Drafting with Kyle - DKA/ISD/ISD #1

Kyle Boggemes

About Kyle Boggemes

Kyle is a tournament Magic player who enjoys writing about the game and Drafting is his favorite format. He has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:

• Second place finish at Pro Tour San Diego
• 4th place GP: Washington DC
• Two Limited GP top 16s

Drafting with Kyle - DKA/ISD/ISD #1

Booster 1 - Innistrad

Pack 1 pick 1:

My Pick: Lingering Souls

I love this card in draft as well as Standard; how can I not pick it?  Death's Caress is probably the second best card in the pack, but it’s too early to tell.  Loyal Cathar and Wild Hunger are also worth building around and could be possible high picks.

Pack 1 pick 2:

My Pick: Farbog Boneflinger

Tower Geist is worth noting, but I took Lingering Souls and want to stick to two colors for now.  Farbog Boneflinger is as close to Skinrender as we have in this block and is certainly first-pick quality.

Pack 1 pick 3:

My Pick: Niblis of the Mist

I was debating between this and Evolving Wilds, but ultimately decided to stick with the Black/White aggro control route.

Pack 1 pick 4:

My Pick: Harrowing Journey

This card will be good in a control deck for late game card advantage, but can also deliver the final blow with an aggressive start from my side.  It’s not the best card in the world, but I don’t want to pick up a third color for any of these options in the pack.

Pack 1 pick 5:

My Pick: Strangleroot Geist

I think this could be a signal to move in on green and splash either black or white (since I’m playing Lingering Souls no matter what).  Even if I don’t end up playing this creature, it’s a good hate draft since the rest of the pack is weak.

Pack 1 pick 6:

My Pick: Black Cat

I have to choose between green and staying the course with black white.  Jumping the black white ship for a 5 mana 5/5 doesn’t seem appealing as I am a cat lover.

Pack 1 pick 7:

My Pick: Headless Skaab

I have a choice between Faithless Looting and Headless Skaab.  After the draft I would say this pick is not close and I certainly made the wrong choice.  Skaab is nice and I wanted to give myself the option to play Blue/Black mill splashing Lingering Souls.

Pack 1 pick 8:

My Pick: Faithless Looting

I got lucky and was passed this card 8th pick.  After playing it, I can assure you it’s closer to a third pick.  It’s a card I would hold on to until you have two lands to discard in the late game in a control deck.  If you play a graveyard-based deck, it’s almost always strong whenever you cast it.  Think about Divination; it costs one mana less, but you almost always draw gas and trade in your dead lands for live draws.  When you topdeck this in the late game, it feels pretty awesome assuming you held on to the extra lands.

Pack 1 pick 9:

My Pick: Silverclaw Griffin

I wasn’t sure about this card, but it is really difficult to attack through.  It’s certainly not a high pick, but I would love to have one in all of my white-based control decks (which I frequently draft).

Pack 1 pick 10:

Forest Ray of Revelation Haunted Fengraf Faithless Looting Falkenrath Torturer Talons of Falkenrath

My Pick: Faithless Looting

This probably won’t happen by next week as the card clearly hasn’t been played enough quite yet.  I would splash this in most decks assuming I don’t have too many double mana requirements already.

Pack 1 pick 11:

Swamp Chill of Foreboding Artful Dodge Grim Flowering Gruesome Discovery

My Pick: Grim Flowering

Perhaps we can make a graveyard-based deck with all of the looting we are doing.  It’s too bad we lost a pack of Spider Spawning, but I might as well hate it.

Pack 1 pick 12:

Mountain Secrets of the Dead Favor of the Woods Bar the Door

My Pick: Secrets of the Dead

I feel this is a signal that people don’t have much faith in the Burning Vengeance deck after losing a pack of Innistrad.  This is not the kind of strategy I enjoy, but we might as well leave the option open (and do more hating).

Pack 1 pick 13:

Plains Haunted Fengraf Favor of the Woods

My Pick: Haunted Fengraf

Pack 1 pick 14:

Spiteful Shadows Scorch the Fields

My Pick: Scorch the Fields

Pack 1 pick 15:

Plains

My Pick: Plains

Booster 2 - Innistrad

Pack 2 pick 1:

My Pick: Pitchburn Devils

We have playable green cards in Darkthicket Wolf and Prey Upon, but only have Strangleroot Geist at the moment.  The white card (Village Bell-Ringer) in the pack is a pretty miserable first pick.  Runechanter's Pike isn’t the best in a non-blue deck since it can be difficult to mill enough instants and sorceries otherwise.  I already want to splash Faithless Looting or play red as a main color so I might as well take a playable mid-range creature in Pitchburn Devils.

Pack 2 pick 2:

My Pick: Morkrut Banshee

The only good cards in this pack are the Banshee, Forbidden Alchemy, and Markov Patrician.  I don’t want to draft Alchemy since there are already good cards in three other colors.  I also prefer Banshee to the Patrician as black typically lacks strong five drops.

Pack 2 pick 3:

My Pick: Silverchase Fox

Pack 2 pick 4:

My Pick: Clifftop Retreat

I can take Into the Maw of Hell or Pitchburn Devils, but the mana will be rough already (and it’s rare).

Pack 2 pick 5:

My Pick: Tribute to Hunger

I’m pretty sure that we are playing heavy black over heavy red.

Pack 2 pick 6:

My Pick: Abattoir Ghoul

Pack 2 pick 7:

My Pick: Vampire Interloper

I probably should have taken Unruly Mob since this deck is on the slow side and should have never played it in the first place.

Pack 2 pick 8:

My Pick: Gallows Warden

I probably should have taken Typhoid Rats since there were already plenty of 5 drops in my deck.

Pack 2 pick 9:

My Pick: Brain Weevil

Pack 2 pick 10:

Ghostly Possession Riot Devils Altar's Reap Disciple of Griselbrand Swamp One-Eyed Scarecrow

My Pick: Altar's Reap

I’m not sure if it was right to take this over One-Eyed Scarecrow.

Pack 2 pick 11:

Skeletal Grimace Caravan Vigil Infernal Plunge Lost in the Mist Island

My Pick: Lost in the Mist

Pack 2 pick 12:

Thraben Purebloods Ancient Grudge Infernal Plunge Plains

My Pick: Ancient Grudge

Pack 2 pick 13:

Dream Twist Island Night Terrors

My Pick: Night Terrors

Pack 2 pick 14:

Wooden Stake Swamp

My Pick: Wooden Stake

Pack 2 pick 15:

Island

My Pick: Island

We have an interesting control deck at the moment since there are a decent amount of red (splash) cards so far and decent removal.

Booster 3 - Innistrad

Pack 3 pick 1:

My Pick: Blasphemous Act

I always open this card in my drafts here on blackborder.com.  I don’t do that many modo drafts so I guess the card just loves me.

Pack 3 pick 2:

My Pick: Chapel Geist

Pack 3 pick 3:

My Pick: Rebuke

Pack 3 pick 4:

My Pick: Chapel Geist

It appears we are being rewarded for taking the white cards in this pack.

Pack 3 pick 5:

My Pick: Rage Thrower

I don’t want to play Rage Thrower if I can help it because my deck doesn’t deal that much damage until the game is already in my favor, but I’ll take the option.  It’s also the best card in the pack to hate-draft.

Pack 3 pick 6:

My Pick: Manor Skeleton

Man or skeleton, it doesn’t make much difference to me.  It will make the cut, I’m sure.

Pack 3 pick 7:

My Pick: Victim of Night

What is going on here?  Silent Departure is also still here so it was most likely just a powerful pack.

Pack 3 pick 8:

My Pick: Delver of Secrets

Pack 3 pick 9:

My Pick: Urgent Exorcism

I could have taken Traveler's Amulet, but I’m not a fan of that card.  Perhaps it would have been alright in this deck because of Faithless Looting.

Pack 3 pick 10:

Nightbird's Clutches Make a Wish Night Revelers Curse of the Nightly Hunt Forest Maw of the Mire

My Pick: Night Revelers

Pack 3 pick 11:

Harvest Pyre Graveyard Shovel Naturalize Plains Manor Skeleton

My Pick: Harvest Pyre

Pack 3 pick 12:

Kindercatch Grave Bramble Forest Gruesome Deformity

My Pick: Grave Bramble

Pack 3 pick 13:

Woodland Sleuth Curse of Oblivion Island

My Pick: Woodland Sleuth

Pack 3 pick 14:

Hysterical Blindness Mountain

My Pick: Hysterical Blindness

Pack 3 pick 15:

Forest

My Pick: Forest

Overall, I was pretty displeased with the deck as I had to play a bunch of cards that look ugly in your hand (Night Terrors, Brain Weevil, Manor Skeleton, and Vampire Interloper).  Bigger piles have won limited matches before so I still have a shot (I hope).

Here is my list:

Notable sideboard cards: Harvest Pyre, Ancient Grudge, Altar's Reap, and Urgent Exorcism. 

This deck was pretty slow, but had some strong five drops to stabilize.  Thanks to Faithless Looting, I could hold my extra lands (since I only need 5) and cycle them for spells.  I don’t think this format is very fast and the graveyard decks got weaker due to the lower amounts of Spider Spawnings.  This makes control a more viable option since the gimmick decks were always my worst matchup as they have plenty of flashback for card advantage. 

On to the games!

Match 1 Game 1

My opponent began with a mulligan and I kept my seven on the draw.  His turn two Vampire Interloper hit me for two then it was foiled by Chapel Geist.  His Falkenrath Noble was then killed by Farbog Boneflinger.  A Butcher's Cleaver was cast on my opponent’s side, but the combination of Abattoir Ghoul and Silverclaw Griffin ensured anything with less than 6 toughness would not survive.

I boarded out Vampire Interloper since he had a good amount of creatures.  It was probably a better call to just maindeck Harvest Pyre since I would lose without a red source most of the time anyway.  A case can be made that Vampire Interloper is also just in the wrong deck here and isn’t even worth drawing (and I think that’s right).

Match 1 Game 2

We both keep our seven card hands and he elects to play.  He begins with turn 2 Vampire Interloper followed by Mikaeus, the Lunarch but misses the third land drop.  Chapel Geist once again gets in the way of the flyer after I get hit for two.  Victim of Night takes care of Mikaeus at the end of my turn when the charge ability is on the stack.  The game stalls out afterwards (which favors this deck) and I eventually start casting 5 drop after 5 drop.  Gallows Warden and Silverclaw Griffin come to play, but the latter is removed by Fiend Hunter.  The illustration shows that patience is a virtue and my Rebuke kills the Fiend Hunter and I get the lethal attack on the following turn.

Match 2 Game 1

This round I’m against Green White aggro and I let him go first (we both keep our hands).  The game drags out pretty long because he has Requiem Angel to make things difficult for me.  I think this game showed the true power of Faithless Looting as I was still in it despite drawing so many lands.  I laid out the graveyard so you could see what was cast in the game and he is basically playing creatures and pump spells.  I had plenty of live draws left in the deck, but Vampire Interloper didn’t help hold the fort against the Loyal Cathar.

Sideboard: -Vampire Interloper -Night Terrors + Urgent Exorcism +Harvest Pyre

Match 2 Game 2

We both kept our opening seven cards and my opponent began with Silver-Inlaid Dagger and Elite Inquisitor.  He beat me down pretty good with that combination since even my Black Cat could not block it (it’s a zombie cat).  My rag-tag team did not give up as Brain Weevil was cast, but held on to it for a turn for a morbid trigger.  I had exactly the number of turns to execute the plan (2) and the Banshee was able to allow me to stabilize.

Match 2 Game 3

We both kept our seven again (modo loves us) and we were off to the deciding game.  His first turn Silver-Inlaid Dagger was the only play for the first three turns and allowed me to set up for the late game.  My Tribute to Hunger met with an awkward foe-Doomed Traveler.  I had to trade two spells for the Doomed Traveler because of the equipment making both creatures dangerous.  His following turn Gastaf Shepard was going to be killed by Rebuke, but he had Ranger's Guile to protect it.  I could have killed the spirit token from Doomed Traveler with Urgent Exorcism, but wanted to get rid of Tribute to Hunger as soon as possible because I anticipated a Mausoleum Guard.  It turns out I should have anticipated a Gastaf Shepard as I just lost to it in four swings with Silver-Inlaid Dagger.

I almost made it to the finals and played myself out of it.  There were some decisions that could have altered the outcomes of games 1 and 3 of the second match.  Overall, I think control got better with the new set because the gimmick decks are much weaker thanks to the reduction of Innistrad cards.  This typically happens when the second set comes out because Dark Ascension is less helpful for the linear strategies of Innistrad.  All of the games came down to attacking and blocking with creatures and I think that favors the deck trying to take the game long. 

Dark Ascension also provided a nice boost for red in Faithless Looting which was certainly the all-star of the deck.  I think all five colors are pretty even and the combination depends on the first pack.  Lingering Souls put me into black white in the first pack and Wild Hunger was another consideration and would have also solidified me into two colors early.

I should have picked Evolving Wilds earlier because the good flashback cards are in different colors in Dark Ascension.

For Innistrad:

• Forbidden Alchemy
• Travel Preparations
• Feeling of Dread
• Unburial Rites
• Rally the Peasants
• Bump in the Night
• Ancient Grudge
• Desperate Ravings
• Spider Spawning
• Memory's Journey

Dark Ascension:

• Burning Oil
• Wild Hunger
• Lingering Souls
• Mystic Retrieval
• Saving Grasp
• Deadly Allure
• Reap the Seagraf
• Fires of Undeath
• Tracker's Instincts

Many of these cards are good, but I wouldn’t play them if the flashback cannot be cast.  The only ones that are strong enough on their own are Burning Oil, Lingering Souls, and Fires of Undeath, but I would splash the flashback anyway.  Evolving Wilds makes the mana easier when you pick up the Innistrad flashback spells later.  It can also help when you get passed a late Kessig Wolf Run or Gavony Township.

We still have plenty to learn about Dark Ascension so I hope this draft gave you some good insight on how to approach it in the early stages.

Happy drafting!

-Kyle

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