Weird draft. I first picked Volcanic Dragon, then three picks in I already had cards from four colours. By the end of pack 1 I had lots of green and red cards but wasn't settled into anything, and had some strong off-color cards as well (an Angel of the Dawn and a Regal Bloodlord). Pack 2, I had to choose between a Vigilant Baloth as the likely best card in the pack, but took a Viashino Pyromancer instead since I was reasonably confident I wanted to play red, and with Instigator + Angel of the Dawn already it was possible I'd go R/W aggro. Then P2P2 gave me Prodigious Growth, followed by Draconic Disciple and Colossal Majesty, and I wound up drafting R/G. I miss the Baloth now. Of course the pick after I commit to R/G, I get passed Heroic Reinforcements. Haha. I'm happy I didn't draft Boros though because I didn't see a Pegasus Courser or Star-Crowned Stag the whole draft, and as I've written before I don't see how R/W works without those cards.



What do you guys think of this build? Other cards not used in addition to those in the screenshot: Sure Strike and Thornhide Wolves.

I really don't want to cut the Wolves because of Colossal Majesty + the fact my ground creature base seems a bit shaky if I'm under pressure, but I dunno what else to cut. Goblin Instigator is the most tempting cut, but dropping a 2-drop for a 5-drop is brave, and the two 1/1s work well with the Poison-Tip Archers also. It's equally possible the Pyromancer is better though, I dunno.

EDIT: It's 39/40 cards right now, the last card's definitely a land though, most likely a Mountain.

I think you need a couple more 2 drops, you got spells there but not too many 2 drops I think 4-5 should be fine you got just 3... so if you don't draw them and you miss your 3 land drop... you are in a bad shape to win.
I would include the Pyromancer for sure

Followed your advice and dropped Sure Strike for the Pyromancer. Went a disappointing 3-3, don't remember too much of what happened, only one lost game to a strong green deck with Goreclaw. After he played Goreclaw he literally vomited 4+ power creatures onto the board every turn. I might've misplayed somewhere since I chose a play which left me dead on board, but I was in trouble anyway, although I was one turn away from stabilizing: if he didn't attack Declare Dominance on Poison-Tip Archer would've won me the game.

Went 7-2 in the next draft with UWg. I wasn't sure whether to splash for the single Skyrider Patrol, but I did have a Hinterland Stream so I decided to do it. Didn't run into any mana issues, and overall went quite smooth, losing one game to an opponent with a good UW flyers deck topped with Resplendent Angel, and another to someone who had the nuts of Satyr Enchanter x2 + Druid of the Horns + enchantments, including Luminous Bonds & Hieromancer's Cage.

Speaking of which: if the Draftaholics rankings are anything to go by, Luminous Bonds at #17 is waaaaay overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's a good card, but it doesn't actually kill the creature. It can't answer Windreader Sphinx, Dryad Greenseeker, Djinn of Wishes, Mystic Archeologist, even Vampire Neonate. That's not counting the fact that it can be blown up by Reclamation Sage, bounced by Disperse, etc, and the creature remains there for Ravenous Harpy to eat, Blood Divination to sacrifice ...

Other cards I think they rate poorly: Prodigious Growth isn't bad, but it's still an aura. You could e.g. face a bounce spell, a deathtouch creature, and so on. Windreader Sphinx is an absolute bomb and I don't see how it can be #43. It helps you stabilize very well, plus it triggers off opponent flyers attacking. I would first pick this almost without thinking (I suppose Dryad Greenseeker and Murder can compete, but that's it). Poison Tip Archer also deserves to be higher, it's a very solid card that'll always be relevant. And Archeologist outright wins you the game if it's not killed. Overrated cards would be Rabid Bite, Angel of the Dawn (this card is not first pick quality), Pegasus Courser, Valiant Knight, Death Baron.

I'll say this about Luminous Bonds: I know its a super corner case, but I had it cast on Nullhide Ferox and it was just the **** worst. I suddenly had an ongoing dropback without having the threat.

Here's another pool. What's the build?



I'm thinking cut the Satyr Enchanter (RIP Oakenform too), probably the Thronhide Wolves, Walking Corpse, and Bristling Boar (?)

It was kind of a weird draft since I actually passed a Murder at one point to pick Isareth (and that was P2P3). Then later in pack 3, I opened a pack with Gravedigger, Murder, Vampire Sovereign and Lich's Caress, took Murder hoping one of the other premium black spells would wheel, and none did.

I've literally never played with or against Phylactery Lich, wonder whether it's worth it too. Like, it's a 5/5 indestructible which should win the game more often than not, but it's heavy black and requires an artifact. I have four artifacts, two of which aren't creatures, and a Manalith + Foul Orchard to help cast it. Worth it?

EDIT: Goddamn went 3-3. Three losses were, respectively, mana screw on 2 lands while opponent went Shield Mare into Dwarven Priest into Ajani; Vine Mare + Oakenform (opponent had Aether Tunner too), and mega mana flood - drew 13 of my 17 lands in 21 cards - vs. a very bad deck that I would've won against like 90% of the time. I was one turn away from winning too. Deck was capable of much more than 3-3, but what to do.

Curious: P1P1, Lich's Caress or Chaos Wand?

I took the Lich's Caress but am not sure about it. Chaos Wand is great vs. slower decks and bad if you're getting tempoed out, but it is colorless, it reveals the opponent's deck, it can drain them of their combat tricks and removals making it hard for them to break through, and every deck has spells.

Yeah Lich´s is a safe choice... and Wand is a gamble sometimes insane other just meh... I would have picked Lich´s too.

How good is Fiery Finish?

I have one in an Izzet control deck with multiple late-game bombs - Djinn of Wishes, Demanding Dragon, Volcanic Dragon, Horizon Scholar - and am wondering whether I should cut that to lower my curve. I've already cut a Siegebreaker Giant. If I replace Fiery Finish, then my only ways to kill creatures would be countering it, Lightning Strike, and Shock; the replacement card is most likely Havoc Devils also which doesn't fit with the control theme.

When's the Ravnica Draft coming? Thursday?

Yep! Less hype about it than when it came out though, think the delay is a bit of a mistake really, but I guess they want to milk it.

Went 2-3 with yet another Boros aggro deck.



This deck is just awful. Like, I even had Angel of the Dawn, Pegasus Courser, and Star-Crowned Stag this time, and I still get stone-walled. Yeah one of my three losses was to an opponent with Ajani, but seriously, a single good blocker and this deck crumbles like a house of cards. One of my opponents started with Novice Knight and suddenly none of my 1- or 2-drops could attack. Only 3-drop that can attack is Pegasus Courser (+Boggart Brute but by then he also had Dryad Greenseeker in play). Even all the way at 4-drops, those two 1- and 2-drops actually block all my 4-drops including the much-vaunted Heroic Reinforcements. Seriously?

Of course it's fair to say that I didn't have good 2-drops (and in fact many of my games they didn't even show up), but that just means that for this deck to be good, I need to have good 2-drops, Angel of the Dawn, Pegasus Courser, Star-Crowned Stag, Marauder's Axe? That's just nonsense and too much to ask.

I don't know why I keep trying to draft this deck when it clearly doesn't work for me. This time P1P1 Mentor into seeing Heroic Reinforcements P1P2 made me try for it, then Mentor literally never draws a card the entire run. Yeah ...

I don't like boros in m19 either, but I think it's fair to say you've not got anywhere near enough 2 drops and way too many 4 drops. 3 two drops is maybe enough for a midrange deck, though I'd probably want 4, but for an aggro deck you just flat out need more.

Now don't you try to make me draft Boros again

I mean, yeah, I probably should've prioritized 2-drops a bit higher, but thinking back to the draft all I could've done was pick an Oreskos Swiftclaw instead of a Gallant Calvary. I also had a Field Creeper in the board of this deck that I didn't play (I swear I did put it in however). But how would that change anything ... the Swiftclaw would still only trade with the Novice Knight, after which the Dryad Greenseeker still brickwalls all my early drops ...

The Boros deck is great guys... arguably the best deck in the format.
on your deck Banedon I think:
-1 Motivator - One is enough
-1 Daybreak Chaplin -not aggressive enough
-1 Knight Pledge -too slow
-1 Trash master - too slow and little rewards and too expensive your 4cmc slot is already too crowded

The deck needs
Pyromancer
Swiftclaw
more Inspired charge or Trumpet Blast at least 2 of any combination of them - these things make up for those bad trades you mention
and I always play one Act of Treason, it removes the blocker and adds up for damage.

That said is not easy to draft the deck... coz again most of those cards are not what you would want to be picking

tested draft (M19) for the first time ever and got 7 wins with a white/green aura deck

So how do you even start drafting the deck? It sounds like one would start with lots of generically solid white cards (Stag, Courser, Angel) which are also playable in other archetypes like G/W as long as they're aggressive, before settling into this archetype. In other words my start of Mentor into Heroic Reinforcements is a blunder, and Heroic Reinforcements is too narrow to 2nd pick. I'm envisaging a draft that goes like, good white card into good white card into even more good white cards while staying off a second color as long as possible, and then somewhere around pack 2 when the enablers like Stag/Courser are already drafted only move into R/W. Otherwise you end up with cards like Inspired Charge and Goblin Motivator looking for each other / Marauder's Axe and a trainwreck of a draft.

How'd your R/W drafts start? I grant my deck needed 2-drops, but I started with the enablers hoping to draft 2-drops later and they never showed up.

Also with cards like Trumpet Blast and Inspired Charge, they still don't let me attack into Novice Knight and Dryad Greenseeker until I have a pretty big board (otherwise they're no different from regular combat tricks), but of course if that's happening the opponent is also developing his board. If my 6 creatures are met by his 4 some of my creatures are likely to die regardless, so these mass pump effects are like burn spells and I still can't really push through damage. I genuinely don't know, this archetype has never worked for me.

Before I begun to force draft this deck I drafted it when I got P1P1 Angel of Dawn-if nothing better was up-, The hasty Dragon, Heroic Reinforcements, Shock, Lightning strike. But most times I drafted this deck when I got P1P5 Pyromancer or Boggart Brute, sometimes I got 5th pick Heroic reinforcements and that a good point to aggressively start picking those cheap cards that no one else wants... and you would be impressed with how late you can grab them I mean... who would want Swiftclaw?!

Combat tricks and cheap removal are more important here than everywhere else Shock is gold, and shock is a spell that does not do much in this format but it can take care of early blockers...so you can keep accumulating damage ... what else... I do trade down aggressively and always try to represent those pump the team spells... attack with that 2/1 to Dryad Greenseeker always... no one in its right mind would block that attack.

Auras and Equipment are not what I would want for this deck... 15-18 creatures are the right number and 16 lands most times, sometimes you end up with a higher curve and those times the deck does not work correctly... sure they are better cards but you want early damage, not good midgame creatures.

At least 6-8 2cmc drops make a good Boris aggro pile... and those must be creatures, not spells, Call the cavalry and Goblin Instigator are great here providing more bodies for Trumpet Blast or Inspired Charge...

In the Pod Cast Lords Of Limited one of the hosts has the exact same issue that you got... He just can´t draft the deck coz all the cards in it are just so bad in comparison with what you could be picking...

anyway... tomorrow we will get Guilds of Ravnica at last!!!
Sealed is meh... I like to draft so much more

so, any sense to play m19 draft? The power level seems low.

Well, it's fun ...

I'm doing a Sealed run and I feel like I opened a pretty strong pack with Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants and Lathliss, Dragon Queen. So mostly those guys, some removal, and some filler creatures. At 3-1, if I get to 6 wins, it's free and 6 packs. I think Sealed is usually a pretty good deal.