by Taylor Putnam
Welcome to the 3rd edition of Putnam Drafts!
Welcome back! Thanks everyone for the comments last week and hopefully people are finding this exercise worthwhile. I know I am.
This week’s draft is going to be short and sweet because school finals are upon me. In fact, the 8-4 queue has sat idle for the last 20 minutes so I’m going to hop into the 4-3-2-2 queue* and get it done.
If I lose, tilts will abound.
Pack 1 pick 1:
I wish there was something interesting to say here but Perilous Myr is simply far and away the best card in my pack for this point in the draft. Shatter has its strengths but it comes at the cost of a color commitment. Perilous Myr slots into any deck I will wind up and is an excellent dude.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 2:
The choice lies between Galvanic Blast, Turn to Slag and Grasp of Darkness. I’m pretty sure Grasp of Darkness is the worst of the three because Turn to Slag gives me value and the Blast can dome my opponent while both are still removal spells. In the choice between Slag and Blast I am going to lean towards the card I can splash should red not be open. It sucks passing Shatter and now Turn to Slag but it’s early in the draft and color signals really aren’t that important here.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 3:
After taking the Galvanic Blast I am more inclined to value red cards now to protect my pick. Cerebral Eruption is a great card for slow decks that try and grind the opponent out because you can afford missing with it for multiple turns. I am willing to admit that drafts usually have a lower curve than sealed which opens up more chances for Eruption to reveal an awkwardly low 0 or 1 casting cost cards. That point aside, it’s not like there are any other strong contenders in the pack.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
I haven’t had the chance to draft many UR decks and considering how many notable people have been pumping the archetype (GerryT on this week’s Eh Team podcast for instance) I want to give it another try. Darkslick Drake works well with a slow defensive approach and is a solid all-around creature. This pack, again, offers very little in terms of other options.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 5:
LSV put up a draft primer last week on channelfireball.com that talked about the merits of nabbing walls like Plated Seastrider. I don’t buy it. Yes dudes on defense buy you time and let you control the pace of the game but only when they aren’t poison or white. Both those decks can smash through a puny ¼ wall or fly over him. Furthermore, green’s dinosaurs are huge enough that they just don’t care about cards than can’t force a trade
When you really stop to think about it, what is Seastrider good against? Anything white has Glint Hawk, the Idol and Kemba Skyguard. Black has poison. Green has Molderbeast and Alpha Tyrannax, not to mention Cystbearer and metalcrafted Carapace Forger. It doesn’t even block Chrome Steed. I will grudgingly grant that a Plated Seastrider blocks everything under a 4 drop for at least a turn. Finally, blocking Tel-Jilad Fallen is always nice but there are other cards that can fill that role. Seastrider is just not exciting enough for me. I would rather a creature that can trade and go on the offensive when I finally establish control.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 6:
I will repeat my argument on Plated Seastrider: unless my opponent is beating me down with Grizzly Bears this card seems lacking. Disperse is just better.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 7:
That is a lateish Kemba’s Skyguard. He isn’t good enough for me to switch colors but it is worth noting his presence in the pack. I certainly enjoy myself a Trigon of Thought at times but Riddlesmith is better at finding the cards I want and he trades with Contagion Nim or Tel-Jilad Fallen.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
I am not a beatdown deck yet nor do I have a Bloodshot Trainee so the Heartstoker can wait. Veldalken Certarch looks to be more powerful and more in tune with the deck I am trying to draft. Plus, if I need him to, he can trade with Tel-Jilad Fallen.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 9:
There will always be more Stoic Rebuttals.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 10:
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Pack 1 pick 11:
I don’t have anything that combos with the Thrummingbird yet and I want to give Certarchs a whirl. If I was sitting on a Tumble Magnet or had some weird Necrogen Sensor blue beatdown deck maybe this pick would be different.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
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Pack 1 pick 13:
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Pack 1 pick 14:
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Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
I’m not sure if this was a mispick. I am clearly in blue at this point and have a couple decent red cards. Glimmerpoint Stag is quite phenomenal but in my deck he has nothing to reset. I haven’t passed much notable white other than the late Skyguard so I could conceivably drop red which is looking cut off at the moment. I am happy with the colors I’m in however and expect to get fed some red this pack because nothing got through my past the first 2 picks first pack.
The choice then is between Snapsail Glider and Flight Spellbomb because Platinum Emprion is too expensive and too fragile to realistically consider. My deck is missing low cost artifacts and blue as a color has more flyers than not so I took the spellbomb. I think it is probably a coin toss and I would certainly accept arguments for the other but ultimately my deck needed the spellbomb more.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
It’s almost comical how much Trinket Mage surfaces in my drafts. That Arrest is taunting my decision to stick with RU but I don’t feel that I am losing much here. Trinket Mage grabs artifacts like the spellbomb I so masterfully took last pick.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
So much poison. I didn’t pass much pack one so there is a chance the table is only supporting one drafter unless they are sitting beside each other. The pack is straightforward for my deck by offering only one pick. Horizon Spellbomb seems superfluous because red might wind up just a splash. Cerebral Eruption might not make the main deck and I’m fine with that. With that in mind my mana base can afford to play enough red sources without hurting the overall deck so cheating with Horizon Spellbomb is unnecessary. Lumengrid Drake gives me some tempo and a flyer.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 4:
I have walls and am blue in case a Soliton comes my way. I suppose you could argue for Sky-Eel School here but the Arbalest is simply the better card.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 5:
This pack offers me nothing but mockery. I don’t think green was ever a viable option even if I had started taking Horizon Spellbombs. There simply wasn’t enough good stuff in the packs for me. There is nothing here so I take the card I am most likely to play in the main deck.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:
That’s a late Acid Web Spider but we’re in the 4-3-2-2 queue; a land where anything is possible. Nice poison deck wherever it is.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 7:
This was easily a mispick. Halt Order is a great sideboard card and can sometimes justify a main deck slot. I’m clearly not heavy red nor am I a beatdown deck so Blade-Tribe Berserkers are in no way, shape or form, making the cut. You can’t even rationalize the fact that they are a non-artifact creature when my deck is already sporting quite a few colored dorks.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 8:
Depending on how many colored metalcraft cards I wind up with (read: Lumindgrid Drake and Galvanic Blast), I am going to want Liquidmetal Coating over the Invisomancer. Plus, if I grab a Shatter or Ogre the Coating’s stock increases.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 9:
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Pack 2 pick 10:
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Pack 2 pick 11:
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Pack 2 pick 12:
How lucky.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
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Pack 2 pick 14:
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Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
The funny thing about drafting a clear archtype is you always know the card you want for your deck. I need a big finisher that lets me shift gears from slow defensive deck to beatdown when the time is appropriate and Strata Scythe does that quite well. In the early game it has the added bonus of making something enormous and defending if I need it. As I am looking to be essentially a mono Blue deck, the Scythe gets even better. There is nothing else in the pack remotely interesting to me.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 2:
Would the Soliton table in a regular draft? Yes. Am I playing in the kiddy pool today where anything can happen? Yes. Therefore, I took the card I wanted most for my deck and didn’t bother being cute and try to “read the table”. Tumble Magnet would have been ok but not exceptional and Vulshok Replica is pretty much going to be a random vanilla dude so it isn’t like I lost out on some vast empire of other picks here.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 3:
F*&^&%ing Trinket Mage. My deck is running light on artifacts, and I only have 2 targets for the mage right now. If this was earlier in the draft I could justify taking the mage and banking on seeing enough cheap artifacts that he would still have value. As it stands it is conceivable I could have Flight Spellbomb in my opening hand which would make Trinket Mage abysmal. I took Vulshok Replica because he is a dude that trades with enough stuff and is an artifact.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
I have the Trinket Mage that lets me tutor this up so I took it over Neurok Replica. This pick is probably more debatable than I am giving it credit but I would much rather give a pick I already have a better chance at being good than take the Replica. By taking Accorder’s Shield I ensure that I have 2 good cards (Shield and Mage), whereas if I take the Replica I only really have 1.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
Man I wish I knew this pack was coming. Now that I have a shield, I don’t want another one. Wall of Tanglecord is a better blocker in my artifact light deck than Etched Champion. Grey Ogres are not that impressive.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 6:
DING! But in all seriousness, did I pass any blue thusfar? I mean, it was wide open Pack 1 and I shipped nothing pack 2. Unless someone opened Venser why would they move into blue?
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 7:
I feel this pick is obvious but I did feel it was necessary to defend my choice first pick pack two. In sum: Spellbomb > random dude.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 9:
I’ve passed on Trigon of Thought a few times this draft. I realize drawing cards is good in a slow deck but I have generally been unimpressed with it. Lumengrid Drake does essentially the same thing as Trigon of Thought as both put me ahead in the game. My deck looks to be fast enough and most other decks are tight enough with their mana that the Drake, when kicked, impacts the board in a meaningful way.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 10:
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Pack 3 pick 11:
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Pack 3 pick 12:
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Pack 3 pick 13:
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Pack 3 pick 14:
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Pack 3 pick 15:
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The Deck:
1 Volition Reins
1 Sky-Eel School
1 Disperse
1 Myr Galvanizer
2 Vedalken Certarch
1 Darkslick Drake
1 Heavy Arbalest
1 Soliton
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Perilous Myr
2 Lumengrid Drake
2 Trinket Mage
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Vulshok Replica
2 Flight Spellbomb
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Snapsail Glider
1 Strata Scythe
1 Wall of Tanglecord
1 Riddlesmith
13 Island
3 Mountain
Sideboard
2 Bonds of Quicksilver
1 Vault Skyward
1 Scrapdiver Serpent
1 Wing Puncture
1 Vedalken Certarch
1 Plated Seastrider
1 Panic Spellbomb
1 Disperse
1 Lumengrid Drake
1 Razorfield Thresher
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Saberclaw Golem
1 Fulgent Distraction
1 Trigon of Mending
1 Cerebral Eruption
1 Stoic Rebuttal
I was exceedingly happy with this deck. I wish it had another removal spell or two but I felt that between the tappers, Volition Reins and the Lumengrid Drakes I would be fine. The mana curve is pretty tight here so I don’t think Stoic Rebuttal deserves a main deck slot to fill in as a quasi removal spell. Cerebral Eruption didn’t make the cut because I wanted to maximize my Islands for Strata Scythe. Usually you can bank on sharing a color with your opponent and get maximum punch from the Scythe, however, it was pretty obvious I was the only blue drafter. Scythe needs 3+ lands in play to be anything but mediocre so it beat out Eruption for the slot in my deck.
My one serious complaint is how light I am on artifacts. I was forced to play Liquidmetal Coating to make ends meet but that’s pretty awkward. I am hoping that Riddlesmith and Sky-Eel School will dig me to where I need to go.
Round 1:
I won the die roll, decided to draw and kept a hand of 3 Island, Mountain, Flight Spellbomb, Trinket Mage and Perilous Myr. My opponent cast a Sylvok Lifestaff, Fume Spittered my Myr on turn 2 and cast a Kemba Skyguard putting his life total somewhere in the low 30s. As the game progressed he Arrested my Darkslick Drake, which I Dispersed back to my hand, and I tutored for the Accorder’s Shield. After equipping it to my Drake I managed to get in for most of his life total in the following 10 turns until he conceded.
I sideboarded nothing.
He again played first and I kept Blast, Wall, Arbalest, Lumengrid Drake, 2 Island and a Mountain.
My opponent cast Grasp of Darkness on my Trinket Mage and equipped a Lifestaff onto a Contagion Nim. Seeing that my opponent was content attacking me down from 30 life instead of the usual 20 because of poison I let a bunch of damage through while I set up my board. By not trading early on I was able to get Arbalest active when sitting at 7 poison and 6 life. His board quickly disintegrated and my opponent conceded with a life total well into the mid-teens.
Round 2:
I again won the die roll, chose to draw and kept a hand of 3 Island, Perilous Myr, Wall of Tanglecord, Darkslick Drake and Accorder’s Shield. My opponent led with Oxida Daredevils on turn 2 and Shattered my wall on turn 3. He followed up with two Blistergrubs and began the beatdown. I drew more lands and then my Volition Reins which stole a grub and I swampwalked to victory.
Apparently this is the deck Plated Seastriders shine against. I boarded in the one I drafted for the Liquidmetal Coating rationalizing that all my creatures were better at trading with his than trying to get fancy with metalcraft.
My opponent chose to play first (how lucky) while I kept a hand of 3 Islands, Accorder’s Shield, Snapsail Glider, Wall of Tanglecord and Sky-Eel School. He again started out by shattering my Wall on turn 2. He then followed up with a Dross Hopper and a Blistergrub. I attack with my Glider a few turns later and he sacs a Blistergrub to give his Hopper flying and trade. My enjoyment of the free 2 for 1 was quickly soured when my opponent conceded and hit me with this gem:
10:05 PM Ifish4sharks: gratz on drafting a gay wall deck
Round 3:
I won the die roll, drew and kept 5 Islands, Spellbomb and a Wall of Tanglecord. A marginal hand at best but it could possibly net me further tilts which, I feel, is always a valid pursuit in the 4-3-2-2 queues.
He got out of the gates early with 2 mana myr, a Memnite, Chrome Steed and Ghalma’s Warden. Luckily, I drew a Trinket Mage that fetched Accorder’s Shield and the race was on. After staring numbly at each other for a good 5 minutes my deck coughed up a Lumengrid Drake and a Volition Reins. Neither impacted the board in great detail, nor did they let me break through so I sat on them hoping to nab a better target.
My opponent kindly obliged and threw down a Steel Hellkite which I promptly Volition Reigned. His commentary was priceless:
10:23 PM Glazkite_v.2.0: boy you must've had to think really hard about that one
Unfazed, he untapped with no cards in hand and threw down Carnifex Demon. Tough decisions indeed. I Disperse and then Lumengrid Drake the demon to eat his board with the Hellkite. Finally, it sticks and trades with an otherwise lethal Steel Hellkite.
10:28 PM Glazkite_v.2.0: you td like crazy rofl
After his witty insertion the karmic gods of justice gave my Strata Scythe and I end his complaining much to my enjoyment.
I sideboard in Stoic Rebuttal for coating.
Game 2, I’m on the draw and keep 2 Island, Mountain, Darkslick Drake, Wall of tanglecord, Accorder’s Shield and Riddlesmith. I lead with the Riddlesmith in the hopes of filtering quickly to my Stoic Rebuttal or Volition Reins as answers to his 2 flying behemoths. I hit Stoic a few turns later and sit on it, content to chip away with a Lumengrid Drake.
He casts Kemba and then follows her up with a Strider’s Harness. I counter the equipment because I cannot race the tokens she makes with my motley crew of walls and a singular 2/2 flyer. My fears proved to be right because next turn Accorder’s Shield came down for him and quickly I was dead to a fleet of 2/2s.
Game 3 I keep the awesome 5 island, Sky-Eel School and Vedalken Certarch hand on the draw reasoning that the flyer will be amazing against his deck is he doesn’t have one of his 2 dragons. I should have mulliganed but didn’t because making mistakes is what I’m paid to do. I drew 5 lands and couldn’t make a game of it. Interestingly, my opponent’s complaints stopped when he started winning more.
Same time next week when we return to real drafts, in real queues and against slightly more mature players (who just make you wait 10 minutes for your win instead of crying about homosexual walls stopping their fun).
Taylor Putnam
TPuttz on Twitter
*Also known as the psamms school of competitive magic.
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.