Shards of Alara Draft Walkthrough #4
January 4, 2009
This is from a triple Shards of Alara draft in the 4-3-2-2 queue on Magic Online.
Pack 1 pick 1:
Interesting first pack with three clear frontrunners: Covenant of Minds, Resounding Thunder, and Naya Charm.
I picked the card drawer because it’s really good in five color control and that’s my favorite deck to draft. However, I should’ve picked Resounding Thunder because it’s good in all decks, whether aggro or control. Covenant of Minds is not that great in an aggressive Bant deck. Naya Charm may be the strongest card out of the three but I don’t think it’s strong enough to go three colors on your first pick.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Nothing too powerful so I took the land to set myself up for five color control.
Pack 1 pick 3:
It looked like I might not be able to draft five color control. There was nothing in this weak pack for that archetype.
I took Bone Splinters because it’s an awesome removal spell if you get cards that work with it (like Dragon Fodder, Dregscape Zombie, and Elvish Visionary).
Pack 1 pick 4:
I took Rakeclaw Gargantuan because it’s a solid creature in five color control. Also, I thought the Naya fattie was a signal.
I should’ve taken the land. It’s usually better to draft land fixers higher in five color control than fatties. It’s easy to get fatties late but fixers are often hard to find in the late picks.
Pack 1 pick 5:
I took Hissing Iguanar because it combos with Bone Splinters, but I should’ve just taken Kederekt Creeper. The Grixis guy is just a much better creature and Bone Splinters is still good in Grixis because of all the unearth guys.
Pack 1 pick 6:
I thought Grixis might be open so I took Kederekt Creeper.
Pack 1 pick 7:
Dragon Fodder works well with Bone Splinters.
Pack 1 pick 8:
Weak pack. I took Lightning Talons and hoped I wouldn’t have to play it.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Pretty straightforward. Coma Veil is too expensive for what it does.
Pack 1 pick 10:
Pack 1 pick 11:
Pack 1 pick 12:
Pack 1 pick 13:
Pack 1 pick 14:
Pack 1 pick 15:
Pack 2 pick 1:
Algae Gharial was a close second but I like to have a lot of removal.
Pack 2 pick 2:
If you can survive long enough, the mythic rare is definitely super powerful.
Pack 2 pick 3:
Sprouting Thrinax is pretty good especially with two Bone Splinters.
Pack 2 pick 4:
More removal is good.
Pack 2 pick 5:
Elvish Visionary is good with two Bone Splinters, but I probably should’ve taken Thunder-Thrash Elder or Goblin Deathraiders. At this point, it looked like black and red were my main colors and blue and green were my splash colors. Elvish Visionary is solid but not really something you want to splash for. You’d rather splash for something more powerful.
Pack 2 pick 6:
Yet another card that combos well with Bone Splinters.
Pack 2 pick 7:
This seemed like a good pick at the time. But now I realize that with green being a splash color, I probably wouldn’t have enough green creatures to use Dragon’s Herald effectively. Blister Beetle or Viscera Dragger was the better pick.
Pack 2 pick 8:
Pack 2 pick 9:
Pack 2 pick 10:
This should’ve been Scavenger Drake. The flyer is just a better card especially with my two Bone Splinters. And flying is better than trample.
Pack 2 pick 11:
Pack 2 pick 12:
Pack 2 pick 13:
Pack 2 pick 14:
Pack 2 pick 15:
Pack 3 pick 1:
You could make the case for Skeletal Kathari or Mosstodon, but I was worried about my mana curve.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Pack 3 pick 3:
Kresh + Bone Splinters is an awesome combo.
Pack 3 pick 4:
I wanted to take Manaplasm, but I felt like I already had enough powerful green cards to splash. Again, I passed Skeletal Kathari because of curve issues.
Pack 3 pick 5:
I know I just said that I had enough powerful green cards to splash. However, Necrogenesis is so good and it’s so much better than Manaplasm in my deck.
Pack 3 pick 6:
I think I should’ve just picked Bone Splinters. Of course, Violent Ultimatum is very powerful, but I barely had any fixers so it was going to be hard to cast especially since I was only splashing green.
Pack 3 pick 7:
Hate draft.
Pack 3 pick 8:
For the sideboard.
Pack 3 pick 9:
Pack 3 pick 10:
Pack 3 pick 11:
Pack 3 pick 12:
Pack 3 pick 13:
Pack 3 pick 14:
Pack 3 pick 15:
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Here’s what I ran. Click the image for a bigger picture.
I thought the deck was powerful. However, the mana base was shaky and I had a lot of expensive cards.
Match 1
Game 1
I played someone with a 1667 limited rating.
I kept this sketchy hand on the draw:
Arcane Sanctum
Mountain
Dragon Fodder
Elvish Visionary
Sprouting Thrinax
Skeletonize
Hellkite Overlord
I probably should’ve mulliganed. I had three green cards in hand but no green sources. And I only had four green sources.
He played Dregscape Zombie on turn two but my two goblin tokens held him off. He added Executioners Capsule and Skeletal Kathari. I killed his flyer with Skeletonize while he was tapped out.
He had Magma Spray for the skeleton token. Then, he attacked with Dregscape Zombie. I traded with a goblin token. He unearthed his 2/1 and made a 4/4 Thunder-Thrash Elder.
I made Hissing Iguanar so the board was 4/4 Thunder-Thrash Elder and Executioners Capsule on his side and a goblin token and Hissing Iguanar on my side. Also, I hadn’t drawn a green source.
He attacked and I went down to 16. I attacked him back to 16. He attacked me to 12. I attacked back and he killed Hissing Iguanar with Executioners Capsule. He went down to 15. I played Dragons Herald and Thorn-Thrash Viashino, devouring my token to make him a 4/4. I should’ve devoured Dragons Herald too, since I had Hellkite Overlord in hand.
He attacked with his 4/4 and I traded with my 4/4. I played Covenant of Minds and got two lands and Bone Splinters. He must’ve been severely flooded because he didn’t do anything for awhile. I was able to attack him for a couple turns with Dragons Herald. I finally got a Forest and just killed him with Hellkite Overlord.
Game 2
I felt like I didn’t have enough green sources so I sided in a Forest. Also, I saw two unearth creatures so I brought in Relic of Progenitus. I cut Dragons Herald and Elvish Visionary.
I started off with two Dragon Fodder. However, he had Vithian Stinger. I had to draw a card with my turn one Relic of Progenitus to find a black mana source for Blister Beetle. I drew Arcane Sanctum and killed his pinger the next turn.
However, later in the game, he started doing crazy things with two Corpse Connoisseur. I didn’t draw Necrogenesis so I couldn’t stop him. I was able to play Hellkite Overlord to race his unearth guys but he had Bone Splinters. The final dagger was his Blightning when I only had Violent Ultimatum and a land in hand. I drew four Forests but only two Mountains in the whole game so I couldn’t cast Violent Ultimatum.
Game 3
I won this game easily with a pretty sick draw.
Turn 1: Relic of Progenitus
Turn 2: Blister Beetle on his Dregscape Zombie
Turn 3: Dragon Fodder
Turn 4: Sprouting Thrinax
Turn 5: Covenant of Minds
With Covenant of Minds, he let me draw five cards instead of giving me Mountain, Dragon Fodder, and Kresh the Bloodbraided.
I had too much card advantage by then and I stopped the card advantage from his two Corpse Connoisseur with Relic of Progenitus. Soon, Hellkite Overlord showed up and it was over for him.
Match 2
Game 1
This opponent also had a 1667 limited rating.
I was flooded for a while early in the game and it looked like I would lose to his Esper Battlemage, since I only had 1/1 tokens. However, I drew Covenant of Minds. I played it and he let me draw five cards instead of keeping Forest, Blister Beetle, and Thorn-Thrash Viashino. The five cards I drew were:
Rockslide Elemental
Hissing Iguanar
Sprouting Thrinax
Bone Splinters
Skeletonize
All this card advantage and an early Necrogenesis proved to be too much for him. He almost stabilized with Tidehollow Sculler (taking Sprouting Thrinax), Sanctum Gargoyle, Metallurgeon, and Coma Veil (on Rockslide Elemental). However, I drew Elvish Visionary, which drew me Hellkite Overlord, and that was enough to win the game.
Game 2
I sided in Relic of Progenitus since he had Windwright Mage and Sanctum Gargoyle. Also, I brought in two Volcanic Submersion and a Forest. I took out Lightning Talons, Dragons Herald, Elvish Visionary, and Dregscape Zombie.
I thought I had this game, since I had removal for all his early creatures and he only had one card in hand. However, my clock was only two 1/1 tokens and he had a lot of life. Also, he just played Sigil of Distinction for nine counters.
Still, I had one removal spell in hand, Bone Splinters. However, he played Tidehollow Sculler to take it away. I played Covenant of Minds and got 2 Swamps and Hellkite Overlord, but I couldn’t draw a Forest.
He played Tower Gargoyle and equipped it with the bomb equipment. On his next turn, I was dead. I saw 21 cards this game and didn’t see one of my five Forests or one of my two Volcanic Submersion.
Game 3
He was on the back foot for the whole game since I had a pretty good draw. Here were my first plays.
Turn 1: Relic of Progenitus
Turn 2: Dragon Fodder
Turn 3: Hissing Iguanar
Turn 4: 6/6 Thorn-Thrash Viashino
Turn 5: Dreg Reaver
He had Executioners Capsule for my 6/6 and Metallurgeon to block, but I was able to kill Metallurgeon with Skeletonize by responding to its regeneration ability. He then played Battlegrace Angel, but I had Bone Splinters. He summoned Tidehollow Strix but I topdecked Volcanic Submersion.
He had Agony Warp and Coma Veil for my creatures but he ran out of removal and didn’t draw any more creatures. I played Kresh the Bloodbraided and topdecked Sprouting Thrinax and they attacked for the win.
Match 3
Game 1
This opponent had a 1715 limited rating.
This was an interesting game against a solid Bant deck with a couple exalted creatures. He had the early advantage with Jhessian Infiltrator, Deft Duelist, and Outrider of Jhess. However, I drew Skeletonize to kill his unblockable guy.
Without his unblockable guy, I was able to stabilize with Necrogenesis. Still, he played two Algae Gharial in consecutive turns. Luckily I had Rockslide Elemental. We were at a standstill. He tried to break through with two flyers but I killed them with my two Bone Splinters. Soon, I got eight mana and played Hellkite Overlord for the win.
Game 2
I sided in a Forest and the second Lightning Talons for Elvish Visionary and Dragons Herald.
I started off well with a turn two Blister Beetle for his turn two Druid of the Anima. However, he had Spell Snip for my turn three Sprouting Thrinax. Still, he didn’t have a play turn four while I added Hissing Iguanar.
He played Cloudheath Drake, I answered with Dreg Reaver, and we were off to the races. It looked like he might win the race when he summoned Waveskimmer Aven. However, I still had Dragon Fodder and I topdecked Grixis Battlemage. He countered with Jhessian Infiltrator.
I used the second ability of Grixis Battlemage so that he couldn’t block with his 2/4 flyer. He traded Cloudheath Drake and Jhessian Infiltrator for Dreg Reaver and Hissing Iguanar. This left him with Waveskimmer Aven as his only blocker while I had Blister Beetle, two 1/1 goblin tokens, and Grixis Battlemage. Also, I good lead in life points since he took three from the ability of Hissing Iguanar.
He didn’t play another spell for the rest of the game while I played Covenant of Minds for two lands and Lightning Talons. My next draw was Hellkite Overlord. I played it, made his creature a non-blocker, and attacked with everyone else for the win.
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