Tonight I drafted in the ACA Swiss queue, essentially so I could get more practice drafting and playing. Here's what I drafted:

  Pack 1 pick 1:



  My Pick:



The options are the Tidehollow Strix, the Bull Ceredon, or Sarkhan Vol. Unless I want to force Esper it's not much of an option. I pick up the planeswalker.

  Pack 1 pick 2:



  My Pick:



A lot of good picks here; the Seaside Citadel, the Agony Warp, or the Battlegrace Angel. If I'd picked the Strix I'd grab the Agony Warp, or even the Seaside Citadel, but because I went with Sarkan, I grab the Battlegrace Angel and decide to force Naya. This is a risk for me; I've never really forced a colour before.

  Pack 1 pick 3:



  My Pick:



Ok, the options are the Dragon Fodder, which could work well, or the Skull Muncher, which really works best with the Dragon Fodder. I grab the Muncher and hope the Fodder wheels.

  Pack 1 pick 4:



  My Pick:



Nothing here is fantastic; I could grab the panaorama or the Volcanic Submersion. I grab the deck thinner and mana fixer.

  Pack 1 pick 5:



  My Pick:



The Hissing Iguanar is very temption, but the panorama seems a better idea, as I know I'll have two fetchlands that solve most of my problems early.

  Pack 1 pick 6:



  My Pick:



It's between the Cavern Thoctar and the Knight of the Skyward Eye. As I don't have any two drops yet, I grab the Knight. He and his ability are on colour.

  Pack 1 pick 7:



  My Pick:



The Thorn Thrash Viashino and Grixis Charm are tempting my 5c habits, but my 5c habits keep making me lose, so I grab the Jungle Weaver instead. More fixing, and something fat to play late game.

  Pack 1 pick 8:



  My Pick:



  Pack 1 pick 9:



  My Pick:



With no good picks, I grab the card that can do me the most damage.

  Pack 1 pick 10:



  My Pick:



A second Rip Clan Crasher, and my two-drops are starting to look good.

  Pack 1 pick 11:



  My Pick:



I grab the card that would be easiest for me to splash for.

  Pack 1 pick 12:



  My Pick:



I grab the control card, as it seems the most dangerous against me.

  Pack 1 pick 13:



  My Pick:



It's now been a few packs since I've seen anything in my colour, which is concerning. Someone out there is drafting the mother of all Esper decks, and I've got several people cutting me out of my colours.

  Pack 1 pick 14:



  My Pick:



Well, at least he's on colour.

  Pack 1 pick 15:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 1:



  My Pick:



Although the Nyxathid is tempting, I want to stay true to the shard. Ember Weaver is a very aggressive card that can also shut Esper down quite nicely, so I go for the little spider that could.

  Pack 2 pick 2:



  My Pick:



This deck is totally underwhelming. The Matca Rioters stands out, but I haven't drafted a single piece of removal. Although it's only late-game removal, the Firey Fall is better than nothing, and can be used to fix my mana.

  Pack 2 pick 3:



  My Pick:



My deck is getting more and more aggressive, so I go for the Matca Rioters. It almost makes me wish I'd drafted the other Matca Rioters as well.

  Pack 2 pick 4:



  My Pick:



Another Ember Weaver feels okay in the deck. My three-drops have certainly come together.

  Pack 2 pick 5:



  My Pick:



Not much great in this pack, so I pick the on-colour fattie.

  Pack 2 pick 6:



  My Pick:



Oh man, the Esper cards that are travelling around are really, really concerning me. Someone out there has a great, great deck.

  Pack 2 pick 7:



  My Pick:



The Mark of Asylum is tempting, but I've seen so little red removal that I can't justify it. The Nactl Savage could be useful against the Esper Deck that is just about to draft a Sedraxis Alchemist on top of everything else. But I shore up my late game with the Beacon Behemoth, who works well with an number of my cards.

  Pack 2 pick 8:



  My Pick:



Not sure if this was the right pick; but if I end up deep in black in the next pack this might turn out okay.

  Pack 2 pick 9:



  My Pick:



I was glad to see him wheel back. Although he's more control than aggro, I have very little removalm and even something as lame as this might do.

  Pack 2 pick 10:



  My Pick:



It's in the wrong colour, but I'm thinking of splashing black at this point.

  Pack 2 pick 11:



  My Pick:



The Wandering Goblins are too mana intensive for my deck. Right now I want to be able to lay out a Toxic Iguana, followed by a Rip Clan Crasher, followed by a Matca Rioter, and then keep dropping guys. This guy doesn't follow that plan.

  Pack 2 pick 12:



  My Pick:



Mass removal if I need it.

  Pack 2 pick 13:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 14:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 15:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 1:



  My Pick:



Bloodbraid Elf, Spellbreaker Behemoth or Qasali Pridemage? I hear Bloodbraid Elf might be good.

  Pack 3 pick 2:



  My Pick:



I need removal. Here it is. I grab it.

  Pack 3 pick 3:



  My Pick:



The Messenger Falcons was tempting, but I still needed more removal. The Sangrite Backlash is a poor man's Terminate sometimes, and was on-colour.

  Pack 3 pick 4:



  My Pick:



Putrid Leech was probably the right pick here, but the Twinclaws is just so good. In retrospect I should of gone with the Putrid Leech, but I was trying very, very hard to stay on-shard.

  Pack 3 pick 5:



  My Pick:



A fourth guy with haste for my deck. Fantastic.

  Pack 3 pick 6:



  My Pick:



A fifth guy with haste for the deck. Sweet.

  Pack 3 pick 7:



  My Pick:



Some mana fixing, and a flyer stopper. A nice pick 7.

  Pack 3 pick 8:



  My Pick:



My third Jund Hackblade and sixth guy with haste, five of which are 2 mana and so work off the Bloodbraid Elf. This deck could get some pretty explosive draws.

  Pack 3 pick 9:



  My Pick:



A sideboard card for playing against late gamers.

  Pack 3 pick 10:



  My Pick:



Violent outburst is just INSANE with a stack of haste guys. I wish I could of played with two of them.

  Pack 3 pick 11:



  My Pick:



Removing the removal.

  Pack 3 pick 12:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 13:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 14:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 15:



  My Pick:



This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Visit the draft converter today!

For better or worse I built the following deck:

1 Toxic Iguanar
2 Rip-Clan Crasher
3 Jund Hackblade
1 Terminate
1 Violent Outburst
2 Ember Weaver
1 Matca Rioters
1 Rhox Meditant
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Marisi's Twinclaws
1 Shard Convergence
1 Beacon Behemoth
1 Skullmulcher
1 Pale Recluse
1 Battlegrace Angel
1 Sangrite Backlash
1 Fiery Fall
1 Jungle Weaver

1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama

6 Forest
5 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Swamp

The worst card is Shard Convergence - it probably shouldn't be in the deck. Battlegrace Angel is a tough cast, but probably worth the effort - it just Wins Games.

It's a fast, fast deck. My main concern is playing against Bant; Bant first strikers will put an absolute end to this deck. Grixis deathtouch could be a concern. Jund should be okay, Esper may get a little tricky as someone has had free reign over the Esper cards and must have drafted an insane, insane deck. I think the mirror will be okay so long as it doesn't go on too long.

Match 1, Game 1: My opponent is playing Esper Control. Oh great. However, I play Rip Clan Clasher, followed by Jund Hackblade, then Jundhacklade and Ripclan Clasher together, then Bloodbraid Elf into Terminate. That's a fast deck right there. It's all over, red rover.

Match 1. Game 2: My opponent's Esper control and it does what it needs to do. We pile up creauture after creauture, but even though mine are bigger, I can never make a profitable attack, mainly thanks to his Wall of Denial and Tidehollow Strix. Eventually he gets down two Esperzoa and two Parasitic Strix, while I never see my Battlegrace Angel or Sarkon Vol. I concede the next turn.

Match 1, Game 3: T2 Jund Hackblade, T3 Jund Hackblade swing for 6, T4 Violent Outburst into Jund Hackblade, I swing for 12 and my opponent is on 2 life with no blue mana. The concession quickly follows.

Match 2, Game 1: My opponent is playing 5c, which is fantastic for me. I play Jund Hackblade, Ember Weaver, Sarkhan Vol, Terminate his Stinger (his only creature), then Beacon Behemoth. I misplayed badly this game - I should of played the Beacon Behemoth, activated Sarkhan Vol, and swung in for 10 and the win. Instead I swung for 4 and played the Beacon Behemoth afterwards. Nevertheless, Sarkhan was on six, I had a defender against haste and I won the concession.

This time I sideboard out the Shard Convergence - it's just too slow - and slip in a Knight of the Skyward Eye.

Match 2, Game 2: I get into play a 3rd turn 3/3 Matca Rioters, while my opponent has a Nactl Outlander. I play a Plains, bringing the Matca Rioters to a 4/4, then play a Rhox Meditant next, hitting with the Rioters. My opponent plays a Nactl Savage. Clearly my opponent has not sideboarded well, or is the poor cousin of those of us playing Green/Red. I Sangrite Backlash the Nactl Outlander and swing in, then drop a Knight of the Skyward Eye. My opponent concedes for the second time.

At this stage I still haven't played against Bant. My worst matchup - those damned first strikers - must surely be next. Either that or an even more insane Esper deck.
The next round takes a long, long time to fire; half-an-hour in and only one game's been played. - I prepare, rightly or wrongly, to take on a control deck of some sort.

Match 3, Game 1: I mulligan to six, keeping a hand with mostly land. My opponent opens with a Goblin Deathraiders, making him much more aggressive than I had expected. I get a Rip-Clan Crasher out, and he Shambling Remains. It's all down hill from there for me, and I die shortly after.

Match 3, Game 2: I mull to six and keep a one land hand. All I need is a forest and I can start dropping the two Hackblades in my hand, and then the Bloodbraid Elf. But the forest never comes and I'm dead before I know it, watching Goblin Deathraiders into Shambling Remains into Ember Weaver. Darn it. Jund was not okay.

So there you go. I kept a bad hand and payed for it. Here's being thankful that you learn from your mistakes!