Limited Resources: Innistrad Draft #14

You screwed up a couple times against moonmist.

Pass the turn and let the transform triggers stack. Now activate your flashback and shock the were. If he moonmists, fine, the were gets 2 points of damage and the first transform trigger will turn it back into a human, killing it.

I think the way you get round that situation in game 3 of match 1 where you had two ironsmiths and a mauler versus his attack of darkthicket wolf, viper and unruly mob – was to block the mauler on the mauler on the the mob (as you did) but then double block the wolf with the ironsmiths, that way you force him to pump the wolf. If you then harvest pyre for 6 on the wolf in response (exiling the 4 non-flashback cards and the largely irrelevant [at that point] forbidden alchemy and dream twist); then depending on which way round he pumps (cathar first or wolf’s own ability first), then he is left with viper OR viper and cathar at the end of combat; but you are left with all your creatures in either case. Plus you then have a departure in the yard you could use to bounce his viper on the next turn if needed.

Loving your work pal!

It’s friday! friday! gotta get down on friday!

The Curse is 3BB-not exactly splashable.

Huge fan of the cast and the vids.

Marshall –

P2P3 – I think the pick here was dead weight. At this point I think Dead weight + Curse is better than Into the Maw + burnign vengeance + harvest pyre + ironsmith. Naturally, I haven’t watched the rest of the draft yet… so I have no idea if black starts to come around or not. By making this pick you solidify yourself into UR, which I guess is what you had said you wanted to do from the beginning.
P2P6 – You pick your second fortress crab over a first scarecrow, which seems wrong to me.
P3P1 – Opening Devil’s play clearly makes my previous analysis wrong. B-)

Deckbuilding: I do think that cutting the Harvest Pyre over the into the maw seems wrong… I think you’re not going to be wanting to get things out of your graveyard, so it’s a little non-bo-y.

M1G3 – Attacking at minute 39 or so was extemely risky because putting the last card in his hand as PREY UPON was not unreasonable at that point. If it had been, you would have been just dead.
M2G1 – You made a serious tactical error by letting Kenji maindeck Daybreak AND Garruk. This game would have been easier if he didn’t have those cards.
M2G3 – Marshall, here on T 4 or 5, whenever you played kessig wolf. I think the play here is to play Burning Vengeance and PRAY that you hit a dreamtwist or Desperate Ravings. It’s the only way to kill a garruk and gives you the best shot of winning this game. (EDIT – I wrote this down BEFORE seeing you topdeck the Desperate Ravings next turn).

Hey Marshall I started listening to your podcasts in August and I feel like over the time I’ve listened you’ve become more open minded about cards. However, there are still cards you view as inherently “un-playable” and I think here, neonate is one of those cards. Neonate in a R/U build can be a stellar late round pick up, because with U’s bounce and red’s ability to prevent blocks he gets big really quick. Your deck has three ways to bounce defenders, a night bird’s clutches, and you could have had a crossways vamp over the wolf.

There are very few ‘unplayable’ cards. There are just times when cards don’t want to be played. Take for instance the second mauler in your deck. He is clearly a better card than neonate but does not want to be played in a deck with so few creatures. But here Neonate really wants to be played! Yes, neonate is a bad late draw, but mauler is an awful early draw if nothing is in the bin. And the potential upside of the neonate in this build is insane.

I feel like lately you’ve really grown in your podcasting because you seem to be talking to more pros who tell you to keep an open mind. So I’m just commenting to tell you to keep it up, and don’t just rule out cards. I cringe every time you say something is unplayable.