Sometimes You Draft Packs, Sometimes the Pack Draft You

Nothing really notable here, just a fun draft I had. Spoiler: [scryfall]Tromokratis[/scryfall].

So, earlier this week I decided to do an online draft. The first pack was a bit lackluster overall, although I bet some people would be really into the [scryfall]Ephara’s Enlightenment[/scryfall], but nothing here was really something I wanted to pick up. So, I decided to go with [scryfall]Fated Infatuation[/scryfall], although it puts me a little bit too much into blue, because of the triple colored requirement.

[draft title=Pack 1 pick 1: pick=Fated Infatuation]
Griffin Dreamfinder
Nyxborn Eidolon
Charging Badger
Pharagax Giant
Impetuous Sunchaser
Pheres-Band Tromper
Deepwater Hypnotist
Crypsis
Reckless Reveler
Grisly Transformation
Ephara’s Enlightenment
Pillar of War
God-Favored General
Fated Infatuation
Plains
[/scryimg]

Then someone passed me the [scryfall]Tromokratis[/scryfall]. Sure its pretty slow for draft, even if it would be a bomb in sealed. There’s plenty of good cards here, but I can’t really know what was picked up here before the kraken.

[draft title=Pack 1 pick 2: pick=Tromokratis]
Epiphany Storm
Hold at Bay
Marshmist Titan
Nyxborn Wolf
Floodtide Serpent
Rise to the Challenge
Mortal’s Resolve
Divination
Claim of Erebos
Unravel the Æther
Vortex Elemental
Sunbond
Tromokratis
Swamp
[/scryimg]

Now things were becoming interesting. Its almost the same cards as before. Even another Kraken.

[draft title=Pack 1 pick 3: pick=Tromokratis]
Epiphany Storm
Hold at Bay
Nyxborn Wolf
Floodtide Serpent
Rise to the Challenge
Mortal’s Resolve
Divination
Claim of Erebos
Akroan Conscriptor
Vanguard of Brimaz
Drown in Sorrow
Tromokratis
Island
[/scryimg]

So, this was actually on April Fool’s, so I was becoming a bit wary. Still, couldn’t pass on the [scryfall]Whelming Wave[/scryfall] at this point. We were all in.

[draft title=Pack 1 pick 4: pick=Whelming Wave]
Scouring Sands
Chorus of the Tides
Felhide Brawler
Griffin Dreamfinder
Eye Gouge
Karametra’s Favor
Stratus Walk
Pheres-Band Tromper
Satyr Nyx-Smith
Noble Quarry
Whelming Wave
Swamp
[/scryimg]

Blue was going very well after this. I got [scryfall]Sudden Storm[/scryfall], [scryfall]Nyxborn Triton[/scryfall], [scryfall]Chorus of the Tides[/scryfall], and later on [scryfall]Crypsis[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Divination[/scryfall]. A very good start.

Then the second pack. Not as flashy as the first one, but very good nonetheless.

[draft title=Pack 2 pick 1: pick=Prognostic Sphinx]
Pheres-Band Centaurs
Divine Verdict
Guardians of Meletis
Read the Bones
Thassa’s Bounty
Lost in a Labyrinth
Agent of Horizons
Hammer of Purphoros
Savage Surge
Opaline Unicorn
Keepsake Gorgon
Battlewise Hoplite
Insatiable Harpy
Prognostic Sphinx
Mountain
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 2 pick 2: pick=Voyage\’s End]
Mnemonic Wall
Viper’s Kiss
Lightning Strike
Two-Headed Cerberus
Aqueous Form
Silent Artisan
Blood-Toll Harpy
Wingsteed Rider
Voyage’s End
Akroan Crusader
Hunt the Hunter
Triton Tactics
Anthousa, Setessan Hero
Swamp
[/scryimg]

And the third pack started very well too.

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 1: pick=Griptide]
Lash of the Whip
Minotaur Skullcleaver
Chosen by Heliod
Priest of Iroas
Fade into Antiquity
Returned Centaur
Griptide
Commune with the Gods
Setessan Battle Priest
Deathbellow Raider
Akroan Hoplite
Rescue from the Underworld
Erebos’s Emissary
Anger of the Gods
Island
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 2: pick=”Voyage’s End”]
Fleetfeather Sandals
Demolish
Ephara’s Warden
Feral Invocation
Returned Centaur
Hopeful Eidolon
Fate Foretold
Voyage’s End
Akroan Crusader
Ordeal of Heliod
Centaur Battlemaster
Warriors’ Lesson
Steam Augury
Plains
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 3: pick=Wavecrash Triton]
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Divine Verdict
Sip of Hemlock
Blood-Toll Harpy
Breaching Hippocamp
Aqueous Form
Spearpoint Oread
Wavecrash Triton
Cavern Lampad
Flamecast Wheel
Shipwreck Singer
Titan of Eternal Fire
Swamp
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 4: pick=Dissolve]
Lash of the Whip
Chosen by Heliod
Coastline Chimera
Pharika’s Cure
Defend the Hearth
Priest of Iroas
Scholar of Athreos
Disciple of Phenax
Dissolve
Burnished Hart
Witches’ Eye
Island
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 5: pick=Omenspeaker]
Viper’s Kiss
Dragon Mantle
Omenspeaker
Last Breath
Unknown Shores
Crackling Triton
Commune with the Gods
Opaline Unicorn
Ray of Dissolution
Karametra’s Acolyte
Island
[/scryimg]

[draft title=Pack 3 pick 6: pick=Sealock Monster]
Pheres-Band Centaurs
Traveling Philosopher
Aqueous Form
Silent Artisan
Blood-Toll Harpy
Ray of Dissolution
Vanquish the Foul
Sealock Monster
Evangel of Heliod
Mountain
[/scryimg]

And the deck I ended up with:

[cardlist]
[spells]
1 Fated Infatuation
1 Whelming Wave
1 Sudden Storm
1 Crypsis
1 Divination
2 Voyage’s End
1 Sip of Hemlock
2 Read the Bones
1 Psychic Intrusion
1 Dissolve
1 Griptide
[/spells]
[creatures]
2 Tromokratis
1 Nyxborn Triton
1 Chorus of the Tides
1 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Baleful Eidolon
1 Wavecrash Triton
1 Omenspeaker
1 Sealock Monster
1 Returned Phalanx
[/creatures]
[lands]
1 Temple of Silence
11 Island
5 Swamp
[/lands]
[sideboard]
2 Forest
1 Forsaken Drifters
1 Gods Willing
1 Floodtide Serpent
1 Bronze Sable
1 Loathsome Catoblepas
1 Scourgemark
1 Fleetfeather Sandals
1 Centaur Battlemaster
1 Scholar of Athreos
1 Commune with the Gods
1 Silent Artisan
1 Eye Gouge
1 Viper’s Kiss
1 Rescue from the Underworld
1 Stymied Hopes
1 Black Oak of Odunos
1 Necrobite
1 Breaching Hippocamp
1 Island
[/sideboard]
[/cardlist]

I would board in [scryfall]Stymied Hopes[/scryfall] or [scryfall]Breaching Hippocamp[/scryfall] against certain decks, but otherwise I was very happy with this deck. The landcount was somewhat low, but there’s so much card drawing and scrying in the deck, I was mostly very happy with the amount of lands I drew. In the first game of the finals, I had double [scryfall]Prognostic Sphinx[/scryfall]es (with [scryfall]Fated Infatuation[/scryfall] on the board and was able to totally control my draws.

What I did find interesting was the way I ended up so heavily in blue and of course the double ‘Kratis in the beginnning. I can’t imagine what the guy on my right was thinking after seeing those three cards. After the first pack, I didn’t really have to make very deep decisions, because the blue was so open and I got everything I wanted. I would have liked another [scryfall]Omenspeaker[/scryfall], but can’t blame the packs for that. They were just so kind to me. Sometimes its fun to have the draft go this way, but on the other hand, a bit of a challenge would be nice too. Gladly, mostly its pretty challenging.

In the end I went 2-1. I just couldn’t keep up with a very aggressive deck in the finals, even though I thought I was prepared for those. The problem was that he didn’t rely very much on enchantments, so [scryfall]Voyage’s End[/scryfall] and its kind were not as powerful as they would otherwise be.

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