Simon Says #21: Guided Passage

Armadillo cloak all day….

I have a question. Round 2, match 2, minute 13 … you say dead ringers isn’t castable … but the drake is blue/white, then one of the creature is one color (blue) the other isn’t (only white)

Am I missing something ? It’s not unless the 2 creatures share a color, it’s a creature has a color the other hasn’t, which is the case.

@Nazlurf: One creature is blue-white, the other is blue. That means the blue-white creature is a color the other isn’t (white). The complicated text on Dead Ringers basically says Destroy two nonblack creatures with exactly the same colors.

Best videos on MTGOAcademy, hands down!

I really enjoy this format, thanks for doing one. I’m sad to see it go since this format was incredibly fun and skill-intensive. I never got to play with these cards on release, so I got absolutely hosed the first 5-10 drafts I did and lost a lot of tix figuring out the format. I’d often win the first round, but that doesn’t help much since you’d have to buy more invasion packs which were 7-8 tix. Eventually I figured out what I wanted to do in the format and had a lot of fun consistently making the 3rd round, which let me make back all my tix and then some since there are so many valuable cards in this block.

Picks that seemed questionable to me (though given this was your first time drafting this format, the fact that most of your picks were correct was very impressive):

P1P2: Shivan Emissary is generally just a better version of Agonizing Demise. It’s not instant speed and it doesn’t burn your opponent, but the abundance of gating creatures in the format means it’s a repeatable effect. All my 3-0 decks had some form of repeatable removal effects using cards like Emissary and the cycle of battlemages with gating creatures. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that EtB abilities (particularly the battlemages) define the format. Since basically any deck is going to run gating creatures, I think the Emissary is strictly better than Agonizing Demise.

P1P5: Zombie over Soul Burn. Soul burn is better than it looks. The games tend to go so long that reaching 8+ mana isn’t unusual, and since it’s black or red mana it often just blows people out. Since it’s still useful at 4 and 5 mana, it’s just a solid spell I like to have if I’m in those colors whereas the Zombie is largely a throwaway card. Sometimes you have to run it, but it’s never exciting and there are tons of ways to kill it/disable it.

P1P8: Urborg Shambler over the Attendant. While hindsight is 20/20 (you had a lot of creatures that just died to it by the end) it’s just not good because so many good black creatures have 1 toughness. Ravenous rats, cavern harpy, urborg emissary, and the battlemages to name a few. On top of that, it costs double-black which is a significant downside in a format where you’re always at least 3 colors. If you want 4/3′s, you have better options in the 2nd pack with Lava Zombies and the 3/2 that is +1/+1 if you have a swamp. Also the attendant won’t always make my main deck, but the sacrifice effect is relevant for fixing mana or blowing people out with some huge spell (i.e. soul burn or a double-kicked battlemage). Being colorless is also helpful at times.

P2P6: This was probably correct, but people really undervalue Sisay’s Ingenuity. Since it’s one mana and cantrips, it doesn’t have to do a whole lot to earn its keep. The worst case scenario is having your creature killed in response, but it’s easy enough to wait till they’re tapped out. There are a lot of ways to completely blow people out with that effect (for example, I had it out and attacked with Phyrexian Bloodstock. My opponent had his own bloodstock but no white creatures, and he blocked with a random 3/3. In response, I made his bloodstock white along with his next-best creature. My bloodstock died, which killed his, which then killed his other creature.

P2P14: Insolence over Mana Cylix. Insolence isn’t a real card, whereas Mana Cylix is sometimes a necessary evil. Counting on fixing in the 3rd pack is a dangerous proposition because reef shamans get taken highly if you’re drafting with people that know what they’re doing. You got lucky to get one that late.

P3P4: Quicksilver Dagger over Reef Shaman. The dagger sometimes blows people out, but it’s extremely rare. There’s a lot of removal in the block, and good removal to boot. Most often you’re just tapping out to ping 1 and draw a card. The reef shaman, on the other hand, is the best blue mana-fixer in the format. You get to play it on turn 1 where you generally won’t have anything else good, and in addition to giving you any color mana, it mana-screws your opponents when you no longer need the fixing. It’s very easy to do this and completely lock out your opponent to get free wins, so I like having multiple reef shamans/dream thrush and even Sea Snidds.

Finally, I thought it was strange that you never considered picking Zombie Boa or even acknowledged its existence. It’s not exciting, but it’s an evasive 3/3 and a nice way to close games. I don’t know that it would have made the cut given all the other 5 drops you had, but it definitely should have been in consideration one of the times it came by.

First congratz to the draft, it was really fun to watch.

But seriously: This guy in the last round was just so goddamn lucky. He knew what he was doing, I’ll give him that. But that luck o.O

He got all 5 coloured mana in his starting hand in game 1. Then topdecked the second wild growth the second he needed it, + had only useful cards in hand while the threecolour deck of Simon both times got stuck on mana problems. And second game it was nearly the same. This time he had to look for one colour, but drawing the dragon then… That is just very conveniant.

If your deck would have been as lucky as his, maybe the round 3 couldve been a lot more entertaining for both sides. That’s magic for you.

Thanks for the great draft, didn’t even know you posted here. Will definitely check back more often.

The infiltrator is a bit better than you give it credit, Once you hit 8 mana (4 of which are blue) you can use it to repeatedly swap your worst creature for their best, assuming they don’t have 2UU untapped. There was at least one game you could have done this, though I think you won it anyway.