M10 Drafting – Soldiers for the win!

Hello everyone. Today I would like to share an M10 draft I did on Magic Online. There are several interesting decisions to be made and I ended up with a solid deck. White is a strong color in M10 and more so if you are able to let the soldier theme working for you. Obviously that will not be always that easy, depending what your opponents are drafting but here it worked out very well for me. Let’s get started!

  Pack 1 pick 1:















  My Pick:

Fireball and Captain of the Watch are both strong picks. Considering pure power the Fireball is probably a bit stronger but I prefer the solid creature with some ticket value here.

  Pack 1 pick 2:














  My Pick:

The Veteran Swordsmith is a good choice after we already picked the Captain earlier. Maybe we get a soldier theme going?

  Pack 1 pick 3:













  My Pick:

Not exactly a soldier but a strong card nonetheless. Especially strong if you have bomb creatures worth reviving.

  Pack 1 pick 4:












  My Pick:

Back to the Soldier theme!

  Pack 1 pick 5:











What would you pick here?

  My Pick:

This is the first pick I need to explain a bit. I am sure most people would have picked the Silvercoat Lion here and it is a reasonable choice. However, I do not like Vanilla 2/2′s for two mana in M10. The become obsolete very fast and in a format where card draw is scarce you want to minimize dead card potential as much as possible. I just “rare drafted” here, knowing that I will not play the lion anyway.

  Pack 1 pick 6:










  My Pick:

More recursion power for bomb creatures.

  Pack 1 pick 7:









  My Pick:

Fits well into our theme – beatdown and curve wise.

  Pack 1 pick 8:








  My Pick:

Be aware that this is a good removal card. There are many 1 toughness creatures in triple M10.

  Pack 1 pick 9:







  My Pick:

Often better then Gravedigger.

  Pack 1 pick 10:






  My Pick:

Will probably not make the deck as it is too passive for what we planning to play.

  Pack 1 pick 11:





  My Pick:

Could end up in the deck.

  Pack 1 pick 12:




  My Pick:

Nice late pick. Will likely end up in the deck.

  Pack 1 pick 13:



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  Pack 1 pick 14:


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  Pack 1 pick 15:

  My Pick:

  Pack 2 pick 1:















  My Pick:

This card is the most broken uncommon white has in M10. It is very flexible and allows for brutal 2 for 1′s.

  Pack 2 pick 2:














  My Pick:

Strong removal and happy to add it to my deck.

  Pack 2 pick 3:













  My Pick:

What can I say? Tappers are always strong in limited and Blinding Mage is not exception. Keeps their strongest creature from attacking or blocking.

  Pack 2 pick 4:












  My Pick:

Another good soldier that gives our creatures more power.

  Pack 2 pick 5:











  My Pick:

Glad to see this. The card requires a strong white commitment but its a bomb, making the enchanted creature huge. Note that M10 has less removal then Alara block for example where creature enchantments are worth less.

  Pack 2 pick 6:










  My Pick:

Good 3 drop. It’s also a very good blocker having 3 toughness.

  Pack 2 pick 7:









  My Pick:

Not spectacular but aggressive early drop with evasion.

  Pack 2 pick 8:








  My Pick:

Rare draft and end of playables for pack 2.

  Pack 2 pick 9:







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  Pack 2 pick 10:






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  Pack 2 pick 11:





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  Pack 2 pick 12:




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  Pack 2 pick 14:


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  Pack 2 pick 15:

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  Pack 3 pick 1:















  My Pick:

To bad that I also had a foil Mythic in the pack. I cannot pass the Royal Assassin – he is nuts in limited and I even have a Blinding Mage to combo with it for some serious removal.

  Pack 3 pick 2:














  My Pick:

More removal for my deck.

  Pack 3 pick 3:













  My Pick:

Wow, a pair of Captains! Very nice pick here.

  Pack 3 pick 4:












  My Pick:

Nothing spectacular here for me. Rare draft.

  Pack 3 pick 5:











  My Pick:

Soldiers, soldiers, soldiers…

  Pack 3 pick 6:










  My Pick:

Sould Warden looks good with a couple of “Captain of the Watch” but i will pick the best card here.

  Pack 3 pick 7:









  My Pick:

White Knight and Assassinate are both good picks. The correct pick was probably Assassinate but i felt that i was missing creatures so i decided to take the White Knight.

  Pack 3 pick 8:








  My Pick:

Nothing I would want to play in this pack. Random pick.

  Pack 3 pick 9:







  My Pick:

More reanimation for my Captains.

  Pack 3 pick 10:






  My Pick:

Hate drafted the elemental that is coming around to late. I think the card is a very good card for red in M10 limited.

  Pack 3 pick 11:





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  Pack 3 pick 12:




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  Pack 3 pick 14:


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  Pack 3 pick 15:

  My Pick:

The deck I ended up playing was the following

The games went extremely well with the Captains leading the army. I went 3-0 with it and think if you can pick up a good soldier sub theme in M10 its worth playing.

Enjoy your drafts and till next time,

Paulo