Magic: the Gathering - T: Add Three Mana Of Any One Colour To Your Mana Pool

[aldeayeah]

Jeskai, Jeskai everywhere

[Nihilm]

Jeskai, Jeskai everywhere

So not just me huh, still 5-1 5-0ing competitive with boros aggro, will anything stop this train.

[Deathhappens]

About Boros aggro: swap 1x Barging Sergeant (4R 4/2 Haste Mentor) for 1x Charging Monstersaur (4R 5/5 Haste Trample) Y/N? Keeping in mind I finally recently got two Swiftblade Vindicators, I'm reluctant.

Also, I've been hearing a lot of hate about Make a Stand recently, and I'm reconsidering running 3x of it. Would Sworn Companions be better?

[Nihilm]

Make a stand is a strong sideboard tech in boros, I think monstrasaur is all around stronger card than barging sergeant, with a single mentor trigger it is still only a 5/3

[Deathhappens]

Yeah, I made the switch. Haven't gotten to play it yet, but then I hardly ever played the Sergeant either.

On another note, OchranAssassinisfuckingbonkerswhydon'tmorepeoplepl aythiscardseriouslythatshit'sOP

not only does it read "if this attacks, just pick up any creature on the opponent's side and take it off the board" in most situations, it ALSO clears the room for you to swing with literally everything else you've got while your opponent's monsters cluster on the little guy.

[Nihilm]

well slow and dies to any removal is why it's not played, high risk high reward card

[Deathhappens]

1xPilfering Imp
1x Find//Finality
1xGlowspore Shaman
1xPlaguecrafter
1xSwarm Guildmage
2xGenerous Stray
2xHitchclaw Recluse
1xPack's Favor
1xSprouting Renewal
1xErstwhile Trooper
2xBartizan Bats
1xMoodmark Painter
1xCircuitous Route
1xUndercity Necrolisk
1xGolgari Raiders
2xRhizome Lurcher
1xGolgari Findbroker
1xLotleth Giant
1xMolderhulk

2xGolgari Guildgates, 8 Swamp 7 Forest

with this deck you'd think I'd finally be able to get some wins, but no, you get stomped by the draft pros over and over again, fuck you, git gud

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At least I got good cards for the constructed outside, and an Expansion/Explosion I've been looking for ages.

[aldeayeah]

You have zero removal except Finality, that's troublesome in a slow deck.

If you don't draw your Spiders, or if they get dealt with, you're likely to die to fliers/bombs.

Talking about slow - the curve is too high; you only have three turn 1-2 plays. In many games you will start playing 1 spell/turn starting on turn 3, and die to a simple curveout backed by removal/tricks.

And because you lack the cheap creatures, you don't even have a simple way to quickly fill your graveyard for Undergrowth.

Sorry if this sounds harsh.

In case of doubt, think about the typical Boros deck, which is probably the most format defining archetype. It will curve out in turns 1-3, then hold tricks/removal, then finish you off with fliers. Think about how your deck can race/stop it. Don't be afraid to splash a third color for removal or bombs - my slow/controlling decks are very often Grixis/Sultai/Jeskai.

The plan vs Boros: ideally you should deploy an early creature that trades with their early offense/forces them to spend a trick, repeat until you stop the ground offense, stabilize, then take over with expensive/bomby stuff and try to save the removal for fliers/bombs.

The crucial point is that Mentor is a snowball mechanic. What this means is that, unlike Dominaria draft* which didn't have that kind of mechanic, almost all decks need a healthy number of 1-2 drops in order to not just roll over and die

(*Not only that; Dominaria also had more cheap removal/bounce, and most 2 drops were mediocre attackers)

Disclaimer: I have an about even record in GRN draft, so it's not like I'm some sort of authority.

[Deathhappens]

That's what the Strays and the Spiders are there for, to stall. There just aren't a lot of 1 and 2 drops in my colors, period. Didn't have much luck with removal either- only saw one Dead Weight, which I had to ditch in favor of the Findbroker.
I could splash white to add 1x Hunted Witness and 1x Haazda Marshall I also picked, but I really don't feel it'd make enough of an impact to justify the risk.

EDIT: Not to sound ungrateful or unappreciative of the advice. I knew going in that drafting Golgari was gonna be a slow deck, but I underestimated just how many cheap W creatures there are for a Boros/monowhite/selesnya deck to casually toss out.

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And oddly enough, my 4th opponent is drafting GBU. What gives?

EDIT2: Apparently it was a Surveil deck with green splashed for Vigorspore Wurm. Fortunately, managed to end it on the turn he cast it via Lotleth Giant.

[Nihilm]

splashing a color while drafting one of the guilds is very easy, so if you find an off colour bomb you should splash it, IE finding march of the multitudes in pack 3 after drafting golgari

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Golgari is not that strong unless you are able to fill your graveyard fast, the reason it works well in constructed is partly because explore fills your graveyard for synergies if that is the half of the deck you draw.

In draft a strong golgari deck has a lot of removal and it's not a bad idea to splash blue for some of the better surveil cards.

EDIT: I know this based on experience of drafting golgari a couple of times, I had at some point what I considered an absolute insane golgari deck that was splashing white for trostani discordant. It worked fairly well, but ended up what I consider under performing(I think I got 4 or 5 wins), mostly due to my deck not having enough removal

[Deathhappens]

Well, I ended the series at 3 wins, considering at least one of my losses was pure luck (wiped his entire board but a just Convoked Flight of the Equenauts, had Molderhulk out that would strike for lethal,both of us topdecking, next 4 turns I drew lands and he kept finding creatures to chump me with), so I'll just call it good enough and move on. Maybe I'll try to throw an Unexplained Disappearance or something to surveil into the graveyard next time.

[aldeayeah]

March isn't the best example of an easy splash, being double white and all.

[Nihilm]

March isn't the best example of an easy splash, being double white and all.

It was the first card that came into my head, it's not the most splashable card unless you are mainly white.
Though in this set it's pretty easy to splash due to the gates.

[aldeayeah]

AAAAHHHH

I had this exhilarating GRN draft match in which I stabilized at 1, answered a bunch of bombs, entered a topdeck war, and was finally going to shut the door with a big Expansion // Explosion

and then I made the opponent draw by mistake

[Deathhappens]

If it helps, I had a perfect start against a Golgari Safari deck, reduced his hand to his last Tendershoot Dryad, and then played my Plaguecrafter on main 2 on an empty board
possibly I could've turned around, but I just shame-conceded at this point.

[Deathhappens]

Aaand I just got beaten by red/white control (enough red spot removal that I couldn't get a foothold on the board, then he flipped two Thaumatic Compasses in a row, all while topping up what damage I could do with 4x Fountain of Renewal).
In the end I just got finished off by an army of 1/1 soldiers created by that one "pay 2 to draw card when you get life/pay 3W to make a soldier token" enchantment, but he pretty much broke my spirit before that. Holy shit.

[Deathhappens]

UBR Pirates deck is go.

It's absolute jank and I love it. Only wish now is for Ixalan/Rivals to return to draft rotation so I can cherrypick the cards I need.

[aldeayeah]

3 x XLN draft was pretty miserable (unblockable 2-drops/railroad drafts: THE FORMAT), RIX/RIX/XLN was somewhat better.

They both had a big "die randomly to hexproof auras" problem.

[Deathhappens]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people in the closed beta disliked it, but it'll be something new for even more people who only just joined in the open beta (myself included).

[Deathhappens]

Boros in your face decklist

22x Creature:
3 Healer's Hawk
2 Sunhome Stalwart
2 Boros Challenger
1 Legion Guildmage
3 Swiftblade Vindicator
2 Skyknight Legionnaire
1 Legion Warboss
3 Tajic, Legion's Edge
2 Leonin Warleader
2 Truefire Captain
1 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice

1x Planeswalker:
1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

15x Sorcery/Instants/Enchantments:
3 Heroic Reinforcements
3 Make a Stand
2 Response // Resurgence
2 History of Benalia
2 Run Amok
2 Justice Strike
1 Cosmotronic Wave

23xLands:
10 Plains
1 Clifftop Retreat
8 Mountain
4 Boros Guildgate

Title says it all. 61 cards, one needs to leave. But which?