I was tired tonight, so I joined the ACR Swiss to go easy on myself. Through my stats tracking, I’ve learnt that this generally does not produce the best pack-win-ratio however. My current winnings is on average 2 packs in the 4322 and 1.8 packs in the Swiss. So off I go.

  Pack 1 pick 1:



  My Pick:

It’s not a fantastic pack – hell, it’s mainly jank – but there is one standout card. I don’t mind playing Jund in general, so I’m happy to take the Dragon. He’s a little slow in ACR, but does the job if you can get him down.



  Pack 1 pick 2:



  My Pick:

Fleshbag marauder is poor removal, but I’m not thrilled about picking anything else. Blightning would have been my go-to card of choice, but there are so many good 2-3 drops in pack 3 I’d rather improve my board position.



  Pack 1 pick 3:



  My Pick:

This pack is terrible, so I take the mana fixer.



  Pack 1 pick 4:



  My Pick:

This pack, however, is great. Stinger, Nacatl, Necropolis, Sigil Blessing. All worthwhile picks, but only one is easy to cast and suits my shard just fine.



  Pack 1 pick 5:



  My Pick:

A great pick for my deck.



  Pack 1 pick 6:



  My Pick:

It’s a tough choice between the Mosstodon, and Rip Clan Crasher, and the Dragon Fodder, but I feel I’m going to end up with a pretty aggressive deck, so the Crasher is an okay pick here.



  Pack 1 pick 7:



  My Pick:

Nothing great, so I grab the Zombie.



  Pack 1 pick 8:



  My Pick:

I figure I’ll play a few rounds and see if I want to power out the two Dragons quicker, or if my small dudes are good enough to hold the ground.



  Pack 1 pick 9:



  My Pick:

An excellent pick for my deck.



  Pack 1 pick 10:



  My Pick:



  Pack 1 pick 11:



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  Pack 1 pick 12:



  My Pick:



  Pack 1 pick 13:



  My Pick:



  Pack 1 pick 14:



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  Pack 1 pick 15:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 1:



  My Pick:

What a dull deck. Someone is going to be drafting a fantastic Esper deck, but it won’t be me. The Ember Weaver and Ignite Disorder are the best two picks. With very little removal in hand, I grab the Disorder.



  Pack 2 pick 2:



  My Pick:

Another Dragon is great, especially one that can recur.



  Pack 2 pick 3:



  My Pick:

Removal + Mana Fixing = Perfect.



  Pack 2 pick 4:



  My Pick:

I want my deck to be aggressive, so I chose the Shambling Remains over the Matca Rioters.



  Pack 2 pick 5:



  My Pick:

Although I won’t end up using it, the Worldheart Pheonix is a fine sideboard card if I end up against someone with a ton of fliers.



  Pack 2 pick 6:



  My Pick:

Again, there’s not a lot here. I grabbed the Shard Convergence to side in with the Worldheart Pheonix.



  Pack 2 pick 7:



  My Pick:

Perfect, aggressive, on-shard pick.



  Pack 2 pick 8:



  My Pick:

Best of a bad bunch.



  Pack 2 pick 9:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 10:



  My Pick:

Sweet.



  Pack 2 pick 11:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 12:



  My Pick:

I’m really going to be able to trounce Esper tonight.



  Pack 2 pick 13:



  My Pick:



  Pack 2 pick 14:



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  Pack 2 pick 15:



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  Pack 3 pick 1:



  My Pick:

Another boring first pick.



  Pack 3 pick 2:



  My Pick:

My cheap, aggressive deck is coming together. Interesting to note the Qasali Pridemage.



  Pack 3 pick 3:



  My Pick:

Wow, Enlisted Wurm. Tempting to hate-draft, but I decide to stay on-colour.



  Pack 3 pick 4:



  My Pick:

A very interesting pack. Stormblade, Leech, Pridemage, Hackblade. But there’s only one real choice for me.



  Pack 3 pick 5:



  My Pick:

Wow, there are a bunch of great Esper cards floating around. So sad not to be in those colours.



  Pack 3 pick 6:



  My Pick:

The one quick drop that will totally screw up my Grixis Grimblades and Hackblades. I hate draft the mofo and don’t feel bad about it.



  Pack 3 pick 7:



  My Pick:

I’ve never use it, so I’m curious.



  Pack 3 pick 8:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 9:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 10:



  My Pick:

Ok, there’s not much here. But I like the idea of blanking an opponents blocker in the deck I’m building.



  Pack 3 pick 11:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 12:



  My Pick:

I actually really like Violent Outburst, especially in a deck as aggressive as mine. It will always find a 2/2 creature, usually with some sort of benefit, at instant speed. There’s a lot worse cards around than that.



  Pack 3 pick 13:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 14:



  My Pick:



  Pack 3 pick 15:



  My Pick:



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My deck looks like this:

1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Vithian Stinger
1 Sprouting Thrinax
1 Rip-Clan Crasher
1 Cavern Thoctar
1 Ignite Disorder
1 Extractor Demon
1 Fiery Fall
1 Shambling Remains
1 Vashino Slaughtermaster
1 Pestilent Kathari
1 Slyvan Bounty
1 Rhox Brute
2 Grixis Grimblade
1 Jund Hackblade
1 Putrid Leech
1 Jund Sojourners
1 Predatory Advantage
1 Monstrous Carabid
1 Demonic Dread
1 Breath of Malfegor
1 Violent Outburst

The deck is ok, but extremely light on removal, and one of my removal spells is a land cycler as well, so cycling it puts me down by a lot. Hopefully all the Deathtouch and Unearth can get me across the line. I just need a fast start, followed up by either the Demon or the Dragon. Here’s hoping.

Match 1, Game 1: My opponent is playing Esper Exalted. I keep a hand of 3 swamps, a Fleshbag Marauder, a Grixis Grimblade, a Putrid Leach and a Jund Sojourners, thinking if I see a single other source of mana I’ll be fine. Guess what? I don’t. He gets down a Darklit Gargoyle that beat the tar out of me, followed by a Deft Duelist. The only spell I get to play is the Fleshbag Marauder after seeing 5 swamps total. I concede on the 6th turn.

Match 1, Game 2: I side in the two Nacatal Savages for the Breath of Malefegor and the Jund Sojourners. I get down an early Vithian Stinger while my opponent sits on a single Plains. His folly of keeping a one-land hand shows as I put down a Rhox Brute followed by the Predatory Advantage. Having picked up another land, all he can do is lay down Aven Squires as Stinger Fodder to stave off the 2/2 Lizard tokens. I take the match in the 6th Round.

Match 1, Game 3: Having seen the Aven Squires, I side in the Scattershot Archer as well, thinking that between the Stinger and the Archer I have the skies covered. I see a two-land hand with a land cycler and keep it. He gets out an early Tidehollow Strix, but I follow up with the Sprouting Thrinax. Although he’s setting out Swamps and Islands, he has no Turn 4 play, so I figure he’s stuck with a White clutch. I take the risk and play a Fleshbag Marauder forcing him to sac the Strix. I follow up with the Rhox Brute, then an Extractor Demon. By this time he has no outs and I crush him.

Okay, so I lost due to mana screw in the first, then won due to my opponent’s mana screw in the next two. I still have no idea whether this deck can perform or not.

On to Match 2.

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Match 2, Game 1: He’s playing five colour control. However, I get an early head start and manage to bust through before he gets his mana in order.

Match 2, Game 2: He finds early beaters and I get mana screwed out of any counter attack.

Match 2, Game 3: An epic, epic battle, basically coming down to his Behemoth Sledge. I manage to fight my way through a good dozen rounds. Unfortunately, I make a critical mistake. I have total board position – a Broodmate and his Flatmate against an empty board. I have an Ignite Disorder in hand, and my opponent plays a Leonin Armorguard. Stupidly I let the +1/+1 come into play ability resolve, meaning I have no chance to kill the Armorguard. It costs me a game I would otherwise as won. Lesson Learnt.

As this is the Swiss, on to Match 3.

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Match 3, Game 1: He’s playing Jund as well. He gets an amazing board position with Scarland Thrinax, Algae Gharial and a bunch of Sporeburst tokens. Despite laying down a series of blockers, it becomes clear I’ll never break through his army, and I concede to move the match on.

Match 3, Game 2: I get a super fast start from which he never recovers. Putrid Leach, Hackblade, Grimblade, etc. Done and dusted.

Match 3, Game 3: I have a similar starting hand to Game 2, so I keep. I get an early Hackblade and Shambling Remains down to his Jund Sojourners and three sporeburst tokens. I get him to trade the Jund Sojourners for my Hackblade, then lay down a Kathari Screecher and a Grixis Grimblade. He sets down a Scarland Thrinax and I start to sweat it. Luckily I lead into a Putrid Leach, followed by an Extractor Demon. With my Deathtouchers covering the ground my Extractor Demon starts going to town – only to be met by a Terminate, followed up with a Sylvan Bounty. But I’ve got gas – a Cavern Thoctar, followed the Vithian Stinger. He yokes the Stinger and plays a Wild Leotau. I swing in with the Thoctar and the Grixis Grimblade. He blocks the Grimblade with the Leotau, so I pump the Thoctar, ping with the Stinger and watch him gobble the Wild Leotau to grow his Thrinax. He does nothing next round, so I simply send in the Thoctar. The Thoctar and Thrinax trade, leaving him with no board position, and me with ten damage of unearth creatures in the graveyard and a full board. He concedes on the next draw.

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So I guess I made it out 2-1, which isn’t terrible, and the only reason I didn’t go 3-0 is a clearly identifiable mistake which I won’t make again. That’s how you learn, I guess.

This weeks’ drafting has been okay. I started with 3 packs and 8 ticks, and ended up with 2 packs and 2 ticks after three drafts. I need some way of breaking through my 2-1 performances. Three 2-1s in a row is just so close to 3-0. Practice, obviously, will help, but I also need to identify where I can improve. Is it the picks? The gameplay? The hands I choose to keep? So much to think about.

Ah well, here’s to next week.