This is not the first time I've ever drafted Aether revolt, far from it. It's just the first time I've documented it.
I'm starting this blog to document my Magic play in the hopes that it will focus me on playing better Magic. I just had the best sealed deck for an Aether Revolt sealed league, but I dropped a couple of games to stupid plays and I'm mad.
I'm keen to do another sealed deck, but I am 2 points off the entry fee, so I'll have to win some packs in a draft first. Let's do it!
Pack 1
Look at all that white. Sram is cool and all, but I don't want to first pick him. Caught in the Brights is almost strictly worse than Thopter arrest, so the pick is between Thopter Arrest and Deadeye harpooner. Arrest always kills something and Deadeye never does, so...
I like Airdrop Aeronauts. I don't know if I'd take them or Daring Demolition pack 1 pick 1. Luckily, I already have an Arrest so I don't need to work that out right now.
Dawnfeather Eagle, excellent. I always play white but I never get this card. Normally I get into white when all the Audacious Infiltrators wheel, rather than taking the Eagle super early. I'm probably doing it wrong. I don't know though, I've beaten a lot of Eagles.
Hm, second Eagle. Basically all I've done so far is take 5 drops, and if I take this eagle now I might wish I had the space for something bombier later. Also, this deck looks like it could be the start of some sweet blue white fliers thing. If you want an Aether Swooper you really do have to take them this early, so I'll pick this one up and hope I get a bunch more. I'll leave that Conviction for whoever took the Sram.
Caught in the Brights V. Deadeye Harpooner. Deadeye still never kills anything. Why did they call her Deadeye when she always misses? Maybe she's literally blind. Anyway.
Decommission V. Tezzeret's Touch. Sometimes all you need to do to win a game is cast an implement and a Tezzeret's Touch. That being said, I only have one blue card, no black and no artifacts, so I think it's got to be Decommission. I don't even side out Decommission game 2 if I don't see a target for it any more. I always lose to Walking Balista or some other nonsense the moment I try that. It's uncanny.
Countless Gears Renegade isn't very exciting, but she's a creature and she costs 2 mana so she's going in my deck. (Looking back, I feel I should have taken the Hinterland Drake here, especially if I was so keen on drafting Blue White Skies. I don't know why I didn't see it at the time.)
Shielded Aether Theif, hell yeah! If I can get this thing blocking on the ground while I'm beating down in the skies that'll feel pretty good.
I'd rather have Ice Over than any of these terrible artifact creatures. Sometimes Ice Over is not so good, but if my my opponents can't block my fliers maybe I can Ice them up when they hit back.
Aether Inspector is the worst card in the Aether cycle, but he's a white creature. In he goes.
Better take the worst Automaton to match my Aether Inspector.
Not that it matters, really, but I think I should have taken the Defiant Salvager here. I currently have 4 revolt cards and I didn't even want the first Inspector.
The next two picks netted me a Resourceful Return and a Prizefighter Construct.
Pack 2
Yahenni's expertise kills nearly every single one of my creatures. Scary. Regardless, I want one of these white cards. I already have a Caught in the Brights and a Caught in the Brights+, so I think I want a creature. Felidar Guardian V. Aeronauts. I'd love to have a second Aeronauts, but I think the Felidar Guardian is going to be better. It resets Caught in the Brights and retriggers my 3 revolt creatures.
Some of these other cards are exciting, but there's nothing on the level of Untethered Express. The drafter to my left must have gotten a very nice rare.
Ok, there's a lot of green here. I only have 1 2-drop right now, but Renegade Rallier is a very sweet card. I'm going to take that in case blue has all dried up.
Hm, no blue. I'm happy to take a Restoration Specialist. It can get back all my removal and the Express too. Even triggers revolt while doing it.
Still no blue I want to play. There is a kind of late Prey Upon, though. Countless Gears Renegade V. Prey Upon. I took the Renegade because I don't have any huge creatures for Prey Upon, but I think that was wrong. Renegades are a dime a dozen, and I can always pick up some big things in pack 3. Oh well, maybe I won't even be green.
Scrounging Bandar is amazing (especially with Renegade Rallier), and coming around very late.
Hm, I don't really like Alley Evasion. I don't have any 3-drop creatures yet though, and Aetherstream Leopard is pretty nice.
Unbridled Growth V. Countless Gears Renegade. I already have 2 Renegades, and I think they are a very replaceable 2 drop. I'll take the Unbridled Growth; it triggers revolt.
Bastion Inventor V. Silkweaver Elite. Bastion Inventor is the first blue card I've seen in ages, I don't have any artifacts, and I don't even like it when I do have artifacts. I'm taking Silkweaver.
Another Bastion Inventor. Don't like this one any more than I did the last one. Conviction does almost everything Alley Evasion does, it just does it better. I'm taking that.
I I really like hidden herbalists with a bunch of two drops. It's so much better than Countless Gears Renegade when you have a revolt and a second small creature, and they're not hard to pick up.
Time to get rid of this blue.
In the next three packs I picked up a Highspire Infusion and an Efficient Construction
Pack 3
Whispweaver Angel is a big flier and she flickers stuff. Excellent.
Longtusk Cub V. Eddytrail Hawk. Longtusk Cub easy. That card is scary. I'll see if I can pick up some more energy.
I have a lot of creatures. Inspired charge could be good.
Thriving Ibex will happily replace a hated Aether Inspector.
This pick is hard. I want Engineered Might, Built to Last, Fragmentize, AND Revoke Priveleges. Engineered Might - Probably just not as good as the other 3, and might even wheel.
Built to Last - I do need a way to get my little guys through, but I don't have any artifact creatures to take advantage the Indestructible rider.
Fragmentize - I already have Decommission.
Revoke Priveleges - This is clearly the most Dad card, and I am a dad. It's the pick.
Cool, I got an Engineered Might anyway.
I don't know if I actually like trusty companion (it can't attack til turn 4!), but I'm definitely taking it here.
Kujar Seedsculptor - 2-drop. Flicker target. Excellent.
You know, I've never played with larger than life, but I think Herald of the fair is still better here.
In the dregs of pack 3 I picked up a Pressure Point, and the second Engineered Might came back around. So strong.
Final Deck
So this is the deck. I ummed and ahed over how many mass pump spells to run. Eventually, I left it at 1 Engineered Might. I don't want to have to look at more than one of those in my hand ever, and I'm happy to wait the turn or two to get out an Engineered Might over the Inspired Charge. Ideally, I would have like to have that second Dawnfeather Eagle I passed early in the draft, but hey, this'll do. Looking at it now, I think I should put in the second Countless Gears Renegade in place of the Trusty Companion.
Match 1 (W 2-0)
My first match wasn't particularly interesting. I won 2-0 against an green black deck featuring Yahenni and Aethersphere Harvester. Those are good cards, but I drew a perfect mix of creatures, lands and removal, curving into Dawnfeather Eagle effortlessly and running right over my mana flooded opponent.
Of course, I can't know exactly what was in my opponent's deck, but I wonder if they were running too many lands. Most people just put 17 in every time, and in game 2 I saw an unbridled growth, and implement of malice, and a draw spell from them. If they were running 17, my guess is that is too many. Especially as they have Yahenni and Aethersphere Harvester in their deck. Both of those spells cost 3, and why would you want to push your curve higher when your 3-drops are that good?
Match 2 (L 0-2)
Game 1 I got wrecked by Noxious Gearhulk. I nearly beat it! The only life the opponent had left at the end of the game was what they gained from the Gearhulk eating my Thriving Ibex. After dealing with the hulk, though, an Implement of Malice stole the Engineered Might I'd been saving to push through the last few points of damage. I'd played out all my creatures to get max value off of it the next turn, but maybe that was a mistake against an opponent playing black.
Game 2 I played really poorly. I was scared of the Gearhulk, scrabbling to finish the game as quickly as I could, but my scrabbling just wasn't very effective. I traded kill spells for creatures 1 for 1, without even getting any mana advantage out of them, and only getting a few small points of damage in each time. Eventually, I double blocked when I shouldn't have, allowing my opponent to kill three of my creature with one subtle strike. The subtle strike killed my Restoration Specialist, and added a counter to the giant I was double blocking. I made this block with no backup, and a Dawnfeather Eagle in hand, so I really wanted to keep my creatures alive. Thinking about it, a subtle strike killed that same Restoraton Specialist game 1, and it's the only creature with 1 toughness in my deck. Maybe I should have boarded it out for game 2.
Match 3 (W 2-0)
Game 1 my opponent mulliganed down to 4 cards and then couldn't draw out of it. They drew hugely expensive spells to kill my cheap creatures, and I drew cheap kill spells to deal with their expensive creatures. Even though my opponent had such a poor starting hand, they drew fairly well, and I enjoyed getting to put my much leaner deck to work dismantling their clunky one, especially after Noxious Gearhulk the round before.
Game 2 my opponent played Watchful Automatons into Bastion Inventors, neither of which are very good, and I just ran right over them.
Conclusion
I am pretty happy with my deck, and it's performance. Maybe a little sad that I didn't manage to win all three rounds, but oh well. This is my favourite kind of deck to play in Aether Revolt, even though it didn't have any Audacious Infiltrators in it. I didn't see one for the whole draft! They would have been amazing in this deck, too.
I think I learned a lot this draft League, and I really like how writing out this report made me slow down, rewatch my matches, and really think about what I was doing.
My 2-1 finish has given me the packs I need to do another Aether Revolt sealed deck, so perhaps that will be my next entry on this brand new blog. Or maybe Modern Masters 2017. That sounds scary. Maybe it should be that.
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