Kai Draft #17 (8-4)

M11 draft queues are now up on MODO. It's Draft Time!
Pack 1, Pick 1:




My Pick:


The most powerful cards in this pack are Sleep and Reassembling Skeletons. While both cards don't really do much by themselves they make for better picks than Wild Griffin because of their potential synergies. Sleep is a game winner in decks with fatties and Skeletons combos with sacrifice outlets and is a pseudo removal spell for ground guys. Between the two I chose Sleep as it is difficult to play around and usually wins the game upon resolving.
Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:


One of these things is not like the other.
Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:


Sells for 2 tix. I really wasn't going to stick to blue for a Scroll Thief. Waiting to see what colors are open besides red.
Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:


Yup, red's definitely open. Shiv's Embrace is one of the top red cards in the format.
Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 6:

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Pack 1, Pick 7:

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Was foil. Have you heard?
Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:


Sometimes, you have these questions you gotta axe someone.
Pack 1, Pick 9:

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Pack 1, Pick 11:

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Pack 1, Pick 15:

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Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:


Okay, playing black.
Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:


Some nice black removal to complement to color swap. Currently unsure whether blue or red will be the secondary color, though Dragon is better than all the blue cards.
Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 5:

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Is also 2 tix. Negate's not that good, and we have Cancels already if we play blue.
Pack 2, Pick 6:

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Pack 2, Pick 7:

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Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Also foil.
Pack 2, Pick 9:

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Pack 2, Pick 10:

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Pack 2, Pick 11:

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Pack 2, Pick 12:

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Pack 2, Pick 13:

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Pack 2, Pick 14:

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Pack 2, Pick 15:

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Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:


Sweeeeeeet. It's like we have 2 Grave Titans now. I was actually planning to splash this guy. Making the mana worse but making your bombs show up more consistently seems worth it in M11, which is overall a slow format.
Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Very good two drop, which we were lacking.
Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Yay.
Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

It's like another Grave Titan!
Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Dragon's gotta get value.
Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:


It's like we have this Survival of the Fittest, and can tutor for this guy.
Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Dragon gets more value. Also Gargoyle is acceptable on its own.
Pack 3, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Consistency, always good.
Pack 3, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Underrated.
Pack 3, Pick 11:

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The Deck:

The lack of playables lead to the maindeck inclusion of Viscera Seer and Bog Raiders, which isn't the worst thing in the world.

Round 1:Steve_Toast

Game 1: He plays 4 Swamps and Mistifying Maze and casts zero spells while team random dudes kill him.

Sideboard: none

Game 2: I mull to 6 on the draw and keep a hand without green and with Fuana Shaman. I play some dorks and Assassinate his Awaken'd Forest. The game goes on for a while with us both missing land drops and me killing Llanowar Elves to stall further. I eventually land Grave Titan after he cast a nonelethal Overwhelming Stampede but I misplay by playing Dragon instead of leaving up Doom Blade and promptly get Plummeted into game 3.

Game 3: I have Fauna Shaman on 2 which lets me pitch bad creatures to get Dragons. I end up landing a Shiv's Embrace and killing him.

Round 2: Alansi with R/G.
Game 1: I choose to draw since the format is slow. I have Black Knight on 2 and Fauna Shaman on 3 and the Knight brickwalls his team of Sacred Wolf and Vulshok Berserkers. He Acidic Slimes my forest, which lets me land Volcanic Strength on my Canyon Minotaur. He dies 4 attacks later.

SB: None. As bad as Bog Raiders is, it still trades with all his early guys.

Game 2: I mull in 2 lands Shiv's Embrace Goblin Piker Manic Vandal Canyon Minotaur. Piker and Black Knight and Minotaur get in  for some beats, then Minotaur gets suited up to avoid Chandra's Outrage. He has the Naturalize for Embrace but is way too far behind and dies.

Finals: Bambur with Monowhite.
From watching Replays I see his only realistic ways to win are 2 Armored Ascension and a Serra Angel.
The rest of his deck is a few fliers and a bunch of Siege Mastodons and Palace Guards.

I keep 6 land Doom Blade on the draw.
I draw 2 guys and play them out versus his Assault Griffin and he's behind in the race but doesn't play more guys. Obvious tell for Day of Judgment so I do nothing and make him Day. His followup is a Wild Griffin while mine is Grave Titan. Close.

SB: + Back to Nature -Volcanic Strength
Game 2: I have Black Knight on 2 into Bog Raiders on 3. He declines to trade Assault Griffin when I attack. He has Siege Mastodon so I assassinate Griffin and sit back on my Black Knight. His Stormfront Pegasus gets to attack me once while I Diabolic for a Forest to enable Fuana Shaman and Back to Nature. I get to play Hoarding Dragon which brickwalls his Assault Griffin and finds me Gargoyle Sentinel in the event he has Day of Judgment. I never attack with Dragon since I know he has Condemn in his deck and I lacked another creature to Fauna Shaman it up again. I get to Shiv's Embrace up Black Knight and clock him. He doesn't draw Day of Judgment in 2 turns and says "fair game...really" before conceding.

Lesson Taught.