MTGNexus

We pick up moment and find:

Bloodthirsty Aerialist
Marauder's Axe

Not bad! As we saw earlier this pack was actually strictly playable commons (+Kethis the Hidden Hand lol) but it's still nice to find the Axe. I'll leave that up as the default and then go reorganize my spreadsheet, generate new packs, etc. Pack two starts in a few hours.

Ax!

MAxe is good.

We pick up Axe, followed by the Duress at p1p15. After taking a moment to reflect we crack pack 2 and see what's in store:


We've got a refreshed 24 hours here so let's go a little deep on this one. Much like our P1P1 there are multiple cards in this bunch which sit in the same grade range but far more so than P1P1 this pick is going to go a long way to deciding which archetype we're going to land in; which dreams we're holding on to and which we're giving up.

Executioner or the second Spitfire. Both are strong picks. Red, at least during pack one, seemed more open meaning that Spitfire might come back around. I'm leaning towards Hanged Executioner here

I would take the Spitfire. Executioner is very good, I know, but Spitfire adds focus and cohesiveness to the deck. We're definitely in red, and red has lots of commons to help here: The 1/1 lizard, the goblin that can give him unblockability, Shock, Chandra's removal, there's even the vial if we feel short on damage and still some more in higher rarities. I wouldn't risk to hope it wheels.

Chandra's Spitfire, agreed. With two on the board, if we can ping face, the game will quickly be over.

Yeah, no. Hanged Executioner is a much better card. Spitfire is medium, we won't miss it. Hanged Executioner

Not taking Executioner here seems to be a very strong commitment on our part to not playing white. If we're in red/white (or Naya) then executioner is a much, much better card than Spitfire. You can say we're putting off the decision on whether to play white or green to later in the pack but honestly there's a good chance that the next three packs will have red cards as the second or third best pick, as this pack does, and on our current course we're just going to keep taking those red cards. Then we'll reach mid-pack and there'll be nothing left to strongly pull us in the green or white direction. That's not gonna work out.

So if we're not taking executioner here I think we're implicitly saying we're in red/green.

I'm not hugely a fan of that. We passed a lot of green in the opening of pack one and then saw very little green coming to us at the end of that pack. I think there's a real chance we end up cut from both sides looking for green in the next two packs.

If I gotta break the tie I'm going with Executioner.

Second Pack!

Daybreak Chaplain
Griffin Sentinel
Growth Cycle
Moment of Heroism
Natural End
Scoured Barrens
Sleep Paralysis
Soulmender
Stone Golem
Tectonic Rift
Vial of Dragonfire
Empyrean Eagle
Rule of Law
Marauding Raptor

This dowsn't look like it has much for us. The best card in the pack is Empyrial Eagle, with Executioner and Spitfire we can try to go Jeskai, too, as our commitment to green is really low. I'm a bit interested in cutting it off, too.

Griffin Sentinel is not very exciting at all but it's in our colors.

I just realized that Vial does not hit players, so I like it a bit less. We can do better for removal I think.

I would go with Eagle as to keep options open, but I'm not super excited about it.

Daybreak Chaplain. It fills a slot.

Griffin Sentinel

It's on-color, it has flying, and with the vigilance it can get in for one while also blocking. Nothing special, but it's on-color and should do some work for us.

Gonna count Henlock's mention as support for Griffin and take it.

(That said, I really think Chaplain is worth consideration. Void is entirely right about it filling an important slot.

Something I'm actually noticing a lot in this format, especially playing BO1 drafts these last few days, is that a lot of decks give up tempo on turn two. Many of the better two-drops in the set aren't actually turn two plays and I've found myself falling into the trap of thinking I have enough twos and then keeping hands with like no ones, rabid bite, and bladebrand or whatever. We've drafted six twos so far ourselves and only one is an actual turn two play.

If our plan is to survive to assemble combos and play big things then I want Chaplain to block Creeping Trailblazer when we're on the draw. Cause right now my primary goal in the format is to do this to people.

Still, I don't want to be the tie-breker vote twice in a row )

Our next pack is a huge mess of interesting signals:

Island
Agonizing Syphon
Angelic Gift
Audacious Thief
Destructive Digger
Moat Piranhas
Plummet
Prismite
Reduce to Ashes
Moldervine Reclamation
Spectral Sailor
Scholar of the Ages
Rotting Regisaur

We're probably not getting any green in the following packs. We have destructive digger and reduce to ashes, but black looks so scandalously open it would be a shame to not tryng the least to get hold of some goodies.

Ouch. I really want to take Destructive Digger so that's my first choice - a perfectly serviceable body that can gas us up in the late game if we need it. But Rotting Regisaur is in the pack...

Our commitment to green is so low that we can still switch to Mardu leaving little behind. The other packs had a black uncommon flier and Duress as last cards. Black looks very open. We have a solid red package and a very good white splash. So, I'll vote for the Huge dinosaur and see what happens.

Rotting Regisaur kinda tells us something. I wonder if Agonizing Syphon will wheel.

Pick: Rotting Regisaur.

Okay I'm convinced to do it for the memes. Full speed ahead, step on the gas, Rotting Regisaur the pick.

Grab that Zombdino and call it a pick

Beautiful.
We can discard to our dino to ping with our pirate to pump our elementals and then give them double strike.

Reminder that we're back to a 12 hour schedule for our next pack. Pretty typical pick 4 here. Filler, but discussable filler.

Island
Angelic Gift
Duress
Goblin Bird-Grabber
Moment of Heroism
Moorland Inquisitor
Prismite
Undead Servant
Dragon Mage
Gauntlets of Light
Season of Growth
Grafdigger's Cage

Nothing too exciting. Prismite can lend a hand with fixing, so that's my pick, We have enough fliers to consider the flying goblin.

Prismite is something I would like.

(Sorry I'm a little behind schedule folks; busy Monday)

Prismite is the pickup and our next pack is particularly picked-over in the upper rarities:

Act of Treason
Brightwood Tracker
Epicure of Blood
Fathom Fleet Cutthroat
Glaring Aegis
Growth Cycle
Metropolis Sprite
Mind Rot
Negate
Vial of Dragonfire
Veil of Summer

Vial of Dragonfire - we should be able to get better removal in our own colors but we should get this just in case.

Again, not much in green, white or red. We're not deep into black but I've been happy with Fathom-Fleet Cutthroat. In my two only real experiences with M20 limited I've gone and the pirate has been very serviceable at taking down stuff. 3/3 is a good body, too. It dodges many removal tools such as shock, vial, disfigure, the black swampfall guy, etc. So that would be my pick.