Sorry but I don’t have anyone IRL to share how happy I am about this. All my real-life drafts have been really disappointing and I was feeling down on myself.
Deck was Red-White with a focus on roles and enchantments. I got [[Archon of the Wild Rose]] and [[A Tale for the Ages]] Pack 2 Pick 1 and Pack 2 Pick 2 respectively. [[Savior of the Sleeping]] is a card I have played with a bunch but have never utilised properly before now. My two Saviors were probably the MVPs, I managed to frequently get them quite buffed-up.
Looking back over my draft and I realize now that I didn’t wind-up using my first three picks! I realized late into the first pack that White seemed really open, so when Pack 2 came around, and I got those two really helpful rares, I got the sense I was onto a good thing.
Looks like you got rewarded for not being too attached to your early picks and reading the signals. Congratulations!
I don’t think I’ve ever played Witch’s Mark. Am I undervaluing it? I love drawing cards, but needing to have a spare card you want to get rid of always seems like a high bar.
Neither you nor anybody else in your pod seem to like Grasp of Fate. Am I overvaluing that one? It’s vulnerable to enchantment destruction, but that’s no worse a drawback than any of the other removal you have to play in Limited, right?
I can’t recall playing it before tonight. I think that like you the need to discard for the draw was too high. Then I realised that in an Aggro deck you’re likely playing on-curve and emptying your hand quite quickly. Furthermore you don’t really get much benefit from > 6 lands. So swapping a land for (hopefully) two non-lands in that mid-phase of the game when you as the beatdown are losing your advantage can make a massive difference.
That’s not even taking into account that if you don’t discard, you get +1/+1 to a creature, something that might proc Celebration, and if your opponent deals with that creature they take one damage. If you Bargain the role, your opponent still takes one, and Bargain effects are super powerful. In one of my games I had two creatures with Wicked roles and my opponent was on five life and they had to play around that.
So, yeah, I’m now a convert.
[[Grasp of Fate]]… Tbh I hadn’t internalised that it could remove an opponents Enchantment and that’s useful. I think maybe for what it is it’s kind of over-priced? The meta is quick and seems to favour going wide. You wanna spend 1WW on a Removal that can be un-done on an enchantment you are never going to want to Bargain? Just off the top of my head [[Torch the Tower]], [[Titanic Growth]], [[The Princess Takes Flight]] are all better. [[Expel the Interlopers]] is much more useful in this meta of going wide and there’s not a world of difference between 3WW and 1WW (less than there is between 4W and 2W anyway).
But I think you’re right, it seems to not be valued and I think I just internalised that without examining it.
- Grasp of Fate - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Torch the Tower - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Titanic Growth - (G) (SF) (txt)
- The Princess Takes Flight - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Expel the Interlopers - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[card name]] to call
Congrats @[email protected]!! This is a great deck. I see another fan of Witch’s Mark :P
I’m very jealous of the Recruiter, Hopeful Vigils and especially that Knightly Valor. I’ve never been able to draft those yet.
Thanks :D I’d been on a run of curving out really well and then top-decking until my opponents found a way to win so I kind of over-compensated on card advantage but it turned out hugely beneficial. Not sure I’ve ever played [[Witch’s Mark]] before tonight but it’s now secured a place in my heart.
Like I said, White was really, really open, so I had the luxury of getting all the best white cards. Have to admit that I completely missed that sacking [[Hopeful Vigil]] would proc [[Savior of the Sleeping]]. When it happened for the first time I got quite excited 😂
- Witch’s Mark - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Hopeful Vigil - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Savior of the Sleeping - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[card name]] to call
I’m surprised to see you passed on pretty much every removal spell in your draft. [[Grasp of Fate]], [[Kellan’s Lightblades]], and [[Cut In]] would’ve ranked higher in my mind than most of the picks you took instead. You ended up with the 7 wins in the end, but did you find the lack of removal in the deck noticeable?
No, not at all. The three [[Witch’s Mark]] and the two [[Hopeful Vigil]] meant I could work through my deck quickly enough to draw [[Archon of the Wild Rose]] or [[Tale for the Ages]] and see the game out quickly.
For removal, using [[Werefox Bodyguard]], [[The Princess Takes Flight]], and [[Expel the Interlopers]] wound up being enough.
Interesting. Still not sure I’d have made the same choices, but it worked out, so congrats!
- Witch’s Mark - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Hopeful Vigil - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Archon of the Wild Rose - (G) (SF) (txt)
- A Tale for the Ages - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Werefox Bodyguard - (G) (SF) (txt)
- The Princess Takes Flight - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Expel the Interlopers - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[card name]] to call
- Archon of the Wild Rose - (G) (SF) (txt)
- A Tale for the Ages - (G) (SF) (txt)
- Savior of the Sleeping - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[card name]] to call
