Draft Report - Jan 11, 2011

In the first draft of the year, we had 5 people. It was balanced overall, except decks tended to be more controllish. One good thing: finally BG made it to the top! The build was very similar to the one I used on Dec 18, and it seems to be BG's best archetype.

- BG Aggro (3-1, 7-3)
- WR Control (3-1, 7-3)
- UR Control (2-2, 4-5)
- UG Midrange (1-3, 4-7)
- WU Control (1-3, 3-7)


BG Aggro

12 Swamp
5 Forest

Jungle Lion
Carnophage
Oona's Prowler
Dauthi Horror
Fallen Askari
Nezumi Graverobber
Nezumi Cutthroat
Silhana Ledgewalker
Hand of Cruelty
Dusk Urchins
Nirkana Cutthroat
Stillmoon Cavalier
Precursor Golem
Throat Slitter
Vulturous Zombie
Kulrath Knight

Scythe of the Wretched
Chainer's Edict
Rend Flesh
Krosan Grip
Putrefy
Attrition
Sudden Death
Diabolic Servitude
Harmonize

A classic beatdown deck with a very aggressive creature curve and efficient support spells. Krosan Grip may look like a waste, but sometimes these decks lose to one single artifact or enchantment, and this certainly prevented that from happening. Diabolic Servitude, Dusk Urchins and Harmonize were great tools to maintain pressure for a little bit longer. Attrition makes the game so much harder for the opponent, especially when you have a bunch of cheap critters to sacrifice.


WR Control

8 Plains
7 Mountain
Ghitu Encampment
Boros Garrison

Soul Warden
Hearth Kami
Kami of Ancient Law
Tuktuk the Explorer
Cunning Sparkmage
Magus of the Disk
Soltari Guerrillas
Rakka Mar
Siege-Gang Commander
Hoarding Dragon
Crater Hellion
Eternal Dragon
Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Swords to Plowshares
Lightning Bolt
Luminarch Ascension
Oblivion Stone
Puncture Blast
Solemn Offering
Prison Term
Pulse of the Forge
Faith's Fetters
Goblin Charbelcher

The deck felt a bit awkward, but it worked well generally. Most cards are dedicated to keep the opponent's permanents from doing anything, but the deck has a quite high finisher count too. This was important against the control decks that had a lot of answers. Eventually, one of my threats would stick.

Good surprises: Tuktuk the Explorer held the offense at bay on numerous occasion - it was the scariest chump blocker possible, so much that people would frequently hold their attackers back until they could deal with the Goblin Golem 5/5 token. Rakka Mar was great defense and offense, grinding the opponent down unless they could remove it.


Underperformers: Eternal Dragon was only cast as last resort. 7 mana for a 5/5 vanilla flier is underwhelming, and it's uncommon to be able to spare 12 mana to reanimate it. Hoarding Dragon wasn't bad, but he was never more than a 4/4 flier.