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 - M13/M13/M13 #3
Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick: Prized Elephant
I basically had
a choice between two black uncommons and a white uncommon. If I take one of the black cards, I run the
risk of the player to my left taking the other one and getting cut. I like drafting green so I’m fine taking the
powerful creature.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick: Talrand's Invocation
I can stay on
color with Griffin Protector or I can take the best uncommon in the set.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick: Sentinel Spider
This is a signal
to continue with green and possibly splash the elephant.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick: Elvish Visionary
It kills me a
little inside to pass a Mogg Flunkies, but we’re Bant today. I really like this card especially in decks
with three colors.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick: Farseek
I don’t know if
it was right to take this over Evolving Wilds; they have a similar function. Regardless, I want something to help me get
my splash color (likely white).
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick: Prized Elephant
I like the Farseek considering it now ramps us into three great uncommons (2 elephants and
invocation).
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick: Courtly Provocateur
I haven’t got a
chance to play this card yet, but it seems alright in a green-based list.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick: Flinthoof Boar
I don’t mind
playing it as a grizzly bear and the mana might be good enough for a Mountain.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick: Kraken Hatchling
Pack 1 pick 10:
Disentomb Bloodthrone Vampire Fog Mountain Reckless Brute Blood Reckoning My Pick: Reckless Brute
Pack 1 pick 11:
Mark of Mutiny Mountain Hydrosurge Erase Goblin Battle Jester My Pick: Goblin Battle Jester
I might actually
be in red now; this guy is way better than he appears.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Plains Craterize Serpent's Gift Ranger's Path My Pick: Ranger's Path
Pack 1 pick 13:
Tormod's Crypt Bountiful Harvest Plains My Pick: Tormod's Crypt
Pack 1 pick 14:
Forest Door to Nothingness My Pick: Door to Nothingness
Pack 1 pick 15:
Island My Pick: Island
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick: Essence Scatter
This is a pretty
weak pack, but I’m happy playing Essence Scatter in any blue deck. We have to decide between the red cards I got
at the end of pack one and Talrand's Invocation plus Essence Scatter.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick: Divination
I probably
should have picked Yeva's Forcemage because I’m on the fence between blue and
red. Divination isn’t strong enough to
slant me towards blue so I should have been more conservative.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick: Rancor
I have never
picked this card in draft and it seems like a good time to start.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick: Titanic Growth
You all know by
now how much I love this card; take it early and take it often.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick: Attended Knight
I should have
picked Elvish Archdruid to go easier on the mana.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick: Prey Upon
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick: Unsummon
I guess I’m in
blue considering I didn’t see many red cards in this pack and Unsummon is a
premium common.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick: Naturalize
Bond Beetle is
just about unplayble so I’ll go with the good sideboard card.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick: Ring of Thune
Pack 2 pick 10:
Reliquary Tower Safe Passage Zombie Goliath Fog Swamp Yeva's Forcemage My Pick: Yeva's Forcemage
Pack 2 pick 11:
Quirion Dryad Bountiful Harvest Angel's Mercy Plains Mark of the Vampire My Pick: Quirion Dryad
I doubt I’ll
play this card because it seems as if I’m base green, but it’s certainly
playable.
Pack 2 pick 12:
Mountain Vastwood Gorger Ring of Evos Isle Fungal Sprouting My Pick: Vastwood Gorger
Pack 2 pick 13:
Wall of Fire Mountain Fog My Pick: Fog
Pack 2 pick 14:
Plains Glorious Charge My Pick: Glorious Charge
Pack 2 pick 15:
Angel's Mercy My Pick: Angel's Mercy
Event #: 4182850
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick: Rancor
There aren’t
many cards in the format I would pick over Rancor in a green deck.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick: Centaur Courser
This is the best
three drop for green at the common slot; I needed more fat and I got exactly
what the doctor ordered.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick: Prey Upon
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick: Unsummon
This was a close
pick between Wind Drake because I was short on creatures. It might have been better to take the flyer
simply because the green tricks (Titanic Growth and Prey Upon) require
creatures.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick: Arbor Elf
I don’t like
this guy as much as most, but it’s a solid card for a deck like this because I
expect the curve to be higher compared to RG.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick: Scroll Thief
This guy should
steal some wins with the help of Rancor.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick: Titanic Growth
I think this
card is better than Prey Upon in many cases and take it higher than most.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick: Farseek
I don’t like Farseek in two color decks, but I want to splash Prized Elephant.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick: Rewind
Pack 3 pick 10:
Wall of Fire Mountain Duress Kraken Hatchling Watercourser Spiked Baloth My Pick: Watercourser
Spiked Baloth is
alright in this particular deck because of Unsummon and Titanic Growth, but Watercourser is the more reliable creature.
Pack 3 pick 11:
Mountain Island Smelt Bond Beetle Clock of Omens My Pick: Bond Beetle
Pack 3 pick 12:
Canyon Minotaur Zombie Goliath Swamp Veilborn Ghoul My Pick: Veilborn Ghoul
Pack 3 pick 13:
Zombie Goliath Swamp Chandra's Fury My Pick: Chandra's Fury
This card is
extremely underrated and I think it’s better than Turn to Slag in most red
decks.
Pack 3 pick 14:
Wall of Fire Island My Pick: Wall of Fire
Pack 3 pick 15:
Swamp My Pick: Swamp
This deck wasn’t
nearly as powerful as my last two, but I have 2 Rancor and Talrand's Invocation.
Notable
sideboard cards:
Match 1 Game 1
He wins the die
roll and we both keep our hands.
That’s right, no
land drops were missed this game; my opponent attacked me with a Duskdale Wurm
on turn five. He had a great draw
consisting of Arbor Elf, Elvish Archduid, Yeva's Forcemage (who happens to be
an elf), and Duskdale Wurm. My draw was
fine, but I played a creature on turn three instead of leaving up Essence Scatter and was punished.
The issue with
leaving up the countermagic was that I was already behind. My opponent could have sat back and smashed
while I was left taking unnecessary damage.
Regardless, I feel confident in the matchup because the deck clearly has
too many accelerants and not enough gas.
I sideboard out Attended Knight for Kraken Hatchling to make the mana more consistent and stem
the early bleeding.
Match 1 Game 2
I go first and
he mulligans to six.
We both begin
with a reasonable curve and I decide to take a hit from Sentinel Spider in
order to avoid trading away the Centaur Courser since it was my only
creature. As you can see, my lack of
creatures makes me prioritize them to increase the value of my pump
spells. After I get to untap, there are
enough ways to make my courser run over his spider.
Match 1 Game 3
I’m on the draw,
he mulligans to six again.
The reason I
chose to play 41 cards was to increase my threat density. I prioritize this when I have multiple ramp
effects to reduce mana flood. My
opponent clearly should have taken this into consideration because he has two
Arbor Elves- this leaves room for 21 real cards (assuming 17 lands). Being on the draw was good for me because he
only had a few threatening spells each game.
Match 2 Game 1
He wins the die
roll, I’m on the draw, we both keep seven cards.
His deck is very
good against mine because it has plenty of removal spells for my 11
creatures. The Rancor would have been
better at racing if he had less ways to stop my guys from attacking. I thought I was in a racing situation versus Crimson Muckwader, but I should have likely used Unsummon earlier to gain some
life.
There was a
point where I could have won with a second green source. All of the pump spells could’ve come together
to deal an extra 6 trample damage in a single turn, but it was not to be.
I board out Attended Knight for Kraken Hatchling again because I can block the early
threats and avoid getting burned out by Chandra's Fury.
Match 2 Game 2
We both keep our
opening seven and I’m on the play.
I had a fine
start, but Krenko got a little out of hand.
He had more removal than the first game, but a Rancor would have won
against fair cards (ie: no bombs). This
game demonstrates the power of Unsummon because it would have put me very far
ahead if I was given an extra turn.
Although I have
done plenty of M13 drafts, I’m still new to blue. It’s certainly my least favorite color and I
prefer to be aggressive. Regardless of
my color preferences, I felt Talrand's Invocation was good enough to give it a
try.
Happy drafting!
-Kyle
Pack 3 pick 14:
Wall of Fire Island My Pick: Wall of Fire
Pack 3 pick 15:
Swamp My Pick: Swamp
Comments
picking divination and titanic growth over two archeomancer's is so bad. the white splash for two elephants and an attended knight is also quite questionable.
yes, you love yourself a titanic growth, but drafting pump spells before creatures makes no sense. The final deck you register is so awkward with its double unsummon, double prey upon, titanic growth etc whilst lacking the creature selection to actually make these cards shine.
I think you overrated your green picks; being in blue, you could have tried to pair it with white (since black was quite dry, and also is less liketly to be splashed beacuse of the multiple BB in premium cards); white was quite open in the second pack; and maybe a little splash of green (also to have the forest for the elephants).
Thanks for the column, I think it's the best.
I was shocked by the first-pick elephant. Faithmender, execution, and knight all seem better as a p1p1. If nothing else they don't commit you to two colors.
The Elephant isn't committing me to two colors; it's essentially a green card. After making the pick I anticipated Farseek to be better than average. Regarding Archeomancer- It's a pretty overrated card in general and I don't want it most of the time, but it ended up being ok for my deck, but saying I should pick it over instants and sorceries makes it worse. I am certainly high on green because my best decks have been green; black is good, but I don't want to draft black and pass a black card to my left.
Besides invocation you only have 12 creatures! how many of them are actually good targets for prey upon? Titanic growth interacts well with rancor and you need it to because again, only 12 critters!! Then there is unsummon - your curve, if you can call it that, consists of only two 2-dops and no evasive three drops, so how good can unsummon ever be? You've got no ability to tempo your opponent out. Basically your deck makes no sense and you only won games your opponent mulligan'd.
Hello,
Please, forgive my bad english. My two cents:
First, I was amazed by your 1st pick. Elephant is good, but I prefer faithmender because he makes better so many cards (ajani’s sunstriker, healer of the pride, arctic aven, bloodhunter bat, essence drain, mark of the vampire, vampire nighthawk…). The rhox can lead us (but not necessary) to u/w mill, or w/b exalt lifelink without forbidding g/w, but the prized elephant locks us in g/w or g/x/w splash.
I agreed with the following picks of the 1st pack, and even the essence scatter p1p2 (even if I would have preferred the odric crudader, which is debattable )but p2p2, with 2 prized elephants, I think too that divination wasn’t a good idea, but because it was time to give up blue and to aim for g/w by picking the knight glory. At this moment, it looked more logical, and the end of the draft proves it would have been the good decision (mana less unstable, better quality creatures for our boosts, and maybe better quality g/w cards in the last pack).
That way, our deck would have looked like this:
- 2 unsummon
-1 essence scatter
- 1 divination
-1 scroll thief
-1 talrand invocation
-1 yeva forcemage
-1 flinthoof boar
+1knight glory
+1 odric crusader
+1 show of valor
+1 angelic benediction
+1 safe passage
+ 1 primal huntbeast
+1 guardians of akrasia
+1 quirion dryad
(sideboard +1 plummet)
A last word about the construction step; with 10 non green spells, I would have risked the quirion dryad instead of the flinthoof boar which is here a vanilla 2/2 bear.