Friday 3 February 2012

Sealed / Draft decks! (From DKA Pre-Re)

I was “trying to clean” up my “magic card room” and stumbled upon my draft deck as well as the constructed portion of my sealed pool. I figure I will post them here to show that even the WORST deck can still have a chance at winning (in the case of my sealed pool) and that it’s OK to switch colors when drafting (as illustrated in my draft deck).


SEALED POOL (3x INN / 3x DKA)

I don’t have the cards that I decided NOT to use in my pool, only the deck that I ended up with. I think one of the best things I ended up doing was taking out a Geistcatchers Rig and replacing it with an 18th land because my curve was so high.

Here is what I ended up playing:

1x Burden of Guilt
1x Silent Departure
1x Doomed Traveler
1x Tragic Slip

1x Bonds of Faith

1x Midnight Haunting
1x Niblis of the Mist
1x Reap the Seagraf
1x Thraben Doomsayer
1x Niblis of the Breath
1x Wakedancer

1x Thraben Sentry
1x Havengul Runebinder
1x Abbey Griffin
1x Griptide
1x Falkenrath Noble

1x Farbog Boneflinger
2x Silverclaw Griffin
1x Death’s Caress
1x Soul Seizer

1x Vengeful Vampire

1x Shimmering Grotto
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Haunted Fengraf
1x Ghost Quarter
5x Plains
5x Swamp
4x Island

I guess in retrospect it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought, but still not stellar. The fliers are obv what were winning me games!


Drafting Loup-Garou!

I’ll start by showing you the cards that I DIDN’T end up using in my draft deck. I’ll omit any OBVIOUSLY terrible cards and just list those that COULD have had potential:

Victim of Night
Tribute to Hunger
Ghoulcaller
Markov Patrician
2x Falkenrath Torturer
2x Corpse Lunge
Sightless Ghoul
Death’s Caress
Ravenous Demon

Full Moon’s Rise

Tower Geist

Thraben Purebloods
Feeling of Dread

So the first thing I notice is the 5x Removal spells and the Ravenous Demon on the black side of thinks, as that was where it appeared the original direction of the deck was going. Let’s see if I made a mistake with the white splash instead of the black?

Here’s what I built to a (tied for) FIRST PLACE finish:

1x Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1x Full Moon’s Rise
1x Moonmist
1x Lambholt Elder
1x Villagers of Estwald
1x Grave Bramble (<- Pro-Zombie Relevant!)
1x Grizzled Outcasts
1x Hollowhenge Scavenger

1x Stromkirk Noble
2x Village Ironsmith
1x Fling
1x Hinterland Hermit
1x Ancient Grudge (<- Main Deck!)
1x Kessig Wolf

1x Thraben Heretic
1x Hollowhenge Spirit
1x Divine Reckoning
1x Angel of Flight Alabaster
1x Requiem Angel

1x Immerwolf

1x Sharpened Pitchfork (<- 8 Humans in Deck)


Evaluating the Draft Deck… Did I do it Right?

Looking back on this, I could have taken out the white altogether, along with the Ancient Grudge to make room for the 6x Black Cards I’d mentioned above. But what would that do to the deck if I did?

The deck I played had 16 creatures.
Had I made the 6 card change I would have had only 13.

Creatures are what will win these types of games, and although having access to more removal would have helped, keeping the Divine Reckoning and 4/4 & 5/5 flyers seems like it’s still the right way to go. I could have also cut the Pitchfork for a Markov Patrician, which would have upped my creature count to 14, which is acceptable. Grave Bramble would also become Sightless Ghoul to add more aggro. Also being able to play with 7 (-1 w/o the white) humans and Ravenous Demon seems strong, but risky.


What do you think? Did I misbuild?
Should I have gone R/G/W or R/G/B?


I may even play in the Release event this Sunday!
Will I see you there? :P

Cheers,
Carl Szalich