Murmur's on Her Bullshit Again (my second Roto draft)
This draft is using a new version of Samp's cube here - there are a few dozen additions and subtractions to the cube, with the most notable change being an increase from one Mishra's Bauble to 8 (!!) of them.
Also of note is that, unlike the last one, this pod has 12 players in it. With 540 cards in the cube, that means that everyone will be picking until all of the cards in the pool have been taken. That's definitely kind of scary - going in, I wasn't necessarily sure how to adjust to that but I was sure I could figure it out.
I was in seat #5 of 12 for this one. My initial thoughts, after drafting mono-G landfall, were to go into either B/x reanimator (p1 Reanimate) or UR prowess (p1 Fable) - these plans were derailed immediately when the first four picks went: Phelia, Swords, Reanimate, Fable.
Well, shit.
I figured that I should take a blue or a green card to start things off. It was a close choice between Quantum Riddler and the green card that I took, but to me the tiebreaker came from "what decks do I think my neighbors are angling for?" and none of them contained forests in them. So with that..
Pick 1: Badgermole Cub
When I did my first roto draft I was completely unaware of how good Badgermole Cub is. This time, not so much - I've been wrecked by it a few times, but have still never actually played one on my side. So I figured I'd start there and see what develops.
After the first rotation, there were two other green drafters: baronvonfonz at seat 10 who took Icetill + Strip Mine, and Keith at seat 12 who took Noble Hierach and Birds of Paradise. Eep.
Picks 2 and 3: Ignoble Hierarch and Utopia Sprawl
My general rule is to wait on a category of cards that I want where multiples exist (fetchlands, green mana dorks) until I think that they'll be contested. Which, in this case, happened immediately.
Fair enough. My read was that Baron would lean towards heavy or mono-green, and that Keith was leaving his colors open but leaning towards Bant. So I followed suit and took Ignoble Hierarch + an any-color fixer in Utopia Sprawl, continuing to keep my options largely open.
Baron took Llanowar Elves and, to my surprise, Deathrite Shaman. Not that Deathrite is a bad pick (I think it's a great card), but it's a card that skews Baron away from mono-G in my mind and more into some sort of a Golgari self-mill engine type of deck. And Keith took two fetchlands, making me think he's leaning towards a landfall aggro deck.
Hmm..
Picks 4 and 5: Elvish Mystic and Springheart Nantuko
At this point, I was starting to lean towards mono-G. Or, at the very least, I didn't see a reason to declare a second color yet, so I continued rolling with what I had and took two more cards that are very good with Badgermole Cub - a mana dork (the last one, and we were only in round 3), and a card that lets me clone Badgermole (or other cards later) and pop off.
Picks 6 and 7: Rofellos and Green Sun's Zenith
This was the biggest decision point of the draft for me. After my last picks, Baron and Keith both took green fetchland x2, cementing my read that they were both angling for (a) multicolor decks (b) that would aim for landfall payoffs. This meant, to me, that a mono-green deck that ignored landfall payoffs would be a fairly uncontested lane. Not to mention the fact that the four decks on my left and the four decks on my right were non-green, so it didn't feel particularly necessary to fight my neighbors when I had such a giant buffer zone of people who wouldn't fight me for that deck.
To this point, I had been keeping my options open. By taking Rofellos during the phase of the draft where fetchlands were flying off the shelf, I was actively trying to signal to the table (especially the other green drafters) that I wouldn't be leaving the Green space, and that I had no reason to take cards with landfall.
I then took Green Sun's Zenith because I had two really good X=2 targets in Rofellos and Badgermole, and would probably have my pick of the litter when it came to creatures to tutor for. It also follows a guideline that I set for myself after reflecting on my last (also basically mono-G) draft: I want cards that get good if I have a boatload of mana, but don't leave me dead in the water in a situation where my mana dorks don't live.
Picks 8 and 9: Pest Infestation and Lumbering Worldwagon
I took Pest Infestation next, mainly because I think it's (a) a fairly unique effect for green (disenchanting multiple targets at once), (b) doubles as a threat and an answer, (c) is capable of 2- or 3-for-1'ing opponents, and (d) is good early and late. Plus, some jerk stole it from me last draft so I wanted to make sure I snagged it early this time.
And then, speaking of 3-for-1s, I took Lumbering Worldwagon. I don't know if this is a hot take or not but if you go turn 1 mana dork, I think the best possible 3-drop to ramp into that you can have is turn 2 Lumbering Worldwagon. When worldwagon hits the board, the opponent's best case scenario is killing it when you activate it to attack, in which case you traded card-for-card but got a land ramped out in the deal. More often than not, what happens is you play it, get a land, then attack with it, get a land, and they either trade a creature for it and you're up two lands, or they lose the game in a few turns as the wagon grows in size.
It might have been a reach, but I could see both Keith and Baron potentially wanting it and I knew I'd be bummed if I didn't get it, so I took it early.
Picks 10 and 11: Primal Might and Voracious Hydra
I think these are both mandatory cards for mono-green to have a chance. Not only are they two of the only pieces of green creature interaction, they're both really good cards if you can generate a lot of mana.
Of note: at this point, Barron pivots into BGr combo with Bloodghost/Beifong's/Bombardment, leaning a lot heavier into black than green. Meanwhile Keith has started taking green cards, very clearly leaning into a landfall-centric deck. This is wonderful news for me, as I seemingly now have very little competition for basically any of the cards I'm looking for.
Picks 12 and 13: Inscription of Abundance and Keen Eye Curator
I follow up Might/Hydra with Inscription of Abundance, another card that I am very very high on in green decks. It's extremely flexible mana-wise (good as a 2-mana trick, amazing if you can kick it), and is basically the only mono-G instant creature interaction card so it's an important get.
After that, I was going to take Hunter's Talent, but decided I wanted to make sure I got Keen-Eye Curator for my deck. It's got a really good rate (3/3 for 2) and an ability that is capable of hosing a lot of different decks.
To be honest, at this point I didn't really feel like the order that I took a lot of these cards in mattered. My main priority was trying to get cards before I thought Keith or Barron might take them, and I thought they were more likely to want a piece of graveyard hate (even if for the SB) than the other cards I wanted, hence the reach.
Picks 14 and 15: Hunter's Talent and Fanatic of Rhonas
I then took Hunter's Talent - the last decent mono-G piece of interaction available. I've never actually played this card in cube but on paper I feel like all three modes are useful - like, obviously the creature removal aspect makes it an important piece, but the second and third levels are good ways to break through against a control deck that stalls out the board.
After that was Fanatic - just another redundant ramp in my 1/2 drop spot, that happens to synergize well with my intended game plan of playing large and efficient creatures. Much like with Hunter's Talent, the multi-use nature of the card makes it appealing to me - it has 4 toughness, it can tap for GGGG with fairly minimal effort, and I can bring it back from the dead.
Picks 16 and 17: Endurance and Sentinel of the Nameless City
At this point I started to move up the curve, taking a pair of three-drops that should help me against aggressive decks. I prioritized Endurance since I figured that other decks might take it higher than normal due to its silver-bullet-against-some-decks nature. That said, I really want Sentinel for this deck - my goal is to be ahead on the board, and a 3/4 that can attack + defend + generate a token every turn helps a ton.
...
It was around this time that I formulated an idea for what my deck should look like and what I want it to do:
1. Play more like a mono-W or mono-R aggro deck than a standard green ramp deck. Aim to have a very low mana curve, try to win as quickly as possible.
2. Have mana sinks, but make sure that they're useful in the early game and help us get ahead on the board.
3. No frills: (build-around cards), the deck should pretty much do the same thing with each opening hand. No Nexus, No Henge, No Birthing Ritual, no landfall or graveyard stuff. Just beat down.
My next few picks would be me filling out the exact maindeck that I was planning to run, basically taken in order of "how scared am I of another person taking this?". With that said, I felt extremely comfortable given my lane - while almost everyone else in the draft ended up feeling the squeeze of competition, I felt fairly confident that no one else gave a crap about the cards I was aiming for.
...
Picks 18 and 19: Questing Beast and Uvenwald Oddity
I wanted the two four-drops with haste at the top of my mana curve, so figured I would lock them up here. I have three one-mana ramps and three two-mana ramps, so casting one of these on turn 3 is a huge part of the game plan. They're also good ways to pressure defensive decks since they really have to be dealt with.
Picks 20 and 21: Esika's Chariot and Overlord of the Hauntwoods
I wasn't 100% sure that I want to play too many expensive cards, but I do think that these are both objectively great, so I snapped them up here. They're both beaters that can add permanents to the board every turn. I mainly took them out of fear that Keith or Baron would take them, with the latter being good in a landfall deck specifically.
Picks 22 and 23: Scavenging Ooze and Bristly Bill
A funny thing happened during this set of picks.
I work a night shift job and am awake on very off hours from most other people in my pod, so all throughout the draft I been volunteering to "bank" picks for people so that there weren't long pauses in the draft while 11 people waited for 1 person to be available and hoped that the schedules were convenient. For almost everyone in the draft, I do think that there was an added element of trust that I (someone who took Rofellos over fetchlands) had no intent to poach their cards.
Meanwhile, I decided to break rule #3 above and add a subtheme to my deck: +1+1 counters. It's not like it was going wildly off-script for a mono-green aggressive deck - but I realized that it would be possible for me to get a large chunk of cards that would synergize well together. So with that, I decided to start cards that fit that theme, continuing to take cards in the order of "get things before they're poached".
So with that, I decided on Ooze and Bill. I hesitated a little bit on taking Bristly Bill, primarily because I had been going out of my way to leave cards Keith might target alone (so that he would take those instead of the cards I want), and this would be the first time I actively poached a card from another deck that would want it. That was the primary reason I took Ooze first.
However, after taking Ooze but before my next pick, I got a DM from Keith. I saw in the preview window that it was a request for banked picks - with Bristly Bill at the top of his list.
Shit.
I was set to pick before Keith, and that immediately put me in an awkward spot because I was very aware of how that might look. I decided that the Bill wasn't that important and that I'd rather just let him have it (it's way better in his deck than mine) than to force us to cross that bridge.
However, when I went to reply to him in Discord, all I saw was a blank window. Huh?
Keith DMed me to explain that he sent me his picks before remembering that we're in the same colors, so he had deleted it. Which, fair enough. But then he asked me if I saw it, and I did what I usually do in these situations: overexplain my perspective on what happened and work out a solution that works for everyone. I told him that yes, but only in the preview window for a second, and that I only saw one card.. but it was the exact card I was planning on taking next. But I also told him that I didn't want it to feel like I was using banking as some sort of advantage, so in the spirit of fun, I would wait exactly one round before taking Bill after that, and he could do with that information what he wanted.
He said that no, I should have it, it was his fault for waiting too long, and that he wasn't going to take it if I passed it. And all I can say is that it felt very nice to be taken at face value there. Good vibes, everyone thrives.
Anyhow, yeah. Bristly Bill is a good landfall payoff, but his activated ability is both a good mana sink and a way to close out games if I can get a few +1+1 counters on the board.
Picks 24 and 25: Bosejiu, Who Endures and Pawpatch Recruit
I was all set to take more cards for the +1+1 theme here, until I remembered: Bosejiu exists. It's a way more desirable-to-other decks than the next few cards I wanted, so I decided to snag it, primarily because I can swap a forest out for it when deckbuilding and lose basically nothing. Plus, I had a strong feeling that no one cared about the other cards I was planning to maindeck.
Such as Pawpatch Recruit. I don't know that I've ever actually played with this card, but it fits the goal of the deck very well. I only have three 1-drops so it adds a lot of value simply on the merit of being a thing I can do on turn one. But casting it with Offspring is both easily attainable and a thing that has to be dealt with.
And with that, we entered the pick-two round. Double the fun! At this point I had done a rough scan of the cube, and even after accounting for sideboard options or potential deck swaps I was having trouble figuring out 45 cards that I would want once I filled out the maindeck. This was relevant, since every single card in the cube was going to be selected before the draft finished.
Picks 26 - 29: Innkeeper's Talent, Ranger Class, Aganosaurus Rex, and Thragtusk
Innkeeper's Talent is basically the card that I broke my "no build-arounds" rule for. I think it's a really good card anyways even if you don't level it up it's basically Luminarch Aspirant, but leveling it up to 2 is basically a given, and leveling it up to 3 basically makes a bunch of other innocuous cards into game winners.
Ranger's Class doesn't usually make the cut for me, but it follows the general rule of the rest of the deck: at work it's a creature on curve, and all of its levels synergize well with the rest of the deck.
Aganosaurus Rex is a card that I don't usually target, but it's rare green card that can be "played" at instant speed. It fits right into the deck, both as a top end threat and a combat trick that improves my board while drawing a card.
At this point, I felt fairly sure that I had my maindeck locked up, so I started drafting for sideboard options. Of note, Neo next to me (previously mono-red) had grabbed some green mana fixing and took some Gruul cards, so I took a card that (a) he has called underrated in an analysis of the cube, (b) is easily splashable and thus more likely to be snagged, and (b) is specifically good against Neo and thus more likely to be hated.
Picks 30 - 33: Nissa Ascended Animus, The Great Henge, Wurmcoil Engine, Tough Cookie
I took Nissa here primarily because Keith took the other Nissa (a card I was hoping to float), which made me feel it was now or never. I wasn't necessarily sure that I would want to play it but it was definitely a card that I wanted access to.
The other three cards are basically lifegain options for the sideboard. I didn't have specific plans for any of them (Tough Cookie, in particular, was a card that I thought "why did I take that there?" after the fact), but I like the idea of basically sideboarding into a grindy deck vs. red with lots of supplemental lifegain and big blockers to stall the board until I can go over the top.
...
I think it was around this point in the draft that I played a scrimmage match against Last Abzan's UBw control deck. I won game 1 handily with Rofellos > Questing Beast, but the next two games went much worse - in game 2, I didn't draw enough lands to curve out well and LA was able to gain control of the board and lock me out; in game 3, I drew enough lands but not enough action, and fell way short of beating him down before Sheoldred came down and stopped me from being able to effectively race.
Hmm.
After reflecting on it, my aggro green build suffered from the exact opposite problem that my last roto prototype had. In that case, I was playing Exploration and a bunch of 6-drops and discovered that when those cards are bad, they're really really bad. Low floors. In this case, I was playing cards like Pawpatch Recruit and Scavenging Ooze and Ranger Class because they all supported my initial "mono-G beats" plan, which are never really bad per se, just.. not good enough to compete with the average power level of my competition.
In other words, they had high floors.. but low ceilings. Shit. Back to the drawing board.
That said, I wasn't panicking - I still had more than enough playables in my pool and a fairly open lane in mono-G non-landfall.
...
Picks 34 - 37: Nexus of Becoming, Sandstone Salvager, Generous Ent, Balustrade Wurm
With the pool of available cards rapidly drying up as we got further into the pick-2 rounds, I basically just started taking whatever cards I could conceivably play in a deck. I started with Nexus of Becoming, since I do think it's an incredibly strong card and has potential to be built around. I then took Sandstone Salvager because it combos with Nexus.
I had been ignoring Generous Ent for awhile since I didn't need it to color fix, but after playing my scrimmage match I realized how useful Generous Ent is in mana screw/flood situations (as it's whatever you need more at the time). At worst, I would remove a forest from my deck to fit it in. At best, I could use it to mana fix for a splash (GW was looking particularly untouched).
Balustrade Wurm is a card that seems like it might be good against control decks, so I figured "why not?" and took it to have options.
Picks 38 - 41 Earthbender Ascension, Mightform Harmonizer, Birthing Ritual, Anticasual Vestige
All throughout the draft I had been mostly ignoring landfall cards, but it dawned on me that Earthbender Ascension and Mightform Harmonizer might both be really good with Lumbering Worldwagon and Overlord of the Hauntwoods, so I grabbed them.
Birthing Ritual and Anticasual Vestige was me getting cute, as those two cards specifically seem like a great combo. I had been planning on grabbing Vaultborn Tyrant (which can be cheated into play with Vestige on turn 4), but it got hated by the mono-white drafter one round before I was set to take it. Ah well.
Picks 42 - 45 Temple Garden x2, Voice of Resurgence, Knight of Autumn
A late gift. White had been picked dry of cards I would want, and most of the Selesnya cards felt unnecessary in my deck. That said, I think Voice of Resurgence in particular is really good, and Knight of Autumn is really flexible, so I was happy to grab cards I could actually use in the last round of the draft.
...
The deck I ended up building looked like this:
Ramps: Birds, Mystic, Ignoble, Badgermole, Rofellos, Fanatic, Ascension, Worldwagon, Overlord
Interaction: Primal Might, Inscription, Hunter's Talent, Hydra
Bodies: Bristly Bill, Springheart, Keen Eye, Voice, Sentinel, Questing Beast, Chariot, Ent
Utility: Green Sun's, Innkeeper's Talent
---
Match Repository:
Round 1 vs. Greg (UR prowess)
Round 2 vs. baron (GBr sac)
Round 3 vs. Ray (mono U control)
Round 4 vs. Aspi (BW sac)
Round 5 vs. Last Abzan (UBw control)
Round 6 vs. Arborist (BR reanimator)
Round 7 vs. Keith (GRU landfall)
Round 8 vs. Mr. Fancypants (RW midrange)
Round 9 vs. Marc (mono R aggro)
Round 10 vs. Jack (mono W aggro)
Round 11 vs. Max (4c control)
---
So what have we learned?
While it wasn't an intentional strategy going in, I think "no frills" was a very good way to approach a 12-person Roto draft. There are so many cards in the cube that are solid build-arounds, but also require you to target certain other cards for that strategy to be good (examples off the top of my head would be Reanimate, Ephemerate, Titania, Urza), and in a world where every card gets taken and there are 11 other players factoring in:
1. Finding an open lane and keeping it open is of the utmost importance, even moreso than in a 10-person draft
2. You want cards that are strong in a vacuum, so that if you end up fighting over cards you can still compete
The cherry on top is that if you have a wide enough open lane, you can get really strong combos without even really intending to. In this case:
1. Overlord of the Hauntwoods/Lumbering Wagon (but preferably Overlord) + Springheart Nantuko (to make a string of giants/lands)
2. Innkeeper's Talent (at level 3) + Bristly Bill + Earthbender Ascension
3. Esika's Chariot + Nissa, Ascended Animus (make an 8/8, attack with Chariot, make another 8/8, overrun next turn)
...
I don't really have many regrets regarding how I drafted the deck - once I got the mana dorks I never particularly felt threatened by anything anyone else was taking. I will admit that it was kind of funny watching Sam's breakdown of how the 50-person draft and specifically mentioning "I don't think anyone's drafted mono-G aggro yet but it's an archetype that's definitely supported" as I was playing through my matches. I wholeheartedly concur.
Thanks again to Sam and my opponents for a fun time. I'm looking forward to more of these down the road.
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