Kelley Draft #3 (8-4)

Pack 1, Pick 1:



My Pick:


"Sometimes you just have to be on a plan," as Kai would say.  My plan is Tribal Warriors.  Pretty strong opening pack.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:


I'm kinda said there is no removal, but sometimes you need to go r/g and I figured this was the better card over Bramblesnap.  The equipment are pretty decent too.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:


Really wanted to stick to the colors (Boar Umbra is very good) but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:


Don't adjust your eyes, you aren't looking at one of Kai's drafts.  Lol 4 different colors with four picks.  I figured that Skyscout was stronger then the Griffin, since you can do shenanigans with it.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:


Ok there's that Boar Umbra I wanted.  I may have to abandon the Dragonlord if red continues to dry up.

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:


This guy is alright, but really nothing else in the pack unless I wanted to move into 5color.dec.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:


Bleh, not unless I'm in r/g ramp Eldrazi.

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:


I used to think this guy was really good but now I realized a generic 2/1 flier does nothing in this format.  Oh well I will play him if I have to.

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:


I really like this card and am shocked it's this late.  Better then Inquisition by a mile.

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:


Ok we may be on team discard.

Pack 1, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:


Another really juicy pack.  I hesitated on this one, because I really wanted to cement the Dragonlord pick with the Staggershock, but Vendetta is just so much more powerful I went with the smart choice.  Staggershock loses 2-1 potential when you are playing with good people.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:


Sure more removal!

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:


I think this is one of my only mispicks this draft.  I was still holding on to playing green and took the decent card, but I probably should have hated the Teacher.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:


Well, another interesting choice.  My gut said to stick with Ondu Giant and just play 3 colors (splashing red or black) but I didn't want to be in 3 colors so I took the Cutthroat.  Guy is a house.

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:


Another pick I wasn't sure of, but I think that Scorpion is stronger then Dread Drone here.  A lot of people like Revelations but I think it's a noob distractor, i.e. something a newer player thinks is insane but really is unrealiable.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:


Ok we may be playing green after all.  Way too late to see a Predator imo.

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:


I think this is one of the most underrated cards in the set.  This guy is a 3cc 4/4 that only does not attack against the spawn token deck.  He is really good and I've read on some forums that pros will go out of their ways to pick these guys way higher then most.  I hope someone is wild enough to take that Bone-Wand :)  Props to Lance here because two weeks ago I T4'd the local FNM with a Bone-Wand deck.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:


Another guy I think is underrated, he can hold the ground well.

Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:


I think this card is a noob distractor but I like it better then Revelations.  Kai thinks poorly of him but I've seen Max Williams use him to great effect, haha.  He ended up making the cut in the deck though I never drew him.

Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:


Another underrated card, it made the cut and snapped out a critical Narcolepsy when I may have lost that game otherwise.

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:


Eh, if I have to play them I will, but he did not make the cut.  Don't want double Perish the Thought.

Pack 2, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:


Canyon Minotaur was playable in Conflux and to a lesser extent, M10, but the Lizard is unplayable in this set.  One of the last cuts.

Pack 2, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:


Ding, value-city!  I hope no one blows me out with Assembly.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:


Bunch of good cards in this pack.  I think most people would have taken Hatcher but Bloodlord is a far superior beater.

Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:


Ding!  Though my deck isn't really ideal for this card it's still insane.  I hope that Memoir tables.

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:


Should I have hated the Student of Warfare here?  I ended up going for the playable card and not doing something stupid like hate drafting over playables.

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:


Figured that my deck had no good targets for Splinter Twin and I'm a fan of the Shaman.

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:


Maybe I should have taken Runed Servitor here, I already had a ton of mana dumps.

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:


Ogre Cleaver is mediocre in my deck, and I'm not in green so the Vengeance is out.  Soulsurge Elemental is a noob distractor so I took my second Shaman.  Both made the deck.

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 9:

My Pick:


Guess I ended up playing both of these though I never cast one (had the opportunity but had a better mana sink).

Pack 3, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 11:

My Pick:


Ding!  I love that people hate this card.

Pack 3, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 13:

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Pack 3, Pick 14:

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Pack 3, Pick 15:

My Pick:


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Here's a screenshot of my draft:




Figured the green splash wasn't worth anything and the last cuts were Gloomhunter, Lizard, Rampart, and Sentrys.

R1 I played against a mediocre r/g deck.  I didn't see any removal and traded some guys until I beat him with Dragonlord one game and a Bloodlord the other game (when he drew all lands).  He griped about drawing lands.

R2 I played against a decent u/w leveler deck splashing red for I think Staggershock.  In G1 I Inquisitioned him on T2 to get rid of his Narcolepsy, nothing a hand of Lightmine Field, Plains, See Beyond, Puncturing Light, and Merfolk Skyscout.  Problem was he only had two plains and a Ikari Outrider in play.  He didn't mise an island for 3 turns and then See Beyonded, shuffling the Field away.  I played Scorpion on ihs Outrider and baited out the Puncturing Light, so I could play my leveled Zulaport Enforcer.  He topdecked Gideon and I momentarily was scared.  I had staggershock in my hand though, so I swung into Gideon (he +2'd me) and then Staggershocked it to death after he killed my Enforcer.  My next turn Bloodlord went uncontested.  G2 he played Time of Heroes on 2 and Echo Mage on 3 but I Perish'd on 3 and saw a hand of Plains, Island, Teacher (he mulled to 6).  I took the Teacher and he drew a whole lot of nothing and made Echo Mage big.  The key was holding the ground with the Escaped Null while I just played guys (had Hellion Eruption in my hand but didn't care.  I eventually got Dragonlord to max level and he had to use his fliers to chump it and had no outs.

Now I watched the replays and definitely didn't want to play against the opponent in the finals.  He was u/w levelers with Commander and Transcendent Master, and I almost had no outs to the card, only Vendettas.  He also had at least 2 Narcolepsys and a Cryptologist.  I asked him to split and concede, and he said that we should play one game and the loser would concede.  I agreed and played Dragonlord on 2 and he drew no outs.  He told me later that he had 3 Narcolepsys and 2 Guard Dutys and he couldn't find one.  Kinda glad I didn't get to play the other games.

*Side Note* I played in last night's FNM at GYGO and got first out of about 25 people.  My P1P1 was Commander and P1P2 was Student and played u/w skies splashing one swamp for Vendetta.  We had triple Oust, triple Dawnglare Invoker, and double Narcolepsy, but were lacking the good cards to make it insane (no value antelope, no Teacher, no Time of Heroes, no Drake/Mammoth Umbra, etc).  I played very well and beat Todd Davis' unbeatable r/w removal in the semis (he had 10+ removal cards but no quality creatures and I just grinded him out and I was his first two losses on the night).  The guy I beat in the finals had an insane bomb deck (Pelekka Wurm, Treespeaker, Lord of SSP, 3 Wildheart Invoker, etc etc) but I outplayed him severely.  Also during R2 of the swiss I beat the Drana/Deathless Angel deck because he punted in G3 and I had triple Oust for his T5 Drana (which was his only out that game, obviously he had it).