Simon Says #70: The Commons of Journey into Nyx (JBT 8-4)

Sweet draft. I think the Kiroa’s Dismissal showed it’s worth in your second match, you could even have bounced the Pin to the Earth in the last game. I was surprised that you dismissed it (ha), although I don’t expect it to be as good as it was here all the time. Your round 2 opp had an insane deck, very fun to watch.

I think your opponent actually had to attack with everything in the last turn of M3G3, because if he just attacked with Agent and cast Aspect on him, you could untap an island with Kiora’s Follower and bounce it.

I was really disappointed that you glossed over mortals obstinancy when discussing the white cards in your opening discussion.especially because I’d been waiting to see what your opinion of it was. I’ve been really impressed with it. I think you would always be happy to play one in any deck where heroic mattered. Anyway, I’m a big fan and always enjoy your articles, vids and commentary.

Best wishes,

S

I don’t actually think that giving your opponent the Island in R3G3 hurt you all that much, since he had the Karametra’s Favor on the Leucrocota. All he had to do was declare attacks with both of them, then make it unblockable in Declare Attackers. I definitely think it was the right choice, although it didn’t work out.

Did you forget that the Cockatrice had deathtouch in R3G1? It seemed like you didn’t even think to flash it in to block the massive Battlemaster.

In any case, thanks for a really interesting deck with some neat stuff you could do, and some great games.

Very nice draft. I think G/U is a nice color combination in this format.
Your round 2 and 3 opponents also had some very nice decks.

There are a few things I think you could have done differently to give yourself a better chance of winning match 3 game 1.
In match 3 game 1, it was your turn and you had nothing on board and 5 lands and your opponent had the swordwise centaur and the battlemaster in play.
You summoned anthousa and passed the turn and your opponent had that ridiculous play where he gave the 2 creatures +4/+4.
It is easy to say in hindsight but I think your best play was to cast the deathtouch flier after he declared attackers. That plays around any tricks he may have and gets the battlemaster off the board taking a lot of pressure off.

With your line of play, the best you can hope for is to hold back the swordwise centaur because you lose your creature to any trick your opponent may have if you block the battlemaster.

Then, on the next turn you considered playing cockatrice but didn’t because you thought it only trades with swordwise centaur and not the battlemaster. I don’t understand why you thought you couldn’t trade with the battlemaster. Your creature has deathtouch and the battlemaster doesn’t have first strike.

Then your opponent played a creature and you paid tribute giving him a 7/7 instead of letting him gain 4 life. I don’t think you could have won at that point but it did seem odd that you paid the tribute to prevent the lifegain in that spot.

Thanks for the draft!

You had lethal in game 2 rounds 2 before he played extinguish all hope. Monstrifying the cockatrice and playing the combat trick for 1 mana would have exactly dealt 10 damage.

DeanoTheBeano: Sad, isn’t it?

@Missed Chance

hes right, this site is full of subpar players and Simon is only mediocre, thus shines above the rest.

his terrible draft picks are from the same bad school of thought Ochoa has: to draft weak, consistent cards while continuously forgoing opportunities to move into bold, powerful strategies; result is always a conservative deck with conservative play and conservative results; never Pro Tour caliber.

So much hate here. Just do not understand. Since LSV does not make Theros drafts anymore I would really like you guys to tell me who makes better videos than Simon.
I also liked the opening discusion. The only card I would remove from the top list is Hubris. Bounce spells have kind of diminishing returns (you do not want to play more than three) and Hubris is the weakest one of them.

i enjoyed m2 g3. you didnt interminably explain things. you played well and just used some good instincts. there is a level of explanation that is absorbable (<– ths word is considered misspelled lol) after that its rambling.

Just the way your show affects me. and it was still worth my time to watch all of them. ty

Whoa, from whence comes all this hate on Simon? He comes from a school of thought that values consistency and conservativeness — he’s quite forthcoming about that, and it’s a perfectly valid approach to drafting. He does a fine job explaining his lines, in pick decisions as well as in play. Simon is absolutely my favorite video drafter, and I’ve learned more from him than from anyone else. I’m not sure why those who dislike him so are here watching his videos and offering ad hominem attacks on Simon without much of any substantive criticism. (“NOT a player who won a pro tour” — thanks, guy.) I appreciate the content as always. Thanks, Simon!

Simon is a good drafter. He’s a world class player, just because he doesn’t conform to the “normal” high end player is a good thing – not bad. When everybody plays the same way Magic gets dull, it’s the vibrant and fun game that thousands of people play because of people like Simon.