Draft 5-10:
1-1: Best cards are lightning axe, momentary blink, and call of the herd. The lightning axe is great removal as it hits just about everything in the set at instant speed, and can be augmented to work with madness cards. Sometimes though it will be at negative card advantage. Momentary blink will often 2 for one the opponent in somewhat, and also can be broken with comes into play abilities like firemaw kavu or the common white suspend giant guy, but works best in decks that will be both white and blue. Call of the herd is always card advantage, and if it can be cast on turn 3 and 4 can potentially be devastating. I think it is the best card, so it’s the first pick.
1-2: Choices here are corpulent corpse, viscerid deepwalker, search for tomorrow and mystic snake. I think the corpse is strictly better than the deepwalker (although blue is a deeper color) so he can be written off. Honestly I am not sure which is better, the corpse or the search. The mystic snake is probably the best card, but the color restriction is harsh. It can’t be the only blue card in the deck, and if green ends up getting cut it isn’t a very good splash in that direction, as the cards value comes from the times you can counter something on turn 4 and get a creature out of the deal. Later in the game a 2/2 creature just isn’t worth much, and a blue mage could be holding a cancel for one less mana (a card that is usually stuck in my sideboard in any case). Since I took a green card first I take the search here over the corpse, as it can cut green to the next player and this early in the draft sets up splash opportunities.
1-3: Well this pack makes it look like red is surely open, with sulfurous blast and lightning axe both in the pack. The liege of the pit is a good card, but I don’t think it is better than the blast and is a bigger color commitment in any case. I take the blast here happily (it also goes well with elephant tokens). I notice though that the thallid germinator is the only playable green card in the pack.
1-4: Plenty of choices in this pack, Empty the warrens, spike feeder, shell dweller, strength in numbers. Empty the warrens is good this early as I can pick up suspend guys a little earlier than normal, and I already have a search for tomorrow. Spike feeder is a good card but very mana intensive for his effect, and I don’t think it is as good as the strength in numbers. The shell dweller is another good card, but it isn’t as good in a red green deck as in green/blue or white. There are 2 good white cards in this pack, the peregrine and the temporal isolation. Red is the color I am most sure is open though, and red/white isn’t a very good archetype generally so no reason to go out of color yet, although I should keep an eye on white in the next few picks here. The right pick is the empty the warrens, but I took the strength in numbers in my actual draft.
1-5: Top two cards here are scryb ranger and goblin skycutter, and I think the ranger is much better. He isn’t as aggro as the goblin which is desirable in a red green deck, but the faerie’s flying might make up that extra damage that he can’t deal on the first few turns. Plus I don’t have much removal at this point in any case. His abilities can often take out a creature by surprise, and his pro blueness can really destroy some decks. Faerie is the right pick here.
1-6: Maybe I overrate careful consideration, but I consider it to be a top card. When I see it still in the pack I think blue must be open, but in reality I haven’t seen any other good blue cards (except the crookclaw). As much as it pains me to do this, since it is pick six I should probably ship it and take the solid mogg war marshal. In my actual draft I only had one red card, so I figured I could swap colors easily, but if I had taken the empty the warrens like I should have this would have been an easier pick.
1-7: Goblin skycutter is a good card and there is no card that makes me want to switch colors.
1-8: Primal forcemage is better than the savage thallid here, and it combos well with my faerie. Plus getting it this early will make me value thallids more as the draft continues.
1-9: Greenseeker might not make my deck, but he (along the with search) sets up a splash nicely. Snapback is a good card, but careful consideration + snapback <>
1-10: The ancient grudge is a good sideboard card, but the buzzards might make the deck if I can’t fill out the slot or I pick up some creature enchantments, so it’s the right pick.
1-11: Two more forcemages and the sprout might make my deck…
2-1: Well I open a lot of good blue cards, but none of them are splashable. Of course all the picks for this pack might have been different if I had taken red cards instead of blue in the first pack, but I doubt that is the case as there were really only two playables that got passed. Maybe someone else would have ditched red to go blue like I did if they got the careful consideration, but that doesn’t seem particularly likely. In any case the decision here is between gemhide sliver and orchish cannonade. I don’t have any other slivers and my deck is short removal (plus I have other cards that could help me splash if I needed to) so the pick here is the cannonade.
2-2: Vhati is pretty much the splash card I was hoping to find, and I gladly take him here over the second gemhide.
2-3: Fury sliver and grapeshot are the two choices here, and if it were the first pack the sliver would be right. But planar chaos doesn’t have great green/red slivers and I haven’t drafted any yet. Plus grapeshot is good and I am a little low on removal. Plus it adds to the synergy of cheap cards to go with my empty the warrens.
2-4: The ephemeron makes me a little sad that I am not in blue, but the gnarr is a good card and meshes well with my empty the warrens and my faerie. Once the colors are established it is the right pick here over the thrill of the hunt (since I know I will only get one use with a black splash and no gemhide slivers).
2-5: The bogarden rager will fill out the top end of my curve a little and isn’t a bad card at all. The chromatic star is ok, and would help with the splash, but I have better fixers and my deck isn’t insanely color heavy in any case, so I can afford to play swamps.
2-6: No good cards in either of my colors, but the shadow guildmage could definitely make the deck, depending on if I pick up any more removal or any pyromancers in PC. The guildmage is the right pick here.
2-7: And there’s another forcemage, but I really don’t have any cards that work well with him to make him a better pick than the coal stoker, who is good tempo and a good body. Plus he works well with empty the warrens.
2-8: I have a decent amount of creatures already, so the treefolk probably won’t make the deck and I would rather have the forestwalker for sideboarding.
2-9: The acid moss might come in against a deck with three colors?
2-10: Not sure when I would put the flamecore elemental in, but he is the best card here.
2-11: Krosan Grip for sideboarding
3-1: Brute force is the best card here. Essence warden is good (especially with empty the warrens), but it’s a little too passive for red/green. I don’t have any one drops which makes his value go up, but I still think the brute force is the better pick. Utopia vow is good late game removal, but red/green decks really would rather the game not go too late in the first place.
3-2: Dead/gone and the dustwasp both have synergy in my deck and both are pretty solid. If I had more removal I would take the flyer, but at this point I would rather have the dead/gone in my deck. This is a really close pick though and I am not sure about it.
3-3: Again I am deciding between creature and removal, here stingscourger and shivan meteor. The meteor is good against bombs and things, and the suspend part goes well with my storm spells, but its expensive and the stingscourger is just such strong tempo that in a red/green deck I definitely want him.
3-4: The shivan wumpus isn’t an amazing card, but it fits best in a red/green deck. He’s a dead card at the end of the game, but playing him on turn 4 can be devastating. The uktabi drake, on the other hand, combos well with my storm spells and is generally a good card as I don’t have any flyers in my red/green deck here. Since I already think my deck is pretty solid I would rather have the flyer, but if my deck needed win conditions then I would grab the wumpus and not look back.
3-5: Same exact pick as 3-3, and I come out with the same choice.
3-6: A third stingscourger really makes me happy and is the only playable in the pack in my colors.
3-7: Needlepeak spider and skirk shaman are both ok cards, and the choice would come down to looking at where I have a hole in my mana curve. As I didn’t draft red I don’t really know what that is, but the shaman is probably a slightly better card.
3-8: Fury charm then woodreaders and I am out of screenshots.
