Drafting with Lucas - MBS/SoM/SoM #2

Lucas Florent

About Lucas Florent

Lucas is a French Magic player who has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:

• Level 5 Pro Players Club member
• 37 Lifetime Pro Points
• Top 8 Nationals 2010
• Top 16 Grand Prix Lyon 2010
• Top 24 Pro Tour San Juan 2010
• Top 64 GP Brussels 2010

Drafting with Lucas -  MBS/SoM/SoM #2

Booster 1 - Mirrodin Besieged

Pack 1 pick 1:

My Pick: Kuldotha Flamefiend

Well, the Flamefiend is by far the best card, Phyrexian Rager and Rot Wolf are both good cards but nothing compared to the red bomb, plus I like to go Infect only for a bomb (rares or Viridian Corrupter and Flesh-Eater Imp) or on a strong signal (featuring one of the aforementioned cards).

Pack 1 pick 2:

My Pick: Burn the Impure

Spread the Sickness is a bit better than Burn the Impure, but staying focused on one color is much better, plus red is one of the best colors, even if its good cards are all picked very high.

Pack 1 pick 3:

My Pick: Accorder Paladin

Cryptoplasm is a much better card than Accorder's Paladin, but I’ve already drafted a lot of blue control decks for this column and pack 1 can give us a Concussive Bolt on the wheel and pack 2 a Goblin Wardriver which is never picked as it’s only good in the kind of deck I’m trying to draft now.

Pack 1 pick 4:

My Pick: Goblin Wardriver

Seeing Blue Sun’s Zenith here is a bit sad, but the Wardriver fits my strategy perfectly and is a very strong pick for this archetype. Gore Vassal is very bad.

Pack 1 pick 5:

My Pick: Flayer Husk

Passing a third Phyrexian Rager I’m picking up an artifact that enables my Flamefiend, my battlecriers and potentially keeping my metalcraft online at all times. Rusted Slasher is a good card to have when you have multiple Ichorwellspring/Myr Sire but I don't have any and I prefer to keep my curve as low as possible for now.

Pack 1 pick 6:

My Pick: Kuldotha Ringleader

That’s a pretty bad card and I probably won't play it but Decimator Web is nowhere near playable in this deck and is too slow to do anything against me.

Pack 1 pick 7:

My Pick: Flayer Husk

For the same reasons as two picks earlier, the Flayer Husk is the way to go.

Pack 1 pick 8:

My Pick: Priests of Norn

Counterdrafting the most annoying/playable card of the pack.

Pack 1 pick 9:

My Pick: Concussive Bolt

I'm pretty happy this wheeled, now I’ll have to focus on collecting enough artifacts.

Pack 1 pick 10:

Gore Vassal Frantic Salvage Swamp Goblin Wardriver Ogre Resister Gruesome Encore

My Pick: Goblin Wardriver

And it wheels as it always does.

Pack 1 pick 11:

Ardent Recruit Priests of Norn Turn the Tide Hexplate Golem Plains

My Pick: Priests of Norn

Starting a collection.

Pack 1 pick 12:

Gore Vassal Plains Priests of Norn Turn the Tide

My Pick: Priests of Norn

Definitely.

Pack 1 pick 13:

Banishment Decree Frantic Salvage Island

My Pick: Banishment Decree

Playable in some white midrange deck with flyers but not in the all-in strategy I’m trying to draft.

Pack 1 pick 14:

Plains Phyresis

My Pick: Phyresis

Pack 1 pick 15:

Plains

My Pick: Plains

I did not get a Master's Call, which is a shame because it's one of the keycards of the archetype, I have to grab some Kuldotha Rebirths in the next packs.

Booster 2 - Scars of Mirrodin

Pack 2 pick 1:

My Pick: Steel Hellkite

We have an extremely strong pack here, the rare towers above everything. I can hope for a Glint Hawk Idol wheel but I’m not too sure.

Pack 2 pick 2:

My Pick: Oxidda Scrapmelter

Once again a bomb, can't really take anything else here, nothing noteworthy wheeling either.

Pack 2 pick 3:

My Pick: Darksteel Sentinel

Darksteel Sentinel is too slow for what I’m trying to do but it's better to grab a playable just in case, sadly an empty pack.

Pack 2 pick 4:

My Pick: Liquimetal Coating

Some good infect cards keep coming, Liquimetal Coating could interact well with a lot of stuff in my deck (Flamefiend, Metalcraft, artifact removal) and there is nothing else anyway.

Pack 2 pick 5:

My Pick: Iron Myr

I prefer the Iron Myr because of Goblin Wardriver and the multiple other double red cards that one usually picks up. The white cards in Scars, except for the two uncommon bombs, are mainly artifacts or have only one colored mana in their casting cost.

Pack 2 pick 6:

My Pick: Goblin Gaveleer

I continue with taking bad cards that might be a plan b, I already have 2 Flayer Husk and it costs nothing to pick it anyway, unfortunately Gaveleer strategies have lost a lot of their appeal since the arrival of Mirrodin Besieged as Virulent Wound, Blisterstick Shaman and Mortarpod see a lot of play.

Pack 2 pick 7:

My Pick: Kemba's Skyguard

Such a long streak of empty packs, the double white might bother me but an evasive body is always a nice option to have.

Pack 2 pick 8:

My Pick: Goblin Gaveleer

Yihaaa!

Pack 2 pick 9:

My Pick: Glimmerpoint Stag

That sounds good, I absolutely didn’t expect that to wheel but I won’t be the one complaining. I'm confused about how someone picked a Glint Hawk Idol over this though.

Pack 2 pick 10:

Kuldotha Rebirth Island Vector Asp Glimmerpost Vault Skyward Soul Parry

My Pick: Kuldotha Rebirth

A very important card to have as my battlecriers were not doing much until now.

Pack 2 pick 11:

Scoria Elemental Oxidda Daredevil Mountain Vigil for the Lost Razorfield Thresher

My Pick: Oxidda Daredevil

Not playable except if you have Ichorwellspring or Metallic Mastery but even then it's not fantastic, you'd better find other things to do.

Pack 2 pick 12:

Seize the Initiative Turn Aside Forest Psychic Miasma

My Pick: Seize the Initiative

Not a good trick, semi-okay against infect.

Pack 2 pick 13:

Plains Blunt the Assault Relic Putrescence

My Pick: Blunt the Assault

Pack 2 pick 14:

Swamp Copperhorn Scout

My Pick: Copperhorn Scout

Pack 2 pick 15:

Plains

My Pick: Plains

Booster 3 - Scars of Mirrodin

Pack 3 pick 1:

My Pick: Revoke Existence

Lifestaff would work well with our Gaveleer, but, as I said, I don't really want to play them, Revoke Existence, a very solid removal spell, is clearly the pick here.

Pack 3 pick 2:

My Pick: Arrest

The best white card wins easily versus the myr, I count on one of the white cards tabling.

Pack 3 pick 3:

My Pick: Glint Hawk

Not fantastic at the moment, but still decent, it's a cheap flyer and it's usually very synergistic.

Pack 3 pick 4:

My Pick: Snapsail Glider

Even though Lux Canon is really powerful I do not like it in my deck at all, all the cards must have an immediate impact on the game, you plan on winning quickly and don’t want to waste a turn to get an effect 3 turns later, awful in this deck, the Glider isn't amazing but yet again a decent flyer and an artifact.

Pack 3 pick 5:

My Pick: Strider Harness

A second Liquimetal Coating is out of the question, and Saberclaw Golem is not a good pick for my deck as it is way too expensive. The equipment is a card I don't usually play (never even) but I still have those goblins in my head and it could find a place in the deck.

Pack 3 pick 6:

My Pick: Iron Myr

I really needed another myr, now I don't really want more of them, with more than 2 myrs I want to play 15 lands and this particular deck would not be suited to do that.

Pack 3 pick 7:

My Pick: Memnite

A trashy aggro card, I could end up playing this instead of the Goblin Gaveleers.

Pack 3 pick 8:

My Pick: Memnite

I could have counterdrafted Ichorclaw Myr but I think my odds of playing 2 Memnites are high enough to let the infect creature pass.

Pack 3 pick 9:

My Pick: Goblin Gaveleer

Just for the lulz.

Pack 3 pick 10:

Bonds of Quicksilver Thrummingbird Blade-Tribe Berserkers Vulshok Heartstoker Plains Bellowing Tanglewurm

My Pick: Blade-Tribe Berserkers

Often a Ball Lightning but he only finds a place in the deck when you already have few 4 mana drops.

Pack 3 pick 11:

Echo Circlet Steady Progress Assault Strobe Mountain Soul Parry

My Pick: Soul Parry

Pack 3 pick 12:

Relic Putrescence Island Blunt the Assault Flight Spellbomb

My Pick: Flight Spellbomb

Pack 3 pick 13:

Abuna Acolyte Forest Culling Dais

My Pick: Culling Dais

It’s not an option in this deck but multiple Myr Sires or Master's Calls can definitely make this card playable.

Pack 3 pick 14:

Forest Vulshok Heartstoker

My Pick: Vulshok Heartstoker

Pack 3 pick 15:

Swamp

My Pick: Swamp

Here is the deck I built:

I decided to just forget about the Gaveleers, I only have 3 pieces of equipment and all three of them are pretty slow, so I want to make sure not to play too many bad cards, the Darksteel Sentinel was too expensive and not aggressive enough, in the end I decided to run the 2 Memnites, I’m not entirely happy about it but that was the best I could do. I don’t play more than 16 lands in this type of deck, you really want to just draw three lands and cast infinite spells and when you draw a lot of land you have a few late game cards with a big impact, the best one being Concussive Bolt which usually deals the final blow.

Round 1

In round 1 my opponent wins the die roll and plays first. I start pretty aggressively but get a Memnite and an Accorder's Paladin Arc Trailed on turn 2 but I follow up with a myr which trades for a Vulshok Replica, play a 3/3 and on turn 6 a Steel Hellkite, he starts grinding it down with a Contagion Clasp but I blink it with Glimmerpoint Stag and the game is over.

Game 2 is not interesting at all as I play a turn 5 Steel Hellkite while all he does is killing a Goblin Wardriver with Contagion Clasp.

It's frustrating to crush my opponents with 6 mana bombs every time I do a draft on Blackborder but I guess that also has a lot to do with the format: game winning 6 mana bombs!

Round 2

In round 2 I lose the die roll again and am facing a straight B/G Infect deck as he does the classic: Turn 1: Fume Spitter, turn 2 Plague Stinger, turn 3 Cystbearer, followed by turn 4 Rot Wolf and Fume Spitter and turn 5 Untamed Might for the win.

I tried to put up some resistance with Burn the Impure and some bodies to block but it wasn't close to enough to prevent him from killing me.

I choose to draw first in game 2, I don't think I can outrace him anyway as he showed me too many Fume Spitters, and I’d rather draw the few removal spells and flyers I have and fight a resource war by blocking everything I can.

Sadly he interferes with my plan by playing a Stinger on turn 2, a Viridian Corrupter on my Iron Myr on turn 3 and then two more Plague Stingers on turn 4,  I was instantly dead.

The deck I ended up with was not very good, but it's easy to draft this archetype as no one else wants the cards you want, you just have to pick removal very highly and value synergy above pure strength. Some cards are extremely needed and if I had to choose 3, I’d say Concussive Bolt, Master's Call and Kuldotha Rebirth.

The more I draft this format the more I discover how open it is and the hundreds of opportunities and different styles of decks you can try, don't be afraid to follow your instincts if you think you might have found some crazy archetype that could very well be viable and in the worst case scenario, you learned something and tried to innovate.

See you next time!

Lucas

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