Nico is a level 4 member of the Pro Players Club, he has 79 lifetime Pro Points and is one of the best Limited players 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. He was also spotted winning matches with 20/20 avatar tokens (or as he says “Chuck Norris tokens”) from Dark Depths at Nationals ;-).
Hi everybody!
It's time for another draft, this time without whisky!
If you missed the last episode of "Drafting with Nico" you can find it here:
Level 4 pro player Nico Bohny takes us through a Zendikar 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!
This horned gentleman is
not only a $5 bill on legs, it's also a very fine black card - not a true
spoiler in my opinion, but a card worth picking over most commons and
uncommons.
This one is a bit trickier.
I'm not willing to jump into Red for mediocre cards like Zektar Shrine Expedition while having passed Plated Geopede in pack 1, nor am I willing to
hatedraft the Devout Lightcaster which will be a pretty good sideboard card
against me. So is Bog Tatters, and Vampire's Bite is even ok in the maindeck,
but the card with the most potential is Feast of Blood. I know, I have no vampire
support yet, but if I get it, I'll be really happy having picked Feast of Blood
here. And if not, I won’t cry about losing picks such as Bog Tatters and Vampire’s
Bite.
Phew, that's a late Torch Slinger. Quest for the Gravelord is a good card when you have removal, and the
only removal I have so far is one that doesn't work without vampires, and since
I don't have vampires... you get the point!
Torch Slinger for me, it's
just the best card in here.
We have nothing spectacular
here, although it feels strange having jumped into Red after all the stuff
we've passed. On the other hand, we've cut almost every black card we saw, so
we'll probably get rewarded for that in pack 2. And in pack 3, again, we'll
probably get some more Red.
Tuktuk Grunts is an ally,
which is ok so far with two others, but not exactly what we're looking for. I’m
still lacking removal to support Quest for the Gravelord still. Heartstabber Mosquito
is fine since we have some defensive tools to help us get to the lategame.
This ally has more
potential than the previous one. In addition, Red/Black has some decent allies
to increase the ally count. I like this one in our deck!
Well, that's not exactly
the solid ally I was talking about, but he's ok as well. I'm not looking to
play an aggro deck, so even with Feast of Blood, Vampire Lacerator is no option
here. And it's too late to switch to Blue and take the Living Tsunami.
What? Another Living Tsunami!
I hope I don't have to play against this monster of a blue deck. Giant Scorpion
is a fine pick for me, it holds the ground and helps me get to the lategame.
Although my plan of getting
rewarded with black cards didn't really work out, I got some nice allies. If
this trend continues in pack 3, I'll end up with a solid midrange deck.
Level 4 pro player Nico Bohny takes us through a Zendikar 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!
Vampire Nighthawk does his
dirty work and takes my opponent down to 8 before he can kill it with Spire Barrage for the full 5. Too late, it seems, as Magma Rift takes down his
blocker and I bash in for the remaining 8.
Fortunately, Gatekeeper of Malakir comes to the rescue and provides a huge game swing. Together with Soul Stair Expedition, he appears again on the battlefield, taking out my opponent's
last hope to mount a comeback.
After some hits, he's able
to kill it again with Burst Lightning, but the vampire gave me back some needed
lifepoints. I start trading my guys for his, and in the end, he loses the race
due to the life swings provided by his Vampire Lacerator and my Vampire Nighthawk.
Territorial Baloth stops me, but I attack
into it, to bring him down to 4, and play Heartstabber Mosquito without kicker. I'm able to bring him down
to 2, but then I start drawing lands and more lands and just die to his beasts.
When I look at the top card of my deck, I see that Ob Nixilis, the Fallen would have been
waiting. Never look at the top card of your deck when losing or taking a mulligan
– it’s just frustrating. :-)
Thanks for
reading. I’m already on my way to California. Wish me luck at PT San Diego and
see you soon!
Nico
Deck Analysis and Ask the Pro
Make sure to bid on my latest auction and submit your
questions for the next installment of Ask the Pro:
Announcement by Blackborder on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 18:58
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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I like ob nixilus as much as the next guy, and it is a game breaking card, but with its high cost I'd have picked the maraduer, becuase its evasion and lower cost will generally have more impact than the 5-cost bomb. Sorry the shuffler of hell got you stuck in mana flood. I still say there's some kind of weird conspiracy with it...
Theres no way I would take marauder over ob unless my curve was weighted so heavily to the top.
Ob can just straight win you games that you have no business winning.
Ob is surely the right pick. Unfortunate never seeing your bomb. I think p1p3 is a curious choice. I probably would have taken the spire barrage in case I ever ended up in red. Feast of Blood just seems so hard to play, even if you have 5+ vampires. Of course, passing a geopede p1p1 you'd like to send the right signals to the guy on left that red is open. Tough choice.
Geopede is a better pick p1p1. Red has so many excellent cards that come late (like the ridic late Shatterskull Giant you got). I think this deck would have been insane. Also the pick of Gatekeeper isn't as auto as I think you made it. It's a triple black spell... that's tough given the amount of red 2 drops you had at that stage...
Not picking the OB would have been the worst sIgnalling you can do as they se a common is missing. Only geopede can remotely compete at common level. Burst can't.
Also geopede makes that choice even worse with signalling. If I sat to your left i would have no idea what you are doing. Maurader is made worse as black is the most common colour.
Thanks again Nico. I'm so proud of you for not drinking, but the road to recovery is long and difficult... lol
Anyways, I was suprised to see you pass up Quest for the Gravelord twice and some of the Vamps after picking 2 Feast of Blood's.
While allies have the potential to own in limited they seem to be most powerful in bant colors. Ondu Cleric, Oran Reif Survivalist, Kazandu Blademaster, and Umara Raptor are easily the most powerful allies for limited. Being in black/red you already have access to the best kill spells, so a bunch of early beats makes sense to me. Vamps and goblins+pump spells fit the bill nicely and Quest for the Gravelord is a great compliment to that strategy.
What I like most about the quest isn't the 5/5, it's the effect it has on combat decisions. With the quest on the board your oppenent will likely think twice about swinging even if you only have a 1/1 and a 2/2. Add the possibility of combat tricks into the mix and they should be even more hesitant. Given that hesitation swingin' with little dudes is actually a good idea for you, even if they have bigger dudes.
First scenario: They block and you get a counter, then on their turn if they swing and you block, you get a counter putting you 1 more block or kill spell away from a 5/5. Second scenario: They block, you pump killing their bigger dude and your smaller dude, you get 2 counters and they really don't want to attack or block. Third scenario: They just let your little dude plink away at their life total because they're afraid to kill it. Obviously, making your opponent afraid to attack or block early to mid game is a big advantage.
Well that's my 2 cents. Good luck and keep up the good work!
all i can say is that i would have went into blue... blue was insane.
Yes, I should have gone blue too !
The second pack has so many good blue cards. Try 3 colors Grixis ?
And who won ? Blue, didn't he ?
Spreading Seas
Trapfinder's Trick
Spell Pierce
Kraken Hatchling
Cancel
Kraken Hatchling
Shoal Serpent
Shoal Serpent
Quest for Ancient Secrets
...yeah. Definitely blue.
greetings from San Diego