Simon Says #66: At Second Glance (BTT 8-4)

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Simon Goertzen

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  1. ‘Helix can bounce nonland permanents as well’

    For example +3/+3 auras that gives Gary flying. Lol.

    You should have played mnemonic wall getting back helix. You could have bounced the Herald and double-block Gary if he attacked, to stay in the game.

  2. I second mr Lantis, or perhaps we are missing something.
    Great videos by the way.

  3. You two are correct, I simply missed that option. I rewatched the scene and don’t love my chances going forward, but if my opponent keeps playing like he did I have a good chance to not die in the next few turns.

  4. Yeah, after announcing that sometimes it is important to be able to bounce nonland permanents instead of only creatures with the Helix and 1 or 2 turns later forgetting about it, is not a smart play ;). [It is quite possible that it wouldn't have helped you, the Herald is still a pretty huge problem, since he can cast/bestow it again. But overseeing this after announcing it is kinda funny *g*]

    But nevertheless really nice to watch you. Your videos are my favorite draft videos (and I really like that you have done a new draft with your brother :) )

  6. Thanks for the video, Simon. I think I would have built your deck more agressively; something like +1 Satyr Rambler +1 Minotaur Skullcleaver +1 Fearsome Temper -1 Coastline Chimera -1 Mnemonic Wall -1 Rage of Purphoros. That would have allowed to leverage the Bident of Thassa and bounce spells better. But your build also worked well :)

  7. I don’t see why people are criticizing. He won a pretty resounding victory. Minor mistakes really didn’t matter, so why criticize so much?

  9. @Anonymous

    Because the worst thing you can give a creator is uncritical praise .

  10. I don’t think people are “criticizing” as in complaining or looking down on Simon, rather talking about the content, which is legitimate and a way to respect it :)

  11. I agreed with everything except the Hypnotist over Astronomer. You already has 2 retraction helix at that point and its not like you need to hit every time from astronomer for him to be good. a 1/3 for 2 mana stops a lot of early aggresion from red decks.

  12. Great videos like always, entertaining and educating. Mostly though I’m just happy someone finally drafted blue-red on video.

  13. I could be wrong, but I think he mentioned the bouncing of “non-land” permanents in Game 2, and the action you guys are referring to is in Game 1. But the point is the same, he missed that possibility.

    We all get so focused on certain cards doing certain things. 99% of the time retraction helix bounces a creature on board rather than other things, so it is easy to miss bouncing auras and other enchantments and such!

    Great play overall, Simon! Your decks always surprise me at how well they do as you pick some cards that others don’t value as much and you get maximum value out of them. Some of your plays sneak up on me in surprise, but then looking back it is clear you know the deck types so well and how they work the best.

    Thanks again for the great content each week!

  14. Thanks for the great video! I really enjoyed this deck, and I always appreciate your clear/informative commentary. You rock!

  15. It’s sad that you’re U/R with a pretty high instant/sorcery count for a draft deck (I counted 7), and I’m still forced to admit that even had you taken Spellheart Chimera, it’s far from clear that you should have played it. Thing should have at least been 1+*.

  16. Yes i was also sad you didn’t approve of the possible power of spellheart chimera… trying it out once in a while won’t hurt

  17. I disagree with playing the Spellheart Chimera. The potential power of the thing would have been as follows by the end of each game:

    M1: G1 – 2, G2 – 2, G3 – 3
    M2: G1 – 3, G2 – 6
    M3: G1 – 1, G2 – 1

    That’s an average power of 2.5 over seven games. Also keep in mind that those are the potential powers at the end of each game and some games, like M1G, were only cast during the final winning turn.

    I think Chimera’s best home might actually be in some kind of heavy bestow deck in which its trample might be relevant.

  18. In match 1 game 3, was there a reason for playing the bident before the chimera? Given you did not have mana open to activate the bident’s ability, I see no upside to playing it over the creature that turn if you did not plan on attacking.

  19. The draft viewer lesson was high value.

    Your videos are excellent lessons in technical play. The best part is that you recognize and discuss the choices you make on camera. The second best is the way you build to an archetype and keep that in the discussion as well.

    It takes your time to make these videos and I wanted to thank you for it.