Sunday, July 6, 2008

SSS 05 - Trevor Hoffman!

First off I want to give big props to Yap for donating a draft set to the cause. He is a hero and may a thousand blessings befall him and his household.

Lets get to it!

The Draft


Click Here to download this file in all of its full screen glory! Seriously, if you want to read the cards and really enjoy this draft you should click here to download this. It's only like 30 megs, it takes just as long to stream it. You're not going to do it are you? Sigh...

Pick 1 - As much as I've dogged black in this set, and stated how you don't want to draft heavy black... well what else am I going to do here. Midnight Banshee is so amazing particularly because no one plays this color, and if they do its only for spells most of the time. This time though I'm going to be much more aware of what I'm getting so I can bail on black if need be.

Pick 2 - Leech Bonder is a perfect compliment to my the Banshee. Looking good.

Pick 3 - This one is a little tough. I haven't played with or a against the Whiteclay, but it seems pretty nice... just not worth the color commitment here. I like the Effigy a lot though, so I have no problems picking it this high in a pack with no other real options.

Pick 4 - Beseech for your bomb seemed to of worked in the last draft, and now I can play if for 3 if I want too.

Pick 5 - Not really happy with this pick... or maybe I should of picked this but hit blue heavier than I did. I think with two ways to get Banshee that I need to start ganking black creatures, both to play them and to keep them out of my opponent's hands. Sootwalkers should the be selection.

Pick 6 - I think I may like the Lurebound a little too much. The amount of color shifting shenanigans in this set make the downside too much of a liability. I make the right pick eventually though.

Pack One - So far not bad. The colors seem to be flowing reasonable well but some mid to late picks (like the three blue cards and Cultbrand Cinder from pack one) didn't table.

Pick 16 - Hmm, is Dire Undercurrents good? It has to be better than the Crowd. Maybe. Just seems like by the time you cast it you are already out of gas and are hoping for it to make your top decks that much better. In doubt I took the creature because, well... I seem to be short creatures more often than not in this format.

Pick 19 - With all the blue getting snatched up, how how how is this still in the pack?

Pick 20 - Bah, lollygaging got me a goof grabed green Initiate.

Pick 24 - Never again will I pick the Helm up, its terrible in most situations. The problem? No extra combat abilities like the other auras in the cycle. Just not worth it. That Axeshark would of been sweet.

End of Pack 2 - Picked up some removal and some dudes to fill out the ranks a bit. Not bad at all.

Pick 31 - Not that Banshee needs much help, but followed up with a the Knight - come on that's niceness all over.

Pick 32 - Weak pick in a weak pack, but I'm going to need dudes that can beat down.

Pick 33 - The math worked out, and I end up playing it... but my opinion is falling of the swarm cycle in general.

Pick 39 - Should of been the other Scarecrow - I'm benching the Lurebound unless I'm mono and aggro.

Final Deck - Well... I'm ok with the final build, but could of built it better.

On to the madness!

Round 1


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Game 1 - Wow, that Giantbaiting almost did me in... almost. To use the River's Grasp as a Coercion you just have to hit OK when it asks for the first target... not cancel. Banshee rides in to save the day.

Game 2 - Go Go Banshee! This thing is like Trevor Hoffman.

Round 2


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Game 1 - Wow, Woeleacher is completely messing up my gameplan here. I screw the pooch in playing out the Lurebound with a Skuttlemutt on his side. Not getting my 3rd Swamp to play Trevor didn't help things either.

Game 2 - Opponent gets land flooded and bitches about it and tells me my deck blows. He then goes into a corner and sulks or something. QQ TT and all those other text forms a big ol' weeping tears buddy. We can't all have the skill to play Plumeveil on our turns like you do.


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Game 3 - I'll admit it, I just gave up on the math on this one. That damn Woeleacher was making my head hurt. Not that I had too much time to think things through as my clock was winding down. Looking back I think I played it OK. I think my opponent was forgetting that Artifact creatures could block fear guys... and what Flash means apparently. And how to do math. And how to read Repel Intruders. Or look at the clock.

Round 3


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Game 1 - Ouch. Lets not let him do that again...

Game 2 - I get a little aggressive with the Leechbonder, but he misblocks around with it so I'm in good shape this whole game with Bonder and Effigy keeping the board clear and River's Grasp cleaning the Jaws out of his hand.

Game 3 - Trevor Time! Oh and River's Grasp is a-maz-ing.

Well, I think its safe to say that Midnight Banshee was the MVP, although I have to give it up for River's Grasp as a major player this draft. Getting tempo and stripping out bombs is so much better than just removing a creature.

Thanks again for watching, and I have this week off from work (my first vacation in a year!) so I should be drafting most every day...

Till then!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Draft: I hate the swarm cycle, a lot there is still enough creature combat and removal where they are subpar for 4 cmc.

Round 1 Game 2: You can play leech bonder's ability as an instant. Unless you are worried about a spell you should have killed off the initiate before damage stacked.