The Amonkhet draft format is still proving to be very interesting to me. I'm enjoying drafting solid decks, but I'm also at the point now where I'm happy to try some of the more unique builds possible in the format to see how far they can be pushed. This draft is one of those decks, with me ending up with SIX copies of one card in the deck!

THE DRAFT

PICKS

Pack 1 pick 1:



My Pick:



As always I like to start with just the best card in the pack, which I identified as either Trueheart Duelist or Emberhorn Minotaur. Dusk to Dawn is powerful, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. I decided to take Trueheart Duelist as it is lower cost than the Minotaur.



Pack 1 pick 2:



My Pick:



Pathmaker Initiate, Bitterblade Warrior and Decimator Beetle were the three best cards here, but while others like black/green, I am not as much of a fan. I decided to take Bitterblade Warrior as I think it's better than Pathmaker Initiate.



Pack 1 pick 3:



My Pick:



Merciless Javelineer is probably the best card in this pack and if I had have already taken a black or red card, I would have taken it here. Instead, I was looking at either Devoted Crop-Mate or Impeccable Timing. I went with the creature over what is a mediocre removal spell.



Pack 1 pick 4:



My Pick:



I had so far taken three white cards, but wasn't interested in Supply Caravan. Instead, I looked at Bloodlust Inciter, Blighted Bat or Naga Vitalist. I ruled out the vitalist, even though I do like it, as I was shaping up to be an aggressive deck. I took Bloodlust Inciter to stay open.



Pack 1 pick 5:



My Pick:



Rhonas's Monument is good in a beatdown deck with lots of creatures plus it's colourless, so is a good choice generally.



Pack 1 pick 6:



My Pick:



This was a pick that was kind of a nothing pick, in that there were no good spells I wanted. Instead, I took Irrigated Farmland as it was looking like I was going to be white, and the cycling lands are fine even if you are just one of the two colours.



Pack 1 pick 7:



My Pick:



Being in white, there was no way I was letting a seventh pick Cartouche of Solidarity go by. This card is great, like most of the Cartouches, and I was very happy to get it here.



Pack 1 pick 8:



My Pick:



And here's where things got interesting. I haven't drafted the Slither Blade deck yet (nor played against yet), and an eighth pick Slither Blade with nothing else in the pack was tempting. I was certainly in white, but still hadn't decided my second colour, so moving to blue would be easy. Plus, in my mind I knew I had opened one in my first pack, so there was a real chance of picking up two in a row and drafting the hyper aggressive white/blue deck. I decided to try it.



Pack 1 pick 9:



My Pick:



And then got the second one. White/blue aggro it is!





Pack 1 pick 10:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 11:



My Pick:



Honed Kopesh is good in some decks and bad in others. In the Slither Blade deck, it should be good, though you don't want too many.



Pack 1 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 1:



My Pick:



With a plan in mind, I now want to draft one and two drops and attempt to run a deck of 15 land if possible. With that in mind, this pick came down to Cartouche of Solidarity or Tah-Crop Skirmisher. While not the most powerful cards in the pack, I'm willing to sacrifice power for consistency here. The Cartouche is likely the better card, so I took it.



Pack 2 pick 2:



My Pick:



This pick came down to In Oketra's Name or Tah-Crop Elite. I took the creature, hoping that the mass pump spell would wheel and I could get it later.



Pack 2 pick 3:



My Pick:



I'm actually not sure if this was the correct pick, but it does have synergy with the token creatures from the Cartouches.



Pack 2 pick 4:



My Pick:



Slither Blade number 3. While the Tah-Crop Elite is a much better card, I was wary of having too many expensive cards in the deck.





Pack 2 pick 5:



My Pick:



A nothing pick, but Forsake the Worldly is a fine sideboard card and, because of cycling, can be main decked if needed.



Pack 2 pick 6:



My Pick:



Start to Finish has good synergy with Tah-Crop Elite and (hopefully) In Oketra's Name, so I took it.



Pack 2 pick 7:



My Pick:



Sacred Cat is a one drop, it also comes back when it dies, and it makes the deck.





Pack 2 pick 8:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 9:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 10:



My Pick:



I was really hoping this wheeled, and thankfully, I got what I wished for.



Pack 2 pick 11:



My Pick:



This might make the cut; I like combat tricks in an aggro deck, though the flying part doesn't really help the Slither Blades.



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:



With the amount of 1 and 2 drops I was going to have, this card could have a lot of targets to pick from.



Pack 3 pick 2:



My Pick:



Cartouche or Slither Blade... I went with the Slither Blade as the safer choice, mainly as I was aware I actually needed more creatures at this point.





Pack 3 pick 3:



My Pick:



Sigh, fine, I'll take another Slither Blade.



Pack 3 pick 4:



My Pick:



Again, the flying part of this card is not really what I want on a Slither Blade, but drawing a card could prove very useful.



Pack 3 pick 5:



My Pick:



Another Honed Khopesh was not required at this point, and Those Who Serve is not what I was looking to do, so I took Essence Scatter.





Pack 3 pick 6:



My Pick:



Not sure if I'll play this copy of Tah-Crop Elite, but it is a strong card...



Pack 3 pick 7:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 8:



My Pick:



Number six!





Pack 3 pick 9:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 10:



My Pick:



Wow. I think I'm drafting a good version of this deck, if the deck is actually good enough is another matter.





Pack 3 pick 11:



My Pick:





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

Well, I got my wish with trying this deck, and with six Slither Blades (the same number as one of the 3-0 Pro Tour decks) I'm reasonably happy. Let's see how it goes!

THE MATCHES

Match 1

I start by mulliganing a hand of 5 land and then proceed to play three creatures by turn 2. My opponent is on black green. Thankfully I get off to a flying start, playing two Slither Blades and a Sacred Cat by turn 2. My opponent is unable to find any answers and, despite holding me up with an Edifice of Authority , I took game 1 easily.

Game 2 took a little longer, with them having blockers for my Devoted Crop-Mates. I eventually draw a couple of Slither Blades and with the help of Honed Khopesh, am able to take the game and match.

Match 2

This opponent is on red green and all three games we played were very one sided. Game 1 went my way, with my opponents first play being Scaled Behemoth - by this stage they were pretty much already dead.

The second game went to my opponent - I dumped my hand early, only to have them cast Sweltering Suns to clear the board. I couldn't recover and died soon after.

Game three also went to my opponent due to some mana issues for me; I kept an opening hand of two Islands, two Slither Blades, Essence Scatter and two white cards. Unfortunately I then drew a bunch of white spells and no Plains, and my opponents Scaled Behemoth and Shefet Monitor crushed me.

Match 3

This opponent was on some sort of five colour special by the looks of things. In game 1, they played an early Ruthless Sniper and were able to shoot down my early creatures. I stabilised somewhat, but then they played Rags/Riches and that was the end of that story.

In the second game, I played out two Slither Blades and a Trueheart Duelist enchanted with Cartouche of Knowledge. By my turn 4, my opponent had not played a single creature so I guessed they had Rags to Riches in hand again. I was correct; they tapped out to play it on their turn. However, I had held up mana for In Oketra's Name and used it to save my creatures - I can only imagine how disgusted my opponent was as they conceded on the spot.

I took a different approach in game 3; I had not seen any spot removal from my opponent so, rather than go wide, I went into full Voltron mode, building up a single Slither Blade with a Cartouche of Solidarity and two Honed Khopeshes. My opponent eventually played Final Reward on it, but I'd held another Slither Blade in my hand as insurance and did the same to it. My opponent did not have another answer and I took the match.

CONCLUSION

I finished 2-1 and, had it not been for a spot of bad luck in game 3 of the second match, it could well have been 3-0. The white/blue aggro deck is certainly a real deck, but I will caution that it is certainly a deck you have to be wary of playing; if you force it and someone else has the same idea, you will be in for a bad time. Still, if you manage to fall into it like I did, it can work!

That's all for this week, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I look forward to your feedback in the comments or on Twitter and Facebook.