I wanted to post some examples of how I pick cards and build decks during a draft. I know this makes more sense in video form but it's not easy for me to record right now and I think some folks might even prefer the easily digestible form of an article rather than a 20 min video. At the very least, it'll compliment the other draft video content that my fellow players are making.

This first draft is an Esperian deck that presented me with some interesting decision points along the way. Check it out.

Drafting

Pack 1

There's nothing in this pack that I'm really excited to pick. The stats on Sparkweaver Acolyte are not impressive and it's not easy to draft a deck where you can guarantee triggers for it every turn. The Solbind cost on Forge Guardian Delta is too high to justify the above average stats. War Tinker has the potential to fetch above level robots from your deck but it's still not a very exciting effect. Esperian Steelplate can generate some good value on the right board but is pretty situational. Rootforged Avatar requires your deck to be almost entirely Uterra in order to get it above average. Patron of Tarsus also requires a heavy commitment to Nekrium, although not as much as Rootforged Avatar. Before the last rebalance, Patron had good vanilla stats, which meant you could run it without forcing Nekrium too much and be happy with just the body. Now, with below average stats at every level, you need to get the trigger for it to be worth playing. Nekrium has gotten better in the new card pool but it's still a risk to try to make it work. For me the choice is between Patron of Tarsus building mono-Nekrium control, or Esperian Steelplate building AU aggro-pump.



Pick: Esperian Steelplate

Sparkweaver Acolyte Sparkweaver Acolyte

Forge Guardian Delta Forge Guardian Delta

War Tinker War Tinker

Esperian Steelplate Esperian Steelplate

Rootforged Avatar Rootforged Avatar

Patron of Tarsus Patron of Tarsus Spiritforge Sentinel is really the only pick. I need to be in AU for the Steelplate's Allied ability.



Pick: Spiritforge Sentinel

Spiritforge Sentinel Spiritforge Sentinel

Cavern Slime Cavern Slime

Blood Bindings Blood Bindings

Shatterbolt Shatterbolt

Hunting Pack Hunting Pack Three mediocre creatures and a Deepbranch Prowler. Prowler works in aggro decks as early pressure and late game decks as a way to balance out weak early game bodies like Tech Explorer and Technognome. In an aggro deck, it also has great synergy with the healing from Steelplate since it usually survives the first block.



Pick: Deepbranch Prowler

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Stasis Warden Stasis Warden

Spark Bot Spark Bot

Metamind Adept Metamind Adept Cypien Infiltrator has good stats at every level and AU has the most options for activating its Breakthrough ability. I really like it as a finisher. I could take another prowler but I'd rather play an aggro-pump deck than a straight Big Dumb Animals (BDA) rush if I can.



Pick: Cypien Infiltrator

Cypien Infiltrator Cypien Infiltrator

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Metatransfer Metatransfer Neither of these are great cards for me. Tundra Watcher gives me a big level 1 body, so I'll take that.



Pick: Tundra Watcher

Tundra Watcher Tundra Watcher

Glowhive Siren Glowhive Siren





Pack 2

Not a great pack. None of these creatures help me with my aggressive game plan. Whispers of Dendris can be a nice underdrop , though.



Pick: Whispers of Dendris

Spiritforge Sentinel Spiritforge Sentinel

Cypien Steelgraft Cypien Steelgraft

Whispers of Dendris Whispers of Dendris

Deepmoss Raptor Deepmoss Raptor

Verdant Sphere Verdant Sphere

Battletech Inventor Battletech Inventor I could get Aetherguard if I wanted to try to build an invincible monster but I still don't have any of the spells to support that type of deck. Steelskin Spelunker and Toorgmai Mender are both solid combat tricks.



Pick: Steelskin Spelunker

Toorgmai Mender Toorgmai Mender

Ether Hounds Ether Hounds

Steelskin Spelunker Steelskin Spelunker

Aetherguard Aetherguard

Mind Breaker Mind Breaker If I were trying to build a leveling deck I might take the Technognome here, but I'm not a fan of the late game AU decks. I'd rather stay on the aggro plan and take another Prowler.



Pick: Deepbranch Prowler

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Technognome Technognome

Spiritbloom Dryad Spiritbloom Dryad

Anatomize Anatomize Barrier Soldier looks primarily like a defensive card but it can also be very useful in aggro decks. It lets you avoid blocking your opponent's creatures to push damage in other lanes. Against aggro decks, it can be just enough to turn a race in your favor.

Nexus Bubble seems like a strong card but it rarely ends up working out. Whenever I play against it, I usually ignore whatever gets put in the center lane and focus on being aggressive on other areas of the board. The fact that it only affecfts Alloyin creatures really limits its use.



Pick: Barrier Soldier

Spiritforge Sentinel Spiritforge Sentinel

Nexus Bubble Nexus Bubble

Barrier Soldier Barrier Soldier Two lousy cards. I'm more likely to get some use out of Blood Barrier but it's still a card I probably won't play.



Pick: Blood Barrier

Gemheart Sprout Gemheart Sprout

Blood Barrier Blood Barrier





Pack 3

This is a tough pack. I still plan on picking up some pump spells like Blood Boon and Ursine Strength Death Current



Pick: Torrent Soldier

Aetherphage Aetherphage

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Barrier Soldier Barrier Soldier

Spiritforge Sentinel Spiritforge Sentinel

Torrent Soldier Torrent Soldier

Blood Barrier Blood Barrier I'm given the same choice again and this time take the Deepbranch Prowler. I don't mind having free Spore Torrents



Pick: Deepbranch Prowler

Perilous Insight Perilous Insight

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Verdant Sphere Verdant Sphere

Cavern Serpent Cavern Serpent

Torrent Soldier Torrent Soldier Only one mediocre robot right now but Flowsteel Carrier has more potential than Battletech Inventor.



Pick: Flowsteel Carrier

Soothing Radiance Soothing Radiance

Flowsteel Carrier Flowsteel Carrier

Battletech Inventor Battletech Inventor

Anatomize Anatomize I'm pretty light on spells so I don't mind picking up a Tangle. Mobility is still very good and Tangle can really save your butt. Featherfang is a fine body but it's replaceable.



Pick: Tangle

Tangle Tangle

Cypien Steelgraft Cypien Steelgraft

Featherfang Featherfang I have mixed feelings about Nexus Pilot. It can put on a lot of pressure under the right circumstances, but it can also be very restrictive. The thing to remember about all of the lane dependent effects is that they do much better in offensive decks. Defensive decks need to be able to respond to their opponent's plays, which means playing blockers in lanes where the biggest threats are. Nexus Pilot (and also Zombie Titan



Pick: Nexus Pilot

Nexus Pilot Nexus Pilot

Whispers of Dendris Whispers of Dendris





Pack 4

Nothing special here. Stouthide Stegadon has good synergy with pump spells when drawn at the right time. Which reminds me, I still haven't seen any of the pump spells I want. Ursine Strength Blood Boon



Pick: Stouthide Stegadon

Perilous Insight Perilous Insight

Stouthide Stegadon Stouthide Stegadon

Cypien Steelgraft Cypien Steelgraft

Forge Guardian Alpha Forge Guardian Alpha

Aetherguard Aetherguard

Blood Barrier Blood Barrier AU aggro's biggest weakness is an inability to push damage late in the game, which makes creatures like Skyknight Glider all the more valuable. It has decent stats at all levels and is great at closing out games. Palladium Waves is an underdrop spell that I really like in late game decks but not here.



Pick: Skyknight Glider

Tangle Tangle

Palladium Wave Palladium Wave

Blood Barrier Blood Barrier

Torrent Soldier Torrent Soldier

Skyknight Glider Skyknight Glider Another legendary! Another...unplayable legendary. Dream Tree has a hard time doing anything relavent in draft decks, especially in AU. There really aren't any efficient ways to do damage to it. Blocking low power creatures gets you a free play (until your opponent overwrites it) but Dream Tree doesn't really do anything to affect the board so it's not much different from just playing two cards for the turn. The other cards aren't that exciting either but at least Tuskin Grovekeeper has a good sized level 1 body. That's better for what my deck is trying to do. So...I have no idea why I actually picked Technognome here, but that's what my screenshot said.



Pick: Technognome

Tuskin Grovekeeper Tuskin Grovekeeper

Dream Tree Dream Tree

Technognome Technognome

Verdant Sphere Verdant Sphere There's a pump spell. Ideally, I want 3-5 pump spells like this in an aggro deck. They are really great at keeping up the pressure in rank 2 once you've used your big level 1 bodies to gain an advantage.



Pick: Ursine Strength

Hunting Pack Hunting Pack

Metamind Adept Metamind Adept

Ursine Strength Ursine Strength I will not be fooled again. This time it is definitely Nexus Pilot.



Pick: Nexus Pilot

Nexus Pilot Nexus Pilot

Technognome Technognome





Pack 5

Warcharger is not the most threatening creature but it has solid stats at all levels and gives a little bit more mobility for the late game reach.



Pick: Ionic Warcharger

Metamind Adept Metamind Adept

Metatransfer Metatransfer

Deepmoss Raptor Deepmoss Raptor

Spark Bot Spark Bot

Steelskin Spelunker Steelskin Spelunker

Ionic Warcharger Ionic Warcharger Nothing great here. I'd rather have the high attack stats on Featherfang than the middle-of-the-road stats on Spark Bot.



Pick: Featherfang

Tuskin Grovekeeper Tuskin Grovekeeper

Featherfang Featherfang

Gemheart Sprout Gemheart Sprout

Spark Bot Spark Bot

Oreian Peacekeeper Oreian Peacekeeper Another filler creature, although it does have some decent synergy with pump spells (if I were able to actually pick any).



Pick: Cavern Hydra

Gemheart Sprout Gemheart Sprout

Cavern Hydra Cavern Hydra

Blood Barrier Blood Barrier

Mind Breaker Mind Breaker A second Infiltrator is a solid pick up.



Pick: Cypien Infiltrator

Technognome Technognome

Cypien Infiltrator Cypien Infiltrator

Glowhive Siren Glowhive Siren

And another Nexus Pilot. Pilot is a card that you have to be careful not to take too many of because there's only room for one of them on the board at a time. It's especially problematic if you play a level 1 Nexus Pilot on turn 1.4 then immediately draw a level 2 version on the reshuffle. Skyknight Glider doesn't suffer from this problem since it can move out of the way to make room for another one. Three is probably ok and it's still better than Hunting Pack.



Pick: Nexus Pilot

Nexus Pilot Nexus Pilot

Hunting Pack Hunting Pack





Pack 6

Toxic Boon is tempting because it's getting towards the end of the draft and I still don't have the pump spells I want, but it's not a very good one. Batterbot has a big level 1 body and might be able to do something with Spelunker or Flowsteel Carrier.



Pick: Batterbot

Tangle Tangle

Batterbot Batterbot

Toxic Boon Toxic Boon

Steelskin Spelunker Steelskin Spelunker

Ether Hounds Ether Hounds

Spark Bot Spark Bot If I had gotten the pump spells I was looking for, I would consider Vigorwisp, but my current deck can't support it very well. Torrent Acolyte is a fine body and the free attack boosts can be useful. Probably don't want to level both of my Torrent creatures in the same game, though.



Pick: Torrent Acolyte

Torrent Acolyte Torrent Acolyte

Barrier Soldier Barrier Soldier

Vigorwisp Vigorwisp

Deepmoss Raptor Deepmoss Raptor

Gemheart Sprout Gemheart Sprout The pick is between Skyknight Glider and Deepbranch Prowler. At this point I'm getting close to the critical mass of Prowlers that I would need to consistently rush people down. It's not usually the first Prowler that kills someone, it's the third and fourth ones. It's the type of strategy that, when you are playing, you really need to commit to for it to pay off. If you just play a couple oversized creatures in rank 1, your opponent can easliy recover and then you've leveled sub par cards without any real payoff. You need to play enough of them to put you really far ahead and make it impossible for them to recover with their higher level cards.



Pick: Deepbranch Prowler

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Gemheart Sprout Gemheart Sprout

Skyknight Glider Skyknight Glider

Anatomize Anatomize I'm lucky to pick up a fifth Prowler. Up until now my deck was looking like an aggro-pump deck without the pump. In other words, not very good. Now it's more BDA style with 5 Prowlers, 3 Nexus Pilots and a handful of finishers.



Pick: Deepbranch Prowler

Deepbranch Prowler Deepbranch Prowler

Technognome Technognome

Battletech Inventor Battletech Inventor Not the pump I was looking for but I'll take it. A Ferocious Roar



Pick: Whispers of Dendris

Metatransfer Metatransfer

Whispers of Dendris Whispers of Dendris





Game Summaries

Game 1: I saw an early Tech Explorer from my opponent so I played every Prowler that I drew to try to punish their slow start and end the game before level 3 Explorer could make a difference. Whispers of Dendris did indeed close out a game for me in rank 2.

Game 2: My opponent played Nexus Bubble on turn 1 so I avoided the center space and tried to build an advantage on the rest of the board. Strong draws to start rank 2 kept them from stabilizing and it was over before rank 3.

Game 3: I had a massive rank 1 with multiple Prowlers and an armored Batterbot. The steel-plated dinosaur survived all of rank 2 and eventually killed them.

Game 4: My opponent started aggressively with Dysian Infusion on a Metamind Adept. Unfortunately, that's still not enough to race a bunch of Deepbranch Prowlers. I ignored it, taking 60+ points of damage, before I eventually blocked it once in rank 2. If you're playing a hyper aggressive deck, it's important to realize when you can get into a race. By ignoring two whole plays from my opponent, I got way ahead in 4 of the remaining 5 lanes and could push more damage than his one threat. If the pumped creature had been something else, like a Razortooth Stalker, it might have been a different story.

Despite the 4-0, the deck wasn't unstoppable. I think it punched a little above its weight. If the deck loses board position at any point, say, to bad draws at the start of rank 2, it can be really hard to finish the game. It doesn't have the ability to do 20 points out of nowhere like a Tempys mobility deck. It needs lane advantage to push damage, which often takes a few turns to build up. Even not drawing enough Prowlers in rank 1 would turn this into a mediocre deck.

But I think it's a good example of having a specific deck in mind when you begin and adjusting based on what the packs are giving you. I would have preferred more pump spells like Pummel Pack and Blood Boon to put on my Infiltrators and Warchargers. But instead I got a bunch of big level 1 bodies and went with a different style of aggro deck. When Solforge gives you a bunch of big cats, make 'em cry.

-Happy drafting