There were 22 people, and I was at a table of 7. This time we had Return to Ravnica block sets in the mix for the first time, so we had almost every Standard set between RtR and the present, minus Tarkir block, but including both Conspiracy sets and maybe a few Masters packs. My table didn't get any Masters packs this time, which was unfortunate because the cards are just generally stronger in those sets. Here is my draft, bottom left to top right:
First pack wasn't too exciting. The rare was Call to Unity, and there were a couple pickable uncommons, but I took Daring Demolition because it's always good. The RtR pack that came to me next was very interesting though. I had fun with the extort ability on a Basilica Screecher in Chaos Sealed at GP Houston, and I noticed the pack had 3 creatures with extort, plus two white-black cards, plus a few other playable cards in those colors. I decided I could probably get one of those bunch to come back around, hopefully an extort creature. So I took the foil Basilica Guards and went all in on an extort-themed control deck. The other two extort creatures both came back, so I was able to double up on the Basilica Guards. When Kalastria Nightwatch came at 6th pick, it was an easy choice for a finisher because it combos with extort (extort lets you gain and drain 1 life for 1 mana when you cast any spell, and Nightwatch gains flying when you gain life).
Second pack had the unplayable Madcap Experiment at rare, and I again took a removal spell first. The first few picks were pretty good, but then it dried up, so I was pretty sure people just to my left were also in white and black. I was ready to add a third color if I had to, but I was seeing no color fixing, even from sets like RtR with common dual lands.
Third pack Tamiyo was my normal rare and I also had a Hanweir Battlements as a dual-face rare. Tamiyo can be super strong, so I took her on the off chance that I could somehow splash. The rest of the pack fit pretty well into my original plan though, and I even got a second Kalastria Nightwatch at the end of the pack.
Weirdly, it turned out that two other people at my table were also drafting white-black. I guess it isn't a surprise considering the strength of some of the early packs. But since I was in such a weird archetype looking for blockers, cheap spells, card draw, and lifegain-matters cards, I still got most of what I was looking for. I also had a minor subtheme of heroic mechanic, so cards that target my creatures were slightly better.
Here is the deck I built. There are 9 Plains and 8 Swamps.
I wasn't sure about some of the final cuts, but I felt like this deck was what it was supposed to be. I had lots of creatures that could block a 3/3, some fliers to add pressure, and some ways to pump the blockers bigger. Blood Fast and Puzzleknot gave me card draw, and Tethmos High Priest could also give me card advantage (heroic - when it is target of a spell I cast, I can return a creature costing 2 or less to the battlefield). All I had to do is keep my Basilica Guards alive and kill or block enough opposing threats, and I would be able to win the long game. Attacking with Kalastria Nightwatch or other creatures was the main way to finish the game, but bouncing and repeating extort triggers using Aegis Automaton or draining slowly with Claim of Erebos on a defender were other plans.
Here are my main sideboard cards:
I never ran into many enchantment creatures (from Theros block), so Iconoclast never came in. Smuggler Captain was an odd duck. I had a chance to draft it earlier in the pack but Sinuous Vermin seemed much better, and when I finally did draft it, there weren't many more cards in the pack. I picked Tandem Tactics (which made my main deck on its own), but thinking about the card more, it is probably best in Pack 1 or 2 so that you can use it for a more impactful card in a later pack, or for guaranteed value, you can choose a basic land as its target (this would remove the fail case of the named card no long being in your deck because you already drew it). Anyway, as a 2/2 for 4 that tutors for a card you want the opponent not to know about, I didn't think it was worth it.
Round 1 vs. B.
B is a good regular player at FNM. He had a red-green monsters deck. Both games my plan worked well and I won, although they were also both very close games -- I was at 5 and 1 life at the end. In the second game, he made what might have been a game losing mistake by not fully reading a complicated Conspiracy card (an 11/11 Ignition Team). I also made a mistake in thinking Die Young added -1/-1 counters instead of only lasting until end of turn, but it wasn't nearly as bad. Win, 2-0.
Round 2 vs. S.
S is another good regular, and he was in black-red aggro/tempo full of haste creatures, combat tricks, lifelink, and burn spells. The first game I was able to set up my plan by putting Unquestioned Authority on a Basilica Guard and blocking just enough to stay in the game. He did close to 20 damage to me and I spent another 10 or so life drawing cards with Arguel's Blood Fast, and I got the win in about 30 minutes after setting up Kalastria Nightguard. The next two games he was able to leverage his attackers earlier or kill my Basilica Guards, and I didn't last long. The scorecard below shows better than words what the kind of game this deck wants to play looks like. Loss, 1-2.
Round 3 vs. B.
B had a blue-white fliers deck with maybe a splash of a third color. I made a good fight of both games, but he just had too many fliers and my defenses were leaky. In the first game, I demonstrated the repeatable extort using the bounce ability of Aegis Automaton once, and that got him to play a little more aggressively with his fliers. I sided in the Shining Aerosaur and Cobbled Wings but it wasn't enough. Loss, 0-2.
Round 4 vs. I.
He had a red-green monstrous deck that was far more monstrous than the other one I had played earlier. He had quite a few creatures that could slowly become 8/8 or bigger, and that was trouble if I couldn't find my removal spells. In game 1 we played pretty close but I became overwhelmed and lost. I sided in Grip of Desolation, which really is a good card and probably should have been main deck anyway. In game 2, I forced him to make bad blocks on my own monstrous Sinuous Vermin (8/8 with Goggles and Deviant Glee) and won. The third game I started with all my removal in hand, and I canceled big creature after big creature until we were both mostly out of action. He played a surprise Colossus of Akros, the biggest of all the monstrous creatures, and next turn he made it a 20/20 and won shortly after. I had the right cards in my deck for it, but I had already used them. Loss, 1-2.
I skipped Round 5 since 1-3 was going nowhere (honestly, 1-2 was unlikely to make the cut to top 4 anyway, but I was having fun). My record in games was 4-6, which I felt was respectable since most of the games were close. This deck was a ton of fun to play, and I felt good about how I engineered it from the beginning of the draft.
I was worried I would miss extort triggers, but I mentally added the mana to my spells before I cast them and tapped all the lands, and I don't think I missed more than maybe 1 extort trigger all night.
Probably the hardest part playing this deck was deciding when and how to block. I rarely blocked a 2/2 with my 1/4 Basilica Guards even though they're built for it, because I didn't want to lose them to a combat trick. Taking a little extra damage was usually worth it because I could drain it back over future turns. The other tough thing was deciding how to use my removal. In constructed control decks, you know what cards your opponent is likely to draw, so it's easier to make calculated decisions to lose life or use removal, but if I went to a low life total with this deck, there were literally hundreds of cards an opponent might have to punish me.
Some of the deficiencies of this deck I noticed while playing include:
- With so many defenders, it's hard to get a free win just by having a better curve out than the other guy. Some board states I had literally no creatures that were allowed to attack or had power above 0.
- 0-power creatures don't deter attackers very well. I generally felt a lot better once I had a 4/5 Kalastria Nightwatch or a Sinuous Vermin with 5 mana available.
- The heroic side plan didn't do much. My Akroan Skyguard usually just stayed 1/1, although the occasions where I got Deviant Glee on it to make it a 4/3 were great. But mostly it just meant I had a couple bad creatures and a couple bad auras in my deck.
- No real bombs meant I had to make my synergies work. I would have felt a lot better if I could have added Tamiyo without wrecking my mana.
Overall, it was a ton of fun and I am happy to have gotten the practice playing a heavily controlling Limited deck.
Last, how about value?
I drafted 9 uncommons, which is as expected, and 2 mythic/rare, which is slightly below the 3 expected. Tamiyo is about a $4.50 planeswalker, and Arguel's Blood Fast is about 50 cents. The total value in this draft was right around $5, so not great, but I've done worse. Tamiyo is likely to retain her value since she's been out of Standard for a while.
Thanks for reading!
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