With the launch of the Magic: Origins core set, this is my first "official" draft article.
After a lot of time spent researching the new cards and pounding away at pre-release events (both draft and sealed), I finally sat down in front of MTGO and hammered out my first draft of the set. So, let's jump right into it.
P1P1 - Right away, we have a fairly difficult pick. Harbinger of the Tides has a great tempo effect, letting us effectively stall out an opponent for a turn or negate an attack. Skysnare Spider is just absolutely raw power, the vigilance allowing you to beat down while simultaneously keeping up a huge wall in front of your life total. Enthralling Victor fits nicely into a low curve aggro deck, allowing you to move a low power defender out of the way to swing in unimpeded. Read the Bones fits neatly in any black deck, allowing you to draw into gas for the measly cost of 2 health. And finally, Suppression Bonds is this set's new Pacifism effect, but at a drastically higher mana cost.
This set is low on good removal, so it wouldn't be unusual to take Suppression Bonds here, but it's also proven to be a format that relies on either curving out early from turn 2, or stalling the opponent's early game long enough to get your own creatures on-line. In the end, I decide on Harbinger of the Tides, with Skysnare Spider as my backup pick. I like the option to play Harbinger either as a 2-drop or as a slightly more expensive Man-o'-War with Flash.
This set is low on good removal, so it wouldn't be unusual to take Suppression Bonds here, but it's also proven to be a format that relies on either curving out early from turn 2, or stalling the opponent's early game long enough to get your own creatures on-line. In the end, I decide on Harbinger of the Tides, with Skysnare Spider as my backup pick. I like the option to play Harbinger either as a 2-drop or as a slightly more expensive Man-o'-War with Flash.
P1P2 - Having taken a blue card as my first pick, this pack offers a difficult choice: Do I take the prime blue removal spell, or the prime blue creature? In any other set, I'd probably get the removal first without blinking, but I've run into far too many situations, already, where my big-creature removal ends up just killing a 2/2 or something similarly tiny. In addition, Whirler Rogue borders on "mythic uncommon" status, being difficult to 1-for-1 due to its P/T being broken up into three bodies, and allowing you to make a creature unblockable immediately after being played.
While I'd love to pick up Claustrophobia here, I just can't ignore a card that will give me so much pressure and presence on the board, so I take Whirler Rogue as my pick.
It should be noted that if neither of these two cards were here, I'd probably go with Undercity Troll or Topan Freeblade. Both are fantastic 2-drops, and quality 2-drops are highly coveted for this draft format. Celestial Flare is OK, but I've found it difficult to set up, especially against decks that go wide on the board. Unholy Hunger is also decent, but the 5-mana casting cost can be prohibitive; it's a card you'd want if you were sure you were going black, but it works best in a control-oriented deck, where you don't mind holding up 5 mana and passing your turn, because you'll have multiple cards in your hand you can use the mana on.
While I'd love to pick up Claustrophobia here, I just can't ignore a card that will give me so much pressure and presence on the board, so I take Whirler Rogue as my pick.
It should be noted that if neither of these two cards were here, I'd probably go with Undercity Troll or Topan Freeblade. Both are fantastic 2-drops, and quality 2-drops are highly coveted for this draft format. Celestial Flare is OK, but I've found it difficult to set up, especially against decks that go wide on the board. Unholy Hunger is also decent, but the 5-mana casting cost can be prohibitive; it's a card you'd want if you were sure you were going black, but it works best in a control-oriented deck, where you don't mind holding up 5 mana and passing your turn, because you'll have multiple cards in your hand you can use the mana on.
P1P3 - A third pick Suppression Bonds is nice, and easily the pick to make here. Hard removal is still coveted, and UW is still a solid color combination, especially if you want to play tempo. Again, Read the Bones would also be a good pick, but I'm not going to take a draw card over hard removal. Blessed Spirits is probably the only other decent card in this pack (which, coincidentally, combos with the Suppression Bonds I picked). Were those three cards gone, I might have picked Calculated Dismissal; it's a slightly more powerful (and slightly more costly) Mana Leak, which can be useful in the early game if you need a way to stall out on the first few turns.
P1P4 - Tower Geist is the easy pick, here, already being 2 strong cards deep into blue. A 2/2 flier isn't powerful, but it's still some sort of evasive clock, and the scry/draw effect is what you're really playing the card for. I'd love to see the Disperse wheel, but it probably won't; with a lack of cheap removal spells, stall spells like Disperse can heavily swing tempo when used properly (and even net extra cards by hitting creatures that have been targeted by enchantments and pump spells).
Were I not already dedicated to blue, I'd have probably grabbed the Somberwald Alpha, which has proven to be an very good card in low curve aggro decks. Making everything just 1 P/T tougher throws off combat calculations just enough to make blocking an exceptionally huge pain in the neck for your opponent.
Were I not already dedicated to blue, I'd have probably grabbed the Somberwald Alpha, which has proven to be an very good card in low curve aggro decks. Making everything just 1 P/T tougher throws off combat calculations just enough to make blocking an exceptionally huge pain in the neck for your opponent.
P1P5 - A pick 5 Claustrophobia is not only a great sign, but also just great for me, since I'm already in blue. I waffle for a few seconds about taking the Skaab Goliath, because he's just a HUGE beater that's difficult to kill. But I've actually played with the guy a few times, and I can count several times when he just rotted in my hand because I couldn't get the creatures into the graveyard I needed to cast him. This gets compounded when your opponent is running enchantment-based removal, like... well, Claustrophobia and Suppression Bonds.
P1P6 - I'm not a huge fan of Ringwarden Owl, but I guess I've been spoiled by the dragons from the last set. That said, a 3/3 flier for 5 is serviceable, and the rest of the cards here aren't really very good. Returned Centaur might have been a consideration if I'd picked up the Sphinx's Tutelage back on pick 2, then I could start building toward some sort of control/mill strategy... but I'm not anywhere near that sort of build, so it's not an option in my mind. Mage-Ring Bully has the potential to be decent in a red aggro deck, assuming you have the non-creature spells to pump it so it doesn't get eaten by anything with 3 health, but I rank the 3/3 flier higher than a creature that might end up going 0-for-1 on a middling opening hand.
P1P7 - A pick 7 Ghirapur Gearcrafter feels like a sign, to me. I'm already deep into blue, and haven't really settled on a second color, so I snag the red card here, hoping maybe it'll turn into a UR thopter deck.
On a side note, I really really like Zendikar's Roil. It essentially turns being mana flooded into board presence. That said, it's not something you really want to pick up unless your deck is built around playing the long game, and you can find a turn to blow 5 mana on playing a card that doesn't directly effec the board.
On a side note, I really really like Zendikar's Roil. It essentially turns being mana flooded into board presence. That said, it's not something you really want to pick up unless your deck is built around playing the long game, and you can find a turn to blow 5 mana on playing a card that doesn't directly effec the board.
P1P8 - Since I only have a single card in non-blue colors, I grab Joraga Invocation here, just being the strongest card in the pack. Had I decided to play it safe, I could have grabbed Cleric of the Forward Order to go with the Suppression Bonds I already have in white, especially since I have no 2-drops as of yet.
P1P9 - Enthralling Victor and Disperse wheel all the way around. I'd love to grab Disperse here, but Enthralling Victor is such a swingy card for pushing through face damage, I decide to grab it here and push harder on the UR deck. It's not artifacts, but the color combination works well together, using blue to stall, and red to push through damage.
P1P10 - Nothing really grabs me here, but Orchard Spirit is still here, which is a solid 3-drop in green. I don't really like Act of Treason, and I still only have 2 red cards, so I take the evasive creature in case I decide to go green instead of red.
P1P11 - Swinging back to red, I take the combat trick that helps me filter my deck. Veteran's Sidearm is extremely low-impact, and Volcanic Rumbler is too much mana for what little it does (were its ability able to target creatures as well, it might be worth playing).
P1P12 - There are no playables here for me, so I decide to cut the Yoked Ox, to prevent any turn-1 board stall shenanigans. It can be a right annoying card in a UW stall deck.
P1P13 - I don't think it'll make the cut, but Bellows Lizard is better than Demolish... which is saying something for how bad Demolish is. 4 mana is just too much to pay for artifact destruction, and the chances of your opponent running a land you need to destroy are pretty low.
Final Pick - If I end up going green, Mantle of Webs isn't a horrible sideboard card. It helps in the thopter matchup, and the UW Fliers matchup.
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