Fifty draft articles! I have to admit, as much as I love drafting, I wasn't sure I'd ever get this far with this series. Thank you, readers, for helping me get here!

Anyway, on with the draft!

THE DRAFT

Pack 1 pick 1:



My Pick:



There were several cards in this pack that I would have been happy taking: Ancient Tomb for fast mana; Sneak Attack as the core of a deck; Mox Ruby as, well, it's a Mox!; and Elvish Mystic for green ramp. I ruled out the Mystic as I drafted green for the last article, and I almost took Sneak Attack, but it's hard to go past a Mox so I took the Ruby.



Pack 1 pick 2:



My Pick:



Another pack with a few cards I would be happy taking early: Rakdos Signet for ramp; Swords to Plowshares as A+ removal; Bribery for how strong the card is (especially against certain strategies, like ramp, Eldrazi and reanimator); Lightning Strike to maybe move into red; and Sylvan Caryatid for the green ramp deck. While it was likely the weakest of the choices, I decided to take Lightning Strike. Being that I knew that this was a milestone article, and being that it should be well established by now that I am a mono-red mage, I decided to see if I could force the red deck.



Pack 1 pick 3:



My Pick:



Having made up my mind to force red, I get a Zurgo Bellstriker or Young Pyromancer to choose from. I took Zurgo, simply due to his mana cost being lower.



Pack 1 pick 4:



My Pick:



This pick was a toss up between Smuggler's Copter and Flametongue Kavu . If you get enough creatures, Copter is great, but mono red decks do sometimes end up with a lot of burn spells instead. This led me to choose Kavu.



Pack 1 pick 5:



My Pick:



In hindsight, this pick should probably have been Hazoret the Fervent . But I took Umezawa's Jitte for it's sheer power; with all the exile and steal affects in the cube I thought Hazoret might not be as strong as it looked.



Pack 1 pick 6:



My Pick:



I'm not sure if Bonfire of the Damned or Fire/Ice was the correct pick here, but I went with Bonfire.



Pack 1 pick 7:



My Pick:



Fiery Confluence is a strong card, but you often want to go as low to the ground as possible with the mono red decks. Besides, how could I pass my favourite card of all time? I took Lightning Bolt .



Pack 1 pick 8:



My Pick:



In my opinion, Hellrider is one of the key cards for mono red (as well as (Sufuric Vortex)). It was an easy pick over Dualcaster Mage .



Pack 1 pick 9:



My Pick:



I didn't want Sweltering Suns for obvious reasons, though I'm not fond of Hangarback Walker in a deck like this either. Still, Hangarback was the better choice.



Pack 1 pick 10:



My Pick:



Avalanche Riders was really the only choice here.



Pack 1 pick 11:



My Pick:



I took Sword of Fire and Ice , though I did consider Ral Zarek . I have noticed that I haven't been able to get many cheap creatures yet, and the mono red plan might not work. But I stuck with the plan and took the Sword.



Pack 1 pick 12:



My Pick:



I'm forced to take a second Sword now, this time Sword of War and Peace . It's likely that if I play one Sword in the deck it will be Fire and Ice, but this could be good against white decks.



Pack 1 pick 13:



My Pick:



I'm glad Hazoret the Fervent came back. Hopefully I'll get a chance to use it to see if it's any good.



Pack 1 pick 14:



My Pick:



Sword of Light and Shadow gives me a third Sword, something I don't really want, but I'm not taking Adanto Vanguard so it is what it is.



Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 1:



My Pick:



If I had have taken Ral Zarek earlier I would have taken Time Walk here for sure. Instead, I took the unexciting but good burn spell in Incinerate .



Pack 2 pick 2:



My Pick:



Well, this pack is not what I really want. Chandra, Flamecaller was really the only pick, and yet I'm hoping not to play it if possible. There does exist a "big red" deck in this cube and if I end up there Chandra will likely make the cut, but I really want to go low to the ground.



Pack 2 pick 3:



My Pick:



I took Searing Spear here but it was actually close between it and Ancient Grudge . There are so many good artifacts in the cube that artifact removal is very important. Here's hoping it comes back.



Pack 2 pick 4:



My Pick:



Harsh Mentor was really the only pick here. Desperate Ritual is not for my deck.



Pack 2 pick 5:



My Pick:



Aggressive one-drops are quite important for mono red, so Falkenrath Gorger was a welcome sight. It's only the second one-drop I've managed to pick up, which has me a bit worried.



Pack 2 pick 6:



My Pick:



I'm pretty happy to pick up Chandra, Torch of Defiance . It gives me a bit more reach and can help close a game out. I normally would like to take Wasteland as well but it really looks like I'm not going to be a low-curve deck at this stage, so don't want to waste lands.



Pack 2 pick 7:



My Pick:



Daretti, Scrap Savant is really not a card I want for my deck, but that doesn't leave any other red cards. Boros Charm is the next best thing - I'm normally hesitant to splash a colour in this type of deck, but I might need to.



Pack 2 pick 8:



My Pick:



It's starting to look like I'm moving towards the big red deck, with Thundermaw Hellkite the pick up here.



Pack 2 pick 9:



My Pick:



Magus of the Moon is sometimes good, often times mediocre. Still, I'm not taking any of the other cards here.



Pack 2 pick 10:



My Pick:



I won't be playing Rite of Flame , but I won't be playing any of the other cards either.



Pack 2 pick 11:



My Pick:



I'm pretty happy to get Ancient Grudge back. It's likely to be an important card in certain match ups.



Pack 2 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 15:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 1:



My Pick:



To be honest, I completely missed Mana Vault when drafting, and am surprised now that I see it here. If I had have seen it, it would easily have been the pick, allowing me to ramp into the bigger red cards I had so far drafted. But because it looks like I need glasses, I took Exquisite Firecraft .



Pack 3 pick 2:



My Pick:



A second Mox? Don't mind if I do! Even though Mox Pearl is off colour, it is well worth picking up. Plus, I had picked Boros Charm and Lightning Helix earlier, so this might help if I need to splash them.



Pack 3 pick 3:



My Pick:



Both Rift Bolt and Goblin Guide were fine picks here. I took Goblin Guide simply because I needed much more low-mana creatures.



Pack 3 pick 4:



My Pick:



I love Fireblast . Being able to deal 4 damage out of nowhere, when tapped out, is great. And I love how much it annoys my opponents.



Pack 3 pick 5:



My Pick:



Another one drop, so Jackal Pup was easily the pick.



Pack 3 pick 6:



My Pick:



Shrine of Burning Rage is an important card for mono red, and I was glad to take it here.



Pack 3 pick 7:



My Pick:



This was a tough pick. Grim Lavamancer is a solid source of repeatable damage, but it dies to just about everything in the cube. Chain Lightning , on the other hand, is just an efficient burn spell. In the end I took Chain Lightning, but it's possible Lavamancer was the correct choice.



Pack 3 pick 8:



My Pick:



I've played a bunch of drafts since the cube came back, and storm has been much more common than other times. Eidolon of the Great Revel is a card that just shuts that deck down, so I was quite happy to pick it up.



Pack 3 pick 9:



My Pick:



My fourth Sword. Again I'm likely only to play the one (Fire and Ice), but I guess I can sideboard depending on what my opponents are playing.



Pack 3 pick 10:



My Pick:



I've been able to lower the curve a little with this pack, so I'm happy to include Strip Mine . I'm also at the point that I shouldn't need to splash white, so I can afford a non-coloured mana source.



Pack 3 pick 11:



My Pick:



Rift Bolt came back, and I am happy.



Pack 3 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:



THE DECK

I'm not in love with this deck. It's missing the better one and two mana creatures and, while it's got the burn spells, it's missing Sulfuric Vortex . Hellrider is less good without the creatures, and the deck is heavy at four mana; normally I only like to play sixteen mana sources in a mono red deck, but I am having to play seventeen (and one of them is Strip Mine). I'll be happy if it takes me to a 2-1 result, but I have certainly had better versions of this deck.

RESULTS

Much to my surprise, I went 3-0 with this deck (6-2 in games), earning me my first trophy of this version of Vintage Cube after eight drafts. I faced a Planeswalker/Control/Artifact deck, a Reanimator deck and a White Weenie deck, with all of them being tight games with the exception of the White Weenie one, where I curved out beautifully and won pretty easily.

To be fair, the Artifact opponent should have won; they missed having lethal in game one when they had five artifacts on the board and Tezzeret the Seeker whom they could have ultimated to win. I also did one of the dumbest things I have done in Magic in game 2 against that opponent: they were on 2 life, I was on 1. I had Eidolon of the Great Revel in play; I drew Mox Ruby and stupidly played it, killing myself in the process. It was a match I certainly didn't deserve to win!

As far as how the deck performed, it went better than expected. Hazoret the Fervent won me a couple of games, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance was very valuable. Harsh Mentor didn't achieve anything, nor did Magus of the Moon . Sadly, I never got to cast Hellrider .

Thanks for joining me. Until next week, you can get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter.

FIRST PICK, FIRST PACK

Vintage Cube - what would you take with your first pick?