I attempted to ctrl-click the pocket rockets but I was in a different app when I did it, and it click-clicked it instead. Fortunately it looks like that would have been my pick even with some study. It demands mostly plains in your deck, but since that is one of my preferred paths in the format, I go for the high-maintenance power card.
Pack 1 pick 2:
And of course, I'm passed another high-maintenance power card. This was an interesting pick, because I can either go for the most powerful card, Jaws, that isn't playable in the same deck as Armored Ascension without at least a couple of Elsewhere Flasks.
Burn Trail is playable without a ton of mountains in the deck, but it loses much of it's value without a high quotient of red creatures, which again conflicts with AA. Inquisitor's Snare is the "cut white" pick, Grief Tyrant is flexibly splashable and good. Finally, Scuttlemutt is the safety school of the pack, solid in every deck.
I went with Jaws knowing that I probably wouldn't play both, but that the one I did play would be a genuine bomb.
Pack 1 pick 3:
This was the crossroads pick for sure. It was either Intimidator and swerve into red, or Plumeveil for the monowhite. I ctrl-clicked the PV and basically times out without ever feeling strong enough about switching.
I'm OK with either direction, but the tipping point for me was that I'd just passed a Burn Trail, and would be passing a Cohort and a Scar here. PV felt like the better signal, so I stuck with my ctrl-click instinct.
Pack 1 pick 4:
The follow up pick has rewards for monored and monowhite, but given the last pick, my pick here is an easy one.
Pack 1 pick 5:
Red obviously wouold have been a fine direction to take with the pick-five puncture bolt, but my choice is Sentry or Last Breath. I'm not a huge fan of Last Breath in just any white deck, but it's a good fit in this one. With Armored Ascension, Plumeveil and Kitchen Finks, I'm setting up for a defensive long game in which I stall the board until winning with AA. Last Breath is a great removal spell for that plan, with the life gain likely to mean little once I get a creature swinging through the air for 8+ chunks of life each turn.
Pack 1 pick 6:
Ghastbark is also solid for my plan, but I expect to get those guys later, and this is my favorite wisp.
Pack 1 pick 7:
I could counterdraft the Arsonists or take the Cohort as a card I might play, even though it's not really my plan.
Pack 1 pick 8:
Same thing...cut the Ember Gale, or take the Consign I'm even more likely to play than the Briarberry Cohort? I stick with the playables.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Sure.
Pack 1 pick 10:
I don't see myself playing this...
Pack 1 pick 11:
There's where I want to be taking an Old Ghastbark. A solid playable for a deck wantinng to clog the ground and win the long game through the air.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Pack 1 pick 13:
Pack 1 pick 14:
Pack 1 pick 15:
Pack 2 pick 1:
Turn-three Adept into Turn-four AA is simply game over against some decks. I worry about it being a fancy-looking Gray Ogre, but nothing else in the pack is good enough to make me questoin giving it a try. If there had been a Ballyknock Cohort, Curse of Chains, or Silkbind Faerie, I don't think I take the Adept.
Pack 2 pick 2:
Duos are great when the +1/+1 ability is your monocolor. Mercy Killing is not a bad card for my path to victory, but I like the Duo pick. Bye bye Steel...
Pack 2 pick 3:
Ouch! Well, I *love* that Cohort in monowhite, but Curse is better than Terror in most matchups, and I can't pass it up.
Pack 2 pick 4:
Watchwing is a fine card for the deck I have brewing, and maybe it was the right pick given my lack of an exploit for the Mentor at this point. I have the Mentor as one of those "cards I underrated" in my head though, and it makes me want to take it and try to exploit it. Again, the life gain fits my general approach as well...a bunch of defenders tapping at opponent's eot to add 3-5 life sounds pretty good.
Pack 2 pick 5:
Yoink. Any chance that Steel will come around? Naw...
Pack 2 pick 6:
This was pretty annoying. I was playing without a mouse, and lightly touching the touch pad to move the cursor to the Cragtreads/Watchwing area read as a click instead. Notice how my pick is in the same slot in the lineup as my previous pick? Sigh. I probably take the Watchwing if I don't misclick. It's more vulnerable as an artifact creature, but 2/4 flying vigilance is perfect for the deck.
Pack 2 pick 7:
Whatever.
Pack 2 pick 8:
Eh, I don't like it in general, but again, a better fit for my deck than most, and I expect to run it.
Pack 2 pick 9:
Sure...
Pack 2 pick 10:
No Steel, but the Medic is fine. The deck feels like it's really coming together, where lots of cards I'm getting that are so-so in a vacuum are great in my deck.
Pack 2 pick 11:
Hope I don't play it, but...at the risk of being a broken record...it's better in.....
Pack 2 pick 12:
Pack 2 pick 13:
Pack 2 pick 14:
Wow. I don't see myself adding blue, but a nice pick if I do.
Pack 2 pick 15:
Pack 3 pick 1:
Oh man this was tough! Recumbent Bliss is so good for me, but Spitting Image? That card can win games sinngle-handedly. It is such a bomb. If I take it, I'm committing to at least five islands. That really weakens AA, but also allows me to play Repel Intruders and Consign to Dream. It is tough to properly put those options on a scale, but I went with the consistent monowhite that maximized AA. This may hav been incorrect...a weakened AA and one less Recumbent Bliss for Consign, Repel, Spitting Image, and a shot at any upcoming Snakeform. Tough!
Pack 3 pick 2:
The white side of that Hedge Mage didn't excite me so I took the Mimic knowing that Harvest Gwyllions would go great in my deck and probably come late.
Pack 3 pick 3:
Mmmm, love the Gryfalcon, but I'm not passing an Unmake. Too bad they couldn't be in separate packs.
Pack 3 pick 4:
There's one!
Pack 3 pick 5:
The Zealot is more playable, but I think I can still get one, and I'm cutting the Knack tomfoolery right here.
Pack 3 pick 6:
Another!
Pack 3 pick 7:
I can't pass this for a Beckon Apparition or whatever.
Pack 3 pick 8:
Sure.
Pack 3 pick 9:
Sure, more long-game action.
Pack 3 pick 10:
No reach for you, red deck!
Pack 3 pick 11:
No buffing for you, green deck!
Pack 3 pick 12:
Pack 3 pick 13:
Pack 3 pick 14:
Pack 3 pick 15:
Pack 1 picks:
Pack 2 picks:
Pack 3 picks:
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I ended up with fewer playables than I thought I had. That misclic hurt, and I had to either play a couple of suboptimals or add some islands. I went with subotimals with a sideboard blue plan against "big green," where Consign and Repel are really good.
1 Curse of Chains
1 Raven's Run Dragoon
1 Plumeveil
1 Resplendent Mentor
1 Fire at Will
1 Barrenton Medic
1 Niveous Wisps
1 Armored Ascension
2 Harvest Gwyllion
1 Illuminated Folio
1 Old Ghastbark
1 Recumbent Bliss
1 Barrenton Cragtreads
1 Last Breath
1 Nightsky Mimic
2 Thistledown Duo
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Kithkin Shielddare
1 Augury Adept
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Unmake
17 Plains
Game Notes
R1G1: Lost the game save somehow, but I rolled over him.
M1G2
My opponent muls to 6.
I mul into Shielddare, Unmake, Wisps, Finks, Enlistment, and plains. I'm not thrilled, but I'm on the draw and keep, figuring that I have two draws and a wisps to get the second plains to get going, and a third plains turns into a solid draw.
I draw a plains right away, and then he casts a turn-two Mudbrawler Cohort, giving me a damage-saving wisps that draws me into plains #3 and I’m looking fine. He is stuck on two land, but plays out a Woodlurker Mimic. Now I’m feeling great about my situation.
I’ve now drawn a fourth plains and a Recumbent Bliss by turn three, and I play out the Finks.
He misses land again and drops a Fang Skulkin. I draw plains #5, and with his sea of one-toughness guys, I offer up a trade with half of my Finks, he declines and takes three, and I cast the Enlistment.
He gets a third land (second swamp), but all he can muster is a Raven’s Crime, and I ditch a plains.
On my following swing with everything but the shielddare, he gives his mimic wither, so I break down and use unmake on it. He follows with a Dusk Urchins, which I promptly Bliss.
We go back and forth dropping creatures, but I get out a Cragtreads, and he has all red creatures. He has a Sootwalkers that my deck can’t block, but he’s losing the race and my Cragterads go the distance.
R2G1
I mul to a slow-looking six-card, he muls to five.
My opponent is running what seems to be a GR deck, but he Manamorphoses out a Silkbind, which is pretty funny because it’s just a 1/3 flyer in his deck from all I can tell. He’s also running a Scuzzback Scrapper, so I’m feeling good about my chances.
I Bliss his Spriggan, laugh at his Clouted Silkbind Faerie, drop a Dragoon, and give it AA on turn five. I start swinging for 8 in the air. He makes it interesting by continuing to dump green and red bodies, and he Mercy Kills my Harvest Gwyllion after blockers are declared with a Roughshod Mentor in play, and attacks me down to 1 thanks to trampling over my dead blocker. Or, it would have been 1, but just to be sure I Last Breath one of my tokens before combat damage to leave combat still at five, out of even Javelin range. He concedes.
R2G2
I Mul to six again, but have a turn-three Finks hand and keep. He gets stuck on two lands, a Nettle Sentinels, and a 1/1 RG wither guy. He concedes after I draw and cast a turn-four Augury Adept that he realizes is going to start hitting every turn.
R3G1
My opponent tells me he failed to submit a deck, and his game-one deck is his 45 drafted cards and 6 of each basic land. Apparently, he is undefeated! He drew the good side of his pool in his other game ones and manages to go undefeated. He gets cocky in the first game, announcing that things are looking good for the home team when he gets a Shield of the Oversoul on a Scuzzback Mauraders with a red “first strike” mentor in play. 6/3 First Strike Indestructible Trample does look awfully nice, but I Bliss it on my turn to take the wind out of his sails.
He gets the wind back by Spitting Imagining my Finks, but makes the mistake of moving his copies to my Ghastbark when he should have stuck with the Finks. I draw my Armored Ascension a few turns later, and my flying, insanely big Ghastbark ends the game quickly.
R3G2
Turn three Augery Adept, turn-four Armored Ascension. He loses.
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