First, I want to thank everyone for their positive feedback on last week's article. Whether you commented or spoke to me privately, I appreciate it. This week is going to be short and sweet, with my first Innistrad draft walkthrough. This is the first Magic Online draft I've done in this format, though I've done a few paper drafts already . . . so I'm not going in completely cold, but it's still going to be a learning process.

Here we go!

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

I had a really hard time deciding between Mindshrieker and Kruin Outlaw. I've played with Outlaw before and wanted to try out Mindshrieker. I have no idea if the pick is actually correct.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

This pick is pretty awkward, given what I passed, but Cultist is much more powerful than Blazing Torch and is worth the gamble.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

I admit this pick is pure speculation. Invisible Stalker is insane in certain decks and really bad in others. I have no idea which category my deck will fall under; we've now passed two Curiosity, so there's a good chance at least one of them will table. The only card I would miss is Deranged Assistant, so it's not that big a deal.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Spectral Flight is actually really underrated, but I don't think it's better than Silent Departure. There's a case to be made for Unburial Rites, but I don't value it nearly as highly as most people and don't see a reason to jump into Black for it just yet.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

The first Claustrophobia is worth much more than a second Makeshift Mauler.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

I was all set to snap up the Deranged Assistant until I saw the Moan. Now that's a card I am willing to jump into Black for.

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

I'm pretty happy to table the Curiosity here. This means I'll most likely end up playing the Invisible Stalker and will be on the lookout for any and all Butcher's Cleavers, a combination which is almost impossible to beat.

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Awww, didn't get to table the other Curiosity. Sadface.

Pack 1, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 13:

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Pack 1, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 15:

My Pick:

I am committed to Blue, but I'm not set on my second color yet. It could easily be Black or Red, though Black seems more likely. It's not too late to jump into White or Green if I open something ridiculous.

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

I have no idea how good the High Priest is, but he does have a pretty big upside. Like I said before, it's more likely I'll end up in Black than Red, so this is probably a better pick than the Hanweir Watchkeep. If this was Pack 1, I'd take the Werewolf.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Undead Alchemist is quite good, but I really need to pick up some removal, so I can't justify taking it over Dead Weight. There's a small chance I can table Armored Skaab, but I'm not too confident it will happen.

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Civilized Scholar is an all-star in this kind of deck, and I'm not going to think twice about picking it. The pack has three other good Blue cards in it, so I hope I get to table something.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

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Pack 2, Pick 5:

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Pack 2, Pick 6:

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Pack 2, Pick 7:

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Pack 2, Pick 8:

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Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:

I really wish I was U/R now, but it's too late to move in on this deck.

Pack 2, Pick 10:

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Pack 2, Pick 11:

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Pack 2, Pick 12:

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Pack 2, Pick 13:

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Pack 2, Pick 14:

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Pack 2, Pick 15:

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Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

I really, really wish I had opened this pack first. I guess two High Priests are better than one?

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 3:

Vampire Interloper is really good in an aggressive deck, but I need more enablers and men that can actually block.

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

I really don't like Corpse Lunge all that much, and I noticed I was short on creatures.

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:

That was pretty late, not that I'm complaining.

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

I think this was a mispick. Stitcher's Apprentice would have been better in my deck since they work quite well with the High Priests.

Pack 3, Pick 8:

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Pack 3, Pick 9:

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Pack 3, Pick 10:

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Pack 3, Pick 11:

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Pack 3, Pick 12:

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Pack 3, Pick 15:

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Here’s the final deck:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Armored Skaab

1 Civilized Scholar

1 Invisible Stalker

1 Mindshrieker

1 Selhoff Occultist

1 Stitched Drake

1 Stitcher's Apprentice

1 Walking Corpse

2 Makeshift Mauler

2 Skirsdag High Priest

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Corpse Lunge

1 Think Twice

1 Ghoulcaller's Chant

1 Moan of the Unhallowed

1 Silent Departure

1 Back from the Brink

1 Curiosity

2 Claustrophobia

2 Dead Weight

[/Spells]

[Lands]

10 Island

7 Swamp

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

Not the best U/B deck I've drafted, but it can still get there. Magic Online lost a couple of my replays as usual, but I have the play-by-plays for the games I did get to watch.

Round 1, Game 1

I won the die roll and kept double Island, Mindshrieker, Claustrophobia, double Dead Weight, and Makeshift Mauler. I played my 2-drop while my opponent started with Forest, Mountain, Village Ironsmith. I missed my third land-drop and decided hold back, hoping that the threat of my Mindshrieker eating his Werewolf was enough to for my opponent to hold back as well. He had no fear of my Bird, so I activated it, hoping to hit a 3-drop or higher. I milled Curiosity, which would have been a good one to draw. I took 3 and he followed up with a post-combat Orchard Spirit. I drew a Swamp, turning on my suite of removal spells. I started with playing a Dead Weight on his Orchard Spirit, since if I drew a fourth land and was lucky enough to mill a creature, I could block his Ironfang with Makeshift Mauler and save the remaining spells for more threatening creatures. I milled away a land and meekly attacked for 1. He hit me for another 3 and summoned Dungrove Elder's older retarded cousin, Lumberknot. I drew into a fourth land, but didn't have any creatures in my yard. My opponent proved earlier that he was willing to attack into a Mindshrieker, so I bounced his Orchard Spirit with Silent Departure and hoped that he would make the same play. This time he didn't, and much to my dismay, Village Ironsmith went and complained to the Mayor about the mean blue mage that bounced him. I was more than happy to get rid of him with other Dead Weight, and once again sit back on my rare. This time he attacked into it; I milled a Stitcher's Apprentice and was pretty happy to block his Treefolk. He turned the tables somewhat with a Moonmist, but I wasn't that worried about it, since he was still down a card in the exchange. He played a post-combat Festerhide Boar, which I thought was odd, since it probably would have been better for him to just let the Treefolk die and have a 5/5 Boar. I could now play my Makeshift Mauler, so his entire team was useless. He chump-attacked into it anyway, and upgraded his Boar into a Hollowhenge Scavenger, which I promptly locked down with a Claustrophobia. He chump-attacked again with just the Ironsmith, so I knew something was up. I figured that he just wanted to keep growing his Lumberknot, but I didn't feel that threatened by it, so I blocked. His “trick” was Creeping Renaissance. I made it my mission to make sure that he never flipped his Mayor, which I was able to do with Think Twice. I started to race him with Mindshrieker and Stitched Drake. I would won the race, but on my last turn, I needed to get 5 extra damage from four activations of Mindshrieker. I hit land on the first three, and was forced to play a Ghoulcaller's Chant in order to not die to his Ulvenwald Mystics. He untapped and played a lethal Devil's Play.

Round 1, Game 2

No replay for this one, but I do remember Mindshrieker hitting a Back from the Brink. I boarded out a Ghoulcaller's Chant for a Night Terrors, but I killed him too fast for Devil's Play to even be an issue.

Round 1, Game 3

I mulliganed into double Island, Swamp, Claustrophobia, Stitched Drake, and Skirsdag High Priest. I led with the Cleric and attacked into his empty board the following turn. He had an Ambush Viper to block with, which allowed me to slam down Stitched Drake. He played the Mayor on his turn, so I started digging with a Think Twice. It drew me into Curiosity, so I went to town with my flyer. He skipped a turn in order to flip his elected official, but that plan was not going to work out too well for him, as I was drawing two cards a turn and had a Silent Departure in hand. I bounced the troublesome Howlpack Alpha and added an Armored Skaab to my board. He tried to stabilize with a Somberwald Spider, but I didn't hesitate to lock it down with a Claustrophobia. Speaking of tight spots, I kept playing more men while leaving up 3 mana for the Flashback on my Think Twice in order to keep him from ever flipping his recast Mayor. He didn't win his reelection and was demoted to chump-block duty. Moan of the Unhallowed sealed the deal.

Round 2, Game 1

I kept double Swamp, Walking Corpse, Skirsdag High Priest[/card], Back from the Brink, Dead Weight, and Silent Departure. I led with my Zombie, while he had an impressive start of Doomed Traveler into Hamlet Captain. I got rid of the Captain with a Dead Weight and played a Mindshrieker on my third turn. A Voiceless Spirit shut down my offense, so it was time to hold back and see if this High Priest was ever going to earn his keep. His fifth land was a Gavony Township. Oh, crap. I didn't think I could actually beat that card, given his board of Doomed Traveler, Voiceless Spirit, and Orchard Spirit. My only hope was get High Priest online somehow, and my best bet was to play Back from the Brink and mill a bunch of dudes. A combination of Blazing Torch and Bonds of Faith made me unable to actually block any of his creatures, and I soon died. I might have been able to stabilize if I had another way to activate Morbid, but even then I was probably still dead.

Round 2, Game 2

I don't remember the specifics of this game, but I was handily crushed by my opponent's superior deck.

Hope you guys enjoyed the draft report. I want to give a shout-out to Marc Anderson, Dan Lanthier, and Noah Long, the last ever Canadian National team. Good luck at the last Worlds, guys!

Until next time, may you always open on-color bombs Pack 3.

Nassim Ketita