Simon Says #28: Out-of-Print Drafting — MVW Edition

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Simon Goertzen

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  1. Tapped creatures didn’t deal damage back then, that’s why master of arms’ ability was useful back then.
    Cheers

  3. @Corpselunge: Thanks for pointing that out. Now that you reminded me, I do remember being able to tap out of combat when I started playing, but didn’t make the connection when reading Master of Arms.

  4. Hey Simon
    Dort wo du in Runde zwei seine Ballista übernimmst, kann er einfach seinen 1/2 selbst abschießen und dein versuch die Ballista zu töten scheitert.

  5. Also the point where you drop phanton wings on his Rino in match 2 (flying!) and then attack with your 2/3 flyer. Very funny ^^

  6. @Pemmin: Yeah, let’s call these plays suboptimal. Everything worked out, though!

  7. M2G2, the Ray of Command play – not so smart. Your opponent could (and should) kill his own attacking 1/2 in response…

  9. I remember playing in my local Mirage and Tempest Block pre-releases, and one of the first rares I pulled was Lion’s Eye Diamond. Of course at that time it was pretty much dross, glad I kept it in good condition.

    In fact, I pulled a lot of pretty good rares and Uncommons at those events now that I think about it. Tutor’s (including a Vampiric Tutor which I sold on the day, because it was actually recognised as good at the time), Wasteland, Firestorm etc. Also pulled more than my fair share of dross of course, but they’re nice to come back to 15 years on and realise than it wasn’t *all* money down a black hole.

    Thanks for the pre-foil, post-Revised era draft Simon; looking forward to more.

  10. Debt of loyalty is an expensive regeneration but the reason it’s expensive is that you gain control of the regenerated creature. That seems like it might be good in creature combat.

  11. I cringed when you passed Benalish Missionary for a card not in your colors, and for that matter, nigh-unplayable in those colors w/o some specific enablers. Benalish Missionary is actually close to being a complete bomb. It’s unassuming, but its ability practically reads “Your opponent cannot attack” because it lets you double or triple-block to kill any creature they could have w/o any cost to you since you prevent the attackers’ damage.

    I’m not trying to be critical though, I misevaluated the card at first too, as well as a lot of Mirage cards my first couple drafts. Many of the cards do counter-intuitive things or are worded strangely, making it much harder to understand what a card does right off the bat than it would be today. Just keep in mind if Mirage drafts ever pop up again: Benalish Missionary is one of the best 1-drops in white, 1-drops don’t often come with abilities that completely take over the game.

    Also, you skipped right past Debt of Loyalty as an expensive regeneration spell, but my guess is you didn’t finish reading the card because it also acts as a 3-mana control magic that can’t be undone w/enchantment removal. Well, that’s a bit of exaggeration: it’s probably more comparable to Unhallowed Pact from AVR, a narrow sideboard card or 23rd playable at best. However the instant speed is a huge advantage over unhallowed pact, because once an opponents’ creature is enchanted, they will do anything they can to keep it alive. In this case, you can use it when they offer what they think is a reasonable trade (like you triple-blocking their bomb) and you can always use it to blank your opponents’ removal or tricks in a pinch. That all being said… I still probably would have taken the griffin since a flier that can recur a creature on death seems like insane value ;).