Magic 2012 Draft 1

I'm back from WBC and Magic Nationals is in less than 2 weeks. While I was gone M12 was released on Magic Online which means it's time to get cracking in terms of getting ready for the draft portion of the event. I played 2 rounds in a prerelease for M12 a few weeks ago and learned more about how much I hate being crammed into a hot, humid room with a bunch of sweaty gamers than I did about the new set. You can sum up pretty much everything I know about drafting M12 in 3 sentences:

• Planeswalkers are awesome
• Green is terrible
• It's a core set so just taking the best card is a good plan

Now, I typically love to draft green even in formats where it is 'terrible' so I'm not going to deliberately avoid green in my testing but it is something I'm keeping in mind. 

I apologize that I haven't come up with a better format to display the cards. I've been meaning to write a slideshow style control that would really clean up the draft summary but when it comes right down to it I'd rather play games than do so. Certainly at this point just getting drafts done and thinking about drafts is way more valuable than screwing around with web code.

Hopefully this works!

  Pack 1 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 7:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 8:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 9:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 10:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 11:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 12:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 13:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 14:




  My Pick:






  Pack 1 pick 15:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 7:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 8:




  My Pick:






  Pack 2 pick 9:




  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:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 1:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 2:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 3:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 4:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 5:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 6:




  My Pick:






  Pack 3 pick 7:




  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:




  My Pick:






This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.

Visit the draft converter today!


My opening pack had 4 green cards including one that seems really good so I figured I'd try to go green. When the pack came back all the green cards were gone. I thought green was supposed to be bad, why is half the table drafting it? I'd taken the chasm drake thinking it would work great in a green/blue deck by giving my fatties flying and decided to maybe shift into blue/white instead. Then pack two gave me 2 oblivion rings and that decision was cemented. Getting a merfolk looter 8th pick in pack 3 is mind boggling.

My Deck


1 Æther Adept
2 Greatsword
2 Mana Leak
1 Frost Breath
9 Island
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Armored Warhorse
2 Assault Griffin
1 Skywinder Drake
1 Alabaster Mage
1 Stormfront Pegasus
8 Plains
1 Aven Fleetwing
1 Griffin Sentinel
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Serra Angel
2 Chasm Drake
1 Merfolk Looter
2 Ponder

Match 1 - Game 1:


My opponent chooses to draw. My opener is P, I, I, I, ponder, mana leak, chasm drake which seems like a pretty clear keeper. I play island and ponder revealing mana leak, aven fleetwing, chasm drake. I keep them on top with the plan of countering his first couple plays and then going flyer beatdown. He plays 3 forests and no spells and on my 4th turn I draw an island. Possibly I should have kept holding back on mana leak but I decided to play my 2/2 hexproof flyer.

He follows up with a 4th forest and a giant spider. People may say green is terrible but giant spider sure owns my deck. I draw a plains and figure I'm in for a penny so I might as well be in for a pound and bust out one of my two chasm drakes. He plays a 5th forest, kills my drake with a stingerfling spider, and bashes for 2. If giant spider owns my deck then stingerfling spider controls the mortgage. Ugh.

I draw a griffin sentinel and play it with mana leak back. He swings with his 2/4 and I throw my 1/3 in front. He has no tricks and follows up with crumbing colossus. This is a 7/4 that dies after it attacks and I'm still at a robust 18 so I decide to hold off on my mana leaks which may have been a mistake. I draw greatsword and decide to give up on mana leak again, equip my 2/2, and swing with a 5/2 into his 2/5. He trades, bashes me with colossus, and plays gravedigger. He chooses to get back the 7/4 instead of the spider.

I draw a rishadan airship and decide my best plan is to equip my 1/3 vigilance flyer, punch for 4, and hold back mana leak. He swings with both his dudes, I block, and he has wring flesh (-3/-1) for the kill. He replays colossus and I leak this one since I am no longer at a robust life total.

I draw ponder, see island, island, and oblivion ring. I decide to keep it (the ring is probably my best card and I could use mana to equip my sword around). I bust out my second chasm drake and say go. He swings and I block gravedigger. He dies and follows it up with a 9/9 trampling carnage wurm. Good thing I have an oblivion ring! I draw island, ring the wurm, and have to decide between equipping and swinging for 6, swinging for 3 with mana leak back, doing nothing, or casting airship. Life totals are 7-16. I decide to just say go intending to block and bounce his spider and counter a fatty. Instead he just has a second wring flesh which kills my blocker. I draw my 8th land and have the mana to cash airship, equip, and keep leak up. He knocks me to 5 and plays a 3/2 with 5 mana up so I can't leak it.

I draw looter, smash for 6, and equip the looter. He casts dark favor on his spider, making it 5/5 and I have to chump it while falling to 2. He plays a 4.2 with 3 mana up. I draw a dork and concede. I think if I'd countered colossus the first time around and kept that 7 life I probably win. Sigh.

Game 2

I choose to play and my opener is P, I, ponder, elite vanguard, mana leak, griffin sentinel, and assault griffin. That's a definite keeper. Early pressure, a counter, and some card filtering to get lands if I don't draw any. Maybe a near perfect hand?

I play my 2/1 on turn 1. He plays a swamp and says go. I draw a plains and see no reason to ponder. I swing for 2, play island, and say go. He casts a 2/1 lifelink and I leak it. I draw an island, play my 1/3, and hit him for 2. He plays jade mage and a 3rd land. I draw a 5th land, swing for 3, and play my 3/2 flyer. He plays a 4th land and says go, intending to make a token and kill my 2/1 I imagine.

I draw frost breath and pretty much can't lose anymore. I cast ponder and see rishadan airship, alabaster mage, oblivion ring. GG! I keep those, I swing for 4 in the air, and bust out my 3/1 flyer. He makes a token and then casts trollhide on his mage. I tap his team with frost breath and kill him.

Game 3

He chooses to draw again. My hand is P, P, P, I, alabaster mage, merfolk looter, chasm drake. A keeper for sure. I play a plains and say go. He plays a 1/1 unblockable on turn 1. I draw a 5th land and decide looter is the right play to start. He has jade mage on his turn. I draw a 6th land, loot into mana leak, but decide to play alabaster mage anyway. Probably because he's likely to just make a token anyway and I might need to race the unblockable dude. He punishes that decision with trollhide on the unblockable dude, swinging for 3 unblockable.

I draw a second chasm drake, loot into a 7th land, and have no play. I decide to offer the mage trade which he declines. I lifelink it up for 2 and say go with leak mana up. He just punches for 3 and says go. Jade mage is a pretty good answer to mana leak it turns out. I rip an 8th land, loot it into an oblivion ring, and take out the 3/3. I say go with leak mana up. He just swings with a token and says go. I draw aether adept (wish that was before the oblivion ring!) and decide to loot. My hand is now chasm drake, chasm drake, mana leak, aether adept, aven fleetwing. I pitch one of the drakes and decide to play around the spider by playing the hexproof flyer first. (Why I didn't just power out chasm drakes so I could jump my mage I don't know.)

On his turn he takes advantage of my no 2-mana up to play giant spider. Sigh. I draw land 9 (holy cow do I lose if I don't have looter) and decide my play is going to be man-o-war the spider, swing for 2, and maybe counter it on the way back down. He has land 7 so that can't happen. I looter into land 10. Then I draw assault griffin. I decide my best bet is to play a 6th land, play the 3/2 flyer, and keep leak mana up. He makes more tokens, casts sacred wolf, and says go. I looter into greatsword at end of turn and give up on leak. On my turn I draw rishadan airship, cast sword, equip my 3/2 and swing. He trades the spider for it and makes a 4th token.

He has a second giant spider and swings with his tokens. I block 2 of them with my 2/2s and take 2. He has no tricks. I elect not to looter and draw my 2/1. He's started to throw dudes away for damage so I'm a little worried. I decide to equip my aether adept and swing. He makes a token (not enough mana to make 2 and trade) and chumps. I lifelink it up and play my 2/1. He has a second trollhide for his spider and trades one of his 2 tokens for 1 damage. I looter at end of turn this time (trying to dig up o ring #2 for the hided spider) and trade chasm drake for frost breath. I draw griffin sentinel and decide to play out my airship and equip it. This gives me 8 power of flyers and him 16 life so I can tap his spider and kill him in 2 turns, hopefully. He makes 2 tokens and passes his turn. I loot into land and pitch it.

I draw land 12 and frost breath his spider and his mage. I swing for 8 and decide to gain 6 life instead of playing my 1/3 flyer. I'm a little worried about overrun and didn't bother to math it out. If I had I would have discovered I was dead even with that 6 life...

He makes 3 dudes at end of turn. Then he casts acidic slime killing my sword and plays a THIRD giant spider. Come on! He swings with just 3 tokens and I kill one and take 3. I loot into a land. On my turn I draw land 14 and loot again. I get my second oblivion ring. The enchanted spider is still tapped but I figure I can exile the untapped normal one, knock him to 3, and play my 1/3 flyer to get up to 6 power. He can block my 3/1 but will still die if he has no more tricks up his sleeve.

He swings with his team and I decide not to kill the slime in case he has gravedigger. I fall to 13, draw another land and looter into ponder. It serves up serra angel. He's dead on board though so that doesn't really matter.

Match 2 - Game 1

I win the roll and choose to play. My hand is P, P, I, armored warhorse, rishadan airship, serra angel, o ring. Yeah, that'll do deck. That'll do. He plays a forest (I thought green was bad) and I draw mana leak. I play my 2/3 anyway. He pacifies it for some reason. I draw greatsword and play my 3/1 flyer. He has skinshifter but doesn't have mana to trade up. I draw an island, crash in for 3, and decide to play greatsword instead of leaking. He plays crown of empires which I wish I could leak.

I draw ponder, cast it, and see P, I, looter. He can trade with my guy so I don't want to equip. Looter seems like a fine way to spend my mana leak mana so I do that and offer the trade. He takes it. On his turn he also has a stingerfling spider and kills my airship. I wish I had leak mana for that. Sigh. I play serra angel. He does nothing on his turn and I looter away a land. I use oblivion ring on his crown and he taps serra in response. I say go. He casts arbalest elite which will eventually kill serra so I leak it. I looter into a land and then draw another leak. I equip serra and crack for 7. He pacifies her and cracks with a 4/4 skinshifter. Then he casts a 2/1 flyer which will trade with any of my equipped dudes so I leak it.

I loot into a 2/2 flyer and draw a 3/2 flyer. I decide to looter again with just those two in hand and get ponder. I pitch the 2/2 flyer, cast ponder, and see a 3/2 flyer, a 1/3 flyer, and a 2/1 dude. I choose to shuffle since none of those get around his 2/5 spider. Post shuffle I rip my second oblivion ring which takes out the pacifism on serra. He's at 7 and she's 7/4 so he has to chump with spider. On his turn he casts his 3rd pacifism of the game on her, casts arachnus web on my looter, and cracks me for 1 down to 11.

I draw my second greatsword. I can either play a 2/2 hexproof flyer or I can equip my looter. This will cause the web to fall off at end of turn and let me loot away the second sword. It'll also let me threaten to trade with his skinshifter so I go with that plan. He does nothing and I looter the greatsword into a 2/1 flyer. I draw a land and decide to cast just the 2/2 flyer. Looking at it now I could have also played a 6th land and a 2/1 flyer. This would threaten the kill on board so maybe it would have been better but it would shut off my looter so it isn't clear. On his turn he plays a 3/5 vanilla dude for 5. Seems weak. I looter into a land which I pitch.

I draw another land and move my sword to my flyer. He trades skinshifter for it. I play my 2/1 flyer. He busts out a 5/6 vanilla dude and hits me down to 8. I loot into a 3/2 flyer and then draw my man-o-war. I decide the line here is to finally play a 6th land, equip my flyer up to 5/1, bounce his guy, and crack him down to 2. In retrospect I also could have cracked with the looter to knock him to 1 but my plan was to equip looter next turn and have 3 lethal dudes anyway. He scoops.


Game 2

He chooses to play and my hand is P, P, I, griffin sentinel, assault griffin, chasm drake, frost breath. Seems ok. I start by drawing a second island. He misses his second land drop and I draw a 5th land. His turn 3 is a second land and a rampant growth getting his 3rd colour of mana, red. I draw a 6th land and play a 1/3 flyer. He doesn't have another land but does have benalish veteran. I draw a 2/2 flyer and play my 3/2 flyer. He attacks, giving me a chance to trade, and I decline and take 3. He pacifies my flyer and plays grim lavamancer.

I draw land 7, swing for 1, and play chasm drake. He offers the trade again, I decline again, I take 3 again, and he pacifies my guy again. I draw mana leak, swing for 1, cast a 2/2 flyer and keep leak mana up. He offers the trade and I again decline and take 3. I'm starting to get low so this may be wrong. He plays crown of empires which might be mana intensive for his 4 lands but leak it anyway. He has a 2/1 flyer as well. I draw serra, swing for 1, trade flyers, and play serra. He has another 2/1 flyer and swings for 3 again. I don't trade serra for it.

I draw land 8 and swing for 1. My plan is to frost breath during his attack to tap the veteran and the flyer. I do that. He, of course, has the 3rd pacifism for serra.

I draw land 9 and swing for 1. He plays scepter of empires (I am at 8) and says go. I draw oblivion ring and bring serra back into the fray, swinging for 5 and knocking him to 9. I trade serra for the veteran now. He has a second one. I draw mana leak and swing for 1. I am forced to chump.

I draw land 10 and get killed.

Game 3

I keep the stupidest hand in the history of keeps and die before playing a creature. 2 greatswords, some plains, and some blue spells. Justice was served as I drew more blue spells and plains and die with 2 swords in play.