I agree with those statements.

Excellent, looking forward to seeing something good in our packs.

I agree with what fluffybunnypants said about telltale commons. But I'm just going to throw this out there: I don't think we should hate draft really hard. In my experience with hate drafters, they do terrible, while those getting hated on found other cards to make do. I'm totally fine if we see a Blood Baron of Vizkopa on our third pack, and taking it even if we end up running RUG or something, but we should be looking to deal with their threats opposed to taking them and sitting on em. Also, while removal is nice, I think a thematic strategy takes precedence over a piece of removal. Since this is a draft, we won't get a smooth deck like a constructed one, but I don't believe that we should take removal right away. Finally, I think Bant tokens/Evolve would be a nice strategy (if it presents itself). Trostani's Summoner does wonders with Battering Krasis.

PS, don't link cards. If you link a card, the comment shows up on the card's page, even though this is private. I've already seen some other team's comments.

Spy check.

Spying for what KrazyCaley?

As DGM was supposed to slow the format down, triple DGM should in theory be even slower. Also, I expect gates to be valued quite highly, as a good 5 commons rely on them entirely, and the set is multicolored. About 2/3 of the set is multicolor, making the maze creatures somewhat better. There isn't a single one-drop in DGM, and most of the 2 drops aren't particularly aggressive, so bombs are probably going to be extremely important. Hatedrafting might be neccessary. 3-color seems like almost a certainty.

I've never seen hate drafting work in the favor of the hate drafter.

DGM is a slow format. And I totally agree on the mana fixing. We can pretty much assume we'll end up with 2-3 colors. Possibly more.

OMG! This pack has a Black Lotus in it! Oh shit those other guys are screwed!

Trollolololololol

I think that grabbing something that we can't play but have no answer for in pack three isn't a bad idea, I'm all for it. It's just we can't let it get out of hand.

Like I said, I don't want to see any mythic against us (except maybe Reap Intellect, its more useful in constructed), so hate drafting something ridiculous is worth it. But we shouldn't say "Hey, this is a good card in general, but not our colors. Take it anyway".

Yeah, obviously we can't hatedraft too much. If more than group does decide to go 4 or 5-color, we probably will not be seeing many bombs at all.

Cluestones will be goddamn everywhere. You average 3 gates per deck, but certain decks will want tons of them.

Also, runner's bane hits almost every non-rare creature in DGM. Only 10 non-rare creatures can't be hit by it, and 7 of those are uncommon. So it becomes fairly good removal.Punish the Enemy becomes a lot better. Most of the uncommon split cards become better as well, and fusing them becomes quite likely. Fatal fumes on the other hand hits about 2/5 of the creatures in the set, but many of those aren't very good targets. eg. Goblin Test Pilot or Rot Farm Skeleton

Trolololol.

I almost want to see someone actually play the test pilot. Almost.

It's interesting because the full block draft is all about guilds, but I really think that DGM is just about colors. The mechanics are nice, but won't really be prevalent enough to build around.

Fatal fumes is actually ok -- it doesn't kill things outright, but combined with combat damage, it usually will. I think the important thing here is to define our three colors and be really on-point on hitting a good curve.

I would also like to suggest that if we see a maze's end we just go all in on the gate deck. because it's the most fun.

I see that the only person who hasn't checked in yet is RousseausDisciple. Anyone know that person? There's a spreadsheet google doc up that we can use to track the contents of each pack and add any additional notes. Not sure if it will help us draft better, but it might. If you'd like me to share it with you, email me at [email protected]. magerob, you should have access to it now.

We should get our first pack at 8pm pacific time tomorrow night, and we'll have an hour to make a pick.

We have a strict 24 hour deadline per pick. Once the pack goes up, I'd like everyone to write out their reasoning and their pick as succinctly as possible. We'll let debate go on as long as possible, but at 6pm I'll check again, and the most recent votes from each player will be counted.

I will always go with the majority decision, but I will act as tiebreaker if we have an even number of voters. right now we're 7, so that's not an issue, but more drafters may join, or someone may not get a vote in on time.

If y'all have advice on how to operate this here group draft, I'd love to hear it.

Also also! we do have a new addition. Welcome, KorSplicer!

The main reasoning behind fatal fumes is you can prettymuch use it as a smite against a lot of creatures as the -4/-2 will save a lot of blockers while causing lower levels of damage to be fatal to the attacker. If I had the opportunity to pick smite instead, I would, but that's in GTC.

landot: "We should get our first pack at 8pm pacific time tomorrow night, and we'll have an hour to make a pick."

You mean 1 day not 1 hour right? Because I totally won't be able guarantee I'll get a pick to you in that time frame.

Checking in. Sorry I'm late to the party, I had work tonight. I'm excited to get started.

Pack in 90 minutes.

Aetherling Alive Well
Debt to the Deathless Goblin Test Pilot Unflinching Courage Armored Wolf-Rider
Azorius Cluestone Crypt Incursion
Deputy of Acquittals Golgari Guildgate Gruul Cluestone Haazda Snare Squad Orzhov Cluestone Phytoburst Punish the Enemy

Aetherling. Bombiest Of Bombs.

I have to apologize, everyone. I have been having some trouble getting on the internet lately due to some ISP issues. So: it turns out that we get packs at midnight, pacific time, not 8pm. At any rate, this pack is up; here's the list again with some better formatting.

Aetherling
Alive Well
Debt to the Deathless
Goblin Test Pilot
Unflinching Courage
Armored Wolf-Rider
Azorius Cluestone
Crypt Incursion
Deputy of Acquittals
Golgari Guildgate
Gruul Cluestone
Haazda Snare Squad
Orzhov Cluestone
Phytoburst
Punish the Enemy

The two options in my book are aetherling and unflinching courage. Aetherling is good in that it's only 1 color, so no real commitment yet, and it wins games -- but it wins games on turns 7 or 8 or 9 -- sometimes that just isn't enough. Still, it gets my vote for now.