One must always be careful when mixing drinks and cardboard. In all my time playing Magic though, this is the first time a glass was spilled over the table we were playing at. Luckily it was just Pepsi Max (or Zero Sugar as it's called down here) and the only casualties were the basic lands and advertisement cards that came in the boosters. This all happened while we were drafting pack 3 and while we were still four players. The night started with Edu, Seba and Rob, the last of which was chaos drafting for the first time (but we had drafted a couple of sets as well as my cube before). After we had finished drafting and building our decks however, Rob had to rush out because of personal reasons, so we were left playing only a two rounder for each. Luckily we already had our decks built, so we still got to have a fun time. This time I wanted to lower expectations by not including any Masters set booster in the pool, but decks ended being fairly strong nevertheless. The draft pool contained 12 different boosters (no repeats):
• Return to Ravnica
• Theros
• Born of the Gods
• Khans of Tarkir
• Fate Reforged
• Origins
• Battle for Zendikar
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Kaladesh
• Aether Revolt
• Amonkhet
• Ixalan
Once again, in an effort to control chaos, I split the pool in 4 preset combinations, with KTK, ORI, FRF and RTR as the second pack for each player in an effort to leave fixing to the middle point of the draft. I'm not sure this made any difference, but that's fine.
I drafted what I felt was a very strong deck. P1P1 was Deathgorge Scavenger, and throughout pack 1 I thought I was going RG aggro with a splash of white. At the end of the booster blue was still wide open so I took the chance and grabbed a couple of playables I could drop if I didn't want them. P2P1 was Sphinx's Revelation, and I just couldn't pass that. It meant, however, that the direction of my draft was taking a different turn, so I started going for UWG. Red was already rather tight and the green cards I was being passed were not strong enough. However, I managed to snatch some prety good white removal, making my choice more solid. Both games were rather long, but I had pressure on the board and answers to threats, which meant the long game was mine.
2. Seba, RB Aggro (0-2, 2-0)
Seba wanted to go for a Voltron type of deck, but when this plan failed he moved to a more conventional aggro deck. I don't know if I'd ever play cards like Vessel of Volatility or Ornithopter in such a deck, but I can maybe chalk that up to my lack of creativity. There's some cards I really do like there too, like Bellowing Saddlebrute and Soul-Scar Mage, which are always super solid choices. My first game against this deck was rather unfair because he had to mull down to 5 or 4, and at that point it's just such an uphill battle for the smaller hand. At least the deck did work against Edu.
Now this deck had a bunch of efficient beaters and decent combat tricks, but it also had cards that maybe don't do a lot of work in such a deck like Shamanic Revelation, Rile or Appetite for the Unnatural. When I played against this deck, one problem was that it escalated board presence without doing much more, afraid of trading creatures that couldn't make it through. In a way it reminded me of OGW-OGW-BFZ, except that in this case I was not moving forward because I had enough answers not to worry about what to do next. I don't think the deck looks bad, but I think it demands a more aggressive approach.
Not much I can say about this deck because I didn't see it in action, but it does look ok. He tested it against Edu and won one game, and seeing some of its solid playables like Fleecemane Lion I think it could've done well. Retreat to Emeria, Rootborn Defenses and Phantom General were a nice small theme that I would've liked seeing in action.
All in all, while I'm sad we didn't get to play all three rounds, it was another fun night of chaos drafting. RTR and KTK are such strong sets to draft with that, despite their specific theme dependency, they were really solid in the draft for the most part.
• Sphinx's Revelation
• Windswept Heath
• Soul-Scar Mage
• Deathgorge Scavenger
• Return to Ravnica
• Theros
• Born of the Gods
• Khans of Tarkir
• Fate Reforged
• Origins
• Battle for Zendikar
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Kaladesh
• Aether Revolt
• Amonkhet
• Ixalan
Once again, in an effort to control chaos, I split the pool in 4 preset combinations, with KTK, ORI, FRF and RTR as the second pack for each player in an effort to leave fixing to the middle point of the draft. I'm not sure this made any difference, but that's fine.
1. Me, UWG Control (2-0, 2-0)
Deck: [Chaos draft] C's UWG Control    | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 CMC | 3 CMC | 4 CMC | 5 CMC | 6 CMC+ | Lands | ||||||
| 1 | Reality Shift | 1 | Shadow Glider | 1 | Daghatar the Adamant | 1 | Pheres-Band Centaurs | 1 | Archetype of Imagination | 7 | Plains |
| 1 | Vaporkin | 1 | Knight of the Pilgrim's Road | 1 | Courier Griffin | 1 | Whirlwind Adept | 1 | Sphinx's Revelation | 5 | Island |
| 1 | Pounce | 1 | Caught in the Brights | 1 | Captured by the Consulate | 1 | Bright Reprisal | 5 | Forest | ||
| 1 | Not Forgotten | 1 | Mardu Hordechief | 1 | Opaline Unicorn | ||||||
| 1 | Selesnya Charm | 1 | Deathgorge Scavenger | 1 | Aspiring Aeronaut | ||||||
| 1 | Hunt the Weak | ||||||||||
| 1 | Pheres-Band Tromper | ||||||||||
| 1 | Aether Herder | ||||||||||
| 5 | cards | 5 | cards | 8 | cards | 3 | cards | 2 | cards | 17 | cards |
 Display deck statistics | |||||||||||
I drafted what I felt was a very strong deck. P1P1 was Deathgorge Scavenger, and throughout pack 1 I thought I was going RG aggro with a splash of white. At the end of the booster blue was still wide open so I took the chance and grabbed a couple of playables I could drop if I didn't want them. P2P1 was Sphinx's Revelation, and I just couldn't pass that. It meant, however, that the direction of my draft was taking a different turn, so I started going for UWG. Red was already rather tight and the green cards I was being passed were not strong enough. However, I managed to snatch some prety good white removal, making my choice more solid. Both games were rather long, but I had pressure on the board and answers to threats, which meant the long game was mine.
2. Seba, RB Aggro (0-2, 2-0)
Deck: [Chaos draft] S's BR Aggro   | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 CMC | 1 CMC | 2 CMC | 3 CMC | 4 CMC | 5 CMC | 6 CMC | Lands | ||||||||
| 1 | Ornithopter | 1 | Fiery Impulse | 1 | Grim Roustabout | 1 | Mardu Runemark | 1 | Bellowing Saddlebrute | 1 | Unholy Hunger | 1 | Forgestoker Dragon | 9 | Swamp |
| 1 | Soul-Scar Mage | 1 | Seekers' Squire | 1 | Essence Extraction | 1 | Foundry Hornet | 1 | Warchanter of Mogis | 8 | Mountain | ||||
| 1 | Outnumber | 1 | Vessel of Volatility | 1 | Graveblade Marauder | 1 | Ill-Tempered Cyclops | 1 | Ballista Charger | ||||||
| 1 | Precise Strike | 1 | Cartouche of Ambition | 1 | Traitorous Instinct | 1 | Fathom Fleet Cutthroat | ||||||||
| 1 | Disowned Ancestor | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Typhoid Rats | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | cards | 6 | cards | 3 | cards | 4 | cards | 4 | cards | 4 | cards | 1 | cards | 17 | cards |
| Display deck statistics | |||||||||||||||
Seba wanted to go for a Voltron type of deck, but when this plan failed he moved to a more conventional aggro deck. I don't know if I'd ever play cards like Vessel of Volatility or Ornithopter in such a deck, but I can maybe chalk that up to my lack of creativity. There's some cards I really do like there too, like Bellowing Saddlebrute and Soul-Scar Mage, which are always super solid choices. My first game against this deck was rather unfair because he had to mull down to 5 or 4, and at that point it's just such an uphill battle for the smaller hand. At least the deck did work against Edu.
3. Edu, GR Midrange (0-2, 0-2)
| Deck: [Chaos draft] E's GR | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 CMC | 2 CMC | 3 CMC | 4 CMC | 5 CMC | 6 CMC | Lands | |||||||
| 1 | Implement of Combustion | 1 | Skyreaping | 1 | Appetite for the Unnatural | 1 | Borderland Minotaur | 1 | Golgari Longlegs | 1 | Freejam Regent | 8 | Mountain |
| 1 | Giant Growth | 1 | Reckless Reveler | 1 | Valakut Predator | 1 | Fanatic of Mogis | 1 | Shamanic Revelation | 8 | Forest | ||
| 1 | Rile | 1 | Giant Spectacle | 1 | Trumpet Blast | 1 | Guardian Automaton | 1 | Territorial Baloth | ||||
| 1 | Kin-Tree Warden | 1 | Ixalli's Keeper | 1 | Bloodmad Vampire | ||||||||
| 1 | Cartouche of Zeal | 1 | Swordwise Centaur | 1 | Byway Courier | ||||||||
| 1 | Titanic Growth | 1 | Void Attendant | ||||||||||
| 5 | cards | 6 | cards | 6 | cards | 3 | cards | 3 | cards | 1 | cards | 16 | cards |
| Display deck statistics | |||||||||||||
Now this deck had a bunch of efficient beaters and decent combat tricks, but it also had cards that maybe don't do a lot of work in such a deck like Shamanic Revelation, Rile or Appetite for the Unnatural. When I played against this deck, one problem was that it escalated board presence without doing much more, afraid of trading creatures that couldn't make it through. In a way it reminded me of OGW-OGW-BFZ, except that in this case I was not moving forward because I had enough answers not to worry about what to do next. I don't think the deck looks bad, but I think it demands a more aggressive approach.
4. Rob, GW (dropped)
| Deck: [Chaos draft] R's GW | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 CMC | 2 CMC | 3 CMC | 4 CMC | 5 CMC | 6+ CMC | Lands | |||||||
| 1 | Hopeful Eidolon | 1 | True-Faith Censer | 1 | Dragon Bell Monk | 1 | Charging Griffin | 1 | Shining Aerosaur | 1 | Accomplished Automaton | 1 | Windswept Heath |
| 1 | Cartouche of Solidarity | 1 | Restoration Specialist | 1 | Rootborn Defenses | 1 | Phantom General | 1 | Ancient Brontodon | 1 | Foundry of the Consuls | ||
| 1 | Anointer of Champions | 1 | Impeccable Timing | 1 | Sunspire Griffin | 1 | Retreat to Emeria | 12 | Plains | ||||
| 1 | Aspect of Hydra | 1 | Druid of the Cowl | 1 | Solitary Hunter | 6 | Forest | ||||||
| 1 | Jungle Delver | 1 | Fleecemane Lion | ||||||||||
| 5 | cards | 5 | cards | 3 | cards | 4 | cards | 1 | cards | 2 | cards | 20 | cards |
| Display deck statistics | |||||||||||||
Not much I can say about this deck because I didn't see it in action, but it does look ok. He tested it against Edu and won one game, and seeing some of its solid playables like Fleecemane Lion I think it could've done well. Retreat to Emeria, Rootborn Defenses and Phantom General were a nice small theme that I would've liked seeing in action.
All in all, while I'm sad we didn't get to play all three rounds, it was another fun night of chaos drafting. RTR and KTK are such strong sets to draft with that, despite their specific theme dependency, they were really solid in the draft for the most part.
Pulls:
Not a lot of great stuff, but at least this time we got a fetchland and a couple other sweet cards.• Sphinx's Revelation
• Windswept Heath
• Soul-Scar Mage
• Deathgorge Scavenger
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