MM3 Draft Reports

Hello, friends!

I’ve been doing a whole lot of Modern Masters drafting since it came out on the 17th, and to my very great surprise, I’ve been winning a lot! Generally what I like to do when I do a draft is report on it with a detailed pick order and info on all the games, but in this case, I’ll never get to all of them if I do that. Instead, I thought I’d just give you the highlights.

Let’s start with my very first one.

So I knew that blue white bounce was an archetype, but I wasn’t sure while I was drafting how much of what I needed. I always fail towards more creatures, rather than less, so if all else fails I can win by attacking. I wasn’t even sure where I was going at first, but when the Deputy of Aquittals I opened in my first pack came back to me, I decided to move in, and as you can see, I was rewarded. Twice I managed to set up the Splicer/Deadeye Navigator combo to generate upwards of four Golems a turn. I also did the same thing with the Mistmeadow Witch, though much slower and more expensively. Still, you can’t argue with free 4/4s.

My favourite play was against a control deck in the finals. He had multiple signets and dumped his hand early, but I managed to Spell Pierce his Opportunity, which meant he couldn’t reload, and that put me ahead. I went 2-0-1, drawing against that control deck in the finals, and my one big mistake was that I missed the win. I had been using Mistmeadow Witch to flicker my own stuff for value all night, and so I completely forgot that I could use it to get a blocker out of the way. If I had done that, I could have had lethal damage to go 3-0.

Lesson Learned!

I had thought that that was the only MM3 draft I was going to get to do, but as it turned out, the shop owner really likes this set. The Saturday after, he offered another draft for the cost of the packs. I didn’t have anything I couldn’t push back, so I took the bait and….

So I hadn’t intended on going red when I started. I was actually speculating on green white tokens, but again, when Skyknights wheel from your opening pack, you take the hint. I ended up with more than enough playables. This was a 3-0 deck, and I didn’t disappoint it, but while I was laying it out to take the picture, I realized I misbuilt it. The deck should have looked like this.

If you listen to The Knowledge Pool, you’ll have heard that I lean toward midrange decks, and this is a prime example of that. I enjoyed the splicers in my previous deck, so I couldn’t see not running them, but if I’d swapped them out for another Dragon Fodder and a Scorched Rusalka, I could have had a much faster start, and the same reach into the long game. I also should have been running the Goblin Assault over my seventeenth land. When I built the deck to begin with it felt too slow to include, but with the Rusalkas, it could have also represented a way to get in the last few points of damage I needed. This deck also didn’t need the Guildgate. Getting it at the wrong time could have ruined a good shot at winning quickly, and just having seven Plains and nine Mountains would have given me a better chance of casting all my spells on time.

Finally, a friend decided to buy a box, and instead of cracking packs, like so many heathens on the internet, he did the right thing and invited seven friends to draft it! I was fortunate enough to be on his list, so on to deck number 3!

What’s really interesting about this deck is that I was situated between someone drafting Jund, and someone drafting Gruul, so while my red was being cut, black was wide open. I made early picks to set myself up into the sacrifice deck, and what I ended up with was, I feel, pretty strong.

In my first round I killed a Tarmogoyf four times, three of which were in one game. Saying that feels great after the fact, but facing down a 4/5 goyf repeatedly is an ordeal.

The second round was against that Jund player, and as it happened, the owner of the box. I felt kinda bad crushing him, but not bad enough to keep me from crushing him. By the way, I crushed him.

Round three was against that Gruul drafter, and fellow Info Gatherer, Laura. She first picked Domri Rade, and let me tell you, when that comes down on turn three in a Bloodrush deck, it puts in serious work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have what I needed to survive, even when I sideboarded in the removal I wasn’t already running. I was one turn away from stealing her Scavanging Ooze when she took me to -5, so really, I could have gone 3-0 yet again, but I died to Laura, and I’m okay with that.

Modern Masters has been ridiculously fun for me, and not just because I’ve been winning a lot. Modern has always intimidated me a little bit, but I started playing seriously when RTR was in Standard, so in a way this feels a lot like a return to my roots for me. Three of the big deck archetypes are lifted almost perfectly out of RTR block, and I’ve always wanted to try drafting “The Aristocrats” deck, so I’ve been having a blast. If I get the chance to draft it more, I will. In the mean time, you can definitely look forward to another MM3 draft on our YouTube channel this Wednesday.

Thanks for reading, See you next draft!

-Step.