Level 5 Pro Player Nico Bohny takes us through a Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn 8-4 draft queue on Magic Online. He shares some comprehensive thoughts about both the picks and the games, and talks us through each step of the way! If you're looking to improve your Limited game, this is the article series for you!
You can even vote and tell Nico which cards you would have picked and if you agree with the Pro Player. You will also see what other users think about the picks. Don’t miss out on this one!
About the author Nico is a level 5 member of the Pro Players Club, he has currently 65 lifetime Pro Points and is ranked 34 in Limited worldwide! Some of Nico’s MTG accomplishments include:
-Winning Grand Prix Torino -Top 8 at Pro Tour Hollywood -Winning the team World Championship
Apart from playing high-level tournaments, Nico judges various Magic tournaments. In addition Nico is the original designer of the BW token deck, which performed well in the current Standard format. He was also spotted winning matches with 20/20 avatar tokens (or as he says “Chuck Norris tokens”) from Dark Depths at last year’s Nationals ;-). Everybody loves to draft. Even the Pro Players. So let me guide you through one of my funniest and most interesting drafts lately...
I am waiting in a 8-4 Magic Online Queue to fill up, greedily lurking to collect some more of those Qualifier points we urgently need to qualify for the next Champs. So here we go...
(Editor’s Note: For those of you unfamiliar with Magic Online: These numbers refer to the prize payout of the draft. The winner will receive 8 booster packs and the runner up will receive 4 booster packs. There are also other drafts available such as 4-3-3-2 or Swiss queues. Usually you will find the better players in the 8-4 drafts. You receive 1 Qualifier point for each 8 man draft or 8 man Constructed event you manage to win. If you manage to make top 8 at a Premier event you will receive 3 Qualifier points. Each player who manages to collect 15 Qualifier points in a month, will be invited to a special tournament where you can win cash prizes as well as an invitation to the Magic World Championship.)
That's a nice pack we got here, with plenty of options. So let's talk about Preferences:
Mostodon is a nice card, but not worth considering and discussing in such a strong booster. Sanctum Gargoyle leads us to Esper or blue/white skies, maybe even a 5color control deck - archetypes which I all enjoy drafting in this format. Branching Bolt would probably be the most solid pick here, leaving us open to quite a bunch of options. I have been drafting a lot of green/red based decks. In those decks you really don't want to miss good removal spells such as the bolt. Qasali Ambusher is a fine card for slow green/white based decks (Mostly Naya biggies) which I both don't like at all - the card and the archetype. Necrogenesis is a potetially game-dominating card for the lategame. But in my opinion, Jund has become a much faster and more aggressive deck with Alara Reborn, so the Necrogenesis has lost a lot of its power. And last, but not least: Cruel Ultimatum. One of my favorite cards in the set - in Limited as well as in Constructed. Although I mostly draft Grixis as a 2 color based aggro deck, I cannot deny Cruel Ultimatum's raw power, which I highly appreciate. Even though the Bolt would be a safer pick here, I pick the stronger, more demanding card.
Pack 1 pick 2: My Pick:
I'm quite happy having picked the Grixis card, even though with Branching Bolt I could pick a Triland here. Since we are in Grixis at this moment, it's not much of a discussable pick to pick the stong removal spell in Agony Warp here.
Pack 1 pick 3: My Pick:
A pretty poor booster, not only for me, but also for the other drafters at the table. With only one pack containing Pingers, Quietus Spike is not an option here. Leotau seems better in aggro or midrange decks. Blightning could be useful in a control mirror, so I pick the card out of this totally empty pack.
Pack 1 pick 4: My Pick:
Great, another removal guy. That's exactly what you need in the rather slow Grixis archetype, spells that can dominate a game on their own, and lots of removal. A clear pick: Bloodpyre Elemental.
Pack 1 pick 5: My Pick:
Wow. Seems a little late for a card that even dominates Block Constructed. Meaning Jund must be wide open to draft. Even though a second Blightning seems tempting, I would rather stretch my colors for that sneaky lizard guy.
Pack 1 pick 6: My Pick:
Bant Charm is definitely a nice card, but without many fixers so far and a deck that would splash two of the three Bant colors, I cannot afford taking the removal here. I prefer the Jund card. I will focus a little more on green cards; maybe I am even willing to lose the Ultimatum and just splash blue. Let’s see...
Pack 1 pick 7: My Pick:
More Blightnings..., I don't really like Blightning in a control deck. Mana Fixing is what I want right now, though I would prefer a manafixer from Grixis or Jund.
Pack 1 pick 8: My Pick:
Another Obelisk containing the white mana I don't need right now. But all the removal and the Bloodpyre Elemental make the drake a juicy card for my deck. *grab*
Pack 1 pick 9: My Pick:
Another obelisk. And the Ambusher is wheeling. Whatever...
Pack 1 pick 10: My Pick:
I just take the best card out of the pack. I don't want to face an aggressive deck featuring multiples of those...
Pack 1 pick 11: My Pick:
Playables: None. Uncommons/Rares: None. Women on the pictures: Pick!
Pack 1 pick 12: My Pick:
Astrolabe is a nice way of cycling through your Borderposts and Obelisks in the lategame.
Foil Thornling versus Dragon. Mythic bomb versus easier castable, big flyer. Since the shiny Thornling is worth a lot of tix on Magic Online, and I mentally already abandoned my blue cards in favor of Jund, I will go with the green monster.
Pack 2 pick 2: My Pick:
Mana fixing and card advantage in a single card. More of these!
Pack 2 pick 3: My Pick:
Strix is tempting, since it could be a nice splash together with the blue/black borderpost. But an early drop that I can play no matter what seems better right now.
Pack 2 pick 4: My Pick:
Board sweepers are what you definitely want in a control deck, especially with all those Blades coming from the last booster.
Pack 2 pick 5: My Pick:
This one is pretty close. I want some manafixing for sure – when I plan to go 5color control, I prefer the sphere. But at the moment I want to play Jund and the Spire will give me faster access to colored mana.
Pack 2 pick 6: My Pick:
Molten Frame and Ignite Disorder are both nice sideboard cards, sometimes even finding a spot in your maindeck. Thanks to the hybrid mana costs, Ignite Disorder often finds at least one target in every deck, sometimes even trading 2 for 1. Fair enough!
Pack 2 pick 7: My Pick:
Empty. Equipment can sometimes be annoying for a control deck, so I will hatedraft this out of the pack.
Pack 2 pick 8: My Pick:
Kathari is a card that fits perfectly in our strategy - mostly acting like a removal spell in the early game, and an even more powerful guy in the lategame. Since I haven’t seen any Blister Beetles or pingers going around the table, this card will be a nice inclusion into my deck.
Pack 2 pick 9: My Pick:
The Yoke is a fine card, if you have a lot of removal spells and/or deathtouchers. It is not a must, but I regularly play it in my maindeck.
Pack 2 pick 10: My Pick:
Simply taking the best card out of the pack, even though I am not willing to play it.
Pack 2 pick 11: My Pick:
Nice sideboard card against several types of Bant decks.
Pack 2 pick 12: My Pick:
3/3 Flyers for 5 Mana have always been good. I am a bit surprised that nobody has taken this bird out of the pack yet.
All the nice cards - Crystallization, Shieldmage, Borderpost, Wurm - are white. I don’t want to firstpick the Grixis Grimblade, so I take the best card, which is also the easiest-to-splash card in this pack. Since I already have a Sphere, some Obelisks and a Rupture Spire, this one will probably make the cut.
Pack 3 pick 2: My Pick:
Talking about splashes: That sphinx lady is exactly the card you want to include in a control deck like this. Since we already have some mana fixing, we are back in the 5color plan.
Pack 3 pick 3: My Pick:
Wildfield Borderpost seems like a good card here. But counting the mana sources (all including white mana) that I already have, I just don’t want another. Crystallization is not a card you would want to splash due to it’s heavy color commitments, so we just pick the unspectacular 2 drop here.
Pack 3 pick 4: My Pick:
Another mana fixing guy for my deck. If I get more ways to fix my blue mana, I could reconsider playing my first picked Ultimatum.
Pack 3 pick 5: My Pick:
More mana fixing. Though I like the Viashino and the Soul Manipulation quite a lot (the Manipulation even more, since some of my removal spells are instant speed and I have a landcycling creature already), with all the good cards in my pool, the last thing I want with this deck is to be color or mana screwed.
Pack 3 pick 6: My Pick:
I still don’t like the borderpost. But what am I supposed to pick over it in this dry booster?!
Pack 3 pick 7: My Pick:
Another Manipulation. Having picked another landcycler guy a few picks ago, I pick it over the Borderpost here.
Pack 3 pick 8: My Pick:
Cycles for one mana, maybe I can get it back with Manipulation. Maybe...
Pack 3 pick 9: My Pick:
More landcyclers. I am wondering how a Shieldmage can manage to wheel in such a poor pack...
Pack 3 pick 10: My Pick:
Nice one. Pings for one, stalls the ground. I like it.
Pack 3 pick 11: My Pick:
More landcycling zombies? Nah. Another Shieldmage? Nobody seems to be drafting Esper anyway. Nice Uncommon? Why not...
Pack 3 pick 12: My Pick:
More Esper cards that nobody cares about...
Pack 3 pick 13: My Pick:
More cards that nobody cares about...
Pack 3 pick 14: My Pick:
Not the land.
Pack 3 pick 15: My Pick:
The land.
I will show you now what my final deck looked like and will then give a brief summary of the matches I played with it.
Level 5 Pro Player Nico Bohny takes us through a Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn 8-4 draft queue on Magic Online. He shares some comprehensive thoughts about both the picks and the games, and talks us through each step of the way! If you're looking to improve your Limited game, this is the article series for you!
You can even vote and tell Nico which cards you would have picked and if you agree with the Pro Player. You will also see what other users think about the picks. Don’t miss out on this one!
I win the first round versus an aggressive Jund deck featuring Shambling Remains, Blitz Hellion and a lot of rather mediocre cards...
Round 2
In round 2 I am paired against a very good 5color deck featuring Ajani Vengeant. He draws the Ajani in every single game but I still manage to win 2-1.
Round 3
In the third round I win 2-1 versus a rather slow Naya deck with 2 Sigil Captains and splashing black for Necrogenesis. Because the lategame decieded over winner and loser in this matchup, he won 1 game with the Necro/Captain engine (Which he had running in all 3 games... again), while I killed him twice with the Sphinx of the Steelwind, which he simply could not handle.
I hope you liked this article and you were able to profit a lot from it. Please leave your feedback in the comments section.
You can still submit questions for the first installment of the "Ask the Pro" feature. All users whose questions are featured in my column will receive 250 Blackborder points!
Announcement by Editor Andy on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 17:58
I would like to announce the amazing new feature called "Ask the Pro", as well as introduce you to Pro Player Nico Bohny who is joining Blackborder.com as a feature writer!
I want to provide you with some details about him as well as explain to you the "Ask the Pro" feature where you can collect a lot of Blackborder points!
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Great to see your thought process through a draft. Thanks!
man......i love the piece you wrote. My wife and I have just started to do drafts at the local shop for about 2 months now and have done probably about 7 or 8 with mainly friends and we like them vary much. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feeling toward the cards i really enjoyed reading this and cant wait for my next draft to maybe put some of your thinking behind my picks.................. thanks again.
Hi Nico,
the 2Necrogenesis/2Sigil Captain was the same deck as the one with Ajani V. It was round 2 in the draft but two times screw and Thornling+Cruel in 2 games and Thornling+Sphinx in the 3rd and final game was too much for my little combo ;) Even though I could have raced your Sphinx if you dind't Soulmanipulate the 2nd Captain ;)
Thanks again for that good match, hopefully we will play again!
Bis dahin bitte mehr Drafts von dir...schnizlprinz
Hmm imho you were set into a controlish build really early but this might be personal preference. I.e. I would have started with Bolt over Ultimatum because I'm no fan off the high commitment spells and you often need 8-9 sources to play it. I prefere the spells I cn cast consistent. Especially as first pick.
The next picks are all quite easy, but I would disagree on Obelisk ober Blightning. With the picks so far, an quite aggressive RBg deck is just as possible as the control build. And I'm no fan of the Obelisken anyway.
With the aggressive deck in mind, P2P2 would be Shambling Remains and P3P1 the Grimblade.
Controldecks are imho often too dependant on getting some big flashy cards. Of course, Ultimatum is a great start for such a plan but withot getting 2 more rare bombs later, 4-5 Color control would have been rough.
But just my 0.02$ ^^
I really enjoyed this article. It got me excited for my next booster draft!!
Hey there!
Thanks for commenting my article :-)
@schnizlprinz: Jau, cool, endlich mal einer, der sich noch genau an die games erinnern kann ^^
The games were really cool, though the Thornling in the first one didn't really matter since you just slave of bolas'd it. Or am I mixing something up again? :-)
@Grixis Beatdow: Yeah, it's truly a matter of personal preference having settled in control instad of beatdown. Personally I think that if you manage to get at least one Bomb/Biggie (which wouldbe the Cruel in my case), Grixis Control is one of the most powerful archetypes in this format.
Thanks for reading.
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Nico
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