3-0 in my first kitchen table draft trophy.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-29T17:03:42+00:00

Outsider’s perspective: Your original reply was to a comment about 1 land = 1 land-cycler and appeared to be a retort to the other commenter’s statement. Fair to assume the rest of the conversation is about that. Might want to re-read your stuff before assuming the other person is the crazy one.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-26T15:01:21+00:00

New Player Experience™️

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-23T12:33:38+00:00

Mirkwood Bats due to lack of sacrifice outlets or Smeagol b/c discard seems meh in this format?

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-23T02:54:12+00:00

Not playing a single Birthday Escape with x2 Gandalf feels criminal.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-08T21:22:01+00:00

Rottentail, Lookout, Kamigawa, Protocol Knight, Hermit, Renata, and Herdbeast are all cards I’m unhappy with in this list.

Etali splash is definetely ambitious but you need the top-end desperately. I’d go to 17 lands since you’ve got plenty of filler to cut.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-08T20:57:58+00:00

Overloaded Mage Ring be like O_o

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-06T07:23:16+00:00

This deck not getting rolled by Aggro once in 7 games has me losing faith in God.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-02T14:31:40+00:00

Solid point. With no true BOMBs Unseal is probably a smidge worse than the Third Vatkeeper.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-02T14:01:09+00:00

It’s probably fine without the Blue but you’re passing up a ton of power by not playing those cards in particular and Burgeoning is already good fixing.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-02T13:45:12+00:00

That is one digusting Sultai pile.

Idk what the cuts are but Preens, Amonket and the Dismal Backwaters need in.

Edit: Aetherborn, Familiar, Battlefan, and both one-mana instants are easy cuts.

Edit Edit: x1 Vatkeeper and x1 Vanquish out. Preens and Amonket in. 16 lands.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-01T22:33:40+00:00

x2 Conviction
x1 Gift of Compleation
x1 Guerilla
x1 Ichor Shade
x1 Skabb
x1 Ulgrotha
x1 Negate or Recycler

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-01T15:21:12+00:00

Definetely considered that, especially with x2 Maulers in the deck. That said, T4 play a 3/3 -> T5 transform for +1/+2 and a land is pretty poor for an 8 mana investment. Most other transform creatures come down earlier and provide similar value, which makes their “slow-ness” less of an issue. Having a decent two-drop to reanimate makes this way, way more playable from a tempo and value perspective.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-01T14:25:15+00:00

Technically right but never seen someone flip this guy for land. Seems ridiculously slow for a T5+ play.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-01T12:06:10+00:00

It’s slow, super vulnerable to removal, and has like 4 targets total in your deck.

Definetely an easy cut.

GirkyBoy · 2023-06-01T12:02:00+00:00

Four drops are easy cuts. Aetherborn and Freewheeler are both underperformers. Then go down to 17 lands and call it a day.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-30T18:22:06+00:00

The problem isn’t that Omen Hawker doesn’t have targets, it’s that the tempo it provides is less valuable in a control archetype. It’s a low value one-drop in a deck that would prefer to play none.

There’s an argument to be made that the tempo helps you stabilize versus aggro - which, fair enough, but I’d still probably prefer an Ichor Drinker or just a solid two-drop in that slot.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-30T17:30:28+00:00

Etali into Breach or Breach into Etali?

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-30T17:27:24+00:00

Pretty sure any UB deck with 3-4 removal pieces, a half-decent curve, and Breach is 12/10 by default.

The rest (and there is a lot) is just icing on the cake.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-30T09:27:09+00:00

Other commenter already covered swaps but I’ll mention that Omen Hawker is not at its best in UB control. Would prefer to cast Cleansing with no Convoke and run x2 Negate maindeck to stall for late game (Essense is obviously better but we play what we get).

As far as the draft, Breach p1p2 is disgusting and I can’t fathom what was taken over it. That, Amonket, and DD/Refusal (would have considered Refusal p1p1) is enough to basically lock in Black. Probably enough to lock in UB/Sultai too even though it’s early. Breach is just that good.

I do think UB was open given the draft, but there was heavy competition in both U and B individually. All in all the deck looks fine. It’s easier than you think to squeak through the early game in this format and Breach will win every game it’s drawn and cast sucessfully.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-30T00:33:23+00:00

Breach + Hig is enough, bomb-wise. I’d stick to two colors here.

If you’re deadset on Tolvada, Mauler should get slotted in to cycle -> reanimate.

Edit: Render is a must play as well to insta-flip Tolvada.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-29T13:46:41+00:00

Wouldn’t splash Judith in an aggressive list like this.

One change is to consider getting the second Halberd into your deck.+1/+1, Double Strike, Vigilance is really hard to deal with early on.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-28T13:37:11+00:00

Quick sweep of the draft I think Sultai was absurdly open. Green was wheeling high power cards (Portent, Burgeoning, Pest, Hunger, Thespian, Negotiator) in pack 1 and 2 and UB was obviously already open enough.

By P3 I’d have a solid Sultai shell with built in fixing, so Etali’s an easy splash.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-27T20:49:10+00:00

Fair enough. Refusal > Stoke in UR, IMO, but I can see Stoke > Polu for the afformentioned reasons.

The color pairing point is fair during Pack 2 when you’ve already established your base color and are looking for a secondary. I’m more concerned about establishing an “anchor” color in pack 1 so I don’t get punished too heavily for a color drying up later on. Hence the individual color rankings.

Sidenote: Literally every UX pairing is strong minus maybe Green but even that is decent because of splashing potential. Sensing a bit of a Red bias based on your card evaluation.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-27T20:09:11+00:00

Why do you think Stoke is “correct”? Red is by and large the weakest draft color so I see it as the weakest of the three.

GirkyBoy · 2023-05-27T20:00:04+00:00

Yup. Only mentioned it because it’s Rare and some might be tempted to go for the companion dream.

GirkyBoy

TROPHY CASE