Born of the Gods is on the horizon, and many cards and mechanics have already been previewed. In this episode, I present my initial thoughts regarding tribute and inspired and what they could mean for limited play. Contains spoilers!
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Despite having seen a Verdict in the draft, I think there’s an argument for attacking with the Polis Crusher. He obviously had something attacking into you like that, but if he has verdict you are in such bad shape anyway that you may win the most games by hoping it was a pump spell instead of the removal. Don’t play around what you can’t beat and all that.
I do not blame you for rare drafting but the correct first pick might have been Heliod’s Emissary.
I don’t understand the logic of not attacking with the crusher because of a suspected Divine Verdict, and then turning around and blocking with it. Verdict gets the Crusher in both situations, while both pump and burn can also leave you at a severe disadvantage while blocking the first striker.
If the opponent had the verdict, the Crusher was dead no matter what. Better to play into that, rather than the more common effects of burn/pump.
@manfred, I disagree. I think Xenagos’ power level is much higher than Heliod’s Emissary. When you are behind or at parity with your opponent, I feel that Xenagos could help you pull ahead, whereas if you are behind on board and you have Heliod’s Emissary, you are forced to attack to get full value.
I do think that Simon moved into black way too late. I really like Baleful Eidolon in this format and there was one that wheeled late pack 1. That would have set up well with P1P2 Agent of the Fates. The red could have easily been the splash (which it ended up being, but during the draft it seemed unsure).
@MMogg, Xenagos is definitely more powerful, no doubt. The question is whether the difference in power is big enough to justify taking multicolored card. Since RG is not very good archetype anyway, Xenagos basically forces you to play three colors right away. I mean sure you take him casue he is worth 10 tix but had there been say Polis Crusher instead I would definitely first pick Emissary.
@manfred, I think taking him P1P1 is way better than taking him P3P1. Having Xenagos as your first pick leaves you open to sculpt a deck. Going 3 colours is not that difficult in Theros. I see what you’re saying. I have seen a lot of drafts where people get married to their first pick multi-coloured card and skews their whole draft, but in this case, the upside on Xenagos is just so worth it, being a value machine and being the most difficult to deal with card type. I just wish Simon saw how open black was much earlier. =) Polis Crusher is also nowhere near on the power level of Xenagos and there I agree, something solid/safe like Emissary would probably be a better pick over Polis Crusher (were it P1P1). BTW, if you want to see a cool and successful GR draft deck, check out Marshall’s draft over at LRCast. =)
Hi Simon, thanks for the videos. In game 2 of match 2 I was almost shouting at the screen “he knows about your lampad!” as you kept discussing how he might think you didn’t have it. You revealed it with Commune.
@MMogg you got a link for this sweet GR deck you talking about? Sorry couldn’t find it
@articneko: I hope the mtgoacademy folks don’t mind (apologies in advance if they do), but it’s in the blog section of the LRCast website:
http://lrcast.com/limited-resources-theros-draft-featuring-brian-wong/
Nope, we don’t mind the link at all! (We do have our spam filter set up to put comments with links into the moderation queue, though, but I check — usually — once per day for them and approve ones like yours.)
Great to know, thanks! =)
Hi Simon.
love the videos.
In the M1G1 You should have attacked with the crusher, in my opinion. Since dealing damage to him would have let you kill the oriad and then you could have blocked his 3/3 all day