MRD Tournament - Game commentary/Discussion

[juzamjedi]

I take:

Looter il-kor
Scion of Oona
Jon Finkel <- this means I win right?

Edit: apparently Jon Finkel does not autocard as Shadowmage Infiltrator

[aww1979]

@jatill: You added the 'gain 1 life' taplands only to the limited version, not constructed, so that's out. You also have the option of the triple lands Arcane Sanctum or Seaside Citadel. There are also the various 5-colour lands, none of which are taken yet.

Monopoman did still manage to take one card I thought he might, Sun Titan, and nicdanger took two I was expecting. (I didn't think he'd want Imperious Perfect) I didn't look at what juzamjedi might pick, but I'm not surprised he took the scion or the infiltrator; those are nice cards. So far I think nicdanger and cognis are ahead, at least in terms of what the AI will succeed with, and grinnin isn't far behind. In terms of how the humans will do, I think it's a lot closer.

Anyway, enough blah. My three picks are Treetop Village, Elephant Grass, and Drop of Honey.

[juzamjedi]

No love for Looter il-Kor?

Actually you're right he isn't as sweet as Finkel, but he fills a similar role and costs 1 mana less which is really important for my deck's curve. Have you looked at the mana curve for my deck? I am going to get crushed by your Pernicious Deed, just sayin'.

[aww1979]

Afraid not; I think he's kind of a crappy card If he were a merfolk or something he'd be more useful.

I'm just hoping the AI can figure out what to tutor for in my deck. I built it to test, assuming I get all the picks I want from now on, and it does okay, but I'm worried the AI won't have the brains to tutor for Oath of Druids. I can see it being a little timmy and going zomg im tutoring for Darksteel Colossus...

[jatill]

Celestial Collonade
Glacial Fortress
Resurrection

[jatill]

So far I think nicdanger and cognis are ahead, at least in terms of what the AI will succeed with, and grinnin isn't far behind. In terms of how the humans will do, I think it's a lot closer.

My plan is to never lose a game to the AI, so it won't matter if the AI almost never wins

[jatill]

I'm just hoping the AI can figure out what to tutor for in my deck. I built it to test, assuming I get all the picks I want from now on, and it does okay, but I'm worried the AI won't have the brains to tutor for Oath of Druids. I can see it being a little timmy and going zomg im tutoring for Darksteel Colossus...

It would be cool if we had a feature where you create a file that has deck names, and a list of which cards to tutor for in that deck, and the AI would follow that list. Too bad we don't have any programmers around to code stuff like that.

[juzamjedi]

The AI does some things that baffle me.

Refuse to play cards - "give up all hope" in some games
Does not set Aether vial to most common CMC in deck
Doesn't use counterspells - I built an all counterspells deck just to see what AI would do. AI had Cryptic Command, Negate etc. In hand but did nothing about the artifacts or Enchantments I cast
Destroy its own permanents with removal - I have seen AI strip mine its own forest and Disenchant its own Mox. Weird.

[Shantak]

Frost Titan
Coiling Oracle
Lorescale Coatl
Wall of Blossoms
Tropical Island
Merchant Scroll

[grinnin]

The manalink AI has definitely made this draft way different than what I was expecting. Initially I was going to do tinker/inkwell but figured the AI would more often than not just grab a mox with it. Then I started drafting Dark Times but after some pretty shocking playtesting I had fall back on plan C.

What were your first strategies?

[jatill]

Merchant Scroll was still available? Ug. The AI is good with Tinker and Natural Order.

Silver Myr
Gold Myr
Hypotic Specter

[aww1979]

Initially, I just wanted any deck that didn't rely on blue, because I was pretty sure it would be the most popular colour. So, I took a general purpose card, Black Lotus, for my first pick (I wanted Sol Ring but jatill beat me to it!) and waited to see what colours other people claimed.

I went with Oath because I was hoping the AI would play it right, and because I was hoping that the rather different set of cards I'd need for that would be easier to draft than if I'd done a weenie or blue deck. I then grabbed all the black tutors, because when you only have one copy of each card, those help even more than usual to get what you need to make the deck work. I also grabbed them early because I thought grinnin might take some, but fortunately his early picks didn't interest me, other than dark ritual, and of course the mox, but I had no chance on that one.

I'd been thinking of making an eldrazi deck at first, taking the eldrazi lands and everything, but somehow it kind of got away from that. And when monopoman took emrakul and then all is dust, I buried that plan and took other fatties instead. He really surprised me when he took sneak attack and emrakul; I didn't care about sneak attack but I was pissed when he snagged emrakul and then all is dust :p That's why my next picks were the best fatties remaining; I was scared he'd take them!

[aww1979]

Oh, seems jatill took his picks while I was writing that. My three picks are:

Savage Lands (sorry cognis :p)
Liliana Vess
Sorin Markov

[grinnin]

jatill you're really taking the specter?

[Shantak]

Merchant Scroll was still available? Ug.

The Scroll shall now serve as my second Ancestral Recall. I think. Too bad if I draw it with Ancestral Recall and Mana Leak already drawn. Better draft some more blue instants then.

The AI is good with Tinker and Natural Order.

My initial strategy was to draft Tinker and Natural Order (with Darksteel Colossus or Inkwell Leviathan and Progenitus). Tinker would have been a strong choice even as the first card for me, but being the first drafter, with all cards to choose from, made me want to take something else. Good thing I got Natural Order so that my plan didn't get totally blown.

Hypotic Specter

We're hate-drafting now?