Wednesday 18 March 2009

Drafting with Jim - #1

By Jim Marlow

Well, seeing as im pretty much as good a limited player as the likes of Luis Scott Vargas and Oliver Ruel, i thought why not share my drafts with the rest of Team Leeds too.

This article follows through my picks and matches in this weeks WNM, a full tournament report with winnin players and decklists will feature in a separate article.

Pack 1, pick 1 - Naya Battlemage

not the greatest first pick, but in a shallow pack its not the worst either.

Pack 1, pick 2 - Vithian Stinger

my favourite card in limited right now

Pack 1, pick 3 - Qasali Ambusher

This pick again feels weak, but the pack was very shallow, but maybe this signals i should be moving towards jund more than naya.

Pack 1, pick 4 - Topan Ascetic

Pack 1, pick 5 - Vithian Stinger

Sick! - especially when i picked this over 2 bone splinters (1 foil) and a fleshbag marauder.

Pack 1, pick 6 - Rockslide Elemental

Pack 1, pick 7 - jund panorama

Pack 1, pick 8 - rakeclaw gargantuan

Pack 1, pick 9 - steelclad serpent

Remaining picks - glaze fiend, obilisk of naya, lightning talons, vectis silencers, marble chalice, mountain.

Pack 2, pick 1 - steward of valeron

This is not the first pick i was hoping for

Pack 2, pick 2 - jund battlemage

Im not sure how big my black splash bill be right now, if any, but still pretty strong

Pack 2, pick 3 - Vithian Stinger

Awesome!

Pack 2, pick 4 - rip clan crasher

Pack 2, pick 5 - mosstodon

Pack 2, pick 6 - viscera dragger

Pack 2, pick 7 - jungle weaver

Pack 2, pick 8 - jungle weaver

Pack 2, pick 9 - cylian elf

Remaining picks - steelclad serpent, plains (foil), immortal coil, lightning talons, tortoise formation, banewasp affliction.

Pack 3, pick 1 - ember weaver

This guy is almost always a 3/3 first striker in my deck, but is he really 1st pickable?

Pack 3, pick 2 - exploding borders

Pack 3, pick 3 - Vagrant Plowbeast

Im not sure this guy is any good, i didnt end up playing him, what do people think?

Pack 3, pick 4 - Toxic Iguanar

These seem pretty good if i face a similar deck to mine, because im light on removal

Pack 3, pick 5 - macta rioters

Pack 3, pick 6 - dragon soul knight

Pack 3, pick 7 - nacatl outlander

Pack 3, pick 8 - macta rioters

Pack 3, pick 9 - Sylvan bounty

Remaining Picks - toxic iguanar, salvage slasher, scornful Aether-lich, worldly counsel, vectis agents, plains.

My final Decklist
2 x toxic iguanar
1 x nacatl outlander
1 x rip-clan crasher
1 x steward of valeron
2 x macta rioters
3 x vithian stinger
1 x ember weaver
1 x jund battlemage
1 x naya battlemage
1 x qasali ambusher
1 x topan ascetic
1 x rockslide elemental
1 x viscera dragger
1 x mosstodon
1 x rakeclaw gargantuan
2 x jungle weaver
1 x exploding borders
1 x sylvan bounty
7 x forest
6 x mountain
2 x plains
1 x swamp

Round 1 - Paul Suciu

Game 1 - I won the die roll and played first, managing to get nacatl outlander and a vithian stinger on the board. I drew into more dudes and quickly overwhelmed.

Game 2 - Paul got a turn 2 jhessian infiltrator, and turn 3 equipped it with lightning talons, a few more swings and it was over

Game 3 - This was almost the same as game 1, but Paul managed to find some decent guys to stall the board, the turning point in the match was when i blocked Pauls 2/2 wubrg knight with a 2/2 macta rioters, only to pop my panorama before damage, from the it was only a matter of time.

Round 2 - Matthew Kitchen

Game 1 - I lead off with turn 2 rip clan crasher, and matt apparently kept quite a slow hand against a pretty explosive draw from me.

Game 2 - Once again i put pressure on early, but this time Matt found some guys to stabilise slightly. Sadly, matt sealed his fate by attacking with a tower gargoyle into an ember weaver and active vithian stinger. From there i managed to squeak out the last few points of damage

Round 3 - Steve Tyson

Game 1 - This game seemed to mirror all the others i played today, with me spitting out a load of big dudes and winning before Steve got his fatties out.

Game 2 - Turn 3 and 4 woolly thoctars for Steve made my 5 land hand seem pretty bad, and it was my turn to be on the recieving end of a sick beating.

Game 3 - once again, the game was stalled by the huge number of creatures on the board, but Steve managed to stall long enough with rhox medicants to draw into creatures that were far bigger than mine, and not long after i was chumping.

I hope you enjoyed this report, feel free to comment on the draft, or email me at ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk

3 comments:

  1. Pack 3 Pick 1 - Of course the Beaver is 1st pickable! Personal preference aside, a 3 power first striker is awesome sauce, as he kills all non-rare, non waveskimmer aven fliers, and murders silly 5/3 five mana guys.

    Beaver is the sex. That is all.

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  2. Agree with the Beard. I first picked Ember Weaver in my Conflux pack as well. If you are playing any decent amount of red then he is always going to be awesome.

    Vagrant Plowbeasts is unreal if you have the 5 power guys that he cares about and you can survive for him to hit the board. I've had games go from fine to unwinnable on the basis of my opponent playing out the Plowbeasts.

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  3. You didn't take any rares! I take responsibility for packs 1 and 3, but do you not get drafting at all???

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