Kai Draft #20 (MD5 NixTix)

Mirrodin Block draft is NixTix this week. So it's time for some artifact adventures!


Pack 1, Pick 1:




My Pick:


The pick here is between Longbow and Barter in Blood. Worldslayer may look flashy, but actually is very weak and there are few ways to break the symmetric effect. Longbow is the least commitment and quite good with any token makers, I went with the Barter as it is a Wrath-like effect and I hadn't drafted black in this format yet.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:


Here the pick is between Shard, Spikeshot Goblin, Thirst for Knowledge, and Irradiate. I think the Thirst may be the most powerful card but not by a very large margin over Shard. Shard's long game potential is perhaps only rivaled by Leonin Bola, and it is good on-color.
Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:


Myrs are always good. Accelerates, allows splashes, and ups artifact count.
Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:


This guy's much better than he appears. Pro-white is actually a pretty relevant ability as Purge exists and the aggressive white deck with equipment is popular. Besides, we're in black and should be able to kill creatures to gain back the life lost.
Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:


Blinding Beam is the most powerful card, Myr is more flexible. I'm pretty sure I should've taken Beam here.
Pack 1, Pick 6:

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Pack 1, Pick 7:

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This guy was a potential playable. Should've taken War Buggy.
Pack 1, Pick 8:

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Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:


Shield is pay 8 to make a bad creature indestructible. Since we're base black our guys will be pretty unimpressive and Shield isn't going to change that too much. Barbed Lightning is premium removal.
Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:


Gotta gain back the life we're going to lose to that Nim Abomination that's going to table.
Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:


I considered taking Grimclaw Bats here as that guy is quite strong. But I had visions of using Skeleton Shard and got distracted.
Pack 2, Pick 4:

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Pack 2, Pick 5:

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Could've hated Stand Together. Unforge is pretty good as a 2 for 1 most of the time.
Pack 2, Pick 6:

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Pack 2, Pick 10:

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Yup. Tabled.
Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:


Cool. We needed one of these to be able to sacrifice Harvester or Abomination in the long game.
Pack 2, Pick 12:

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Pack 3, Pick 1:

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Pack 3, Pick 2:

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This pick was awkward since we didn't really want a blue card but the black cards in the pack were terrible. Lose Hope and Suntouched Myr are both options but both are weaker than the looter.
Pack 3, Pick 3:

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Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:


This possibly should've been Blind Creeper. But draw 2's are hard to find and Creepers are not.
Pack 3, Pick 5:

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I had enough playables to be nearly monoblack. The blue didn't add enough power to be worth decreasing the mana stability. The deck seemed alright, though with no way to kill an equipment it had glaring weaknesses.

Round 1: TotalAmoral with R/W

Game 1: He has a Vulshok Berserkers on 4 and kills my blocker with Purge. I Essence Drain it and kill his followup flier with Barter in Blood. I play Abomination and my Pewter Golem meets Stasis Cocoon. I have Fleshgrafter and Spawning Pit to gain advantage, but he suits up a second Bersker with Healer's Headdress and Viridian Longbow and has the shatter for my Spawning Pit. A topdecked Iron Barbed Hellion later and I'm dead.

Sideboard +1 Unforge +1 Mountain -1 Swamp -1 Flayed Nim

Game 2: I choose to be on the play and get stuck on 3 lands for a while, unable to cast Fill with Fright to scry towards the 5th land for double Essence Drain. The time this costs me equates to him beating my face in and I die after the second Essence Drain as I can't stabilize against his one remaining dude.

I should learn to draft this format. It seems a lot like Rise of the Eldrazi in that generic good cards isn't enough. Synergies must be drafted. Also having zero equipment removal is a death sentence.