Iconic Masters is a bit of fresh air and boy am I glad it came around when it did. I was struggling with enthusiasm for Ixalan; it's probably my least favourite format since Battle for Zendikar. But Iconic Masters is a lot of fun and am very thankful for it.

Okay, so, when you read this draft, you will see I do something a bit silly in the early picks. I will explain my reasoning as I go along, but kids, don't try this at home.

THE DRAFT

Pack 1 pick 1:



My Pick:



Right, so I need to explain this pick. There is an infinite combo in Iconic Masters that involves two Bladewing the Risen s and a Dragon Tempest . Essentially, with Dragon Tempest on the battlefield and one Bladewing in the graveyard, you cast the second Bladewing (targeting the one on the graveyard) and can cause infinite damage to the opponent. That is why I picked Bladewing - I wanted to try and pull this off.



Pack 1 pick 2:



My Pick:



No Dragons here... the disciplined pick here was probably Search for Tomorrow or Lotus Cobra , but like I explained last week, I like to take payoff cards for archetypes early in these types of formats, and Inspiring Call is one of them.



Pack 1 pick 3:



My Pick:



Wow. Well, I now have two of the three components for the combo. Let's see if I can make this work. Again, the disciplined pick would have been Mind Stone .



Pack 1 pick 4:



My Pick:



No Dragons... Phyrexian Rager is a good value card though, and it can fit into a Dragons deck if I need it to, so I'm happy to pick it up.



Pack 1 pick 5:



My Pick:



Still no Dragons... at this point I'm beginning to think I'm not going to get there, but I haven't given up. I take Runed Servitor purely on the basis that it is colourless and I'm not sure what direction I am heading in at this stage.



Pack 1 pick 6:



My Pick:



This was a misclick - it was supposed to have been Reave Soul .



Pack 1 pick 7:



My Pick:



Still no dragons, and I'm now off trying to make that deck work. Looking at my picks, I have some black cards and a +1/+1 counter pay off. Knowing you can do that deck in black/green is what led me to take Crowned Ceratok , another pay off for that deck. I decided to see if I can make that deck work.



Pack 1 pick 8:



My Pick:



I'm going to be concentrating on +1/+1 counters, so Phantom Tiger is a perfect card for what I am looking to do.



Pack 1 pick 9:



My Pick:



This was a close choice between Dead Reveler and Chronicler of Heroes . At this point I decided to be brave and take the gold card, and see if I can splash it perhaps.



Pack 1 pick 10:



My Pick:



Duskdale Wurm is playable if I don't pick up enough synergy. I'm hoping not to have to play it, but it's a "just in case" pick. I could have also taken Virulent Swipe but, when in doubt, I sometimes hedge with the creature.



Pack 1 pick 11:



My Pick:



Infantry Veteran is a strong Magic card and seeing it here makes me wonder if white might be open, and that I could possibly switch one of the colours out and into that.



Pack 1 pick 12:



My Pick:



Disenchant is simply a sideboard card, and was better than everything else.



Pack 1 pick 13:



My Pick:



Well, here is a black pay-off card in Mer-Ek Nightblade . I'm now pretty sure I'm supposed to be in green/black.



Pack 1 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:



So, at this stage of the draft I am kind of all over the place. I think I'm green/black, and will need to focus in on drafting the best deck in those colours as possible, with an eye to maybe splashing white.



Pack 2 pick 1:



My Pick:



A second Phantom Tiger is exactly what I want here. Timberland Guide would also have been a fine pick up, but it is more likely to wheel than the Tiger.



Pack 2 pick 2:



My Pick:



Doom Blade is a premium removal spell (and, if you believe the memes, everything dies to it). There is also another Timberland Guide but I wasn't taking that over removal.



Pack 2 pick 3:



My Pick:



Greater Basilisk is not exactly what I wanted, but it does fill a spot on the curve. In hindsight it might have been better to take Eternal Thirst , but there is a good chance it wheels back anyway.



Pack 2 pick 4:



My Pick:



Ivy Elemental was an easy pick here. It was the only card my deck really cared about.



Pack 2 pick 5:



My Pick:



Again, an evasive curve filler. I'm not sure whether I should have taken it or Bala Ged Scorpion ; perhaps the latter was correct.



Pack 2 pick 6:



My Pick:



I'm quite happy to take a Timberland Guide now, keeping in mind I might get another two in a few picks time.



Pack 2 pick 7:



My Pick:



Manakin is okay; it hasn't been real impressive, but when it works it works.



Pack 2 pick 8:



My Pick:



I didn't want anything else in this pack, so Festering Newt it was.



Pack 2 pick 9:



My Pick:



Apart from Doom Blade, I hadn't picked up any removal as yet. It was possible I was going to have to use combat tricks as pseudo-removal spells, so I took Wildsize . I usually like cheap tricks (the band is pretty good as well) but the fact that this draws a card is good enough.



Pack 2 pick 10:



My Pick:



There is one of the Timberland Guide s I thought would come back, and it did.



Pack 2 pick 11:



My Pick:



I now Eternal Thirst came back, so I picked it up.



Pack 2 pick 12:



My Pick:



I took Duress purely for the sideboard; it's decent against blue/red spells.



Pack 2 pick 13:



My Pick:



I also ended up getting the Scorpion back!



Pack 2 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 15:



My Pick:



I have a Basilisk, and now I get Lure ... if that's not Iconic, I'm not sure what is!



Pack 3 pick 1:



My Pick:



I'm happy to take another Crowned Ceratok here. I did consider Enlarge as well; hopefully I get another chance to take it.



Pack 3 pick 2:



My Pick:



I must have been distracted or something during this pick to take Phyrexian Rager over either Grisly Spectacle or Inspiring Call . I honestly don't know what I was thinking.



Pack 3 pick 3:



My Pick:



Dead Reveler gets a +1/+1 counter, something I'm still lacking, so it gets the pick.



Pack 3 pick 4:



My Pick:



Another Mer-Ek Nightblade was a pretty simple pick here.



Pack 3 pick 5:



My Pick:



As was Ivy Elemental here. I already had two Nightblades and the ability doesn't stack, so I figured the Elemental was the better pick.



Pack 3 pick 6:



My Pick:



And now that I have two Elementals, I took Rakdos Drake . It has evasion and also +1/+1 counters, so it's a welcome pick up.



Pack 3 pick 7:



My Pick:



I'm happy to take as many creatures with +1/+1 counters as I can right now, so Dead Reveler it is.



Pack 3 pick 8:



My Pick:



Thrill-Kill Assassin was an easy pick for the same reason.



Pack 3 pick 9:



My Pick:



I'm actually not sure I'll end up playing this - it might make the cut, but without the Dragon synergy it is much weaker. The rest of the picks were:



Pack 3 pick 10:



My Pick:





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

I actually ended up with enough synergy that I'm pretty happy overall, though I think the deck feels quite weak. I think I'm going to be relying on Crowned Ceratok quite a bit.

THE MATCHES

I actually ended up going 2-1 in my matches, which surprised me as I didn't think the deck was good enough even for that record. I played against a blue/red spells deck which defeated 2-0, lost 0-2 to a white/blue tempo deck that killed me with Mahamoti Djinn , then defeated a blue/black mill deck 2-0. The combination of Crowned Ceratok and Mer-Ek Nightblade was brutal for my opponents, and in one game I was able to clear my opponent's board by using Enlarge with the combination out. The deck performed much better than I thought it would, though in the match against the white/blue opponent I felt pretty hopeless. Overall though, I was happy with the result.

FIRST PICK, FIRST PACK

Here is an Iconic Masters booster I opened on Magic Online. What would you take pack 1, pick 1?