MtG Random Packs + Draft

[swowannabe]

Opened 2x AER, 1x Oath to Gatewatch, 4x AHK from planeswalker decks, a draft and the 3 prize packs of AHK for 3-0ing the draft.

Gatewatch: Full art land. Literally the best card.

AER: Heart of Kiran , Baral's Expertise, Ragavan Token

Planeswalker Packs: Hazoret the Fervorent , Archfiend of Infir, Neheb the Worthy, and the R/G cycle land. Pretty pleased with these!

Draft had a Cascading Cataracts that tabled and I got stuck with, a Bounty of the Luxa that tabled and I got stuck with, almost had a G/W cycle land table that I opened, but my buddy took it 8th pick, and I opened a Liliana's Mastery. Built a B/U zombie/flying deck with a Trial of Knowledge and 3 cartouches. Blue and Black cartouches are just wrong. Card advantage OP. Oh, best card I drafted was a foil full art plains.

Prize Packs: Curator of Mysteries (where was he for me to draft!!!), Mythic Angel that exiles nonland permanent, and the crummy black instant that gets back all the cards you cycled that turn.

When I say crummy, I do not play constructed so that card is trash to me. It could be a total bomb in a constructed deck but has very limited value in limited.

[longisland]

I picked up two packs of MM3 at lunch and opened a Scalding Tarn. Nice.

[swowannabe]

Slick! I ordered an Amonkhet bundle yesterday, hopefully it arrives by Saturday but it may not show up until next week. The double-sided tokens were what sold me, I love tokens and the double sided ones are just so nice I couldn't pass it up!

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Slick! I ordered an Amonkhet bundle yesterday, hopefully it arrives by Saturday but it may not show up until next week. The double-sided tokens were what sold me, I love tokens and the double sided ones are just so nice I couldn't pass it up!

That's literally why i bought one at my lgs. Love the tokens, hit green god and the exile angel, i used three packs for late night conspiracy styledraft probably my favorite format!

Also ran a w/b amonkhet deck and lost only to the person who got first who literally outvalued me. Did have a guy slam a t3 gideon and got to never it next turn! The guy was very tilted.

I had the double token generator and rode that value train to wins.
Interesting someone would take a full art land over a glorybringer but I'll gladly take it! Also how did soemone not win with glorybringer!?!!

[swowannabe]

Wait, someone took a FULL ART LAND (not foil) over a Glorybringer!? Are they high?

I mean, if it were at least a foil I could possibly see it from a value perspective since the foil lands do seem to hold decent value ($5-$8 pretty consistently) but Glorybringer is what, $11 or so right now?

Now that I type this, it has to be a foil full art land to have it be draftable...

But still. Glorybringer? That card is just dumb.

I want that double token generator so bad in a draft. I want to blow up a game with Stir the Sands and that card. I will live the dream some day...

I find it REALLY interesting how the pro's hate so hard on blue and other cards (Like Anointed Precession) and yet those colors/cards somehow end up being superstars in local drafts. I'm curious as to what accounts for the discrepancy. Is it the pro's have just a vastly superior understanding and can elevate themselves to another level and see nuanced interactions better and can squeak out 3 damage where I can only get 2 or something and that ends up winning games or I don't even know, or if there is significant bias in the opinions?

I totally get that super-fast beatdown decks do well, usually, in Limited. If you can punch in for like 7 or 9 on turn 4, they better come up with a response in a hurry. With removal really being at a premium in this set (Magma Spray is the cheapest and best, red really only having the good range and the most, follow by black/white and then green and blue has like... illusionary wrappings, which is surprisingly good) I can see how those decks get a step up, but still... I read one pro's article that more or less said, "Angler Drake is the ONLY CARD in Blue that makes me even remotely interested in blue. Blue sucks. Blue mana represents the tears of my opponents who drafted blue and couldn't draft red/black because I was in it already."

Yep, Angler Drake is good. So is the Cartouche. I had a hilarious game where I played the festering mummy, then gave him a cartouche of knowledge, then a cartouche of ambition to swing in for 3 flying lifelink on turn 3 and every turn thereafter. We raced and I can tell you who won...

Anyways, I'm rambling.

[swowannabe]

Busted open my Amonkhet Bundle this evening...

B/W Cycle Land
W/G Cycle Land
Combat Celebrant
As Foretold
Honored Hydra
Bounty of the Luxa
Dusk//Dawn
Channeller Initiate
Mouth//Feed
Prowling Serpopard

I'm apparently missing one... clearly it was an amazing rare... :-P

Not horribly disappointed having gotten two mythics. Foil Fling and Foil Soulstinger. LOVE the double sided tokens and the full art lands. I'll be able to have full art lands for my draft box (A deck box I have sleeves and pre-sleeved lands and tokens in for going to drafts).

Super stoked. Love this set!

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Wait, someone took a FULL ART LAND (not foil) over a Glorybringer!? Are they high?

I mean, if it were at least a foil I could possibly see it from a value perspective since the foil lands do seem to hold decent value ($5-$8 pretty consistently) but Glorybringer is what, $11 or so right now?

Now that I type this, it has to be a foil full art land to have it be draftable...

But still. Glorybringer? That card is just dumb.

I want that double token generator so bad in a draft. I want to blow up a game with Stir the Sands and that card. I will live the dream some day...

I find it REALLY interesting how the pro's hate so hard on blue and other cards (Like Anointed Precession) and yet those colors/cards somehow end up being superstars in local drafts. I'm curious as to what accounts for the discrepancy. Is it the pro's have just a vastly superior understanding and can elevate themselves to another level and see nuanced interactions better and can squeak out 3 damage where I can only get 2 or something and that ends up winning games or I don't even know, or if there is significant bias in the opinions?

I totally get that super-fast beatdown decks do well, usually, in Limited. If you can punch in for like 7 or 9 on turn 4, they better come up with a response in a hurry. With removal really being at a premium in this set (Magma Spray is the cheapest and best, red really only having the good range and the most, follow by black/white and then green and blue has like... illusionary wrappings, which is surprisingly good) I can see how those decks get a step up, but still... I read one pro's article that more or less said, "Angler Drake is the ONLY CARD in Blue that makes me even remotely interested in blue. Blue sucks. Blue mana represents the tears of my opponents who drafted blue and couldn't draft red/black because I was in it already."

Yep, Angler Drake is good. So is the Cartouche. I had a hilarious game where I played the festering mummy, then gave him a cartouche of knowledge, then a cartouche of ambition to swing in for 3 flying lifelink on turn 3 and every turn thereafter. We raced and I can tell you who won...

Anyways, I'm rambling.

It was a forest to boot, if it were a Swamp or Island I could understand but forest I'll gladly take the constructed playable. I needed it as I now have two for my Mardu deck once Avaycn rotates out. I will say Anointed possession was my P1P1 so i was able to build around it right away, and cards like Annointed possession are hard to rate because if you get it P1P1 it's brilliant but a p3p1 when you're in red/blue or whatever it's certainly bad. I really only look at LSV for reviews, and here is what he said about Annointed:
"This combos with embalm and whatever token making is in the set, but I’m still not lining up to add it to my deck. It would take 7+ good token producers before I’d even consider it, as paying 4 mana for a do-nothing is a high cost." He clearly does his rating in a vacuum, and I tend to agree with his points but P1P1 it's a monster he also rated it a .5.

Interesting a pro said blue is bad, he must have some bias. Blue/white is a very strong, Blue/green is very good. Censor is nasty, and Blue has a lot of good rate fliers going around.

Best part is I had a stir the sands, never got to drop it with the generator out though. My deck was just gas/value. The Zombie land was my MVP. Mana early and a late game sync once annointed was out. 4-mana for 4 power? tap two things so they cannot block as well? Seems like value?

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Busted open my Amonkhet Bundle this evening...

B/W Cycle Land
W/G Cycle Land
Combat Celebrant
As Foretold
Honored Hydra
Bounty of the Luxa
Dusk//Dawn
Channeller Initiate
Mouth//Feed
Prowling Serpopard

I'm apparently missing one... clearly it was an amazing rare... :-P

Not horribly disappointed having gotten two mythics. Foil Fling and Foil Soulstinger. LOVE the double sided tokens and the full art lands. I'll be able to have full art lands for my draft box (A deck box I have sleeves and pre-sleeved lands and tokens in for going to drafts).

Super stoked. Love this set!

Combat celebrant is a very sad, if he had haste oh my lord... But like you said the Tokens are the true value! Now I don't have to look around for tokens, I have a set!

[swowannabe]

Originally Posted by Pot Roast

Combat celebrant is a very sad, if he had haste oh my lord... But like you said the Tokens are the true value! Now I don't have to look around for tokens, I have a set!

Very sad dude. Not even gonna lie. I think he's the worst mythic? They keep trying this "Lets make an awesome guy that can do two combats!" First with lightning runner (also terrible) and now with this guy. I think Celebrant is better than lightning runner, but he's so bad. He just dies.

There's just such a high setup cost to make it work it's dumb. Like, I'd need the bad 1 drop that gives something haste, then the thing that gives all attacking critters +2/+0, and/or the creatures with exert that give attacking creatures +1/+0 and go wide... or they have nothing and I can get in for 8, but how likely is that? Overkill at that point... ugh.

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Very sad dude. Not even gonna lie. I think he's the worst mythic? They keep trying this "Lets make an awesome guy that can do two combats!" First with lightning runner (also terrible) and now with this guy. I think Celebrant is better than lightning runner, but he's so bad. He just dies.

There's just such a high setup cost to make it work it's dumb. Like, I'd need the bad 1 drop that gives something haste, then the thing that gives all attacking critters +2/+0, and/or the creatures with exert that give attacking creatures +1/+0 and go wide... or they have nothing and I can get in for 8, but how likely is that? Overkill at that point... ugh.

That red 1/1 is seeing play in standard I really like him for two reasons. 1 drops are really trash in standard. 2. He requires a kill spell or you end up being beaten down.

[swowannabe]

Originally Posted by Pot Roast

That red 1/1 is seeing play in standard I really like him for two reasons. 1 drops are really trash in standard. 2. He requires a kill spell or you end up being beaten down.

I'm only echoing the pro's sentiment in that he's bad. I really hate their hate on a lot of things. I should stop listening to their podcasts because it ruins my opinion of the game...

In fact, I think he's quite decent since he can enable a smack a turn earlier. For example, turn 1 him, turn 2 the 4/3 for 2 that makes you discard a card, bam attack for 4. All before they could get their second turn. It's gross.

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

I'm only echoing the pro's sentiment in that he's bad. I really hate their hate on a lot of things. I should stop listening to their podcasts because it ruins my opinion of the game...

In fact, I think he's quite decent since he can enable a smack a turn earlier. For example, turn 1 him, turn 2 the 4/3 for 2 that makes you discard a card, bam attack for 4. All before they could get their second turn. It's gross.

not sure what pro's you tune in on, i just try to find guy's i play similar too and listen to then. There's a great article on CFB about R/W draft.

on another not at the PT a deck with 6 Slither blades went 3-0. could you imagine just cartouches and blades, that's a dream.

[swowannabe]

Originally Posted by Pot Roast

not sure what pro's you tune in on, i just try to find guy's i play similar too and listen to then. There's a great article on CFB about R/W draft.

on another not at the PT a deck with 6 Slither blades went 3-0. could you imagine just cartouches and blades, that's a dream.

I have this bad habit of just browsing CFB. They have a lot of opinions over there. LSV and Marshall from LR are the main people since they typically give their reasoning behind card ratings and whatnot.

I do find that Slither Blade thing really funny.

[swowannabe]

Did a sealed match with my friend, we split an Amonket Bundle and I had my pre-schooler pull two packs out of the loose box the store had. I had him pick out which 6 I got and which 6 my buddy got...

All in all, pretty solid. I ended up with:

Bundle:
Serpopod
Gideon's Intervention
Honored Hydra
Cut // Ribbons

Two loose packs:
Angel of Sanctions
Rhonas the BAMF

(Yes, the pre-schooler has immaculate luck with loose packs...)

My buddy ended up with a Hazoret and a Glorybringer and a few other good ones that put him in black. He ended up winning the BO3 in 2, because black/red beatdown is just really fast. But overall it was a very solid twelve packs and it's always fun to play Magic!

[swowannabe]

Another sealed event in my basement this weekend... did 7 packs instead of 6 because, why not...

Opened:
Cruel Reality (Yeeaaah!)
Neheb the Worthy
Harsh Mentor
G/R Cycle Land
Aven Mind Censor
Honored Hydra (I've opened at least five of these now...)
Dusk // Dawn

Nothing truly great, but pretty happy getting a Mythic I didn't have before!

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Another sealed event in my basement this weekend... did 7 packs instead of 6 because, why not...

Opened:
Cruel Reality (Yeeaaah!)
Neheb the Worthy
Harsh Mentor
G/R Cycle Land
Aven Mind Censor
Honored Hydra (I've opened at least five of these now...)
Dusk // Dawn

Nothing truly great, but pretty happy getting a Mythic I didn't have before!

cruel reality is such a bomb in limited!

[swowannabe]

Originally Posted by Pot Roast

cruel reality is such a bomb in limited!

Only got to play it once, and it was probably not necessary, my opponent was not very aggressive and just sat there with a Greater Sandwurm when he should have been attacking and forcing bad trades until I died. But yes, it's pretty good!

If one of the guys refuses to take his cards, I'll also end up with my 3rd Hazoret and my first Samut. So I like mythics... because they're not the easiest things to pull when you don't open a ton. Anyways!

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Only got to play it once, and it was probably not necessary, my opponent was not very aggressive and just sat there with a Greater Sandwurm when he should have been attacking and forcing bad trades until I died. But yes, it's pretty good!

If one of the guys refuses to take his cards, I'll also end up with my 3rd Hazoret and my first Samut. So I like mythics... because they're not the easiest things to pull when you don't open a ton. Anyways!

I need Hazorets for my sb in standard. $30 deck that can just smaaaash. It looks so bad, but runs so smooth!

[swowannabe]

Mind sharing the decklist? I'm interested in trying Standard but I'm only going to build it if it 1) costs me next to nothing or 2) already own the cards.

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Mind sharing the decklist? I'm interested in trying Standard but I'm only going to build it if it 1) costs me next to nothing or 2) already own the cards.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/654735#paper

[swowannabe]

Going to draft Amonkhet tonight at the LGS... at least I think they'll still be doing Amonkhet. Who knows. I know once they start getting closer to the newer sets the "regulars" get "bored" with the current set and demand something like SOI or whatever.

Anyways, first time since like April, so wish me luck! C'mon Invocation + Liliana, Death's Majesty!!! (The one last card I want out of the set is Lili DM, so here's hoping I can get it!)

[Pot Roast]

Originally Posted by swowannabe

Going to draft Amonkhet tonight at the LGS... at least I think they'll still be doing Amonkhet. Who knows. I know once they start getting closer to the newer sets the "regulars" get "bored" with the current set and demand something like SOI or whatever.

Anyways, first time since like April, so wish me luck! C'mon Invocation + Liliana, Death's Majesty!!! (The one last card I want out of the set is Lili DM, so here's hoping I can get it!)

If anyone get's bored of this set they need to find a new game!

Good Luck!

I can't wait for GP Vegas. Playing Limited, I just hope to have a good enough pool to carry me to day 2.haha

[swowannabe]

Originally Posted by Pot Roast

If anyone get's bored of this set they need to find a new game!

Good Luck!

I can't wait for GP Vegas. Playing Limited, I just hope to have a good enough pool to carry me to day 2.haha

Good luck in Vegas man! I'd love to go to an event like that.

Last night was OK, I ended up drafting Blue/Green because blue was just stupid wide open. Got a Curator of Mysteries and a Vizzier of Many Faces, so they were pretty boss. Also Sandwurm Convergence.

The annoying idiot kid has found new levels of loathing from me. I was talking with my buddy right after the draft about how I hope he enjoyed the Hazoret and Heart-piercer Manticore I sent him Pack 3, Picks 2 and 3 respectively. He said they went well with his Plague Belcher. The last 3 times now that I've played with him, he's opened a Plague Belcher. I quip about how he's a lucky SOB and I hate him and that card and the annoying pubic hair faced kid chides in from across the table, "Eh, it's not a very good card. It's not like it's a Glorybringer or a Rhonas or a Liliana."

OK, way to name the 3 best cards in the set and compare this one pretty good rare against it.

I mean, a 5/4 Menace that drains when your zombies die for 3 mana is a bad card, clearly. There's a 3/2 Menace for 3 that doesn't drain at common that I'm happy taking picks 3-6 if I'm in black and/or zombies, so something that is head and shoulders above that is clearly a crap card.

It took great restraint from want to just go and deck him in the face. I almost forfeited my first match (against him) just because I didn't want to interact with him. From now on, I am forfeiting my matches against him because I'd rather twiddle my thumbs than interact with him.

Also, his style of play is irritating and I had to ask him a few times to slow down and be clear as to what he was doing and he looked at me like I was stupid. I'm definitely done with him.

But, pretty happy with picking up a few rares I didn't have for my collection. 7/10, would still draft again!

[swowannabe]

Got my HOU pre-order in last night before a draft. Opened the Planeswalker Decks and the 4 packs in them and got:

Garbage Rare 1, Garbage Rare 2, Garbage Rare 3, and Garbage Rare 4.

Put in Pack 3, behind Garbage Rare 3, there was Garbage Invocation 1!

In more seriousness, the rares were Hollow One, Hour of Promise, and two others I'm pretty sure I already had. I'm a little bummed at how many duplicates I have out of the 20 or so packs I've opened so far.

The Invocation was Shatterstorm. Far from the "best" Invocation, but the design has grown on me and I think I'll actively start collecting them alongside Planeswalkers!

This morning I opened 7 boosters from the Bundle and got:

Samut, the Tested
Abandoned Sarcophagus *FOIL*

Nothing else of note.

Still have 3 more packs to open, so hoping for a 3rd Invocation and/or Bolas. Though I'd be really happy with any Mythic, to be honest!

The draft last night went pretty well. Black/Blue was just wiiiiide open so I had pretty premium picks in those colors the entire draft. I ended up with 1 off color card, which was last-passed to me. It's a real problem when you have to cut 12 cards from your deck. I had multiple good cycling payoffs (The enchantment to drain, Ruthless Archer, the critters that get buffs when you cycle) and the big one was Abandoned Sarcophagus, which lets you play cards with Cycling from your graveyard. So, keep a 2 land hand with some 5-cost cyclers, just cycle the first two turns, get some more lands for free, cast the Sarcophagus and then cast the stuff I cycled. It was beautiful. Nobody packs artifact hate (or enchantment hate) so it was pretty much unstoppable. Had Torment of Scarabs, which did a lot of work. 4 mana for 15 life loss, a discarded card, and a sacrificed creature is pretty good mana efficiency.

The play of the night though I had gotten off to a decent start, but was falling behind on creatures as my opponent built up his board state. I attacked my 3 creatures into his 6, he took all 5 damage and then I cast Bontu's Last Reckoning and just blindsided him with the boardwipe. It was brutal.

Second game I had just a ridiculously fast opening hand with a 1 and 2 drop creature with Blue Cartouche and Unsummon (he had played Rhonas's Last Stand in the previous game). His snek got unsummoned for 1 mana right after he got summoned. It was over before it began.

[Pot Roast]

congrats on your asskicking!

I still need to figure out this format my overall record of drafting is

2-6

I played in two single elmination turny's and went 0-2 losing to mana screw in the first and second playing a gp grinder to a close two games. So I can't really gauge on good those decks were.

Both matches I won were from the same night when I got Blue and I do think it was the reason. Blue is great again and people at one of my local lgs know it.

I went red-green-black(splash) overcome and couldn't get anything going. I would get my opponent down to one more attack and never be able to finish the game.

I realized 2/2 without exert abilities are traps, so many x/3s....

[swowannabe]

I agree, vanilla 2/2's are just junk. 2/x's depending on their abilities are also junk. I also strongly feel that a lot of the X/1's are also kind of trappy. I think Blur of Blades is very underrated, especially in the right deck since it can get rid of some of the goofy blockers people throw down.

I think that Blue/Black and Blue/Red are probably the two best color combos. Unsummon is just so good. Anyways.

I really like this draft format. Very good.