Hi internet, it’s stormguard798 here, and I’m back here with another Weather Report following last weekend’s Open. Now, as you may have figured out from the previous articles, tournament reports and whatnot, my primary focus on this platform is on Constructed. However, my teammates led a crash course in drafting over the past 2 weeks to prepare Team Eternal Journey (TEJ) for the Draft Open, and today, I’m here to share what I’ve learned, before leading everyone through a draft. Admittedly, the packs that were featured throughout the Open were rather strange, particularly compared towhat you’d see on ladder, but I managed to make Day 2. So… hopefully I know what I’m talking about. Maybe? We’ll see. You can be your own judges of that. 😛
I would just like to be very clear that I am the furthest possible thing from a polished Limited Player, in fact, as you can determine from the title, the past month is the very 1st time I’ve made it to Masters in Draft. However, I’d like to think I’m at least a mediocre Eternal player, and as someone who understands how Eternal functions mechanically, I can hopefully help provide some insight and well-reasoned opinions about the Draft Format.
General Observations:
- Well-statted units for cheap is the name of the game.
The most commonly cited example of this is, of course, the Barricade Basher themself, but there are plenty of other examples. Shock Troops and Maveloft Elite with any amplify card. Ravenous Thornbeast with some fodder. Shoaldredger with a Darkwater Vines. If you don’t have a gameplan to deal with these early aggressive units, either with your own massive chonkers or backed up by plenty of early interaction, you are going to lose a heck of a lot of games. To back-up all these cheap units, you have plenty of combat tricks from Scythe Slash to Finest Hour to Teleport, all of which I would pretty happily play in most decks. These are all available at common, which will punish greedier or slower draws even more, not to mention all the Standards that we have at uncommon. In this sense, this might be why Primal may struggle to be your Primary faction in most decks. (Hey? Hey? No?) Time can outscale most of these units down the curve, but Primal doesn’t, and other than Maveloft Elite, can’t really contest these aggressively stated units by itself. Stunning them to take them out is a reasonable temporary measure until you can get your engine going, but is at most a band-aid.
- Cheap deadly units are at a premium.
On the other hand, do you know what answers a bunch of cheap, well-statted units very well? Deadly units! It doesn’t matter how big your thing is, you ain’t getting past my deadly units. I think it’s fairly obvious that Coretap Maximiser is quite a strong Time common, particularly with all the relic support, but if I see a late Direfang Spider or a Razorbot, I’m certainly taking that as a signal that Shadow might be open. Along that line, I think most Time decks are happy to play 1 Cobra Gear – Deadly is such a pivotal battle skill right now, and the fact it provides a recurrable attachment for the likes of Restorative Process is just a bonus.
- Sidestreet Monitor is a premium Justice common
With all the aggressively costed ground units, the board tends to get clogged up – a lot. Hence, cheap fliers are definitely much more potent in this format because they’re so important for getting through those last points of damage and breaking through ground stalls – and these happen quite a fair bit. I’m shocked to admit it, but I have played Unmoored Valkyrie before and have it be…acceptable. That’s why I consider Sidestreet Monitor to be quite a good card – it’s a 2 strength flier with Regen, which means it can often trade for another flier. On top of that, the passive ability allows you to get in for damage but still hold back on defence if need be – a handful of relics shouldn’t be too hard to come by.
Tagging onto this, I think that Oni Hybrid and Consuming Greed are both perfectly playable even without adequate support. Granted, it’s not particularly difficult to come up with support for these cards – there are plenty of weapons and relics across the board – but I’ll certainly take my 1st copies of these even without that if I’m interested in playing these factions. In a similar vein, Acantha’s Outrider is a card I’d rather have a bit more support for since the berth between 3 and 6 is quite large, but I’m generally still fine drafting at least my 1st copy, even speculatively. I also often want an expensive flier in my market such as Hookblade Infuser and Valkyrie Arcanist that would be clunky against an aggressive draw, but would be very helpful in closing out the game – an unsupported Outrider would probably also fall into this category.
- Scrap Hound is surprisingly playable.
Ok, so as with most Limited formats, the majority of 0 and 1 drops are fairly unplayable. I’m not looking to play a Helpful Doorbot ever, for any reason. That being said, there are a couple of exceptions. Unmoored Valkyrie as I’ve mentioned before is a serviceable flier, particularly if you have a decent array of weapons, as well as the Deadly units. The buff to Scrap Hound from a while back is actually quite potent in this format because a 6/6 is quite difficult for most things to get through – it Stonewalls a Basher as well as units further up the curve like Powerbreach Sentinel. If you’re in Fire already, there are a few incidental ways to make Grenadins with cards like Corrosive Dagger or Scrapmetal Fury that I could certainly see playing a Scrap Hound even if sacrificing isn’t your main theme.
Now, I want to put out there my thoughts on this since I saw the meme on Twitter. I think Little Seed is clearly the pick over Sparking Vermin if you’re just in a generic Primal deck looking for its 27th card – here’s why. The argument that Little Seed is poor as a topdeck doesn’t really hold water, cause frankly, neither is Sparking Vermin. It’s an aggressively slanted card. I also think Sparking Vermin requires more set up to be good – unless you can find some way to augment it, most opponents are probably fine just letting it go through indefinitely, so you need to find some way to sacrifice it for value, which means you’re probably limited to Feln. On the other hand, you just let Little Seed sit there, and it eventually becomes a threat – a 5/7 Overwhelm is something an opponent has to tangibly deal with, even if the card rarely gets to that state. Granted, I don’t want to be playing either of these cards in my Primal deck, but when the going gets tough…
- I pick fixing over most filler cards in the Eternal Draft Packs.
In general, the Empire of Glass packs have the more powerful cards compared to the Draft Packs. Of course, there are plenty of bombs in both packs, but on average, the common power level in the EoG packs is higher. Not to say there aren’t powerful commons in the Draft packs – I love me a good Stik – but in general, I’m probably going to pick up strong fixing options over mediocre filler for my decks. Of course there are limits to this (as you will see below), but I do value fixing quite highly. This isn’t necessarily an option where you’re particularly strapped for playables, (as you will again see below XD) but in general, I think it’s reasonable to draft some fixing that you might not need now, but could come in handy down the line. From the aforementioned Stik to Horn of Plenty to Nectar of Unlife, there are plenty of powerful splashable cards at both the common and uncommon rarity level. This is a format where you aren’t strapped for playables, and I’d rather be able to play all of my most powerful cards. On top of that, the 2 fixing units in the draft packs, Strategist and Bannerman, also have a relevant unit type, so early on, if I’m still speculating on what I’m doing, I take these as highly as I do Seek Power.
- Soup decks are fine but generally unnecessary
That being said, even though there is generally ample fixing in the Draft Packs between Seek, the Tokens and the Seats, I tend not to go into a 4+ faction deck unless my draft has gone particularly south. As I said, the power level of the format is generally high enough that you don’t need to dip into too many factions, and the downside of spreading yourself too wide is that you’re more liable to be run over by the aggressive decks or be stuck with influence issues. As a result, most of my draft decks are 2F with an occasional light splash for a couple truly powerful cards.
One other thing to note is that I would generally not play Etchings as a market access option. The likelihood of one seeing Etchings has been boosted but the odds of finding Symbols to support them has also been decreased. Therefore, in most balanced 2F decks, your ability to hit 4 influence of a single faction is quite low. On top of that, the format is slanted fairly aggressively, and although there are still some ‘token’ units, exhausting a unit for your market access comes at a much steeper cost. Of course, if your deck is close to mono-faction and merely having a splash of a 2nd, getting the influence online for Etchings is much easier, and therefore it’d be much more appropriate to play them here. However, with the odds of finding appropriate payoffs for doing so being fairly low, in the majority of cases I would not recommend running Etchings. Finding another Sigil of a faction you already have is not a playable card.
- High synergy decks, like Hooru Soldiers/Amplify, come together less often.
Look, you can be like my 1 ladder opponent who played a Call to Allies with SIX Maveloft Elites out (yes, I’m still salty, even now – who handed them that deck?), but in general, I’ve found that you’re much more likely to speculate on cards in Pack 1 that might not end up in your deck, just to try and stay as open as possible in the early going of things. Of course, you might find your lane very quickly, stick to it, and have it pan out, but because a lot of the enablers and payoffs come in the EoG packs, you might be tempted to pass some of them up in favour of a card with a higher floor. I love a Maveloft Quartermaster, but I’m probably picking a Rage Grafter over it early since I’m more likely to end up playing Grafter. Conversely, I would also be more likely to speculate on some powerful enablers early such as Hardiness if I think there might still be a chance I end up pivoting to that archetype but not end up with them in my Final deck.
- Often conditional removal spells like Blackout the Skies and Ruinous Burst are surprisingly playable.
Right now, as more and more decks are playing mediocre fliers to break through the ground-based board stall, and as such, you’ll often be able to find at least 1 target, if not more for your Blackout the Skies since running sufficient fliers is something all decks, regardless of faction, need to be doing. In a similar vein, it’s also not uncommon to be running main deck Wind Channelers – just be sure to avoid your own fliers in the process. Another trend with these fliers is that they tend to have very low health, which is why a card like Ruinous Blast comes in so handy – imagine picking off an Oni Hybrid and Consuming Greed with just a single card. It’s certainly not quite an Autotread, but particularly in situations with open pools such as the Day 2 of the Draft Open, maindecking this card based on what units they have, or perhaps if you’re just short on playables, doesn’t seem like too bad of a call at all.
- Most decks don’t want more than 1 Send to Market nowadays.
The only nerf to hit the Draft format, Send to Market’s ubiquity as a removal spell got it slapped with an additional power cost. Right now, I see the card as fairly comparable to Cut Ties – putting it back into the market is stronger than putting the unit in your void since it’s easier to pull things out from your void and there are more pay-offs for units being in your void, but Send to Market is probably less splashable since it requires double Justice influence. Right now, I’d play a copy of Send in the majority of my Justice decks bar the hyper-aggressive ones, but I’d need a very defensive deck to justify running more than 1 copy. Going from 5 to 6 is a pretty steep cost increase in Limited, since that adds ~2 more turns before you can play it, and being stranded with multiple copies in hand is disastrous. It’s still a fantastic catch-all removal spell, but the days of playing 5 copies of Send in 1 deck are over.
Draft!
So in a desperate attempt to put my money (or lack thereof, lol) where my mouth is, I will be walking you through a draft and analysing what I’d pick at each juncture to put into practice the points above that I had just discussed.
P1P1:
Alright, so I’m immediately dismissing the rare – Overmax Wand is, for all intents and purposes, a Glorified Raildriver that goes into Primal markets. Granted, Raildriver is certainly a playable card, but not one I’m looking to pick this highly. Stakeout has certainly gotten better following its buff, but I’m still looking for some big units to support it, which means it’s probably not going in all of my time decks. Similarly, whilst I think Xumuc Coercion is much more playable now at 3, I’m still looking to be a sacrifice-focused Shadow deck if I wanted to play it, and not just any deck. On the other hand, Watchwing Support is a very powerful card – as with Stakeout and Coercion, you definitely need to build around the relic for it to be its most potent, but since the set-up cost is simply playing attachments, I think it’ll be a lot easier to build around, and much more powerful to boot. For those unfamiliar with it, Support gets out of hand real quick. Covenant Peacekeeper and Replicated Sellsword are both solid commons, but they don’t even come close to the power level of Watchwing Support, which is what I’m taking here.
P1P2:
And immediately things get very interesting. We have Malaga Munitions, which works absolutely fantastically with our Watchwing Support by providing us 3 attachments – it’s not something I’d usually pick this highly, though I could certainly be swayed by the synergy. Coveted Gemstone and Beacon of War are both powerful attachments as well, though I feel they’re a little more conditional and narrow. My other consideration out of this pack is the Darkwater Vines – it’s a 1-cost unit I’d most certainly play, and the Regen helps to stifle a lot of aggressive draws. The only other Justice Card, Steyer’s Beckoning, is a solid card that I’d be fine with running, but I feel is a cut below the rest of my options, and one that I’m not looking to take so highly. Though I wouldn’t often take it this highly, I’ve been pretty impressed by Munitions in this format and it just works so well with Support that I feel compelled to take it here. Down for being wrong, however.
P1P3:
You’ve got a Barricade Basher – need I say more? Granted, a rare/legendary and an uncommon are missing from this pack, which doesn’t give me a lot to go on, but Basher is one of the premier commons of the set. You’ve got a Blackout the Skies as well, which I could certainly see playing, though I wouldn’t pick it this highly, and a trio of Time cards in the Maximiser, Chanter and Arrival, with Maximiser probably being the best of the bunch. Rakano is such a strong faction pair, however, and given the factions of my earlier picks, I think it’s got to be the Basher here. Hopefully we can make this work. :fingerscrossed:
P1P4:
My eyes are immediately drawn to the Send the Reserves – it’s probably up there amongst the strongest Time commons, at least in a vacuum, and given how we saw how Time might have been open in the previous pack, I definitely see an argument for taking it here. I get a 2nd crack at Beacon should I want it, but it feels weaker than a couple of common options. Otherwise, my options for staying on the Rakano train are a Peacekeeper and a Send to Market, and I’m leaning towards Peacekeeper. The Stun is fantastic for pushing through damage with well-statted but not necessarily evasive units, which is what my first 3 picks all attempt to generate. Send to Market is solid removal, but since I’m gravitating towards a build that might not even get to 6 power, Peacekeeper is the option for me. Perhaps I should have pivoted and taken the Send – we’ll see how that pays off in the next few packs.
P1P5:
Nothing really playable in Rakano, unfortunately. I could take the Hooru Painting to hedge a little, but since I plan on getting some fixing later on, I don’t think I need to take it this early when there are more powerful options. Sludge-Blade is a solid card that would certainly work well with Watchwing Support should I decide to pivot in the Argenport Direction, but Maveloft Elite and Hardiness are both a ridiculous payoff and enabler for the amplify archetype respectively. I haven’t seen a signal Primal is Open earlier, but to be fair, a lot of the strong Primal commons arrive in the Draft Pack. I decide to hedge with a Maveloft Elite here and see whether Hooru might be open down the line.
P1P6:
Okay, okay, now I’m just…confused, let’s be perfectly honest here. For me, the choice is between Daring Swordmaster and the Covenant Peacekeeper here – if I do end up in the Hooru Amplify deck, the Swordmaster has a much higher ceiling, but I’m probably not playing it maindeck, at least, if I’m sticking to Rakano and the Elite was a one-time thing. Peacekeeper certainly has a lower ceiling, but also a higher floor in terms of power level. I think at this point in the draft, whilst I can’t ignore my curve entirely, I don’t think my curve should be a massive concern yet since I still have the chance to smooth things out. I decide to play it safe and take the Peacekeeper here, but I wouldn’t fault you for going the other way.
P1P7:
Wow do I immediately regret taking the 2nd Peacekeeper. Razorbot is certainly a solid common, and having seen a Medibot Station – a fine common – in both this pack and the previous pack tells me that Shadow might be open as well. Scythe Slash is also a fine trick particularly in conjunction with Bashers should I want to go that route. But oh my good gosh, there is a Quartermaster in the pack, and boy do I love drawing cards. Seriously. If anyone knows me, it’s that I love drawing cards far, far too much. I think with the signals I’ve been receiving in previous packs, Quartermaster is a glaring red siren that an archetype might be open, so I’m taking the Quartermaster here and hoping for the best.
P1P8:
Nothing terrible exciting in this pack, unfortunately, though we have a bunch of commons, one in each faction, which is rather amusing. Right now, I still have no idea which direction I’m leaning, Hooru or Rakano, so I’m a little hesitant to take the Bloodboil Executioner here. Medibot Station is also a fine card, but having passed 2 in the opposite direction, that ship might have sailed. I end up taking Steyer’s Beckoning as the card that I feel will most likely end up in my final deck since I’m deepest in Justice right now, but with my picks so spread out, anything could happen.
P1P9:
…well then. A host of solid cards in this pack, and frankly nothing I’d be too dissatisfied with playing. I don’t think I need a 2nd Steyer’s Beckoning since I just took one – the rate isn’t that fantastic. I could certainly hedge in the direction of Argenport, which would probably be best for my Watchwing Support, and frankly, having seen 3 Medibot Stations, perhaps that’s what I should have been doing all along. Emulator, on the other hand, is a factionless card, which means it slots in any deck, though as I mentioned previously, I’m not strapped for playables. I opt to take the Sludge Blade here since I do think it’s less replaceable of an effect than Emulator, though perhaps down the line when I don’t have any 2 drops I might be kicking myself.
P1P10:
With this pick I’m mostly thinking about my market. I don’t want to have to run any of these cards at all – I don’t think your draft trainwrecks often enough to have to play those cards, so I take the Snipe, since it could go into any Grafter market.
P1P11:
Ok, so just to be crystal-clear: I’m not a fan of Exotic Purchase. I’ve seen some fun stuff that you can do between this and Abyssal Scrying, but realistically that’s not something that I expect to come together very often. You need to be incredibly defensive of a deck to pull that off, and unless you pick up a lot of cheap removal, that just doesn’t happen. On the other hand, a FOURTH Medibot Station is certainly a sign – the card works really well with Watchwing Support, and I’ve seen some additional signs that Shadow might be open as well. So it’s certainly worth speculating on here.
P1P12:
So here is some more interesting food for thought – a last-pick Pesky Wirechewer. Granted, it’s not a fantastic card, but between this and the 4 Medibot Stations, that tells me that the Stonescar Sacrifice archetype might be open. In the next pack, I’m definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for any Combusts or Ravenous Thornbeasts to see if it’s worth hedging in that direction. I certainly don’t think Wirechewer is an unplayable card, but it’s not as strong of a signal as say the Quartermaster or Elite.
Coming out of this Pack 1, I’m honestly about where I’d usually be: I’ve got a general mish-mash of good cards, and am not entirely sure what faction pair or archetype I’m in right now. Not going to lie, really could have used a Gravity Glove. Or 2. That card is delightful glue holding everything together. Having said that, this just leaves me open to an assortment of options come the next few packs, so I’m excited to see what I can open.
P2P1:
There are a couple of solid options: Grisly Contest is great if I’m thinking the sacrifice archetype is open, and Biting Winds is a fantastic splashable removal spell. That being said, Valkyrie Wings is a very powerful Limited card. Remember when I mentioned flying units being incredibly important to breaking board stalls? Well, now tack Aegis onto that to make that flying threat much more difficult to deal with. It’s not quite the status of a bomb since it does cost 6 power and requires you to have some board presence, but from my experience playing it’s still a ridiculous card. So we’re taking it here.
P2P2:
Perhaps I just enjoy reliving my days of combining Withering Witch with Plague, but even today in more modern Limited, Plague does a great job of clearing up your opponent’s board and cleaning up all those pesky 1 health fliers. Other considerations for me would be the Token of Tradition for some fixing or Devour to hedge into that Sacrifice archetype. Wretched Raven is also a solid common that has had its appearance decrease, but as a multifaction card, I’m less likely to take it here. Plague in my opinion is just a tier stronger than the rest of these options, which is why I’m taking it here.
P2P3:
Ok, we could spend time chit-chatting, but the pick for me here is Triumphant Return, and it’s not remotely close. Even if I don’t end up being a base-shadow deck, it’s certainly a card that I would also look to splash – getting extra, souped-up copies of your most powerful units is delightful. Next.
P2P4:
Unlike the last pick, this is a little more of a headscratcher. For me, the most powerful card in a vacuum is that Powerbreach Sentinel (or, as TEJ likes to call it, the Breach Boi.) However, Time is the only faction that we don’t have a card in, so I’m a little hesitant to take that. Other considerations here are fixing in the form of the Token, some solid fodder in the form of Prickly Grenadin should I still be leaning towards Shadow Sacrifice, or the Rabblerouser as a filler Justice card. I do enjoy taking fixing aggressively, but I’m definitely leaning towards Argenport as being open right now, so I’m a little bit torn. I end up picking the Rabblerouser, but I could easily see taking the Token as well.
P2P5:
Now THAT is an incredibly late Stonescar Maul, which makes me wonder if I should have taken the Token in the previous pack. It’s an incredibly powerful relic weapon, particularly if I can pick up some ways to recur it, but being double Fire, it isn’t particularly splashable. On the other hand, there’s a Lethrai Lobotomy, which I definitely do need to pick up a few more Medibot stations to make work (heh) but is quite a potent removal spell. Loyal Watchwing is unsurprisingly solid with Watchwing Support, but if it’s not buffed, the statline is incredibly anemic, so it’s not in consideration for me. I do not want to be running this card. Going through my previous picks, Fire hasn’t been particularly open – Chemical Rounds and Temple Raider are solid but not a particularly strong signal – so I’m electing to stick to my guns and taking this Lobotomy.
Here, I’ve elected to remove the Primal cards from my decklist for now – it certainly seemed like a strong signal at the time, but we really haven’t seemed any good Primal cards apart from the Pack 1 Biting Winds, which isn’t a signal at all.
P2P6:
(I missed this image – bully for me, I’m easily distracted. The options were: Cabal Rogue, Feral Mandrake, Mass Entomancy, Shatter, Grenamender, Rambot, and Valkyrie Arcanist)
I don’t like Cabal Rogue at all: Unblockable is a very good battle skill for breaking board stalls, but 7 power is a lot, and 1 health is incredibly fragile. It’s so easy to drop this unit and get immediately blown out. For me, the clear pick is Valkyrie Arcanist – it’s a reasonably statted flier, and although I’d prefer to play this out of the market, it’s a fine unit to run main if need be.
P2P7:
And we’re back on track with the images. XD I’ve already got 1 6-drop Justice flier, so I’m not particularly interested in the Purgeleader. The Auric Bully is a serviceable 2 drop, and for curve reasons, I could certainly see taking it here, though with only the Valkyrie Wings to put on it thus far, it’s not particularly exciting. As such, I decide to hedge with the Seat of Progress – if I stumble upon a Horn of Plenty, I certainly want to be able to play it. (Future Storm: looking back, I definitely regret doing this: I ended up being super unit light, and with so few units at this point, I probably should have taken the unit.)
P2P8:
Now that’s a pretty strong signal. You do have to be quite heavy Shadow to pull it off, but we’ve definitely seen the possibility that Shadow might be open, and Lethrai Target-Caller is quite the powerful 2 drop. Rosebloom Mandrake and Humbug Nest are also both fine cards, but we’re so far off from playing either one of those.
P2P9:
And this is why I’m the team luck-sack on TEJ – don’t forget to aggressively shake me before tournaments for better topdecks. Seek Power is fantastic fixing, and there’s definitely been where I’ve even taken it as highly as Pick 1. That’s also quite a late Warpainter considering it’s fine filler, which is certainly important to take note of, though I haven’t seen any Fire cards since the Maul. Don’t think I could ever pass a Seek here, however.
P2P10:
Clunky 6 cost removal that isn’t even unconditional isn’t what I’m looking for in any deck, let’s be honest, but it could be a fine Market card, and I don’t think I’m the right deck to be playing either of the other cards: Calibrate doesn’t work particularly well as a splash, and my units aren’t big enough to be able to take effective advantage of the Natural Order.
P2P11:
Not much here – I’m just taking the Time Etchings for the Shiftstone since I don’t plan to be playing either of these.
P2P12:
I get passed a last pick Ruin, which makes sense – it can be a powerful market card, but you’re not exactly chomping at the bit to pick it up.
At the end of Pack 2, I’m definitely looking to be in Argenport barring some ridiculous cards. To fill out the deck, I’m definitely looking for a few more attachments for my Watchwing Support, a less conditional removal spell or 2, and a couple more low curve units. It’s certainly not quite there yet, but I think I read the signals well enough that we could have a solid deck on our hands here by the end of the draft. .
P3P1:
Yikes, this is not a pack I’m looking to open at all. Pretty much nothing good in my factions, and only some fringe playables otherwise. Power level wise, Scorpion, Breach Boi and Instinct all get a nod from me, but they’re so far out of what we’re doing. All the Shadow Cards are incredibly mediocre – I could see taking a Club for the market, but the odds that we get to 8 power any game are so low that I wouldn’t want to risk taking it here without any market access. It’s a little bit safe, but given the quality of the rest of the pack, I end up taking some fixing instead in the form of Token of Creation.
P3P2:
Ok, so now we’re talking. Warlock’s Brew is solid, cheap fast-speed removal, and the Bannerman is solid fixing. Power-level wise, the only thing comparable is the Desert Alchemist, but we’re a bit far away from that. I did say I was looking for a little more removal, but less Brew and more Contest, and given that we do need some 2 drop units, I’m inclined to take the Bannerman here.
P3P3:
Alright, we’ve got some options. Auric Official is a solid unit, as it Auric Bully in our deck – nothing terribly exciting, but they’re fine to fill out our curve. The other thing I’m considering is the Curator’s Spear – not terribly exciting since we don’t have that many other relics (I’m sorry, Medibot Stations! I’m sorry!) but fine to trigger our Support. For me, it’s between 1 of the 2 units here, and I like taking the Auric Bully for curve purposes.
At this point, the ship has probably sailed on trying to play Stonescar, so I’m relegating the Fire Cards to the side. Depending on how the final build goes, I might still end up splashing Basher (I mean, it’s a good card. :P) but we’ll see.
P3P4:
It’s at this point I’m thinking, yeah I probably made the correct choice and read the signals well cause we have a number of options. We have 2 solid 2 drops in our factions in the Minotaur Grunt and Lethrai Target Caller, we have a Valkyrie Denouncer, which is a fantastic flier, and we have a Consuming Greed, which could certainly use a little help in getting there but would be great if we find another relic or 2. Why couldn’t these cards be a little more spread out? uWu Unfortunately, in Argenport I expect most of the relic support to come in Packs 1 and 4, and I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to find down the line considering I don’t quite have it yet. I did just pick up 2 2 drops, so I’m feeling slightly better about our whole curve situations. Taking into account what is probably the safest pick here, I elect to take the Denouncer. I would not fault anyone for going in a myriad of different ways, however.
P3P5:
I mean, that is an exceptionally late Biting Winds and Clan Standard, and if the Arbalest weren’t in the pack, I’d definitely consider picking up the Winds to splash – we have a Seek and a Bannerman, and could possibly find more down the line. However, Arbalest is a solid relic weapon, I think it works well with what I’ve got going on, and I’m happy to pick it up here over the Spear.
P3P6:
So this is the first pack since the opening where we’ve come up with literal zilch – not even any fixing for us to take here. I take a Torrent of Filth for the market since it could be nice to mow down some cheap fliers in some spots, but with no revenge or spell synergy, I’m certainly not excited to play it in any capacity.
P3P7:
Fortunately, we’re back to having some options again. Unmoored Valkyrie could be nice, but as I mentioned previously, we don’t really have any weapons to put on it at present to really take advantage of the Renown. Prickly Grenadin is a solid card in the right archetype: I just don’t think it’s this one. It’s an attachment, it’s sort of cheap removal, and it’s better than Curator’s Spear in most spots, so I don’t feel awful taking the Talon in this position. We are a little unit light heading towards the end of the pack, so that’s certainly something to keep in mind.
P3P8:
Who dislikes Stonescar Maul this much!? It’s honestly a solid card, and it’s kind of unfortunate that I can’t splash it. That being said, there’s nothing I really want to splash here – I don’t think Violent Gust is worth the splash – so I’m taking the Maul for the Stone.
P3P9:
**sigh** And it was going so well too. Not really, but let me be deluded in thinking that. I certainly don’t want another Torrent of Filth here, so I’m begrudgingly taking the Purgeleader, though I’m not particularly thrilled about it.
P3P10:
Again, not a unit I’m particularly excited to take since it has no synergy with what I’m doing, but I’ll take a Bouldergate Guard and hope to not have to play it. XDD
P3P11:
Nothing terribly exciting here either nor any particularly strong signals to read; I’m just taking Cartographer and moving on.
P3P12:
Huh. Ok, so that’s definitely not a card I expected to get last pick. I mean, I’ve preached on and on about how important fliers are in the format, and a 3 strength flier for 4 as a Valkyrie to boot is certainly nothing to scoff at. Not something I’m excited to play, but it would be fine in a pinch. Like I am now.
Okay, so unfortunately, that’s definitely not how I was hoping that pack was going to go – we got some solid early picks, but nothing terribly exciting, and the packs quickly dried up across the board. We got passed a lot of Violent Gusts, and whilst Wind Channeler is fine, I don’t necessarily take that as a signal that Primal was Open and we missed it – certainly there was the pack with both the Clan Standard and Biting Winds, but I didn’t see anything else that would particularly draw me to Primal like a Frostkin or Stik. Am I incorrect in reading these signals? Probably, but let me know. We need to get really lucky in this last pack for things to come together, but maybe it will.
P4P1:
Woohoo! Let’s just be very clear: there are a lot of solid options in this pack. We don’t have a Darkwater Vines yet, but a Shoaldredger is still fine even without that just as a big, beefy unit. Fluctuate Reality is also a solid splash if we had picked up that Biting Winds. Bastion Gatekeeper is also a solid 2 drop that we could definitely use. But my goodness, Deathwing is one of the top uncommons of the set, and it fits perfectly in our faction pairing. There is no way I’m not immediately snapping this up.
P4P2:
YASS. I mean, a Send to Market is pretty good, but I’m going to be incredibly hard-pressed to pass up a Silver Slicer – the card is fantastic, and I do think I have a high enough density of Valkyries to pull off the Valkyrie-Warp side of things. With more Relic Weapons now, I’m certainly also looking to pick a Drifting Drone later on, but this is too hard to pass up.
P4P3:
Anyone who says the pick isn’t Efficiency…we can’t be friends anymore. I’m sorry. Moving on.
P4P4:
Here, it’s a very straightforward Razorbot for me. I’m not looking to splash at this point so I don’t think I can take the Painting, and being conscious of my unit count, it just seems like the right call.
P4P5:
Here, I have an interesting toss-up with a 2nd Crack at an Overcharger should I want it, a 2nd Steyer’s Beckoning, or a Hookblade Infuser. Without market access, my ability to get the fate trigger is negligible at best, and with 2 other 6 cost fliers, that’s really not what I’m looking to pick up. The Overcharger would be solid particularly with Deathwing and Support, but for the sake of my unit count and Valkyrie-Warp synergies, taking the Beckoning here seems like the best choice.
P4P6:
Oh my god, seeing such a late Fluctuate Reality hurts my soul. The pain, the pain. On a serious note, as wild as it may be for me to pass yet another Send to Market (man this is wild), when I take a step back and look at the units I’m actually interested in playing, my unit count is not looking so hot, so I feel like I’m obliged to take the 3rd Peacekeeper here. Sorry Send. Punished for taking the Seat over the Auric Bully I guess. 😛
P4P7:
Huh. I guess Primal was open somehow, and I missed the memo? That’s a late Fluctuate followed by a late Overgrowth. Feel free to look back at my picks and tell me where I went wrong. In any case, seeing such a late Misstep is a gift, and I’m most certainly snapping that up.
P4P8:
I mean…the Send for the Reserves though. uWu Here however, I’m just taking the Raildriver and moving on with my life. Might even end up making the final cut, we shall see.
P4P9:
Nothing much here either, unfortunately. Once again, I’m taking the factionless card in the Snipe, but since I already have 1 copy, I doubt I’m playing it.
P4P10:
Gross. I’m taking the Stormhalt Warden on principle since it’s a unit, but I’m most certainly not playing it over my other options.
P4P11:
Well here’s our chance to take the Hookblade Infuser we passed on earlier. Still unsure if I’d like to play it over Arcanist or Purgeleader.
P4P12:
Lol.
Deck construction:
The deck ultimately didn’t end up being particularly difficult to put together because I didn’t have a lot of options in terms of what I could cut. :sweatsmile: 13 true units is a little low, but hopefully with the Steyer’s Beckonings and the Medibot Station that number can be shored up a bit. I don’t think it’s quite trainwreck territory, but given that I’m playing quite a few cards I’d rather not, it’s certainly quite close. Could I have taken some Medibot Stations more aggressively to solidify my position in Argenport? Should I have been a different faction pair altogether? Let me know.
[At the time of writing, I have not played any games with this deck yet. Hopefully I don’t go 0-3?]
Final thoughts + where to go to improve more!
I’m not going to lie, Constructed is still definitely much more my cup of tea, but with 2 more Draft Opens to go, I might have to keep my card-picking fingers well-oiled and ready to go. Who knows, I might even be able to make it to Masters in Draft again. O.o Now wouldn’t that be a hoot and a half?
If you’re looking to improve your knowledge of this format before Revelations comes out, here are some other resources for you to check out:
Eternal Journey Podcast: Episodes 106 and 107.
Farming Eternal Podcast: Episodes 93 and 94.
I would once again like to thank my awesome TEJ teammates for preparing all of us for this Open: could not have done it without you guys. :DDD If you want to chat more about my questionable opinions, you can always find me on Twitter @stormguard798, or lurking in the FE, TEJ and The Misplay discords. May you always get passed Martial Efficiencies; until next time. 😉
(Also, I swear the Expedition Weather Report is in the works – just be patient. It’s going to be good. XD)
Careful Considerations - Ramblings of an Aspiring Azorius Lawmage 