Pack 1 pick 1:
I came in thinking UB Faeries or UW merfolk as my archetypes of choice, and Douser puts me on a path for either. Guile was a definite consideration, but I like the fast and cheap Douser over the big guy. Hoping my neighbor doesn't take the Guile and fight me for blue.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Pretty straightforward, and thrilled to have it passed to me. Turtleshell, Tarfire and AEthersnipe are great, but there are few cards I take over an O-ring.
Pack 1 pick 3:
I have a hard time evaluating the Gate, but my feeling is it works best in Elves, where you don't have evasion and attacking with a bunch of normally-vulnerable tokens is suddenly a game-winning strategy. With UW, I should have enough evasion that the Gate isn't the best card for me. I take the Lash Out as the best card in the pack, and with a Vivid land, a Springleaf Drum, or a Twig, I could end up splashing it.
Pack 1 pick 4:
This pack worries me a bit. Cloudcrown and Fistfull suggest maybe green is open, but I just don't feel like I can dip into a fourth color in four picks, so I stick with my plan to go UW merfolk if possible.
Pack 1 pick 5:
I'm a big fan of Ponder, but have to take the card that sets up merfolk. I already have a solid target for it in Douser.
Pack 1 pick 6:
In retrospect I think I should take the Deeptread Merrow here, but it's a pretty close call.
Pack 1 pick 7:
Easy pick, glad to have a Ponder in my pile. Pretty late Pilferers.
Pack 1 pick 8:
I always like having one of these in my Merfolk decks. Plays nicely with Aquitects, which I'll hopefully get one of next pack somewhere.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Yuck.
Pack 1 pick 10:
I doubt I'll play two, but there wasn't even anythign worth counterdrafting.
Pack 1 pick 11:
A fine card this late. Whether or not it makes a maindeck depends on the number of other Wills or Aquitects I pick up.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Pack 1 pick 13:
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Pack 1 pick 15:
Pack 2 pick 1:
I ctrl-clicked the Brigid and then studied the pack for most of my alloted time. I was only lightly white at this point, and didn't know if I wanted to go that hard into white for an off-tribe quasi bomb. I clicked the Fallowsage with time running down, but I'm not sure of that pick. If I'm going to go blue, Aquitects is probably the better pick, but I'm also feeling like it could table...as a double-blue "do shit to merfolk" card, there has to be another merfolk drafter at the table for it to be taken, and I didn't pass many merfolk last pack.
Pack 2 pick 2:
I love Changeling Hero in merfolk, I think it's very strong for the tribe. Now I really want the Aquitects to table.
Pack 2 pick 3:
Love me some Adept. Feels so great to cast a 2/1 on turn 2 and have it replace itself up front. Huntmaster and Leaf Gilder still in the pack...someone out there must be putting together a nice green deck.
Pack 2 pick 4:
Glad to secure one of them for sure.
Pack 2 pick 5:
A well-timed Whelm and a victorious clash is oh so devastating.
Pack 2 pick 6:
Easy pick.
Pack 2 pick 7:
I don't like Faerie Trickery...not being able to deal with Faeries or Changelings is a significant drawback for double blue and 3cc.
Pack 2 pick 8:
Eh, the card I want to see least from an opponent (assuming turn one), and I would like one for the collection.
Pack 2 pick 9:
Yay! The deck is shaping up...
Pack 2 pick 10:
Pack 2 pick 11:
Is there only one green drafter? I expected the Huntmaster and the Gilder to be gone from this pack.
Pack 2 pick 12:
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Pack 2 pick 15:
Pack 3 pick 1:
I like the Swell and the Sprite is solid, but I take the Schoolmaster hoping for a Mothdust down the line. Right now I have no good tap outlets, but double Aquictects plus the Will might be enough.
Pack 3 pick 2:
An iffly pick. I don't have much to trigger the Prowl, but a 3/1 flyer for 4 that is occasionally awesome felt good enough to take over the underwhelming changeling.
Pack 3 pick 3:
Time is running out to get a tap outlet, but I take this anyway. Dewdrop Spy may have been the correct pick here. Check out the Paragon...obviously only one green drafter at the table.
Pack 3 pick 4:
Pall? Battle Axe? War Spike? Zephyrnaut? What was taken from this pack? I've basically ruled out a splash at this point and let the Pall go by. I think I took the axe thinking I might play it, but it's unlikely with my current Changeling count, and the Pall may have been the better card to cut.
Pack 3 pick 5:
I like the Sprite, but merfolk Banneret is just so good for this archetype, and can produdce some sick early turns.
Pack 3 pick 6:
Game-Trail! Did I mention there is clearly only one green drafter at the table? Oh well, it's barrage all the way for me, although I wouldn't mind a Distant Melody in my pile either.
Pack 3 pick 7:
Nice gift, what a great card for my deck! I'm obviously not the only blue drafter, but I'm obviously the only merfolk drafter.
Pack 3 pick 8:
Sure, I'll pass ANOTHER GTC for the Banneret. Man that green deck is sick, I hope it screws out in the first round.
Pack 3 pick 9:
Cool, I hoped one would table. Already have two bounce spells, so no need for Disperse (although would be a fun surprise for the Dolman Gate).
Pack 3 pick 10:
Sideboard? Probably should have cut the Moonglove...
Pack 3 pick 11:
Cuttin Elf probably the better play. That green deck is a beast!
Pack 3 pick 12:
Nice, I'll take it!
Pack 3 pick 13:
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Pack 3 pick 15:
Pack 1 picks:
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The deck basically built itself, although I have tough cuts at the end. I believe I left out 1x Amoeboid, 1x Whelm, Battle Axe, Broken Ambitions, and Inkfathom Divers, and ran 16 land.
I won the first match pretty handily against the other blue deck. I know he had some scary bombs, including a foil Cryptic Command, but he couldn't deal with Hero + Aquitect. He actually disconnected on me; rude under any circumstance, but particularly rude from someone who walked away from the event with a foil Cryptic...
I made a terrible keep in R2G1, one of the worst I can remember in a long time. I had 3x Island, Aquitect's Will, Coordinated Barrage, Changeling Hero, and...Distant Melody? Something not immediately useful. I can't remember exactly, but it was such an obvious mulligan. Why did I keep, then? I saw the Will and thought, "That's a cantrip, so it will help me draw into business, and I should get a fairly early Hero!"
First, even if the Aquitect's Will was a cantrip without a Merfolk in play, it's proably a mul. None of the cards in my hand are useful right now! How could I have kept that hand? So embarrasing. If one of the islands had been a plains and the Will had been a Ponder, I could see keeping. But it was so bad.
Not surprisingly, I lost that game, although it actually went fairly long and took a brutal Swell of Courage (he was playing WRb kithkin/giants) to seal the deal.
Game two was epic. I was never really in danger of losing, with a Judge/Douser/Aquitects combo building an impenetrable defense and a skyrocketing life total, but it took me a while to actually beat him (Finally drew the Hero and started swinging for 5 unblockable lifelink). I went into game three with six minutes of clock, but felt confident that a reasonable draw from me and a non-god draw from him would spell victory.
He played first, and while I had a solid enough draw, he went turn-two Greatheart, turn-three Bombardier, turn-four Kinsbaile Balloonist. I think I dropped a turn-two Amoeboid, and a turn-three Adept with Barrage amana up. I felt like he knew the Barrage was coming and declined to use it on his turn-four attack, and that was a mistake, but I was also playing extremely quickly due to clock concerns. That failure to Barrage and draw out his trick allowed him to get out the Balloonist, and when I tried the Barrage on his turn-five attack, he responded with Swell of Courage and dropped me to 4 life or so.
He followed the next turn with a Giant's Ire and that was that. Yes, I lost to a deck with a frickin' Giant's Ire and a Lairwatch Giant. Ugh.
I brought it on myself with that failure to mul in game one, that really stung. Given that I managed to make the game competitive despite the bad non-mul, I had an excellent chance of mulling into a hand that would have won. I should have gone on to face that green deck in the finals, but it was not to be...
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