Magic Origins Draft #10: Oh, That's Where the Green Cards Went

The Draft and the Deck

My first three picks were Undercity Troll, Leaf Gilder, and Elvish Visionary.  Pretty solid... except the kid sitting two seats to my right had opened Nissa, and (as I later learned) he proceeded to simply take every green card he saw for a mono-Green deck.

Needless to say, my draft strategy was derailed.  I started dabbling in various colors in the expectation of dropping Green altogether.  White quickly became a color of choice after I snap-picked a few Swift Reckonings despite passing two Suppression Bonds.  But the second color... ?

And then in the third pack I opened and took an Outland Colossus, while two Citadel Castellans wheeled.  Just like that I was back in Green... except I didn't have enough playables in Green/White, so I splashed Red for the truly epic bombs of Boggart Brute and Prickleboar.

CREATURES (15)   Boggart Brute x2 Charging Griffin Citadel Castellan x2 Elvish Visionary Guardian Automaton Knight of the Pilgrim's Road Leaf Gilder Outland Colossus Pharika's Disciple Prickleboar Sentinel of the Eternal Watch Topan Freeblade Undercity Troll

ARTIFACTS (1)   Meteorite   ENCHANTMENTS (1)   Suppression Bonds   INSTANTS (4)   Celestial Flare x2 Enshrouding Mist x2   SORCERIES (2)   Swift Reckoning x2   LANDS (17)   Battlefield Forge Forest x7 Mountain x2 Plains x7

SIDEBOARD   Claustrophobia Cobblebrute Jhessian Thief Kytheon's Tactics Mage-Ring Bully Murder Investigation Reave Soul Screeching Skaab Separatist Voidmage Shambling Ghoul Titan's Strength Tormented Thoughts Touch of Moonglove Read the Bones Returned Centaur Unholy Hunger Veteran's Sidearm Volcanic Rambler

Okay, maybe it wasn't the best strategy, but it turns out that there was a mitigating factor in this draft...


Round 1

... which I quickly learned about when my first round opponent shook his head and unhappily mentioned that he really wished he didn't have to go four colors.  It turns out that I wasn't the only person whose draft strategy had been thrown askew.  As one might expect my opponent's deck was a bit hodgepodge (although he did have a sizable threat in Hangarback Walker), and I won fairly easily.

Result: W (2-0)


Round 2

My second round opponent had a familiar tale: he had started out drafting Red/Blue, only to switch into White/Black.  And he gave me ample opportunity to regret passing so many Suppression Bonds when he played three of them in our first game and won on the back of Knightly Valor while I stared unhappily at the Swift Reckoning in my hand.

Fortunately for me he had mana issues in the other two games, and I pulled out a victory.  I do believe that his deck was the better one though.  I guess it's better to be lucky than good sometimes.

Result: W (2-1)


Round 3

Since we were the only two undefeated players left in the pod, and the top two players both received the promo Serum Visions that everyone was pretending not to lust for, we agreed to an intentional draw.

Result: ID


Summary

Well... it was a draft... and I got a Serum Visions...