So here is the current iteration of the brag thread. Enjoy.

I'll start with my second draft of the format, a prerelease draft, where this incredible thing happened:



I don't think I will be able to get something like this again, as the format evolves.

* There is soooo much removal. After I took the screenshot, I experimentally added the second copy of Murderous Compulsion, and then almost timed out trying to decide what to cut. With 10 seconds left, I submitted a 41-cards deck (17 lands). I just couldn't stand cutting one of the spells, and 12 creatures seemed like a minimum. In some matchups, I boarded out Macabre Waltz (slow and clunky) for Dual Shot, a card any red deck is happy to play in the starting 40.
* The deck has the two best madness enablers in the format (and there is a copy Murderer's Axe in the sideboard, but that one is strictly inferior). Think for a second how the rules text on Call the Bloodline and Mad Prophet read when every card in the deck has madness. Call is the better of the two, since it comes online sooner and is harder to remove, but both are excellent.
* The curve stops at four. Despite which, there are some very powerful cards in there. I played 17 lands, since sometimes, you have to pitch a land to Call or Pale Rider of Trostad. Which helps with delirium on Kindly Stranger.

The deck played well, felt very powerful, and made short work of the first two opponents. In the finals, I met a very nice Werewolf tribal deck. We had a tight match, but I managed to win, mostly on the back of Call and removal.

As the investigation continues, you may hear some more. ATM, my big project is a UG investigate deck.

For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of Murderous Compulsion.
But deck looks very solid. Sanguinary Mage is my least favorite card here, but it is one of those "you gotta have twos, and there aren't that many choices"

UG Investigate can be very solid, but you have to make sure you draft actual ways to win. Otherwise, you end up with 20 clues over the game, an empty deck, and your opponent at 13 life.

I had a BW deck with 10 removal spells. I went 2-1 but I conceeded in finals losing badly game 1 because another draft was about to start.

I agree.

It's hard to get both good two-drops, and removal. Mage is fine when you have a lot of triggers, and can attack for two on most turns. And Compulsion without madness is just mediocre.

The best thing about synergy builds is that you get late picks nobody else wants, and they work fine in your deck. The trick seems to be knowing what will wheel.

The second weekend of SOI drafting supplied two fun decks. Well, they were fun to play, anyway. Not sure how much fun they were to play against.

The Saturday deck was a GW delirium deck pulled out of mediocrity to a 2-1 finish by its rares, Soul Swallower and Archangel Avacyn. Deck was not consistent enough, but with the right draw, it was unbeatable. I lost the finals to an aggro RB build.

What I wish to write about, though, is the Sunday deck. UG mysteries.



The draft started by a p1p1 Diregraf Colossus. I'd take good removal over that, but there wasn't any in the pack. Green seemed open, so I grabbed a few value critters and a Vessel, trying for GB delirium. At end of pack one, it was pretty obvious that black was completely cut, and both green and blue were open. And a few picks into pack two, I was passed Startled Awake. And changed directions again, to UG.

As much as I'd like to pretend that I knew what I was doing, I had a lot to learn. Above all, I did not have enough faith in my plan, so I left an Epitaph Golem and Fleeting Memories in the sideboard. I boarded in the Memories every time, over Magnifying Glass or Press for Answers. In case it's not obvious, the plan is to deck the opponent, and I did that in five (OK, technically four) of the six games I won. And I lost a game to decking myself.

So, what I learned about the art of decking, Shadows-style:

• The engine that makes this deck tick is hidden in the bottom left corner of the picture: two copies of the best green common. Playing this on turn one guarantees a relevant three or four drop, whichever one you need more. And it also finds the key enchantments, or lands if that's what you are missing. Also, it can single-handedly get you to delirium in GB or GW.
• Watcher in the Web is the way you make sure you don't die before your play comes to fruition. Three may seem a lot, but they are very necessary.
• The engine cards, Erdwal Illuminator, Ulvenwald Mysteries, and Graf Mole, are all uncommon, but except for the Mysteries, nobody else is interested. I also got Epiphany seventh pick pack two, and Ego fourth pick pack three. For some reason, people are not drafting blue. Strange.
• Getting to five mana is crucial, so the Dryad and the Glass. I was never sorry to see the Dryad.
• All you want to do early is trade your blockers, preferably for their critters, and generate clues in the process. Couriers and Explorers are your friends here.
• Duskwatch Recruiter was just a two-drop here, I never used his ability. It did flip a few times, so it wasn't just a bear.
• Epiphany is very aptly named. O boy, did I underestimate that card! Once you stabilize, it reads, pay eight mana, draw four cards. Draw four. Now how do four people pass that?
• Confront the Unknown is a fine card, I'd play a second copy if I had it. It's cheap, and it cycles.
• Startled Awake is flashy, but Fleeting Memories works just as well. Thing is, the Nightmare just never hits them. A few copies of Just the Wind would help, but that is one of the few blue cards that are hard to get.

As I mentioned, the game were fun and challenging.

Round one was against RB critters. A player returning after a few years. He wasn't very fast, so we stalled, he got Startled, and the game got to 3-2 in cards left in library, with him slated to lose to decking. He went all in, I blocked leaving him with three irrelevant tapped critters, and just as I was about to hit F6 for my turn, I noticed that he had no blockers, no cards in hand, was at 28 life, and I had 28 power on board. So I swung for lethal instead, even though I had the game won in the preferred (decking) fashion. Game two, I boarded Fleeting Memories and decked him a lot faster.

Round two was against UB zombies. Surprisingly resilient deck, with two Drunau Corpse Trawlers, the lifegain skulkers, and some blue fliers. This is where I managed to deck myself, after Startling him first. Such is the power of Vessels and Epiphany. Again, Memories helped to win game two, although it got closer than I'd like after he resolved an Elusive Tormentor. Game three, he was a bit stuck on mana (got to four only, and couldn't play spells and activate Trawler at the same time) and I actually won the game attacking before he was able to draw out of it.

Round three was against GW humans. I was scared of this matchup the whole day, but I drew well, and even assembled the whole combo in game two: Erdwal Illuminator, Graf Mole, Fleeting Memories, to climb back into the game from three life and deck him. He commented that I was living the dream that game. And so I was.

So far, I'm enjoying Shadows draft immensely. I guess the secret Vessel technology is out now, but so what I'll just first-pick it in the future

There was basically 1/2 an episode of LimitedResources podcast on that dec. And what do I draft? Well, I P1P1 Avacyn's Judgement followed by Heir of Falkenrath which is a pretty sick combo. Then Declaration in Stone which is currently $14 in paper. Then some black cards, then some white cards (clearly red is not open), blue is open.

P2 is completely insane it has ~5 first pickable cards, including Lightning Axe, Kindly Stranger, Fiery Temper. Since I was in a regular ol' keep what your draft and I had black, I took Olivia, Mobilized for War and just forced RB vampires - since that was what I started with in the first place.

So, hilarity ensues as literally _4_ of us in a row drafted RB. And they were flanked by UR and Grx wolves! I managed to pick a dual, and cobbled together 23 playables with 2 white removal (I also got an early Angelic Purge).

Needless to say I .... lost in finals to my son (running UR fliers/tempo), but it was pretty close. I managed to beat the GW deck round 2 on broken openers and his mana problems (he had like 35 playables... I think he got a pick 10 Graf Mole). Olivia is totally busted, I can confirm that you should probably derail your draft to play her.

Well, for some reason, people think red is the best color. I think that honor goes to green. But it really is all about synergy, not so much about colors. Three green drafters can coexist peacefully if one is RG werewolves, another GB madness, and the third UG mysteries. Also, RB vampires and RG werewolves seems very straightforward, easy to draft.

I did listen to that podcast. And then the deck fell into my lap. I don't recall LSV talking about decking the opponent, though. IIRC, he mostly talked about decking yourself.

It seems hard to open a Shadows pack without either a bomb, a strong uncommon, or a buildaround.

Well I give up...I just had an amazing draft and my internet crapped out yet again kicking me out of the tournament. It was especially annoying this time because of the chat from the idiot I was playing against and about to smash when I lost. I attached a screenshot.

Anyways

and


Ever After was my P1P1 because the only other card was Briarbridge Patrol and I figured I'd hedge towards a weird self mill recur deck or Zombies. Patrol wheeled which was pretty shocking...then again it hasn't done much in any of the games I had it in. I had a tough time choosing the cards to keep in and cut. At first I had 1 Militant Inquisitor and Tenacity over Shard and Companion. Then I realized that was probably dumb and put in Companion over Inquisitor. Then I changed my mind again and threw in Shard over Tenacity figuring it would work better in the long run being cheaper and turning on Strength in Arms. After the first game I swapped Inspector in for Shard. Then there was "Should Vessel be here for card draw and, if yes, should Skinner be in for lots of potential counters?

So the only round I got to play was most of Round 1. I was against a R/G transform deck that had a ton of the cheap threats with minor drawbacks. (I can't believe I passed on Lambholt Pacifist...that cad was intimidating when it came down...luckily I had removal.)

Game 1 was a bit of a race. We just kept attacking and I got ahead thanks to combat tricks and them misjudging that I had a playable creature in my hand when they flashed in Pack Guardian which would have otherwise allowed them to survive the attack and have exactly what they needed for the win on the board next round. The attack took them to 1 and I had a flier they couldn't block.

Game 2 Odric came down and dear lord is Odric more of a bomb than I think when just reading his card. And having Nearheath Chaplain on the board with him is intense for combat. You gain a ton of life or your whole army get flying...tough choice. They were at 6 and I was at 23 when I lost connection. The board:

I was looking forward to seeing how well the rounds went, but oh well.

Report that guy. I don't even understand what they are saying, but still. Such people should be removed from the game.

Deck looks nice. Tenacity can be a blowout, I'd run it over Shard. Or over Survive the Night, don't really like that card.

I don't like Unruly Mob and Hope against Hope with only 13 creatures, and you don't have enough defense to play Cavarly.

If you are going to play shard you should 100% play Avacyn Missionaries. Thraben Inspector is also quite decent, much better than unruly mob.

+ Thraben Inspector
+ Tenacity
- 2 Survive the Night
Then either +Avacyn Missionaries and -Cathar's Companion or -Shard of Broken Glass +Vessel of Nascency

I would also consider cutting the 7 drop. You could also cut a Strength of Arms for another dude (3/2)... hmmm... not sure because seem to have some equipment synergy but only shard. This deck really needs that +1/+1 vigilance equipment.

I did wonder if the 7 drop was worth it, but figured it wouldn't hurt to have it in the deck over a standard 3/2 or another pump all. When it's good it's good, when it's bad it's not so bad. Nah, it should have been cut. I got charmed by it's synergy with Recruiter.

I could see an argument for Tenacity over Hope...but it seemed like apples and oranges since they both care about number of creatures. I banked on a perma boost and first strike since I already had a bunch of combat tricks and a few pump alls. First Strike would work well with Odric and the pump would work good on the evasive creatures so it felt pretty win-win over the potential to outplayed by a trick when I use yet another one shot.

You are right on Mob, the one time I cast it I would have preferred it to be Inspector, which would have allowed me an additional toughness and a card draw. Mob never got a counter on it. It has only ever been good for me in token or sacrifice decks, but I get charmed by the "insurance" it provides.

I don't know why Survive is getting so much hate. It's done nothing but good things for me in a format of powerful but fragile creatures. It's not phenomenal, but it works as as pretty good Divine Verdict impersonator for me. The clue helps a bit too. I could see cutting one for Tenacity though.

Cutting Companion for Missionaries seems like a mistake when there are so many combat tricks and so few equipment. Most of the time Missionaries would be a Hill Giant with a small chance at becoming semi-permanent removal unless I was very careful with my attacks/blocks, whereas Companion had a strong chance of turning a combat trick into straight up removal and messed with combat math for the opponent quite a bit.

This was not a great deck, but I am very proud of the meta deck, and it got me my first 3-0 and a Sorin in the rare redraft.

Basically - Toby Elliot to my right opens Startled Awake. Player 2 to my left opens... foil Startled Awake. Guy to my left who loves the sweet deck accidentially tells us he opened Sorin, Grim Nemesis. Guy across from me picks a green werewolf.

I open Avacyn's Judgement and Hanaweir Militia Captain, two pretty bomby cards.

I reason that there is no way I am winning a long game against 1/2 the field and I figure I should go aggro. Both cards are good aggro card, but I figure guy to my left is at least BW so I take judgement (which I think is generally the correct pick in a vacuum).

P1P2 has no good red cards, but it does have Nahiri's Machinations - and I further reason that I can take all the 2 drops and play RW. Or else go into R-x (although BOTH the guys +3 and +4 were going werewolves and I knew people near me were blue so I was leaning to RB/RW.

I basically just draft all the R/W low drops, although I had to pass 2 (!) Voldaren Duellists pack 2 because my curve was too high.

1 x Town Gossipmonger
4 x Moorland Drifter
1 x Devilthorn Fox
1 x Militant Inquisitor
1 x Bloodmad Vampire
1 x Cathar’s Companion
1 x Howlpack Wolf
2 x Nearheath Chaplin
1 x Voldaran Duelist
1 x Incorrigible Youths

1 x Gryff’s Boon
1 x Rush of Adrenalin
1 x Avacyn's Judgement
2 x Tormenting Voice
1 x Nahiri’s Machinations
1 x True-Faith Censer
1 x Puncturing light
1 x Fiery Temper
1 x Uncaged Fury

1 x Stone Quarry
8 x Mountain
7 x Plains

//Sideboard
1 x Unruly Mob
1 x Skin Invasion
1 x Senseless Rage
1 x Explosive Apparatus
1 x Vessel of Ephemera
1 x Inquisitor’s Ox
1 x Pyre Hound
1 x Tenacity
1 x Hulking Devil


I actually started Skin Invasion (cutting a voice) for several matches, but it's really terrible in this deck as if you are blocking, you are losing. Machinations was great. Duellist great, 2 drops great. Chaplains are solid --spirits are often reach. I never madnessed anything out (and play several games with 0-1 voice as my only discard outlet) -- this deck could use that Stern Constable card. The BR vampire drafter ended up with 4 neonates... and went 0-3 for his troubles.

Other cards I played and moved to s/b were Unruly Moby and Tenacity. Tenacity I think is going to be great vs. RG ~irrelvent vs. durdling where my life total is not relevant. The last cards in were Howlpack Wolf and I think Tormenting Voice no. 2.

R1 vs the "bad" werewolves, I won 2-1 on duellist; basically I can bare beat 1 4/4 let alone 2; I kept a slow hand and got punished g2.
Match 2 vs Startled awake 2 (UB zombies). Just ran him over 2-0 as his deck didn't function.
Match 3 vs. Abzan delirium, I won 2-0 but game 1 he just stumbled. Game 2, he managed to stablize at ~8 life with a Watcher in the Web that literally crushes my deck. I manage to top deck, sequentially:
(1) Nahiri's Machinations allowing me to get in some damage
(2) Puncturing Light to kill his spider
STILL I am in trouble as he kills my guys leaving me with a 1/1 spirit, Machinations, while he has a 4/3 Tireless tracker and a 6/6 trample. He hits me from 20->10 with 5 life. I am holding Rush of Adrenalin for "not lethal" and top deck (3) Uncaged Fury FTW. We played a 3rd game and I beat him down soundly again, finishing with Fury.

Punchline is that Militia Captain would have been GREAT in this deck, probably better than "forked bolt" (which was still fine, was always relevant)

This is the perfect RW aggro deck. Some people play the +2/+1 to the team in this archetype, and win matches at the pro tour

I don't really like Judgment, unless you're pretty sure you can madness it. I like to think I'd take the Captain there, since all that card requires is that you play critters, and you were going for that anyway. And the second Duelist would probably win more games than the second Chaplain. As you say, you want to attack, and Duelist pushes damage.

And this is a perfect example of why I think the double-faced cards are a great addition to drafting. Makes cooperation in a draft much easier. I'm not sure why they decided to sleeve the cards for the PT.

A fail case of forked bolt is fine in this format. Obviously in the final deck Militia Captain is way better. The 4 drops broke really weird. I think after P1 I had 1 duellist, 1 pyre hound, 1 chaplain. It's possible I also had the Ox or Tenacity...My head is telling me I had 4 4 drops when P2 rolled around and I got shipped 2 more duelists, but I think I got the 2nd chaplain pack 3. I just had to take 2 drops over them, I think. In the end, I had too many enchantments for pyrehound.

Duellists > Youths in this deck too, but that was not a choice I made on purpose.

WoooooHoooo! Took the risk today and finally was able to finish a draft!
My Deck:
1 x Pale Rider of Trostad
2 x Rancid Rats
1 x Crow of Dark Tidings
1 x Farbog Revenant
1 x Kindly Stranger
1 x Prized Amalgam
1 x Wild-Field Scarecrow
2 x Aberrant Researcher
2 x Drunau Corpse Trawler
2 x Stormrider Spirit
1 x Epitaph Golem

1 x Sinister Concoction
1 x Skeleton Key
1 x Nagging Thoughts
1 x Grotesque Mutation
1 x Vessel of Malignity
1 x Catalog
1 x Throttle
1 x From Under the Floorboards

7 x Island
10 x Swamp




Went 2-1








Few things I found interesting from the deck:
From Under the Floorboards is just awesome. I knew it was efficient cost wise, but this card was always a boon. A little annoying that they enter tapped, but most of the threats I was looking at were 5 toughness and these guys paired up nice while giving me 3 life to make up for the etb tapped. Didn't have the right deck to cast it with madness (the one time I did I just cast it for x=3), but it was always useful.

Skulk was incredibly valuable since many creatures used have 2 power. It let me get the edge I needed quite often.

Scarecrow is awesome for Delirium, as is Key. Unfortunately I never got Stranger online. The one time I almost did it got removed the turn it would have been active. None-the-less. It did a lot more than just be a delirium enabler like I thought it would. The four toughness was great and the mana fixing/ramp was welcomed at least once.

I should have had Lamplighter in there instead of Epitaph Golem...I got a bit nervous with all the self-mill, especially two bug scientists, but at the end of the day he was just a 3/5 body and either Lamplighter or Twins would have been better in the slot.

1) Ever After is a must include
2) Twins, Lamplibhter, and Silent Observer all all better than epitaph golem IN THIS DECK. You do need it if you are playing super self-mill (Crawling Sensation, but actually Ever After does the job.
3)I don't like Pale Rider in this deck; you need alot of madness cards for it to be worth the discard.
4) Pretty sure Just the Wind is almost always better than vessel of malignity... you only have 1 delirium payoff.

Nagging Thoughts, Catalog and Skeleton Key all seem like they could be cut as well. I admit that they do help with From Under the Floor Boards, which is your big finisher... But Thoughts and Catalog aren't free so... you end up playing BBUX+2 for X zombies. You need like 9 mana to get a payoff there. Key is a free discard outlet, I have never seen it used for that, that's a good idea.

Yeah, I learned about Key when it rocked my world against another delerium deck, but I saw it's value as a Madness enabler here.

You're probably right on Just the Wind, but I have never, ever, had a bounce spell be anything more than a wasted card unless I'm playing aggro or control. Maybe its my play style but it always ends up being "I have a dominant board position and this could literally be any card" or "I snuck through two damage but they were able to recast without a tempo loss because its late game." I think in this deck it would generally have been number two.

I would never have thought Ever After was auto-include since I see it wheel so much. I can certainly see its value...its cost is a bit discouraging but thats it really.

Another thing I learned: despite have very few ways of actually turning Prized Amalgam on in this set, you can sneak through some damage quite often with it because people seem to be afraid to trade with it. It usually works only early game though.

Edit: Oh yeah, and Pale Rider was worthless. Pretty much dicarded every game to one of the discard triggers. Could have been something else.

Just the Wind saves you from dying to Unleashed Fury. Or some random human enchanted with Hope against Hope. Or removes their one flying blocker so you can deal the last points of damage. Or frees your critter that has been enchanted out of the game. Or it can really be "just" a plain tempo play in an aggro UR or UW deck. It's the second best blue common, IMO.

Ever After usually puts six or more power on the board for six mana. It's quite disheartening when they work hard, maybe double block, to kill your critter, and then you bring it back, together with a friend. It's your second bomb rare, together with the Zombie maker.

Pale Rider is an aggro card. It's great, but you were not aggro.

I mean, I'm aware how bounce spells work and what they do, but in a limited game I have rarely seen them perform well outside of control or aggro decks, which mine wasn't. The other situations you mentioned are...situational. If I had multiples (aka, a tempo deck), an aggro deck, a control deck, or a madness deck...sure, but otherwise its just an overcosted bounce spell with a small chance at giving me an edge. And as for cards that give me a small chance at an edge...well the ones I included I thought better for this particular deck. Vessel took two cards from them and gave me a small chance to have permanent removal by adding to Delirium. Key gave me a small chance for unblockability, card advantage, and a free discard. Catalog dug and gave a small opportunity to enable FUTFB. I guess I could see swapping it in for Nagging Thoughts, which was my 23rd card. I went with thoughts because it dug while supporting Delirium while Just the wind...just bounced...in a deck whose wincon was evasion.

Yeah, I like Ever After...the only reason I didn't put it in was because it wheels every single draft I've been it which makes me think maybe its not good. I stopped and asked myself why and the only conclusion I came to was "Maybe it's because its a dead card if you don't have creatures in the yard?" I could see having it in though, especially because this particular deck was a late game winner and Trawler was so often the target of removal. Would you have put in Angel as well then?

I also don't understand why Catalog wheels so much...in a madness deck it seems like gold. In other decks, its a typical mid to late game digger, and I don't think I've played a U deck without some use for the gy or madness.

3 mana do nothing is not a card I look to play -- outside of madness that is. And it's not even a great madness enabler because it costs 3. I mean, madnessing out a twins for with a draw 2 discard 1 is fine, but it's not insane. And you generally cannot madness twice in a turn.

It can enable delirium but I prefer to do so without card disadvantage. I guess Just the wind is also card disadvantage, but it's strong on tempo, and with madness it's REALLY good. draw 2 discard 1 bounce your guy IS insane.

And while your deck is mid-ranged, that just means that it might use it aggressively or defensively -- there are game where you just need to bounce a 3 or 4 power guy to preserve life total and games where they are on the back foot and you bounce their blocker. And it's insane vs. combat tricks and auras (which are quite good), not to mention expensive equipment.