The first weekend of drafting with Eldritch Moon is behind us online. I did three drafts, blue-red emerge, 2-1; GB whatever, 1-2; and WU skies, 3-0. Here is the WU deck:



There is another Topplegeist, and a Geist of the Lonely Vigil in the side.

Deck is fairly typical for UW (which, in this format, should be WU). Some tempo plays, a few removal spells, curve, tricks, evasion, two top-end threats. Sanctifier of Souls is a real bomb, it won me a few games which went long. Docent of perfection, on the other hand, is "just" a five-power flier for five. Pious Evangel is obviously very good in a deck based on creatures, and Ingenious Skaab is even better than I thought. I might first-picking it from a weak pack.

Takeaways: Tattered Haunter followed by two Guardian of Pilgrims is a fine start. People still forget about Blessed Alliance, but I expect that won't last long. Essence Flux is still a good, annoying card. I never played the Behemoth; I imagined I could ambush some Werewolves, but it never came up. I boarded it out a lot, for Terrarion or the lonely Geist. I probably should have started Terrarion over Behemoth, but it is such a lovely safety cushion in a deck full of small creatures.

Wolfkin Bond is everywhere, and it's good. The bonus is very relevant, and there just isn't a lot of instant-speed answers to it. I mean, even blue bounce is sorcery-speed this time around! What makes it good, though, is that it comes with a bear attached, so it makes both a threat and a blocker. Just about the only card you need to worry about is Galvanic Bombardment. Or Just the Wind.

Fiend Binder is very good. It asks some hard questions of the defender. Of course, you need to be the aggressor, but then, you want to be, don't you?

There is a lot of annoying blockers around. The green and the red 0/3, the red 1/4, the blue 0/4. You need to have a plan for that, just plonking down bears or 3/2s won't do it.

Everybody fought over blue in these queues. UR, in particular, was heavily drafted. I managed to end in the colors once, but it turned into a blue emerge deck, with some red removal spells thrown in. Wretched Gryff is a very fine card, specially if you can sac the blue 2/2 for three to it.

Looks like fun times ahead.

Man, combat is annoying in this set, but this challenge makes a win feel more rewarding. I keep hearing this is a "fast" format too, but I find it to be more mid-rangy. There is too much removal and too many X/3s and 4-5 CMC tough guys running around. I've done 5 drafts so far, finally going 3-0 this morning.
Decks:
1st: U/W skies/1-2. The fliers are almost all 1 toughness and there are too many pingers around. Also didn't get any high end bombs, so I was aggro/pray.
2nd: B/R whatever/2-1. Again, no solid "bombs", but good removal and Thermo-Alchemist helped a lot.
3rd: G/W Good Stuff/2-1. Auras actually worked out pretty well and came close to 3-0 except I had mana screw both games of the last match. Ironclad Slayer/Choking Restraint were workhorses with Avacynian Missionaries, Haunted Plate, Tireless Tracker doing most of the rest.
4th: B/R whatever with a splash for Startled Awake/2-1. Really relied on melding Graf Rats and Midnight Scavengers, but I had two of each and it did some amazing things, winning one game out of nowhere.
5th: U/G goodstuff/3-0. Tried for emerge, didn't get it, but the deck was solid enough to pull win. Here is the 3-0 deck.
Deck:

Round 1

Round 2:

Round 3:

Ugh, worst draft experience ever this morning...not only did I not get passed anything remotely good I waffled hardcore. Then, as I'm losing my third match, my opponent keeps whining about every damn draw like "how dare you draw and play cards".
P1P1 was Distended Mindbender with the only other cards close to being first pickable as Galvanic Bombardment and Dusk Feaster I thought about the removal, but wanted to try Mindbender.
Rest of P1: I get Stromkirk Occultist next and start looking B/R, except it all dries up by pack 7 and I only get one truly playable card and a few 2.5/2.0s. After pick 7 green looks kinda open so I get a few 2.0s in green.
P2P1: Not set in anything yet, but leaning red/green and I open Tamiyo, Field Researcher and Somberwald Stag as my pickables. I debate and decide to try and force Tamiyo. I'll focus on green and blue for color fixing and card advantage to support three colors. White had looked fairly open last pack anyways.
Rest of P2: No fixing, no two drops (like seriously, no two drops not "no good two drops"), no removal, white dried up, green dried up, black non-existent, blue only giving garbage, red only giving garbage. Last few picks give me two Take Inventory at least.
P3P1: Looking at a garbage pool and thinking I have to force as much fixing and two drops as possible I open: Flameblade Angel, Woodland Stream and no two drops...damnit...do I stay the course or take my moderately acceptable red cards and try to force...r/g? r/w?. Sure, Angel.
Rest of pack 3: Seriously, how am I not seeing two drops? I end up cobbling together a R/W/U deck and hope for good draws. Terrarion, Take Inventory[/c], and a lucky Highland Lake are my saving grace.

Games...I do not get good draws, flooding out most games, only drawing my "bombs" (Angel and Nephalia Moondrakes) when it was too late.

In the final game I get eaten alive by a turn 1 Village Messenger. I cast Bound by Moonsilver on their Fiend Binder only to have them cast another Fiend. I still manage to win (barely, I was at 5, they were at 16 and I had a dominate, although not unbeatable board and they concede). They whine about the shuffler only giving them lands.
Next game they cast a Vildin-Pack Outcast and I Moonsilver it...only to have them cast a second Outcast next turn. Things are tight, but I manage to pull a board state I may be able to race...oh, they blow me out with Blessed Alliance followed by a Borrowed Grace
Next game they cast Brazen Wolves and I Moonsilver it to them whining that I draw it every game...only for them to cast another Wolves next turn...really...I once again manage to get an ok board position that I may be able to race. I cast Spectral Reserves which MAY give me the edge and they whine about me top-decking only to draw and play Always Watching for the inevitable win (unless I draw Angel)...I do not draw Angel.

You know there's a mute option? I never used it, but I know it used to be there. I think it's only a click on the user away.

Whiners are the worst. If they had something to whine about, at least I can shrug it away. I would have said something to this guy, though. Just to make me feel better.

I usually counter with some innane chatter. I used to highlight how things weren't going perfectly for me either, but that just brought out their competitive side and they typically have to prove they have it less lucky. If they're losing I typically go with "If that's what you want to blame it on".

I may have accidentally been at fault for this one though since I started out the match with a joke which could be taken badly. I said "Hi, I'd wish you luck but I'm gonna need all I can get "

Oh, and just for funzies...here is the abomination of a 0-3 deck I cobbled together:

Today's draft was a bit crazy...went 3-0 because all the luck shined on me.
The Draft:


The deck:


Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Things:
I'm not sure what would have been better in this deck, Scholar or Cultist. Scholar is obviously the more powerful card, but I worried it would be too easy to kill and not actually do what it needed to do, whereas Cultist stood a good chance of giving me a card while trading with something of the opponents. It turned out that most of my excess lands were dumped to Pieces, Voice, or Defiance anyways.
Auras are terrifying and yet not at the same time. Each draft I've done I built my board instead of holding up for the two for one because I wasn't sure if they had an aura and...yep, they do and now I can't handle it. Luckily, this draft Hostilities, Uncaged, and Defiance made things big enough to deal with the boosts.
Homunculus is just beastly, making Escalate super cheap and getting prowess at the same time. Also really easy to flip. Did more work than any other card in my deck.
I think people, like me, are becoming wary of X/1 creatures. Dual Shot used to be supreme value but I rarely see X/1s anymore, or at least not two on the board at once. None-the-less, it pairs up awesomely with Weaver. My favorite was taking out a freshly cast Haunted Dead and its token at EoT with Dual Shot and Weaver on the board.
The format feels like its gotten a bit faster, but it still doesn't feel like there is any room for pure aggro...maybe Skies aggro.

That's a heckuva draft.

Good job, Valkir! Seems Dragon is awesome

I also noticed some sub-par play yesterday. Somebody timed out after I cast a Press for Answers on their freshly emerged creature, somebody lost for not tapping Mercurial Geists when on four life after I drew three cards the previous turn, they had the mana, and an active Sigardian Priest in play. I really played a single match where the opponent seemed both capable and present.

Dragon was crazy good. I had the strangest urge to cast Jace's Scrutiny on it for a million clues, but not only did I never draw scrutiny, it would have felt a bit of a waste lol.

I think this is a pretty complicated format, especially when it comes to combat. I almost never want to block because of the sheer amount of Instant removal/combat tricks. Nothing like blocking a 4/3 with a 3/3 only to have them cast Clear Shot for a board wipe. Also terrible attacking into a possible Blessed Alliance. I find myself constantly asking "why do they have mana up?" Whereas in most formats its pretty straight-forward why they have mana up. At the same time, sometimes I'm scared not to block. In this last draft I sacrificed my Mercurial Geists to their Aberrant Researcher when I was at 11 because I wasn't sure if they had two Grotesque Mutations that could take me down enough that if I attacked next turn and didn't win they'd be able to hit with researcher (and I'd seen two Mutations in the first game).

This format really seems to demand near perfect play. I've had my share of sub-par or "arrogance" blunders. I lost a game the other day because I played a 2/1 pre-combat instead of post...it was so weird. I had four creatures and they cast a flashed Elder Deep-Fiend at the start of my combat phase and followed up with an all out attack with Borrowed Grace for exact lethal. I only needed to do three damage and had a 3 power flier they couldn't block. If I had just waited until after combat, I would have been fine because I would have had that one blocker and could have dealt the three but noooo, I had to have a fourth creature so my Tireless Tracker enchanted with Hope Against Hope was big enough to attack without dying.

Oh yeah, and another thing: Collective Defiance is INSANE. I mean, I guess anyone could figure it out by looking at it, but man...I cast it three times in the draft, twice for "five" after holding two lands in hand netting me two cards, murdering a creature on the opposing side, and hitting them for three to the face...except I had a flipped Homunculus each time so it only cost four and then I was attacking with a 4/5. The third time I only used the damage modes because I had Mirrorwing and Uncaged Fury in hand but I needed to deal with a 3/2 that had been enchanted with Lunarch Mantle lest they put something else on it and it becomes unmanageable.

Check out this masterpiece

Only thing better than wanting to force something and it being completely wide open would be if I got on color bomb rares in 2 and 3, like a Docent or Nibbles of Frost

P1/1 Collective Defiance Perfect card for Blue red spells which is what i wanted to try
p1/2 Incendiary flow
1/3 Thermo Nuclear Alchemist -
1/4 Imprisoned in the moon Thus far haven't forced anything and got a nice pick 4 letting me know the other color may be open as well.

Creatures
1 Advanced Stitchwing
2 Brazen Wolves
1 deranged whelp
1 ingenious skaab
2 thermo-alchemist
1 pyre hound
1 voldaren duelist
1 weaver of lightning
spells
1 galvanic bombardment
2 incendiary flow
1 geistblast
1 collective defiance
2 take inventory
1 just the wind
1 scour the laboratory
1 shreds of sanity
1 inner struggle
1 dance with devils
1 imprisoned in the moon

missed out on drag unders where i took a flow and thermo dude over it
didn't see the Mercurial Geist or rise from the tides, nor an axe or temper from SOI

my opp got quite Salty when i had a thermo out and would just kill every threat, as in he tapped out for must kill bombs 3 turns straight and i removed them easy pie and he was irate .

Shreds is insane in the deck, 1 shreds was get take inventory with one in the yard, Scour and madness out Just the wind. Choo-Choo

Why does everyone want to play my favorite deck? When I try it, I must make do with this fail case:



I did go 3-0 with it, but it sure was a surprise. I tried for spells, ended up with tempo. Unlike your deck, the rare is the worst card in the build, but I wanted to try it out. I'm passing it easily from now on. And the other rare, in the side, is just a combo piece anyway.

Maybe I should have played the two Take Inventory, but I had so few real threats that Ghostly Wings felt way better. I boarded in Turn Aside and Convolute quite often, as opponents somehow ended up with bombs I was unable to answer otherwise. Like that WB life drain enchantment. I'm first-picking that one if I see it.

Anyway, anytime RU seems halfway open, you should go for it. It's just so powerful and fun.

UR is *everyone's* favorite deck.

http://magic.flooey.org/#?id=f5y8sxKp9e ... jc4ILu91v0

Comments appreciated.

P1P1 was probably right, but I may have gone with Unsubstantiate. The card has always worked wonders for me and plays well with U/R spells matter, which is important. Not a fan of Blood Mist as pick 3. I think I would have rather hedged on Rise from the Grave. I haven't seen Mist do anything but waste four mana in any deck. Everything else in Pack 1 looks good. I may have gone with Convolute over the werewolf pick 8, but your call is the right one.

P2P2...Tangleclaw Werewolf has been awesome for me and I think that would have been my pick in a pack with nothing for you. If you manage U/R spells it's flipped side also poses a bit of a problem. Pick 4 probably would have been Alchemist's Greeting for me. U/R spells can use some card draw and a Prophetic Ravings may be an include which makes Greeting better. Also, Spreading Flames is just sooo expensive. Pick 5 probably would have been Homunculus for me, especially since you picked Flames last. Pick 6...reaver is garbage, at least Bold Impaler can use open mana in a trade. Also, leaving mana open in U/R is very likely so it can confuse your opponent.

P3P1: Sweet pick up! Pick 3: Homunculus is garbage, I would rather take Catalog which digs and may enable Greeting. Pick 5: I would take Uncaged Fury you seem to have plenty of creatures and Messenger does nothing in your deck. Pick 6: Bit of a toss up for me. I think you have a decent number of spells, but Rush is a nice combat trick that works with a lot of your deck.

That's a nice tool!

p1p1: the best card for red aggro in there is Furyblade Vampire. I might have picked that. But that's a personal bias. Devils seem too chancy to me; sometimes they will be great, other times they will do nothing. The blue spells would be next in order, and the rest is way worse.

p1p3: I'd have made the same pick. It cements you into red aggro, and makes any Brazen Wolves or Vildin Outcasts you get a must-answer threat.

p1p5: that was a great signal. I'd be happy to first-pick the Skaab.

p1p7: Make Mischief over Terrarion. Staff is too slow for red, and your creatures are likely to be big enough without it (see p1p8 )

p2p1: Brazen Wolves or Lupine Prototype. Wolves is the safer pick, but p1p1, I might have gone with the Prototype.

p2p2: This one is interesting. You only have the Skaab in blue so far, otherwise it's a clear (speculative) Take Inventory. For white speculation, I'd take the Lunarch Mantle. Or, if you wanted to speculate on green, Stag is a great uncommon.

p2p4: Greeting over Flames. I have the Furyblade, but it's the better card anyway.

p2p5: great signals, I'd be very happy to see this with what we drafted so far. I think you made the right pick, but it's close.

p2p9: I give up. You wheeled that? Where are you drafting?

p3p1: There are three cards in there I'd pick over the mythic. Depends on the deck, and I don't see earlier picks, so it's hard to say. Inner Struggle, then Wolfie, Scrutiny, Researcher.

p3p3: IIRC, you have two Tattered Haunter, so I'd take the Dual Shot. It's not great, but, among other things, it stops your p1p1

p3p5: Fury.

p3p6: Rush. But I have the Struggle in the pile, so I don't need Paralysis.

p3p7: you're making this up, right?

And you wheeled my first pick again.

Can you show us the deck you made? I'm curious since think I've been drafting something completely different than you, but we might have ended up in the same place.

I missed the researcher in P3P1, but Startled Awake is brutal, especially in a spells matter deck, which it looks like they have. I would never first pick Inner Struggle, that thing wheels like...90% of the time I see it in a draft (probably because there are so many creatures now with asymmetrical power and toughness). If you want one, you'll get one. Wolf and Scrutiny are commons, so you'll probably see some if you want some. Researcher might be a good argument over Startled Awake though.

I didn't even see the Dual Shot P3P3...that's definitely better than Catalog.

P1P7 Make Mischief...maybe. Probably only if I know I'm U/R spells. Based on what they have so far I think Staff is right unless you are planning to force Delirium. I have yet to see a successful aggro deck and every time I have staff on the board with any color its a game changer, typically putting things out of removal range (although, on very rare occasions, it has moved things into removal range ) Although...I guess Mischief is an interesting combo with Blood Mist if you somehow get that deck running.

Honestly, Blood Mist feels like such a trap card.

I've seen, and lost to, aggro decks. One had the Lupine Predator, and won the draft. Another one had Blood Mist, ditto.

The thing with the Mist is that it can either be your best card, if you manage to draft the deck it goes into, or a wasted pick. Since it was p1p3, I would take it and draft red aggro. I think you were mostly thinking about the UR spells deck, but I didn't see the good spells.

It's strange, but I think about Startled Awake more or less like you think about Blood Mist. Such a trap. All the mill-opponent cards are in Shadows, and you won't get them. It is, at best, sideboard against the UR spells decks. That deck usually draws so many cards that Startled can mill them. It just has no place in an aggro deck.

Here is a very odd draft.

I first picked Collective Blessing out of a weak pack. second picked maybe Grizzled Angler. Geist was the next pick and I was pretty committed to blue. I started getting shipped all the blue emerge enablers, and a very late lashweed lurker. And that's it. There were literally 2 emerge creatures IN THE ENTIRE DRAFT. The lurker and a foil siege rhino guy. Luckily I got some decent blue cards in SOI, or this would have been a complete train wreck.

1 x Gnarlwood Dryad
1 x Thraben Gargoyle
2 x Noose Constrictor
1 x Ingenious Skaab
1 x Stitched Mangler
1 x Grizzled Angler
2 x Exultant Cultist
1 x Reckless Scholar
1 x Geist of the Archives
1 x Solitary Hunter
1 x Backwoods Survivalists
1 x Kessig Dire Swine
1 x Nephalia Moondrakes
1 x Lashweed Lurker

1 x Vessel of Nascency
1 x Grapple with the Past
1 x Just the Wind
1 x Compelling Deterrence
1 x Convolute
1 x Fortune’s Favor
1 x Scour the Laboratory

8 x Island
8 x Forest
1 x Woodland Stream

//Side
1 x Springsage Ritual
1 x Cultist’s Staff
2 x Bloodbriar
1 x Emakrul’s Influence
1 x Laboratory Brute
1 x Enlightened Maniac
1 x Foul Emissary
1 x Woodland Patrol
1 x Kessig Dire Swine
1 x Convolute
1 x Confront the Unknown
2 x Woodcutter’s Grit


Fortune's Favor is ... not good. I got it 14th pick though and my friend says it was terrible so I had to prove him... right? Anyway, it's not unplayable but it's basically a bad divination. Should have just played the Staff or a combat trick.

This deck was not great - it has zero removal spells. But I TORE through my deck with Geist and Scholar; not to mention the green delirium enablers. I won 1 game with 4 cards left in my library (and 2 draw spells in my hand!) and 1 with 6 left in the library. Grizzled Angler won me 1 game - basically just plague winded my opponent when it flipped - Moondrakes won the most of the others (and obviously Scholar/Geist is insane card selection).

I ended up going 2-1, getting crushed in finals by a nut RB deck.