Drafting with Big Nass, M13 #2

Posted on August 13, 2012

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Drafting with Big Nass. I’ve actually been enjoying this set a fair bit. It’s no Innistrad, but I do find myself drafting far more often than my one-Draft-per-week quota that I had for Avacyn Restored. There’s a decent variety of viable archetypes, and card valuations actually change more than past core sets. The power level of the some of the problem uncommons has been fixed. Mind Control was the worst offender of past core sets, and Switcheroo, while still being good, is far less of a blowout in most situations. The best uncommon is still blue, but Talrand's Invocation is nowhere near as format-warping.

Volcanic Geyser is a little worse than Fireball, and the fact that it’s means that no one is jamming it into his deck along with a couple of Mountains and calling it a day. Speaking of double-color requirements, I love that Doom Blade was replaced by Murder for the same reason.

Many of the rares and mythics are still crazy bombs, but that isn’t any different than any other set. Common answers exist in every color for most bombs and a lot of the time, they’re cards you’d main-deck anyway. And the old plan of killing your opponent before he can play his bombs still holds.

Let’s move on to the Draft. As always, text recap follows the video links.

Draft

Match 1, Game 1

Match 1, Game 2

Match 2, Game 1

Match 2, Game 2

Match 3, Game 1

Match 3, Game 2

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

I realize this sends a horrible signal, but there are very few cards I’d take over a Vampire Nighthawk. I hope I can cut black for the rest of this pack or find a decent second color.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

There’s nothing too exciting here. I only like Giant Scorpion in defensive decks, and Bloodhunter Bat is good in any deck with Swamps.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Acidic Slime is the best card in this pack, but I’m really not a fan of green in core sets. I’ll only draft the color if I have a bomb, and this doesn’t quite fit the definition. Speaking of cards I’m not a fan of, I’m not big on Cower in Fear. Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s a mulligan. U/B seemed to go pretty well last Draft, and I do love me an Ophidian.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Archaeomancer can be good, but I’m not exactly married to blue just yet. Looter effects are always good, and B/R is something I’m comfortable drafting.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Goblin Battle Jester has impressed me a lot every time I’ve played it. I really wish it was a 3-mana 1/1 because red has way too many 4-drops.

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Mark of Mutiny is a pretty good reason to be in B/R. I should be able to pick up a Bloodthrone Vampire or two, but the one in this pack is almost certainly a goner.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

There we go.

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

My eyes apparently glossed over the Canyon Minotaur. Whoops. I don’t think it matters—like I said before, red has a lot of 4-drops. Canyon Minotaur is near the bottom of that list and makes the cut less often than you’d think. I’d still play it over a Zombie Goliath, though.

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:

That’s a nice late pick for the deck.

Pack 1, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

This pack is pretty bad for us. I kind of wish I took that Acidic Slime since Silklash Spider is a card I’m willing to go green for. I don’t want too many Battle Jesters, and Mogg Flunkies should be good in this deck.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Here’s another awful pack. I may have overvalued Cleaver Riot initially. I think I’d only play it in R/G—it’s the deck that’s best at turning the Riot into an Overrun.

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Equipment is generally really good in core set Drafts because of all the vanilla creatures. It’s not as though there’s much else to take over it.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

I may have been momentarily distracted by the idea of equipping this to Vampire Nighthawk.

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Mark of the Vampire can be good, but I tend to shy away from Auras. This isn’t a Tormented Soul deck, so that leaves Ravenous Rats.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:

There are a bunch of cards in this pack I want, but I can’t really pass up removal.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

It’s essentially the same choice as from Pack 1.

Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Looks like our choice didn’t matter, as we ended up with both cards we wanted.

Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

As far as on-color bomb rares go, I could certainly do worse.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

I’m only making this pick because of the two Mark of Mutiny; otherwise, I’d take the Crimson Muckwader. I don’t think I can take the chance that Bloodthrone Vampire doesn’t table. It sucks that I’m passing my favorite card, but oh well.

Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Yeah, that’s two Furnace Whelps I’ve passed; what of it? Arms Dealer should be really good in this deck with the large number of Goblins. Plus, I have infinite 4-drops already.

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 15:

My Pick:

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Here’s where I ended up:

"B/R Bloodthrone Mutiny"

Lands (17)
10 Mountain
7 Swamp

I more or less steamrolled the Draft, and the Mark of Mutiny plus Bloodthrone Vampire combo is as good as ever. The Battle Jesters were awesome, and Nefarox did some work as well.

I don’t think I’ll be making it out to Grand Prix: Boston, but I’ll try to put out as many Magic 2013 Drafts as I can until then for those of you who are looking to attend. I hope you guys enjoyed the Draft recap, and I’ll see you next time.

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

www.youtube.com/nketita

P.S. If you guys want to see something non-Magic-related, I posted a let’s-play video featuring the game The Binding of Isaac on my channel. Check it out if you like that sort of thing.

TAGS articles, draft, video, limited, magic online, drafting, modo, nassim ketita, magic 2013, recap