Limited Resources: M12 Draft #3

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Limited Resources

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  1. Always love your drafts and your insight into the matches. P1P2 Craziest pack I have seen in M12, can’t image what the rare was.. Had to have been an inferno titan I would think.

  2. Just want to say that I am a huge fan of your drafts. Best commentary in the business, hands down. There’s no condescension or arrogance, just straight up MTG play.

  3. Griffin Raider does not have flying as 1/1.
    But tapping elite was correct – it was playing over mighty leap.

  4. Great video, thanks!

    For the player, though, I’d really appreciate one that let me scroll to where I want and that it wouldn’t load so slow, and also wouldn’t crash that often. Isn’t youtube an option?

    Thanks anyway, it’s always fun to watch!

  5. Marshall – R2G3 – Turn 4, it seems pretty loose to main phase draw here, when you could be rep-ing a counterspell. Anything I’m missing here?

    As always, keep up the great work :).

  7. I didn’t agree with first picking the Adept (good card, but not the best in the pack), but I can’t say it was a bad decision, as you got the Mind Control for second pick. It is hard to evaluate a draft when you go into the wrong direction, and find treasure there.

    I really don’t know what to think about Mind Unbound. At first it seemed to be totally unplyable, but now I’m not sure about it. I would love to see a video with it.

  8. Pretty sure you just splash Green for Spider and Web and cut Comsume Spirit . I dont understand why you took Sacred Wolf over Unsummon. Seeing as you REALLY wanted to be black you will not play the Wolf.

  9. first pick was completely wrong. you do realize that sorin’s vengeance just flat out wins the game, right?

  11. I feel like you could have had a really good UG deck splash doomblade, double web with spinner and like 3 giant spiders seems better than the 3/1 vampire, not sure though as I really dont like UG as a combination, but in your seat I feel it would have been correct.

    -orvn

  12. pretty gross miss pick when you take the 3/1 vampire over unsummon pack 1. I really see no logic in doing so when you yourself said you wanted to stay open and shipped a sengir (I think that’s absolutely correct and a great decision), then get a pacifism which is clearly insane 4th pick… but then instead of taking cancel you take a black card (COMPLETELY SCREWING YOUR SIGNALS) and then somehow confuse yourself into taking a terrible black card again over an always-in-your-deck unsummon? I literally don’t understand and frankly am outraged. Well, as outraged as I can be watching someone else draft.

  13. Hm the above post was me btw.. :) (I think I can fix that, Marshall. See below. –PlanetWalls)

    @Sourtimes Thanks, appreciate the comment. And ya, Inferno or some other Titan and a few others are the only thing I can imagine. We did see a Gideon in R1, so that might have been it as well.

    @jason Really appreciate that sir, thank you!

    @amukasier Agreed about the tapping, and ya, I go back and forth between remembering that it doesn’t have flying and forgetting that it does

    @mightymosy Thanks. Regarding the player, I haven’t had issues like that. At the bottom you can scroll to wherever you want once the video is loaded to that point. It never crashes for me at home or work either, not sure what the deal is there. I think MTGOA likes having control on these videos and it allows them to have really high quality stuff in whatever length they want, on YouTube this can be problematic.

    @Zach You are right, since I coudln’t cast anything anyway I should have just waited. Selling a counter at that point would have been pretty difficult, but it was a freeroll so ya, I just got lazy/F6ish.

    @gajdosh I don’t think I am. That card is highly conditional, hard to get value from, and then eventually kills you if you can’t win fast enough. Oh, and it costs 4UU and has literally no effect on the board. I see the upside, but I am not devoting a card slot in my deck very often to something so conditional.

    @milegyenanevem What would you have taken in that pack? I agree that Adept wasn’t the overtly most powerful card in the pack, but I think it is an extremely useful card to have in many types of decks, and I value it *very* highly. Also, remember it wasn’t the right or wrong pick because I got passed a Mind Control, the pick has to be evaluated on it’s own mertits and now what I happened to get passed See above regarding Mind Unbound. It *can* be a very powerful spell, but the downside is just too high to justify it in almost all cases.

    @moerutora I wanted the deck to be an aggressive tempo based deck, which is why I didn’t go for the splash. I agree about the Unsummon/Sacred Wolf pick, I should have taken the Unsummon.

    @shrip Maybe you could be more descriptive? I have played wiht Sorin’s Vengeance quite a bit, and agree it’s very powerful. But this early in a draft I value not being completely all in on a color like black pretty highly. Also, I am generally hesitatnt to draft 7 drop 3 mana color spells early. By taking the Adept, I get a much more flexible, useful spell, and it’s in a color that has many answers to Sorin’s Vengeance as well. Often times, you just die before you can cast Vengeance anyway.

    @Tools Is that right? “I will just divine next turn” doesn’t sound right to me? heh

    @ORVN The deck would have been pretty ok looking back. A strange combination for sure of like spiders but no real way to get through. I think it would have been a reasonable option though for sure. I wanted to have a more aggressive tempo deck though, so I picked accordingly. Kind of..

    @mark kelso Calm down. I wanted a tempo based aggressive deck and the Vampire is pretty good in that deck. Unsommon is as well, but I think it’s close. High power guys for cheap are exactly what you want in that type of deck generally. I don’t think shipping a Cancel “COMPLETELY SCREWS MY SIGNALS” at all as it’s not a high pick and I don’t think anyone is really viewing a late Cancel as ZOMG BLUE IS OPEN. I would have run 2 Unsummons in this deck btw, but not 3. Usually I will just run 1, I don’t consider it an auto include past the first. Also: Did you call me Miss Pick? 0_0

    Thanks guys for the comments and discussion as always, your feedback is appreciated.

  14. Why don’t people like Mind Unbound? I have seen sooooo many drafts where people basically ignore it in the pack, and treat it as though it was a garbage rare…

    To me its a card that basically wins you the game in 3-4 turns, and once you start drawing you get so many answers that you cant really die from that point. Drawing aether adepts, cancels, unsummons etc etc gets out of control, there shouldn’t really be a risk of killing your self by drawing the entire deck if you draft with the mind unbound in consideration.

  15. I have found consume spirit to just be underwhelming unless you are running 11-12 swamps and would have been more inclined to the green splash.

    There was a really fun mill deck running through the draft with double mind unbound, multiple jace’s erasures and a few elixirs. I’ve had some success with that deck but it really relies on the rares and a jace’s archivist is normally wanted as well.

    Thanks for the draft and keep up the great content.

  16. Consume Spirit is a 2-3 Dmg spell that takes up your entire turn which is borderline playable in your deck. Splashing the Web or Pacifism keeps aggression going and not playing a big bomb creature with reach that fetches/returns a semi-pacifism to the battlefield is pretty justifiable in playing it.
    Im a splasher so maybe I just dont see how one can not play those cards.

  17. Sorin’s Vengeance is the best pick from the first pack. I understand you don’t want to fix a color this early, but you do the same with the Adept. And what you answered is exactly what I meant: one should evaluate that decision with forgetting about the Mind Control. But that is impossible as Mind Control won you the first match.

    Mind Unbound: Most times it kills you in 6 or 7 turns. you should be able to win during that. Mostly depends on your deck, of course. The problem is that if you draw too early, it’s useless, and if you draw too late it’s useless.

  18. Blue Green and the big spider are just criminally underrated. I think it was your premature decision to stay aggressive that took you down that road of confusion. Aether Adept does not mean aggro by itself. It stalls every bit as well as it enables beats.

    Hindsight is 20/20 and all, and the arachnus webs don’t magically come along every time you pick up the spider, but it’s a bomb and a ridiculous card advantage engine much of the time, worth the gamble.

    Those were some crazy packs though, and it’s easy to see how it ended up a trainwreck- we’ve all had them… Thanks for the vids, I always tune in!

  20. Packs like this are why m12 is a suprisingly more interesting set to draft than we thought it would be. There are so many cards on equivilant power level that decisions become a personal preference versus “what the correct choice” is. With that being said, I think you punted this draft. But I’ve punted drafts too that you’d probably be screaming at your computer if I made videos. It happens. My only advice would be, “Try not to be so addicted to blue next time.”

    Cheers,
    J

  21. speaking of “greedy”…looked like you got a little over-confident after m2r1…only reason i can see you mulliganed a 5 mixed land starting hand…i don’t see how that could ever be a good idea.

  22. Phantasmal bear over Arachnus Web. With Arachnus spinner in your pile? Have you still not read the full body of text on the spinner?

    Yeah…. this can’t be real.

  23. I’d like to see you try some archetypes and colors that aren’t in your comfort zone as much. It’s fairly obvious at this point that you basically avoid green like the plague but I’d love to see you at least give it a shake. The last couple of drafts you’ve passed over some (apparently) very solid green possibilities.

  24. @Anonymous – People don’t like Mind Unbound because it’s garbage :) So with cards like this you have to break down it’s worst case and best case scenarios. The best case is that you draw enough cards for you to win the game before it decks you. The worst case is that it does nothing and you either can’t ever cast it (it *is* 6 mana) or that it’s too late to make a difference when you do cast it. You are saying it wins you the game in 3-4 turns. But we are talking 3-4 turns *after* you resolve it. Which should be about on T10 or so on average. Also, it requires you spending your entire turn tapping out for zero board effect. No big flyer, no blocker, or board sweep, or stealing of permanents. Just “I tap out and do nothing, go.” This is very often a recipe to Just Lost(TM), especially in a relatively aggressive format like M12. Think about some of the other 6 mana cost spells in the format: Aegis Angel, Arachnus Spinner, any Titan, etc. These all have huge effects on the board immediately and can bail you out of a bad spot. Mind Unbound can either get you from parity, to way ahead *or* keep you way ahead. Combine this with the fact that on the first turn you untap with it, you are essentially just replacing it with that card you draw *and* the fact that if left unchecked it can just kill you, and the conclusion is that it is garbage.

    @subx – Definitely agree about Consume Spirit being pretty marginal. I mean it’s clunky removal, but it’s removal. Also, it wasn’t the reason I went with the normally mediocre black cards over the Spinner. I was going for a tempo based aggro deck, and having 4/2′s on T3 goes a really long way when you can bounce or tap them out of the way. Agreed also about the silly mill deck that was going around, but I think that deck is just bad anyway so ya. :)

    @moerutora – Agreed about Consume Spirit again, it’s pretty marginal but I think it still is removal and when you just need to get that Looter or Lawkeeper off the board, you do what you gotta do. I am normally a pretty loose splasher myself, but I didn’t want to give up the consistency here when the gameplan was early dudes then tap/bounce everything to victory. At least in theory :)

    @milegyenanevum – I do agree that Sorin’s Vengeance is the most powerful card in the pack, but you pay dearly for that power. 4BBB is oppressive in both total cost and the triple color, and I would rather avoid it if I have a sweet pick like an Aether Adept in the pack. Getting the Mind Control was not relevant to the decision as you mentioned, but sure was nice :) Ya Mind Unbound has a lot going against it, the decking yourself part isn’t even the worst thing about it.

    @disco – Ya I kept on the tempo/aggro path, maybe I should have strayed? I haven’t looked back closely at the draft yet, but I will.

    @Matt – Because I forgot.

    @thejgits – The packs were crazy indeed. When you say I punted the draft, what do you mean? It’s not that useful to just say someone punted but not really explain it :) And I probably won’t be taking the advice in your last sentence any time soon ;)

    @bruce – Would you have kept that hand? I just can’t see it being a winning hand unless I draw a pretty perfect mix of all spells and one swamp. I’m not sure how this makes me overconfident, but I think it was correct.

    @Woah – If you look, I already had one Web in my pile, and wasn’t sure at that time if I would be splashing for green at all. The bear was a welcome addition to the type of deck I was building as well, far better than the 2nd web that I might not run.

    @asmodan – Duly noted, I actually do draft green fairly often, but just haven’t on the videos. I will try pushing in a different direction though for your entertainment :) Thanks for watching!

    Thanks as always guys for the feedback and suggestions, they are apprecitated.