I make no claims of being an expert at Magic anymore having played very sporadically for the last few years but I did a few drafts to prepare for Grand Prix Toronto a couple weekends ago so I'm not totally in the dark here.
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Deck
1 Volition Reins
2 Sky-Eel School
1 Argentum Armor
1 Disperse
1 Trigon of Infestation
1 Silver Myr
1 Darkslick Drake
8 Mountain
1 Scrapdiver Serpent
2 Perilous Myr
10 Island
1 Mindslaver
1 Tumble Magnet
1 Thrummingbird
1 Kuldotha Phoenix
2 Neurok Replica
1 Vulshok Replica
1 Panic Spellbomb
1 Flight Spellbomb
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Sideboard
1 Melt Terrain
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Gold Myr
1 Whitesun's Passage
1 Swamp
1 Flameborn Hellion
1 Tainted Strike
1 Seize the Initiative
1 Plated Seastrider
1 Fulgent Distraction
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Shape Anew
2 Glimmerpost
1 Echo Circlet
1 Twisted Image
1 Untamed Might
1 Forest
1 Moriok Reaver
1 Mountain
1 Turn Aside
2 Darkslick Shores
This deck costs a fortune. A 7-drop, 3 6-drops, and 3 5-drops. They're all pretty powerful though, and I don't have much chance of winning without resolving at least a couple of them I don't think. So I chose to run 18 lands, a myr, and 2 spellbombs pretty much solely for the cycling. I may leave them in play if I want to recur my phoenix, though.
As far as the games go, I was expecting to be able to replay them but apparently Modo is bugged *gasp* and only some replays get saved so I'm going a bit by memory here.
Round 1 - Game 1
I 'curve' out with turn one blue spellbomb, turn two thrummingbird, turn three sac spellbomb play and equip sylvok lifestaff, turn 4 trigon of infestation. My opponent kills the trigon on his turn.
Turn 5 I play out my 5th land (3 islands and 2 mountains) and have in hand mindslaver, volition reins, and phoenix so I can't play anything. I have thrummingbird and lifestaff, he has perilous myr with lifestaff, iron myr, and land. I say go intending to trade with his perilous myr since I think I'll win if the game gets to the point where I draw a mountain. He plays a tumble magnet and neither taps my guy nor attacks.
I draw panic spellbomb and cycle it. I get an island and figure that since I'll mindslaver him in a couple turns I don't actually want to trade with his myr after all and attack. He attacks back and doesn't play anything. I draw my own perilous myr and he taps my thrummo when I go to attack. I cast mindslaver and say go.
He casts grasp of darkness on thrummo on his turn since I'm going to mindslaver him anyway. He also busts out a glint hawk and picks up the tumble magnet. He attacked with the iron myr so he doesn't have the mana to recast it.
I draw a flyer and cast perilous myr and slaver him. His hand is tumble magnet, kemba's skyguard (only 1 white source), and darksteel sentinel. He draws galvanic blast. I dome him with the blast and make him attack into my perilous myr. The two myr triggers kill his iron myr and his glint hawk. I decide to cast his tumble magnet so I can strip a counter off it. (The downside here is if he draws a land he can now cast darksteel sentinel and have tumble magnet in play. The upside is he loses the counter. Might be wrong, but I plan on volition reinsing the sentinel anyway.
Two turns later I draw my mountain which means he gets to tap down my phoenix instead of my 3/4 flyer. He did draw a land so he plays the sentinel which I steal. He has nothing interesting going on and loses shortly thereafter.
Round 1 - Game 2
I play thrumming bird and 2 sky-eel schools and kill him with flyers.
Round 2 - Game 1
My opponent eventually gets out a Kemba legend guy with a strider harness. He also has a culling dais. He makes one cat and casts prototype portal, imprinting accorder's shield on it. This is going to get silly fast. On my turn I play my 6th land and need to choose a target for volition reins. I first decide to swing with my perilous myr in case he wants to trade his cat token for it. (Not a bad play for him since he can sac the token to the dais.) I want him to do this so the dais is tapped and I can steal the legend. He doesn't, so my backup plan is to steal the prototype portal. I almost do that but then I figure out making a lot of useless equipment doesn't actually help me out when he's getting 2 cats a turn and I should just reins his legend and force him to sac it.
Then I realize that I do, in fact, have a thrumming bird and a tumble magnet in play and can just tap the stupid dais. I do that and then steal the legend. If I'd noticed this before I attacked I could have swung with the legend since it had haste. Oh well!
He unequips the legend and I don't draw any equipment of my own so I don't actually get any cat tokens. But I do have thrummingbird +tumble magnet+trigon of infestation going so I'm still in an ok way. He eventually concedes when I cast my 5/5 unblockable serpent.
Round 2 - Game 2
I start with 0 lands, so I mulligan. My next hand has only 1 land but it has a lifestaff and two 3 drops. I'm terrible at Magic so I keep. I never draw a second land. My opponent plays turn 3 legend cat and equips it and I scoop.
Round 2 - Game 3
I get thrumming bird+tumble magnet+trigon of infestation going and he keeps a hand with lots of land and still gets colour screwed with a 1-5-1 land distribution and double coloured spells in hand. I eventually resolve an argentum armor which he doesn't kill, and my 7/10 neurok replica kills him.
Round 3 - Game 1
He goes first. I play a blue spellbomb on turn 1, and a perilous myr on turn 2. He plays a palladium myr on turn 3, playing GR. My hand, after playing my 3rd land, is land, tumble magnet, scrapdiver serpent, volition reins, argentum armor. (The two 6 drops being my last 2 draws.) I cast the tumble magnet and decide to try to slow him down by tapping his mana on his upkeep. He shrugs and plays a ferrovore.
I draw land and sac my spellbomb. I get galvanic blast off of it. I now decide he can cast whatever he wants and don't tap the myr. (He's likely at 5 anyway if he has a land.) He casts bladed pinions, clone shell, and doesn't swing. I draw mindslaver. So I have 5 land, my 7 drop, and both my 6 drops. I say go. He equips ferrovore. I figure with galvanic blast back I don't need to tap it and can just kill it if he sacs a bunch of stuff. He doesn't, so I take 2.
On my turn I draw the last uncastable spell in my deck, the phoenix. I'm lying, that would only happen to Matt. I actually draw a mountain and play mindslaver. Hello ferrovore! I figure he'll probably sac his artifacts to dome me this time, so I spend a token and tap his ferrovore. He still doesn't attack with his other guys. Maybe he's afraid I'll chump with perilous myr? Post combat he arc trails me and my myr, knocking that line of thought out. I could dome him since I can eat his stuff with ferrovore but I'm a little afraid he's going to shatter the mindslaver so I kill his myr. He busts out semblance anvil and doesn't equip it.
I draw darkslick drake and slaver him. His hand is engulfing slagworm, molder beast, and a freshly drawn acid web spider. He only has 5 lands in play. I don't know if I can see his facedown card under chrome shell or not. I certainly couldn't figure out a way to do it. I think the odds of it being an artifact are reasonable so I sac it to ferrovore. Turns out it's another acid web spider, which kills the bladed pinions for me. I then eat his useless semblance anvil. Why do I do this? Well, maybe I'm afraid he has metalcraft coming up? Maybe I want to let him block my serpent? Maybe I just want to kill as much stuff as I can with mindslaver? Who knows! I also blast his ferrovore since I don't see metalcraft coming on my side and might not have a spare mana for turns to come.
On my turn I draw an island, cast my serpent, and ask myself why I killed his semblance anvil. He casts molder beast and says go. I draw vulshok replica, steal the beast, and hit him for 5. He casts his slagworm. (Yes, he ripped two lands to do so.)
I draw my 8th land and sure wish he had an artifact so I could hit him for 5 more down to 9. I could also tap the slagworm and get in for 5. I know he still has a spider so I can't play my armor. Instead I just cast replica and 2/4 flyer and say go. Replica + molder beast means I can actually get a lot of trample damage through at some point.
He plays panic spellbomb, then spider, then sacs the spellbomb. That can't be the right order. I choose not to tap the slagworm (I'm at 17 and will just take 7) and he chooses not to attack (I probably kill him). I draw another land. I don't see a profitable attack (gee, I wish the serpent was unblockable) but he did play the spider so I cast my armor and say go.
I decide to spend my last tumble magnet counter on his slagwurm this turn since I plan on just killing him with the armor and don't want to risk taking 7. So he slice in twains my armor. Fortunately he's terrible and does this on his own turn instead of after I spend 6 mana equipping it. (Or maybe he was afraid I'd draw a counterspell?)
I rip land again, so it doesn't matter since I have nothing to spend mana on anyway. His worm is tapped for the last time so I figure it's time to get in there. I can't find a way to truly profit so I swing with just molder beast (never know when he'll kill my enchantment after all) and trade with a spider. On his turn he casts wormcoil engine (uh-oh) and doesn't attack. I guess he needs to hold his 7/7 back to block my 5/5? Oh wait, wormcoil engine is an artifact and my serpent is finally unblockable. I draw sky-eel school and cast it, pitching a saved land and drawing trigon. I punch him for 5 unblockable and say go.
He again doesn't attack with his 7/7 and just hits with the wormcoil engine. I think he's counting on the lifelink to save him. I chump with vulshok replica and sac predamage, knocking him to 6 and preventing the lifegain. My 2 flyers and the serpent kill him.
Round 3 - Game 2
We both mulligan to 6. He plays a turn 2 off-colour myr. I play a turn 3 neurok replica. He doesn't play a 3rd land for a couple turns, but does play a liquimetal coating. I play a sky-eel school on turn 5. He says go. I attack with my two guys and he turns my eel into an artifact and slices in twains it. Why didn't he do that when I was tapped out? I don't know. My hand at the time is (I think) sky eel school #2, volition reins, serpent, 6th land, 7th land. So I can either let my guy die, keeping my bounce spell, and play a 2nd one without a good discard or I can bounce my guy and do nothing this turn but have 2 future filters. I opt for door #2. On his next turn he casts a molder beast. I play my serpent, he hits me for 5 and casts an alpha tyrannax which I steal. He then scoops.
3 comments:
A few comments:
Pick 1 - This one is really tough. I would take Trigon of Corruption, and I'm not sure if that's overvaluing the Trigon or not. Volition Reins is potentially very powerful, but is a very heavy commitment to blue for a card I think isn't quite a bomb. I was very tempted by Prototype Portal, and might have taken it in a real draft to see what I could do with it. I just feel like the Trigon is super powerful in this format, especially when you get one early and have the chance of picking up some proliferate cards.
Pick 2 - Call me crazy, but I like Snapsail Glider here. This format is really low on flying and there are always chances to pick up off-color myrs.
Pick 3 - I'm not sure how I feel about Grafted Exoskeleton. In one way it can put them on a brutal clock, in another way, it can reset a clock you might have already started. I guess the only other option is spellbomb, but spellbombs are actually pretty good.
Pick 5 - I definitely think Trinket Mage was the pick here. You already had one card to fetch with him and ended up playing with three total. (Was this just a rare draft?)
Pick 31 - I'm not sure about Argentum Armor. It costs 12 before it does anything at all. That Iron Myr would have been very tempting to me given how expensive the deck already is.
Anyway, what I love is that you drafted blue fliers. It's hilarious how much people undervalue them in this format. All the experts and pros seem to think that despite the fact that Sky Eel School would be first pick worthy in almost every draft format (barring good removal or bombs), it isn't that great in Scars.
In a set where people think that plague stinger and cystbearer just win games because there are no fliers and nothing that can deal with a creature with 3 toughness, I find the idea that a 3/3 flier isn't the boss a little weird.
I went through your packs before looking at your picks and ended up with the following myself:
Bladed Pinions
Chrome Steed
Dross Hopper
Ferrovore
Furnace Celebration
Galvanic Blast
Grasp of Darkness
Instill Infection
Iron Myr
Kuldotha Phoenix
Leaden Myr
3 Moriok Reaver
2 Nihil Spellbomb
Panic Spellbomb
2 Perilous Myr
Saberclaw Golem
Skinrender
Snapsail Glider
Trigon of Corruption
Vulshok Replica
16 land
Also a very strong deck, I think (just like Sky Eel School, I think people dramatically undervalue Moriok Reaver)
It's so very tempting to download magic online and start drafting.
I actually strongly dislike Trigon of Corruption. I often find myself playing it on turn 4, getting punched in the face on that turn and having them kill it if it'll be good and ignore it if it won't be good.
Compare it to Instill Infection, which at least gets the counter out there right away for the 4 mana. You end up drawing a card and saving 6 mana but lose out on 2 more -1/-1 counters eventually. Trigon has more comboing potential and can 'go long' if you're playing black and can recharge it but I think they're at least in the same ballpack powerwise. And I think Instill Infection often isn't even good enough to play, certainly not good enough to first pick.
Trigon gets really good when you have a Contagion Clasp and can therefore shell out multiple -1/-1 counters a turn for 6 mana, but even then I've gotten that combo off and lost. I've steamrollered people who played it, too, in both sealed and draft. Origin Spellbomb is actually the card I think is the better pick if anything is. (Prototype Portal can be very good and can be a 2 for 1 against you. It's like the Trigon I guess in that it's slow but eventually ramps into something big but has a higher upside and a bigger downside.)
Don't get me wrong, I will still take and play the Trigon. I just don't think it's very special and don't like first picking it. Volition Reins is a heavy colour commitment but I do think it's pretty special.
I actually find myr to be incredibly hard to find. Metalcraft, equipment, and ramping to 4 mana are all much bigger things than they initially seem and I find they get drafted really highly. I was hoping to be UW at the time so I wasn't seeing it as being offcolour. Glider is ok, but he only tends to fly if you have myr anyway. As Matt emailed me, Ichor Rats would have been an interesting choice here.
Grafted Exoskeleton is generally bad except for the games it single handedly wins. Against people with bounce or a lot of artifact removal it's terrible. Otherwise it's quite strong. I didn't end up playing it but the pack was quite bad. Corpse Cur would have been good with the Ichor Rats...
Pick 5 was just a raredraft. I sold my entire collection recently so I was thinking I could sell it for a reasonable amount. Turns out it's practically worthless so it was a big mistake to take it here.
Argentum Armor is a legitimate bomb. It does cost 12 before it does anything but the thing it does after you pay the 12 is win you the game. If your opponent doesn't have an immediate answer it's almost impossible to come back from. There's a lot of artifact removal in this format but there's also a lot of targets for it and I find people tend to use what they have when they can.
Also, games tend to either end really fast or go a little long. Armor is useless in the fast games (spending 6 mana to do nothing means you may just be dead) but it dominates the slow games.
This deck was definitely on the slow side and I think I got lucky that I often drew Thrummingbird + Tumble Magnet to stay alive long enough for my expensive cards to win the game.
I actually wish I could see what you would have gotten if you'd taken those Rats on the second pick. In that case I would have gone Reins, Rats, Cur, Leaden Myr, Ichorclaw Myr, Steady Progress (should be Instill Infection, but I'd have gone for it!), more Rats. Obviously this would have changed what you got in pack 2 and probably meant infect cards would come through. Two rats and a thrummingbird is kind of frightening.
One of the things I don't like about Armor is that it isn't relevant in fast games, and in addition to that once your opponent has seen you are playing with it, you are very unlikely to win a game with it in long games as well. It could be that your opponent chooses to hold a shatter they might have otherwise played and you win for that reason, but I'd prefer a card that is more likely to affect the board when I play it. My biggest fear for Armor would be playing it, getting punched by my opponent, then having them remove the target or destroy the armor when I go to equip it. It's like a cast Time Stretch and targeted them by accident. You mention the possibility of getting 2-for-1ed on Prototype Portal, but the armor seems like a much bigger gamble than offering a 2-for-1.
I actually like your deck a lot, even if it is a little slow. You may be right about reins, but I think Trigon is better than you are implying.
My feeling in this format is that I want to get lots of things that cost 2 and 4 that can deal with good things that cost similar amounts, and then have a few things that cost 5 or more that can legitimately win games. But when I look for cards that win me the game, I'm looking for more Sky Eel School and Saberclaw Golem then I am for Argentum Armor. In this format, I don't feel like you need to invest 12 mana in a doomsday machine, you just need a medium-sized dude who can punch their face after you've stopped their first couple of creatures from killing you outright.
Maybe eventually there will be a metagame shift where more people want to start going early defense + medium-sized decent dude decks, at which point the Armor will go way up in my estimation.
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