Drafting with Big Nass, M13 #5

Posted on October 8, 2012

Welcome to another edition of Drafting with Big Nass. After a brief and unsuccessful foray into Cube Drafts, I’m back to drafting Magic 2013. I’ll be honest—I wasn’t really enjoying myself with the Magic Online Cube for the reasons I stated last week. As time went on, I realized how much more I prefer playing with my friend’s Cubes and my crazy theme Cubes. It’s not just that I think the Magic Online Cube list is inferior, it’s that Cube is way more fun when you’re hanging out with your friends instead of playing by yourself . . . in your parents’ basement . . . in the dark . . . while listening to Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky”.

So, even though I had mentally written off M13 as a format I wouldn’t play again, I found myself enjoying it a lot more than the Magic Online Cube. So, to tide me over until Return to Ravnica is released online, here’s an encore performance of M13. Enjoy!

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 2, Game 3

Match 3, Game 1

Match 3, Game 2

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

This is a pretty easy pick; nothing in the pack comes remotely close to Pacifism. Rhox Faithmender is decent, and I wouldn’t mind picking it up if it comes back, but this pack is otherwise very weak, so I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Stuffy Doll is fine, but without knowing yet if I’m aggressive or defensive, I don’t really want to take it this early. It’s only good in certain matchups, and even then, there are a lot of common answers to it. Bloodhunter Bat on the other hand is good regardless of what style of deck I’m putting together, and it sets me up nicely for W/B exalted.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Okay, forget what I said about W/B exalted. I have an unhealthy obsession with Welkin Tern that began way back in Zendikar. There’s definitely a strong case for taking Acidic Slime here, but I have a strong preference to be in blue over green.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Did I mention how much I love Welkin Tern?

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

This is another underwhelming pack. Captain's Call seems to be the best option, though Rain of Blades is a legitimate sideboard card.

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

This is basically the same pick as before. I could take Crippling Blight, but I haven’t really seen any black cards. It seems that W/U is going to be where I’m heading with this.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

That’s a pretty late Prey Upon, but I’m going to stay the course.

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Eighth-pick Prized Elephant? Really? I guess it’s fine as a 3/3 in my deck. I’m willing to consider switching to G/W depending on how pack two goes.

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:

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:

Knight of Glory is definitely better than Aven Squire; it just sucks that I have to make that choice.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Spelltwine is awesome in Sealed, but I’m less sold on playing it in Draft. Fog Bank on the other hand is excellent and makes beating exalted decks comically easy.

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Holy hell, this is a stacked pack. I shudder to think at what the missing two cards were. I’m obviously quite happy with a third-pick Talrand's Invocation.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

All right, I guess I can justify playing a Forest in my W/U deck.

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

Well, this is quite the drop in pack quality. I have no intention of playing any card here, so I’m just rare-drafting for value.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

I’m always happy to play Divination in almost any Limited format.

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:

I don’t think Trading Post is any good, and Vedalken Entrancer sometimes makes the cut.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

I’ll generally play a Negate if I can. Angelic Benediction is only good in an exalted-focused deck, and that’s really not the direction I’m going in.

Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:

I don’t want two Negates, and Battle Cattle is better than Vedalken Entrancer for what I’m looking for.

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:

This was the ridiculous pack. It says a lot when only two cards suck in a five-card pack, one of which is a basic land. I can’t believe someone is going to pick up a twelfth- or thirteenth-pick Crimson Muckwader, but there’s no way I’m passing up on a third Welkin Tern.

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:

The old Pacifism-and-garbage pack. We’ve been here before.

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:

I’m somewhat creature-light, so I kind of have to take this Battleflight Eagle. Redirect is a card I don’t mind playing in most cases, though.

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Divine Verdict isn’t the most exciting card, but removal is removal.

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

This works out quite nicely with our deck with two Captain's Calls and two Talrand's Invocations.

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:

I normally prefer Essence Scatter here, but I have a big hole in my 3-drop slot. Watercourser also interacts well with Battleflight Eagle should the game go long.

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Serra Avatar is kind of playable, but I have no intentions of playing it or any other card in this pack.

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

I should rename this series “Rare-Drafting with Big Nass.”

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 we ended up:

"W/U M13 Draft"

Lands (17)
1 Forest
8 Island
8 Plains

It’s not the best W/U deck I’ve ever drafted by any means, but overall, I was happy with it. If one of those Captain's Calls were an Archaeomancer, I would have liked the deck a lot more.

It was a good thing I drafted a good deck, as I was playing fairly loosely. It turns out that despite all my knowledge of mathematics, I suck at adding. Luckily, it doesn’t cost me any games. I beat up on a couple green decks on my way to the finals, where I sadly got rolled by a R/W tokens deck.

Hope you guys enjoyed the Draft, and I’m looking forward to saying a few things about Return to Ravnica Limited soon.

Take care,

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

www.youtube.com/nketita

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