Kai Draft #11 (8-4)

Been a while since I've been back to the grind. Posting up a fun one for your viewing/criticizing pleasure.

Pack 1, Pick 1:




My Pick:


I really don't think Tuktuk is close. The 1/1 sometimes brick walls guys, sometimes is unblockable 1 damage a turn. Really doesn't do that much if you think about it. And even the 5/5 token isn't that good in the format due to all the spawn tokens gumming up the ground.
Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:


So the pack is terrible. Bloodlord is among the stronger picks in the pack. I chose him because he tends to go well into controlling B/x decks as he's a good blocker and if you can remove tokens en masse (Shrivel or Brimstone Mage or Wrap in Flames) he clocks very fast.
Pack 1, Pick 3:

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Pack 1, Pick 5:

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Kiln Fiend is also a fine pick here. The avg cmc of my decks tend to be3.5-4.0 (MTGO has a function that shows you stats about your deck, it's right next to mana cost in the deck editor window.) so Revelations is usually fine CA as long as you minimize the amount of 1 mana spells you play. Paying 5 to kill a 2/2 guaranteed and draw a card isn't that bad a deal. And having one means you can always just dome for 8 or 9 when things get dicey.
Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:


I considered Inquisition here, but I really like the Wilds in Grixis, which is where I want to be with all these spells I'm picking up since Mnemonic Wall tends to go late and is insane in the archetype.
Pack 1, Pick 7:

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Pack 1, Pick 8:

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I could have problems with this card as it stops damage based removal and a shortage of Regress could cost me.
Pack 1, Pick 9:

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Pack 1, Pick 15:

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Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:


In my experience this card is better than Narcolepsy. Providing outs to utility creatures while gaining tempo/card advantage is invaluable. It's usually not hard to play around pump or umbras by waiting till the midgame to unleash this guy. Also, combos very well with sacrifice effects, giving you essentially 2UU Terminate for value.
Pack 2, Pick 2:

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Pack 2, Pick 3:

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Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Sometimes you need a way to win the game.
Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:


Kids, they still don't know. This guy is insane.
Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:


The Feed is considerable, but I was a bit light on 3 drops and the Pawn can accelerate upon trading or being removed.
Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:


This pick could've very easily been Vial. Vial is a very strong card in the control deck, gaining life and drawing more cards is all you want to do. I was a bit concerned about my lack of guys at this point and Dread Drone is a fine man. He trades, he ramps, he reveals to Induce Despair and Disaster Radius.
Pack 2, Pick 8:

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Pack 2, Pick 9:

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Pack 2, Pick 10:

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Fine win con in the heavy removal mirrors.
Pack 2, Pick 11:

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Pretty good now with the Drones and Domestications.
Pack 2, Pick 12:

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Pack 2, Pick 15:

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Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

Loaded pack. Taking the second Domestication as it's a better tempo stealing play than the Brimstone Mage. The weakness of this archetype is in the early game, and Domestication shores that up better than Mage. Induce Despair is just not on the same level as the other two. Wall should table.
Pack 3, Pick 2:

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Pack 3, Pick 4:

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A fine man to board in against decks without Narcolepsy or Guard Duty.
Pack 3, Pick 5:

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Foil.
Pack 3, Pick 6:

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Pack 3, Pick 15:

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The deck really came together in pack three, getting lots of value creatures and additional removal. I was quite happy with the outcome.

I keep maindecking the Omens in decks like this as I fear I lack win cons. This is a mistake and I should've played the Bloodlord or Pawn over it as I never ran into a removal heavy mirror where the card would've been good. It's much better out of the board than in the maindeck.

The Vampire was chosen to be maindeck due to synergy with the multiple expendable value creatures and Domestications.

Round 1: U/W levelers
Game 1: I keep Wilds, Swamp, Mountain, Heat Ray, Sea Gate Oracle, 2x Dread Drone on the play. He does nothing for a while and I drop Oracle into Brimstone into Dread Drone. He puts up token resistance with a 1/1 Champion's Drake and Eel Umbra, but Staggershock + Brimstone Mage quickly quash that dream. Rag tag 4/1 beatdown squad gets there.

Sideboard: - Baneful Omens +Shrivel
Shrivel is useful against unpowered Drakes, Cryptologists, and other base x/1 levelers. Since I hadn't seen any of those I only boarded in 1 on speculation.

Game 2: I'm on the draw and keep 4 land Last Kiss and 2 Mnemoni Wall. He gets in a loot with his turn 2 Cryptologist and misses a land before I can Last Kiss it. He hits running lands to make a level 1 Escort with Time of Heroes bashing my face. Ikiral Outridend is added postcombat. Sea Gate Oracle shows me Staggershock. I Mnemonic Wall back the Last Kiss, and attempt to trade my Oracle and Wall for his 4/4 via Bloodthrone Vampire but am thwarted by Eel Umbra. The Kiss and Staggershock team up and take it out for good. Crusher meets Guard Duty, which is fine since I wanted him on defense anyways. A Heat Ray attempts to take out the 4/8 Outrider in response to level up, but my opponent taps out to save it with Regress. I Regress the Guty and annilate, then Wall back Regress. He replays Guardy Duty, and deploys Outrider. I use Regress to bounce the Crusher this time, and some quick beats later my opponent succumbs to Hellcarver Demon after he Smites the Crusher.

Round 2: G/B bombs
Game 1: I keep 2 Oracle, Heat Ray, Hellcarver, Wall, Island, Mountain on draw. I know from watching replays that he has multiple Last Kiss, so I lead with both Oracles before playing the Mage. This robs him of efficient mana usage if he wants to kill my Mage later since he doesn't have creatures to play in the meantime and would gladly trade his turn 3 for my Mage instead of doing nothing against the 1/3. He drops a Pestilence Demon after Growth Spasming, and I Regress it and beat. His next turn doesn't see a land drop, so he plays some dorks. Why this didn't happen earlier I am at a loss to explain. His dudes meet my Staggershock and Heat Ray and assorted beaters get him as he never does manage to recast the Demon.

Sideboard : -Baneful Omens - Lay Bare -Bloodthrone Vampire +2 Shrivel + Thought Gorger
I didn't feel this was a matchup where Lay Bare excelled as I would be tapping out too often. I had also only seen the Demon as a counter-worthy threat up to this point and my deck could handle it fine with the removal suite. The Shrivels came in to combat his token production and Tuskcaller, since fast mana is the only way for him to get ahead. Bloodthrone leaves since it's not good in a ground fight vs spawn heavy decks and is liable to get blown out against G/B if I use it as a big blocker. Thought Gorger is better on offense and defense. The only liability being getting brick walled by a larger creature while hellbent.

Game 2: He has Treespeaker into Broodwarden on 3. I have Heat Ray on the draw and kill the Treespeaker instead of waiting a turn and Domesticating it. My hand had no answer to the warden and didn't lack mana so I wanted to prevent him from following up the 4/4 with another threat. He misses a land and serves for 4. I eventually get Domestication on his Pawn of Ulamog and Corpsehatch the Broodwarden, giving me a commanding lead. Back to back Essence Feeds leave me at 1 however, and I am forced to run out a Demon against the Artisan of Kozilek I know is in his hand from a reveal on Induce Despair. He rips runner runner lands for Artisan and my Demon only hits 2 permanents on the last hit so I die to the annilator. Only game I've ever lost after hitting with Demon.

Game 3: I keep Wilds, Mountain, Island, Last Kiss, Dread Drone, Ulamog's Crusher, Hellcarver Demon on the play. I chose to be on the play so I could better interact with Treespeaker and other mana production. I spend a Last Kiss to bait out Prey's Vengeance, which he did indeed have. I figured the Last Kiss now was worth at least a Vengeance later which is why I made the trade. Vengence can be used to save a much larger threat later in the game like Pelakka Wurm or an Eldrazi if I tried to Heat Ray it or something. The 2nd Last Kiss took out the Tuskcaller during my mainphase. I miss on lands for a bit but all he has is some Last Kisses and no more pressure other than a Pawn of Ulamog. I eventually get to my lands and his board of Eldrazi Spawn and lands slowly gets ground down by my Crusher while I sit with Hellcarver on defense since he was in topdeck mode.

During this game my opponent made a remark to the effect of "i guess even scrubs can have good decks" as I cast my second Domestication of the game on his Bloodrite Invoker. I declined to get into a shouting match, and played on for about 10 minutes. Then I linked him to the MTGO player of the year race page and mentioned I didn't see him on it (I'm 67th). He didn't say anything the rest of the match other than gg at the end. Lesson in netiquette taught.

Finals: Opponent was G/W auras so essentially a bye. What's more like a bye, however, is an opponent who doesn't show up. Which is what happened. Sometimes we run good.