p1p3 yeah, reasonable pic, i do like drakuseth though. i dont think 3 red pips is that bad on a 7drop. the bigger problem is the 7mana. 3 pips on a 4 or 5 drop would be tough but a 7 drop? not a big deal. more important if your splashing, or are very heavily one color. for a basic two color deck though, its not something you need to worry about too too much. if the best card is 2 pips, im probably taking it. there was also an eaten alive here too. worth considering p1p6. i dont think you need to pick up employment this early. card is not good unless you have ways to sac. and your not even in black (the only sac color) best to take one of the green cards here. could be a sign green is open. if you dont want to take green, even the kinship is more likly to be good in the deck p1p7 yeah, now overrun is here. another green card. land is fine. but green might be open p1p8 now bigfin bouncer is late. interesting. but yeah taking lion is fine p1p10 veteran is nice with prideful parent. i think its better than railer anyway. just my opinion p3p2 i think its arahbo as well. just go all in on cats now. p3p4 another cat is better. you got two arahbos now. if its close, take the cat. its a shame, that veteran would have been soo good in this deck now. --- well this deck turned out well. not to be too critical but maybe slow down in draft a bit? there was alot of good options in those early picks. lots of different paths. even if you dont take the card, i think its worth noting what else is in the pack. there was alot of strong cards in pack 2 as well that you kinda glossed over. not wrong as you were already committed to your colors but if you stayed open a bit more pack one, you might have gotten some other choices in pack two to pivot towards. for example it looked like green black was fairly open pack 1 and 2. not stupidly open but it was an option. could have been white green, or white black. (for example. p1p10 warden was late, p2p4 another eaten alive, p2p5 arena, elves, needltooth, p2p8 burglar rat, p2p9 another needletooth) you kinda just got tunnel vision for your colors, and basically forced them as a byproduct. even if you stick to your guns, its good what else is there, as it will inform you if pivoting in later picks is right, where the card choices aren't as close in quality ------------ build wise, id run scourge or even goldvein pick over employment. if you can sac what you steal, the card is great, other wise its just not very good most of the time ----------- game 1: 23:45 this play is fine, but i think banishing the anthem, and just offering the trade is maybe better in the long run. when op is at 17, this game is not ending very fast, it will also make it easier for your small, go wide, creatures to continue to get through and do damage. dont think your play was wrong but is something worth considering ---- game 2: 31:06 that was a little risky. not a big deal, as its just a 1/1, but i think id rather just block with the 4/4 and see what happens 31:54, arahbo first. make another cat on etb with hunter ---- game 3: 34:47 no reason not to attack with parent. always attack if you can ---- game 5: 45:26 perhaps just a little cautious with the arahbo, i think its ok to attack with it, with burst in hand ---- game 7: i remember this game getting very close, due two some mistakes, you almost lost this game. nice you didn't though. 59:22 you can just discard a land, you dont need 5 mama yet. and your likly to draw another land. 3 life lost 3 here is avoidable 59:54 now you should play the land, cuz you want it for rallier (didn't matter though) 1:00:53 no reason not to attack with arahbo. missed 2 damage here/could have kill another 1/1 game ended with you at 2 life, but either he would have died a turn earlier, or he would not have had the 1/1 that hit you for 1, meaning you would have ended the game at 6 or 5 life. thats alot more buffer life to play with. ---- game 8: 1:09:50 just attack with rallier too. that would change the clock to 2 turns instead of 3. and you can take a hit even if he gets pasted the 1/1 somehow. even attacking with the 1/1 isn't crazy at 20 life 1:10:52 you might have missed it in chat. all damage not from the combat steps is "non combat damage" ---- but anyway, congrats on the third trophy, and plat 2. that is clearly improvement, so your coaching with alex must have helped your game a ton. it could still use a little work but its getting there.
Only watched the first 3 games (skipped draft because your drafting needs less improvement) Game 1 23:06 Your opponent played anthem, their logical next move is a creature. Two strong possibilities are Ambush Wolf and Cathar Commando, so you shouldn't be attacking with the Fanatical Firebrand in either case (need to finish off the Wolf if they have it). You can't assume they kept a hand with anthem and no 2/3 drop, that's just building bad habits from facing bad opponents. 23:37 Phoenix has to attack, which increases the probability that Healer's Hawk will block. You're happy with a block, since you can Banishing Light on Anthem of Champions + Burst Lightning on the Cathar Commando (important to kill Commando before they can kill the Banish). If they block, that's a reasonable 3 for 3 trade (Phoenix/Burst/Banish for Commando/Hawk/Anthem). Therefore, I would attack first. 25:20 Attacking with 1/1s is bad tempo since you're forced to use the combat trick, which is potentially a 1-mana play later (instead of an effective 4-mana play this turn). 29:30 Discarding an untapped land with a 5-mana play and a 1-mana combat trick is not great. Could've confidently blocked with Squad Rallier the next turn if you had 1 mana available, so your land that gained you 1 life also lost you 2 life and the chance to be more mana-efficient. Were you surprised they attacked with their 2/2 into your 3/4? Because they did the same thing 2 turns ago. 30:58 Blocking with the 1/1 forces you to act first - in general, try to make your opponent act first if they are being sus with their combat. 34:40 Attack with Prideful Parent. You don't have Arahbo in hand, and you do want to pressure because your opponent took a turn off and wants to set up for the late game. 35:55 As soon as they declare no blocks, you should think about 2 things: First, your opponent doesn't have a sweeper. Second, you are very close to lethal. It's around this time that you should start thinking about whether the Banishing Light in your hand will enable an alpha strike next turn. The fact that you don't start thinking about either of these (you even mention how they could have a sweeper even though they didn't block) means you're not respecting the game state enough, nor are you thinking about your opponent's plays. 36:50 Banishing Light is already lethal. You don't see it because you're not thinking about life totals yet. 37:40 You even talk about what happens on an alpha strike (you put them to 1 life with a Fanatical Firebrand representing lethal), and you just... don't? You are really giving your opponent a chance to draw Blasphemous Edict if they have one. Overall: Your basic gameplay habits are slowly improving. Are you streaming and reading chat during these games? I would want to see some games where you're pure focus and no chat, because it's hard to improve if your gameplay is on autopilot because you are distracted.
I love these well thought out responses! I agree with a lot of your takes. I read them all. I do stream and read chat while I draft and play. Some of it is to provide an entertainment factor but overall it does help me think out loud. Sometimes as you point out in your last time stamp those thoughts don’t translate to the action I take.
for the draft portion: at this point, i think your knowledge of the format is good enough that you could consider not using untapped overlay. i think it is a nice initial helper but in the mid-long term is quite distracting and sometimes misleading. good luck for the games and happy new year
I’d agree. This set took me a lot longer to get comfortable with than Duskmourn so I kept using untapped a lot longer than I had hoped. Thank you and Happy New Year to you as well!
LFG!
This one felt good!
p1p3 yeah, reasonable pic, i do like drakuseth though.
i dont think 3 red pips is that bad on a 7drop. the bigger problem is the 7mana. 3 pips on a 4 or 5 drop would be tough but a 7 drop? not a big deal. more important if your splashing, or are very heavily one color. for a basic two color deck though, its not something you need to worry about too too much. if the best card is 2 pips, im probably taking it.
there was also an eaten alive here too. worth considering
p1p6. i dont think you need to pick up employment this early. card is not good unless you have ways to sac. and your not even in black (the only sac color) best to take one of the green cards here. could be a sign green is open. if you dont want to take green, even the kinship is more likly to be good in the deck
p1p7 yeah, now overrun is here. another green card. land is fine. but green might be open
p1p8 now bigfin bouncer is late. interesting. but yeah taking lion is fine
p1p10 veteran is nice with prideful parent. i think its better than railer anyway. just my opinion
p3p2 i think its arahbo as well. just go all in on cats now.
p3p4 another cat is better. you got two arahbos now. if its close, take the cat. its a shame, that veteran would have been soo good in this deck now.
---
well this deck turned out well.
not to be too critical but maybe slow down in draft a bit? there was alot of good options in those early picks. lots of different paths. even if you dont take the card, i think its worth noting what else is in the pack. there was alot of strong cards in pack 2 as well that you kinda glossed over.
not wrong as you were already committed to your colors but if you stayed open a bit more pack one, you might have gotten some other choices in pack two to pivot towards. for example it looked like green black was fairly open pack 1 and 2. not stupidly open but it was an option. could have been white green, or white black. (for example. p1p10 warden was late, p2p4 another eaten alive, p2p5 arena, elves, needltooth, p2p8 burglar rat, p2p9 another needletooth)
you kinda just got tunnel vision for your colors, and basically forced them as a byproduct. even if you stick to your guns, its good what else is there, as it will inform you if pivoting in later picks is right, where the card choices aren't as close in quality
------------
build wise, id run scourge or even goldvein pick over employment. if you can sac what you steal, the card is great, other wise its just not very good most of the time
-----------
game 1:
23:45 this play is fine, but i think banishing the anthem, and just offering the trade is maybe better in the long run. when op is at 17, this game is not ending very fast, it will also make it easier for your small, go wide, creatures to continue to get through and do damage. dont think your play was wrong but is something worth considering
----
game 2:
31:06 that was a little risky. not a big deal, as its just a 1/1, but i think id rather just block with the 4/4 and see what happens
31:54, arahbo first. make another cat on etb with hunter
----
game 3:
34:47 no reason not to attack with parent. always attack if you can
----
game 5:
45:26 perhaps just a little cautious with the arahbo, i think its ok to attack with it, with burst in hand
----
game 7: i remember this game getting very close, due two some mistakes, you almost lost this game. nice you didn't though.
59:22 you can just discard a land, you dont need 5 mama yet. and your likly to draw another land. 3 life lost 3 here is avoidable
59:54 now you should play the land, cuz you want it for rallier (didn't matter though)
1:00:53 no reason not to attack with arahbo. missed 2 damage here/could have kill another 1/1
game ended with you at 2 life, but either he would have died a turn earlier, or he would not have had the 1/1 that hit you for 1, meaning you would have ended the game at 6 or 5 life. thats alot more buffer life to play with.
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game 8:
1:09:50 just attack with rallier too. that would change the clock to 2 turns instead of 3. and you can take a hit even if he gets pasted the 1/1 somehow. even attacking with the 1/1 isn't crazy at 20 life
1:10:52 you might have missed it in chat. all damage not from the combat steps is "non combat damage"
----
but anyway, congrats on the third trophy, and plat 2. that is clearly improvement, so your coaching with alex must have helped your game a ton. it could still use a little work but its getting there.
Only watched the first 3 games (skipped draft because your drafting needs less improvement)
Game 1
23:06 Your opponent played anthem, their logical next move is a creature. Two strong possibilities are Ambush Wolf and Cathar Commando, so you shouldn't be attacking with the Fanatical Firebrand in either case (need to finish off the Wolf if they have it). You can't assume they kept a hand with anthem and no 2/3 drop, that's just building bad habits from facing bad opponents.
23:37 Phoenix has to attack, which increases the probability that Healer's Hawk will block. You're happy with a block, since you can Banishing Light on Anthem of Champions + Burst Lightning on the Cathar Commando (important to kill Commando before they can kill the Banish). If they block, that's a reasonable 3 for 3 trade (Phoenix/Burst/Banish for Commando/Hawk/Anthem). Therefore, I would attack first.
25:20 Attacking with 1/1s is bad tempo since you're forced to use the combat trick, which is potentially a 1-mana play later (instead of an effective 4-mana play this turn).
29:30 Discarding an untapped land with a 5-mana play and a 1-mana combat trick is not great. Could've confidently blocked with Squad Rallier the next turn if you had 1 mana available, so your land that gained you 1 life also lost you 2 life and the chance to be more mana-efficient. Were you surprised they attacked with their 2/2 into your 3/4? Because they did the same thing 2 turns ago.
30:58 Blocking with the 1/1 forces you to act first - in general, try to make your opponent act first if they are being sus with their combat.
34:40 Attack with Prideful Parent. You don't have Arahbo in hand, and you do want to pressure because your opponent took a turn off and wants to set up for the late game.
35:55 As soon as they declare no blocks, you should think about 2 things: First, your opponent doesn't have a sweeper. Second, you are very close to lethal. It's around this time that you should start thinking about whether the Banishing Light in your hand will enable an alpha strike next turn. The fact that you don't start thinking about either of these (you even mention how they could have a sweeper even though they didn't block) means you're not respecting the game state enough, nor are you thinking about your opponent's plays.
36:50 Banishing Light is already lethal. You don't see it because you're not thinking about life totals yet.
37:40 You even talk about what happens on an alpha strike (you put them to 1 life with a Fanatical Firebrand representing lethal), and you just... don't? You are really giving your opponent a chance to draw Blasphemous Edict if they have one.
Overall: Your basic gameplay habits are slowly improving. Are you streaming and reading chat during these games? I would want to see some games where you're pure focus and no chat, because it's hard to improve if your gameplay is on autopilot because you are distracted.
I love these well thought out responses! I agree with a lot of your takes. I read them all.
I do stream and read chat while I draft and play. Some of it is to provide an entertainment factor but overall it does help me think out loud. Sometimes as you point out in your last time stamp those thoughts don’t translate to the action I take.
Two Ahrabos is nasty. Those rares/mythics really take a deck from 4 wins max to 5+.
Cats for the win!!
for the draft portion: at this point, i think your knowledge of the format is good enough that you could consider not using untapped overlay. i think it is a nice initial helper but in the mid-long term is quite distracting and sometimes misleading. good luck for the games and happy new year
I’d agree. This set took me a lot longer to get comfortable with than Duskmourn so I kept using untapped a lot longer than I had hoped.
Thank you and Happy New Year to you as well!