Born of The Gods, Theros, Theros Booster Swiss Draft - Friday March 14th, 2014



Pack 1 pick 1:



Cards I considered in this pack: Pain Seer, Bolt of Keranos, Glimpse the Sun God, Spiteful Returned, and Retraction Helix. Pain Seer can be good, but he's not really a bomb. He's hard to get going if you don't have a way to tap him. Bolt is good and would cut red. I think I settled on the Archetype of Courage as it really can break open games. I like it best in White-Green huge fatties with first strike, or White-Black if you can get a lot of deathtouch. Black has lots of good cards in this pack, so unlikely black will be open in pack 2. Green on the other hand has no strong playables in this pack, so I'm already thinking WG will be what I'll try. I wonder what would have happened if I had taken Bolt. I don't think the Blue picks are strong enough for a first pick.

My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 2:



Sunbond and Griffin Dreamfinder are not strong white signals. Nyxborn Shieldmate is not a strong signal either, but it is the best white card in the pack. So for signal purposes really, I cut this off. In hindsight I wish I had taken the Nyxborn Wolf, although I was happy with the Shieldmate. If I had taken Bolt first pick, would likely have taken Thunder Brute, but would not be happy about passing Rise to the Challenge and Nyxborn Rollicker. I never seriously considered the Perplexing Chimera. I have had to play against it a few times, and it can be annoying. It's usually good in a control or stall type deck with which I have not had much luck.

My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 3:



I wanted the Sun Guide here as well, but I like Acolyte's Reward as it often nets you a two for one. Works especially well in the white heroic decks. Looks like blue is pretty open with Nullify and the Kraken still in the pack. Noble Quarry and Sphinx's Disciple are also very playable, and the black cards are both playable as well. I'm glad I'm not in red at this point though.

My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 4:



I don't particularly want either of the white cards in the pack - Plea is just not playable in limited (maybe if it was an instant or cost half as much). So I need to pick a second colour. I've passed a lot of good cards already, but I think green was the weakest of the colours I've passed. Not sure if this is the best way to pick your other colour...

My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 5:



The Oathsworn would have been ok, but I try to continue cutting white to the extent possible.

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Pack 1 pick 6:



Yes, I'll have another - thanks. Similar to logic in the last pick.

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Pack 1 pick 7:



I don't think the green and white cards are particularly playable. Best cards are Whelming Wave and Pinnacle of Rage - neither of which is splashable, but I'm not committed to green at this point. I really don't want to play against Kraken plus Wave, and it is a rare - so Wave it is.

My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 8:



I still think Skirmisher is better than Mortal's Ardor and definitely better than Hold at Bay. My rule of thumb, take the heroic creature over the trick.

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Pack 1 pick 9:



So maybe I'm going to be white/blue after all. 2-drops are super important in this format still.

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Pack 1 pick 10:



I'm not branching out into red at this point, and Dreamfinder, while not amazing can still see play sometimes. Sunbond is just too situational, and suffers from the usual 2-for-1 problem of non-bestow auras.

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Pack 1 pick 11:



Revoke is main deck playable in this format, but also great out of the sideboard if there is no room for it main deck.

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Pack 1 pick 12:



I think the rest of the picks in this pack speak for themselves...

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Pack 1 pick 13:



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Pack 1 pick 14:



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Pack 1 pick 15:



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Pack 2 pick 1:



I always want to have at least 1 Wingsteed Rider in my white heroic deck, but I think this was not the best pick. Heliod's Emissary is a better card in a vacuum, or I could have decided to go more heavily into blue-white and picked up the Daxos. Either of those would have been better picks, but still I was never sad to see the Rider in my hand.

My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 2:



Ok, I'm happy I didn't go the blue direction. The Bow can be such a game changer. All my attackers having deathtouch, and if I also have the Archetype down - first strike - pretty solid synergy. Plus the Bows abilities are almost always useful - gaining life to hang in there, putting counters on guys to make them bigger, or pinging those low toughness flyers. This was a pretty easy pick and solidified green as my second colour. I didn't really look at much else in the pack.

My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 3:



Time to feed triggers heroic and is useful removal. Since I've decided on green, and there really aren't any great white cards in the pack this is pretty straight-forward. I could have taken the Voyaging Satyr which is also a solid pick here.

My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 4:



With 3 Elite Skirmisher's and the Archetype, I really wanted at least one Cavalry Pegasus - I was hoping for two. I wouldn't mind a second Time to Feed, but the pegasus could just win me some games.

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Pack 2 pick 5:



Bestow creatures are good in the white heroic deck. Observant Alseid is my second favourite white common bestow creature from Theros, but still very playable.

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Pack 2 pick 6:



It's a human.

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Pack 2 pick 7:



Solid pick-up - a tremendously useful card as it protects against removal and bounce - the bane of the heroic deck type.

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Pack 2 pick 8:



Tempted to take Chained to the Rocks - premium removal if you're red as a primary colour. But two-drops are important as I said before. Snarecaster is pretty likely to make the cut.

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Pack 2 pick 9:



Solid sideboard card against flyers - came in very handy in round 3.

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Pack 2 pick 10:



Scholar is white and human - might make the cut even if I can't activate her ability.

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Pack 2 pick 11:



It's on colour and it tabled - a good sign.

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Pack 2 pick 12:



I think the rest of the picks in this pack are self-explanatory.

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Pack 2 pick 13:



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Pack 2 pick 14:



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Pack 2 pick 15:



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Pack 3 pick 1:



Not an exciting pack for me. At 8 mana, Ashen Rider is just too expensive for what it is/does in this format. Ordeal and Griptide are both better first picks in general, but I'm happy with the Leafcrown Dryad. In pack 3 I stop worrying about cutting and signals obviously.

My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 2:



Maybe I'm in the wrong colours... Strange how packs in this format seem to be like this sometimes.

My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 3:



Redeemed for my earlier Wingsteed Rider pick - I get an Emissary anyway. Very happy about this pick. Made a mental note about Sea God's Revenge - have to remember to play around this card (as much as you can). Now we've seen at least 2 of them go by.

My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 4:



I think Leafcrown would have been a better pick here - bestow is one cheaper and reach is often more useful than vigilance. Also sad to pass the Sedge Scorpion which is a good early blocker and has synergy with the Time to Feed and Archetype of Courage.

My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 5:



Courser is a solid 3-drop. I like the Vulpine Goliath as a curve topper, but I think the Courser gets more work done in my deck.

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Pack 3 pick 6:



Divine Verdict would also have been an option, but the Chronicler has a lot of synergy with the deck - I suspect we'll be drawing a card fairly often with it, and a 3/3 for 3 is also just fine.

My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 7:



This was close between the Scorpion and the Feral Invocation. In the end, I wanted more early game, and as I mentioned above it works ok with Time to Feed in a pinch.

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Pack 3 pick 8:



Speak of the devil - I don't mind picking up a second one of these at all. Sort of wishing I had gone the red route at this point. Too late by pack 3 to switch.

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Pack 3 pick 9:



Maybe should have picked up the Amulet here - could have played 16 land plus Amulet. Last Breath I sometimes bring in out of the sideboard if I see targets, but there are not a ton of things in this format that you care about that you can hit with this card (but there are some).

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Pack 3 pick 10:



See above...

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Pack 3 pick 11:



And the rest is just cleaning up - nothing for us to play so just pick the best card left...

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Pack 3 pick 12:



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Pack 3 pick 13:



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Pack 3 pick 14:



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Pack 3 pick 15:



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So my deck ended up looking like:

Creatures (17):



Spells (6):



Lands (17):

11x , 6x



I probably could have run 16 lands as it tops out at 5 mana with the bestow costs for Observant Alseid. One assumes that you're not bestowing the Heliod's Emissary in most cases. With only 4 heroic creatures, the deck is not relying on heroic. The deck wins by building a big creature and sneaking it through by tapping their best blockers, or by making the blocks unfavourable due to first strike and deathtouch, or flying over via Cavalry Pegasus. Another way to win is being aggressive early and then out-creaturing them for the last few points or, sometimes a huge Wingsteed Rider can win all on its own.



Matches:



Round 1 vs. Green-Blue:

Game 1 (win) - We stalled out pretty early - he had a big reach creature to block my team of human flyers as I had Cavalry Pegasus on the board. He played Perplexing Chimera and swapped it for my Heliod's Emissary, which was wise as it would have allowed me to tap the reach guy and swing for the win. He made a small mistake in casting Time to Feed to kill my Elite Skirmisher instead of the Pegasus (he had a lot of fat on the ground to block ground creatures, but only one reach creature). I held on to the Perplexing Chimera as I suspected he had Sea God's Revenge in hand. Finally drew the Revoke Existence to kill his Leafcrown Dryad and swing for exact damage. I did not make any sideboard changes.

Game 2 (win) - He got off to a quick start getting me quite low on life. I drew the Archetype and Bow in both games (a little lucky) and after he misplayed and attacked with his Noble Quarry enchanted Swordwise Centaur into my Archetype of Courage with an untapped Bow on the field with the mana to activate it - he conceded the game.



Round 2 vs. Black-White:

Game 1 (win) - he mulliganed to 6 cards and never drew the lands to really get into the game. He did show me Herald of Torment.

Game 2 (lose) - he had an aggressive draw and I was not able to stabilize.

Game 3 (win) - he got another aggressive start, but I was able to stabilize with some trades and then I drew more threats than he could deal with.



Round 3 vs. Blue-White:

Game 1 (lose) - We had a long board stall and he dropped Medomai the Ageless and proceeded to prove to me that the card is good! I boarded in Skyreaping, dropping a Philosopher if I remember correctly.

Game 2 (win) - Let him get in a few hits with a tribute paid Siren of the Fanged Coast even though I had Skyreaping in hand as I was saving it for Medomai. Eventually killed the Siren with an Acolyte's Reward trick I think, and was happy that I saved the Skyreaping as I used it to kill Medomai when he played it that turn.

Game 3 (win) - He conceded as his clock was down to a few seconds left. I liked my board state better than his at the end, but who knows how it would have gone.



I think I would rate this deck about a 7/10 even though I did win. It was pretty fragile with key pieces that were susceptible to bounce or removal. Would you have drafted or built this differently? Love to hear your thoughts.