-Bryan Dowse

I mixed it up last night and played a 4-3-2-2 online Shards of Alara draft last night. The first pack didn’t have anything too exciting so I took a Hissing Iguanar to leave me open for grixis, naya, and jund. A second pick Branching Bolt set me up for a nice naya or jund deck with a third pick Vithian Stinger solidifying the picks.

But it got interesting when I got a 4th pick Grixis Charm. When dealing with shards, the general rule of thumb is when you see a late pick charm, that’s a good signal that the shard is open. I pick up the charm, since my only green was a Branching Bolt. Pick five I get a second Hissing Iguanar and pick six I get a Magma Spray, very late for such a great card.

I was planning on building a red deck with a splash of grix and jund. It didn’t exactly turn out that way though.

So after getting the Grixis Charm 5th, I get a late Agony Warp 7th pick. This pack however is still packed full of goodies, a 7th pick Tower Gargoyle? A Crumbling Necropolis? Someone opened the nuts here. It must have been something like, a foil bomb rare, regular bomb rare, a charm, an Oblivion Ring, and two other strong removal cards to get cards like these this late.

Overall Pack one was very good to me. I have 2 Grixis cards, 1 Jund/Naya card, and the rest are red. I can be pretty greedy with my colors in the upcoming packs.

With the two Hissing Iguanars I am planning on leaning towards Grixis agro and direct burn to the face as a style of deck, but I can play pretty much anything. I only have 3 creatures, so I will be looking out to get a few in the following packs.

Pick one I take the Volcanic Fallout. It’s a great card and it works well with my Hissing Iguanars. Pick two I take a Armillary Sphere over an Absorb Vis or a Goblin Outlander. I am a huge fan of this card. It lets me be even more greedy with my picks as I get fixing for 2 colors (watching the replays below, there were two hands I would have mulliganed if I didn’t have a sphere in my hand). A pick 3 Armillary Sphere just gives me more of a card I already love. Pick 3 also had the same common print run as the second.

Pick 4 was a bit of a tough choice. Do I go more burn to the face, or play the Sedraxis Alchemist or the Vedalken Outlander? I decide to go for the Exploding Borders since at this pint I’m ramping up to go primary red, splash 3-4 colors. Pick 5 didn’t really have anything too interesting. The Kaleidostone is a decent filler card, but I decide to go with even more burn to the face and pick up a card I usually don’t play, Quenchable Fire (This ended up in the sideboard). Pick 6 I want to take the Aven Trailblazer, but I also want to stay in 4 colors, I pick up the Might of Alara as a nice combat trick instead. Pick 7 I get another Exploding Borders. I could have taken the Fleshformer or the Canyon Minotaur but with as much burn to the face that I already have, I decide this is the right choice. Pick 8 there’s a double black Scepter of Fugue and a Aven Trailblazer. I decide screw it, I’m going to splash for the 2/5 flyer for 3. Pick 9 through 11 I pick up Kranioceros just because I need more creatures. I end up not playing any of them, but if I wasn’t able to pick up any beef in the final pack, some of them would have made the cut.

Pack 3 first pick I get a Deathbringer Thoctar. This guy is awesome in every sense of the word. If you get one counter on him, he can take out an army of 1/1 tokens and he’s a huge threat if not dealt with. No question on picking him over Terminate for my deck. Pick two I could have taken the Crystallization but decide I need cheap dudes so I take the Naya Hushblade. Pick 3 I take Esper Stormblade because 3/2 flyers for two are always good. Pick 4 I could take the Mistvein Borderpost as another fixer, but decide the removal is better so I take the Crystallization.

Pick 5 I take the Igneous Pouncer as a 5/1 haster that can give me a land if I need it. Pick 6 I take the Sangrite Backlash over the Kathari Bomber. I like cheap removal and my 3 drops were already pretty full, plus this is very late removal. Pick 7, nothing much to see here but a Messenger Falcons works well for my 4 drops. It’s a creature, it cantrips, and it works with my curve. A Stun Sniper at pick 8? Ok, that’s fine. I guess there aren’t many naya players. I get a 9th pick Mistvein Borderpost and a 10th pick Gorger Wurm. I’d much rather play the wurm over my current 5 drop Kranioceross. Plus the wurm works with my Hissing Iguanars if I need to squeek that final few points of damage through. At 11th pick I get a Gloryscale Viashino. I end up main decking him, but after pretty much every match side him out for a 17th mana.

Matches Part 1


Matches Part 2