This week's draft resulted in an oddly low-curve red/green deck that struggled with finishing power. I still managed to go 2-1, but I can't help but wonder if I could have done something differently.
The Draft
To be honest, after looking over my picks again, I'm 99% sure I was in the right colors. Even though there were some decent black cards in the beginning of pack 2, nothing really leapt out at me, and the black dried up pretty quickly. Probably the bigger issue was, in speculating black, I ended up giving up a couple cards that would have strengthened my final deck. The two Deadbridge Shamans I picked up would have been replaced by a Vastwood Gorger and Fiery Conclusion, which would have filled up the much-needed top end and much-needed big removal slots that were missing in my deck.
But that's not really something you can plan for, especially when you're still in the first half of the draft. If we're going to talk about "what ifs" that I couldn't foresee the results of, I would have taken Conclave Naturalists p1p1 over my first of three Leaf Gilders, and Akroan Sergeant over Thopter Engineer when I didn't end up with any other artifact creatures in my deck. But you make the best picks you can, based on what you know of the meta, and hope it pans out.
But that's not really something you can plan for, especially when you're still in the first half of the draft. If we're going to talk about "what ifs" that I couldn't foresee the results of, I would have taken Conclave Naturalists p1p1 over my first of three Leaf Gilders, and Akroan Sergeant over Thopter Engineer when I didn't end up with any other artifact creatures in my deck. But you make the best picks you can, based on what you know of the meta, and hope it pans out.
Deck Construction
Honestly, I might have been wrong about Brawler's Plate. While Call of the Full Moon did give me the early burst push my opponent into lethal range on a couple games, there were far too many times when I just got stuck on the board because I ran out of gas and all my creatures in play were 2/2's. Brawler's Plate would have given me a lot of flexibility in beating in, and not caring about trading so much. The next time I build a deck like this, I'll have to give it more consideration.
Something else I've been considering: this might have been the deck to run Bellows Lizard. It's generally a card that you insta-cut from your final deck list, but with so little to do with my mana during stalled-out games, it seems like this is the sort of card that could have tipped the balance. There were a lot of times where I just wished I had something with more than 2 attack to swing in with, and even though it's not mana efficient, Bellows Lizard could have filled that niche.
Those thoughts aside, I think I built my deck as well as could be expected, given the overall card quality.
Something else I've been considering: this might have been the deck to run Bellows Lizard. It's generally a card that you insta-cut from your final deck list, but with so little to do with my mana during stalled-out games, it seems like this is the sort of card that could have tipped the balance. There were a lot of times where I just wished I had something with more than 2 attack to swing in with, and even though it's not mana efficient, Bellows Lizard could have filled that niche.
Those thoughts aside, I think I built my deck as well as could be expected, given the overall card quality.
The Games
At the end of game one, I learned not to panic just because I'm behind on the board. When your opponent is in striking distance of lethal, knowing exactly what you have in your deck that can turn things around is just as important as being able to play what's already in your hand. That lesson served me well in followup games when I was dealing with a stalled board state, and had to constantly topdeck to find a way to finish off my opponents.
The third round was pretty brutal, but the first match was pretty much down to bad luck on the draw. There's not much that can be done about that, except chalking it up to variance. The second match, however, was difficult and fairly nuanced. Reading my opponent's attacks would have gone a long way toward avoiding some of those late blowouts I received due to Enshrouding Mist. And even though he had 3 of them, I can't really complain, considering I had 3 Fiery Impulses in my own deck. It's hard to tell if the game would have gone differently, had I not made that first attack and wasted two of my Fiery Impulses on a single creature. As it is, he eventually had a Wild Instincts to kill off my Somberwald Alpha, and the Gold-Forged Sentinel would have been a tough blocker to get through, especially backed up by the three Enshrouding Mists in his hand. This may have just been a match I couldn't win, regardless of how I played it out.
Normally I have far more insight into my matches and what I did right/wrong, but with this one, I'm having trouble deciding if I made a wrong play, or if I'm just being ROTTY, because I got blown out the way I did.
The third round was pretty brutal, but the first match was pretty much down to bad luck on the draw. There's not much that can be done about that, except chalking it up to variance. The second match, however, was difficult and fairly nuanced. Reading my opponent's attacks would have gone a long way toward avoiding some of those late blowouts I received due to Enshrouding Mist. And even though he had 3 of them, I can't really complain, considering I had 3 Fiery Impulses in my own deck. It's hard to tell if the game would have gone differently, had I not made that first attack and wasted two of my Fiery Impulses on a single creature. As it is, he eventually had a Wild Instincts to kill off my Somberwald Alpha, and the Gold-Forged Sentinel would have been a tough blocker to get through, especially backed up by the three Enshrouding Mists in his hand. This may have just been a match I couldn't win, regardless of how I played it out.
Normally I have far more insight into my matches and what I did right/wrong, but with this one, I'm having trouble deciding if I made a wrong play, or if I'm just being ROTTY, because I got blown out the way I did.
Wrap-Up
There are two major take-aways I have for this deck.
1) Know what your deck's plan is. If it wants to go late, make sure you play so that you run the game out as long as possible. If it wants to burn out quickly before you run out of gas, push into your opponent's face whenever possible. Knowing how your deck is supposed to play out will inform your decisions in most stages of the game, especially when you come to those fork-in-the-road choices during a match, where you have to decide whether to play defensively or just go for it.
2) Know when/how to make an aggressive attack. It's easy to get in a defensive mindset, holding back blockers because you don't think you can get through, or because you want to see what your next draw is before making a decision. But every turn you waste on defense is another turn your opponent also gets to draw into more answers. If your deck is overly aggressive, you have to use that aggression when you have the board state to do so. Racing your opponent to the finish is a real thing, and sometimes it's worth losing a creature or two to push them into lethal range. Also, if you stop and think about their potential blocks, sometimes it's just obvious that they won't block, or they're completely tapped out so they don't want to block in case you have a combat trick they can't respond to. Ask yourself, "What would I block if I were in his seat?" and "How would I block if I had X combat trick in my hand?" more often, and you'll find yourself with a lot more open attacks than you maybe originally thought you did.
1) Know what your deck's plan is. If it wants to go late, make sure you play so that you run the game out as long as possible. If it wants to burn out quickly before you run out of gas, push into your opponent's face whenever possible. Knowing how your deck is supposed to play out will inform your decisions in most stages of the game, especially when you come to those fork-in-the-road choices during a match, where you have to decide whether to play defensively or just go for it.
2) Know when/how to make an aggressive attack. It's easy to get in a defensive mindset, holding back blockers because you don't think you can get through, or because you want to see what your next draw is before making a decision. But every turn you waste on defense is another turn your opponent also gets to draw into more answers. If your deck is overly aggressive, you have to use that aggression when you have the board state to do so. Racing your opponent to the finish is a real thing, and sometimes it's worth losing a creature or two to push them into lethal range. Also, if you stop and think about their potential blocks, sometimes it's just obvious that they won't block, or they're completely tapped out so they don't want to block in case you have a combat trick they can't respond to. Ask yourself, "What would I block if I were in his seat?" and "How would I block if I had X combat trick in my hand?" more often, and you'll find yourself with a lot more open attacks than you maybe originally thought you did.
Check back next Tuesday for the start of a new draft, and don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates!
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