it while his Stonework Puma and Reckless Scholar are consumed by the deadly Swamp. Then we attack with the two Vampires [E: 13] and pass. Evil plays a Swamp and attacks with the Crypt Ripper, pumping it four times [G: 7]. The Lacerator drains us again [G: 6]. [d: Swamp] We can't stop the Crypt Ripper because of the Blazing Torch. We lose.
Happy Drafting.
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About This Author
David Ochoa
David (“Web”) Ochoa has had a string of consistent finishes recently, making Top 16 at two of the last three Pro Tours, and Top 8 at Grand Prix Minneapolis. Along with LSV, Web is also an active member of the West Coast Vintage scene, and it is rare for him&hellip
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Fin says: March 15, 2010 @ 8:41 pm
What a let down. Damn torch being relevant…
Hilikus says: March 15, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
Good draft, nice to see the bad beats happen every now and then. Better than seeing every draft be a stomp fest.
I do have a question though: Do you think anything went wrong in this draft? What happened, and was there any way that maybe you did not see to turn it around and end up with a better record?
moerutora says: March 15, 2010 @ 9:20 pm
I thought the Ripper was a much better choice comapred with the shortcutter.
Nice draft, shame you were mana hosed.
riceburner says: March 15, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
I agree that you should have hedged your bets with white after seeing the Charge table. Whenever I am in the position of seeing a ninth or tenth pick that should be a second or third pick in pack one, I will usually take it as long as I am not already committed to two colors (which is usually not the case). I would be a little hesitant given that BW is not the best combo in this format, but I have seen some really great decks that were BW.
Great report nonetheless! Your draft walkthroughs are second only to LSV’s.
Corey says: March 15, 2010 @ 9:38 pm
The game 1 keep seems a bit risky. You have Cullblade you can cast with the lands in hand. Drawing 1 land gets you Scorpion and an unkicked Ritualist, which doesn’t seem very good, while you still have Sludge and Burst Lightning potentially stuck in your hand.
Was there any consideration to go to 6?
Did you consider playing 19 lands? The deck seems to have a pretty high curve with an average CMC of 2.5.
MH says: March 15, 2010 @ 9:51 pm
This week’s draft writeup was very good. I appreciated all the in-depth explanations! I also really love the chat between packs, that might be the most helpful part of all.
Could you go over P2P7 (Teetering Peaks, Goblin War Paint, Hagra Crocodile, Blood Seeker.) again, though? I don’t quite see why Crocodile is worse than Seeker, and your explanation only covered the Seeker vs. Peaks and Seeker vs. Paint matchups (although after reading it is abundantly clear why those options are worse).
Is it just because Crocodile can’t block, in what is shaping up to be a controlling deck (multiple Scorpions, Sludge, M.Casualties)? If so, that makes P2P2 (Shortcutter over Crypt Ripper) even more confusing, because Shortcutter is so aggressive a card.
P3P10, could you explain your pick (Ruin Ghost over Mire’s Toll)? This deck looks like it’s shaping up to have a 13/5 manabase or so (especially if we’d taken Ripper over Shortcutter), and in such a black-heavy deck, Mire’s Toll can just be full-on Coercion on about turn 4-5, except without nuking your tempo. Nothing spectacular, but it’s got to be better than a hate draft, right?
Josh says: March 15, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
“P3P10, could you explain your pick (Ruin Ghost over Mire's Toll)? This deck looks like it's shaping up to have a 13/5 manabase or so (especially if we'd taken Ripper over Shortcutter), and in such a black-heavy deck, Mire's Toll can just be full-on Coercion on about turn 4-5, except without nuking your tempo. Nothing spectacular, but it's got to be better than a hate draft, right?”
he already had a sludge and 2 ritualists, so the toll wasn’t getting played anyway, and ruin ghost can be really annoying
jon says: March 16, 2010 @ 12:06 am
i probably would have taken the crypt ripper, quest for the gravelord, and death’s shadow, but then again, i have a bias towards wanting to drop fat bombs on my opponents–i played lorthos the tidemaker in a UW aggro draft deck the other night, drew him twice, won the game i got to play him, lost the game i died at 7 mana with him in my hand :’-(
McBub says: March 16, 2010 @ 12:10 am
Great deck, tough luck.
Thanks for another well written draft report.
Big Z says: March 16, 2010 @ 12:28 am
I would’ve taken Ripper over shortcutter and Croc over Blood seeker, once you get a decent amount of removal you need some heavy hitters to finish the game fast and those 2 are really good at that. Also not a huge fan of guul daaz vampire if I don’t have a really aggresive deck, would’ve taken the berserker there. Otherwise a nice deck, shame you lost round 1
Trackback MTGBattlefield says: March 16, 2010 @ 1:35 am
According to Webster – Zendikar-Worldwake Draft #3…
Your story has been summoned to the battlefield – Trackback from MTGBattlefield…
W A MacMurdo says: March 16, 2010 @ 1:39 am
Bummer about the bad beats! My last ZZW draft saw me draft UW aggro with 12/18 creatures with flying and lose round one to mana flood. then again, Ive seen you 3-0 drafts with decks I thought were totally unplayable as well!
Kirblar says: March 16, 2010 @ 1:50 am
You should have been mono-black- the Shortcutter and Spire Barrage picks were just awful.
Albert says: March 16, 2010 @ 2:11 am
What was that about Sadistic Sacrament making the deck no fun to play against? Cheers on a great walkthrough
Danielle says: March 16, 2010 @ 3:05 am
I think it would be great to see a video of the draft, with the soundtrack for the games added in the style of your writing!
whatisfgh says: March 16, 2010 @ 4:19 am
@Albert
That would be sarcasm/a joke, as it has no impact on the board/hand besides the fact that you have to tap mana and “discard” it to play it.
JB says: March 16, 2010 @ 4:51 am
Great write-up, for both the draft and play portions.
Crypt Ripper vs Shortcutter is a tough call, especially at that stage in the draft. I probably go with the Shortcutter personally as I am not a fan of the Ripper and would prefer to be aggressive if possible.
Too bad you lost the way you did though. Seems ridiculous to lose two games to the Ripper when you are packing 3 Scorpions.
Kevin Grove says: March 16, 2010 @ 5:40 am
I was your opponent this round. I was pretty upset with the way my deck rounded out and felt pretty lucky to beat you. The Crypt Ripper/Torch plan was risky, but it felt like the only chance to win game 3.
Phyrre56 says: March 16, 2010 @ 6:40 am
Two bad beats (one mana screw, one obscure ability that was never the intent of playing the card in the first place). Great write-up though!
Honestly, this was reassuring to read. I know that walkthrough writers tend to cover successful drafts. Who likes to write up their miserable failure? But it really skews the readers’ perceptions of the game.
The truth is that the best players in the world still lose to mana screw sometimes. They just don’t write about it much.
I used to think that I was doing something wrong because I would lose in situations like “2 lands in the opening hand, then no more lands until Turn 5″ or “4 lands in the opening hand, then draw 5 more lands off the top.” No one ever wrote about games like that, so I figured it was a deck building issue. But really that’s just a biased perception.
I would really love to see some extensive stats about Pros drafting. Not a full recap like above, but just…how often do they really go 3-0? How often do they get mana screwed? That would be interesting to me.
Someguy says: March 16, 2010 @ 7:00 am
My opinion, your draft walkthroughs are second to NO ONE, not even LSV.
I remember a few months ago commenting how nice it would be to know what you drew each turn so we could reconstruct the board states exactly. WHAM next article you added them. Phreaking awesome. LSV and all others would do well to take note of this.
——————————————————-
I realize without land it didn’t matter, but why attack with blood seeker in game 1? Were you expeting him to just take 1? I realize that trading it for the 2/1 isn’t bad, but it will always be an option down the road. OTOH, not trading him away there gives you the option to chump block the huge ripper later.
——————————————————–
@Shortcutter / Ripper pick:
I’d go with the ripper. Your deck at that point doesn’t seem to be half red half black, and as a splash 2 drops aren’t that good (imo). You splash removal, bombs, etc, but a 2 drop is usually only relevant turn 2/3/4, so if you’re splashing for them… I know shortcutter is a pseudo spell, but imo not worth it (and ripper can be a house in a longer game).
Torch ftw, that ability is NOT “obscure” or whatever, it’s very flavorful and we all agree vampires are p strong in Zendikar limited (hell constructed t2/block too right) so putting that ability on an uncommon was a great choice imo.
Thanks for posting this, nice to see the top pro’s lose in the first round sometimes too.
Robb says: March 16, 2010 @ 7:58 am
I would’ve taken Vampire’s Bite over Mindless Null P2P10. Better in an aggro deck, it’s still decent in more controlling deck.
aaron says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:10 am
I’m confused as to why you kill the tideforce immediately. Were you playing around bounce? Even still, with umara raptor in his deck this just seems like the wrong play.
chaos_noise says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:32 am
Ripper is good stuff never underestimate it. Especially when your opponent is solid and spending pump mana smart. Just enough pump to kill a blocker and leave mana up to get outta Tomb Hex / Disfigure range is just a beating and a half when all your guys are chumps at that point.
Vampire Weak Knights says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:48 am
I’ve lost enough games to Ripper to respect it. That thing can be a bomb.
Moogymatch says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:59 am
Don’t be dissing Sad Sac! At last week’s draft someone kicked it FTW against a Felidar/Ondu Cleric deck that was going to win on the alternate win condition in 2 turns. If you have a controllish deck and come up against another one, removing 15 cards from their library is not a bad backup plan.
Mike says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:59 am
I’ve seen Windborne Charges tabling both in drafts and draft walkthroughs lately. The card seems to be pretty consistently underrated.
GUnit says: March 16, 2010 @ 9:23 am
I love your draft writeups, but you literally blew my mind (in a really bad way) when you picked shortcutter over crypt ripper. Your loss to the card was deserved.
GUnit says: March 16, 2010 @ 9:27 am
Well, not literally.
David Ochoa says: March 16, 2010 @ 9:39 am
@ Comment by Hilikus – March 15, 2010 @ 9:09 pm :
I had gone back to review the drafting/games before writing about this. I would have made the same decisions in each game. There were a few places in the draft where I would consider changing my pick (windborne charge/goblin bushwhacker, vampire’s bite/mindless null, and crypt ripper/goblin shortcutter).
Single elimination drafts don’t lend themselves well to showing the realistic success of a deck because you can have a good deck, like this one, and be out after losing the first round; this deck should easily 2-1.
Honestly, far too many people are concentrating on the results of the draft instead of the drafting itself. The drafting is the most important part. Whether the deck went 0-1 or 3-0 afterwards isn’t nearly as important.
@ Comment by Corey – March 15, 2010 @ 9:38 pm :
I feel that your comment is only based on the fact that I kept a two-lander on the play and didn’t get there. I understand it’s difficult to not be results-based when looking at a decision in hindsight, but it’s necessary to move past that hurdle if you want to be successful.
“Did you consider playing 19 lands? The deck seems to have a pretty high curve with an average CMC of 2.5.”
That statement is ridiculous.
My hand:
Swamp
Swamp
Ruthless Cullblade
Giant Scorpion
Bloodhusk Ritualist
Mind Sludge
Burst Lightning
The only card that sucks in this hand is Mind Sludge. You have to assume you’re going to draw a realistic ratio of spells and lands which means you should be able to summon the Giant Scorpion on turn three more often than not. The Scorpion will buy you enough time to play out the rest of the hand and whatever else you draw.
@ Comment by MH – March 15, 2010 @ 9:51 pm :
Blood Seeker helps with cards like Vampire Lacerator and Guul Draz Vampire (both of which we have) and can block in a few situations. Hagra Crocodile is expensive, can’t block, and doesn’t do much when you don’t have lands to play. Not having lands to trigger Landfall is one of the worst positions to be in because it turns many of the awesome cards in your deck into garbage. I want to have cards that don’t fall into that category when possible if the Landfall cards aren’t awesome (like Plated Geopede). The other big strike against Hagra Crocodile is its mana cost. Four mana is a lot. It’s really easy to just draft a bunch of expensive creatures and suddenly you’re on the draw against a bunch of Kor Outfitters and get beaten raw.
Regarding Mire’s Toll, I already had Mind Sludge and two Bloodhusk Ritualist. Three cards almost felt excessive. However, their effect is quite powerful. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mire’s Toll in a deck with this kind of manabase. However, I wasn’t going to run a fourth discard spell (even though two double as creatures).
@ Comment by Someguy – March 16, 2010 @ 7:00 am :
I attacked with the Blood Seeker because I wanted to trade. There were a few reasons why:
1. I’m less vulnerable to his removal with an empty board.
2. I didn’t foresee being in the position to leverage a trade with the Blood Seeker as the game progressed.
Splashing Goblin Shortcutter in addition to the good red cards is fine. Goblin Shortcutter isn’t actually a two-drop in the sense that playing it on turn two is usually its worst use. It’s better to play it when its CIP effect is useful, otherwise you’ve just got a 2/1 (I realize that some decks are fine with just a 2/1, but those require tricks later on to make their bad cards good later on, cards like Goblin Shortcutter).
Corey says: March 16, 2010 @ 10:44 am
“The only card that sucks in this hand is Mind Sludge.”
The burst is kinda dead as well seeing as you only have 5 mountains. Drawing a mountain in a reasonable amount of time makes the card dead early. Even if you say you have one bad card and one card that you can’t reasonably expect to play very early its almost like a six card hand anyway. This is also expecting to play the Ritualist at 3 which isn’t very good.
I thought the hand was pretty risky before reading the game, but thats neither here nor there.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean when you say that my statement of your deck having a high curve with an average CMC of 2.5 is ridiculous. In my experience, the curve of most ZZW draft decks the CMC is a bit lower.
It just seems to me that keeping a hand with 2 near dead cards and not enough land to cast more than half the spells in your deck is a bit risky.
Chris says: March 16, 2010 @ 11:19 am
My question is about your play on game3..why didn’t you slow roll the cunning sparkmage?
Tideforce elemental was not an immediate threat and you had bloodhusk ready to kill his hand. Instead of sparkmage you couldve just dropped the lacerator. Wouldve forced him to overextend and possibly tap out for the ripper letting you get full value for the marsh casualties, no?
sti says: March 16, 2010 @ 11:46 am
He means saying 2.5 is high enough to run 19 lands is absurd.
Also mulling two lands and a play is also absurd. What exactly are you hoping to draw here off 6?
Huck101 says: March 16, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
great article thanks for the walkthrough
sidenote:
albeit at a more expensive combo (but a combo nevertheless)
3x giant scorpion + Razor Boomerang = basilisk collar + cunning sparkmage
Moogymatch says: March 16, 2010 @ 12:48 pm
Sry Huck, no it isn’t – it’s the Boomerang that deals the damage, not the Scorpion.
pixels says: March 16, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
I had completely forgotten about the Torch’s other ability. What a strange way to lose.
authority11 says: March 16, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
@Huck
Razor Boomerage deals the damage. Doesn’t work like you think.
Christoff says: March 16, 2010 @ 8:59 pm
Seriously.
Your way of writing is a joke. “The path is free for our army to attack unimpeded”, wtf. I can’t read your descriptions of games because you have to make an comment on every single game change.
Self-indulgent crap.
Corey says: March 16, 2010 @ 10:22 pm
@sti: Not really sure, but looking at the hand it doesn’t seem very strong to me and its pretty close to a 5 card hand right now, so I figure the average six should be better.
I just don’t see a seven with the Burst, the Sludge, and the Ritualist being better than an average 6.
Dr. Cat says: March 17, 2010 @ 12:17 am
I’d love to hear your comments on how you decide whether to keep two land hands in general, as they’re often the hardest mulligan decisions for me. Being in a block where we often play 18 lands makes them a trifle safer, but not a lot. What’re your minimum requirements for a 2 land hand to be a keeper rather than a mulligan, both on the play and on the draw? This is even tougher for me in constructed, where a 60 card deck ups the odds a little more of staying manascrewed with a 2 land opener. I tend to mulligan a little more aggressively in constructed since it’s less “self-correcting”.
I was going to ask if 19 lands was viable myself, only for different reasons. It seems to me that with the Mind Sludge, Marsh Casualties, and two Bloodhusk Ritualists, upping the odds that you’ll consistenty have the mana to make a backbreaking play on turn 5 or 6 has some value. Maybe even enough to offset an increased amount of mana-flood? If you flood a bit but then get a 3 for 1, that goes a long way to make up for it.
I guess I should go look at a table of how often you make your first N land drops at 18 land, before I think too hard about it.
Freshlop says: March 17, 2010 @ 2:41 am
I agreed with every single pick especially shortcutter over crypt ripper. I was surprised to hear you say you think shatterskull giant is better than scorpion tho. I guess I’m never r/b in draft so that choice doesn’t come up often.
Freshlop says: March 17, 2010 @ 3:20 am
Since I can’t edit my post(I think), I’m gonna expand on my previous comment. The reason I’m against the ripper and shatterskull is because I always find myself with an abundance of 4 drops, especially in black. I don’t want more than 4 4 drops in a deck as a general rule while I’ll play as many 2 drops as I can get. The only reason I can see taking the ripper is if you plan on going mono black but I think your deck is just worse that way. Maybe I undervalue the ripper since it does compare favorably to timebermaw larva and I love the larva. The scorpion pick is much closer and I can see times when I’d take either.
Anyway, I love the walkthroughs. Always interesting.
Kirblar says: March 17, 2010 @ 6:58 am
The reason the Shortcutter pick (and subsequent Barrage) is getting so much flack is that Mono-Black aggro Vamps is an incredibly good deck in this format (See: LSV), as it picked up a BILLION early drops in WorldWake that no one else wants, like the Cullblade and Pulse Tracker, making cards like Feast of Blood way earlier picks than they normally would be. (Lacerator was still correct though.
After getting absolutely no playable red cards in pack 1 other than Burst Lightning, (Bushwhacker didn’t have the color support) he in no way shape or form should have been taking a Red card that marginal that early. Ripper is an absolute bomb in a mono-black deck, the black version of Timbermaw Larva.
morkje says: March 17, 2010 @ 9:01 am
Did anyone consider blocking the Crypt Ripper with the Ritualist forcing him to pump, and then use Marsh Casualties during the next turn to take it out?
Would make it a 2 for 2, but the Ripper was bound to become a problem.
The deck has some outs with Tomb Hex ( -4 being enough most of the time during your own turn) and Scorpions but you weren’t holding those.
It feels like an awkward play with notthing but the Lacerator and a Kitesail, but still.
Any thoughts?
David Ochoa says: March 17, 2010 @ 9:53 am
@ Comment by Dr. Cat – March 17, 2010 @ 12:17 am :
In Limited, I’ll keep most two-land hands if I can cast most of my spells. There’s a lot of details to expand on though.
You have to make a decision based on how much you know about your opponent’s deck. The first thing you should do after finishing a round is find the matches still playing from your pod and find out what you’re playing against. If you get paired against against a really aggro deck and are on the draw with a Stonwork Puma and Timbermaw Larva, you may want to consider mulliganing if your average creature is a Halimar Excavator or Oran-Rief Recluse.
Being on the draw makes it easier to keep land-light/heavy hands.
There are a lot of situational factors that go into a mulligan decision; so many that it isn’t feasable to cover them in a comment. Needless to say, each situation is often different. Base your decision on what you know, both about your deck and the opposing one, and the composition of your opening hand.
In Constructed, mulliganing is easier because you should have an idea of how a matchup plays out, understand what the gameplan is, and what cards are more important to have. Ex: a five-land hand is keepable in some matchups and a mulligan in others.
@ Comment by morkje – March 17, 2010 @ 9:01 am :
I don’t get enough advantage from that play. If I trade Bloodhusk Ritualist and Marsh Casualties for Reckless Scholar and Crypt Ripper, then I’m left with Vampire Lacerator and Kitesail versus his Blazing Torch. He’s on twenty and I’m on eighteen. I get to draw first, but that leaves so much of the game to be decided by the draw step. I didn’t feel like playing the game that way.
For my play to cause me to lose, I had to not one of ten outs over the course of multiple turns. Additionally, he had to draw a Swamp on that last turn to do exactly enough damage.
abdallah says: March 17, 2010 @ 6:33 pm
wrongest first pick ever
McBub says: March 18, 2010 @ 12:19 am
Worst first pick ever? Check out this week’s draft viewer
on Wizards page:
One guy (reiderrabbit) first picks a Scythe Tiger!!
Then proceeds to win the draft afterwards…
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/activity/408
Shoopdawhoop says: March 18, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
A) Why do you write “we”, do you have some sort of multiple personality disorder which causes you to think of yourself as multiple people?
B) Why pick shortcutter over crypt ripper there? seems completely terrible
C) Why take mindness null over vampires bite? you don’t have to be a pro to know that’s the wrong pick
treacheroust says: March 23, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
Not that I disagree with the pick, but bloodchief assension does its thing, even if your opponent is casting non-creature spells which then are put into the graveyard. This makes it better than you implied.