First Draft in OK!

First draft in OK:

12 people, 6-man pods; play was across your own pod 1st round, then swiss afterwards. Swiss+1 format.

Elite Vanguard
Blinding Mage
2 Veteran Armorsmith
2 Veteran Swordsmith
Griffin Sentinel
Guardian Seraph
Razorfoot Griffin
Serra Angel
Siege Mastodon
Captain of the Watch
Gravedigger

Glorious Charge
2 Sign in Blood
2 Doom Blade
Safe Passage
2 Divine Verdict
Diabolic Tutor
Fireball

9 Plains
5 Swamp
2 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Mountain

Relevant cards not played: Tempest of Light, 2 Mind Rot, 2 Goblin Artillery, 2 Snapping Drakes, Berserkers of Blood Ridge

Thoughts?

I'll tell you how I did with it and how it played when I have more time!

-AA

Thoughts? How about sick.

You have the ideal soldier package (what, couldn't manage a Rhox Pikemaster?). Also Serra's a nice finisher, and Siege Mastodon holds the ground down against most creatures.

For removal, you have 5 ridiculous ones (Doom Blades, Fireball, and Divine Verdict). The tutor picks up your win conditions or s critical piece of removal. 2 Sign in Blood doesn't hurt too much either (were you ever missing the 2 Swamps to pull it off early?).

My only complaint is that you didn't rare draft enough. C'mon, no Dragonskull Summit to tie it all together?

I hope you crushed with this.

Mini-report:

Round 1: New player whose first draft it is. He didn't play spells, so I win 2-0. Fireball'd him for 6+ ftw each game.

Round 2: I play across pods, and my opponent was sitting next to me during the draft, so I know he has Baneslayer Angel. Awesome.
Game 1: He plays t1 Llanowar, t2 Borderland Ranger, t4 Baneslayer Angel. Life totals look like this (me/him): 18/20, 16/20, 11/25. 6/30. 6/35 (drew a griffin to block)...then I finally draw a Divine Verdict (having drawn 4 extra cards from Signs early). He attacks, gets his Angel a broken neck, and I proceed to play Captain of the Watch and mop up the late game and win at the same 6 life.
Game 2: No Baneslayer, no problem.

Round 3: I play another person in the other pod, and this time it is the U/B player with infinite removal and at least 2 Mind Controls.

Game 1: My first 4 creatures die to spells (Assassinate, Tendrils, Doom Blade, Weakness), and then my Serra Angel gets Mind Controlled. I have the Divine Verdict, but I know he has countermagic so I have to wait for a good opportunity. Apparently I waited too long, because after getting me to 7 he Consume Spirits me for 5 then kills me with Sign in Blood the next turn. I definitely could have played it differently, but now I know that he has black fireball. He had 2 Merfolk Looters going almost the whole game, and only had a few cards left in his library.

Game 2: I side in the Tempest of Light and Mind Rots for the Tutor, Griffin, and something else. I get some early beats in, and he kills all but a swordsmith. I bait out his Mind Control with my Mastodon (instead of the Serra in hand), and watch him grimace when I play the Angel next turn. 2 turns later, I Tempest of Light eot, and swing to put him to 2...and Sign in Blood him. Justice.

Game 3: This game involves him playing t2 Merfolk Looter on the play, and land #3 on turn 7. He Assassinates a guy with his third mana, so I untap and kill him.

Round 4: Once again I play the other pod, and it is vs. a g/u/w deck with lots of tricks.
Game 1: I beat early, and then the ground clogs up. I land a Serra Angel, and the game becomes less clogged. Lots of tricks were used, and I had to have a few of my own to stay in the game.

Game 2: I mull to six into the following hand: 3x plains, Elite Vanguard, Armorsmith, Swordsmith. Fair. His life total goes 20-18-12-3-dead. Nice turn 5 kill in limited! My 4 draw phases were Swamp, Doom Blade, Swamp, Sign in Blood.

So I went 4-0/8-1 overall, and the Tempest of Light came in REALLY handy and I was very glad to have drafted it. As it turns out, the blue player in our pod had THREE Mind Controls and two Ice Cages. My mana wound up being awesome, as I just kept the most amount of hands with a WW/BB spell and a plains and a swamp. Any land was good, and the Terramorphics were obv sick. I very rarely had a color problem if ever.

I did wind up trading a Kederekt Parasite for a Gargoyle Castle, though. That's kind of like rare drafting, right?

-AA